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2024 Year End Wrap Up

Top 10 Films of 2024

What follows are Nathan’s picks of the best films of 2024.

1. Anora

Directed by: Sean Baker

Premise: A sex worker (Mikey Madison) meets the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn) and after a brief romance they get married in Las Vegas. His family demands an annulment. 

Why It Made the List: Much of Hollywood’s output consists of aspirational fantasies of middle-class wealth and comfort. Sean Baker’s films have consistently undermined that illusion and Anora takes on the Cinderella story, punching a hole in that fairytale with humor and pathos. This film is a love story and love narratives are fantasies of being seen which is why they are a source of comfort for so many viewers. The Cinderella paradigm has an economic competent as well; romance is literally and figuratively married to material satisfaction. Anora literalizes this complex web of love and validation and wealth which is why this story is so powerful and why the collapse of the relationship is so heartbreaking. It is a personal story of a misbegotten marriage with far-reaching implications for human relationships and life in a capitalist society. We see this in Mikey Madison’s performance as Anora. She at first seems like a gold digger and at times she comes across quite crazy but her manic attempt to hold onto her marriage is gradually revealed to be about something deeper than money or romance. That theme is also found in Yura Borisov’s supporting role as Igor, the hired muscle who begins the film as an antagonist but ends very differently. The idea is embedded in the moviemaking as well, especially the visual contrast between the drab reality of everyday life and the fantasy of the high roller lifestyle. Anora takes on these large issues and presents them with a vicious sense of humor and a profound sense of empathy. The masterful management of tone and character, transitioning us from fantasy to farce to heartbreak, ends on an emotional wallop that gets to uncomfortable truths about the way we relate to one another, how the superrich relate to the rest of us, and what we want or need to be emotionally whole. The combined powers of Anora’s ambition, skill, and humanity make this the best film of 2024.

2. The Apprentice

Directed by: Ali Abbasi

Premise: A story of the relationship between lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) and young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan). Cohn teaches Trump lessons in politics and business. Meanwhile, Trump romances his first wife Ivanna (Maria Bakalova).

Why It Made the List: Presidents and celebrities are symbols. However viewers feel about Donald Trump, there can be no denying that he, at the very least, represents something essential about American culture. The Apprentice simultaneously capitalizes on Trump’s symbolic meaning while cutting through the myth to find the flesh and blood man at the center. The Apprentice uses Trump’s biography to dramatize the system of power that encompasses politics, finance, and media. In The Apprentice Trump is the product and embodiment of that system. New York City is the other major symbol of The Apprentice. Trump’s rise is interconnected with the rejuvenation of New York City in the 1980s and 90s and the dramatization of Trump constructing his business empire fits hand-in-glove with the remaking of the city; both are recreated in each other’s image. Sebastian Stan embodies Donald Trump, capturing Trump’s distinct vocal cadence and gait but also revealing his humanity. This isn’t a hit piece but in some ways The Apprentice is more devastating than that. Instead of a monstrous caricature, the Trump of The Apprentice is a bit pathetic. The film possesses a tragic quality which plays out in Trump’s relationships with mentor Roy Cohn and his first wife Ivana Trump. There is something genuine and even sweet in the origin of both relationships and the corrosion of this mentorship and marriage creates an impression of loss. Biopics often reinforce the great man theory of history. The Apprentice doesn’t necessarily refute that theory but its portrait of Donald Trump makes us question what is underneath those stories and what those narratives and Trump himself reveal about us.

3. The Substance

Directed by: Coralie Fargeat

Premise: An aging actress turned television fitness instructor (Demi Moore) uses a black-market drug that creates a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley). The drug requires a strict regimen that her younger self cannot abide.

Why It Made the List: 2024 was an exceptional year for the horror genre and several films were contenders for this best-of-the-year list including MadS and the remake of Nosferatu. But for its audacity, style, theme, and sheer entertainment value, it’s The Substance that makes the cut. Filmmaker Coralie Fargeat has created a work of body horror worthy of early David Cronenberg. And like Cronenberg, Fargeat is as interested in stimulating our brains as she is in turning our stomachs. The Substance has remarkable showmanship with grotesque physical effects but the images are tied to the film’s explorations of the body and identity. The premise is a kaleidoscopic metaphor. The Substance is most obviously about the way society ties women’s value to their physical appearance, especially in the entertainment industry. But The Substance also represents the experience of middle-aged people seeing themselves as a young person trapped in an aged body and dealing with the repercussions of the choices made in our youth. The film is properly horrifying but in a way that is both smart and frequently very funny. This is partly an exercise in style and the production design, cinematography, and sound are all on point. The performances match the pitch of the filmmaking, in particular Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. Qualley and Quaid reinforce the farcical aspect of the movie but Moore gives The Substance a human touch. Every aspect of filmmaking comes together in The Substance and it is simultaneously a technical showcase and extremely intelligent and mordantly funny.

