At year’s end I usually find myself defending the previous 12 months from people convinced that films don’t matter, they don’t make them like they used to, and TV is so much better than movies now anyway. The year 2014, however, was admittedly weak. There was one film that towered above all the others, and most everything else felt either fascinating but flawed, or small and perfect but inconsequential. With that in mind, and with hopes that 2015 will be a better crop, here are the ten best movies of 2014.