Ex Machina Review

Over the past few years, some of the best British sci-fi films have been written by Alex Garland. Between 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Dredd, I've always been impressed by Garland's output and when I found out that he would be making his directorial debut, I was excited. This excitement grew after I saw the trailer and found out the film would be starring Domhnall Gleeson (one of my favourite rising stars), Oscar Isaac (who's made a lot of really interesting films) and Alicia Vikander (who I'm happy to see in more stuff after her brilliant performance in A Royal Affair).  The film itself is one of the best British sci-fi films made recently.

Whiplash Review

Since I first heard about it after last years Sundance, I've been interested in watching Whiplash. Whilst I'm not really a fan of Miles Teller, I am a fan of JK Simmons and seeing so much acclaim for his performance, with an Oscar win likely, made me really excited to see this film. After watching the film, my anticipation was justified. Out of all the films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year that I've seen, this is my favourite.

Foxcatcher Review

Ever since it was announced, I have been intrigued by Foxcatcher. Having not heard the story of John DuPont and the Schultz brothers before watching, I was intrigued as to what parts of the story merited it being turned into a film. Along with this, the casting of Steve Carell in a non-comedic role was really intriguing to me. After watching the film, I can say that my intrigue was well placed, this is a really captivating film.

Birdman Review

Out of all the films getting major attention for the current awards season, Birdman has been the one I've been looking forward to most. Whilst I'm not familiar with the filmography of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the idea of the film looked really interesting and I'm a fan of Michael Keaton, with him putting in entertaining work even in terrible films. After watching the film, my anticipation was justified. We're a few days into 2015 and this is already one of the films to beat.

Top 10 Films of 2014

So here it is, my top 10 films of 2014. On a whole, despite there being some really bad films this year, on a whole this has been one of the best years in film for a long time. Whilst the bad films were really bad, the good films were really good, I've probably given more films 5 stars this year than I have any other year. Narrowing down my top 10 was a lot harder this year than it has been any other year (a brilliant top 10 could have been made from my 11-20 ranked films) but I have come to a decision I'm happy with. Once again, any film released in the UK in 2014 can be included. Whilst this means that films like Birdman (which I've just seen and will be in my top 10 films for this year), Whiplash, Snowpiercer and Selma cannot be included, some of the major awards fare released in the US in 2013 will make appearances in this list. With that said, here are my top 10 favourite films of 2014:

Top 10 Male Performances of 2014

Following on from yesterdays list of my 10 favourite female performances of 2014, today's list comprises my top 10 favourite male performances of 2014. The same rules as yesterday apply (any film released in 2014 in the UK can be included and I will only put one performance per film on here). This has been a brilliant year for performances, with many performances that would have topped lists in previous years only being honourable mentions here, it was really hard deciding on the final 10, but I feel like I've chosen the correct ones considering the films I saw this year. With that out of the way, let's dive in:

Top 10 Female Performances of 2014

For this year, I've decided to do something long overdue for my best performances list and have split it in two, one for male performances and one for female performances. As stated yesterday, the rules of this list are that only one performance per film can be included and any film released in 2014 is eligible. With that out of the way, lets get started with my top 10 favourite performances by women in 2014.

Top 10 Film Scenes of 2014

So it's that time of the year again for the end of year lists. Once again, my rule for these lists is that any film released in the UK in 2014 can be counted. This means that films released in 2013 in America like 12 Years a Slave, Fruitvale Station and The Wolf of Wall Street will be included. It also means that you won't see films like Birdman, Whiplash and Selma, all of which come out in the UK in 2015, along with Snowpiercer which probably would make a few appearances in my lists if the Weinstein's ever bother to release it in the UK. For the next four days there will be a different list starting my favourite film scenes of 2014. As usual for these lists, I will only be including one scene per film. With that said, lets get started: