We're almost at the halfway point of 2014, and already, we've seen some incredible, though-provoking movies, a few instant classics, and handful of straight-up duds. We've still got a long way to go before we can assess the year en toto — the depths of the summer-blockbuster dog days and the heights of the fall's prestige season, not to mention early winter's Oscar contenders, still lay ahead. But the first six months has certainly delivered its share of giddy highs and crushing lows.

The Best TV Shows of 2014 So Far

So, with that in mind, we give you the best and the worst movies of 2014 to date. Arty sci-fi headscratchers, gratuitous superhero-film reboots, old-fashioned melodramas, new films by Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and [gulp] Michael Bay — it's the cream of the crop and the bottom of the barrel of the year so far. By Peter Travers