2024 gave us some excellent films spread across nearly every genre. There were some really high highs and some incredibly low lows. But let’s focus on the highs.
Here are the 21 best films of 2024:
Note: As is customary around here, I always like to mention some of the films that I didn’t get a chance to see that probably could have made this list: Queer, Exhuma, The Order, Bird, Maria, Janet Planet, Bramayugam, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Cloud.
21. The First Omen
In a cinematic landscape where horror sequels and prequels are constantly trying to regurgitate the original story into something that works as a prequel or works as a sequel, The First Omen adopts the mood and aesthetic of Richard Donner’s original film and crafts something that feels very much of its own while also delivering an excellent prequel.
Its greatest strength is to worry less about “how do we make this feel like an Omen movie?” and instead focus on telling a truly terrifying tale that reflects the trauma and borderline body horror of pregnancy and childbirth.
20. Better Man
If you had told me at the start of the year that the best movie of the year featuring a CGI monkey would be a musical biopic about one of the biggest musicians in the world who I never even heard of I would have told you to ease off the crack.
But here we are, and Better Man rules.
I usually detest musical biopics, but Better Man is smarter than most not simply because it depicts Robbie Williams as a literal dancing monkey (clever), but it takes the same approach as another great musical biopic, Rocketman, and uses Williams’ music to make the film a fantastical musical spectacle rather than scenes of performances and origin stories of every song in the catalogue.
Pretty genius since nearly all of America doesn’t even know who Robbie Williams is in the first place.
19. Hundreds of Beavers
Hundreds of Beavers is insanity.
It’s an utterly ridiculous movie that is also a maniacal a blast from start to finish. The story of an applejack salesman who needs to provide hundreds of beaver pelts in order to marry the woman of his dreams, it’s resembles a silent, live-action Looney Tunes episode playing out in full bonkers fashion. Some of the most side-splitting laughter I’ve had in a long time.
18. Snack Shack
I’m a sucker for coming-of-age movies, summer movies, and movies about best buds. Snack Shack is a combination of all of the three and features a winning combination of co-leads in Connor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle.
It does that thing where it would be perfect at 100 minutes but it ends up being 15 minutes longer, but it’s easily forgivable because these two dudes are a ton of fun and the movie knows how to balance comedy while also dealing with the pain and drama of growing up and learning about life.
17. Rebel Ridge
There’s hardly a moment to breathe in Rebel Ridge, a tightly-wound thriller where the inciting incident, a traffic “stop” happens only minutes into the film and the tension is immediately high.
Aaron Pierre is fantastic in this. Don Johnson is fantastic. Anna Sophia Robb is fantastic. I loved this movie.
This is the business Netflix should be in. Give budget to proven writer/directors like Jeremy Saulnier to make more great films. No more big budget AI crap with J Lo. Give me more of this.
16. Robot Dreams
This charming little animated feature about a dog and his robot, without a single word of dialogue in its entire runtime, had me on the verge of tears with how it takes what feels like the idea for a short and makes magic with such an emotional high in its final scene.
On the surface, it’s just a story about a dog and a robot, but it’s really a story about loneliness, finding love and companionship, and how even though we may love someone that doesn’t mean that they will always be with us. Every relationship has a time and a season, and all we can do is hope to make the best of the season we have it in — whether it’s a lifetime or just a cloudless September.
15. The Last Stop in Yuma County
Condolences to all of the people that I annoyed this year with how much I love this movie. What a debut from Francis Galuppi.
Last Stop finds a group of strangers converging on the last gas station in Yuma County, waiting in the diner next door as they await the gas truck so they can get out of dodge. Unbeknownst to them, two bank robbers are in the diner with them hoping to make their getaway.
Galluppi’s script slowly builds and ratchets up the tension, knowing the exact moment to release before starting to twist itself back up again. It’s lean and simple, but it’s such a great example of how to escalate conflict.
14. Conclave
Conclave, the story of the election of a new pope with numerous competitors for the papal crown isn’t just Taut, gripping, and upheld by a combination of impressive direction, great performances, and stunning photography. I look forward to sitting with this one for a while before revisiting it after its inevitable BP Oscar nom.
This is one of the best scores of the year. Hands down
13. The Taste of Things
Trần Anh Hùng’s The Taste of Things is beautiful piece of poetic cinema that highlights one of the world’s most widely accepted truths — that there may not be an expression of love more pure than that of cooking wonderfully-prepared dish.
Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel are delightful as Dodin Bouffant and his cook, Eugenie, whose love story is unconventional but told between the suttle care of the dishes that they cook for one another.
It’s quiet and gentle, but beautiful nonetheless.
12. Perfect Days
Speaking of quiet and gentle, Perfect Days (which I actually double-featured with The Taste of Things back in January) is a simple film about treasuring life in its simplicity.
Perfect Days is all about those tiny little moments throughout the day. The ones that you don’t anticipate — the ones that just happen. That in a life of routine, appreciating the small precious moments — whether it be the a song on the radio, the way the light plays through the trees, or reading a good book in the afternoon sunlight — is how we best appreciate life.
Because when you do the same thing every single day, learning to appreciate those tiny seemingly insignificant details can make all the difference.
