Here's my 11 favorite flicks from 2024.
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2024 is finally over which means it's time to look back at the year of movies and pick some favorites. And as much as the box office was ruled by established properties, this was also an unexpectedly good year for genres that were considered dead or dying including slapstick, action comedies, romantic thrillers and good old fashioned revenge thrillers.
But before we get to the top ten, I'll have to highlight a number of movies that I really liked, that didn't quite make the top 10. As always this is just my vibes and the list is always based on what I've seen as of this moment (i.e. Godzilla Minus One would totally have my list last year had I seen it).
Honorable Mentions: In the "solid horror movies that I really liked, in a year where I liked a ton" we have a ton of mentions including Ozgood Perkins summer sleeper hit Longlegs, the Irish mystery horror flick Oddity, and the body horror satire of The Substance that may have revitalized the subgenre.
In the "animated movies that went far harder than they had any right to" category we've got a sequel done right with the year's box office champ Inside Out 2 and a movie that proved that perhaps the best versions of this property are when humans aren't involved Transformers One.
In the "blockbuster movies that I really liked" category we have the stunt-fueled silly sincerity of The Fall Guy, the suitably understated human drama of A Quiet Place: Day One, and Guy Ritchie's cheery, and distinctly English take on nazi fighting The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Honorable Mentions: In the "solid horror movies that I really liked, in a year where I liked a ton" we have a ton of mentions including Ozgood Perkins summer sleeper hit Longlegs, the Irish mystery horror flick Oddity, and the body horror satire of The Substance that may have revitalized the subgenre.
In the "animated movies that went far harder than they had any right to" category we've got a sequel done right with the year's box office champ Inside Out 2 and a movie that proved that perhaps the best versions of this property are when humans aren't involved Transformers One.
In the "blockbuster movies that I really liked" category we have the stunt-fueled silly sincerity of The Fall Guy, the suitably understated human drama of A Quiet Place: Day One, and Guy Ritchie's cheery, and distinctly English take on nazi fighting The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
In the "solid dramas/thrillers for adults" we have the unexpectedly non-preachy and effective Ordinary Angels, the lean mean thrill ride of Last Stop in Yuma County, and political intrigue at the Vatican with Conclave.
In the "female directors taking out their rage at abusers/murderers on behind the camera" we have Anna Kendrick's and Zoe Kravitz's directorial debuts with Woman of the Hour and Don't Blink.
And finally we have the "Queer identity" movies from two ends of the spectrum including the grown-up coming-of-age vibes of Am I Ok? and the moving dreamy haze of I Saw the TV Glow from Jane Schoebrun.
With that...onto the main list!
In the "female directors taking out their rage at abusers/murderers on behind the camera" we have Anna Kendrick's and Zoe Kravitz's directorial debuts with Woman of the Hour and Don't Blink.
And finally we have the "Queer identity" movies from two ends of the spectrum including the grown-up coming-of-age vibes of Am I Ok? and the moving dreamy haze of I Saw the TV Glow from Jane Schoebrun.
With that...onto the main list!
Love Lies Bleeding
Rose Glass swung for the fences this year with my favorite bit of "classy trashy" cinema of the year as we follow an aspiring body builder (a breakout Katy M. O'Brian) and a gym manager (a perfectly cast Kristen Stewart) as they try to make a life for themselves amidst a haze of steroids, sex, sweat and crime in 1980s New Mexico.
There's a lot of choices to love here. Ed Harris as our villainous, but not intolerant dad sporting one of the greatest dumb eighties hair choices ever put to screen. How the movie looks and feels as dirty and intense as a go-for-broke workout session or sex. Or the drastic shifts between reality and dream logic.
There's a lot of choices to love here. Ed Harris as our villainous, but not intolerant dad sporting one of the greatest dumb eighties hair choices ever put to screen. How the movie looks and feels as dirty and intense as a go-for-broke workout session or sex. Or the drastic shifts between reality and dream logic.
