2014 in Review:10 Top Favorite New-to-Me Films

It was kind of amazing to look back at all the good “new” movies I saw this year.  It made me more grateful for this blog and the friends I have made because of it.

My viewing for 2014 covered the years 1939 to 1945. I also viewed 66 films noir during Noir Month in July and watched other films as part of my membership in the 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die Blog Club. I stopped counting films sometime during the year. My letterboxd account shows I’ll have around 200 movies between September 15 and the end of the year so I guess I saw something like 500, taking into account several movieless trips.

I’m not much for rankings since my memory plays tricks on me, but as of today here is the list, in reverse order, of my favorite ten of the films I saw for the first time in 2014.

10.  Side Street (1950, directed by Anthony Mann

9.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945, directed by Elia Kazan)

8.  In Which We Serve (1942, directed by Noel Coward and David Lean)

7.  Into the Wild (2007, directed by Sean Penn)

6.  Gaslight (1940, directed by Thorold Dickinson)

5.  The Children Are Watching Us (1944, directed by Vittorio de Sica)

4.  A Canterbury Tale (1944, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)

3.  The Prowler (1951, directed by Joseph Losey)

2.  Act of Violence (1948, directed by Fred Zinnemann)

1. Jammin’ the Blues (1944, directed by Gjon Mili) – I watched many films I rated 10 out of 10 stars in 2014, but this was the only one I was seeing for the first time.  Those interested are in luck!  It is only 10 minutes long and available on YouTube.

A list of my 50 top new-to-me favorites is available here.