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10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The TF Verdict: A game-changer for the MCU (that killer S.H.I.E.L.D. reveal) and for Cap too, giving the star-spangled Avenger a much-needed injection of cool. This solidly entertaining blockbuster is The Dark Knight of Marvel movies, steeped in modern fears and bruising, bravura action.
9. Under The Skin
The TF Verdict: Jonathan Glazer wrestled with Michael Fabers same-titled novel, stripping it back to the core story of an alien female presence (Scarlett Johansson) trawling Glasgow and the surrounding countryside for men to suck the life out of. Eerie, unsettling and ambiguous, its a sensory experience that out-weirds alienation classic The Man Who Fell To Earth (an influence).
8. Interstellar
The TF Verdict: Christopher Nolans sci-fi epic comes on an IMAX-demanding scale that feels like a giant leap beyond other blockbusters. Opening to less fanfare than his previous films, it remains essential viewing: a heartbreaking adventure overflowing with science, philosophy and emotion, as Matthew McConaugheys astronaut struggles to reconcile his mission to save humanity with the prospect of never seeing his kids again.
7. 12 Years A Slave
The TF Verdict: Crowned Best Picture on Oscar night, Steve McQueens chronicle of Solomon Northups appalling ordeal (a free man, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery) is harrowing and heartrending in the extreme. Yet it also has moments of poetry and beauty, with Sean Bobbitts painterly images and newcomer Lupita Nyongos dignity in the face of savagery.
6. The Lego Movie
The TF Verdict: Chris Pratt kicked off his top year by voicing happy-go-lucky construction worker Emmet, who gets embroiled in a plot to stop Will Ferrells shouty Lord Business. From the plethora of visual gags to the infernally awesome theme tune and the dorkiest Batman yet, it all snaps perfectly into place.
5. The Babadook
The TF Verdict: Ba-ba-ba-dook... dook... dook! This sombre, soulful Aussie horror is a heartfelt study of grief and depression, albeit featuring a top-hatted monster that evokes Nosferatu, the Child Catcher and Dr. Seuss freakiest imaginings as he springs from the pages of the titular kids book to torment a single mum and her son.
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
The TF Verdict: Wes Andersons penchant for crafting exquisitely detailed, literate concoctions reached its apogee with this glorious homage to a hotel that never was in an Eastern European country that never existed. Part mystery, part screwball comedy and part adventure, TGBH boasted the years finest cast and (wed wager) its wordiest script. Oh, and those cakes werent too shabby either
3. The Wolf Of Wall Street
The TF Verdict: Leonardo DiCaprio gives a career-best performance as Jordan Belfort, the 80s stockbroker who poured many a poor schmucks life savings into his own bulging pockets, while Jonah Hill shines (literally, in the case of his brilliant white teeth) as right-hand douchebag Donnie Azoff. Scorseses flight-of-Icarus tale dazzles in a three-hour car-crash narrative that holds our horrified attention.
2. Guardians Of The Galaxy
The TF Verdict: Touted as Marvels biggest gamble since Iron Man, Guardians Of The Galaxy found freshness in its grungy genre aesthetic, with its very idiosyncrasies now the envy of every studio looking to make their future tentpoles stand out. Writer/director James Gunn was given free reign (Joss Whedons feedback on the first draft of the screenplay was he wanted it to be more James Gunn) and it shows, allowing for Marvels funniest, wildest and most heartfelt film yet.
1. Boyhood
The TF Verdict: Made for a piffling $4m with an untrained lead and a level of dedication and foresight unrivalled in modern cinema, Richard Linklater captured 12 years in the life of a boy as he progresses from precocious child to testy teenager to self-assured young man. Like all great art, Boyhood reveals the universal in the specific, the immense in the minuscule. But it also shows us something revelatory: the boundless potential of cinema as an art form when commercial considerations cease to apply.
