Top 10 Films of 2014

Blue Ruin [15]
Blue Ruin is an innocently wide-eyed grim smile of an indy revenge thriller, with a pleasing number of darkly comic laughs. It packs a gruesome punch right from the very beginning and is neatly concise at 90 minutes. Dwight has no particular set of skills other than conviction, balls and a decentish aim. Macon Blair is wonderfully endearing as the sad and lonely lead on a killing spree. And Buzz from Home Alone (Devin Ratray) continues his comeback after Nebraska, in a minor role. Good gory fun.

Edge of Tomorrow [12A]
The Tom Cruise film for people who don't like Tom Cruise. He's basically useless and dies a couple of hundred times. Sometime in the near-ish future there's a massive alien invasion happening and Europe is about to fall. Cruise is a cowardly army spin-doctor who's been sent to the front line as punishment, where he gets caught in a time-loop when a giant squiddy alien dies on his face (no spoilers, it's in the first five minutes). Every time he dies, he restarts the same day again. Emily Blunt is a totally awesome heroine with a cool soldier nickname (The Angel of Verdun) who bosses Tom about and, when irritated, shoots him in the face (not a spoiler, he obviously comes back to life). At times it's all so silly that it's just incredibly fun. I was not expecting to enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did!

The Grand Budapest Hotel [15]
The entire film is as perfectly constructed and finished as the delightful featured cake boxes, with a contents just as delicious. Perhaps Wes Anderson's most refined and accessible picture, it has a constellation cast including Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Harvey Keitel, Ed Norton, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldbloom, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, F. Murray Abraham, and a lovely introduction for Tony Revolori as lobby boy Zero. It has a pretty bonkers yet thrilling narrative, precise aesthetic, universally cracking performances and a kind-natured heart. Warm, funny and weird required watching.

Guardians of the Galaxy [12A]
So much fun, and what a lovely surprise. 2014 was the year Chris Pratt properly arrived, and now he's got Jurassic World, Lego 2 and The Magnificent Seven remake in the pipe too. Guardians is made with the same love and care that Joss Whedon brought to its bigger Marvel sister, by people who genuinely care about the source material. It means that those of us unfamiliar with the comics can still understand their charm and humour. Super funny, suitably exciting and with a cracking 60s/70s cassette-tape soundtrack that makes you want a walkman, Guardians more than deserved to pummel its more established comic book cousins at the 2014 box office.

Ida [12A]
Expect this to clean up in the foreign-language film categories of the upcoming awards season. Pawel Pawlikowksi has created a stunning, stark, beautiful, measured, warm, truthful and expansive 80 minutes of cinema. Ida is a young novitiate nun who is sent to meet her only living relative aunt Wanda, a hard-drinking and promiscuous former Stalinist judge. After discovering that she is in fact Jewish, Ida embarks with Wanda on a journey of self-discovery that is both personal portrait and pervasive allegory for European history. Every frame of Ida is like a perfectly composed photograph in luminous 4:3 black and white, the characters marginalised to the edges of the aspect with deliberate intent. It feels like a film that could have been made in the 60s, except for the broader narrative perspective granted from the distance of 50 years. A joyous echoey John Coltrane soundtrack is the icing.

The Lego Movie [U]
Please, please let 'Everything is Awesome' win the Best Original Song Oscar! Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (22 & 23 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) have built a clever, charming, brightly-coloured classic, and they definitely haven't followed the instructions. It's as much subversive commentary on contemporary society as it is epic mission to save the "world". I had to stop watching it on a flight as my constant chuckling was disturbing my brother's sleep. Fun for big and little kids alike.

Nightcrawler [15]
This film is unlike anything I've ever seen before. A rarity in unique subject matter and exquisite execution. Jake Gyllenhaal is a disturbingly driven and pragmatic outsider who will go to any and all costs to succeed in his new-found calling of producing crime footage for local cable news. He is at once a creepy loner and determined manipulator. In his directorial debut Dan Gilroy has made a stunningly atmospheric and uneasy thriller, and Riz Ahmed ( Four Lions) and Rene Russo (The Thomas Crown Affair) offer excellent acting support.

