10. Out of The Furnace

There’s the good guy with a gun and the bad guy with a gun. Only justice is blind and the world is ambivalent.

9. Gravity

The most brilliantly executed movie about space since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.

8. Side Effects

A deep meditation on the human stain of pharmaceuticals and mental illness, featuring Rooney Mara in the most understated role of her career.

7. Mud

The McConaissance continues.

6. Captain Phillips

The first 10 minutes of Captain Phillips feel unsettling and earnest, with (screenwriter) Billy Ray telling a lot of the things he’d be much better showing. But Captain Phillips hits its mark from that point forward, thanks in large part to an ongoing lack of grandstanding. Tom Hanks is very good, but Barkhad Abdi steals his thunder.

5. Spring Breakers

A gorgeous, rhythmic, candy-colored tragedy. Spring break. Spring break. Spring break, forever.

4. Frances Ha
Perhaps every generation should have its very own Manhattan.

3. Inside Llewyn Davis
One of several key differences between a good movie and a great one is that a good movie may entertain you for two hours, providing a variety of twist and turns, but a great one’ll stick with you for a lifetime, revealing untold secrets every time you play it over.

2. American Hustle
David O. Russell doing his best Martin Scorsese.

1. The Place Beyond The Pines

A vastly overlooked motion picture focusing on fathers and the inevitable – sometimes even inescapable – legacies they hand down to their sons. The most unexpected surprise occurs about a third of the way through. From that point forward, this triptych only grows much more intriguing.