Listmania: Best of Inventory 2014 (#11-20)

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As the year comes to an end, it is important to point out the best of the best. Over the course of Listmania, we have talked about a lot of memorable pop culture moments. While this is still present in this weekend edition, it is more of a focus on the articles that I wrote that I feel were noteworthy in 2014. While most are special pop culture dissections, others were personal odes to the past. The following is a list of 20 articles that I feel best represent my year in writing that I feel you should give another shot.


Mia Wasikowska
Source: The Focus Pull
Comments: Unfortunately, I only wrote one review for this website, though it was about a rather terrific film called The Double. The review, besides being my one-and-done, is noteworthy for the way it dissects the film's various components that may seem incompatible, but work impressively well when put together by a smart director.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Source: Optigrab
Comments: While I am not a very big fan of Michael Bay, I found myself drawn to this satire of the American Dream to the point that I found some underlying subtext. It may not seem like the most patriotic film by its crass humor, but it does feature the dream through the guise of a crazed action director who refuses to evolve, much like this film.

John Travolta
Source: The Oscar Buzz
Comments: I am not successful in convincing myself that the film is overrated, but I do make some serious discussion on the film's structure and why it is't The Godfather of 90's cinema, but more Breathless. It is experimental, loud and ready to shock you at every turn in ways that were profound and still kind of hold up 20 years later.

Robin Wiliams
Source: Optigrab
Comments: It was a year that made the film almost too relevant from the Sochi Olympics to the death of both the film's director and lead actor. Even then, the film is an impressive time capsule of race relations and the American immigrant dream that continues to be an underrated gem worthy of consideration.


Source: Readwave
Comments: With the release of Muppets Most Wanted, I decided to question the beloved puppets' place in modern society and if they really matter. As a fan, I took a rather harsh stand that suggests that audiences are too culturally different to care about Kermit and the gang.


Source: Readwave
Comments: This is quite a spoiler of an entry if you haven't seen Psycho. However, once you consider everything, this may be one of the most undiscovered truths of the Alfred Hitchcock classic.

Scarlett Johansson
Source: The Oscar Buzz
Comments: It has come to be one of the strangest and most beautiful films of the year that it's amazing to see it being embraced by a wide audience. Even then, it is a wonderful film that has a lot of powerful moments that speak to a deeper understanding of the isolation in the world around us.

David Letterman
Source: Readwave
Comments: 2014 was definitely a year that gave a major face lift to the late night talk shows with many of the veterans beginning to retire. Also, I just have a fear that no matter how charming the host is, Youtube will be there the next morning to make watching them live feel irrelevant.

Left to right: Jennifer Lawrence and Julianne Moore
Source: Optigrab
Comments: I have been a fan of The Hunger Games franchise, though have rarely felt like any of the films lived up to the thematic potential. This is the first film that I feel makes a difference and strives to something greater than silliness.


Source: Optigrab
Comments: Yeah, this is the only way to get me to watch it. There's no other way.

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