With the beginning of each new year comes a time for reflection on the one that came before. For the thousands of paid movie critics and scholars worldwide, this typically comes in the form of top ten lists of the films that they found to be the best from the past 365 days. In 2013, this website decided to keep tally on many of them in order to create one large aggregate list, which was released at the very end of the year in the form of a two part column (which you can read by clicking here and here). The purpose of this list was to determine some form of a critical consensus of the year's best films and also to keep an online document of what today's times constituted as examples of outstanding cinema (tastes and opinions can always change, after all). It was a pretty laborious process, but it was also really fun to do, which is why it is brought back for 2014 films, bigger and better than the year before!
Well, maybe not better, but this 2014 list is most certainly bigger than 2013's list, with a grand total of 300 individual and staff lists selected for its making, over twice the amount of last year's 145 lists. Overall, most of the list types were the same as the year before, falling into three categories: the standard top ten list with films ranked #1-#10, the top ten lists that chose not to rank any of the selected films, and the top ten list that just listed one clear #1 and the rest in no particular order. For the first category, each film was given a point amount between one and ten based on their placement in the ranking, with the #1 choice earning ten points, the #2 choice earning nine points, the #3 choice earning eight points, etc. For the second category, each of the films listed were evenly given 5.5 points (since adding numbers one through ten gives you 55 points, which divided by 10 films equals 5.5 points). For the third category, the #1 choice was given the maximum ten points, while the other movies were just given five points. Some of the lists I used did feature slightly more than ten films, with some films tying at certain rankings. For each tie, I handed all of those films the same amount of points. Some of the few exceptions that did not fall under any of the mentioned types of lists were those of:
- The New York Times' Stephen Holden, whose list featured a ranked top four and an unranked additional six, in alphabetical order. For this list, I gave 7-10 points for the top four (depending on their placements) and 3.5 points to reach of the remaining six films
- Forbes' Scott Mendelson, whose list featured 14 films: a listed #1 choice (Nightcrawler) and 13 unranked runner-ups. For this list, I gave seven points to Nightcrawler and four points to the rest.
- Awards Daily's Sasha Stone, whose list featured a three-way tie at the #1 spot, and seven remaining films ranked #4-#10. For this list, I gave 9 points to the three films tied at the top and the normal 1-7 points for the remaining seven films.
Overall, this aggregate list of 2014 top-tens features a diverse and interesting set of films, from the prestigious award baits to the shameless popcorn flicks, from documentaries and animated features to horror flicks and comedies. It's a list that features the appearance of the movie world's most celebrated auteurs like Jim Jarmusch and the two Andersons (the not-related Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson), as well as newcomers to the scene like Justin Simien and Dan Gilroy. It's also a list of films from directors spanning across multiple generations: for example, in the same year that a film from the legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard (age 83) makes an appearance, a film from the young Quebecois director Xavier Dolan (age 25) makes an appearance on the list, too. Altogether, these films helped make 2014 a year worth celebrating in movies, even if audiences didn't reward the quality of the movies in the form of box office receipts (which was down 5.2% compared to 2013).
Just like last year, the list will include the 85 films that were given the most points. The films that placed in the top 30 will be revealed sometime later this week. In the meantime, we begin the list countdown with the four films that tied for 82nd:
82(tie). WILD TALES (dir: Damian Szifron)
27 points
Produced by the Almodovar brothers, this is an Argentinian black-comedy, featuring six different shorts related to the theme of violence and vengeance. The film has been a hit in its home country and has recently made it into the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language category at the Oscars.
82(tie). TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER (dir: Nick Broomfield)
27 points
Representing the first documentary listed on the countdown, Nick Broomfield's film (which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August) is another re-telling of the murders of notorious serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr., who killed multiple women between 1985 until his arrest in 2010, with Broomfield focusing on the forces that might have led to the killings continuing to occur for so long.
82(tie). IT FELT LIKE LOVE (dir: Eliza Hittman)
27 points
A twisted coming-of-age story about a Brooklyn teenager named Lila (played by Gina Piersanti) who seeks to get into a relationship with a college boy named Sammy.