And in a genre that lives and dies by screen chemistry, O'Brian and Stewart are perfectly suited to one another in both look and feel, as O'Brian is strong, unpredictable and enticing, while Stewart is sweet, quietly furious, and always put in a position to clean up everyone else's messes. It's a wonderfully messy mashup of two people obsessively pursuing their dreams and each other.
But the main reason I love it, is because it perfectly captures the feeling of overwhelming, obsessive almost chemically unhealthy love and how it could be the source of your salvation or your destruction.
But the main reason I love it, is because it perfectly captures the feeling of overwhelming, obsessive almost chemically unhealthy love and how it could be the source of your salvation or your destruction.
Hundreds of Beavers
On almost all of my "10 Favorite" lists I include at least one movie that's there because it's just that much fun. This year's entry is Mike Cheslik and company's ludicrous slapstick flick, Hundreds of Beavers that has quickly gone from steady stream of indie buzz since it's premier at Fantastic Fest in 2022 before releasing to critical acclaim and quickly developing a cult following.
Why is that surprising? Because the movie is a 100 plus minute black and white slapstick movie with almost no dialogue, completely unconvincing effects that's also maybe the funniest movie, in terms of laughs per minute, than any other movie released this year.
Why is that surprising? Because the movie is a 100 plus minute black and white slapstick movie with almost no dialogue, completely unconvincing effects that's also maybe the funniest movie, in terms of laughs per minute, than any other movie released this year.
The movie follows an applejack salesman that has to fight to survive and then to win his fortune through a series of hunting misadventures that eventually explode into an all out war against the aforementioned hundreds of beavers.
But beneath its silliness there's clearly a lot of thought, a strong sense of comedic rhythm, and intelligence that makes the movie a blast from start to finish. The absurd costumes make what would otherwise be a devastating story of man vs. nature animal carnage work like a cartoon. There are set ups to pay offs that only arrive right at the film's finale. And even its largest set pieces feature visual nods to the likes of Chaplin.
Stupid fun is rarely this smart.
Dune Part Two
It's hard to imagine a better time to make a movie about false messiahs. While the original Dune movie felt like a meticulously set-up series of dominos that barely started falling, the second one film feels like an explosion of ideas, thrills, and visually stunning sequences that dares the audience to misinterpret it (spoiler alert: plenty of ding-dongs did).
What could I possibly pick to highlight? How the action feels big and personal at the same time? How the film successfully makes the audience empathize with an insurgent force? How it unapologetically highlights faith and prophesy as weapons wielded by master manipulators out for themselves? Denis Villeneuve and company's dedication to practical when possible effects? The fact that riding a sandworm was exactly as exciting as it should be on the big screen?
Yes it's all of that being carried by an absolutely stacked cast, including a meme-worthy turn from Javier Bardem, Zendaya functioning as the movie's emotional core, Rebecca Ferguson scaring me in a fun way, Timothee Chalemet making us like him before we hate him, and Austin Butler burning through all of that Elvis charm to play our pale faced villain. When walking charisma Florence Pugh gets about 10-15 minutes of screentime in Joan of Arc armor and isn't the main attraction you're doing something right.
But the real reason I love this movie is that is it a grand, sweeping bit of blockbuster filmmaking that's built around its ideas more than its thrills. Put another way, any movie can have a knife fight for its finale, it's what the knife fight means that makes the difference.
Immaculate
2024 was an absolute heater for women led horror films, especially involving themes of bodily autonomy and Immaculate is at the top of that impressive collection for me. The premise involves Sydney Sweeney's novitiate Cecilia who is brought to an Italian monastery, only to wake up pregnant despite never breaking her vow of chastity. An occurrence that only has harrowing answers.
Sweeney's performance as Cecelia is phenomenal, using her own innocent bombshell appearance in her favor before hitting some gut-wrenching places as the story progresses and director Michael Mohan keeps the audience guessing about how and where the next threat will arrive from (either on screen or off). It's a conspiracy that becomes more terrifying and enraging as each layer is meticulously unpacked with a new gory or frightening twist of the knife.
