Movies & TV / Columns
The Top 30 Films of 2024 (#10 – 1)
Image Credit: MUBI
Welcome, one and all, to the final part of my Movies Year in Review for 2024! I’m your host Jeremy Thomas, and today we’ll conclude our look at the best films of the past year. Keep in mind that this list is meant to be my personal opinion and not a definitive list. You’re free to disagree; you can even say my list is wrong but stating that an opinion is “wrong” is just silly.
Last week I kicked off my Top 30 Films of 2024 list with #30 through 21 and #20 through 11. We’ve made it through a number of great films covering every genre under the song. But it’s time to get to the absolute cream of the 2024 crop. Our top 10 features thrillers and horror alongside drama, comedy, animated efforts and everything in-between. All in all, I believe it was a strong year for film and my hope is that 2025 keeps the momentum going strong. With that said, let’s get right into the list, shall we?
Caveat: My criteria for a film qualifying for this list is simple: if a narrative film had its domestic release this past year, either theatrically or on VOD or a major streaming service, then it was eligible. The only other caveat is that I have tried, but have not seen everything that was released in 2024, especially factoring in streaming services. The films that I missed that could have likely qualified based on reputation were The Last Showgirl, Emilia Perez, Nickel Boys, September 5, Better Man, A Different Man, and All We Imagine as Light. Other than that, I feel reasonably confident I would have seen just about every movie that would have likely made the list. For those curious, I saw a total of 233 films that were released in 2024 (up from last year’s 218), 192 of which were narrative films.
Just Missing The Cut
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• Abigail
• Longlegs
• Restore Point
• Conclave
The First Twenty
30: The Order
29: Blink Twice
28: Boy Kills World
27: Late Night with the Devil
26: Kill
25: Strange Darling
24: MadS
23: Civil War
22: Deadpool & Wolverine
21: Immaculate
20: Azrael
19: Love Lies Bleeding
18: Rebel Ridge
17: A Complete Unknown
16: A Real Pain
15: Dune: Part Two
14: Nosferatu
13: Oddity
12: Wicked
11: Heretic
#10: Femme
Femme may not have broken box office records, but that didn’t stop it from being one of the most compelling thrillers of 2024. Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s queer revenge noir is enrapturing from start to finish, anchored by dueling performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay. The two actors absolutely shine as London drag performer Jules and Preston, who savagely assaults Jules one night in front of his mates after a brief confrontation. The two actors have an innate chemistry with each other that is put to fine use when Jules sees Preston at a gay bathhouse and decides to turn the tables on the man who victimized him by seducing him and outing him.
Jules’ choice of payback is, it needn’t be said, morally murky at best. Freeman and Ping refreshingly do not shy away from the moral nuances at play in Preston’s or Jules’ actions. Instead, the story takes a look at these two people who are damaged in different ways and uses them to explore notions about internalized homophobia, gender dynamics and the price queer people pay for standing up to be counted. There are some uncomfortable scenes between these two, but the performers make it impossible to look away and the end result is stunningly good. Femme subverts every expectation and leans on the strength of its cast in just the right moments for an unapologetically queer film that is far from the easiest watch but always gripping.
#9: Thelma
I think it’s fair to say that we’re never going to see June Squibb as an action hero. But Thelma gives us the next best thing: the 95-year-old in a riff on the genre, filled with talented actors bringing the laughs and the pathos. Squibb is the irascible center as a woman who is bilked out of $10,000 by a phone scammer and, despite her family telling her to give up, decides to track down the perpetrator and get her nest egg back. That leads to a road trip across town as she calls in favors from old friends in assisted living homes and elsewhere while her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson try to track her down for her own safety.
