When reflecting on the cinematic offerings of 2024, it becomes apparent that while there was no shortage of great films--hell, I list nearly 40 of them below--the cream of the crop doesn't quite measure up to the very best movies from the year prior. My top two of 2023, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, are honestly better than anything released this past year, and I might even put my #3 of '23, the action classic that is John Wick: Chapter 4, above any of 2024's filmic output as well.
But it would be a disservice to the movies I list below to complain for too long about how they stack up against 2023's cinematic triumphs, and there's a wonderful variety to the 2024 crop, as is evident from my picks for the top two of the year, which are essentially polar opposites. If there's anything this diverse group of films has in common, it's a thematic focus on attachments that can't be broken, whether it's the maternal bond between a robot and the gosling she raises or the quite literal connection between an aging actress and the young doppelganger who hatches out of her spine. With that in mind, here are the movies of 2024 that kept me attached to this great medium:
1. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet). With its shot-in-VistaVision visual grandeur, majestic score by composer Daniel Blumberg, epic narrative scope and runtime, and incorporation of an old-school overture and intermission, this magnum opus from actor-turned-visionary filmmaker Corbet is just so immersively massive as a cinematic experience. Impressively, its size is matched by its novelistic depth, as the story of an architect (Adrien Brody, in a performance of staggering complexity) who flees Hungary during the Holocaust and is taken in by a wealthy American benefactor (Guy Pearce, sublimely detailed in his fat-cat monstrousness) provocatively explores themes of art vs. commerce, history's shaping of culture, and America's callousness towards immigrants. No other film this year aimed so high, or achieved as much.
2. The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders). With its uncommonly lush and painterly use of CGI animation, this is a gorgeous visual feast, though its strongest effect on the eyes is how consistently it gets them to well up with tears. The emotional journey this takes the viewer on, as a robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o with unerring precision) stranded in a forest grows into becoming an orphaned gosling's mother, is so grand, stirring, and wise about the necessity of kindness that it renders the film an instant animated classic bound to be beloved and rewatched for generations.
3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller). Miller's last venture into the post-apocalyptic desert realm of The Wasteland, Mad Max: Fury Road, was such a singular shot of adrenaline that it admittedly took me a while to adjust to the differing rhythms of this follow-up. But after a couple repeat viewings, I now recognize this as the equal to that 2015 masterpiece, offering up a primal, ingeniously structured odyssey that imaginatively expands the world Miller created decades ago and richly muses on the erosion of humanity within that world. Anya Taylor-Joy's feral take on the title character sets it apart from Charlize Theron's original incarnation of the role in Fury Road, while a never-better Chris Hemsworth channels legendary fellow Aussie Heath Ledger with his wildly unpredictable turn as Dementus.
4. Challengers (Luca Guadagnino). The movie year belonged to Italian master sensualist Guadagnino, who has two very different but similarly assured movies on my top 10 list. First up is this witty, sexy, utterly intoxicating portrait of three tennis prodigies (Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor) whose fluctuating bonds reflect both competitiveness and a complicated but deep love. Guadagnino captures the tennis action with a ceaselessly inventive and energetic kineticism that the sport has never been granted onscreen before, while he, writer Justin Kuritzkes, and the remarkable trio of actors offer a psychologically rich human dimension where the lines between friend, lover, and rival constantly blur.
5. Anora (Sean Baker). Throughout his career, Baker has focused on marginalized protagonists and the commodification of sex, and this boisterous, stinging comedy about a sex worker's (Mikey Madison, a scrappy force of nature) impulsive marriage to a Russian oligarch's son (Mark Eydelshteyn) marks his most stylish, satisfying, and refined exploration of those themes yet. As a motley crew of goons try to elbow Madison's Ani out of her marriage, the film acquires the madcap wit and energy of classic screwball comedy, while also compassionately reckoning with the unbridgeable gap separating the "haves" from the "have nots."
6. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat). Fargeat's criminally underseen debut Revenge revealed her formidable gift for infusing gnarly genre fare with cinematic maximalism and a palpable feminist anger. For her wildly imaginative follow-up, Fargeat applies that gift to a darkly comic fable about an actress (a fearlessly committed Demi Moore) determined to combat industry ageism and sexism, along with her own insecurities, by signing up for a mysterious treatment that creates a younger version of her. The film's critique of the male gaze's pitiless fixation on bodies is razor-sharp, and it's just as profound about the non-gender-specific, irrational yearning for balance between the extremes of one's younger and older selves.
7. Queer (Luca Guadagnino). While cerebral auteur David Cronenberg previously adapted author William S. Burroughs in characteristically chilly fashion, Guadagnino takes Burroughs' work in a more lushly romantic direction befitting his warmer humanist approach. Daniel Craig gives a performance of exquisite heartache that ranks among the year's finest pieces of acting, and Guadagnino connects the character's unrequited love for a younger man (Drew Starkey) to his heroin addiction in an exploration of uncontrollable needs and appetites. The voluptuous, occasionally psychedelic style makes it all the more impressive that Guadagnino can conjure so many aesthetic miracles within the span of a year.
8. Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve). The first part of Villeneuve's sci-fi epic was so spellbinding and dense in its world-building that it made it to the #19 spot on my best-of-2021 list, so it's meant as no slight to that film to say that this follow-up feels like the spectacular payoff to what its predecessor set up. Visually sumptuous and filled with memorable set pieces, this is thrilling popcorn entertainment that Villeneuve crafts with real artistry. He's made an epic reminiscent of David Lean in both its mammoth scale and in its thematically complex take on warfare, power, corruption, heroism, and prophecy.
9. Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot). It was definitely a great year for animation, with three animated films making this list, and here's one that's definitely not for kids. Claymation auteur Elliot boldly goes to some very dark places in this chronicle of two siblings (voiced as adults by Sarah Snook and Kodi Smit-McPhee) who are split apart, though he balances that darkness with whimsy, sophisticated wit, and delightful visual details. His literate script boasts deftly deployed plot twists that had the audience I saw this with gasping and crying; it deserved a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination in addition to the Best Animated Feature nod it received.
10. Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi). Pivoting from the emotionally shattering intimacy of Drive My Car to a moody, mesmerizing tone poem about the need to respect the ecosystem that humanity is just a small part of, Hamaguchi demonstrates impressive filmmaking versatility and reaffirms his status as an auteur of masterful cinematic command. There's a wealth of unexpected humor, especially in a town hall sequence where the residents of a rural Japanese village take on representatives of a glamping company, and a hauntingly cryptic ending that I had a totally different interpretation of after a second viewing.
And here are the next ten runners-up:
11. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof). There's a powerful, universal relevance in this taut, engrossing Iranian domestic thriller's look at how a household can be torn apart by vast political differences, with the older generation clinging to conservative tradition while their kids believe in progressive reform. Rasoulof exhibits a Farhadi-esque gift for tense narrative escalation and weaves in galvanizing footage of police brutality against unarmed protestors in the streets of Tehran.
12. Kill (Nikhil Nagesh Bhat). There are some nifty surprises tucked into this relentless, exhilarating, train-set action movie, including a narrative development at the 45 minute mark that significantly ups the stakes and a mournful reckoning with the gradually increasing body count. The fight choreography is expressively brutal, as well as dazzling and ingenious in its use of the train's confined spaces.
13. Juror #2 (Clint Eastwood). It's infuriating that Warner Bros. dumped this into just a tiny handful of theaters, especially considering what a hitmaker and Oscar magnet Eastwood has been for the studio. The legend continues his directorial exploration of the moral complications of heroism with this gripping, probing courtroom thriller about a juror (a riveting Nicholas Hoult) who realizes he's guilty of the crime he's been assigned to assess. By the end, there's a rich ambiguity over who's the hero and who's the villain in this story.
14. Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier). As a former Marine (Aaron Pierre, exuding movie-star magnetism) commits to getting back the bail money for his cousin seized by racist cops, the ensuing legal hurdles, negotiations, and face-offs cast a critical light on the various ways that racism is baked into American law enforcement. At the same time, Saulnier's signature muscularity as a genre filmmaker ensures that the film is as cathartically entertaining as it is politically perceptive.
15. No Other Land (Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, & Rachel Szor). The year's best documentary offers vital, direct-from-the-frontlines reportage of the Israeli military's violent eradication of Palestinians from their homeland. The footage that Palestinian activist Adra captures of trigger-happy soldiers bullying the residents of the West Bank settlement of Masafer Yatta and destroying their homes is harrowing and intense, while the anchoring on-camera bond between Adra and Israeli journalist Abraham offers counterbalancing hope for the boundary-breaking efforts to combat this inhumanity.
16. Hit Man (Richard Linklater). Glen Powell's charisma and playfulness as a performer find their best showcase yet in the role of a psychology professor who achieves startling success pretending to be a hitman for police sting operations, and he has scorching chemistry with Adria Arjona as a potential client desperate to escape her shithead husband. The always intellectually curious Linklater makes the proceedings as thought-provoking about role-playing and the malleability of self as they are sexy, funny, and wildly unpredictable.
17. His Three Daughters (Azazel Jacobs). The basic premise of three estranged sisters (Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne, and Carrie Coon) reuniting to care for their father during his final days of life may make this sound like a huge downer, but the film's mix of delicate warmth, relatable emotional honesty, and, as is always the case with Jacobs, sharp wit instead make this a gently uplifting experience. Olsen, Lyonne, and Coon make for a dynamite acting trio.
18. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross). In depicting the friendship between two young Black men (Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson) that emotionally sustains them during their incarceration at an abusive, racist boarding school, Ross boldly utilizes a first-person visual language that immerses you in their experiences and drives home how the two characters truly see each other. Blending this camera approach with archival footage and chronological flash-forwards, Ross crafts beautiful cinematic poetry.
19. Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass). Lurid, shocking, and intoxicatingly stylish, this is everything you want from a proudly disreputable neo-noir. Kristen Stewart and revelatory newcomer Katy O'Brian connect with a forceful erotic and emotional chemistry that make you root for their characters even as they take an amoral turn to criminal scheming, while Glass' filmmaking vibrates with pulpy flair and audaciously veers into gonzo surrealism.
20. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Benjamin Ree). I knew this documentary would hit emotionally hard when I heard the setup: after a young Norwegian man dies of a degenerative muscular disease that kept him wheelchair-bound for most of his life, his parents venture into the records of his extensive interactions within the game "World of Warcraft" to discover what a positive difference he made in other peoples' lives. Ree's use of animation to dramatize the boy's "Warcraft" experiences make this as innovative as it is extremely moving, and with there being so many films tackling the dark side of the Internet (including #24 below!), it's refreshing to find one that explores the utopian ideal of online life.
And here are 19 more highlights from the movie year:
21. Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants).
22. Between the Temples (Nathan Silver).
23. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis).
24. Red Rooms (Pascal Plante).
25. Femme (Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping).
26. A Complete Unknown (James Mangold).
27. Didi (Sean Wang).
28. Wolfs (Jon Watts).
29. Dahomey (Mati Diop).
30. Good One (India Donaldson).
31. Oddity (Damian Mc Carthy).
32. Housekeeping for Beginners (Goran Stolevski).
33. A Quiet Place: Day One (Michael Sarnoski).
34. The Shadow Strays (Timo Tjahjanto).
35. Music by John Williams (Laurent Bouzereau).
36. Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik).
37. The Beekeeper (David Ayer).
38. Casa Bonita, Mi Amor! (Arthur Bradford).
39. MaXXXine (Ti West).