But really, the reason this movie hits so damn hard is that it is so unapologetic about the need for women's bodily autonomy and the church's complicity in endangering the women it claims to care about with violent rage with a finale that will either infuriate you and have you fist pumping (clearly I'm on team fist pump).
Babes
When your movie opens with one of our leads going into labor, you know you're probably not in for a standard pregnancy/parenting comedy. Doubly so if the person going into labor is having their second child.
But that's one of the many clever tweaks Babes makes to a familiar formula that's also one of the funniest movies of the year.
The hook is that our leads, Michelle Buteau's Dawn and Ilana Glazer's Eden, are best friends on parallel but very different life tracks. Eden is perpetually single and has decided to do pregnancy and motherhood "her way" after a one night stand while Dawn is drowning after the arrival of her second child and Eden is desperate for her support.
But that's one of the many clever tweaks Babes makes to a familiar formula that's also one of the funniest movies of the year.
The hook is that our leads, Michelle Buteau's Dawn and Ilana Glazer's Eden, are best friends on parallel but very different life tracks. Eden is perpetually single and has decided to do pregnancy and motherhood "her way" after a one night stand while Dawn is drowning after the arrival of her second child and Eden is desperate for her support.
There's a mountain of empathy for both women despite these differences. Eden is often immature, but also a very genuine and supportive person who wants and needs her best friend. While Dawn is understandably dealing with post-partum complications including stress of being a working mom of two young children, her marriage and her finances who's being asked for more by someone she feels should have it more figured out by now.
And in spite of that tension the movie is a joy, thanks in part to Buteau and Glazer's palpable screen chemistry and a script that's never more than a few minutes from an amazing one-liner, comedic sequence, or scene-stealing character actor dropping in.
It's honest. It's hilarious. It's great. It's on Hulu right now. Check it out.
And in spite of that tension the movie is a joy, thanks in part to Buteau and Glazer's palpable screen chemistry and a script that's never more than a few minutes from an amazing one-liner, comedic sequence, or scene-stealing character actor dropping in.
It's honest. It's hilarious. It's great. It's on Hulu right now. Check it out.
Rebel Ridge
I had the pleasure of watching this movie with folks who described it as "much deeper and darker than they expected." Which is par for the course for indie filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier who unraveled revenge movies with Blue Ruin and the fun of stand-off movies like Die Hard in Green Room. If you're looking for brainless fun, Saulnier isn't your guy (complimentary).
This time around we've got a righteously angry former Marine who's trying to bail his cousin out of jail before he's killed by his fellow inmates, who runs into a ridiculously corrupt local police department and decides to push back. He pushes back so hard in fact, that he just might threaten the stability of a larger criminal conspiracy with the police at its center.
Aaron Pierre delivers a star-making turn as Terry Richmond, carefully balancing the action hero monologues and action beats with real vulnerability, as the script drifts between exploitation filmmaking fun like Pierre's PACE monologue or popping off lines like "I'm going to haunt these motherf***ers" and deep dives into how/why a police department can use civil asset forfeiture to line its pockets.
The end result is a cynical crime flick with cathartic action beats to let Terry and the audience vent their frustration on systemic problems that feel like they need superhuman characters to solve.
This time around we've got a righteously angry former Marine who's trying to bail his cousin out of jail before he's killed by his fellow inmates, who runs into a ridiculously corrupt local police department and decides to push back. He pushes back so hard in fact, that he just might threaten the stability of a larger criminal conspiracy with the police at its center.
Aaron Pierre delivers a star-making turn as Terry Richmond, carefully balancing the action hero monologues and action beats with real vulnerability, as the script drifts between exploitation filmmaking fun like Pierre's PACE monologue or popping off lines like "I'm going to haunt these motherf***ers" and deep dives into how/why a police department can use civil asset forfeiture to line its pockets.
The end result is a cynical crime flick with cathartic action beats to let Terry and the audience vent their frustration on systemic problems that feel like they need superhuman characters to solve.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
It's a miracle for a franchise to have a single director for its entire run. Especially if said franchise has been running for 45 years, seemingly ended in the eighties, and felt like it had achieved its lean perfected form in 2015's Fury Road.
