TrustMovies' year-end don't-miss list of independents, documentaries and foreign films

Updated as of January 17: It's not a "Best" List because I haven't seen nearly all the films released in 2014. Nor has any critic. So "grain-of-salt" it, people, please. Below are the movies -- mostly the small ones, along with a few bigger ones that, in my view, actually deserve their status -- that you really ought to catch in some form or other, from streaming to DVD to a possible theatrical encounter. I begin with probably the smallest film of all, which is also among the very best of this year. (Click on each title link, and it should open up into my post on the film.)

Now, there are 68 movies in all. That's hardly a ten-best list, but it does represent the films I think are worth mentioning again and definitely worth your checking out. Some appear here because they are the kind of small independent movies -- docs or narratives -- that many will not have even heard of, and yet they are so good that they must be pointed out. A few of these are genre films -- the terrific little thriller Not Safe for Work and the loony-tunes funny Stretch -- that never even received a theatrical release (that I could discover) but went straight to streaming and are such good examples of their genres that they ought to be seen and enjoyed. Others -- Boyhood (below), Nightcrawler, Winter Sleep (above), Force Majeure and Snowpiercer -- have already been cited by many critics, and now I must cite them, too.

You may notice that certain popular or much acclaimed films (Foxcatcher, Whiplash, Leviathan, The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything) are not listed. These are perfectly good movies but are nowhere near the best or most interesting of my movie-going year. I have now seen both Selma (a little too close to history-as-feel-good-schlock for my taste) and Into the Woods (much better than its original Broadway version: one of Sondheim's lesser scores, but as used smartly here, it provides a chance for actors to sing well and give meaning to the story much better than did the stage version). Mr Turner and American Sniper still remain unseen; I'll probably wait for their Blu-ray incarnation. And there's one film, The Bag Man (a still is shown below) that is simply so much better than its crap reviews would indicate that I just had to include it. (Reach Me is another good example of our current negative-critical-mass-thinking about a very enjoyable film that I came close to including, too.)

With the exception of the first film listed below (which was, for me, the most special of the year, a still from which is shown at top), the rest are listed in the order in which I viewed them beginning last January. (*The asterisk indicates that the film was not officially released last year; however, 2014 was the year in which I managed to see it.)

The ** double asterisk at the bottom of this list indicates a film, above, I left out because it was one I did not cover at the time of its release due to a certain PR person's neglecting to invite me to the press screening. I saw it later on my own dollar -- or ten -- but then forgot to mention it, though it is a best-of-year movie under just about any criteria you can offer.

THE LIST

Magical Universe

Key of Life

*Pictures of Superheroes

*The History of Future Folk

Lucky Bastard

Child's Pose

*Dean Spanley

The Bag Man

Particle Fever

Rob the Mob

Afflicted

Locke

Southern Baptist Sissies

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon

The Selfish Giant

Trust Me

God's Pocket

A Short History of Decay

Frequencies

The Players

AGNES VARDA: From Here to There

Master of the Universe

Dormant Beauty

A Coffee in Berlin

Romeo and Juliet

Third Person

Code Black

Snowpiercer

The Internet's Own Boy

After the Dark

The Last Days

*20 Cigarettes

Magic in the Moonlight

Boyhood

Honour

A Five-Star Life

A Master Builder

The Dog

Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering

The Den

Rocks in My Pockets

Wetlands

Pay 2 Play

Bird People

Art and Craft

Pride

Diplomacy

Rudderless

Eternity

Force Majeure

Begin Again

Viva la Libertà

Nightcrawler

The Circle

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

Not Safe for Work

The Babadook

LFO: The Movie

Miss Julie

The Foxy Merkins

Stretch

The Joe Show

Winter Sleep

*Satellite

Two Days, One Night

*The Jewel

A Most Violent Year

**The Grand Budapest Hotel

Note: an important film just opened this week that is almost certain to make my best-of-year for 2015. As it is a small independent movie and will probably disappear without much of a trace, I suggest that you try to see it ASAP, if possible. If not, watch for the eventual DVD/streaming release.

TM's 2012 film year in review: A quick round-up of what you should not miss

Starting with what opened first -- via any venue: theatrical, stream-ing, DVD -- in January 2012 and continuing through December of last year, here are the films most worth seeing (that I've seen at least) among the independents, documentaries and foreign films and a very few mainstreamers. They're listed in three categories: Musts, Near-Musts and Oddities Worth Encountering -- the last covering those films for maybe more specialized tastes. (Though already I see that I am mixing up those last two categories.)

