10. Frankenweenie – Definitely my favorite kid’s movie of this year, this was Tim Burton back to his best! The story was sweet and sad and the animation was dazzling. The last few years Tim seemed to be running on empty and putting out the same movie again and again (Johnny Depp, I’m looking at you also!) This was Tim returning to what he was good at, with much more invention and creativity than has been evident in his last few. The animation is lovely also, with a lot of Burton’s own drawings coming to life. I sat in the cinema smiling throughout! See our review here.

9. Beast of the Southern Wild – The story of Hushpuppy, a young girl growing up in the ‘Basin’, an area of Americas deep south that is soon to be lost to the sea due to rising water levels. It is a wild land, which seems largely untouched by the modern era. The cinematography is dazzling, and hard to believe it was a low budget movie. Our review is here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF7i2n5NXLo

8. Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson’s best movie since the Royal Tenedbaums, and in large part down to its cinematography. The long dolly shots, that move from one scene to the next are fantastic. The characters are largely stereotypes, but it is all played in Wes’s weird and wonderful world, where nothing is quite what it seems! It’s a gem of a movie, and another one that would be perfect for the Christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0QJ_Ba1Bs

7. Samsara – We were excited about this one, and it didn’t fail to deliver. Ron Fricke returned with his first movie since the 1992 Baraka, and he hasn’t been resting on his laurels. To make a movie with so many stunning images from all over the world is a massive task and it’s no surprise that it doesn’t happen over night. This one had more of a story to it than his previous ones and the soundtrack from Michael Stearns, Lisa Gerrard, and Marcello De Francisci carried us along nicely!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0xVp3N-M84

6. Amour – This was a difficult movie, as our most of Michael Haneke’s movies. It is a love story, but the saddest one imaginable as one partner watches and cares for the other, as her health slowly deteriorates to the point where she cannot talk or feed herself. It is a deep discussion on death and euthanasia which will stay with you long after you’ve left the cinema. Our review is here.

Any guesses on what number one will be? I’ll give a hint, it was in the first half of the year. Ok, that’s not much of a hint… Find out soon!