After 2008 ended, I was positive it would be the best year for films I'd live to see. While the intervening years saw the release of great films, as every year does, that seemed to hold very true. Until 2014, that is. What an impressive, creative year- the Asylum outdid themselves at every turn, direct-to-video releases (including VOD and the like) took bold chances that seemed to payoff, and theatrical releases strived to be more creative. This is especially true of action films. Amongst all the lists, you will see an impressive amount of action, or action-hybrid films, as 2014 churned out a surprising number of awesome action flicks, sometimes from unexpected sources- if you were to tell me that my favorite Wes Anderson would be an action movie (of sorts), just a year ago, I would have laughed in your face and had you commited. But I was wrong. There were stil films I disliked, there just seemed to be fewer of them, but I seemed to hate them with much more vitriol than usual. This long, shambling preamble comes to close, and please, enjoy the lists!