On 2024

Jesus Christ, this has been a year. Previous years were similar, but this one was different. It had a 4 at the end of it.

In all seriousness, this year has been a very personally important year. Important things have happened in my life. I’m feeling grateful, at peace, and increasingly aware of how fortunate I am. One thing I am grateful for: MOVIES. Movies rock so much. Movies rocked a lot this year. Here’s a list, which is undoubtedly due to be updated, of the movies I liked the most this year.

And once more, before you yell, these are my personal favorites. This is my list. Write your own.

ON MY WATCHLIST

Movies I am dying to see but haven´t because I can´t or I just haven´t got around to watching for one reason or another.

• All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia)
• Babygirl (Halina Reijn)
• Evil Does Not Exist/ 悪は存在しない (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Kenji Kamiyama)
• Problemista (Julio Torres)
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
• The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• A Complete Unknown (James Mangold): A fantastically made biopic.
• Anyone But You (Will Gluck): Super fun. Kinda infectiously so.
• The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi): Maybe the greatest showcase possible for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Strong in particular is transcendent.
• A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg): What a wonderfully scripted piece. Kulkin is fantastic in it.
• The Beast (La Bête) (Bertrand Bonello): Immensely strange, but very good. Might need to rewatch.
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Tim Burton): Legitimately entertaining and funny. Was not at all displeased, as I thought I would be.
• Civil War (Alex Garland): Incredibly well produced. Everything that had to do with the journalists, the real meat of the movie, was so great. And suddenly, it would get interrupted by lukewarm preachiness and a nonsensical world.
• Conclave (Edward Berger): A great-looking, well-acted, entertaining drama. The ending is a bit abrupt, but the film is veeeery engaging. 
• Deadpool & Wolverine (Shawn Levy): Funny and entertaining, yet toothless and kinda bland visually.
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller): An incredible action spectacle that carves out its own place in the Mad Max series. Some sequences are very obviously CG, though.
• Gladiator II (Ridley Scott): Massive and epic, but really just a retread of the first one. The movie only really comes alive when Denzel is on screen.
• Heretic (Scott Beck & Ryan Woods): Super fun, but the ending is kinda half-baked.
• Hit Man (Richard Linklater): A wonderful surprise of a movie, a sexy, hilarious comedy.
• Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik): Extremely fun and a testament to what truly passionate, creative filmmakers can achieve with modern cinema technique.
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Wes Ball): Kinda pales in comparison to the Matt Reeves films, but fun and visually stunning nonetheless.
• Maxxxine (Ti West): Maybe my favorite of this trilogy? Just an unapologetically goofy film.
• Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola): Insane, vibrant. Incredibly inconsistent, and has a feeling of incompleteness to it. 
• Monkey Man (Dev Patel): A really good directorial debut, a good action movie with a sense of righteousness.
• Nosferatu (Robert Eggers): Undeniably the biggest Eggers film, a stylish-as-hell piece with a fantastic cast.
• Pedro Páramo (Rodrigo Prieto): Even though I love that a Mexican story can be told with this massive scale and production value, I was kinda nonplussed.
• Queer (Luca Guadagnino): Incredible-looking and really well-acted (Daniel Craig might have delivered his best dramatic performance yet) but starts to drag after the first act.
• Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar): A very moving piece, anchored by the real, tangible, raw nature of the casting and Colman Domingo’s sheer screen presence.
• Transformers One (Josh Cooley): A great prequel film and the best the Transformers franchise has had to offer since the original animated classic.
• Twisters (Lee Isaac Chung): One of the better blockbusters this year and a great example of what a legacy sequel can be.
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham): A beautifully animated, straightforward caper that pokes fun at AI. What’s not to love?
• We Live In Time (John Crowley): A sincere, beautiful love story with a very cool editing style.
• Wicked (Jon M. Chu): all of its shortcomings in filmmaking are offset by its sheer spectacle and the talent of its leads.

