I say every year that every year is a good year for movies. Say that ten times fast! 2024 was a weird year for the movies. There was no Barbenheimer this year (although GladWIcked and Babyratu put in valiant efforts). There seemed to be fewer movies, especially coming off the 2023 SAG strike. The top five movies at the box office were sequels. The movies have been in better shape before, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a ton of great things released this year. So here you have it, a list of some of my favorites from this very long year.
10. The First Omen (Dir. Arkasha Stevenson)
A movie that no one was asking for- a prequel to a mid-tier horror series that hasn’t had an entry in almost twenty years. Director Arkasha Stevenson must have known this, because she uses the opportunity to smuggle in exactly the movie she wants to make- a primal scream of a timely horror flick in a post-Roe world, dripping with classic genre influences. It has no business being this good, which in a way makes it even better.
9. Janet Planet (Dir. Annie Baker)
If you’re a millennial, do you remember those summers in the 90’s where you had nothing to do and limited parental supervision? Annie Baker does, and Janet Planet is a charmingly observed trip down that particular memory lane. The way the summer sun lands inside the living room, the buzzing of the cicadas, the creative activities you get into out of pure boredom. The only stimulation you had was the kind you could create yourself. Time slows down and you start to come of age noticing tiny details of the world around you, and the people in it.
8. Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World (Dir. Radu Jude)
When it comes to capturing the absurdity of our dumb world, no one is better at it than Romanian director Radu Jude. The title pretty much says it all, as we follow a production assistant driving all over Bucharest casting parts for instructional PSA videos warning workers about workplace injuries. What the hell kind of movie is that, you ask? Well, it’s only a slightly exaggerated version of the world we live in- a hopeless and hilarious satire that has you laughing to keep from crying.
7. Red Rooms (Dir. Pascal Plante)
One of the most surprising discoveries of the year was this Quebecois character study about an internet sleuth (Juliette Gariépy) obsessed with a serial killer on trial for a series of grisly child murders. We don’t so much question her obsession as much as we understand it, what with the modern proliferation of true crime media. The courtroom scenes have all of the curious inquiry of Anatomy Of A Fall, whereas the case itself is something straight out of Martyrs, only here the violence occurs off screen and in our minds. This a movie that gets under your skin and stays there.
6. The Idea Of You (Dir. Michael Showalter)
Rom Coms very rarely make my end of year lists, but I found this May-December romance with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine to be irresistible. An unconventional take on the Cinderella story, it is also about the non-linear directions that personal growth can take you in. Adapted from a book that itself was essentially Harry Styles fantasy fan fiction, the movie’s charms are sealed by another important feature- the fake band August Moon’s songs are really good!
5. Hit Man (Dir. Richard Linklater)
With Twisters and Anything But You, it was the year of Glen Powell at the movies. But neither of those were my favorite of his movies from this year. No, that would be Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. It’s also the one that shows him as not only a pretty face with a magnificent presence, but also as an artist who thinks a lot about his craft. The chemistry between him and Adria Arjona is off the charts, and Linklater finds the perfect balance between mainstream audience satisfaction and his brand of languorous slacker philosophizing.
4. In A Violent Nature (Dir. Chris Nash)
In A Violent Nature literally follows a generic Jason Voorhees type through the setup of a typical 80’s slasher movie, showing all the “boring” parts of the narrative you’re not usually seeing. Here is this big dumb monster guy walking ever so slowly around the woods, searching for a lost macguffin and unsuspecting victims. Think of it as Béla Tarr’s Friday The 13th. With masterful sound design and a leisurely pace, it is perhaps the first ever ASMR slasher. You’re lulled into this lush environment before an absurdly over-the-top kill you see coming from a mile away irreverently shatters this peace. I am not quite sure why this works so well for me, and for that I appreciate it even more.
3. A Real Pain (Dir. Jesse Eisenberg)
A Real Pain is something new in the canon of Jewish films- a comedic look at the legacy of the holocaust from the removed perspective of third generation American Jews. A take on the odd couple hilarities of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Kieran Culkin makes an obnoxious meal out of Jesse Eisenberg’s terrific script.
2. Nickel Boys (Dir. RaMell Ross)
RaMell Ross’s narrative film debut was my theatrical experience of the year. Based on Colson Whitehead’s novel, it takes a look at another shameful, largely hidden part of 20th century America- boys reform schools across the American south and elsewhere, where underprivileged, “troubled” youth were sent, many to never return. Nickel Boys follows a friendship between two of these youth, but does so with a fascinating approach to storytelling- the cinematography is almost entirely in the first person POV of the characters. It reveals itself to be far more than a gimmick- a new way of telling a story, one that underlines the vibrant humanity and resilience of its subjects.
1. Rebel Ridge (Dir. Jeremy Saulnier)
We had to wait way too long for Jeremy Saulnier’s first movie since 2017 to come out, but it was worth the wait. Aaron Pierre (in a star-making performance) stars as a veteran who takes on the system after the funds he needs to bail out his cousin are seized by local police in a small town. Saulnier’s movies are known for their nerve-shredding violence, but this one has by far his lowest body count. Though the violence here isn’t bloody per se, it’s more sinister- it’s the structural violence of the state, the kind that is somehow permissible, the kind he can’t just sit back and take when the things that matter most are on the line.
and ten more…
All We Imagine As Light
Anora
The Bikeriders
The Brutalist
Civil War
Good One
In Between The Temples
Juror # 2
No Other Land
The Substance
