The releases of 2014 have been a rocky road. When many of them were announced, they were like a kindergarten class of inspiring kids with plenty of ambition and potential. However, as the films matured to release date, we were left in a sea of mediocrity. Films that could have been fantastic blockbusters – like “Godzilla,” “Maleficent” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” – were fraught with problems, making them forgettable at best. Even the end-of-the-year award slate offerings – including “Big Eyes,” “Into the Woods” and “Unbroken” – had such promise but ended up being uninspiring.

Still, in the batch of releases throughout the years, there were some stellar movies to highlight. Like my best-of lists of previous years, I demonstrate my soft spot for animation, and I am happy to see a nice mixture of award-bait movies and blockbuster tent-poles, and even a few lesser-known films that missed out on others’ lists. Anyway, on to my ten favorite of 2014…
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