4. Babygirl

Directed by: Halina Reijn

Premise: An elite executive of a technology company (Nicole Kidman) secretly desires to be sexually dominated. She enters into an affair with a younger man (Harris Dickinson) who is interning at the company.

Why It Made the List: 2024 saw the return of sexuality to mainstream cinema after many neutered years. One of the most interesting and well-made of these pictures is Babygirl. The desire explored here may be very specific but the story’s implications are far-reaching. Babygirl plays out in the space where gender, sexuality, and power intersect and the story runs up against girlboss style feminism and popular platitudes about female sexuality and leadership. This film asks us to consider what we actually want and dramatizes how those desires conflict with ideologies and expectations. Desire doesn’t always align with social or professional customs but desires may also be an expression of deeper needs or urges. At the center of Babygirl is Romy, played by Nicole Kidman, who fulfills the roles of mother and wife and executive but there is something missing and Romy puts everything at risk to chase her desire. Kidman has consistently played comparable characters in similarly themed stories such as Big Little Lies and Birth but Babygirl gives Kidman the material and the latitude to really explore sexuality and power in a bold and interesting way. Writer and director Halina Reijn explores Romy’s desire through dramatic action. The filmmaking is precise and purposeful. The action is staged and photographed in ways that draw out the meaning of the scene and allow the audience to see what’s happening behind the action. For all its carnality, Babygirl isn’t ultimately about sex. It is about the unspoken and the subconscious and the way true intimacy requires vulnerability.

5. Kneecap

Directed by: Rich Peppiatt

Premise: A biopic about the Irish hip hop trio. Two drug dealers (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin) connect with a music teacher (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) and they create politically charged hip hop music that challenges the authorities in Belfast.

Why It Made the List: One of the most prolific genres of 2024 was the musical biopic. Results varied but Kneecap was not only the best musical biopic of 2024, it was one of the best musical biopics of the last several years. At its core is a fairly standard getting-the-band together story but the filmmakers have built politically provocative and culturally specific ideas around it. Kneecap is a story of rebellious young characters creating music in the Gaelic language, using their songs to criticize establishment power and doing so in an endangered local dialect. Kneecap isn’t merely about fame or success. It is about the place of language in cultural identity and the power of music to mobilize people. It is also about resistance and respectability. The band’s music is deemed low by some of the very people who ought to be politically allied with it; Kneecap dramatizes the way hip hop has been the music of the oppressed but also the way style can steepen the resistance from friends and foes. The film itself takes on that conflict. A lot of musical biopics sanitize their subject and act as promotional pieces that mythologize the artist and protect the value of their music catalogue. While Kneecap does mythologize the band to some extent, the style of the filmmaking is unruly and aligns with the style of Kneecap’s music, including their vulgar humor. Kneecap is refreshingly glib and funny and it injects a Dionysian spirit into a genre that, like the mainstream music scene, has become safe and corporatized.

6. Civil War

Directed by: Alex Garland

Premise: In the near future, the United States has been torn apart by a second civil war. A group of journalists travel to Washington DC as rebel forces close in on the capital.

Why It Made the List: Civil War was a bit polarizing in the political press. The film came at a time of high anxiety about partisan polarization and political violence. The dissatisfaction with Civil War was rooted in a misunderstanding of the film or a desire for it to be something that it wasn’t. Alex Garland’s film was not a diagnosis of contemporary politics but rather a rebuke of those in the media who openly salivate at the idea of a civil war. The picture shows us what such a conflict might actually look like and it isn’t fun or glorious. Civil War dramatizes what combat does to people and the emotional and moral toll extracted. The picture follows a group of war correspondents as they document battlefront conflicts. The movie stays at their level; the filmmakers create a visceral representation of war reportage. Sound is used effectively and there are moments of naturalistic beauty but Civil War is underlined by an ongoing sense of danger and paranoia. That’s evident in the performances especially Kirsten Dunst as a veteran journalist. The inherent spectacle of cinematic combat and the portrait of a reporter’s emotional collapse captures the tension so often reported by war correspondents. Our media—both entertainment and news—frequently offer us prurient thrills of violence and reinforce a militarized culture. Civil War follows those cultural values to their logical conclusion which is self-destruction. The finale of Civil War leaves us to wonder what exactly was won or lost and that in itself is part of the point.

