The Best Movies of 2014

20. Pride

The TF Verdict: Who knew striking miners and gay campaigners had so much in common? Saucy, uplifting and astute, Matthew Warchus vibrant Brit-flick was the crowd pleaser of the year.

19. X-Men: Days Of Future Past

The TF Verdict: The new X-Men meet the old X-Men to battle time loops and giant robots. This humungous comic-book adaptation sees Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) travel back in time to help Professor X (James McAvoy) prevent future destruction. Theres more ambition, more thrills and more A-listers than all the other X-flicks put together.

18. Gone Girl

The TF Verdict: Based on the Gillian Flynns bestselling crime thriller, Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike play the perfect-looking couple whose relationship is far from perfect. David Fincher's on directorial duties for a vicious dissection of marriage thats to die for.

17. Starred Up

The TF Verdict: Forget Porridge. David Mackenzies drama showed prison as it is, with father and son convicts reuniting behind bars. You wouldnt meet Jack OConnells tasty glare in a boozer, but try taking your eyes off him here.

16. Nightcrawler

The TF Verdict: Switch off that television and head out to the cinema: Jake Gyllenhaal prowls LA for crime footage in Dan Gilroys satire of media amorality. This stylish horrorshow sees a gaunt, vampiric Gyllenhaal give a career-best performance.

15. Her

The TF Verdict: Spike Jonze logs on to a man/machine virtual romance that, for all its techno-focus, is a very human love story about our need for connection. Joaquin Phoenixs open-book emotions move, Scarlett Johansson speaks volumes. Strange, witty, honest and curiously comforting.

14. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

The TF Verdict: San Frans simians get smart in a sequel to the prequel. Set years after the events of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, freed ape Caesar leads a community of photo-realistic mo-cap apes whose peace is ruined by an invasion of humans. The emotive script doesnt monkey around either.

13. Calvary

The TF Verdict: Brendan Gleeson excels as a Catholic churchman under physical and spiritual threat in this unexpected blend of passion play, detective story, rural comedy and serious inquiry into faith.

12. Edge Of Tomorrow

The TF Verdict: Cruises taut time-looping actioner offers smarts as well as spectacle, and a kick-ass Emily Blunt. Together, they battle the future (and invading aliens). He fights aliens. Dies. Fights aliens. Dies. Fights aliens

11. Maps To The Stars

The TF Verdict: By probing parts other Tinseltown take-downs dont reach, David Cronenberg engineers his own genetic mutation of the Hollywood satire. Among its starry cast of Cusack, Pattinson and Wasikowska, Julianne Moore especially revels in the sex and psychosis.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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