There’s a lot that’s funny in Thelma, thanks in no small part to the talented cast of elder stars including Squibb, the late Richard Roundtree and Bunny Levine. Squibb and Roundtree in particular are a wonderful match as Thelma and the old friend she had long ignored; their prickly relationship makes up a lot of the film’s emotional core. But there is also a lot of real sentiment in the film, which takes a surprisingly grounded approach to the story. Squibb and Fred Hechinger conjure up a wonderful dynamic between Thelma and her grandson, and for all its laughs the film touches on topics around how we treat the elderly and scams with a lot of sensitivity. It’s a wonderfully unassuming little film that made a far greater impression on me than a lot of much bigger, more bombastic films in 2024.
#8: The Brutalist
If I’m being honest, I was kind of dreading watching The Brutalist. Not because I was expecting anything less than a fantastically executed film, to be clear. But let’s all be honest here: a three-and-a-half-hour epic about the mid-20th century immigrant experience in the United States is a very particular kind of film, and one that you can’t just casually go to check out. And to be sure, Brady Corbet’s film isn’t a particularly easy watch. But it is a powerful one, telling the story of a Hungarian architect who arrives in post-war America and tries to make a life for himself and his family.
As daunting a film as it is, The Brutalist finds its strength in the performances of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones as our protagonists. Brody gives a career-best performance as the traumatized but resolute Lazlo, letting us inside the heart and mind of the character while keeping everyone around him at a distance. And Jones is the soul of the film as Erzsebet. Corbet’s period attention is immaculate, but he doesn’t get so into the technical weeds of the film that he loses sight of the story’s heart. Add in Guy Pearce and Joe Alwyn’s fantastic work as the wealthy father-and-son antagonists and you have the best film of the year that I’m unlikely to ever watch again – and I mean all of that as a compliment.
#7: Anora
Anora snuck its way into being one of my most anticipated films of 2024 by the time it released. Sean Baker may be a somewhat polarizing director, but his projects are always worth checking out and I’ve been wanting to see more from Mikey Madison following her standout work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream. Neither disappoint with this dramedy about the titular sex worker and the Russian family she finds herself tangled up with after a whirlwind marriage to their irresponsible young scion.
Everything about this film works, but Madison’s performance towers over the rest. Anora is a force of nature, with Madison’s fiery delivery adding both comedy and gravitas to the proceedings as appropriate. She’s bold and brassy, proving to be a whirlwind that the family’s henchmen are ill-prepared to deal with. At the same time, she finds an authentic emotional core that makes us want to root for her. Mark Eydelshteyn is charming enough to make us understand what Anora would see in the situation and the supporting trio of Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, and Vache Tovmasyan as the henchmen are comedy gold.
Baker has long told stories about the people pushed to the margins of society, and Anora fits seamlessly within that category. It’s not his first film to put a humanizing lens on sex workers, but it is his most affecting. His almost documentarian visual aesthetic is put to strong use and the final sequence is one of the most memorable of the year.
#6: Challengers
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Look, sometimes you just need a movie that fucks. And if you’re looking for such a movie, it’s pretty good odds you’re going to find it with whatever Luca Guadagnino is making at any particular moment. I was enchanted by Call Me By Your Name, but it was the one-two punch of Suspiria and Bones and All that truly turned me into a die-hard Guadagnino fan. He has a deep understanding of the sensuality inherent in the human body whether it’s dancing, food or – as in Challengers — operating at peak efficiency in a sports environment.
Challengers is described as a “romantic sports drama,” which isn’t a wrong way to categorize it. But it still feels like a wholly incomplete way to sum it up. The relationship triangle between a tennis player-turned-coach (Zendaya), her husband (Mike Faist) and their rival/former friend/former partner (Josh O’Connor) is where the real tennis match is played, and it’s enthralling from start to finish. Zendaya delivers a knockout performance as the complicated and driven Tashi, with Faist and O’Connor not far behind as Art and Patrick. The way the three characters bounce off each other and fire back and forth makes the compelling core of this red-hot film.
