I know it has been a long time since the end of 2014, 5 months in fact, however there were still some films that I had not seen at the end of the year and I decided that rather than make a Top Ten which may have seen some changes, now that I have finally seen all the films of 2014 that I wanted to see, I feel that I can now share my thoughts on what the best films were.

This first post details the most disappointing films of the year – they should have been great. In a lot of cases, the trailers pointed towards an excellent film. Furthermore, in some cases where the films were part of a series, they follow up to a fantastic predecessor which made my Top Ten Films of previous years.

10) Dracula Untold 

Ok, everyone knew this film wasn’t going to get the best reviews, but I’m a real sucker for these kinds of films, for example, ‘Van Helsing’, but this film was just completely unmemorable and the effects were sub-par.

9) Annabelle

The trailers looked awful and the film looked like it should have been straight-to-DVD. Still, there was a glimmer of hope after last year’s outstanding, ‘The Conjuring’ of which this is a spin-off, but the film was a complete disaster. The acting was dire, scares almost laughable and the ending is just absolutely baffling in terms of the decisions made from  some of the characters.

8) Locke

Another film that suffered a lot of hype, I was extremely disappointed by this film. Tom Hardy’s performance was baffling and the stakes were never high enough for his character.

7) The Judge

With a cast this good, how can a film be this disappointing?! The film was massively overlong, its plot poor and the film looked extremely cheap-looking. Somewhere in this big mess is a decent film, but unfortunately this isn’t it.

6) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Don’t get me wrong, this was a good film and in parts excellent, but it was such a come-down from its stellar predecessor. I didn’t care for the human characters at all and in parts, the film is a real slog. The story is extremely predictable and the film is a bit overlong. That said though, Andy Serkis really does elevate his performance from the first film, which is a plus and there really are some awe-inspiring shots that still make this a worthwhile film.

5) Godzilla

What starts out as an absolutely fantastic first 45 minutes then makes the mistake of killing off a key character and the audience are then subject to the extremely wooden Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the next 1 1/4 hours.

4) The Lego Movie 

Maybe it was due to the near perfect reviews, but I found this to be a very overrated, self-indulgent film that’s pacing was way too fast and the gags weren’t funny enough. That said though, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller clearly do have a love for these characters and the end twist is very effective, but as a film overall, I cannot help but be disappointed.

3) The Rover 

This was a big disappointment, particularly as the trailer promised an atmospheric, revenge thriller film rich with fantastic performances from Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson. The result is a film that is extremely polarising, slow and boring. The film starts out really strong and ends really well but everything in between is just a struggle and a chore to sit through.  The story is original, but it’s just completely unengaging  – a really big shame.

2) The Babadook

With near-perfect reviews and critics calling this the best horror film since William Friedkin’s, ‘The Exorcist’, it really was a shame when the film, despite being original, ultimately turned out to be extremely silly, overlong and unfortunately not scary in the slightest. However, kudos to director Jennifer Kent for holding off the jump scares and trying to be original.

1 ) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

The first two films were near-perfect, excellent pacing, character development, acting, music and direction. But the third instalment is painfully slow, boring and Jennifer Lawrence completely phones in her performance. It’s not engaging in the slightest and the decision to split this into two parts is simply a cash grab.  Here’s hoping for a finale that firmly lives up to the first two instalments.