7. A Real Pain

Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg

Premise: A pair of Jewish-American cousins (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) journey to Poland to participate in a Holocaust tour and visit the ancestral home of their late grandmother.

Why It Made the List: There is no shortage of movies about the Holocaust and its aftermath and in 2024 several films dealt with the topic including Bonhoeffer, The Brutalist, Lee, and Treasure but A Real Pain was distinguished among this company. At its most basic level the film is about a diasporic existence. David and Benji are American cousins who grew up together and have come to Poland to see the country their grandmother fled. History becomes not an abstraction but a reality that directly impacted their elders and is therefore part of themselves. The emotional impact of this journey is evident in both men and Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin give extraordinary performances. The two of them are a very funny odd couple but there is also a sadness and at times a resentment underneath their scenes. These men share a family tree but David is stable and successful while Benji is adrift and unfocused. The trip across Poland gives Benji a sense of direction but standing at historical sites also highlights Benji’s anxiety about his lack of personal or professional accomplishments. In that respect, A Real Pain is also a portrait of wayward young men who lack a sense of direction and as an immigrant narrative the film asks viewers to question our relationship with our heritage. Like its central characters, A Real Pain acknowledges the horrors of the past but the film also implicitly warns against wallowing in them especially at the expense of the future. That sentiment, as well as the film’s empathetic spirit, distinguishes A Real Pain among explorations of past atrocities. 

8. Didi

Directed by: Sean Wang

Premise: Set in 2008, a Taiwanese-American teenager (Izaac Wang) copes with the challenges of growing up and struggles in his relationships with his family and friends.

Why It Made the List: Hollywood films tend to idealize childhood. Didi eschews the polished and comfortable Hollywood fantasies of youth for something much more honest. This film is the story of Chris, a thirteen-year-old boy struggling to define himself and find his place in the world. Didi captures the awkwardness of adolescence. Chris tries different activities and falls in and out of different social groups. The filmmakers don’t run away from the cringe moments but they do find humor and humanity in them. Chris’ search for identity has an ethnic dimension and Didi offers a complicated view of the character’s cultural background. This film is not a rejection of his heritage but culture is a source of conflict. Chris is stuck between mainstream American culture and his Taiwanese heritage and he struggles to measure up to either sets of norms and expectations. That adds an additional layer onto Chris’ adolescent angst which plays out in his interactions with his peers but also Chris’ complicated relationship with his mother. The family relationship is another source of Didi’s brutal honesty. Joan Chen nearly steals the film in her role as Chris’ mother. She is effectively a single parent and Chen’s character is bewildered by her children and her mother-in-law. But the mother has hopes and dreams of her own and Didi is a sober character study of a life with unfulfilled dreams and the compromises that are necessary to survive. There is a coarseness and incompleteness to life in Didi but also a tenderness that are real. 

9. Flow

Directed by: Gints Zilbalodis

Premise: An animated film. A cat lives a solitary life in the woods until the region is flooded by a natural disaster. The cat and several other animals take shelter on a boat and together they float downriver.

Why It Made the List: 2024 had an extraordinary slate of animated films including Inside Out 2, Memoir of a Snail, and The Wild Robot. Flow is distinguished from the rest. The film has a unique look, existing somewhere between realism and the cartoonish style of Disney animation. The animals of Flow are not fully anthropomorphized. There is a touch of human personality but they generally behave consistent with their species. Instead of dialogue and musical numbers, the filmmakers communicate story and character through subtle details. That’s one of Flow’s most outstanding qualities. As a work of filmmaking, Flow is purely cinematic. Everything is communicated visually through the action and the nuances of the animal’s behavior. The filmmakers give the audience some credit, trusting us to follow along without the anthropomorphism found in other animated films. Flow is also one of the most entertaining pictures of 2024. This is an adventure movie and Flow is more involving and gripping than virtually any other movie of the year. Some of that is due to the audience’s disposition toward small furry mammals but Flow also has plenty of humor and the film’s dramatic stakes go beyond a lot of contemporary family entertainment. In addition to its excitement and humor, Flow also possesses a sense of wonder. The on-screen world has moments of beauty and even transcendence. The filmmaker’s willingness to challenge the audience a bit, their commitment to visual storytelling, and the inclusion of visual lyricism makes Flow an example of the possibilities of animation.

