Some top movies of 2014 ...

It was the movie where little things yet everything happened - and Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, the extraordinary account of a boy growing up in Texas - is my favourite of 2014.

The director’s experiment in capturing the life of a child over three hours on the big screen was already a fascinating idea - and that it was so moving and brilliantly acted was a bonus. I believe it’ll go down as an all-time classic in years to come.

It wasn’t a vintage year for the movies, but 2014 threw up quite a few gems. 12 Years a Slave was every bit as harrowing an account of slavery in the US as it should have been.

’71 was a gripping thriller set in Belfast that marked out British actor Jack O’Connell as a serious young talent. French femme fatale Marion Cotillard showed her acting chops in the Dardenne Brothers’ affecting Two Days, One Night, and Ralph Fiennes was a riot in Wes Anderson’s funny and lovely looking Grand Budapest Hotel. And who knew that The LEGO Movie would gift us with one of the funniest scripts of the year?

But it wouldn't be an end of year review or the festive season without some turkeys …

There were turkeys too. Adam Sandler inflicted another dud comedy (to diminishing returns) with the woeful Blended, which even the lovely Drew Barrymore was unable to save.

The Nicolas Sparks adaptations just kept on coming with the bland The Best of Me, while Men, Women and Children was a pretentious and painful affair from the usually reliable Jason Reitman. The worst of all? The so-bad-it’s-almost-good (but not quite) Grace of Monaco, with a appallingly wooden Nicole Kidman.

The Best Movies of 2014

Boyhood
12 Years a Slave
'71
Two Days, One Night
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Lego Movie
Frank
Unbreakable
Gone Girl
Starred Up

And the worst….

Grace of Monaco
Blended
The Best of Me
Men, Women and Children
The Love Punch
Last Vegas
Dumb and Dumber To
Labor Day
3 Days to Kill