If you wade through the spectacle, the hype and the slew of franchises and remakes that made up so much of this year's movie output, there are still a few films worth more than their moments. Here, in no particular order, are my 10 picks of the year.NIGHTCRAWLERDan Gilroy's debut feature is a dark, gritty, piece of LA neo-noir featuring a career best performance from Jake Gyllenhall as an ambulance-chasing news cameraman. A commentary on the ruthlessness of the media in the age of Twitter and Facebook, it's a sharp tale of the easiness with which ethics are traded for success.INHERENT VICEPaul Thomas Anderson leads the pack once again as he becomes the first director to try to film the work of novelist Thomas Pynchon. A trippy and often depressing ride through the idealism of the 1960s and the cynicism of the 1970s, it's flawed but fascinating. Jaoquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin head the cast. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood's score is a bonus.IDAPawel Pawlikowski's Oscar-winning tale of a Polish nun's search for answers to her origins is a carefully crafted piece of old school art house cinema that raises difficult questions about Polish complicity in the Holocaust.MAD MAX: FURY ROADThirty years later George Miller reboots his Ozploitation franchise with the maddest, baddest take yet. Charlize Theron steals the show as she kicks ass while driving a truck across the desert in a film that provides sheer enjoyment in spite of its unabashed absurdity. Don't over-think it, just revel in what it is - a drive-in movie on steroids.A MOST VIOLENT YEARAn understated, complex character portrait of a man trying his best to stick to his principles in a decidedly unprincipled environment, JC Chandor's film recalls the best of the 1970s microdramas of Sidney Lumet. With an incomparable performance by Oscar Isaac, it's the most dramatically satisfying film of the year.MOMMYPrecocious art-film maverick Xavier Dolan's fifth film is a melodramatic, emotionally turbulent and claustrophobic account of the difficult relationship between a working class French Canadian mother and her psychologically unstable son. Often exhausting, it's an honest and exhilarating demonstration of the talents of its 25-year-old creator.NECKTIE YOUTHSibs Shongwe Le-Mer's nihilistic debut is a balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face portrait of the anomie of the post-apartheid generation. Pulling few punches and running against the moral rectitude of the cultural establishment it's a refreshing demonstration of the potential of local cinema to deal with the realities of life after the Rainbow Nation.TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHTMarion Cotillard shines in this absorbing piece of social realism from Belgian masters the Dardenne brothers. The simple, everyday premise of the struggle of a working-class woman fighting to save her mundane job proves absorbing as a thriller. It's dramatically engaging, thanks to the strength of the acting and the quiet but deeply empathetic gaze of its directors.CAROLTodd Haynes returns to the classic Hollywood territory of Far From Heaven in this sumptuously filmed look at the social repression underpinning the boom generation of 1950s America. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara give haunting performances as lesbian lovers fighting against the expectations of society in this adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith story.Opens on December 18SICARIODenis Villeneuve's morally ambiguous exploration of the failures of the drug war is a darkly rendered, intense look at the realities of the situation that features an unforgettable menacing turn from Benicio del Toro. Full of intrigue, it's one of the most intelligent films of the year.Opening this weekendTHE LADY IN THE VANA lavish gift of a role for Dame Maggie Smith in this film about a dilapidated driveway resident parked outside playwright Alan Bennett's home for 16 years. Tim Robey, thetelegraph.co.ukTHE NIGHT BEFORERaucous drug-fuelled ode to the seasonal spirit's power to help man-children mature into responsible adults in a profanely festive Odyssey. Nick Schager, variety.comTHE GIFTA creepy, crafty throwback to early 1990s stalker thrillers. Jon Frosch, hollywoodreporterTHE LITTLE PRINCEA very good-looking film that represents a brave attempt to do justice to a very popular book.Andrew Pulver, theguardian.comVICTOR FRANKENSTEINKitsch and fussy retelling of the Frankenstein story falls between Mel Brooks-like spoof and horror movie. Geoffrey Macnab, independent.co.zaLOVE THE COOPERSSquanders the likes of Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin and Anthony Mackie in a Christmas comedy of numbing tedium and tackiness. Staff reporter, antiguaobserver.com..