2014 was a fascinating year for Hollywood that yielded a mix of fresh ideas, old standards that were taken under a new light, and some instant classics. Every weekend was filled with a new visual spectacle to take in, covering all genres, from comedy to action to drama. With such a diverse year, it’s only fitting that our lists at the Emerald are just as scattered. Take a look at some of our top picks for 2014.

Chris Berg

10. Whiplash

I’ve long been a fan of horror films for their ability to break a person emotionally. Through the trick of a director’s eye, an audience can be lulled into security – only to be ripped out in a violent manner, leaving them feeling vulnerable and raw. Whiplash is the first non-horror flick I’ve ever seen to recreate that sense of madness. J.K Simmons commands the film as a ruthless jazz band instructor, with Miles Teller the focus of his relentless attention. The two performances are a duel of wills, ending with a final battle between mentor and student. Expect Simmons to clinch the Oscar for acting, but the entire experience is among the year’s best.

9. Frank

Another journey in the music industry, Frank is an indie comedy that manages to be as absurd as it is genuine. The story, about an independent band of misfits who isolate themselves in the woods to record their masterpiece, manages to walk an incredibly fine line. As bizarre as the events become, the characters never feel artificial or overly satirical. Michael Fassbender is incredible as the titular Frank, a performance made all the more impressive by the fact that most of it is done while wearing a large papier-mâché head.

8. Nightcrawler
I saw Nightcrawler in arguably the worst conditions imaginable for a film. It was an on-campus free screening in Columbia 180, with fewer than 20 other people. The screening disc was scratched and the film sputtered and froze at random points. Despite all of this, Nightcrawler‘s twisted genius was able to grip me from start to finish. It’s part biting parable for the network news industry, part dark California noire and non-stop with tension. Gyllenhaal’s haunting portrayal is every bit as exciting to watch as the stunningly shot car chase that ends the film.

7. Interstellar

Depending on who you ask, Christopher Nolan is either the savor of the modern blockbuster, or a plague on studio filmmaking that should be barred from the medium. In an almost intentional effort to further the divide between those two camps, Interstellar is easily his most earnest film to date. It mixes his tendencies for direct, emotional dialogue with a space epic that eclipses nearly every other visual spectacle released this year. I don’t know if I’ll return to Interstellar as frequently as Nolan’s other works, but the two plus hours I spent with it in an IMAX theater may have been the most stirring I’ve had all year.

6. Jodorowsky’s Dune

Stories about the act of storytelling are inherently difficult to tell, and Jodorowsky’s Dune sets out with a nearly impossible one. In 1979, Italian director Alejandro Jodorowsky obtained the film rights for the famous science fiction novel Dune. The documentary follows both his eccentric vision for the feature (A soundtrack by Pink Floyd! Art from H.R. Giger! Orson Wells as a space king!), as well as the artists’ personal struggle to get the film made. Unfortunately, his dream picture never found funding. The most profound achievement of Jodorowsky’s Dune, is that while it hypes up a film that doesn’t exist, it doesn’t leave you wanting more. A must-see for anybody who’s fascinated by the art of film.

5. The Babadook

2014 has been a great year for character-driven horror flicks, with Oculus, Honeymoon and this outstanding Australian import. Most movies in the genre choose to make their cast as flimsy as possible, creating stereotypes to be used as lambs for the slaughter. The Babadook takes the time to build two developed characters, then manipulates them to elevate the tension. The tale of grief, regret and woe that this film tells can appeal to anyone with an appreciation for drama. An intense supernatural experience.

4. The Raid 2

If you’ve ever considered yourself a fan of action cinema, you’re a damn fool if you haven’t already seen The Raid: Redemption. The 2011 Indonesian import is one of the best pictures in the genre: 90 minutes of non-stop fight sequences, gunplay and violence. But by comparison, The Raid 2 makes that masterpiece look like a proof-of-concept. The action has exploded beyond the tower, turning an entire cityscape into writer-director Gareth Evans’ hyperactive playground. The direction and scale at play here is incontestable by anything produced in Hollywood in the past decade. It’s the closest thing to mainlining adrenaline you can get without sticking a needle in your arm.

3. The Lego Movie

Animated films are always a hard sell for me. Too often they feel emotionally manipulative, with lowest-common-denominator comedy, telling stories that lack personality. Fortunately, the genre has Phil Lord and Chris Miller to save the day. The Lego Movie is superb. It’s a mind-melting Orwellian science-fiction dystopia, with visual effects that cross the uncanny valley. The film is dense with great humor, both spoken and visual. It manages to take one of the most iconic toys of all time and turn the joy it inspires into an epic adventure. You’d have to be a fool to write it off as just for kids.

2. Godzilla

Gareth Edward’s adaptation of Godzilla is a genius work of visual art, and one of the most artistically sound blockbusters in recent history. It’s a multi-million dollar studio picture loaded with A-list stars and enough special effects to keep a thousand VFX employees well-fed for months on end. But unlike every other big summer release, Godzilla feels like the work of an artist. It holds back, putting the viewer through a series of action beats that incrementally grow in scale, from the puny human perspective, until they hover over the backs of giants. Every scene in Godzilla bleeds style, personality and inspiration. Despite a script that leaves plenty to be desired, Godzilla brought me more unrestrained satisfaction than anything else released in 2014.