82(tie). A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (dir: Ben Rivers, Ben Russell)
27 points
Musician Robert A.A. Lowe of Lichens and Om is followed throughout the course of this film as he experiences three unique social situations: mixing among members of an Estonian commune, living in isolation in Northern Finland and playing at a concert in Norway.
81. 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH (dir: Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard)
28 points
Nick Cave, a Renaissance man mostly known as frontman behind the band Nick Cave and the Seeds but a has also dabbled in writing and film acting, stars as himself in this film that attempts to look back on his past and also portray a fictitious day in his life.
78(tie). PRIDE (dir: Matthew Warchus)
30 points
Considered to be one of the year's best feel-good stories, it is based on the real-life campaign by a group of gays and lesbian in Thatcher-era Britain to help raise money in support of the families affected by the nation's miners strike of 1984. The film features a cast that includes Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West.
78(tie). CLOSED CURTAIN (dir: Jafar Panahi, Kambuzia Patrovi)
30 points
Four years after being put under house arrest by the Iranian government and two years after co-directing the much-lauded documentary This is Not a Film, Jafar Panahi teams up with The Circle director Kambuzia Patrovi in a movie of which they are also co-stars, about a writer (Patrovi) who tries to hide his dog from the authorities after his government put a ban on the pet in public places.
78(tie). CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER (dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo)
30 points
Chris Evans' portrayal of Steve Rodgers returns to the silver screen in a continuation of Marvel's Phase Two films, this time in a '70s conspiracy thriller movie inspired story in which the Captain and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) team up to solve the mystery behind the shooting of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury as they are themselves being pursued as suspects of the shooting.
76(tie). THE ROVER (dir: David Michod)
30.5 points
Set in the deserts of Australian outback, this drama stars Guy Pearce as a man in a world ten years after a global economic collapse trying to reclaim a car stolen from him, using the help of the injured brother of the man who stole the car (played by Robert Pattinson).
76(tie). THE DANCE OF REALITY (dir: Alejandro Jodorowsky)
30.5 points
Cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Holy Mountain) returns to cinema with his first movie following a 23 year hiatus. Set in the mid-20th Century, The Dance of Reality attempts to create a dramatized recounting of Jodorowsky's childhood as the son of Jewish-Ukrainian parents living in Chile.
75. BELLE (dir: Amma Asante)
32.5 points
Gugu Mbatha-Raw portrays the illegitimate child of a West Indies slave woman and a male British Royal Navy officer sent to be raised in a life of affluence by her father's uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.
74. ENEMY (dir: Denis Villeneuve)
33 points
2014 will be remembered as a lot of things, and one of them will be as the year Jake Gyllenhaal's resume of playing captivating creeps reached new heights. In this case, Gyllenhaal (re-teaming with his Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve) plays a college history professor who discovers that there is an actor that is his exact doppelganger and begins stalking him.
72(tie). WHAT NOW? REMIND ME (dir: Joaquim Pinto)
35 points
A first-person documentary about the film's director, including the management of his family life and his battle with HIV.
72(tie). THE DROP (dir: Michael R. Roskam)
35 points
Tom Hardy plays Bob, a bartender working for his cousin (played by James Gandolfini), who involuntarily gets himself in the middle of an investigation related to an attempted robbery at the bar he works in. Besides being considered a solid crime drama, The Drop also features the final feature film role of Gandolfini's, who passed away 13 months prior to the film's release.
70(tie). THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAYUGA (dir: Isao Takahata)
38 points
One of the latest films from Studio Ghibli and the director of such films as Grave of the Fireflies, about a young woman who was found as a very miniature child by a bamboo cutter.
70(tie). JOHN WICK (dir: Chris Stahelski, David Leitch)
38 points
Although not too many cinephiles would have been surprised to see consensus acclaim for a film from Isao Takahata, I doubt that many of them would have imagined that critics would also consider one of the highlights of 2014 to be an action flick in which Keanu Reeves plays a badass mercenary that shoots down an entire Russian mob. And yet, that is exactly what happened, with many film writers praising John Wick for its stylish fight choreography and thrilling action sequences.
