OVP: Previously, in 2014

2014: A Look Back

I have officially seen all of the 2014 OVP films, and you know what that means-it's time to go back and relive 2014 as we are about to embark on our seventh Oscar Viewing Project! Yes, the year where the entire United States forgot that they didn't want Mitt Romney to be president and decided to go Republicans for the Midterms for no apparent reason.  The year Serena Williams began her Serena Slam at the US Open (and may just carry it to a Career Grand Slam later this week), and the entire tennis-watching world heard of a male model named Stan Wawrinka in Australia. It was a year where we got "Happy" enough to be "Fancy," while everyone cried to the John Green back catalog.  And of course, there were the movies...

Box Office

This is what the Top 10 at the (Domestic) Box Office looked like:

1. American Sniper
2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. The LEGO Movie
6. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
7. Transformers: Age of Extinction
8. Maleficent
9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
10. Big Hero 6

Is saw 80% of these films, skipping both the third installment of The Hunger Games film out-of-principle (I'm tired of movies splitting the final film in a series in half for no apparent reason...and also feeling like I have to see the sequel to a film that I didn't like just because it's part of the zeitgeist) and Transformers, which I was only going to subject myself to if it was Oscar-nominated, and for the first time in the series it wasn't.  Outside the Top 10 some other $100 million films that I missed included The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Divergent, and Ride Along...though I don't feel like I'm missing out on really anything by not seeing them.  Overall Oscar and the Box Office weren't particularly friendly.  With AMPAS skipping Interstellar, Gone Girl and Into the Woods in its Best Picture lineup, only American Sniper at a staggering Number One slot (first non-franchise film to hold that spot since The Grinch) hit $100 million (the next closest was surprisingly The Imitation Game with $91 million).

The Films I Missed

While I've seen all of the Oscar nominees, I haven't seen every film in 2014.  In addition to the Box Office champs I listed above, I missed a couple of films that got cited by precursors.  Maps to the Stars, Annie, Force Majeure, and Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem never made it to my viewing list (I probably will catch all but Annie at some point, though) but did make it at the Globes.  Additionally Get on Up scored with SAG and The Lunchbox and Trash both made it at the BAFTA's.  Any of these you think I should make a point of prioritizing?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  And starting tomorrow, we'll be getting into the films that did get nominated and where my ballots would be cast.