The Movies: The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street, Muppets Most Wanted, Horrible Bosses 2 One of the highlights of 2014 as a whole was the brilliant closing credits sequence for 22 Jump Street, where the future of the franchise was mapped out, through more sequels, recastings, toys and children's cartoons. This may have lost some of its power with the subsequent announcement there actually will be a 23 Jump Street, but overall it served as the cherry on a cake so self aware it had already digested itself; pretty much every memorable joke in the movie came from the fact the movie knew the ridiculousness of its own existence. The same trick of playing with self-awareness was played in The Lego Movie, also directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, but this year it was also trotted out for sequels to big, but decidedly stand-alone hits. And, sadly, out of the Lord-Miller power-house's control, it didn't really work too well. Muppets Most Wanted started with a humorous songs about the vapidity of sequels, but then just assumed that allowed them to turn in a clearly sub-standard product. Even worse was Horrible Bosses 2, which kinda, sorta, half-tried to appear self-aware (ish), but ended up just looking like a confused attempt to sequel something that didn't need a sequel; only a tacked on outtakes reel on the credits revealed they were trying to be in on the joke.
