11 Things You Learn From Watching 336 Films In 2014

10. Expensive Doesn't Always Mean Better

Transformers: Age Of Extinction was, somewhat unsurprisingly one of the most high-grossing films of the year. Apparently people whose opinions are scoffed at by critics and people who claim to love film will literally pay millions to watch Michael Bay's robo-action pornography while ignoring the diminishing returns in quality on the vast and vulgar budgets. But even though that film annoyingly made a bucketload at the box office, that doesn't mean big and shiny and expensive automatically mean better. Two of the most entertaining films of the year - Creep and Cheap Thrills - cost about a tenth of what it probably cost to animate Optimus Prime's shiny buttocks, and you'd be lucky if you even saw them in cinemas. And while it's tempting to be a beard-stroking, self-congratulating hipster, you don't really need to roll up your trouser legs and champion the underdogs of Hungarian arthouse flicks: just don't let "cheap" be a by-word for bad when you're planning what to watch.