As the year comes to the close, a few remaining movies round off the well-rounded year of cinema. Here is a handful of the top films from 2014.

1) The Grand Budapest Hotel

Starting off the list is the publicly acclaimed The Grand Budapest Hotel, writer-director Wes Anderson’s best effort yet. While many Wes fans may dispute this claim, his prior films appear wishy-washy in style, whereas Budapest nails a particular quirky style with absolute precision. Indubitably one of the most visually pleasing films of 2014, Grand Budapest is a prime example of Wes Anderson’s attention to detail; the sets, wardrobe, colors, shots, and camera movements are all meticulously and carefully executed. The cinematic beauty of the film accentuates the bizarre and unique plot of a man recounting his tales as a lobby boy alongside the mysteriously enthralling concierge, Monsieur Gustave, played flawlessly by Ralph Fiennes.

Aside from being the most visually-pleasing movie of the year by far, Wes Anderson, alongside his actors, executes the completely original Grand Budapest Hotel.

RATING: A+

2) Interstellar

Interstellar is Christopher Nolan’s latest sci-fi thriller, and a thrilling science fiction film it certainly is. A box-office hit, Interstellar is having no problem attracting a crowd. Its only problem is it’s relativity to Cuaron’s Gravity, but a close look at Nolan’s film reveals how intellectual of a writer Christopher Nolan is. A father (Matthew McConaughey) must abandon his family and travel through space in order to save the world. While a grandiose space action flick was just released last year (Gravity), Nolan shifts the focus of his film to the importance of family, and, furthermore, the idea of time. It’s a long story with a few typical Nolan twists, and the end result is a truly philosophical piece of art.

Wonderful acting from last year’s Oscar champion along with his supporting cast help propel this deep, thought-provoking film to the top of this year’s list.

RATING: A-

3) Foxcatcher

A gritty true story, Bennet Miller’s Foxcatcher is by far the slowest paced movie of the year, but may just be the highest quality. It is strenuous to watch this fairly silent story pan out, but the acting in the movie is too outstanding to ignore. Channing Tatum is impressive as Mark Schultz, the younger of the two Olympic wrestlers, who struggles to find his own in the world. Tired of living in the shadow of brother David (played by the phenomenal Mark Ruffalo), Mark Schultz signs a deal with wrestling fanatic John E. DuPont. Dupont is, unquestionably, the most attention-grabbing role in the film, and Steve Carell brings an uncanny eeriness to Dupont that has been making Oscar voters drool over him. All the characters intertwine to create an enticing yet incredibly dark film. The story is cringe-worthy, but once viewers are in their seats, they will not be getting up.

Dark, eerie, and chilling, Foxcatcher is not a typical Hollywood sports movie; Instead, Bennet Miller coaches his cast to a fantastic finish in an incredible story.

RATING: A-

4) The Theory Of Everything

The new biopic on the life and hardships of Stephen Hawking is one of the top Best Picture contenders. The Theory of Everything is most effective as it is not only a professional biopic, but also a touching love story. The film is not a typical love story, either; in fact, it’s rather heart-wrenching to see both Stephen and his ex-wife grow old and fight through their problems in their relationship. There are some truly incredible looking shots in this film, and cinematographer Benoit Delhomme is rightfully garnering Oscar attention. However, the story is about the characters, and the actors make the characters. Felicity Jones plays Stephen Hawking’s future wife, Jane Wilde, and is the perfect depiction of an innocent, intriguing and caring woman. Her character undergoes enormous shifts throughout the film and really add to the performance of The Theory of Everything’s star—Eddie Redmayne. At first just a pretty boy in Les Mis, Eddie Redmayne blasted people’s expectations away by bringing Stephen Hawking’s intelligence, love, fear, and struggles to real life on the screen.

Eddie Redmayne’s uncanny resemblance to Stephen Hawking is frightening, but along with the acting chops of himself and Felicity Jones, he is able to liven up the stunning imagery in The Theory of Everything.

RATING: A-

5) Birdman

Birdman is Alejandro Iñárritu’s latest directorial effort, and it is one of the most talked about films of the year. Publicized as a dark comedy, Birdman has been attracting a crowd for a couple months now. Dark comedies are not usually popular due to the genre-specific jokes, but Birdman’s cinematography has been garnering the film major attention. Aside from the sheer impressive imagery, Birdman has been a landmark in cinema for the past year because of the film’s long shots. Sometimes not cutting for over 20 minutes, Birdman keeps the audience entertained with its impeccable pacing. Aside from the imagery, Birdman features a stellar cast which have swept SAG and Golden Globe nominations (Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, and Edward Norton). Michael Keaton plays the film’s lead, who is a washed up super-hero movie star that needs to make his comeback to relevancy. This plot is, oddly enough, suspiciously similar to the life of Michael Keaton: A former super-hero movie star (Batman) drops off the cinema charts for years and now must make a comeback (Iñárritu’s Birdman). Due to these similarities, the film has a certain depth to it that makes any audience member connect with Keaton’s character. The comeback element of the film is similar to Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler a few years ago. While that film handed Rourke an Oscar nomination, Birdman might just hand Keaton the win.

