18) Snowpiercer
Despite all the commotion surrounding wishes to edit down Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer for American audiences, eventually the Weinsteins let this frigid, dystopian thrill-ride show audiences that significant sci-fi efforts can still possess hefty doses of social commentary.
Led by an amazing cast including the iron-fisted Tilda Swinton and Chris Evans as a coup leader, Joon-ho’s ideas are delivered with intrigue and horrifying socio-political realizations that are contained inside a hurdling train protecting its inhabitants from deadly temperatures. Snowpiercer is smart, inventive, savvy, and terrifyingly relevant, devolving backwards to a class-driven time where feudal rankings pitted peasant against king.
Overall, the film is another Bong Joon-ho winner. The cold, chilling revolt is set inside a metallic tomb, yet bleakness and terror-tactics give way to a marvellously accessible science fiction brainteaser.
17) Why Don’t You Play In Hell?
While some people might describe Sion Sono as Japan’s answer to Quentin Tarantino, I disagree, because he’s Sion freakin’ Sono and that’s it – well, and he releases more movies in two years than QT does in ten. His latest, Why Don’t You Play In Hell?, is yet another madcap masterpiece that blends over-the-top violence with hilariously dramatized overacting and characters who live in a blissful world of vengeful insanity.
The overarching plot is genius – two warring Yakuza factions decide they want to make a movie, so instead of opting for falseness, they enlist a team of filmmakers to record a massive battle between the clans. This provides plenty of opportunities for Sono to comment on mainstream cinema, play with gangster mentalities, and kill characters with decapitations galore, and it all plays out with an impressively demented scope.
Why Don’t You Play In Hell? might be considered slow-burn to some people, but the ending is easily some of the best cinema 2014 has to offer. Patience is a virtue here, and it’s paid off in a wild, bloody fashion.