2014 SLEEPERS

Part 1

     Here are five movies from last year that are worth a look and which may have slipped beneath your movie radar.

     The Good Lie was Reese Witherspoon's other movie from 2014 (the better known one being Wild). It is the true story of a group of young Sudanese refugees helped to resettle in America after a harrowing time. Their misadventures in learning our ways are both touching and hilarious. And I guarantee a wet eye or two when this interesting film spools out.

     St. Vincent features the veteran Bill Murray as a very irascible Brooklynite who drinks, smokes and gambles, all to excess. He reluctantly befriends the 12-year-old son (newcomer Jaeden Lieberher) of his new neighbor. Like most of us, he has a rather secret side that the young neighbor discovers along with us. This film is a real charmer; Mr. Murray is outstanding.

     The appropriately named Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an extremely creepy reporter, who is independent and sells news footage to TV stations. He quickly discovers that sensationalism sells. He goes further and further in his effort to be the first at the scene, crossing a red line several times. The film is perhaps a cautionary tale about the state of news in the U.S., but I'm not sure how much of it is all that far out.

     Way over on the brighter side is the crowd-pleasing Chef. Jon Favreau plays a chef at a top of the line restaurant who quits his job after an altercation with a surly food critic. He decides to begin operating a food truck selling Cuban sandwiches, and takes his young son along. Every stop they make gets a little better, and you will find yourself smiling a lot. The film features an all-star supporting cast, including Oliver Platt (the food critic), Sofia Vergara, Bobby Carnavale, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey, Jr.

     And finally there is the underrated Monuments Men, George Clooney's cinematic homage to some very unlikely World War II heroes. The mission is to save a great deal of the world's art treasures from the Nazis,who typically decide if they can't have it nobody can. Along for an enjoyable ride are Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett. A lot of the things in this movie really happened.

     All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Chef, St. Vincent and The Good Lie are fine for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups.