Oscars 2015: 10 Movies That Should Be Nominated For Best Picture

2014 was a "weak" year for films if you are to believe the word of most Oscar pundits. While it's true that a lot of this year's highly anticipated "prestige" fare has not exactly bowled over critics and audiences, for those looking in the right places, 2014 was deep in cinematic riches. There may not have been a significant number of A+, instant masterpieces, but what the year lacked on the top end it more than made up for in the level of consistently high-quality movies that were released outside of the major megaplexes. While mainstream cinema was awash in the typical mindless, superhero action genre movies that make corporations so much money, smaller independent films made for much more interesting cinematic outings. Some of the best movies this year were relatively low key films that didn't try to stun you with their awesomeness but were content to explore their own little niches. Unlike some independent films which wallow in their own "realism", these movies were not aggressively inaccessible, but were rather sincere artistic statements of the people behind their making. With the exception of one or two, the following ten movies have almost no chance of hearing their names called out this Thursday morning when the Oscar nominations are announced. However, this group of films was some of the best cinema had to offer in 2014. The Academy may not appreciate their charms and artistic merits, but time should prove them to be invaluable pieces of cinema.