Best hairdo: Bobby Canavale's nape in "Blue Jasmine." Best scene: Greta Gerwig running in "Frances Ha" to David Bowie's "Modern Love." Best newcomer: Barkhad Abdi in "Captain Phillips." Best acting award: New York City in "Inside Llewyn Davis." Best documentary: "The Act of killing." So much to gloat about this year. Here are my favorites among those films which had an official U.S. release.

"World War Z" may be the first film in which the cast exceeds the actual population of the planet. There are huge citywide vistas of rambling crowds. Most of these people are infected with a zombie virus that turns them into rattlesnakes with overbites and clammy hair.

These elements pay off quickly in a fantastic opener set in a traffic jam in downtown Philadelphia. Amid startling car-smashing, Brad