Snowpiercer [15]
The biggest film to go under the radar in 2014. Due to a falling out between director Joon-ho Bong and producer/distributor impresario Harvey Weinstein (who wanted to change the ending) Snowpiercer never got a proper cinematic release in the US or Europe. But this is a must see. After a catastrophically failed attempt by the world's nations to counter the affects of climate change, the remaining citizens of the human race exist on a never-ending train journey. A class system has evolved, with decadence giving way to desperation with distance from the engine. Captain America and Billy Elliot backed by a sage-like John Hurt plan a revolution to overthrow the unequal status quo, but to succeed they must take control of the train, one carriage at a time… A couple of hours of visceral and cerebral badassery ensue, and thankfully the ending never did get changed. This is also a grittier and much more epic ark story than the one with silly smashy rock monsters and Ray Winstone in an odd accent.

Starred Up [18]
This gritty British prison drama is totally riveting. Jonathan Asser provides an incredible debut screenplay, writing with personal insight, having worked as a volunteer therapist at HMP Wandsworth. Boy-of-the-moment Jack O'Connell ( '71, Unbroken) gives a typically nuanced and truthful performance as a juvie inmate bumped up to big prison early, only to find he's got his estranged dad (Ben Mendelsohn) as a neighbour. David Mackenzie has made a film that creates a cabin fever claustrophobia for its audience, that's explosively violent, simmeringly tense and offers a serious emotional gut punch. Brilliant.

What We Do in the Shadows [15]
Who knew a kiwi vampire mockumentary would be the best comedy of the year? Written and directed by Jemaine Clement ( Flight of the Concords) and Taika Waititi (Green Lantern), who also star, here is the beautifully incongruous yet recognisable squabbles of four undead housemates. It's the usual stuff; do the washing up, keep the house tidy, remember to put down newspaper to mop up the spurting blood of your victims. Endlessly quotable, this is a future cult favourite.

Labour Day, We Are The Best, Lilting, Will & Testament, Paddington, and Nightcrawler just miss the Top Ten, which goes too...

10. Maps to the Stars
A paranoid satire of Hollywood in meltdown, infused with the kind of atmospheric horror and dread that only David Cronenbourg can muster. A merciless dig at disturbed actress (brilliantly played by Julianne Moore), her troubled maid, a traumatised child actor and his bizarre parents, this is a thoroughly modern and strangely old fashioned snapshot of an out-of-control celebrity world. By far Cronenbourg's strongest film in at least a decade, but sadly not a Best Actress contender for Moore at this year's Oscars.

9. Pride
An outstanding breakout performance from Ben Schnetzer anchors this touching comedy drama about a niche aspect of the '84 miners strike, in which the LGBT community joined forces with the people of a remote South Wales village to aid their cause. This joins The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Made In Dagenham in the ranks of the uplifting crowd pleaser with a political edge; it's one of the things British cinema does best.

8. An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker
An engrossing if grim portrayal of a family trying to get healthcare in former Yugoslavia. This echoes films as diverse as The Death of Mr Lazarescu and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in its stark depiction of an Eastern Europe gone wrong, with a family of non-professional actors playing a version of themselves in the lead roles.

7. Stranger By The Lake
A satisfying sense of menace fills this taut thriller set entirely around a gay cruising beach. A young man begins regularly meeting a mysterious older lover for no-questions sex, when a murder occurs. The protagonists are affected without being directly involved - or are they? The police investigation aspect of this film is as interesting as the psychosexual element; guys who purposefully obscure details of their encounters in order to remain anonymous and prepare for the next, make the worst possible witnesses in a murder investigation, much to the annoyance of the inspector.

6. August: Osage County
A fierce Oklahoma matriarch, terminally ill with mouth cancer, becomes a widow and invites her family home for the funeral weekend. From this grim premise emerges a hilarious and frightening drama of manners about family rage and the harshness of life on the American plains. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts go all out with their best American woman fury, and the futility of it all is perfectly summed-up by the film's best line, scornfully uttered by Roberts as she drives across the plains en route to her childhood home: "we f****d the Indians for this?!".

