The trailers, the posters, the promises of the movies of 2014 – they all seemed like such great movies, but I was left with some sort of dissatisfaction by the beginning of 2015. While I wasn’t capable to see all the movies that came out last year, I saw most of the ones I wanted to. With that said, here are my five favorite movies of 2014:

“The Imitation Game” (28 Nov.) Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing this film is about Turing and his and their attempts at breaking the Enigma. All sorts of twists and turns happen and eventually the war is over. But there is a question that have to be answered by the British authorities: is Turing a criminal or a war hero? The actors were stellar and the set and costumes were very reminiscent to 1939. “The Imitation Game” is based on the book by Andrew Hodges, “Alan Turing: The Enigma.”

“The Theory of Everything” (7 Nov.) Starring Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde-Hawking this film is about young Hawking meeting Jane and the struggle they both go through while trying to create a family while battling his ALS. “The Theory of Everything” is based on the book “Travelling To Infinity” by Jane Hawking. The cast portrayed the characters extremely well in both personality and how they looked in real life. History vs. Hollywood explores deeper how the movie depicted the real-life scenarios of the Hawking’s family and personal life.

“The Giver” (15 Aug.) This film was based on the book by Lois Lowry with Jonas played by Brenton Thwaites and the Giver portrayed by Jeff Bridges. The movie didn’t depict the book as well as I had hoped because I loved the book and the rest of the series. However, if you forget about the book, the movie was really good. After I saw “The Giver” on the big screen, I couldn’t help but wonder if they would be making a movie for the rest of the series. “The Giver” was nominated for Favorite Dramatic Movie at the People’s Choice Awards.

“Maleficent” (30 May) This film was a spin-off of the classic Disney movie “Sleeping Beauty.” “Maleficent” explored the reason why the “evil” Maleficent cursed Princess Aurora at her christening. The movie was very interesting and I think went along with the “Sleeping Beauty” tale well. Maleficent was played by the brilliant Angelina Jolie and Princess Aurora was played by Elle Fanning. Maleficent says that her spell can never be broken because there is no such thing as a true love, however, the surprise ending shows that there is true love for Princess Aurora to be awakened. “Maleficent” also won the Favorite Movie and Favorite Family Movie categories at the People’s Choice Awards.

“Divergent” (21 Mar.) This last film is another book-based movie that was released in 2014. “Divergent” and the rest of the trilogy were written by Veronica Roth. Having never read the book, I can’t compare the movie to anything. However, I enjoyed watching the movie and there was an interesting plot line with twists and turns. I look forward to seeing “Insurgent,” which will come out on 20 Mar. 2015. “Divergent” also won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Action Movie and costars Shailene Woodley and Theo James won Favorite Movie Duo for “Divergent.”