In any case, just click on the title link, which should open up into my original coverage of the film. Oh-- and, as you'll see from the length of the lists below, TrustMovies doesn't believe in picking only ten....

MUSTS

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (photo just above)
THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH
PERFECT SENSE (photo top)
DIRTY GIRL
THE KID WITH A BIKE
MONSIEUR LAZHAR
BERNIE
BAARÌA
THE VINTNER'S LUCK/A HEAVENLY VINTAGE
GOD BLESS AMERICA
MOONRISE KINGDOM
THE INTOUCHABLES
PINK RIBBONS, INC.
EXTRATERRESTRIAL
KUMARÉ
GRASSROOTS
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE
THE OTHER SON
CLOUD ATLAS
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
THE LAW IN THESE PARTS
HITLER'S CHILDREN
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE
KING KELLY
THE SHEIK AND I
CONSUMING SPIRITS
ON THE ROAD
WEST OF MEMPHIS

NEAR-MUSTS

NORWEGIAN WOOD
THE DIVIDE
ALL ME: The Life & Times of Winfred Rembert
AFTER FALL, WINTER
CIRKUS COLUMBIA
THIS IS NOT A FILM
THE DEEP BLUE SEA
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
MY WAY
NOBODY ELSE BUT YOU (photo above)
PORTRAIT OF WALLY
I WISH
HIDE AWAY
LOOSE CANNONS
THE INVISIBLE WAR
UNFORGIVEABLE
UNITED IN ANGER: A History of Act-Up
THE WELL-DIGGERS' DAUGHTER
CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER
ROBOT & FRANK
HIT AND RUN*
ARBITRAGE
END OF WATCH
UNFINISHED SPACES
THE FIRST TIME
THE FLAT
LIFE OF PI
BEWARE OF MR. BAKER
THE LOVING STORY
ANY DAY NOW
THE HUNTER

ODDITIES WORTH ENCOUNTERING

BAD FEVER

SWINE

MONDAY MORNING

LAST DAYS HERE

THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE

THE BEAT HOTEL

HERE
A BAG OF HAMMERS
TALES FROM DELL CITY, TEXAS
THE PACT
DECONSTRUCTING DAD
THE IMPOSTER
ABENLAND
THE CHILEAN BUILDING
CAT RUN (ah, Janet McTeer, above!)
SIDE BY SIDE
NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (photo below)
[REC] 3
FRANCINE
DIANA VREELAND: The Eye Has to Travel
NOW, FORAGER
THE PAPERBOY
THE TALL MAN
GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR
VAMPS
EX-GIRLFRIENDS
WALK AWAY RENEE

Yeah: I know. That's 31 Must-Sees, 31 Near-Must-Sees, and 27 Oddities Worth Encountering. But, hell, these are all worth seeing, and they comprise only 88 out of the 423 that I have posted on this past year. (I've actually seen another 300 or so, but, really, who has time to write about 'em all?)

And I didn't even get around to listing some of these really terrific genre films -- The Assault, Safe, Sleepless Nights (above) -- that made the year so much fun.  (I just realized that I didn't even post on the last one. I meant to -- how it did it slip away from me?)

Oh, yes, and I know I am probably the only critic/reviewer who put Dirty Girl (above) on his list, not to mention A Heavenly Vintage (aka The Vintner's Luck, below) But, goodness: The former gave me my "feel-good" experience of the year (That's worth quite a lot, so try the film), while the latter is like nothing you will have seen for ages. It rather defies normal description and took some real balls, I'd say, to even attempt to bring the novel on which it is based to the screen. (Just like it did Cloud Atlas, another of my favorites.) And, yes, the Vintage filmmaker possessing those balls is a gal.

And as for documentaries: I know I am leaving out a bunch of good ones. Like David Fisher's Six Million and One (below). This is why these "best lists" are such a pain -- and somehow an insult, too. So many movies open in so many venues these days, that any critic who claims to have a 10 Best List is simply full of it. You know he or she has not seen them all. That's impossible -- unless s/he has found a way to make a day last a hell of a lot longer than 24 hours.

That's why TrustMovies simply call his picks "musts."  He could not begin to claim "bests." So he won't. And good luck to us all in 2013!

*Yes, I know: This one wasn't on my original list. But I just watched it again on Blu-ray and realize that it belongs on the list....