The Seven Best Films of 2014

These films are UK releases from 1st January 2014 to the 31st December 2014

First of all, the nearly made its: American Hustle, Babadook, Chef, Dallas Buyers Club, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Ida, Life Itself, Pride, The Homesman, The Imitation Game, The Lego Movie, The Skeleton Twins, Two Days One Night.

The Seven Best

7: Interstellar. dr. Christopher Nolan. st. Matthew McConnaughey and Anne Hathaway.

Christopher Nolan might not have got all the science right. He might have forgotten to pour some cement into some plot holes. But there is no doubting that this space adventure is as epic as they come. See the full review in my Films in Discussion Post.

6: Gone Girl. dr. David Fincher. st. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

This was my film of the week when it was first released and is in my top seven for the year. The twisted Amy Dunne is an Alex Forrest of our generation, though more subdued, more conniving and more psychotic. A villain worth remembering.

5: Guardians of the Galaxy. dr. James Gunn. st. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana.

Guardians of the Galaxy came second in my Seven Best Marvel Films and is justly deserving of its place in this list. It is a Sci-Fi/Western extravaganza.

4: Nightcrawler. dr. Dan Gilroy. st. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.

Nightcrawler has edge; in its cinematography, lead performance and writing. A feature on my Films in Discussion Post, it is a sublimely sadistic satire that thrills and kills!

3: The Grand Budapest Hotel. dr. Wes Anderson. st. Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori.

I am a huge Wes Anderson fan; his quirky style is a mainstay of modern cinema. For me, like with Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes has never made a bad film, and with The Grand Budapest Hotel, he hits the heights of The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Deliciously exuberant, with Fiennes delivering comically observed brilliance as M.Gustave, I would throroughly recommend checking in with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

2: The Wolf of Wall Street. dr. Martin Scorsese. st. Leonardo Di Caprio and Jonah Hill.

The greatest director of modern cinema produces his funniest film to date. The Wolf of Wall Street is a wild animal on quaaludes; it is rollicking, roaring, rowdy cinema, which is energised throughout its 172 minute running time. For me, it is closest in comparison to Casino, and it plays the tables just as good!

1: Boyhood. dr. Richard Linklater. st. Ellar Coltrane and Patricia Arquette.

This is one of the great achievements in twenty-first century cinema. There has been nothing like it before. Boyhood sets the bar not only for the year, but for the decade. It deserves every Oscar it gets. Linklater is the definitive backyard director, he should be the inspiration to every aspiring film maker out there. Impeccable.