I turn 32 today, so here are my 32 favorite films of 2024
The title says it all: I'm older, wiser, and watched a lot of really good movies last year.
Another year gone, another year’s worth of movies gained. In my humble opinion, 2024 was the best year of film we’ve had so far this decade. As much as I adored the cultural touchstones of the last two years (as well as a few select films from the best forgotten years of COVID), 2024 was the first year this decade that saw creatives and studios finding rhythms once again. Thanks to a couple of film festivals, connections through the wonderful staff over at The Rolling Tape, and a lot of free time on my hands, I watched 115 films released over the course of 2024. Somehow, I narrowed it down to the best 32 and I’m here to talk about them all on my 32nd birthday because who doesn’t love a cute tie-in when celebrating a great year of film?
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To start us off, here are 12 alphabetical honorable mentions before we get into the Top 20:
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, a frank reminder that villains aren’t born overnight (VOD).
Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, showing that legacy sequels can still possess a pulse (Max).
Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, a viciously funny showbiz satire with fearless aspirations for equal representation (Max).
Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow, which took animation to new heights and depths, sometimes within minutes of each other (VOD).
Shaul Schwarz & Christina Clusiau’s Fly, a thoughtful IMAX documentary about thrill seeking (Hulu/Disney+).
Francis Galluppi’s The Last Stop in Yuma County, a noir-inspired thriller with twists, style, and the incomparable Jim Cummings (VOD).
Ti West’s MaXXXine, a satisfying close to a surprisingly consistent horror trilogy (Max).
Megan Park’s My Old Ass, an existential coming of age story that’s wise beyond its years (Prime).
Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge, an ambitious, well-plotted thriller that your Dad will probably love (Netflix).
Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, showcasing the Spanish filmmaker’s ability to emote in two languages (Theaters).
Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters: see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but with tornadoes (Peacock).
And Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, because how could I not? (Netflix)
These films have nothing to be ashamed of–they just couldn’t quite make it into the best of the year, which I’ll begin counting down in order of enjoyment:
20. A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)
I was in a particularly persnickety mood the day I watched Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut When You Finish Saving the World (2022). I was jetlagged, exhausted, and had to watch it at 8 AM MST in a Phoenix hotel room on vacation, but no amount of sleep could have prepared me for its disconnect from reality. Thankfully, second impressions are a wonderful thing, as Eisenberg crafted a winning follow-up with A Real Pain–a humble, wise, and kind-hearted familial drama of two mismatched cousins figuring out their strained relationship on vacation in Poland. Eisenberg’s writing is crisp and thoughtful and Kieran Culkin’s supporting performance is a worthy Oscar frontrunner, which is more than enough for a wholehearted recommendation.
A Real Pain is currently streaming on Hulu.
19. The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders)
Between Lilo & Stitch (2002) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010), writer/director Chris Sanders has a long, illustrious history with both Disney and Dreamworks in getting to the heart of familial conflict in gorgeous animated spaces. However, it’s all the more reassuring to see Sanders branch off from his partnership with collaborator Dean DeBlois and still find a way to make one of his strongest efforts to date with The Wild Robot. The animation is stylized with respect for Peter Brown’s source material, the story ebbs and flows gracefully (even with its harsh narrative turns), and the technicals are all stunning to behold. In a year as stellar in animation as 2024, The Wild Robot is a solid tentpole of excellence in the genre.
The Wild Robot is currently streaming on Peacock.
18. Blink Twice (Zoë Kravitz)
One of the year’s most polarizing thrillers also happens to be one of the year’s timeliest. Even coming downwind off an influx of eat the rich satires (Triangle of Sadness (2022), The Menu (2022), Saltburn (2023)), Blink Twice finds a way to keep the genre fresh and fascinating, filled with rage and going right for the throat in the wake of post-Epstein dysphoria. Admittedly, I was ready to scream nepo baby when I saw Zoë Kravitz was attached as writer/director, but the perspective and approach is so ambitious and enthusiastic that I couldn’t help but be impressed. Go in with cautious expectations, but personally? I think it’s brilliant.
Blink Twice is currently streaming on MGM+ and Prime Video.
17. Kneecap (Rich Peppiatt)
Ireland’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards went unrecognized and it’s a damn shame–not that the self-described “frighteningly articulate rap group” Kneecap seem to mind one bit. In a fiercely confident biopic, writer/director Rich Peppiatt brings a helluva lot to the table on a feature debut, showcasing a versatile visual palette, terrific performances, and an intricate story that goes a lot further than simply playing the hits. As for the snub, the band said it best themselves: “Fuck the Academy, Free Palestine.” I’d recommend the movie based on that statement alone.
Kneecap is currently streaming on Netflix.
16. Babygirl (Halina Reijn)
Halina Reijn is quickly becoming one of my favorite emerging directors, and as a follow-up to Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), Babygirl continues to impress as a smart, sophisticated, and nuanced exploration of sex and gender dynamics. Kidman, Dickinson, and Banderas are all on fire, all balancing their own inner traumas and displeasures, yet the film never looks at its characters with disdain. Kidman freely explores a dynamic with a valor of sex positivity in a way that’s never quite been done this way in an erotic drama, which is all the more reason to give it your attention.
Babygirl is currently in theaters and available to rent on Video on Demand.
15. Juror #2 (Clint Eastwood)
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At 95 years old, prolific director Clint Eastwood realistically doesn’t have that many more stories left to tell. However, if Juror No. 2 is any sign of his final output, it’ll serve as a fortunate reminder of how incredibly lucky we’ve been to have him for as long as he’s lived. What could easily be argued as his best film of the past 20 years, Juror No. 2 sizzles as both a courtroom drama and a moral fable. The cast is stellar from top to bottom, but Nicholas Hoult subtly commands as the titular juror, displaying so much raw emotion with just a singular facial expression. It’s the complete package and a frank reminder as to why Eastwood’s legacy has lasted so long.
Juror No. 2 is currently streaming on Max.
14. Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar)
A24, I will never forgive you for dropping the ball so hard on what should’ve been an absolute slam dunk of a Best Picture race. I get it, you had your hands full with a certain three-and-a-half-hour architecture epic. Regardless, Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing gets so much right–not just the harsh realities of the prison industrial complex, but also the ability that the arts have in rehabilitating the soul. Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin give two of the year’s best performances and Kwedar cuts right to the heart of its subject with an empathetic lens all its own. Between Sing Sing and my next pick, this truly was the year of finding purpose in the performing arts.
Sing Sing is currently in theaters on re-release.
13. Ghostlight (Alex Thompson, Kelly O’Sullivan)
Just like Sing Sing (2023), Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan’s Ghostlight demonstrates the healing power that community and theater have on the soul. While Sing Sing is strong in its own right, the micro-focused scale that Ghostlight operates on in demonstrating the power of familial connection, grief, loss, and unresolved anger completely took me by surprise. I wasn’t aware of Ghostlight until a few of my friends over at The Rolling Tape highly recommended it as a sleeper hit earlier in the year, but God, what this cast and script are able to accomplish is truly remarkable. In a perfect world, Keith Kupferer would be an undisputed Best Actor frontrunner.
Ghostlight is currently streaming on AMC+.
12. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
Somewhere between bitter frustration and unresolved anguish comes Mike Leigh’s astounding Hard Truths–a character study so equally hilarious and heartbreaking that it’ll shatter your sides from laughing so hard, along with your soul from sulking. Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives what’s undoubtedly one of the best performances of 2024, drawing rage and empathy in equal doses and realizing in real time the damage unprocessed grief can have on those around you. Mike Leigh has developed a thoughtful, 50-year career of both writing and directing the bitter and comedic tales of longstanding suffering, and Hard Truths adds another notch to his belt.
Hard Truths is currently in theaters.