Having never been nominated before, Michael Keaton looks to be an Oscar frontrunner in the weird, dark, funny, entertaining, and impressive Birdman.

RATING: B+

6) The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game is the story of Alan Turing, the awkward man behind the team that broke “enigma,” the unbreakable Nazi code during World War II.

With subject matter alone, this film sounds as if its entertainment level is limited. However, that is completely incorrect; in fact, The Imitation Game is one of this year’s most exciting films. The story is a truly fascinating one. An appreciation for code-breaking is not necessary to get immersed in the film. For a movie under two hours, The Imitation Game does a really good job at bringing non-stop drama to the table. Benedict Cumberbatch plays mathematician Alan Turing, and this role is not an easy one. As a socially awkward gay man, Alan Turing has a story that needed to be told. Director Morten Tyldum tells this one quite well.

A fast-paced war film, The Imitation Game doesn’t need violence to rally the troops; instead, Benedict Cumberbatch and his supporting crew can deliver the drama with an important story in history.

RATING: B+

7) Gone Girl

When a renowned writer’s (Ben Affleck) wife (Rosamund Pike) disappears, he becomes the number one suspect in a tale of love, honesty, truth, and deceit. David Fincher proves once again why he is at the top of the chain in Hollywood by bringing his widely-loved style to a widely-loved novel. The story alone is a hot commodity in the literary and cinema world, and keeps absolutely every viewer on the edge of his or her seat. Gone Girl is a dark love story that Fincher is able to bring to the big screen with his hard-to-miss style. The eeriness from films such as Fight Club and The Social Network is prevalent in this new-age thriller. Pike’s Amy Dunne is one of the most complex female characters to grace the silver screen in quite some time, and her performance has garnered some deserved Oscar buzz this season.

A gripping story paired with David Fincher and his impressive actors, Gone Girl has not failed to disappoint the public, the critics, nor the fanatics.

RATING: B

7) Boyhood

Richard Linklater dreams up perhaps the most important coming of age story in cinema history. Boyhood was this year’s almost unanimously liked film, and it has been 12 years in the making. All the actors sacrificed every summer for the past 12 years for the production of this powerhouse film, and the supporting parents of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette have received their well-deserved SAG and Golden Globe nominations. An important message about growing up, Boyhood has a few scenes where it really nails a real-life experience and has been praised for its realism. It’s hard to find a more perfect coming of age film; Boyhood quite literally is just a movie about a boy growing up. There is not much else to it, and Linklater has produced an impressive tale of innocence. Rather than telling an ambitious, large scale story, the film is quite ordinary, and it finds strength in its normalcy. The quietly relatable moments of the movie separate it from the high drama pacing of many other top films this year.

The scope of Boyhood is incredible, and Linklater deserves credit for creating probably the most literal coming of age movie there ever will be.

RATING: B-

9) Neighbors

For someone looking for a comedy, Neighbors probably delivered some of the most laughs this film season. As a comedy, it pretty much had all the essentials—jokes, an original story, and good actors. The movie is about one couple’s struggles with a next-door college fraternity. In this “family versus frat” feud, Zac Efron and Dave Franco lead the frat boys. Efron takes a turn as a cynical frat boy and doesn’t hold back in the craziest role he has ever had.

A fun comedy, Neighbors helps give some insight about the struggles between the older and younger generations, with massive amounts of comedic relief from Efron and Franco.

RATING: B

10) The Fault in Our Stars

Definitely one of, if not the, most popular movie of the summer, The Fault in Our Stars has been a long waited screen adaptation of John Green’s best-selling novel. Although the acting isn’t spectacular, as a romance, this film is dead-on. As much as some people hate romance films, there is a huge crowd of people that live for these types of films. The Fault in Our Stars has a crowd favorite with Shailene Woodley, and she really helps bring Green’s character to life. According to book enthusiasts, The Fault in Our Stars is a very accurate representation of the book, and anytime a movie properly portrays a book, it is worthy of praise.

RATING: C+