Most of all, though, [Annie (2014)] is nothing less than mechanical and charmless, the hard knocks so calamitous the sun never gets a chance to shine and not even the thought of a brighter tomorrow is enough to make me ever want to sit through this particular little orphan’s fairy tale adventure ever again.

Using Andrew Hodges’ best-selling book Alan Turing: The Enigma as inspiration, screenwriter Graham Moore and director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters) have put together an engrossing, thought-provoking procedural that never quite goes the way you expect it to, allowing the mathematician’s choices and actions to come to life with a rigid, almost anachronistically obtuse matter-of-factness that’s at times remarkable.

But this is Leigh’s show, start to finish, and one can’t watch Mr. Turner without coming away feeling as if it is the seven-time Oscar-nominee’s most personal effort in all his four-plus decades behind the camera.

What is most amazing about Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the director’s final flirtation with the writings of celebrated author J.R.R. Tolkien, is just how inconsequential all of this nonsense feels.

Comet isn’t without its faults, the ingeniously and imaginatively crafted delights far outweigh any overall apprehensions about the finished picture I otherwise might have had.

Exodus: Gods and Kings doesn’t have heart, has trouble establishing an emotional connection with the viewer. On top of that, it doesn’t care to tackle the central questions in regards to faith and religion in ways that could be considered profound or complex.

Force Majeure is a marvelous dissection of responsibility, communication and love, everything building to a stupendously ephemeral conclusion.

I’m not going to mince words, flaws and all, even with segments that offend, Top Five is incredible, and in many ways is the best comedy released by a major studio in 2014.

Wild remains entrancing, always offering up moments of subtle, delicately simple intimacy that struck me right in the heart.