11. Strange Darling
Was there a twistier movie in 2024 than Strange Darling?
The white-knuckle thriller following a woman on the run from a man hunting her down through the woods take full advantage of its non-linear narrative to reveal the right amount of information at the right time, keeping its secrets close to the chest while maximizing thrills and chills.
One of my favorite final shots of the year, highlighting one of the best performances.
10. Longlegs
Maybe the most controversial movie of the year, I loved Longlegs.
Horror is easily the most subjective genre in all of film and sometimes it just takes the right amount of something in order to deliver a spine-chilling picture. Oz Perkins nailed it for me.
Oz Perkins made a film that balances that fine line of clearly being influenced by some of the greats (Silence of the Lambs, Cure) but never feeling derivative. I
But its secret is in how it weaponizes the maniacal version of Nicolas Cage into something terrifying. Longlegs isn’t about what is happening on screen, but the anticipation of what could happen. And what could happen is horrifying.
9. Anora
Anora is a wonderful, magical fairy tale of a Cinderella who thinks the clock will never strike midnight— that is, until the clock strikes 1.
Mikey Madison gives an incredibly controlled performance that, despite its necessary heightened emotions, never feels like it devolves into just shouting. The film is nothing like I imagined it would be, and yet I was riveted, laughing far more than I expected to, and loving not just Anora, but another character who may have stolen every scene he was in.
I wish that this maybe was a little more interested in digging into Anora herself, but as I sit on it, the more it fits Baker’s almost voyeuristic style and frankly, the topical material.
8. I Saw the TV Glow
I don’t think there has been another film that I have thought about more in 2024 than I Saw the TV Glow.
I think the brilliance of ISTTG is that it’s a perfect film for any millennial. Yes, this is a film about the trans experience and the fear and suppression that can come from that experience, butJane Schoenbrun cleverly packages it alongside this story about dependence and attachment to television.
Television shows scared us, made us feel safe, felt like maybe they were for kids a little older than us, but also shows that looking back now with streaming, don’t really feel the same. And yet, for so many of us, those shows still offer a feeling of comfort. A world that understands us as much as we understand it.
A beautiful, fascinating film.
7. The Substance
The Substance is the most I have laughed with gleeful abandon in a movie theater in years. This story of female rage against the machine of modern beauty standards is body horror done on a level that needs to be studied and Demi Moore gives a performance that needs to be put in the Smithsonian.
I was loving every second. And then it hits that final 20 minutes and this was one of the best things I’ve seen all year.
6. Nosferatu
Robert Eggers finds the beauty in the horror, the light in the dark, and the tragedy in love. Every performance is locked in sync and every gear clicks in tune.
Perhaps most impressive is the control that Eggers displays over the film’s pacing. Nosferatu never feels like it’s moving too fast to satisfy a wider audience’s attention span, nor does it ever feel like it slips into feeling sluggish. It methodically moves towards its intended destination with the rhythmic drum of a beating heart.
Beautiful, dark, horrifying, sexual — likely his masterpiece.
5. Challengers
I loved Challengers. The writing here is so crafty, laying out a 500-piece puzzle of connections and slowly tying all of those things together over the runtime into a perfect final act.
Of course this film is gorgeous to look at, the score from Reznor and Ross bangs, and the direction is solid — but the level of craft with which Guadagnino presents the final 15 minutes of this film honestly blew me away. He’s doing throwing everything and the sink into that visually and it totally sticks the landing.
Fist-pumped at that final moment. Glorious.
4. Dune: Part 2
Dune: Part Two is a monumental piece of filmmaking spectacle. And yet, it also feels like the type of film that we may not see much of in the future — that is, a big budget film made by a true craftsman whose voice and fingerprints are clearly imprinted on it.
This was easily the biggest film event of 2024 and to top it off, it was one of the best of the year. Every part of Part Two is tightened to near perfection and I can’t wait to see what Denis Villeneuve gives us with Dune: Messiah.
3. The Count of Monte Cristo
I have to be honest. I had never read or seen The Count of Monte Cristo before seeing Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s gorgeous adaptation of Alexander Dumás’ novel of the same name.
It’s thrilling for nearly ever minute and I was perched on the edge of my seat for all three hours. Not only is it a great story (of course it is) but the performances are excellent with some truly inspired editing and direction.
2. Furiosa
George Miller’s Furiosa is the greatest prequel of all time. Full stop.
Anya Taylor-Joy gives a striking performance as Furiosa. Maybe her best. Her physical acting commands every second, which those huge eyes revealing pain, hatred, sadness and rage all at once. Chris Hemsworth is also delivering his career best performance with Dementus, the film’s antagonist. He’s never been better and he’s so much fun here.
Visually this is a delicacy. I hope you got the chance to indulge.
1. Sing Sing
2024’s most difficult film to find is also its best.
Sing Sing, the story of inmates in Sing Sing prison’s theater program is a tale of men changed by the power and humanity of art. The film itself is already amazing, but when you discover that the film’s cast is real-life former theater group members of Sing Sing prison, it makes this all the more beautiful.
It is flat-out astounding work. Colman Domingo is incredible but Clarence Maclin might be giving my favorite performance of 2024. Do all you can to see this. You won’t regret it.
Brandon Toks Movies 
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