Movies & TV / Columns
The Top 30 Films of 2024 (#30 – 21)

Welcome, one and all, to the start of my Movies Year in Review for 2024! I’m your host Jeremy Thomas, and today we begin my look at the best films of the past 12 months. I know my year in reviews have traditionally looked at both the best and the worst of the year, but this year I’m only going to focus on the films that deserve honoring. Sure, there were many awful movies that came out in 2024 but as fun as it can be to tear into those movies, I just didn’t feel like doing so this time around. If you want to take a look at my worst films of the year, you can do so via my Letterboxd list of the worst 25 of 2024 here.
But enough of that, let’s look at the best. 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. With that in mind, let’s get right into it!
All in all, it was a strong year for film in 2024. The industry continued to make its comeback from the 1-2 punch of the pandemic lockdown era and last year’s strikes, meaning that while budgets that inflated due to both of those ate away at profit margins, we got a wide variety of strong films. Horror continued to soar high, a trend I certainly hope continues into 2025, while animation delivered big-time and blockbuster cinema was back in force. The top films of the year comprise a variety of genres with budgets both astronomical and minuscule. Some of them I was already anticipating before the year began, and others came completely out of nowhere to strike a place in my heart. Let’s not delay any longer; let’s get to the first ten!
(You should also check out Rob Stewart’s list of the top 30 films of the year here, here, and here. Apologies to Rob for stealing your ranking count; I promise I had already settled on doing a top 30 instead of top 20 best and top 20 worst before you submitted yours!)
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, A Different Man, Better 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
#30: The Order
If you have no idea what movie I’m talking about here, I wouldn’t blame you. Justin Kurzel’s The Order was building a little bit of buzz in early 2024 and premiered at the Venice Film Festival before being quietly — almost unceremoniously — released in limited theaters and on VOD on Christmas Eve. That’s a disservice to this action drama, which boasts strong performances from Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, and Jurnee Smollett. Based on a true story, the film stars Law as an FBI agent chasing down a white supremacist group known as The Order (aka the Silent Brotherhood) that operated in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s under the leadership of Robert Jay Mathews (Hoult). The group committed bank robberies to fund their operations and murdered talk show host Alan Berg, all of which put them on the FBI’s radar.
Kurzel offers a grounded approach to the story thanks to a solid script from Zach Baylin that focuses on Law’s Terry Husk (a composite of the actual agents) and Hoult’s Matthews. The dual narrative gives both men room to stretch out and Hoult in particular gets to show a performance he’s not often been able to give. (It’s been a good year for him, but more on that later this week.) There’s a fine line between delving into the lives of such men as Matthews and glamorizing them, a line that is the film never crosses. The action sequences are well-executed with an approach not entirely unlike Michael Mann’s Heat, but this isn’t about the excitement of bank heists or shootouts. It’s about how movements like The Order can flourish (fortunately, this one burned out quickly) and telling a story from our past that is, frankly, sadly still relevant here and now.
#29: Blink Twice
A number of directors had strong debuts in 2024, but only a few others got off to the kind of start that Zoe Kravitz did with Blink Twice. We’ve long known that Kravitz is a talented actor, but her work behind the camera on this wild thriller may be the best thing she’s done in her career. The story as written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum is the kind of thing that you should go in cold if possible, so I’m not going to spoil much here except to say that it follows Naomi Ackie’s Frida and her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) as they manage to get invited to the private island of tech guru Slater King (Channing Tatum), only to find that strange things are afoot.
Beyond that, it’s fair to say that Blink Twice is a shocking, entertaining and intentionally provocative film that rests on the laurels of Kravitz’s cinematic choices, the gorgeous visuals from cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, and a cast that is all-in on what story Kravitz is trying to say. Ackie and Shawkat sell us on their characters early on as people to get behind and their fellow guests includes a cast of stars like Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Adria Arjona, Geena Davis and Kyle MacLachlan, all of whom lean fully into the heightened vibes of what Kravitz is selling. Tatum plays King with just the right amount of off-putting vibes in the character’s “enlightened guy” charms, while Kravitz is patient in spooning out the notion that something isn’t quite right so that when the truth is revealed, it hits like a Mack truck. The ending is divisive for a lot of reasons, but I see what Kravitz was going for and I appreciate the messy questions it leaves. Surprise plot twists were big on the menu in 2025, and Blink Twice gave us a full course.
