Variety has just released a list of their favorite films from 2014, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is among them.

To say that our top three critics don’t always see eye-to-eye would be an understatement, but they can all agree on at least one thing: “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is one of Wes Anderson’s best movies, and one of the strongest entries in a year that has so far offered no shortage of cinematic excellence. Also mentioned by at least one critic: a steamy gay-cruising thriller, a hotly debated biblical epic, and two staggeringly ambitious magnum opuses that clocked in at more than four hours apiece. There will be many more hours (and weeks, and months) of moviegoing to come before they have their final say on the year in movies, but at the moment, 2014 is off to an excellent start.

Wes Anderson’s ambitious chronicle of an imaginary Europe in the lull between two not-so-imaginary wars is, unsurprisingly, a marvel of technology and design, with its round-robin aspect ratios, ingenious use of miniatures and a luxe hotel worthy of Thomas Mann. But the triumph of Anderson’s film is that it is equally rich — and finally, terribly moving — in its sense of an irrecoverable past, first loves, true friendships and small acts of heroism.

For the complete list, visit Variety.com!