1. Whiplash
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Damien Chazelle
Actors: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell, Jayson Blair
Plot: A stern teacher helps mold a struggling young drummer who is working to become a top jazz drummer.
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Wes Anderson
Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham
Plot: Between WWI and WWII, Gustave H works as a legendary concierge at one of Europe's finest hotels. During his tenure he creates a life-long friend in a lobby boy, Zero Moustafa.
3. Nightcrawler
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Dan Gilroy
Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton, Rene Russo, Ann Cusack, Anne McDaniels, Kevin Rahm
Plot: A down and out young man, desperate for work, stumbles upon the seedy underworld of L.A.'s crime journalism. The break-neck pace is all about being the first on the scene - murder, accidents, fires, mayhem - and selling the gratuitous footage to the local news stations. But the better he gets, the more likely he is going to become the next story...
4. Gone Girl
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R
Director: David Fincher
Actors: Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens
Plot: On the eve of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports his wife, Amy, has gone missing. As increasing police and media pressure mount, the facade of a loving and blissful union crumbles and amidst the lies and behavior of Nick, the question remains - did he kill her?
5. Interstellar
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Christopher Nolan
Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace
Plot: After a wormhole makes interstellar travel possible, a group of intrepid explorers decide to take the trip and inspire hope in a planet that desperately needs it.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: James Gunn
Actors: Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan
Plot: In the far reaches of space American pilot, Peter Quill, must team up with a ragtag group of misfits after he incurs the wrath of the dreaded Ronan after stealing an orb.
7. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Bryan Singer
Actors: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
Plot: In a dystopian future, Wolverine is sent back in time to the early 1970s in order to change events that have had such a devastating impact on mutant and mankind alike.
8. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Actors: Emma Stone, Michael Keaton, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough
Plot: He once played an iconic superhero - but that was then, and this is now.
With a huge ego and family trouble - a washed-up actor will attempt to put
his troubles behind him at he mounts a comeback on Broadway.
9. Tale of Princess Kaguya, The ( Kaguyahime no monogatari )
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Isao Takahata
Actors: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, James Marsden
Plot: Based on the oldest surviving, and one of the most famous, Japanese folklore tales - an old man who makes a living selling bamboo comes across a princess, no bigger than his finger, in one of the plants. Named Kaguya, she grows and when she is of age, five suitors from five prestigious families come to propose. She requests five memorable wedding gifts - but each of the five men fails to bring her what she wants - then, the Emperor of Japan proposes as well.
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Actors: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie, Robert Redford
Plot: Stever Rogers aka Captain America, continues to adapt to the modern world while working with S.H.I.E.L.D but an old friend is about to turn up: his former partner-in-arms James 'Bucky' Barnes resurfaces - but he's been programmed as a Russian assassin known as The Winter Soldier.