5. Starred Up
The spirit of the late great Alan Clarke lives on in this vice-like drama about prison life. Jack O'Connell channels something of the young Ray Winstone into his performance as a violent young man "upgraded" to an adult prison because the young offenders' system cannot control him. It's a roaring, raw film with a central performance to match.

4. The Wolf Of Wall Street
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio continue to work well together in this hugely entertaining slice of early 90s-set melodrama. DiCaprio plays a callow stockbroker who claws his way to the very top of the Wall Street ladder, only to lose it all in a sea of indulgence, cocaine and paranoia. It's Scorsese's usual moral tale - you reap what you sow - shot through with fresh energy and bite, and a brilliant pair of performances from DiCaprio and Margot Robbie as his pouting wife.

3. Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
You might suppose that a commercial studio biopic of Nelson Mandela with a crushing U2 soundtrack might not do the subject matter or the great man justice... it does. Following in the footsteps of Veronica Guerin and The Lady, this is a tight, engrossing, accessible biopic. Idris Elba's performance as Mandela is pretty good, but Naomie Harris as Winnie is even better. As for the history, you might need to know a bit about South Africa before you start, but the film still does an accurate and informative job.

2. The Past
Inexplicably snubbed on the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language film list, this is a riveting slice of life drama set in workaday Paris. An Iranian, estranged from his wife, returns to France to complete their (relatively) amicable divorce. It should be straightforward, but it isn't. And the longer he stays, the more complicated it gets. All the performances are top notch, but the real beauty is in the writing: almost every scene contains enough material for an entire film. It affords endless repeat viewings.

1. '71
After a period of relative absence from British cinema, the subject of Northern Ireland bursts back in this fireball thriller about the bad, bad days of early 70s Belfast. Told primarily through the eyes of a young Derbyshire soldier (Jack O'Connell again) this is a hugely detailed and engrossing film that fits large amounts of information into its fairly swift 99 minutes of screen time. Essentially the story of how corruption, dishonesty, duplicity and paranoia ran rampant on both sides of the divide, this brings up such a grimly authentic portrayal of the Northern Ireland of 40 years ago that it feels like it could actually have been made in 1971.

Things you saw, never got round to or didn’t hit the spot. Everyone has their own lists. A “Top Ten Films of 2014” is equally personal. And if the list that follows is heavy on action then that might be a preference. Or it might also mean that 2014 was a year when cinema returned a little to its roots in movement and magic.

Lights, camera… action!

10. Transformers: Age of Extinction
Britain’s best broadcast critic, Mark Kermode, was in Oxford this year for a Q&A on his brilliant book about poison-pen reviews, Hatchet Job. No friend of the Transformers director Michael Bay, Kermode rates Age of Extinction as the worst film of 2014: worse even than Pudsey the Dog: The Movie and Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie. Methinks he doth protest too much. Transformers 4 was bursting with bravura eye-popping action, filmed from every imaginable and every unimaginable angle. Rooted in Mark Wahlberg’s watchable action hero, this was more awesome than awful.

9. Inside Llewyn Davis
Inside Llewyn Davis stays with you inspite of yourself. A Coen Brothers shaggy-dog story about a wannabe folk musician, it’s a funny and exasperating experience. Llewyn Davis has talent but no gumption. Cruising the sofas of well-meaning friends, and alienating all of them, he’s adrift in a sea of unfulfilled ambition. A comedy of errors, with songs, Inside Llewyn Davis is a wry, laugh-out-loud and wincingly-funny film.

8 Blue Ruin
Down and out recluse Dwight is told by the police that a convicted killer is about to be released from prison. Becoming a reluctant assassin to right a family-wrong, he triggers a feud that can’t end well. Tautly written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin - named from the car that Dwight lives in – is an indie-thriller that unfolds like a Shakespearean tragedy. And at 90 minutes, it’s an object lesson in well-edited storytelling.

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Manners maketh the man – and maketh the best Marvel superhero. Frozen in the 1940s, Steve Rogers awakes in the modern world with politeness intact while wreaking dutiful havoc on the vengeful Winter Soldier who threatens mankind. Beautifully shot by directors Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America 2 deftly avoids the Marvel mash-up of frenetic CGI action and choreographs some clear-as-day sequences.