11. I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbraun)
I don’t know exactly how they did it, but writer/director Jane Schoenbraun somehow found a way to capture the combined lived experience of every person so displaced with their own reality that they become sucked into another. That reality in I Saw the TV Glow is so immersive, complex, and electrifying to behold, striking the perfect balance between hypnotic fascination and thematic necessity. Films like I Saw the TV Glow offer a portal into perspective, and Schoenbraun’s transgender allegory is one of the most valuable viewpoints you’ll find.
I Saw the TV Glow is currently streaming on Max.
10. Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik)
In 2022, writer/director Mike Cheslik sat on a pile of gold. He showed off his indie comedy titan Hundreds of Beavers to local festivals for two years, building a hype train amongst Midwesterners lucky enough to catch an early glimpse. In 2024, the slow build paid off, Cheslik released the film onto the world, and the Looney Tunes/Chaplin-worship paid off in droves. Between its gag-a-minute hit rate, committed performances, and high octane craftsmanship, the film stands on its own as one of the most innovative comedies of the 2020s thus far. To say Hundreds of Beavers earned its cult status would be dismissive–it deserves the world.
Hundreds of Beavers is currently streaming on Prime Video, Fandor, Midnight Pulp, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Pluto TV, and Freevee.
9. Conclave (Edward Berger)
Much like Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, 2024 marked a year for second chances (some depressingly so). Edward Berger’s remake of All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) struck me as repetitive and ultimately uninteresting, despite some technical prowess. Berger’s Conclave, on the other hand, provides the exact opposite experience: a simultaneously provocative, engaging, and introspective work of fiction. Conclave is terrifically acted, well-structured, and fascinating from an ethics perspective, yet surprisingly pulpy and funny, despite being dead serious about its subject matter. The twists are all fascinating and feed into the central premise of finding a perfect balance between collective change and maintaining order. It’s far and away one of the biggest surprises of the year.
Conclave is currently streaming on Peacock.
8. No Other Land (Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra)
“Tragedy cannot be the end of our lives. We cannot allow it to control and defeat us.” - Izzeldin Abuelaish, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity
It’s been a long, hard, 70+ year road for Palestinian liberation and no year in that battle was more hard-fought or demoralizing than 2024. However, if one thing was shown through the collective efforts of Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian activist Basel Adra in the harrowing documentary No Other Land, it’s that that goal is more universally shared than ever before. The segments of Abraham and Adra grappling with their reality help break the prolonged terror they capture of a displaced people. Few films are more essential viewing in 2024 than No Other Land.
No Other Land releases in theaters on February 7.
7. Dune: Part Two (Denis Villenueve)
“When I say, ‘We have never been more back,’ know that I mean it.” I wrote that sentence when I came out of a Dolby Atmos showing of Denis Villenueve’s towering Dune: Part Two at 9 AM nearly a year ago, and I still share that same enthusiasm. It’s one of the few examples of blockbuster cinema firing on all cylinders. It’s much more accessible than its predecessor, but never talks down to its audience. The individual performances are terrific, but the ensemble all work in perfect harmony. The film is masterfully curated and constructed, and always conceptualized with respect for its source material. We very seldom see this level of coordination from all departments and it never ceases to massively impress.
Dune: Part Two is currently streaming on Netflix and Max.
6. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
It’s been a great year for film across the board, but let me tell you: It’s great to see that the Oscar frontrunner for Best Picture is also really, really good. Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, much like Dune: Part Two (2024), is an ambitious leap for grand, epic storytelling. It’s a vision that I’m flummoxed was accomplished on a $6 million budget when it looks like it easily cost $100 million. Adrien Brody gives the best performance by an actor in 2024, and Guy Pearce’s menacing, power-hungry characterization of Harrison Lee Van Buren only builds into the film’s climax. Its threads are all fascinating, weaving together the breeziest three-and-a-half hours I’ve experienced in a theater in quite some time. I walked out of my viewing at the Chicago International Film Festival gobsmacked, only asking one question: “When can I see it again?”
The Brutalist is currently in theaters.
