We’re somehow already at the mid-way point for 2014, which means it’s just about time to start talking about the best we’ve seen at the multiplex in the first half of the year. And though this fall will be teeming with some tremendous films, the first six months of 2014 weren’t exactly a barren cinematic wasteland either.
Though the rest of 2014 will undoubtedly see the arrival of most, if not all, of the films that will be battling it out for Best Picture at the 2015 Oscars, the first half of this year has been marked by a few exemplary films that could make the cut, if their appeal keeps them in the minds of Academy members for long enough. We’ve seen strong animated films, dramas, comedies and even studio blockbusters so far in 2014, though everyone knows that the best films of the year aren’t always the Oscar favorites (right, The Dark Knight?). So, the natural question we have to answer is, what movies we’ve already seen in 2014 stand a fighting chance of getting name-checked next February on Oscar night?
Read on for our list of the 10 strongest Oscar contenders released in the first half of 2014, and keep tuned for the second part of this feature, in which I’ll count off the 10 strongest Oscar contenders coming in the next six months.