10. Strange Darling

Directed by: JT Mollner

Premise: A man with a rifle (Kyle Gallner) pursues a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) through rural Oregon.

Why It Made the List: Strange Darling exists on the overlap of commercial and arthouse cinema and it is the best of both worlds. Much like the life and death pursuit at the center of the story, Strange Darling is relentlessly paced. Every aspect of the filmmaking is on point and it is deliberately stylized. The cinematography by Giovanni Ribisi gives Strange Darling a unique style and uses color in interesting ways while the music of Z Berg is an effective counterpoint to the violence and cheekily scores the background with love songs. The central performances by Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner crackle and the supporting characters add humor and texture. The filmmakers put on a show and Strange Darling offers the thrills of sex and violence but does so in a way that plays with audience expectations and the gender politics associated with storytelling traditions. That’s where Strange Darling transcends a commercial thrill ride and steps into the realm of the arthouse. Much like the movies of Quentin Tarantino, Strange Darling reworks the scenarios and appeals traditionally offered by exploitation films. It is unapologetic about its exploitation appeals but the film also offers us a lot to unpack. The nonlinear storytelling presents information in a way that sets up expectations and then turns them upside down, maximizing our surprise but also playing with the way storytelling conventions are tied to cultural beliefs. Strange Darling plays like a nightmare and its mix of aggression and lust and power acts out something primal about sexuality and the relationships between men and women.

Honorable Mentions

What follows are films that were either runners up to the Top 10 list or other pictures that came out in 2024 that are worth mentioning.

Babes – A familiar pregnancy story filled with likable characters and a distinct sense of humor.

Better Man – A superficial but marvelously produced biopic of musician Robbie Williams.

Bikeriders – A compelling drama about male friendships that dramatized the intersection of motorcycle culture and masculinity. 

Blink Twice – An exceptional directorial debut by Zoë Kravitz. Blink Twice is a suspenseful and provocative picture that offers a lot to unpack.

The Brutalist – A beautifully shot story of a Jewish architect finding his way in the United States in the post-war era.

Challengers – One of two impressive 2024 releases by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers is a story of love and competition in professional tennis starring Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, and Zendaya.

City of Dreams – A bold portrait of exploitation and abuse, City of Dreams is an unpleasant film to watch but it was very well made and told a compelling story.

Conclave – Stops short of being a great film but this Vatican drama was a smart and satisfying mix of a political thriller and a religious film.

Drive-Away Dolls – Raunchy and absurd, Drive-Away Dolls was a throwback to the more fun and unpredictable early entries in Ethan Coen’s filmography.

Dune Part Two – The second half of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel had all the craftsmanship of the first movie but a much more involving story with some substantive themes.

The Fire Inside – The true story of Olympic boxer Clarissa Shields impressed with its performances and cinematography.

The First Omen – Easily the best follow-up to the 1976 film and one of the boldest and most interesting horror films of 2024.

From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza – Consisting of twenty-two short films shot by residents of the Gaza Strip, From Ground Zero will be an important time capsule of this era.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – A worthy addition to the Mad Max series that brought some depth to the story of Fury Road.

Heretic – The film deals with its spiritual and philosophical themes intelligently but it’s also a tense thriller.

Inside Out 2 – This sequel was a little too repetitive of its predecessor but it also carried forward many of the strengths of the 2015 film.

Kill – An Indian action film distinguished by its viciousness and characterization.

The Last Showgirl – Filmmaker Gia Coppola packed a lot of ideas and themes into an intimate story.

Late Night with the Devil – An interesting riff on possession films and pseudo-documentary horror with some great scares.

Love Lies Bleeding – Mixes character-driven storytelling with a wild visual style.

