Vowed to keep on top of my reviews last year and I did...to a point. There are handful I didn't get around to writing but all of those I missed would be mid-table films so wouldn't be jostling for a position in the following lists. And, I did see more than 80 films and even more plays which I also review so I've not been lazy.
As I cover films released in the UK from Jan 1 to Dec 31, it messes up the 2014 Oscar nominees as their release dates are split between 2013 and 2014. And, putting Oscar films in the list now just seems a bit old news so of the five shortlisted films I saw in 2014, Nebraska was my absolute favourite and would have been the only one to make it into my top 10.
So here is my 'best of' plus a handful of highly 'recommendeds' - what can I say, it was a good year, my average score was just under 70%*.
1. Pride
2. Mockingjay Part 1 (I loved it, what can I say?)
3. Imitation Game
4. Under The Skin
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
7. Fault of Our Stars
8. Boyhood
9. Starred Up
10. Grand Budapest Hotel
Honourable mentions to: August: Osage County, Only Lovers Left Alive, A Most Wanted Man, The Mule, What We Do In The Shadows and Night Crawler
Jack O'Connell gets my screen star of 2014 award - he was the lead in '71 and Starred Up and also put in a stunning performance in the otherwise lacklustre Unbroken.
Last year also stood out for its plethora of good comedies - Grand Budapest and Pride in the top 10 then The Mule and What We Do In The Shadows among the 'honourables'. I love a good laugh but generally don't love what Hollywood churns out. None of those I've highlighted were mainstream US productions they were either indy's or from outside the US. Hurray for that.
But 2014 wasn't all good for films there were a small number, three in fact, that I just really didn't like:
1. The Other Woman
2. Godzilla
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
* I thought my average score was quite high but I've compared the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the same set of films and they average out slightly higher at 75% and 76% respectively.
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