69. LI'L QUINQUIN (dir: Bruno Dumont)
40 points
Here's another surprise from 2014: an absurdist comedy from Bruno Dumont. The filmmaker behind such serious films as Outside Satan and Camille Claudel 1915 premiered this four-part TV miniseries over the summer in France, in which a police detective attempts to investigate the death of a dismembered small town resident, whose body was found inside a cow.
68. THE WIND RISES (dir: Hayao Miyazaki)
41 points
This final animated film from one of Studio Ghibli's co-founders before his retirement makes yet another appearance on this website's aggregate lists, after finishing at #29 in the 2013 year-end poll.
67. GET ON UP (dir: Tate Taylor)
42 points
A film about the life of the legendary singer James Brown, featuring a star-making performance by Chadwick Boseman.
66. NIGHT MOVES (dir: Kelly Reichardt)
43 points
From Kelly Reichardt, director of the acclaimed films Meek's Cutoff and Wendy & Lucy, comes a drama about three eco-terrorists who attempt to blow up a hydroelectric dam. The film features Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard, among others.
65. THE HOMESMAN (dir: Tommy Lee Jones)
43.5 points
Actor Tommy Lee Jones' second big screen film behind the director's chair, and one in which he stars alongside Hilary Swank. In it, his claim-jumper character must help escort three mentally ill woman to a safe haven church in Iowa as a favor for being freed from a lynching.
62(tie). MAPS TO THE STARS (dir: David Cronenberg)
44 points
Since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May (where Julianne Moore received the Best Actress prize), David Cronenberg's satire of fame and Hollywood has received some mixed responses, but based on its placement in the countdown, a few that have gotten the chance to see (it still hasn't been released in most countries) have been fans. Expect to see it pop up again in several Best-of 2015 lists.
62(tie). LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (dir: Hirokazu Koreeda)
44 points
A drama about a man named Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) who learns through a blood test that his son was switched at birth with another boy of a different family, and now must work with the other family in making decisions about the two children moving forward.
62(tie). JEALOUSY (dir: Philippe Garrel)
44 points
A story about the aftermath of a man (played by Louis Garrel, who is also the director's son) leaving his wife and daughter.
60(tie). THE LAST OF THE UNJUST (dir: Claude Lanzmann)
44.5 points
The director of the masterpiece documentary Shoah continues his investigation into the Nazi's treatment of the Jewish people during the Third Reich. In this film, Lanzmann learns more about the genesis of "the Final Solution" while also examining the life of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last president of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council, who was forced to negotiate daily for the proper treatment of Jews occupying the "model ghetto" in Rome from 1938 until the end of the Second World War.
60(tie). DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (dir: Justin Simien)
44.5 points
Described as one of the best satires on race relations in the age of Obama, this debut feature from director Justin Simien focuses on the lives of four young black people studying at a prestigious Ivy League college.
59. MOMMY (dir: Xavier Dolan)
46.5 points
In 2014, Quebecois director Xavier Dolan continued to make every young Millenial filmmaker feel bad about themselves by releasing this movie, his fifth feature before the age of 26. Shot in a square, Instagram-inspired 1:1 aspect ratio Mommy focuses on the relationship between a teenage boy, his mother and a female neighbor who helps to assist the mother in the boy's studies.The movie stars several of Dolan's regular ensemble, including Anne Dorval and Antoine-Olivier Pilon.
58. STARRED UP (dir: David Mackenzie)
47 points
Jack O'Connell plays Eric Love, a troubled and violent teenager who must deal with life in an adult prison that also happens to have his father.
56(tie). THE RAID 2 (dir: Gareth Evans)
47.5 points
A sequel to the popular cult action flick from a couple of years earlier, featuring the return of its lead character Rama (Iko Uwais).
