We surveyed 100 of our favorite film critics and cineastes for their top films* and cinematic experiences of the year. The winners for top 25 films are listed below; look for Best Documentaries, Best Performances and more as the week continues. And look for most memorable moments, best/worst trends in film by month’s end.
1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
2. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard)
3. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
4. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
7. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
8. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
9. Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu)
10. Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
11. Love Is Strange (Ira Sachs)
12. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
13. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
14. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
15. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
16., 17., 18. Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier) / Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund) / Listen Up Philip (Alex Ross Perry) [tie]
19., 20. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) / National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman) [tie]
21. Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho)
22., 23. A Girl Walks Home Alone (Ana Lily Amirpour) / The Dance of Reality (Alejandro Jodorowsky) [tie]
24. Maidan (Sergei Loznitsa)
25. Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
*We asked that they choose films in distribution in the U.S. for the year 2014 for consistency’s sake.
Contributors: Aaron Cutler, Adam Cook, Adam Hartzell, Adam Schartoff, Anna Tatarska, Brandon Harris, Brian Darr, Chuck Bowen, Cody Lang, David Ehrenstein, Dennis Harvey, Glenn Heath, Jr., Ehsan Khoshbakht, Ella Taylor, Eugene Hernandez, Jaime Grijalba, Jay Keuhner, Jonathan Kiefer, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jordan Cronk, Kevin B. Lee, Lauren Treihaft, Laya Maheshwari, Max Goldberg, Michael Atkinson, Michael Pattison, Michael Tully, Michael Sicinski, Miriam Bale, Nick Schager, Pam Grady, Samuel Fragoso, Sean Axmaker, Shade Rupe, Steve Erickson, Steven Jenkins, Tara Judah, Tomas Hachard.