Guadagnino is at his best here, seamlessly folding in the sports aspects with the sexual dynamics. He approaches thriller aspects a time or two in how he depicts Tashi’s ambitions, adding an edge to the story that is only further enhanced by the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The director builds it all up slowly and carefully, only occasionally letting off some steam until the climax that gives us the most sexually charged and tense sports sequence in recent memory. Challengers came to take audiences’ breaths away, and it didn’t miss in that aim.
#5: Sing Sing
A24 may have found a bit of competition in 2024 with NEON for its crown as the most exciting independent horror studio, but outside of genre it’s still the clear leader when it comes to indie film as a whole. Sing Sing is one of the clearest examples of that. This prison drama about the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the famed maximum-security prison earns its spot as one of the best of the year through its soulful approach to the story and casting coups. Colman Domingo dives a phenomenal performance as John “Divine G” Whitfield, a wrongfully imprisoned man who finds his security in the RTA program challenged by newcomer Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin. Domingo lets us see into Divine G’s world and how he finds hope in a place that is not typically associated with such, all the while capturing the complex portrait of a real-life inspiration of a human being.
The screenplay by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (based on a story that featured input by the real Divine G and Divine Eye) avoids most of the typical tropes of the prison drama but is no less impactful for it. We get to know these characters in and out, thanks in no small part to the brilliant casting of many of the actual men who were part of the program during their incarceration including Maclin. It adds to the power of the film’s message that the cast of this film, likely a deserved Oscar nominee, are successful alumni of the program. Kwedar keeps things grounded behind the camera as director and captures the truth of the story while Domingo, Maclin, and Paul Raci all shine in front of it. It’s not easy to hold back the emotions of the final scenes in this testament to the power of growth and positive change.
#4: The Wild Robot
I won’t lie; I didn’t expect a DreamWorks movie about a robot, a duck, and a goose to rank among my top five movies of 2024. But here we are. The Wild Robot manages to find a deep, overriding humanity in its story without a single human character. Adapted from the 2016 novel by Peter Brown, writer-director Chris Sanders finds the same bonds of found family that he invested in Lilo & Stitch into the tale of a shipwrecked robot who learns to adapt to her new woodland environment and create a purpose beyond the one created for her in the relationships she forms with the fox Fink and the orphaned goose Brightball.
Sanders hits every right note here without exception, both in the script and as director. The narrative is not too different than ones we’ve seen before; it’s the careful details that elevate this one and the light touch to both the humor and drama. This is a remarkably sophisticated tale that works both for kids and adults, brought to life through wonderful vocal performances from Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy and more. It’s a visually stunning affair with plenty of big, swooping action-heavy moments, but it also never forgets its heart. With themes both topical and eternal at play and making the balance between popcorn fun and mature storytelling look easy, The Wild Robot is an instant classic that earned its spot near the top of the year’s absolute best.
#3: I Saw The TV Glow
I know that I Saw The TV Glow is a polarizing film, and I get it. Jane Schoenbrun is a filmmaker that you either love or hate, and while this film is a bit more accessible than their We’re All Going To the World’s Fair it’s still a movie that isn’t necessarily for everyone. I liked it on my first watch, but I also knew that I needed to sit with it. It was only on the second that I truly came to appreciate everything it was doing. Schoenbrun’s allegorical horror drama story of trans awakening wrapped in a supernatural narrative about two teens and a 1990s television show is incredibly intentional in everything it’s doing, and its emotive vibes are energizing and heartbreaking in equal measure.
Schoenbrun’s story is filled with references, both culturally and thematically. I’m not trans, but I can strongly relate to the careful, curated approach this movie takes toward the experience of questioning your identity on a deep level – physically, spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. What would have happened if I had shut off that part of me that identified at 19 as bisexual? Would I end up gasping for breath at 40, emotionally and physically broken down by my desperate need to stay in a comfortable world? Fortunately, I don’t have to answer that. But the thought that I could have – and the thought that so many people do – is devastating.