MadS – Imbuing the zombie film with new life, MadS was technically impressive.

Memoir of a Snail – One of the most unusual animated films of 2024, an unpleasant story was made accessible with droll humor and engaging characters.

Nickel Boys – An adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, Nickel Boys brings a unique cinematic style to a story of the late Jim Crow era.

Nosferatu – Robert Eggers’ remake of the 1922 silent film had accomplished performances, production design, and cinematography.

Queer – Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel provokes us to think about the way the body and our sexuality shape to our sense of self and how those things figure into our relationships with other people.

Rebel Ridge – A successful combination of a thriller and a social issue drama.

Rez Ball – Transcended the average sports film with its likable and complicated characters and vivid sense of place.

Scrambled – This story of a thirty-something woman freezing her eggs and reevaluating her life was both funny and dramatic.

Sing Sing – A drama about prison inmates participating in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. The film effectively dramatized the rehabilitative possibilities of art.

Sugarcane – An upsetting but necessary documentary about the Canadian Indian residential school system. 

Thelma – An entertaining comedy with great characters, good humor, and some profound insights about aging and autonomy.

Treasure – 2024’s other film about Jewish Americans visiting Poland was often raw and dramatized grief and survival in a way that’s insightful and affecting.

Tuesday – This unusual film addressed death and grief with intelligence and artistry.

The Wild Robot – One of the best films DreamWorks Animation has yet produced and a fun and soulful animated adventure.

Good Buzz List

These are films that were released in 2024 and have strong word of mouth, and in some cases award nominations, but Nathan was unable to see them in time for the year end summary.

All We Imagine as Light – Written and directed by Payal Kapadia, this is a drama about women living in Mumbai. All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival and it was named one of the best films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, and Film Comment magazine.

The Bibi Files – This documentary critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had trouble finding distribution and was subject to a pressure campaign to keep it from being screened at film festivals. The Bibi Files has gotten very good reviews.

Blitz – This drama about London citizens surviving bombing raids during World War II got positive reviews and was nominated for several BAFTA awards.

Hard Truths – The newest film by Mike Leigh focuses on a depressed woman who constantly lashes out at everyone and everything around her. The National Board of Review named Hard Truths one of the best independent films of 2024. Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste has received numerous accolades for her performance.

I’m Still Here – Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s 2015 memoir, I’m Still Here is about life under Brazil’s military dictatorship in the early 1970s. Actress Fernanda Torres has been praised for her performance. I’m Still Here was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and numerous critics groups named it one of the best movies of 2024.

September 5 – A drama about the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics as seen by reporters for ABC Sports. The picture has been recognized by many critics groups.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat – A documentary about musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach’s 1961 protest of the murder of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. The film won a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was named Best Documentary at several film festivals and critics groups.

Union – A documentary about efforts to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island. Union has received positive reviews and was named the Best Documentary Feature by the Houston Film Critics Society Awards.

Great Performances

This is a list of some of the great performances in 2024 although not all of them were in great movies. 

Abigail – Alisha Weir alternates between childish vulnerability and vampiric monstrosity in the title role.

Anora – Mikey Madison is fierce but vulnerable in the title role while Yura Borisov’s performance sneaks up on us.

The Apprentice – Sebastain Stan turned Donald Trump from a cartoon character into a flesh and blood person while Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova impress in supporting roles as Roy Cohn and Ivanna Trump.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – This little surprise of a movie had a great cast that included Judy Greer and a strong slate of child actors led by Beatrice Schneider.

Babes – Ilana Glazer and Michele Buteau were a lot of fun to watch as friends coping with motherhood.

Babygirl – Nicole Kidman plays a woman with secret desires.

Back to Black – Marisa Abela plays singer Amy Winehouse. Her performance was better than the movie she was in.

Between the Temples – Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane made a likable odd couple.

Bikeriders – This ensemble piece had a great cast that included Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, and Michael Shannon.

Bird – Nykiya Adams, Franz Rogowski, and Barry Keoghan starred in this surreal coming of age story.

The Brutalist – Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce were very good.  

Challengers – Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, and Zendaya star in this story of love and competition.

City of Dreams – Ari Lopez conveys his character’s thoughts through his posture and facial expression and Alfredo Castro plays the sweatshop supervisor.

A Complete Unknown – Good performances all around by Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez.