#28: Boy Kills World
Boy Kills World is not everyone’s cup of tea, which I thoroughly understand. No one expects a dystopic action thriller with a lot of comedy to hit with everyone. But it was definitely my cup of bloody Earl Grey. Bill Skarsgård provides the body and H. Jon Benjamin provides the voice for the titular Boy in this film about a deaf mute with the internal dialogue of a video game character as he cuts a path of violent vengeance through the villainous family that rule the city. It’s the kind of bizarre setup that could have easily fallen apart if director Moritz Mohr hadn’t struck the right tone, but everything falls into place for plenty of fun action and comedic beats.
If you want to poke holes in the plot, there’s plenty of chances to do so. The concept is bare-bones and the characters are incredibly thin on paper. But with a cast that includes Jessica Rothe, Famke Janssen, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji, Michelle Dockery, Sharlto Copley and Yayan Ruhian as Boy’s mentor, that’s all we need. It’s one R-rated thrill-ride sequence after another in a movie that knows exactly what it is and revels in its campiness. Skarsgård shines as an action star and his facial performance alone is worth the price of admission (or streaming subscription price at this point). No one is ever going to confuse Boy Kills World for an Oscar-caliber film, but it does its irreverent take on ultraviolence well to stand as one of the most enjoyable action flicks of the year.
#27: Late Night with the Devil
I was looking forward to Late Night with the Devil at a level that put it at an immediate detriment. The David Dastmalchian-starring found footage film was one of the more touted movies to come out of the genre film festivals in 2023, and that kind of hype can be hard to deliver on. But in this case, it succeeded with flying colors. Dastmalchian had already attained status as one of the most recognized character actors of recent years and a go-to for horror films, but he cemented his spot as one of the top actors working in the genre as Jack Delroy, the host of a 1977 late night talk show whose Halloween episode goes off the rails in horrifying ways. The actor gives us the genuine charm of the era’s talk show icons with just enough desperation underneath to sell the story, and as things progress beyond Jack’s control we can see his facade slip in wonderfully brutal ways.
Late Night conjures up plenty of comparisons to the UK found footage classic Ghostwatch, and they’re not unfair. Both films are obviously doing similar things and succeed in their own ways. In Late Night’s case, it’s the meticulous production work to recreate the authenticity of the era. (That authenticity makes the use of generative AI in a couple interstitials unfortunate, but they don’t wreck the movie for me.) Directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes are careful with the pace here but it never seems remotely slow; the use of Ian Bliss as a skeptic and Fayssal Bazzi as a psychic who are guests on the show set the stage for the demonic main event. The surreal climax of the film is a make or break for many and for me it worked quite well. The film holds up well on a rewatch and has been added as an instant staple to my annual Halloween viewing lineup.
#26: Kill
If you’re looking for a 2024 action thriller and want something more serious than what Boy Kills World brings, Kill is your best choice. The Hindi-language action film is a simple, straightforward and well-worn concept in Hollywood: “Die Hard on a _________.” In this case, the hard dying is on an express train, and while it passes through some familiar beats it’s all in the execution. Lakshya gives a committed performance as a police commando boarding a train to try and stop his girlfriend’s engagement, only to see it get taken over by a group of criminals intending to rob the rich guests.
Things spiral out of control, and that’s when it gets fun. Lakshya is a badass in the lead role and co-writer/director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat pulls absolutely zero punches as the action moves back and forth across — and sometimes outside of — the speeding train. The story spends enough building the emotional stakes and characters to get us invested in the bone-breaking, tension-filled action sequences. This isn’t Mission: Impossible bombast or high-wire antics; it’s direct, brutal and visceral action, shot for maximum impact by Nair. From the moment the action begins there’s barely a moment to catch our breaths until the end. As appropriate to its title, Kill takes absolutely no prisoners to give us the fix we needed in a year that largely lacked a proper John Wick-style action flick.