THE LIST

DUNE: PART TWO

Dir. Denis Villeneuve

Let’s just get this out of the way. This is, by far, my favorite movie this year. I must confess that it’s not particularly close. I saw it twice in theaters, both times in IMAX, and have seen it several times on digital since. My God, is this film incredible. Epic, dark, beautiful, and satisfying on every level. It feels true to the spirit of the original novel’s message, but it allows itself its own freedoms. In particular, I loved this take on Chani, this element of free-mindedness lost in a fanatical culture, this voice of reason among her peers, blinded by faith and prophecy. Every five minutes, there’s a shot that takes your breath away, a sequence that turns you into a member of the crowds on Arrakis or Giedi Prime. Absolutely perfect casting in Butler, Pugh, and Walken, and Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem portray the roles of oppressor and oppressed with amazing skill and agility. “In your nightmares, you give water to the dead and it brings joy to your heart” gives me chills every time. Dune: Part Two is one of those movies that linger, and I hope it will. It certainly will in my mind. 

ANORA

Dir. Sean Baker

For the past decade, every time Sean Baker makes a film, it is immediately acclaimed as one of the best of the year but ignored by major trades or wide audiences. The Florida Project and Red Rocket came and went without their deserved fanfare. Enter 2024’s Anora, an unexpected Palme D’Or winner that’s a strong Best Picture contender and an even stronger contender for the best film of 2024. It’s chaotic, fiery, goofy, and filled with gut punch after gut punch, an examination of transactional relationships, hopes, dreams, pride, wealth, maturity, vulnerability. It’s an impeccably told story, masterfully written and directed by Baker, performed by the incredible Mikey Madison and an equally dextrous supporting cast, and filled with empathy and humanity. Please watch it YESTERDAY.

CHALLENGERS

Dir. Luca Guadagnino

I’m not the biggest Guadagnino fan, but this movie has a sense of energy that is kinda impossible to resist. It is entertaining, juicy, and involving in the same way that good relationship drama and gossip are. It’s erotic and sexy, but more in its vibe and dynamics than in the actual sexual nature of the movie. The score is amazing and the screenplay and editing are great, but the real takeaway are the three central performances and the incredible work of cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, an incredible artist who has been having a hell of a year.

LONGLEGS

Dir. Osgood Perkins

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not the biggest horror buff. Nothing against the genre at all, I just like others more. And yet, this year, The Substance and Longlegs were two of the best theater experiences I had all year. Decidedly creepy, but unafraid to be goofy and campy, and it made me laugh and feel uncomfortable in equal measures. It looks absolutely incredible, with an intricately detailed atmosphere paired with great cinematography and color. Maika Monroe is really great in this, but as a Cage-head, I had an awesome time watching him. Side note: awesome score and soundtrack.

I SAW THE TV GLOW

Dir. Jane Schoenbrun

A horror movie about fear of what is inside of you, your true self, is the nature of I Saw The TV Glow, a movie all about using nostalgia to survive the existential dissonance of living in a body that is not reflective of your identity, and the refusal to acknowledge this to the point that it kills you. It’s a thoughtful exercise in “what if” from trans director Jane Schoenbrun, and one that is kind to the protagonist, Owen. It looks amazing, it’s really well-acted, insanely atmospheric, and evokes a very specific frame in TV history in a way that is transportive.

THE SUBSTANCE

Dir. Coralie Fargeat

I’d never dare to frame myself as any sort of authority on film that is to be taken seriously, at least not anymore and not at this point in my life. But…for my money, Dune: Part Two and The Substance are among the best 2024 releases I’ve seen. I loved Fargeat’s commitment to making this film viscerally uncomfortable, incorrigibly zany, and over-the-top. Demi Moore delivers one of the year’s best performances in a role that is obviously very personal and vulnerable, and Margaret Qualley also delivers in spades. Even Dennis Quaid comes in for a limited amount of screen time and nails it! The movie looks really great, and the myriad of strategically-placed Kubrick references does not go unnoticed. Despite the fact that it is a goofy, gory film at the surface level, there is a tender, sad vein of reality and truth under it. It’s hard to make a horrifying monstrosity seem less unnatural and uncomfortable than a man eating shrimp or even a glossy, sanitized TV set full of sexually objectified fitness dancers, but Fargeat pulls it off in a way that makes it look easy.

