Top 20 Films of 2024
It's Oscar season, which means I've compiled my list. Architects and tennis players and sandworms and actors turning to experimental science to look hot - oh my!
The Oscars are on Sunday, March 2, which means it’s time for me to talk about the 20 best movies I saw in the last year. Real critics did this in December, but I’m a wannabe, which means I do it late and worse! I missed plenty of movies because, again, I’m a wannabe. Here we go!
20. A Real Pain (directed by Jesse Eisenberg)
Set on a Jewish heritage tour through Poland between mismatched cousins, Eisenberg’s second directorial feature is a pained discussion of trauma and family relationships. Kieran Culkin, my number one Succession boy, is the loudest drum of pain in the film, opening a ceaselessly bleeding vein of angst. Eisenberg, who both wrote the film and plays the co-lead, maintains a quieter, nervy energy to his performance. Together, A Real Pain holds a mirror up to men trying to escape misery of their own making.
19. Wicked (directed by John M. Chu)
I spent most of 2024 with my arms crossed like a grump, mean-mugging the many times I was subjected to Wicked trailers: “Why was it shot inches from the sun? It’s just the first act and it’s HOW LONG? What do you mean the book recreates The Wizard of Oz and describes Elphaba’s pubic hair?” I dismayed to strangers. To my astonishment, Wicked… is undeniable? Everyone in charge of its look belongs in jail, but I found myself won over by its classical, broad emotionality and deeply moved by its central relationship, eagerly awaiting its resolution. I teared up several times! Bring on Wicked: Part II For Good!
18. A Complete Unknown (directed by James Mangold)
In the vein of 2024 musicals whose existence made me go “… really?”, Mangold’s latest high-class journeyman effort about Bob Dylan’s early years surprised me. Communicated by its performances, A Complete Unknown is an astonishingly sincere portrait of the unknowability of a musical genius and the burden of being an unwilling political revolutionary. Timothée Chalamet announces himself as one of the greats, and I have to say: I’m all aboard the Timmée train. Choo choo.
17. Nosferatu (directed by Robert Eggers)
In his fourth feature, Eggers cements himself as an exacting, exhaustive filmmaker, with lush period details giving rise to some dang-ass freak character work. Remaking the silent 1922 original, Nosferatu is largely what you’d expect from this director and material. It is nevertheless easy to succumb to its darkness and embrace the gothic ride. Helping matters is Bill Skarsgård’s undersung work as the titular bloodsucker; aided by tremendous prosthetics, Skarsgård’s voice has to be heard to be believed. (It makes for excellent impressions around the house.)
16. The First Omen (directed by Arkasha Stevenson)
I’ve never seen a single Omen film so can’t speak on the antichrist-centric franchise. I was, however, raised Catholic, and isn’t that about the same? While common symptoms of prequelitis afflict The First Omen, Stevenson directs the hell out of (and into) her feature debut. Anchored by a wildly committed and hypnotic Nell Tiger Free performance, Stevenson feminizes horror, imbuing her confident voice into the film and taking it from a mindless prequel to a haunting work about women’s bodily autonomy and attempts to curb it.
15. A Different Man (directed by Aaron Schimberg)
Sebastian Stan had a damn good 2024, delivering two wholly unique yet equally dynamite performances in films that exist largely because he threw his name behind them. Perhaps his best was in A Different Man, a thorny black comedy about a self-loathing actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes a procedure to change his face. Unfortunately, waking up and looking like Sebastian Stan doesn’t alone break you out of your prison of self-hate. Dragging Stan down is a revelatory turn by Adam Pearson, a British actor with neurofibromatosis for whom the film was written. This pushes A Different Man to bizarre, depraved, and hysterical levels.
14. Problemista (directed by Julio Torres)
Torres has been a quiet fixture of alternative comedy for the last decade, writing for Saturday Night Light and The Chris Gethard Show before branching out into his own work, notably Los Espookys and Fantasmas. His material is always unique, vaguely surreal, and heartfelt. Problemista, which Torres also wrote and stars in, is no different, telling the story of a struggling immigrant attempting to realize his artistic dreams while navigating indifferent, complex systems. A mesmerizing supporting performance from Tilda Swinton helps unlock the film’s emotionality, but its voice is completely Torres’s.
13. Hit Man (directed by Richard Linklater)
Based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article, Linklater’s latest focuses on a man masquerading as a fake hit man for Houston police. Equal parts rom-com and pulpy thriller, Hit Man is a tour de force for the titular hot hit man, Glen Powell. Dripping in rizz, Powell, who brought the concept to Linklater and cowrote the script, delivers a true feat of movie stardom, putting on wigs and accents while somehow looking so dang fine.
12. Janet Planet (directed by Annie Baker)
Baker’s debut is the film on this list that best evokes a time and place: early 1990s Massachusetts as 11-year old Lacy, in a remarkable first screen performance from Zoe Ziegler, contends with sickness, hippies, and her beguiling single mother, Julianne Nicholson’s Janet. Lacy grappling with how she orbits her mother’s immense gravitational pull is the core of this slow, quiet examination of coming of age when you just can’t escape your mom.