6. Belle
Oxford-born Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy Captain. Raised by her aristocratic great uncle, the Lord Chief Justice (Tom Wilkinson), Dido experiences society’s prejudices against the backdrop of a trial that will contribute to the abolition of slavery itself. Beautifully filmed and played, with a sprightly script, Belle deserved its cinema outing. Visually and dramatically, this wasn’t TV writ large. And Mike Leigh could take a few lessons from director Amma Asante about filming a period story. Belle is better than the leaden Mr Turner.

5. Lone Survivor
Little known, little seen, Lone Survivor tells of a Navy SEAL team tasked with extracting a Taliban chief in Afghanistan. Based on Marcus Luttrell’s account of what happened, its film seen solely through its action. Discovered by Afghan shepherds, the SEALs let them go, knowing it’ll trigger a manhunt. Tense, visceral and stunningly shot, Lone Survivor is a movie in the tradition of Black Hawk Down, Gravity and All is Lost. Plunging you in – it asks you squarely, ‘what would you do to survive’?

4. 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
How many films feature a dance with Stalin, a stalag-internment with Einstein’s brother - and an old man who dispatches a gangster’s skin-head henchmen. Based on Jonas Jonasson’s best-selling novel, it tells of a centenarian bomb-maker bored of his rest-home who defenestrates himself and accidentally nicks a bag of swag from a thug. Cue a shaggy-dog road-trip as the titular hero teams up with a ragtag group of misfits and an elephant. All the while recounting his unlikely adventures across twentieth century history. Like Zelig with dynamite, it’s a funny, tall-tale of a movie.

3. Locke
This shouldn’t work. Radio drama or TV perhaps. But cinema? Ivan Locke is a building construction manager. Leaving the site for a long drive home, he receives an in-car phone call that changes everything. Over the journey, Locke faces-up to what he’s done and what he must do. A series of calls maps out his life as he tries to hold it together even as it unravels. Tom Hardy’s performance is mesmerising. The other actors (including Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott) actually phoned-in to Hardy’s car as he drove, providing a tense edge to the dialogue. Locke is both a mystery and a very human, philosophical drama, as the title deliberately suggests.

2. Gravity
Lost in space, Sandra Bullock is the sole survivor of a space-walk gone wrong. Adrift and seeking to wrest control first of herself then of the damaged craft, this is a nail-biting movie that goes to the roots of cinema. Almost a silent film, director’s Alfonso Cuaron’s trick-of-the-light creation makes us forget the green-screen technology. Hypnotically filmed, Gravity is at once an exciting spectacle of jeopardy and a study of endurance. And happily for us, it’s a snappily-paced film that doesn’t overdo its gravity.

1. The Raid 2: Berandal
A breath-taking action movie blended with the best of the gangster genre. An Indonesian film, directed by Welshman Gareth Evans, this picks up hours after the ending of first Raid, Evans’ breakout movie. While the original’s budget confined it to a tower block, the sequel spills out in epic proportion, exceptionally filmed. Choreographed with exquisite attention, the camera dances fluidly amid car chases and combat. Even the plot of corruption and undercover takedowns is spiced with credible and curious characters. Sequels rarely surpass the original: The Raid 2 does and establishes Evans as one of the finest directors of movement in modern cinema.

Top 10 Films of 2014

The Babadook
“You can’t get rid of the Babadook”, warns this chilling Aussie horror film. Director Jennifer Kent slowly conjures up shadowy frights and slow-burning scares, which stay with you long after the film finishes. A troubled mother/ son relationship is the emotional heart, and it’s impossible not to root for parent and child as they battle inner demons and a real-life monster.

Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch is one of my top directors, and his first feature in five years didn’t disappoint. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston play an achingly cool vampire couple who drift back into each other’s lives. Steering clear of overtly hipster territory, the film makes some light-hearted jokes about the un-dead, and has a mighty fine soundtrack.

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Is this the most “Wes Anderson” Wes Anderson film made to date? Set in a fantastical Mittel-European country, Ralph Fiennes is eccentric Hotel concierge Gustave H. He becomes embroiled in murders, theft and a prison break – never losing his cool and maintaining his l’air de panache. Look out for all the stellar cameos.

