I have yet to see Birdman, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler and Whiplash that seem to have the potential to enter this list, but so far I have seen 9 4out of 4 stars movies in 2014. In alphabetical order:
Black Coal Thin Ice: Chinese Neo Noir set in a mining city.
Blind: A Norwegian woman lost her eyesight, but tries to keep her brain active to not forget how the world looked like. A film making tour-de-force and a blunt, honest story about self-image and becoming handicapped.
Historias Extraordinarias: A very long and very strange kind of collage movie from Argentina. Very inventive and with the strangest brand of tongue in cheek humor (can be seen on youTube).
Nymphomaniac Part 1: The latest Von Trier. A nymphomaniac tells her life story to an old and cultured loner and it's the source of many strange parallels and digressions. Part 1 and Part 2 really form a single movie together, but the Part 1 is superior in my book.
Pee Mak: Hillarious Thai comedy based on a ghost story.
The Attorney: Historical drama about a greedy attorney that find himself the defendant in a kangaroo court designed to send to jail left wing students but who find a moral bone in his body and decides to not play along.
Venus Talk: Dramedy about 3 women in their 40s and their love/sex life. The anti sex in the city.
Wolf Children: Anime movie about the children of a woman and a werewolf. Quickly becomes about motherhood, education and choosing a life for oneself.
Why Don't You Play In Hell: Sono Shion blows a gasket and makes a frantic gore comedy about Yakuza, amateur film-makers and an insane wannabe idol.
If you want a list of english language films (no order) here are the 4 and 3 stars ones I saw this year.
- Nymphomaniac Part 1
- Wish You Were Here
- 12 Years A Slave
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Jimmy P.
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Short Term 12 / States of Grace
- Sils Maria
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Spectacular Now
- Under The Skin
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Housebound
- White Bird in a Blizzard
- The Journey (a big chunk is in english).