11. The Brutalist (directed by Brady Corbet)
That a colossal 215-minute epic with an intermission demands to be seen twice is kind of insane. Yet Corbet’s tome on America, identity, trauma, and creativity rewards such dedication. I struggled with the film’s ambitious grasp on my first viewing, but a second viewing totally unlocked the film. Greatness is text, subtext, and metatext of The Brutalist, and it is great in every sense. The audacity, extravagance, and intellectual thorniness of such a picture is very much the point, and I loved thinking about it.
10. Rebel Ridge (directed by Jeremy Saulnier)
A star is born in this taut thriller about a former Marine combating corrupt local police after a case of unjust civil forfeiture. That star is Aaron Pierre, a wildly arresting presence whose big arms and even bigger eyes destine him for greatness. Rebel Ridge has more on its mind than hunks, as it tackles systemic abuse and features an actual military combat program designed to be antithetical to big men with loud guns. Tight and thinky, the film is a total riot.
9. The Substance (directed by Coralie Fargeat)
No one could have a predicted a horror movie as gross, wild, and unsubtle as Fargeat’s latest would become something of an awards season darling. The Substance centers on an aging celebrity, Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), using an experimental drug to create a younger version of herself – predictably, things go awry. The Substance is obvious, but the joy of the film is experiencing its gnarly and extreme escalation. That something so singular and sick is a serious Oscar contender is no “slight misuse of the substance” – it’s a bonus.
8. Trap (directed by M. Night Shyamalan)
Part of the glee in Trap is imagining Shyamalan typing away madly while cackling to himself with a shit-eating grin. He’d be right to do so: Trap, a pulpy thriller about a serial killer evading custody while at a concert with his daughter, is pure, antic glee. Shot gorgeously by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, the film hinges on Josh Hartnett’s hysterical, manic performance. Though it slowly unveils itself to be a thoughtful meta-story on the challenges of fatherhood, Trap is a crispy, extra-fried delight.
7. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (directed by George Miller)
Following up one of the most beloved movies of the 21st century is a herculean task. Miller’s fifth trip across the Wasteland smartly subverts its expectations by leaning into tradition (i.e., dialogue and plotting), telling an origin story of the title character with appropriate myth and spectacle. Though it doesn’t reach the heights of Fury Road (what does?), Furiosa is a moodier, thinkier missive on power and vengeance. Plus, Chris Hemsworth acts like a Muppet.
6. I Saw the TV Glow (directed by Jane Schoenbrun)
Schoenbrun’s second feature cements them as heir apparent to David Lynch. Examining two teens obsessed with a 90s cult TV show, Schoenburn creates an impressive, distinctly unsettling vibe as their film confronts the idea of suffocating your personal challenges with pop culture. I was so unnerved I had to sneak into the Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace rerelease to chill out. All I’m saying is I obviously can’t relate to Schoenburn’s text.
5. Challengers (directed by Luca Guadagnino)
Nobody films bodies like Guadagnino, a master at expressing yearning and angst through his actors’ movements. Combine that with the rest of the ecstatic Challengers cocktail – a Justin Kuritzkes’s cracking script performed terrifically by Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist plus a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score straight from the club – and you’ve got one of the most fun films of 2024. Horny, messy, and a total blast, Challengers made me want to do a million pushups.
4. Hard Truths (directed by Mike Leigh)
Everyone in Leigh’s first film in six years is so hurt but doesn’t know what to do about it. Exploring family trauma and mental illness, the film hinges on Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s acidic, staggering performance as Pansy Deacon. A truly unpleasant hang, Pansy is quick to bully everyone in her path; as the film progresses, however, it becomes an aching portrait of how individual’s inability to grapple with pain festers within the system.
3. Dune: Part Two (directed by Denis Villeneuve)
I went long on the massive sci-fi epic when it came out last March. Suffice it to say, Dune: Part Two has everything I want in movies: richly filmed worlds littered with compelling performances, heady ideas about the human experience, and, perhaps most importantly, cool stuff that goes boom. It’s disappointing, if unsurprising, the film received little Oscars love. The much-hyped conclusion, Dune Messiah, will likely be far too esoteric and dorky for the Oscars, but my beloved space freaks will always have a home with me.
2. Anora (directed by Sean Baker)
I stared at my screen for the longest time trying to figure out how to introduce Anora, and I decided to just drop all formality and say it’s just wonderful. As riotously funny as it is darkly depressing, Baker tells the story of Mikey Madison’s Ani, a sex worker caught up a wild ride with a Russian oligarch’s spoiled idiot son. The reality of the film’s story eventually sets in, and Anora reveals itself to be a pained reflection of those trapped in America’s class system.
1. Nickel Boys (directed by RaMell Ross)
Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s novel of the same name about two teens’ experiences at an abusive reform school in the 1960s, Ross’s narrative debut is a curious sit. The documentarian, professor, and photographer shoots the film entirely in first-person POV. Ross calls it sentient perspective, with the camera moving as if a character’s eyes. Though an unorthodox form, the approach is revolutionary, pushing Roger Ebert’s idea of cinema as an empathy machine to the extreme. It places the viewer into the subjective reality of the characters, as we literally see what they see, allowing their personal experience to completely consume the audience. There is simply no way to forget experiencing Nickel Boys.