TRAP

Dir. M. Night Shyamalan

I am, by no means, a Shyamalan fan. He’s made one or two of the most mortifying film viewing experiences I’ve ever had, and one or two films that I hold up as all-timers, but most of his stuff is just…fine to me. However, I’ve always respected him as a filmmaker for his ethic, his commitment to his vision, the fact that he makes stories with small budgets and large appeal, and the fact that he seems to genuinely love his work. We could all be a little more like M. Night. That being said, Trap is so fun and entertaining that I felt disappointed in myself for missing out on it in theaters. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but the way the film unfolds and the way it uses the intelligence of its protagonist is so smart and so cool, that the premise and the weirdness of the concert that the film takes place in work completely despite the nonsense and impracticality. The balance of camp and stylish execution seems more present to me here than in a lot of Shyamalan’s filmography. Oh, and excellent work by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (here he is again) and a pitch-perfect Josh Hartnett.

Nickel Boys 

Dir. RaMell Ross

A very strong contender for Movie Of The Year. Nickel Boys is nothing short of mesmerizing, a wonderful piece of filmmaking in which RaMell Ross basically invents a new form of cinema language in front of you, in real time, and dedicating it to this story of youth and pain. There’s something very transportive about the way this story is presented, with a particular feeling of immersion in the POV style of camera placement, the beautiful color, and the gorgeous score. Please, do not miss out on this masterpiece.

FLOW

Dir. RaMell Ross

Flow is one of those movies that is essential, natural, and mythical in ways that are hard to describe, but they just are. What’s not hard to describe is that beautiful animation, a revolutionary aspect of this movie, as it was made completely on the free, open-source software Blender. It’s a “what now?”, or at least it should be, to every studio that throws 200 million dollars, A-list voice actors, and not much else of value to an animated film. That cat is more emotive than most actors on this list, honestly.

KINDS OF KINDNESS

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

I’m starting to become a Yorgos fan. I still have some of his early stuff left unwatched, but I love his offbeat, funny, harsh approach to storytelling. Despite the fact that Poor Things is his most visible, widely acclaimed piece of work yet, and a film I liked quite a bit for its elaborate design and great performances, I love the more “realistic” aesthetic and unchained weirdness of Kinds of Kindness far more. There might be a lot of vaguely phrased questions within it, as well as purposefully unsolved mysteries, but there is a clarity in its themes hiding beneath the off-putting relationship dynamics and unorthodox structure. Great cinematography, great score, great script, and a cast that came to PLAY. Jesse Plemons delivers what might be some of the best three performances of the year in a single film. If you thought Poor Things was weird, I promise you that this movie is far, far stranger, but it’s my kind of strange, and I love it.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I feel like I have so much left to see and so much I’ll never see. However, I’ve learned to think of this as something encouraging. It means that there’s literally so much art and passion in the world that it is literally impossible for one to receive it all. So many people creating beauty, all at once, sharing their thoughts, feelings, and spaces. It’s reassuring, and I am in a state where I feel very aware of the things I feel grateful and reassured about.

In a year full of things that happened that can make one feel hopeless and angry and anxious, it’s important to take stock of whatever brings joy, peace, and fulfillment to your life. Existence is hard enough without denying ourselves that much. I can tell you that, at a personal level, movies and TV, as well as working on movies of my own, have brought me a great amount of relief from the stresses of being a human adult in the 21st century. I hope that you have had a great year, and I hope that the next one, and all the ones after, are just as good if not better. Here’s to a great year and to having fun at the movies!