Hey there freaks and geeks, BAADASSSSS! is here with a list of the best films I saw in 2014. Instead of doing the traditional top ten list as originally planned, I decided to take a cue from the great Nigel Tufnel and crank this sucker up to 11 (yes, I am aware that some people are doing top 20 lists, top 50 lists, top 100 lists, etc., but I didn’t see enough of last year’s releases to make a list quite that long). So you will find on this list my ten favorite films that were released last year, one that wasn’t, and my three choices for the worst of the year. And the hell with round numbers.

I was initially apprehensive about creating a “best of” movie list for 2014, because upon review, it was easier to make a list of all the critically acclaimed movies I didn’t get a chance to see than did. In fact, here’s that list now: Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Only Lovers Left Alive, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Whiplash, Selma, Ida, Goodbye to Language, The Babadook, and Inherent Vice.

So with the caveat that the best films of the year (and possibly your favorites) may still yet to be seen by me, here is a list of the best films I did see this past year.

Blue Ruin
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, Devin Ratray and Kevin Kolack
Picturehouse Entertainment
Release Date: April 25, 2014

From certain indications one can begin to question very early on in Blue Ruin what exactly it is that is going on. For nearly the first fifteen minutes all dialogue has virtually vanished. The only discernible sounds are the occasional grunts and groans of a middle-aged homeless man scouring the Delaware beaches and carnivals for any remnant of already devoured food. This approach to begin a film this way is exceedingly rare in contemporary cinema. We are used to the huge spectacle films making an immediate, fantastical impact to lure us into their world. Seldom do such films resort to the tactic Blue Ruin employs so effortlessly. Director Jeremy Saulnier, who also shot and scripted the film, conceals the film’s penchant for violence only for so long until he finally finds it necessary to violently plunge us forward into a world littered with individuals with many irredeemable qualities.