20 Favorite Films of 2014 (as of December 16, 2014)

1. UNDER THE SKIN (Jonathan Glazer)

2. INHERENT VICE (Paul Thomas Anderson)

3. CITIZENFOUR (Laura Poitras)

4. IDA (Pawel Pawlikowski)

5. WETLANDS (David Wnendt)

6. THE DANCE OF REALITY (Alejandro Jodorowsky)

7. ENEMY (Denis Villeneuve)

8. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (Wes Anderson)

9. NYMPHOMANIAC (Lars Von Tier)

10. THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani)

11. HOUSEBOUND (Gerard Johnstone)

12. THE IMMIGRANT (James Gray)

13. BLUE RUIN (Jeremy Saulnier)

14. MILIUS (Joey Figueroa and Zak Knutson)

15. THE DOG (Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren)

16. NIGHTCRAWLER (Dan Gilroy)
17. THE ONE I LOVE (Charlie McDowell)

18. THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (Ramon Zürcher)

19. LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (Hirokazu Koreeda)

20. TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)

ABUSE OF WEAKNESS, STRANGER BY THE LAKE and ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE were on my 2013 list, or they would have appeared somewhere on this one.

My favorite 10 films that haven’t been released in the U.S. yet:

1.  JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso)
2. EDEN (Mia Hansen-Løve)
3. LA SAPIENZA (Eugene Green)
4. OUR SUNHI (Hong Sang-soo)
5. BLIND (Eskil Vogt)
6. HARD TO BE A GOD (Aleksey German)
7. MISUNDERSTOOD (Asia Argento)
8. THE WONDERS (Alice Rohrwacher)
9. HUMAN CAPITAL (Paolo Virzi)
10. PASOLINI (Abel Ferrara)

The worst film I saw this year was Atom Egoyan’s DEVIL’S KNOT.  This is coming from one of maybe 7 or 8 people that kind of enjoyed Egoyan’s other much-loathed 2014 effort, THE CAPTIVE.

I caught over 100 new films this year, but MANAKAMANA, STRAY DOG, STRAY DOGS, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, THE FOOL, PHOENIX, A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, NORWAY, THE LEGO MOVIE, EDGE OF TOMORROW, FOR THE PLASMA, A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE, BIG EYES, LOVE IS STRANGE, NATIONAL GALLERY, AMERICAN SNIPER, THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY, HILL OF FREEDOM and NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY were among the hundreds I have yet to see.  I may wind up enjoying some of these even more than what appears on my list today.