Why 40? Why not. This has been an interesting (and to my mind, excellent) year for. There are a lot of truly great films being made these days, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. What is in doubt, is whether or not this level of quality can be maintained considering that more and more people are only going to see big tentpole releases. The big tentpole action movie market is fairly strong, with Hunger Games, and Disney doing boffo box office. And new advances in technology and funding models are allowing independent film makers to make inroads they’ve never been able to make before. But while both of those scenes have built in audiences that aren’t really going anywhere, the mid-level budget Hollywood film seems to be a dying breed. Do you know how many movies in the US top 20 cost less than $50 million to make?
Exactly two.
Folks, there are a lot of great movies being made every day, that cater to every type of taste. You just have to look for them.
A few notes about this year’s list:
This isn’t comprehensive. It’s just not possible to see every highly rated film, and still have a job. Plus, the fact that some of the higher profile buzz movies don’t make it out until the end of the year, and some don’t even get released where I live until 2015, make it even more difficult. So things like Selma, and Inherent Vice, just couldn’t be considered.
Here we go.
40. A Most Wanted Man directed by Anton Corbjin
39. Finding Fela/Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown directed by Alex Gibney
38. Faith Connections directed by Pan Nalin
37. Obvious Child directed by Gillian Robespierre
36. The Master Builder directed by Jonathan Demme
35. The Grand Piano directed by Euginio Miro
34. X-Men: Days Of Future Past directed by Brian Singer
33. Only Lovers Left Alive directed by Jim Jarmusch
32. Locke directed by Steven Knight
31. Life Itself directed by Steve James
30. The Double directed by Richard Ayoade
29. Jodorowsky’s Dune directed by Frank Pavich
28. Snowpiercer directed by Bong Joon-ho
27. Tim’s Vermeer directed by Teller
26. The Babadook directed by Jennifer Kent
25. The One I Love directed by Charlie McDowell
24. Mommy directed by Xavier Dolan
23. Winter Sleep directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
22. Two Days, One Night directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
21. John Wick directed by David Leitch & Chad Stahelski
20. Cheap Thrills directed by E.L. Katz
19. Guardians of the Galaxy directed by James Gunn
18. Blue Ruin directed by Jeremy Saulnier
17. It Follows directed by David Robert Mitchell
16. Gone Girl directed by David Fincher
15. Captain America: The Winter Soldier directed by Joe Russo & Anthony Russo
14. Starred Up directed David Mackenzie
13. Force Majeure directed by Ruben Östlund
12. Under The Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer
11. Boyhood directed by Richard Linklater
10. Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson
9. Frank directed by Lenny Abrahamson
8. Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras
7. The Raid 2 directed by Gareth Evans
6. Wild Tales directed by Damián Szifrón
5. Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle
4. Venus In Fur directed by Roman Polanski
3. Enemy directed by Denis Vileneuve
2. Nightcrawler by Dan Gilroy
1. Birdman directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
