2014 is half over? What the? Yeah, we know you’ve just thawed out from winter, but we’re six months in, so time to count down the best films we’ve seen so far:

10. Edge of Tomorrow

Aliens meets Groundhog Day in the freshest way imaginable. Tom Cruise’s under seen summer thriller gives him a welcome, multi-faceted role, but Emily Blunt is the real draw. Casting Blunt is never a bad decision, but few could have expected her to turn in such an effective, no nonsense, badass performance. Humor, excellent FX and wise pacing helped to make Edge of Tomorrow the best summer popcorn muncher of the year.

9. Captain America: Winter Soldier

A witty, clever film that respects the past and keeps an eye on the complexities of modern life, Winter Soldier brings the surprisingly entertaining First Avenger very successfully into the present. Great action pieces, even better hand-to-hand combat, a heart and a brain – not to mention a pretty rockin’ cast – catapult Captain America: Winter Soldier into top spot for individual Avenger flicks.

8. How to Train Your Dragon 2

The original HTTYD remains one of the most impressive 3D films ever produced, and while this sequel to 2010’s fresh, fun dragon adventure may get a little darker, it loses none of the soaring, heart-pumping action or impressive visuals. Hiccup and Toothless are joyously together again, battling pirates and cementing the bond between man and beast.

7. Neighbors

Easily the best frat boy comedy since Animal House, Neighbors crams its visually arresting 96 minute running time with as much deeply flawed human comedy as possible. Rose Byrne conquers as a fully developed piece of the comedy puzzle, in a film that gives every character the chance to develop and tell some dick jokes.

6. Big Bad Wolves

Not for the squeamish, this dark fairy tale of predator and prey boasts brilliant performances, nimble writing and disturbing bursts of humor. It’s a hypnotic nightmare that dares you to look away. Big Bad Wolves offers a bold and brilliantly realized effort.

5. Under the Skin

This hypnotic, low-key SciFi thriller – the latest from filmmaker to watch Jonathan Glazer – follows Scarlett Johansson around Glasgow in a van. Light on dialogue and void of exposition, Under the Skin demands your attention, but it delivers an enigmatic, breathtaking, utterly unique vision of an alien invasion.

4. The Lego Movie

The worlds’ coolest toy benefits from a film that obviously loves Legos. Propelled by an upbeat, big-hearted energy and saturated with witty, age-defying sight gags, this is one film that promises to entertain every member of the audience.

3. Locke

A masterpiece of utter simplicity, Locke tags along on a solo road trip, the film’s entirety showcasing just one actor (the incomparable Tom Hardy), alone in a car, handling three different crises on his mobile while driving toward his destiny. It may sound dull, and it certainly can be challenging, but it may just restore your faith in independent filmmaking.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson returns with a film just as nostalgic for old glamour as the filmmaker himself. Bursting with cameos of deadpan glory, showcasing the most impeccable set design you’ll perhaps ever see, and boasting a delightful yet melancholy tale of Europe between great wars, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a triumph.

1. Only Lovers Left Alive

The great Jim Jarmusch reminds us that vampires are, after all, quite grown up and cool. His casting helps. The great Tilda Swinton joins Tom Hiddleston (not too shabby himself) as Eve and Adam, vampires hanging around Detroit. Only Lovers Left Alive is a well thought out film, a unique twist on the old tale, filled with dry humor, exquisite visuals, and wonderful performances.

by George Wolf

Four friends awake from a night of partying to find themselves in a hell of a mess, and none can remember quite how it all happened.

It may sound like The Hangover, but there’s nothing funny about the business in Premeditated, a Columbus-made murder mystery premiering at Lennox Town Center at 6pm Saturday.

The film follows Stoney (Ray Powell), Guru (Michael Artis), Deuce (Micah Robinson) and Hawk (Mark A. Cummings), independent filmmakers en route to a meeting that they hope will finally give them their big break. They get sidetracked, and in a matter of hours they are the prime suspects in a woman’s disappearance.

Cummings, who also wrote the script and produced, has operated Awalkonwater Entertainment LLC with his wife since 2007. Their first film was Best Supporting Daddy, a romantic-comedy that debuted in 2009. Then, the drama The Buyout was produced in 2010.

The sold-out June 21st event is the only local showing scheduled for Premeditated, but Cummings plans to submit the movie for consideration into various film festivals, in addition to the five he has already contacted.

This weekend, Angelina Jolie gets the chance to prove her worth as she brings the best animated villain – Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent – to life. Among the greatest villains of all time, Maleficent shines brightest even among Disney’s early, magnificent villain output. And that drag she can turn into?! Get out!

It put is in the mood to celebrate cinema’s great villainy with a countdown of the 15 best villains in film.

15. Pinhead

Hellraiser in 1987 might have been a forgettable Eighties horror flick were it not for the imagination of Clive Barker, whose sado-masochistic Cenobites journeyed from hell at curious humans’ mistaken request. Chief among them, the elegantly sadistic Pinhead strikes quite a figure with his leather and perfectly placed metal.