Calvary
Calvary is a jet-black comedy set in Ireland, and directed by John Michael McDonagh of The Guard fame. “Good priest” Father James (Brendan Gleeson) receives a startling threat in Confession: a man will kill him in one week, as revenge for being abused by a priest. We follow the Father as his faith is tested. Gripping and challenging to watch.

What We Do in the Shadows
A witty mockumentary from the New Zealand creators of Flight of the Concords. This horror-comedy imagines what would happen if a bunch of centuries-old vampires lived in a suburban house share. Cue arguments over the cleaning rota, run-ins with werewolves, and training a newbie vamp. Plus planning for event of the year, the Unholy Masquerade.

Lilting
A refreshingly original low-budget drama, Hong Khaou’s feature has just been nominated for an ‘Outstanding Debut’ BAFTA award. A Cambodian-Chinese mother struggles to cope with her son’s death. His secret lover Richard is “lost in translation” while getting to know her, as they slowly build a relationship. Poignant and understated, this film bristles with emotion.

Belle
This thought-provoking costume drama is not afraid to tackle issues of race and class. Belle is the daughter of an African slave and naval officer, and is brought up by his aristocratic family. When she learns about a slave massacre, Belle starts to question her place in society. Up-and-coming director Amma Asante is a talent to watch out for.

The Lunchbox
After a mix up with delivered lunchboxes in Mumbai, a housewife finds herself writing notes to a stranger, and they connect over the delicious food she cooks. Two of my favourite things are food and films, so combining these passions for a colourful Bollywood rom-com celebrating the senses was certainly to my taste.

Paddington
A charming film based on the popular children’s books. Travelling to London from Darkest Peru, Paddington is taken in by the eccentric Brown family, who are brought to life by excellent performances. The eponymous bear’s visual effects and eclectic soundtrack stand out, and the film features delightfully British humour. For the big kid in all of us.

Whiplash
My last film on the list is a slight cheat. I watched Whiplash in a 2014 preview, but it’s officially released January 2015. Music lessons have never looked so epic, as promising drummer Andrew fights to be the best. Is his instructor a sadistic bully, or just pushing to find the next jazz prodigy? Edge-of-your-seat stuff.

Top Films of 2014

Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater)
Often overlooked as an auteur, Linklater really created a masterpiece with this film, which took twelve years to film, allowing audiences to see characters and actors grow up in real time. The film featured a standout performance from Patricia Arquette and was made more universal by focusing on the small, subtle moments that make up life, rather than by focusing on the major milestones.

Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher)
Adapted by Gillian Flynn from her own novel, this had me covering my eyes, squirming in my seat and shouting at characters in equal measure. Only Fincher could make a marriage so (literally and metaphorically) dark.

The Lego Movie (dir. Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
Never has tearing up the instruction manual felt so good. Great voice work, a nostalgic homemade quality (spot those wires) and a clever postmodern plot. If a cynical 2-hour advert for a commercial toy product is what you were expecting, then this slice of creative wackiness was even more of a pleasant surprise.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (dir. Anthony & Joe Russo)
This was by no means a perfect second-outing for Chris Evans’ Cap, but Marvel really managed to hook into the current zeitgeist, with clear drone-related debates.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (dir. Bryan Singer)
Cemented the success of First Class (albeit with a slight dip in quality) and had spectacular set-pieces. The Mystique/Xavier relationship was really put to the test in this film and provided yet more intriguing backstory for those of us not fully versed with the comics.

Calvary (dir. John Michael McDonagh)
After the Gleeson-McDonagh hit that was The Guard (and, Gleeson’s outstanding turn in In Bruges), I had high expectations for this tale of a priest given a week to live by one of his parishioners. The fact that the marketing machine clearly labelled this a comedy made the darker edge of this film surprising (not always pleasantly so), but it was another good effort from Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd showed that he can do serious.

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (dir. Francis Lawrence)
This was, perhaps inevitably, always going to be the calm before the storm of part 2. Yet Jennifer Lawrence gave another believable performance and there was more action that might be expected. Roll on Part Two.

