This year was a quieter affair for me given my combined commitments with work and cricket but I still managed to find time to watch many remarkable films which ranged from thrilling blockbusters to award-winning productions.

In the run-up to The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel had another landmark year with Captain America making a storming return to the big-screen in The Winter Soldier while Chris Pratt and co. forged a memorable alliance in the Guardians of the Galaxy. Matthew McConaughey completed his McConaissance with his phenomenal turns in Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar while Leonardo Di-Caprio reminded us about why drugs are bad in Martin Scorsese’s devilish flick The Wolf of Wall Street. Benedict Cumberbatch also had a busy time of it with his powerful role in The Imitation Game. It took 12 years to make the current Oscar-frontrunner Boyhood while last year’s Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave broke many hearts with its gruelling depiction of slavery. Everything was awesome about The LEGO Movie but not so much for the Inbetweeners in their disappointing trip to Australia. On the other hand, Caesar and his ape army ruled the box-office with their superior sequel and Godzilla came back to the big-screen with a bang. Rosamund Pike’s sweetness completely disappeared in the moody Gone Girl while Jake Gyllenhaal creeped us out in the indie-hit Nightcrawler. The Grand Budapest Hotel opened its doors to critical success and Joaquin Phoenix fell in love with his A.I in Her. Finally, Peter Jackson’s cinematic vision of Middle-Earth was brought to an almighty end once with the concluding film of the Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies.

• THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL 

  Gustave H: “You’re looking so well, darling, you really are… they’ve done a marvellous job. I don’t know what sort of cream they’ve put on you down at the morgue, but… I want some.”

• GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
  
  Groot: “I am Groot.”

OTHER CONTENDERS

• CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER – NICK FURY GETS CHASED
• GODZILLA – ATOMIC BREATH
• GONE GIRL – AMY’S PLAN UNRAVELS
• GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – PRISON BREAK SEQUENCE
• INTERSTELLAR – COOPER WATCHES THE TAPES

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

12 YEARS A SLAVE (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, Garrett Dillahunt, Scott McNairy, Michael Kenneth Williams, Kelsey Scott, Quvenzhane Wallis)

OTHER CONTENDERS

• AMERICAN HUSTLE (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K, Michael Pena, Alessandro Nivola, Shea Wigham, Jack Huston, Elisabeth Rohm, Robert De Niro)
• THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revoli, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Almaric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson)
• GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Benicio Del Toro, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, Karen Gillan, Josh Brolin, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz, Glenn Close, Laura Haddock)
• INTERSTELLAR (Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, MacKenzie Foy, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, David Oyelowo, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon)
• THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Leonardo Di-Caprio, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Kenneth Choi, Matthew McConaughey, Margot Robbie, Jon Faverau, Jean Dujardin, Christin Milioti, Spike Jonze, Rob Reiner, Shea Whigham, Joanna Lumley)

OTHER CONTENDERS 

• LEONARDO DI-CAPRIO as JORDAN BELFORT in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
  
• TOBY KEBBELL as KOBA in DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
  
• LEE PACE as RONAN in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
  
• ROSAMUND PIKE as AMY DUNNE in GONE GIRL
  
• ROBERT REDFORD as ALEXANDER PIERCE in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
  

 BEST CAMEO / LIMITED ROLE

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY – THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

http://youtu.be/mjnziydobV4

BEST BODY OF WORK

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY – THE WOLF OF WALL STREET,
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB & INTERSTELLAR

OTHER CONTENDERS

• BRADLEY COOPER – AMERICAN HUSTLE & GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH – 12 YEARS A SLAVE, THE IMITATION GAME & THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
  
• NEIL PATRICK HARRIS – GONE GIRL & A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
• SCARLETT JOHANSSON – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER & HER
• CHRIS PRATT – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, HER & THE LEGO MOVIE

 BEST MUSICAL SCORE

HANS ZIMMER – INTERSTELLAR

BEST SOUND

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

http://youtu.be/kuo8IiLRKes

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

OTHER CONTENDERS