But Furiosa proved that not only did George Miller and company still have the juice to deliver one of the most satisfyingly chaotic action movies in recent memory, they could also continue to expand its violent vision of the post-apocalypse and humanity's attempts and failures to cope with it.
To do so, Miller and company tell Furiosa's story from a child of a green utopia to the leader of Immortan Joe's war rig with tons of vehicular madness, world expansion and villain monologues as it also drifts between genres like escape movies, chase movies, revenge movies and war movies on a dime.
The action is as good ever with a number of stand out sequences featuring new tweaks on familiar premises (i.e. see the War Rig) while the cast of newbies including Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth fine themselves down into suitably blunt instruments who are either embracing or bucking against this world's chaos.
It's a rare prequel that adds fitting context to every aspect of the hero we love in Fury Road while also advocating for its central ideas of genuine human connection and community in the face of nihilism and authoritarian order...with a bunch of exploding cars and spears.
But Furiosa proved that not only did George Miller and company still have the juice to deliver one of the most satisfyingly chaotic action movies in recent memory, they could also continue to expand its violent vision of the post-apocalypse and humanity's attempts and failures to cope with it.
To do so, Miller and company tell Furiosa's story from a child of a green utopia to the leader of Immortan Joe's war rig with tons of vehicular madness, world expansion and villain monologues as it also drifts between genres like escape movies, chase movies, revenge movies and war movies on a dime.
The action is as good ever with a number of stand out sequences featuring new tweaks on familiar premises (i.e. see the War Rig) while the cast of newbies including Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth fine themselves down into suitably blunt instruments who are either embracing or bucking against this world's chaos.
It's a rare prequel that adds fitting context to every aspect of the hero we love in Fury Road while also advocating for its central ideas of genuine human connection and community in the face of nihilism and authoritarian order...with a bunch of exploding cars and spears.
My Old Ass
The appeal of coming-of-age movies is the relatable fun of watching a young person stumble through the most formative and awkward portion of their life. They capture small moments that feel big, both in the moment and looking back. It's a mirror that the audience can see a version of themselves in.
The genius of My Old Ass is making said mirror work both ways.
The premise is sci-fi high concept goodness, where a young girl named Elliott who's about to go to college makes contact with her future self during a mushroom trip, the titular My Old Ass. Not only that, but the elder Elliott has very specific ideas about how her younger self should spend her final summer at home as a young woman with a cryptic air about them.
And as silly and fun as it is to watch Elliott try out new things, like hang out with her golf loving younger brother, the real emotional punch comes from Elliott pushing back at her older self and advocating for the ability to live her life, warts and all, as she chooses.
Maisy Stella stuns in her film debut, Aubrey Plaza is suitably disarming with her laconic delivery (be it in person or over the phone) and the movie is so funny that when it does bring the emotional hammer down, it lands in supremely satisfying ways. A great surprise.
Monkey Man
The idea that Dev Patel's feature film debut was destined for a streaming-first release is wild when you consider the end product. Thankfully Jordan Poole stepped in to make sure audiences could ingest Patel's revenge action thriller in all its frenetic glory.
The plot is bare bones. Our hero is an impoverished young man who wants to take revenge on the man who abused and killed his mother and destroyed his village. To do so, he attempts to ingratiate himself with the local criminal element to get access to their highest profile customers, including the police chief responsible for his life-changing misery.
The things that make this movie stand-out and sing are the nuances like swipes at systemic and current issues in India including clear references to religious hate crimes and the politics of Mohdi and Patel's kitchen sink approach to action visuals. One moment we're in a chase sequence that looks inspired by Michael Bay, the next we're in a sequence that would be at home in Korean actioners like The Villainess, before finding peace, growth and allies with a Hijra community full of dream visuals and training montages. With so many new directors it's like they already have a style figured out, and it's so much fun to watch Patel experiment, seemingly in real time.
