CHRISTOPHER Nolan's explored time and space on a galactic scale in Interstellar and Under The Skin made our own planet look extraterrestrial.

So it has been a good year for the space age in the films of 2014 in both blockbusters and art house pictures.

Even Marvel Studios headed for the stars with one of their most acclaimed movies, Guardians of the Galaxy.

It has also been a year in which filmmakers have demonstrated their tenacity by working on tough projects that they are passionate about – and it has paid off.

Richard Linklater filmed coming-of-age drama Boyhood over 12 years and Steven Knight worked around obvious limitations to turn Tom Hardy driving on the M6 and M1 into a great thriller.

So with no further ado here are Weekend's top 10 films of 2014.

1. Dallas Buyers Club

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

Dallas Buyers Club is one of those rare films which is inspirational without succumbing to sappy sentimentality.

It was also the movie to cement Matthew McConaughey’s return to more complex roles, dubbed by some critics as the ‘McConaissance’.

The actor is on top form in this real life tale about cowboy and hustler Ron Woodroof who was told he had 30 days to live after he was diagnosed with HIV.

He actually survived for seven years by getting his hands on unapproved medicines and helped countless others (for a pretty penny).

A film which celebrates man’s enduring spirit to survive, defy the odds and break the rules.

2. Interstellar

Director: Christopher Nolan

A good film can change your mood or make you questions things but few films leave you pondering about your place in the universe.

That is what the director of the Dark Knight trilogy does with the epic Interstellar.

Earth is no longer able to sustain life and so astronauts turn to the stars for a new home.

But despite Interstellar’s galactic scale it has plenty to relate to on a human level.

The film’s great irony is that Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) joins the mission to save his children, Tom and Murphy, and other families like them.

But by doing so he may never see them again.

3. Boyhood

Director: Richard Linklater

Boyhood’s brilliance is in its empathy.

It has a relevance to every set of eyes that watches it, whether they belong to parent or child.

Director Richard Linklater never loses sight of that, coaxing from newcomer Ellar Coltrane a performance of astonishing maturity and depth.

This is a film that is original, and cares deeply about detail.

It’s real genius is the way it disarms you, making you forget the extraordinary logistical feat of forging a picture over 12 years.

4. Locke

Director: Steven Knight

Locke proves that the drama of everyday life can be just as compelling as any blockbuster.

It is also a study of choices and consequences in the purest form with the whole film playing out as a series of conversations during a car journey in real time.

Tom Hardy plays Locke, a family man with a top job in construction.

But a past mistake and his decision to drive from Birmingham to London could see his carefully crafted life fall apart.

It could have been dull but instead became one of the year’s most original thrillers.

5. Pride

Director: Matthew Warchus

We luckily live in a tolerant society these days but just 20 years ago the gay community was often treated with disdain.

Director Matthew Warchus uses this as a jumping off point to explore the watershed moment when London gay rights campaigners raised more than £20,000 for an old fashioned mining village in South Wales.

A lot of films like this examine the futility of prejudice and social divides.

But Pride shows what can happen when groups on the fringes show solidarity for one another.

A film about breaking down barriers, it is full of warmth and humour.

6. 12 Years A Slave

Director: Steve McQueen

It is difficult to fathom how human beings were treated 170 years ago.

Black slaves were bought and sold, separated from their family as if they were animals and tormented and tortured.

The true story sees Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man, kidnapped in Washington in 1841 and sold into slavery.

Steve McQueen’s typically uncompromised filmmaking is undoubtedly bleak and tough to watch.

But the true story is also a tribute to hope as Solomon eventually wins his freedom through his pure will to survive.

7. Guardians of the Galaxy

Director: James Gunn

Forget Spider-Man and the Avengers.

Who would have thought that a film starring a gun-toting raccoon and his bodyguard tree would have been Marvel’s best in years?

Guardians of the Galaxy mixes hyped-up comic book action, a retro disco soundtrack and humour in a universe to rival that of Star Wars.

It also helped launch the film career of the brilliant Chris Pratt who will next be seen in the reboot of Jurassic Park.

8. Under The Skin

Director: Jonathan Glazer

She has impressed in the latest run of Marvel films but Scarlett Johansson’s talent and versatility really shines through in Under The Skin.

Jonathan Glazer’s eerie, tense and mesmerising film is a sci-fi picture like no other with Johansson human-like alien hunting for loners...in Glasgow.

Her survival relies on luring men away to steal their souls and her strange journey makes the Scottish city seem cold, lonely and almost extraterrestrial.

9. The Raid 2: Berandal

Director: Gareth Evans

It is one of the film world’s strangest partnerships.

But Welsh director Gareth Evans’ decision to team up with Indonesian martial artist Iko Uwais really packs a punch.

The pair’s second instalment of The Raid is just as intense as its predecessor.

But Berandal is more of a sprawling crime film with Rama (Uwais) going undercover to take down gangsters and corrupt cops in one fell swoop.

As always it is the brutal and yet excellently choreographed fight scenes which will have fans coming back to this.

And Evans can pretty much be credited for single-handedly reigniting interest in the martial arts genre.

10. '71

Director: Yann Demange

In Belfast-set military thriller 71, O'Connell plays a young soldier lost in the mayhem of the Troubles-torn capital, separated from his unit and hunted by murderous Provisional IRA gunmen.

As recent recruit Private Gary Hook, his uniform as green as his experience, he has been sent along with the rest of his ill-prepared Army unit as an emergency response to the bloody conflict.

'71 does not seek to score political points, or ask the audience to take sides.

At once, everyone is going for the jugular, whether that be Original IRA vs Provisional IRA, the Army's undercover operatives vs over-matched junior officers, or nationalists vs loyalists.Battle lines are drawn on both sides, the overriding reaction a compelling sense squaddies like Hook, desperately young and naive, were hopelessly inadequate in attempting to quell the maelstrom.

O'Connell delivers his usual brilliance, a toughness honed in prison drama Starred Up accentuated by the vulnerability that draws empathy.