Quote: The box. You opened it. We came.

14. Max Cady

Whether Robert Mitchum in 1962 or Robert DeNiro in 1991, this tattooed, backwoods psychopath leaves an impression and a cloud of cigar smoke.

Quote: Come out! Come out wherever you are!

13. Urusula

One of the reasons Disney bounced back from decades of anemic cartoon output with their 1981 Hans Christien Anderson reboot The Little Mermaid was that they finally remembered the value of a good villain, and the sinister, baritone sea-witch Ursula fit that bill.

Quote: Come in, my child. We mustn’t lurk in doorways, it’s rude. One might question your upbringing.

12. Buffalo Bill

The Silence of the Lambs was the  most honored, most celebrated film of 1991, and yet the miraculous Ted Levine went strangely unnoticed. Dr. Lecter was not the only figure to terrify us in the film, and Levin’s savage menace perfectly offset Lecter’s cool headed danger.

Quote: It rubs  the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.

11. Keyser Soze

This one actor managed to play two different iconic, anonymous killers in 1995, establishing an award-winning career that has bloomed again just recently. The Usual Suspects spins a yarn about a puppet master boogeyman who is everywhere, controls everything, and is willing and capable of doing anything.

Quote: Who is Keyser Soze?

10. Samara

Gore Verbinski’s 2002  J-horror remake The Ring opened a genre floodgate with dozens of immediate copycats. His skill as a director and his cast certainly helped, but it was the terrifying central villain – the shadowy, sinister, wet and slimy cherub Samara in the well – that made the lasting impression.

Quote: Everyone will suffer.

9. Cruella de Vil

Disney’s 1961 animated puppy-napping tale was hardly one of their finest efforts, but it did boast one of Walt., Inc’s wickedest villains. Bony, pasty and brandishing a cigarette in a long, sleek holder, Cruelle de Vil epitomized the evils of money. Sort of an early Monty Burns, if you will.

Quote: I worship furs! Is there a woman in this wretched world who doesn’t?

8. Anton Chigurh

Javier Bardem spooky, tenacious psychopath in No Country for Old Men had such a magnificently twisted sense of purpose, you almost admired him. As long as he wasn’t looking for you.

Quote: What’s the most you ever lost in a coin toss?

7. Hans Gruber

Alan Rickman did every bit as much to make Die Hard the unforgettable Christmas romp as Bruce Willis. Ever the disdainful straight man to John McLane’s walkie-talkie wise cracker, Rickman brought an irritated elegance to the role of mastermind.

Quote: Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?

6. Wicked Queen

Walt Disney understood the relevance of a good villain perhaps better than any filmmaker of his time, and he proved that right from the get go. Snow White’s ageless Wicked Queen and her bulbous-eyed old hag alter ego both remain the best reasons to dust off the old 1937 classic.

Quote: Wait til you taste one, dearie. Like to try one?

5. The Joker

The Joker is a great villain regardless of the actor, but in 2008, Heath Ledger took ownership of the role. Dangerous, charismatic, darkly unpredictable, he wasn’t interested in money or power, just  chaos. It was a terrifying, sinister place he took the evil clown, and the role will never be the same again.

Quote: I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.

4. Maleficent

Jolie has big shoes to fill, taking on the character that, let’s be honest, is the only reason to sit through Disney’s 1959 animated flick. All angles and cloaks, she’s seriously evil. She casts a spell of death, then turns into a dragon and calls on the powers of hell. Of hell! In a Disney movie. That’s hard core.

Quote: Why so melancholy?

3. Hannibal Lecter

Anthony Hopkins’s restrained, poised, well-postured psychopath offered the kind of chilly, flesh-crawling terror we hadn’t really seen before 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. Never flamboyant or showy, the performance felt genuine, which made it that much more terrifying. He was a brand new kind of nightmare, one who was way smarter than you and had a taste for flesh.

Quote: Ready when you are, Sergeant Pembry.

2. Darth Vader

At this point in history, it’s as if Darth Vader has always existed, but in 1977 – holy shit! That voice and that crazy breathing thing,the cloak and the helmet – coolest looking villain ever! Was he a dude? Was he a machine? A dude with a machine for a head? The Dark Lord was such a unique, powerful villain. James Earl Jones can make any dialogue sound important and impressive, meanwhile, David Prowse’s imposing physicality gave him the presence of a dark god. And a franchise was born.

Quote: Don’t underestimate the Force.

1. Wicked Witch of the West

It’s tough to top Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter, but Margaret Hamilton did it. Her iconic look served her beautifully in the jazz-hands glamour of Oz. She looked amazing, plus she had flying monkeys to do her  bidding! She was a glorious image of evil, and because she was in relentless pursuit of a little, lost girl, she became the stuff of nightmare for generations of children.

Quote: I’ll get you, my pretty!