The Halfway Point of 2014

The halfway point of the year always seems to sneak up on me. But with it comes an almost mandatory retrospective of the first half of the year. I'll touch on TV shows when I post about my Emmy ballots/wishes in a week or two, but in order not to forget about them at the end of the year, here are the films I've seen so far. Of course, I'm only counting those movies that had theatrical releases this year. Oddly, I've actually seen a good number (more than last year at least) at this point. In alphabetical order...

• 22 Jump Street
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Belle
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier

• Divergent
• Edge of Tomorrow
• The Fault in our Stars
• G.B.F.

• Gloria (2014)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• Interior. Leather Bar.

• Labor Day
• The LEGO Movie
• The Monuments Men
• Muppets Most Wanted

• Neighbors
• Only Lovers Left Alive
• Pompeii
• Snowpiercer

• Stranger By the Lake
• That Awkward Moment
• Veronica Mars
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

The most recent film I saw was Joon-ho Bong's Snowpiercer which I saw this past week. It also puts its stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt in the list of actors who have appeared in two or more films. Not counting voicework, only Swinton is in more than two films since she was also in the large ensemble of Grand Budapest Hotel. If counting voice work, then Jonah Hill qualifies for his work in The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 2 along with 22 Jump Street. More notably, of course, is Shailene Woodley who is the lead of two film adaptations of young adult novels, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars (plus Ansel Elgort plays her brother and love interest respectively). Other stars who have doubled up this year so far for me include Kate Winslet, Willem Dafoe, Channing Tatum, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Cate Blanchett, Nick Offerman,  Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Miles Teller, and probably a few people especially since I'm not even counting any of the cameos in The Muppets Movie (Tom Hiddleston and James McAvoy come to mind).

I'm not ready to rank movies yet, but if you had to ask me right now what my favorite film of the year so far then I would say How to Train Your Dragons 2. Just typing that makes me want to see it again right now. Acting-wise, there are few stand outs like Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow, Ralph Fiennes in Grand Budapest Hotel, Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer, and James McAvoy in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but I'll be posting my "best performers of the year so far" at the end of summer.