And yeah, sometimes it's just really satisfying to watch a guy you like stab a bad guy through the throat with a knife in his teeth. Hope there's more to come from Patel both in front of and behind the camera.
The plot is bare bones. Our hero is an impoverished young man who wants to take revenge on the man who abused and killed his mother and destroyed his village. To do so, he attempts to ingratiate himself with the local criminal element to get access to their highest profile customers, including the police chief responsible for his life-changing misery.
The things that make this movie stand-out and sing are the nuances like swipes at systemic and current issues in India including clear references to religious hate crimes and the politics of Mohdi and Patel's kitchen sink approach to action visuals. One moment we're in a chase sequence that looks inspired by Michael Bay, the next we're in a sequence that would be at home in Korean actioners like The Villainess, before finding peace, growth and allies with a Hijra community full of dream visuals and training montages. With so many new directors it's like they already have a style figured out, and it's so much fun to watch Patel experiment, seemingly in real time.
And yeah, sometimes it's just really satisfying to watch a guy you like stab a bad guy through the throat with a knife in his teeth. Hope there's more to come from Patel both in front of and behind the camera.
The First Omen
It still levels me that this is Arkasha Stevenson's first feature film. The unparalleled confidence to not only take on a prequel from a beloved series, but also make it entirely your own through sheer force of direction is impressive on a level I can't begin to describe. The movie's cold open is so shocking and effective I did an entire breakdown of it, and it might not even be the film's scariest or most impactful scene.
Each scary sequence in this movie is masterfully directed, giving the audience a new horrifying angle or image to etch into their psyche forever, as our novice nun Margaret tries to unravel a conspiracy involving a potential spawn of Satan. And we haven't even gotten to the revelatory performance from Nell Tiger Free as Margaret who gives more than anyone could ask for, especially in the late movie possession sequences.
And much like its fellow "noviatite in a s***ty situation" cousin Immaculate, The First Omen is equally unapologetic about advocating for women's bodily autonomy and the women of the church, who are vulnerable to its abuses with no systemic means of fighting back.
Truly a testament to what a hungry filmmaker can do with seemingly tired material if they're given free reign to rage against the powers that be and pick and choose whatever visuals they please.
The Wild Robot
Dreamworks final movie made entirely in house might be its best. Based on the book of the same name, the movie follows a lost helper robot, Rozzum unit 7134, or Roz, that is thrust into a role it wasn't designed for: being a baby goose's mother.
This movie does everything right. Lupita Nyong'o is an inspired vocal casting for Roz, as is Pedro Pascal as our trouble-making, but ultimately warm-hearted fox Fink. The films visuals make wonderful use of the painterly style from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The set pieces, be they montage, comedic, or action are superbly well constructed with equal measures of plot and emotional weight.
But what really stands out in this gorgeous animated movie meant for families is...the script.
The premise has a lot of build-in emotional weight thanks to its ongoing metaphor for the parental experience told rapid-fire through the eyes of a robot that's learning to care and would be amazing if it stopped there. But it's the unexpected plot turns, it's unapologetic look into life's messiness, character growth throughout the film and a litany of unexpected callbacks that make this one of the most moving and emotionally satisfying movie experiences I had all year. Just a beautiful story, beautifully told.
This movie does everything right. Lupita Nyong'o is an inspired vocal casting for Roz, as is Pedro Pascal as our trouble-making, but ultimately warm-hearted fox Fink. The films visuals make wonderful use of the painterly style from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The set pieces, be they montage, comedic, or action are superbly well constructed with equal measures of plot and emotional weight.
But what really stands out in this gorgeous animated movie meant for families is...the script.
The premise has a lot of build-in emotional weight thanks to its ongoing metaphor for the parental experience told rapid-fire through the eyes of a robot that's learning to care and would be amazing if it stopped there. But it's the unexpected plot turns, it's unapologetic look into life's messiness, character growth throughout the film and a litany of unexpected callbacks that make this one of the most moving and emotionally satisfying movie experiences I had all year. Just a beautiful story, beautifully told.
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