Schoenbrun taps into that notion in a beautiful, tragic way with a meticulously crafted story of Owen and Maddy (played by Justice Smith and Jack Haven) as two roads you could take down the journey of self-discovery. Both are painful in their own way and the actors get at the raw, exposed nerves of their characters and let us see what we need to, both good and bad. Schoenbrun’s film is all about the vibes in the best way. The soundtrack and score are off-the-charts good; the visuals reward multiple viewings and amid all the melancholy (pun intended), there are moments of sheer joy. I don’t think there’s often been a message as simultaneously hopeful and panic-inducing as this film telling its protagonist, “There is still time.” There are a lot of great films in 2024, but I Saw The TV Glow feels like a film will transcend “just” being a film for many, the way that our best nostalgia films have done for us.
#2: The Substance
Image Credit: MUBI
It’s not going to surprise many people that The Substance ranks near the top of my best films of 2024. After all, most people who love horror – and hell, most people who don’t – are rightfully recognizing Coralie Fargeat’s satirical body horror film as the apex of the genre for the past year. Fargeat, who made her first splash as a filmmaker with the fantastic rape revenge film Revenge, blows that directorial debut out of the water with this shiny, wildly inventive treatise on celebrity, aging, and societal perspectives about body image.
Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are in top form as an older Hollywood movie star and the younger body she creates when given a serum that allows her to get a second chance. When things start going awry for Elisabeth Sparkle Fargeat is willing to get very weird, which is exactly what you need in a body horror film. There’s a high-class sheen that gives the film a prestige look – which feels quite appropriate given that we’re talking about the high gloss of Hollywood – but that just makes the grotesque even more grotesque. And I’m just talking about Dennis Quaid eating shrimp.
Moore and Qualley almost work the film as a two-hander despite the fact that they’re very rarely acting off each other in a traditional way. Moore gives a career-best, frayed-nerve performance with plenty of steel underneath while Qualley nails the younger version just as well. Fargeat’s visuals as put together by the practical effects team are jaw-dropping, uncomfortable, squirm-inducing stuff and frankly exceptional work.
It almost goes without saying that this film is not for everyone; it’s body horror after all, and it straddles the line between exploitation and prestige film in a way that fans of one or the other may not be fully on board. But for my money, Fargeat has officially positioned herself as one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working right now and The Substance is a triumph on every level.
#1: Red Rooms
I did not expect to see the best film of 2024 all the way back in April at the Overlook Film Festival. But Red Rooms is the rarified example of, essentially, a perfect film for what it’s aiming to do. I’ve been singing the praises of Pascal Plante’s Canadian psychological thriller on the regular since that first watch, and I’ve only grown to love it more as time has gone on. Juliette Gariepy is revelatory as Kelly-Anne, a tech-savvy model who is preoccupied with the trial of a notorious serial killer accused of brutally murdering three teenage girls and streaming the deaths on the dark web. As the story unfolds, Kelly-Anne’s motives become as questionable as her decisions and her obsession takes her down some exceedingly dark roads.
Plante’s film examines our obsession with serial killers and true crime through a story that is gripping from start to finish. Plante doesn’t wallow in the violence of the accused killer’s crimes; what’s important is how they affect others, including Kelly-Anne, a young woman convinced of the accused’s innocence, and the victim’s families.
Gariepy gives her character depth and nuance despite not having a lot of dialogue to tear into, and her arresting performance allows Plante to lean into stylistic touches to carry the story and themes. His use of color speaks volumes, as does Dominique Plante’s score which comes alive in one of the most jaw-dropping scenes of the year involving a courtroom stunt that left me gasping. This isn’t a film that is interested in pat answers or easy platitudes; it turns a mirror on some of humanity’s darkest obsessions in both the killer and the spectator. It’s an unflinching film that manages to thrill and provoke without so much as a bullet fired or blood vessel opening on screen, marking its place as 2024’s best.
And that will do it for this! Have a good one and don’t forget to read the many other great columns, news articles and more here at 411mania.com! JT out.
