Now that 2014 is over, we are left with deciding which movies were the best of the year. Contrary to to what the box office says, 2014 was a pretty amazing year in film. But as I look back at the 100 or so films that I have seen in the past year, the following 15 films are the ones that I have seen repeatedly, could not stop talking about, or have had the biggest impact one me. Of course this is a subjective list, as there are plenty of other films that I have and have not seen that are or could be better, but honestly, these 15 left the biggest impact on me. I’ll also throw in a couple of honorable mentions. Hit the jump to check it out.

Now that 2014 has come to a close, it’s time to look back on the films that were released during the year, so here below is a list of my favorite movies of 2014. Now, I’m not saying these are the “best” movies of the year, just that these are my favorites. I see a lot of movies each year, but admittedly most of these are viewed on home video. Most of the ones that I selected as my favorites of 2014 were films that I had been anticipating and that I did make a point to watch in the theater, sometimes even more than once. Since many of my selections are already out now on home video, I’ve gotten to watch them several times. And, for someone like me, if I want to repeatedly watch a movie, then that’s a likely candidate to make it to the top of my list of favorites for the year.

With that, here’s a list of my Favorite Movies of 2014.

Released early in the year to terrific box office and overwhelmingly positive reviews, The Lego Movie was one of the funniest and most imaginative (and often subversive) animated features released by a major studio in years. Its success has spawned a Lego-based movie franchise, with Ninjago set to open in September 2016 and the recent revelation that Warner Bros. is fast-tracking a Lego Batman film based one of the first movie’s greatest assets for a release in 2017.

Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will return as producers, with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith writing the script and Lego Movie animation supervisor Chris McKay directing the feature.

As the big summer movie season is winding down and soon it will be Oscar season, it’s that time of the year to figure out what my top ten movies of the year, as we just passed the halfway point of the year. At this point I have seen 54 new movies, and once again, this includes any new or old movie that I have seen for the first time. And so the first cut, is the easiest, as I get rid of any movie that didn’t come out in 2014.

But as the final ten movies are locked it, a few just missed the cut, and those were Godzilla and Life Itself. I was one of the few people who enjoyed Godzilla, even with its issues, and Life Itself was a great look at Roger Ebert, a man who all of us who review movies want to be like.

But enough about the ones that didn’t make it, let’s get to My Top Ten Movies Of 2014 (So Far).

The LEGO Movie was a smash success, scoring $460.7 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, so it should come as no great shock that Warner Brothers wants to turn it into the next huge franchise. A direct sequel to the movie is already in the works for a planned 2017 release, and now comes word of a September 23, 2016 release date for a spinoff titled Ninjago.

The movie will be based on the Ninjago line of ninja-inspired LEGOs, and will be directed by Charlie Bean, who previously directed Tron: Uprising for Disney XD and will be making his feature debut here. Bryan Shukoff and Kevin Chesley wrote the screenplay.