Conclave – The whole cast of this film was stellar including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Lucian Msamati.

The Critic – Ian McKellen’s talent for droll line readings was put to good use.

The Dead Don’t Hurt – Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps’ performances made this film work as did Solly McLeod as the villain. 

Didi – Izaac Wang and Joan Chen impress as son and mother in this coming-of-age story.

Drive-Away Dolls – Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan made a fun on screen pair joined by supporting performances from Beanie Feldstein, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon.

The Fire Inside – Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry as fighter Claressa Shields and her coach Jason Crutchfield.

Firebrand – Alicia Vikander and Jude Law star as Katherine Parr and King Henry VIII.  

The Front Room – Not a great movie but one that is probably destined become a cult title thanks to Kathryn Hunter’s performance.

Gladiator II – Denzel Washington punched up his scenes and elevated the movie.

Heretic – Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher gave nuanced and intelligent performances while Hugh Grant was funny and threatening without ever even raising his voice.

Hit Man – Glen Powell demonstrated his range by starring as a college professor who works part time with the police department, posing as a hitman to entrap suspects.

Immaculate – Sydney Sweeney was the best part of this piece of nunsploitation.

Juror #2 – Nicholas Hoult impressed in the title role.

Kneecap – Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh played themselves.

The Last Showgirl – Pamela Anderson was terrific in the lead role. Also notable were Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, and Kiernan Shipka.

Lee – Kate Winslet and Any Samburg impressed as World War II correspondents Lee Miller and Davy Scherman.

Never Let Go – Hallee Berry and child actors Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins grounded the fantasy of this horror tale.

Nightbitch – Amy Adams was the best part of this examination of motherhood.

Nosferatu – Bill Skarsgård and Lily-Rose Depp did great vocal and physical work.

The Outrun – Saoirse Ronan plays a woman struggling with sobriety.

The Piano Lesson – A great overall cast including John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Corey Hawkins, and Michael Potts.

Problemista – Tilda Swinton was great as a demanding and erratic boss.

Queer – Daniel Craig impressed as a ragged hedonist and his performance revealed the sadness and isolation underneath the character’s bravado.

A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play Jewish American cousins on a trip to Poland.

Rebel Ridge – Aaron Pierre and AnnaSophia Robb helped to elevate this film.

The Return – Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche play Odysseus and Penelope in this adaptation of The Odyssey.

Saturday Night – The whole cast impressed including Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase. Matt Wood as John Belushi, and Nicholas Braun in dual roles as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson.

Scrambled – Leah McKendrick was great in the lead role as a thirty-something woman freezing her eggs.

Sing Sing – Colmon Domingo led this film along with real life prisoners playing themselves including Clarence Maclin. 

Small Things Like These – Cillian Murphy conveyed warmth and inner conflict as a coal merchant who discovers abuse at the local Magdalene laundry.

Smile 2 – Naomi Scott was in perpetual fear. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – Jim Carrey appeared in dual roles as Doctor Robotnik and the doctor’s grandfather Gerald.

Strange Darling – Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner crackled in the lead roles. Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. distinguished their characters in supporting performances.

The Substance – Demi Moore gave a great lead performance accompanied by Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.

Thelma – June Squibb impressed in the title role but Thelma also had a great supporting cast including Richard Roundtree, Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, and Clark Gregg.

Treasure – Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry play daughter and father in this Holocaust drama.

Tuesday – Lola Petticrew played a teenager dying of cancer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was cast as her mother.

We Live in Time – Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield play a couple dealing with the wife’s cancer diagnosis.

Wicked: Part 1 – Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are well cast in their roles and were probably responsible for much of the success of this film.

Wicked Little Letters – Olivia Colman played a woman who receives a series of harassing and vulgar letters.

Woman of the Hour – Anna Kendrick was very funny as a contestant on the 1970s television show The Dating Game while Daniel Zovatto was frightening as serial killer Rodney Alcala.

Bottom 10 Films of 2024

What follows are the very bottom of the cinematic heap for 2024.

1. Reagan

Directed by: Sean McNamara

Premise: A biopic of Ronald Reagan (Dennis Quaid) from his career as a Hollywood actor through his terms as President of the United States.