56(tie). THE OVERNIGHTERS (dir: Jesse Moss)
47.5 points
A documentary about a Lutheran pastor in North Dakota who decided to create a temporary shelter in his church for young men who arrived to his small town expecting to earn a well-paying job in the Dakota's booming oil industry.
55. A MOST WANTED MAN (dir: Anton Corbijn)
48 points
Four years after making The American, Anton Corbijn returns to theaters with this adaptation of John le Carre's novel about a group of German and American intelligence who attempt to dig up information about a half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant that arrived to Hamburg illegally. The film stars Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Bruhl, Grigoriy Dobrygin and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in one of his last performance before his tragic death back in February.
54. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (dir: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
51 points
A year after North American critics loved the story of Llewyn Davis' life as a folk musician so much that it earned the film a #3 spot in the 2013 poll, European and Australian critics who first viewed the movie in 2014 also decided to heap top-ten praise on it.
53. FRANK (dir: Leonard Abrahamson)
51.5 points
A musician (Domnhall Gleeson) joins an eccentric pop band led by a man named Frank (Michael Fassbender) who spends entire days wearing an oversized papier-mache mask on his head. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scott McNairy also star.
52. HER (dir: Spike Jonze)
58.5 points
Yet another top five film from 2013 poll to make it onto the 2014 list. This time, it's Spike Jonze's Oscar-winning story of a man named Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with an operating system (Scarlett Johansson).
51. THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (dir: Ramon Zurcher)
59 points
A film that captures a few hours in a cramped Berlin apartment as a family reconvenes for a late evening meal, The Strange Little Cat is not a typical three-act story and features little conflict, yet several critics have praised it for its mise-en-scene and its playful rebelling of moviemaking techniques.
50. THE MISSING PICTURE (dir: Rithy Panh)
59.5 points
Director Rithy Panh attempts to detail his experience growing up in Cambodia during the time of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It's a documentary that is best known for Panh's creative telling of his experience using clay figurines made to resemble members of the labor camp of which he resided, so as to make up for the lack of film footage from that experience.
49. A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (dir: Ana Lily Amirpour)
60 points
Also known as "the first Iranian vampire Western" and the first of (hopefully) many more films to come from Ana Lily Amirpour.
48. 12 YEARS A SLAVE (dir: Steve McQueen)
62 points
The celebration of the #1 ranked film in the 2013 poll continued onto 2014. Not only did it receive dozens of major awards (including a Best Picture win at the Academy Awards), it also appeared on enough top ten lists by European and Australian critics to earn it a second straight top-50 spot.
46(tie). NYMPHOMANIAC (dir: Lars von Trier)
68 points
In what was perhaps this year's most provocative film, Lars von Trier's four hour epic (released in two parts) centers on a woman named Joe (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg) who recalls her life as a nymphomaniac to a man named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard).
46(tie). JODOROWSKY'S DUNE (dir: Frank Pavich)
68 points
Besides directing The Dance of Reality, 2014 also saw Alejandro Jodorowsky as the main topic of this documentary, detailing his failed plans to adapt Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune during the 1970s in a way that would've allegedly featured a star role for his son; a cast that included Orson Welles and Salvador Dali; and a soundtrack from Mick Jagger (to name just a few things).
45. NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY (dir: Lav Diaz)
69.5 points
An epic story set in the Philippines that is centered on three characters: a double murderer in hiding, an innocent man that takes the blame for the double murderer's killings, and the wife of the innocent man who must raise her family alone now that her husband is in prison.
44. OBVIOUS CHILD (dir: Gillian Robespierre)
70.5 points
Jenny Slate gives a much-adored performance in this romantic comedy as Donna, a comedian and book store employee who, after a one-night stand, gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion.
43. NATIONAL GALLERY (dir: Frederick Wiseman)
71.5 points
A year after appearing in the 2013 poll's top thirty with At Berkeley, the veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman returns with yet another detailed look into the day-to-day operations of a specific location, with his newest focus centering on the National Gallery in London.
42. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (dir: Matt Reeves)
75.5 points
The latest reboot of the classic Planet of the Apes franchise continues to pleasantly surprise critics in its quality with a sequel to 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes that many consider to be superior than its predecessor. Andy Serkis reprises his motion-capture CGI role of Caesar, leader of the newly emancipated ape pack living in the Northern California redwoods, who must deal with new conflicts between the apes and the remaining humans living nearby. Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman and Keri Russell are also a part of the cast.
41. MANAKAMANA (dir: Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez)
77 points
A documentary of eleven different cable car rides taken by villagers and tourists to a sacred mountaintop temple in Nepal.
40. STRAY DOGS (dir: Tsai Ming-liang)
82 points
Another tale of poverty and urban alienation from the famous Taiwanese "Second New Wave" filmmaker, this time about an alcoholic man and his family struggling to make ends meet.
39. AMERICAN SNIPER (dir: Clint Eastwood)
83.5 points
Clint Eastwood's most celebrated movie in years, based on the autobiography of the same name by Chris Kyle, with Bradley Cooper in the lead role.
38. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (dir: J.C. Chandor)
85 points
Oscar Isaac plays Abel Morales, a first-generation immigrant who must deal with problems facing his business during the year 1981, with Jessica Chastain in the role of Morales' wife and Albert Brooks as Morales' lawyer. The film was awarded Best Picture by the National Board of Review and continued to solidify J.C. Chandor's reputation as one of America's rising filmmakers in what is now his third feature in the books (after making both Margin Call and All is Lost, which were also acclaimed).
37. BLUE RUIN (dir: Jeremy Saulnier)
85.5 points
A story about revenge that also attempts to subvert many of the tropes of the revenge picture, Blue Ruin focuses on a man named Dwight Evans (Macon Blair) who travels back home to Virginia in order to kill the person that murdered his parents.
36. LIFE ITSELF (dir: Steve James)
99 points
A celebration of the life of world-famous film critic Roger Ebert, featuring footage of the man's last days battling cancer before finally passing away in 2013.
35. STRANGER BY THE LAKE (dir: Alain Guiraudie)
110.5 points
Compared on several occasions to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, this film centers on a frequent visitor of a lakeside beach where men go to sunbathe and have promiscuous gay sex (played by Pierre Deladonchamps) who falls in love with another frequent visitor named Michel (Christophe Paou) that he witnessed commit an act of murder.After already receiving a #75 spot in the 2013 poll, the film continued to receive praise in 2014 (mostly from North American critics who saw it reach its shores for the first time over the past year), becoming the first one to pass the 100 point barrier in this countdown.
34. EDGE OF TOMORROW (dir: Doug Liman)
120.5 points
One of the year's most beloved summer blockbusters, starring Tom Cruise as a man who, in a battle against an alien race, contacts the blood of one of the aliens' largest members and finds himself reliving the same days before and during the battle every time he gets killed. The movie also stars Emily Blunt as the soldier that helps him improve his performance in the battle and stop the alien race from defeating the humans.
33. LISTEN UP PHILIP (dir: Alex Ross Perry)
122.5 points
This acidic drama features Jason Schwartzman as the eponymous Philip Lewis Friedman, a angst-filled writer awaiting the publication of his second novel who decides to break away from his girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss) for a few weeks in order to live with one of his literary heroes, Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), and Zimmerman's daughter, Melanie (Krysten Ritter).
32. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (dir: James Marsh)
132 points
A biopic on the life of Stephen Hawking and his wife, Jane Wilde Hawking, during the time when Stephen battled motor neuron disease while also working on his scientific findings on black holes and the universe that would make him famous worldwide. Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones play the leading roles in performances that will surely land them Academy Award nominations.
31. LOVE IS STRANGE (dir: Ira Sachs)
135 points
A gay couple, played by John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, are forced to separate and live apart after word of their marriage leads to a Catholic Church firing one of them from his job as music teacher, leading to them being unable to afford renting their New York apartment.
Monday: The countdown of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2014 continues, with the reveal of the top thirty.
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