1. Birdman (or, ‘The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance’)

It’s very rare for me to see a film where every element impresses me. Even in my favorite films of all time, there’s always a weak spot. Always one performance, one scene or one concept that I feel could be improved in some way. With Birdman, every piece of the puzzle is perfectly crafted. The direction is almost comically ambitious (the entire film is composed as a singular take, tracking characters from point to point with no obvious cuts), yet is pulled off in stunning display. Every core cast member is delivering what might be their greatest display of their respective careers, including the legendary Micheal Keaton, whose very casting is an act of inspired genius. He elevates a script and story that already sublimely touches upon the delicate balance between art and fame. Birdman is a film so great, it’s downright intimidating.

Audrey Bittner 

5. Unbroken

What stood out to most moviegoers about Unbroken, other than the remarkable acting and story, was director Angelina Jolie, who brought both an interesting asset to the film as well as making it easier to judge style. I usually am not a fan of wartime movies, being sensitive to witnessing too much gore, but the PG-13 rating assured that the concentration camp torture was not its biggest focus. With Joel and Ethan Coen’s help on the script, Unbroken didn’t spend much time highlighting the great parts of Louis Zamperini’s life, but instead took a strong emphasis on how he overcame many obstacles with an undeniable strength.

4. 22 Jump Street

Did you ever think you’d see a sequel that potentially surpasses the original? 22 Jump Street managed to keep the same sharp comedic timing in its performance that made it just as good, if not better than the first. Its success stood out on another level in how the cast and writing was so premier that they didn’t need to resort to raunchy material to try to be funny, something that many comedies fail to take note.

3. Interstellar

Another pleasant surprise was brought to the big screen this year from director Christopher Nolan. All though the story and acting seemed to be over-emotional at times, it didn’t take away from its sentimental themes of love’s power to transcend space and time. This Carl Sagan-esque adage holds a strong focus in the overall film. Nolan’s talent in the filmmaking world never fails to disappoint.

2. Boyhood

What could be the most unique film that has come through the theaters in quite some time, brings Boyhood, a coming-of-age drama that took twelve years in the making, capturing the lives of its lead actor and the others around him. This movie hit close to home in all of the most literal ways, as if it gave us a chance to look at our own childhood. A truly one-of-a-kind and remarkable story that will surely be the lead runner in this year’s Oscars.

1. Gone Girl

The novel that every woman read poolside this summer was made into the best book-to-movie adaptation of 2014. David Fincher’s directorial style brought Gillian Flynn’s story to life in every wild way imaginable. This film managed to become the hot topic in the common dinner table conversation. Dark suspense, psychological scheming, killer acting and immaculate directing make this film the top slot for the Oscars’ Best Picture.

Emerson Malone

5.Gone Girl
Gone Girl expertly revived the suburban noir for modern theaters. Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel, director David Fincher crafted another fine film in his career’s already-superb catalogue. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) disappears and leaves her husband Nick (Ben Affleck), in the tent of a media circus, and all evidence implicates him as her murderer. The movie boasts a disorienting bevy of lived-in characters in the periphery, from the amoral criminal lawyer (Tyler Perry) to Nick’s bespectacled, critical sister Margo (Carrie Coon). With an intricately composited plot and universal sense of distrust, the film is a misanthropic view of life in the ‘burbs.

4. I Origins

I Origins, written and directed by Mike Cahill, the same person behind the indie sci-fi movie Another Earth, focuses on two molecular biologists (Michael Pitt and Brit Marling) who are observing different species to look for a genetic marker that would denote the origin of the evolution of the eyeball. Since theists often use the human eye’s complicated machinery as evidence of an intelligent design, finding a species that could adapt to have light-sensitive cells (vision) would ostensibly discredit intelligent design. This conceit is the launchpad for I Origins and only the first third of the movie. It’s poignant, visually stunning and philosophically quite heavy.

3. Citizenfour
With classic cinematic elements of an international spy thriller, from encrypted communication with covert sources, hiding out in a glamorous hotel overseas, a secret police, massive government secrets and a hostage situation of national scale, Citizenfour would be much less scary if it weren’t a documentary. Before Edward Snowden began sharing confidential documents about the indiscriminate scrutiny from the National Security Agency in June 2013, he contacted London Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who recorded his days being holed up in a Hong Kong hotel. For optimal privacy, the hotel room’s phone is unplugged from the wall. Snowden places tape over his laptop’s internal camera. Cell phones are either gutted of their batteries or kept in the freezer. Unlike a typical documentary that retrospectively focuses on a subject, Poitras chronicles the most important American news break of the decade as it unfolds. Citizenfour is not only the finest documentary of the year, but a remarkable example of boundless, albeit justified, paranoia.

 2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

There is something radically sinister in the way this film undersells its threats. The enemies include a loose murderer, ersatz Nazis and incompetence. The hotel’s concierge Gustave H, played with flamboyant composure by Ralph Fiennes, and his protégé, the lobby boy Zero, are navigators of a chaotic story. It retains Wes Anderson’s antiseptically clean, storybook quality, but may be his most ambitious film. It contains a number of genres, from an art heist, young love and prison break in its concise 99-minute runtime. And it’s all woven together flawlessly.

1. Birdman (or, ‘The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance’)

Halfway through 2014, it became incredibly exhausting to go to the theatres with the excess of derivative films that regularly flood the marquee. That’s why it’s exciting that every so often a movie like Birdman can come around and make the movies fun again. Riggan (played by Michael Keaton) is a play director who struggles with assembling his Broadway production. The story’s interminable momentum is electric, and Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography and ceaseless tracking is hypnotic and nothing short of insane. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film alternates between a deeply upsetting comedy and a whimsical tragedy with theatrical expertise.

Honorable mentions: The Imitation Game (the true test of Cumberbatch’s acting skill will be when he plays an ordinary, well-adjusted person), Nightcrawler (the best horror story about ethics in journalism), Foxcatcher