Why It Made the List: Reagan represents the worst kind of biographical filmmaking. This hagiographic slog is a political history lesson with no interest in politics or history. The film recounts various episodes from Ronald Reagan’s life but without any insight and whenever the filmmakers encounter complexity or controversy they stream roll over it. The picture seeks to mythologize Reagan but it makes him into a cartoon character instead. Moments that are supposed to be rousing are just cringe inducingly hokey. That cartoonish quality is found in Dennis Quaid’s performance, one of the worst of 2024. Quaid looks like he’s in a Saturday Night Live sketch and his performance fits right into the cheap production design. This film drones on for nearly two and a half hours, prolonged by a ridiculous frame narrative in which a former KGB agent (Jon Voight) narrates Reagan’s life. By the end of it we haven’t learned anything. Biographical films are supposed to bring us closer to understanding the subject but Reagan pushes the fortieth president further away. Whatever viewers may think of Ronald Reagan’s politics, the man had a fascinating life and a consequential presidency. This film is insipid, incurious, shoddily made, and the worst picture of 2024.

2. Tarot

Directed by: Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg

Premise: A group of college friends forecast their futures with a cursed tarot card deck. They begin dying in ways that resemble their tarot readings.

Why It Made the List: One of the most incompetently made pictures of 2024, Tarot fails at virtually every aspect of the filmmaking. Tarot is so poorly lit that a lot of the movie appears as a murky smudge. The erratic editing uses quick cuts that make the action indecipherable. The cast have the emotional range of mannequins and their characters are stupid. The story doesn’t make internal sense. The filmmakers don’t understand how tarot readings are supposed to work. They can’t even get the violence right with clumsy death scenes bereft of showmanship.

3. Unfrosted

Directed by: Jerry Seinfeld

Premise: A speculative fiction. Set in 1963, the Kellog’s and Post food companies compete to bring a breakfast pastry to market. 

Why It Made the List: Jerry Seinfeld tried his hand at filmmaking and the result was a disaster. If Unfrosted were supposed to be a satire, it hasn’t even a trace of intelligence or wit. And if Unfrosted were just intended to be silly, it is bereft of laughs. None of the gags or jokes work at all and the whole film is inflected with an off-putting smugness. This is the cinematic equivalent of watching a standup comedian laugh at his own unfunny jokes for ninety minutes.

4. Megalopolis: A Fable

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Premise: Set in the near future, the architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) pushes the city of New Rome to make fundamental changes. He runs up against the political and economic forces that control the city.

Why It Made the List: It’s a shame when a highly anticipated film turns out to be a dud, even more so when it’s the work of a master. But even setting aside expectations and pedigree, Megalopolis is a catastrophic misfire. This silly and immature mess doesn’t demonstrate even a basic grasp of storytelling. A textbook example of pretentiousness, Megalopolis puts on airs but it has nothing insightful or coherent to say. The film is at best accidentally authoritarian, suggesting that society will be guided to a utopia by our tech oligarchs.  

5. The Strangers: Chapter 1

Directed by: Renny Harlin

Premise: A remake of the 2008 film and the first part of an intended trilogy. A couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) spend a night in an isolated cabin. They are attacked by three killers wearing masks.

Why It Made the List: 2024’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a remake of the 2008 film, a movie that wasn’t great but worked as a nihilistic home invasion story. The remake misses the point of the original while reiterating the key images and set pieces and doing them worse. A movie like this is all about the execution but 2024’s The Strangers lacks style, scares, or inspiration. This remake only exists to cash in on a title, a fact that is painfully obvious in every aspect of the movie.

6. Rumours

Directed by: Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin

Premise: Leaders of the G7 gather at a wooded retreat to work out a draft statement addressing a global crisis. Their work is interrupted by strange and supernatural phenomena.

Why It Made the List: Rumours is weird for its own sake and that would be fine if the movie were witty or intelligent or made any kind of sense. It doesn’t. The entire movie is simply vague. Some of this is clearly intended to be funny but it isn’t. Rumours’ absurdities and nonquitters add up to nothing. Even if that’s the point, it is a frustrating viewing experience. This blob of a film wastes the talents of its impressive cast and the time of its audience.

7. Madame Web

Directed by: S.J. Clarkson

Premise: A Spider-Man spinoff. Casandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) has déjà vu-like visions of the near future. She takes three young women under her wing, protecting them from a supervillain determined to kill them.