Interstellar (dir. Christopher Nolan)
I’ll preface this by saying that Nolan is my favourite director, but for me, this just didn’t quite live up to the hype (is it bad to say I preferred the teaser trailer to the finished product?). However, McConaughey was superb (continuing his revival), Nolan’s old-school visuals were stunning and the father-daughter dynamic was heart-breaking. That bookcase will continue to outsmart me, as will the minutiae of the quantum physics plot threads, but this is still a film worth seeing, for Hans Zimmer’s score alone.

Ones that missed the bar…
The Amazing Spider-man 2: the title itself is a misnomer. Clumsy plotting (an extended third act) and a caricature Jamie Foxx overshadowed what could have been a worthy sequel for Webb.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The way this franchise has been rebooted is impressive and Rise was excellent, but the latest offering felt lacking in terms of script and characters we could genuinely care about. Despite impressive WETA performance capture then, this missed Wyatt’s human touch.

This list is, of course, subjective (for one, I didn’t manage to see as many films as I would have liked last year – cue New Year’s resolution number one).

Top 8 Films of 2014

1. '71
Tight, tense, visceral thriller about a soldier separated from his unit in Belfast during the troubles. Jack O’Connell is outstanding, but the pace of the film is absolutely perfect. Not a scene is wasted, and much of it is visually stunning. Absolutely superb.

2. The Imitation Game
One of those true life stories that almost feels too far-fetched to be true. Cumberbatch is excellent as the eccentric (autistic?) Alan Turing, and the tragedy of his eventual suicide doesn’t overpower his achievement, although it does leave the correct final impression.

3. Frank
Only slightly odd black comedy based only slightly on Frank Sidebottom. The touching final scenes make the comedy poignant and disturbing, and the overall effect is that this is a much better film than you thought while you were watching it.

4. Two Days, One Night
Belgian-style social realism by the frères Dardenne. A woman suffering from bouts of depression will be laid off unless her co-workers are willing to forego their pay bonus to keep her on, so spends her weekend asking whether they will agree. As a device to show a range of different lives, and how people respond to a radically moral question, it’s superb. Compelling right up to the final scene.

5. Calvary
Perhaps not quite as good as The Guard, but still very, very good. Brendon Gleeson is the moral compass as the smart, compassionate priest in a rural Irish community populated by strange and unhappy types. When, in confession, someone tells him they intend to kill him, we’re left to consider the likely assassin. It’s an immaculate film in some ways, an unsettling one in others.

6. Finding Vivian Maier
Like all the best documentaries, this leaves you with as many questions as it answers. Vivian Maier, a children’s nanny who lived in Chicago, is now critically acclaimed as a street photographer after her vast collection was discovered by chance. The film beautifully demonstrates her genius as an artist, but also reveals elements to a troubled life, and the different ways she is remembered by the various children she looked after

7. Locke
Ingenious one-man film – Tom Hardy plays a family man, driving. Throughout the piece he talks to his wife, his boss, colleagues, and his dead father, and we find out where he's going. It’s gripping stuff, made possible through hands-free technology.

8. Starred Up
Not for the faint hearted, this is a British companion piece to the French prison drama A Prophet. Jack O’Connell plays a young offender transferred to an adult prison who is determined to make a name for himself, especially when he meets his convict father. It’s brutal, but even when you want to turn away, you can’t.

Top 10 Films of 2014

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Because it’s Wes Anderson doing what Wes Anderson does best and it’s glorious.

August: Osage County
Because tense and tumultuous family reunions are always more entertaining when it’s someone else’s family

Boyhood
Because it took 12 years to make so it’s worth a watch.

Calvary
Because nobody does black comedy like the Irish.

Her
Because one day we all might be wearing such high wasted trousers.

The Imitation Game
Because it’s an incredibly important story. Simple as that.

Mr Turner
Because Timothy Spall is finally the main man and he does it well.

Muppets Most Wanted
Because the Muppets have recovered from a slew of bad films and this time they’ve got Tina Fey involved.

Paddington
Because it’s pretty much a covert (and timely) anti-UKIP message wrapped up in the adaptation of beloved children’s book.

Pride
Because it’s just an all-rounder; a true story that’s entertaining and feel-good to boot.