5. Nickel Boys (RaMell Moss)
There is no ‘Best Director’ conversation in 2024 without RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys–plain and simple. Though Ross made a stellar first impression with his Oscar-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018), I don’t think many realized his untapped potential. Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, Nickel Boys chronicles the friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the horrors of a reform school during Jim Crow-era Florida. Filmed entirely through POV-perspective, the film showcases equal parts sympathy and frustration, none more painful than in Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s performance. Stunning to behold, narratively challenging, and emotionally resonant, Nickel Boys is as powerful as filmmaking gets.
Nickel Boys is currently in theaters.
4. Challengers (Luca Guadignino)
Much like Dune: Part Two, Luca Guadignino’s Challengers fell victim to the SAG-AFTRA strike release date switcheroo, which ultimately hurt its chances of making a lasting impression at this year’s Oscars, causing it to go home empty-handed. It’s their loss though, because Challengers stood its ground as my favorite film for most of this year. There’s a lot to praise, but all the love in the world goes to Justin Kuritzkes’ brilliant, nonlinear screenplay that just gets better and better as it continues, all leading into the explosive finale. Much like the game of tennis itself, the back and forth is scintillating to watch and the anticipation pulsing between each point is just as rousing to endure. Advantage: all involved.
Challengers is currently streaming on Prime Video and MGM+.
3. Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot)
Adam Eliot’s Memoir of a Snail is a prime example of sensibility, innovation, and craft of the highest order. Few films are able to effortlessly tap into so many pertinent philosophies and have them all feel this authentic. I don’t know what took 15 years after Eliot’s previous film Mary & Max (2009), but every painstaking second was worth the effort. There’s a recognizable resilience that exists in the universe of Memoir of a Snail, letting us see how every harsh setback finds a way to make us collectively stronger. In a world and climate where life only gets more and more uncertain, it’s best to remember the wise words of Pinky: “Life can only be understood backwards, but we have to live it forwards.” What better message to ring in the New Year?
Memoir of a Snail is currently streaming on AMC+.
2. Anora (Sean Baker)
Sean Baker has had a long, fruitful career looking through the lens of marginalized communities and professions, with his last four films finding common ground with the lives of sex workers. Not only has he yet to make a bad film, he has surpassed himself with Anora, which marks his greatest achievement to date. At only 25 years old, Mikey Madison has never made a lead role look easier. The way she’s able to bob and weave through the highs and lows of Anora’s emotional arcs while always having a firm grasp on the moment at hand is colossally impressive. The film starts on an electrifying high, only to become a hero’s journey wrought with one tumultuous pitfall after another. By the time the film hits its ultimate end, I couldn’t remember the last time I felt more sympathy for a character. That’s the magic of Sean Baker.
Anora is currently available to rent/purchase on Video on Demand.
1. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)
I grappled long and hard deciding which of my four 10/10s was my favorite movie of 2024. Challengers kept me hooked with a terrific first impression throughout most of the year. Memoir of a Snail overwhelmed me with Eliot’s penchant for profound optimism. Anora took us on a hero’s journey, equal parts hilarious and poignant. However, no film reminded me just how sickly entertaining and meaningful a film can be more than Coralie Fargeat’s body horror masterpiece The Substance. The Midnight Madness hype out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival had me intrigued, but regardless, nothing could have prepared me for the purposeful insanity that The Substance revels in at every turn. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are two halves of the same fantastic performance, each bringing what’s necessary and then some. The Substance is the culmination of a lifetime of obeyed beauty standards pulsing under the skin of societal expectations, metamorphosing into an exploration of the eternal struggle between greener grass and safer pastures. Plenty of great films in 2024 possessed authenticity, yet The Substance oozed it with every jaw-dropping, hilarious, powerful set piece. I still stand by what I wrote on Letterboxd after my second viewing: “In a just universe, The Substance would be nominated for at least ten Oscars, gross $300 million worldwide, and become the first movie to get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
The Substance is currently streaming on MUBI.