Why It Made the List: Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff series came to an inauspicious end in 2024 with the release of Venom: The Last Dance, Kraven the Hunter, and Madame Web. While none of these movies were great, Madame Web was particularly bad. With its clumsy filmmaking, awful dialogue, and sloppy plotting, Madame Web is one of the worst examples of a comic book origin story. Some critics defended Dakota Johnson’s detached performance, mistaking it for irony when in fact Johnson showcased contempt for the material.

8. Dear Santa

Directed by: Bobby Farrelly

Premise: Due to a spelling error, a boy’s (Robert Timothy Smith) letter to Santa goes to Satan (Jack Black) instead. The devil offers the boy three wishes in exchange for his soul.

Why It Made the List: We don’t ask for much from holiday movies. Some humor and a little sentimentality in a red and green bow, and viewers will eat them up like Christmas cookies. It’s hard to screw up that recipe and yet the makers of Dear Santa did exactly that. The misjudged tone, lame humor, lousy visual effects, and the dearth of any seasonal vibe make Dear Santa a miss on every level. Holiday movie fans aren’t known for their discerning taste but even they wouldn’t enjoy this crap.

9. The Union

Directed by: Julian Farino

Premise: A blue-collar worker (Mark Wahlberg) is tapped to help a spy agency recover a list of covert assets before it falls into the wrong hands.

Why It Made the List: Netflix has specialized in making bad espionage movies. The streamer’s spy films are consistently among the worst movies of the last few years. Netflix’s 2024 espionage release is an algorithm movie. The Union repurposes a premise from other espionage films, casts actors who have played these kinds of characters before, and the set pieces are cliché shootouts and chases. But The Union is also incredibly shoddy filmmaking. There’s no need to worry about artificial intelligence if this is what flesh and blood creators are making. 

10. Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Premise: Picking up where Part One left off, Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her companions return to their home planet but discover that the villain Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) has survived and is planning an invasion.

Why It Made the List: The release of the original Star Wars was followed by a flood of cheap imitations that had none of what made the 1977 film work. History repeats itself in Rebel Moon, a polished but unimaginative Star Wars knock off further demonstrating that filmmaker Zack Snyder has no idea how to tell a story. The plot consists of exposition dumps, the action is meaningless, and the characters are generic fantasy caricatures. This glossy bore wants to be The Empire Strikes Back but it’s closer to Attack of the Clones.

Trends of 2024

May-December Romances

For whatever reason, 2024 had a lot of movies about older women getting into relationships with younger men.

Censored Films

A number of movies had trouble at film festivals in 2024, often because their subjects overlapped with ongoing wars or critiqued government policies. Several films were targeted for removal from film festival schedules and others had difficulty finding distribution.

  • The Apprentice
  • The Bibi Files
  • Deaf Lovers
  • No Other Land
  • Queer
  • The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  • Union

Mediocre Sequels

A lot of the sequels of 2024 were not great. Quite a few limply reiterated their predecessors while others were just simply underwhelming.

Musical Films

Quite a few musical films were released in 2024 and ranged from documentaries to biopics to adaptations of stage musicals. Not all of these movies were good but there was a lot of variety.

Great Animation

Animated films of 2024 were consistently impressive and ranged in style and subject.

Great Horror Films

The past few years have had impressive slates of horror films but 2024 was really outstanding.

Inspired by Possession

Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 film Possession has long been a cult title praised for its craftsmanship and the performance by Isabelle Adjani. Filmmakers and horror fans have become increasingly aware of Possession and its influence could be seen in several films of 2024.

Directed by Actors

Several notable movies were directed by well-known actors. Some titles were impressive directorial debuts.

The Holocaust and Its Aftermath

The Holocaust was a popular theme in movies of 2024 with several films dealing with Jewish identity in the aftermath of the Shoah.

The Return of Sex

Sexuality had been mostly absent from movies for the past decade, especially studio releases. That’s been changing in recent years and several films of the past year not only included sexuality in their stories but presented it in interesting ways.

1990s Stories

As 90s kids take their place behind the camera they’ve also told stories set in that decade.

Weird Stuff

There were a lot of strange and experimental films released in 2024. Some were more successful than others but filmmakers demonstrated a willingness to play with cinematic techniques and narrative forms in ways that were very creative.

Institutional Violence

Several 2024 releases dealt with institutionalized violence as characters encountered corruption and abuse.