#25: Strange Darling
Much like Blink Twice, Strange Darling is a film that audiences should hopefully experience going in as cold as possible. In fact, I’d argue it’s even more essential for JT Mollner’s film. The most I’ve ever told people about it is that it’s a twisty, stylish serial killer thriller that features Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner in fantastic performances as a woman known only as “The Lady” being chased across a rural Oregon town by a man labeled as “The Devil.” Anything outside of that probably risks showing off the film’s wild turns.
The funny thing is, for all my talk about twists, Strange Darling is at its core a pretty basic story. But Mollner, who wrote and directed, structures the film non-linearly with the chapters out of order. That lets him subvert expectations more than once, which he gleefully does with one rug pull after another. Mollner is giving us style over substance here — but that’s fine when there is plenty of style to spare, wringing the tension out of every scene and capturing the Oregon setting in full 35mm (that fact that, while it benefits the film, Mollner is WAY too proud of in the film’s opening announcement). Fitzgerald and Gallner are electric together and Fitzgerald in particular gives another revelatory performance following her work in Fall of the House of Usher last year. This is just a good, jaw-dropping time that constantly goes left when you expect it to go right for one of my favorite blind watches of the year.
#24: MadS
I came into MadS with an extreme amount of skepticism. I enjoy the hell out of French horror and am always going to give it a shot, but zombie films are the one genre I feel has been done to death — and this is from the guy who still isn’t tired of grief horror despite the past five or six years being full of it. What a pleasant surprise it was to watch David Moreau’s one-take film and have an overall blast. Moreau’s film is a gimmick movie of a sorts; the director swears that the whole film was shot in a single take. And to his credit, try as I might I couldn’t find any point where he uses a Rope-like cut to fake it.
A 90-minute oner is impressive enough as it is, but it’s even more impressive that MadS works not only on a technical level but as entertainment. The story starts with a teenager (Milton Riche) who gets a new mystery drug from his dealer before heading home ahead of a party. When he encounters an injured woman driving home, things take a dangerous turn and it’s clear that things are about to take a turn toward of the Romero type. The cast is doing good work — especially considering they didn’t get multiple takes — and Moreau nails exactly what he’s looking for. The one take notion ramps up the tension and we get some particularly disturbing moments in this zombie metaphor for party drugs. If zombies aren’t your thing, this one might miss you but even I, as tired of the walking dead as I am, found myself swept away by the ride.
#23: Civil War
Almost every time I find myself doubting Alex Garland, he proves those doubts unfounded. (ALMOST. Sorry, Men.) I can’t say that any of us were incredibly keen on the idea of a film that explored a new American civil war in an election year like 2024. And yet, Garland managed to give us a compelling, thrilling and thought-provoking film in Civil War. That’s not to say that it didn’t get the edges fraying; this is one of the most anxiety-inducing films of the year. But not for the politics; Garland keeps the positions of the conflict intentionally nebulous and instead focuses on the people swept up into it.
On a technical level, this is as impeccable as we’ve come to expect from Garland. It’s his most expansive film to date and the sound design, the visual palette and the effects are among the best of the year. But it’s the performances that stand out to me. Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny are perfectly matched as hardened war photographer Lee and the Jessie, the young photojournalist along for the ride; Wagner Moura adds plenty of soul as Lee’s colleague Joel. Stephen McKinley Henderson stands out in a supporting role as Lee’s mentor and Jesse Plemons provides one of the most terrifying scenes of the year with his quick role as a militant on the side of the road. Civil War is a film I don’t plan to rewatch much if ever because it’s the exact opposite of a comfort watch, but that’s fine as it only took the one watch to embed itself deeply enough in my brain that I won’t forget it.
#22: Deadpool & Wolverine
Even the most adamant Marvel fan has to admit that it was a rough couple years for the MCU. To be clear, I think that Phase Four has received too much hate on the whole and it’s understandable that the post-Endgame era had to pull back before it could push forward. But even still, the studio has had to do some readjusting that hasn’t exactly endeared itself to a decent amount of its fanbase. While it’s certainly not a perfect film, Deadpool & Wolverine did a lot to right the ship. Yes, it’s essentially Fanservice: The Movie with a nonsense plot that relies on some very questionable character motivations. But it’s also an incredibly fun film that did exactly what Kevin Feige needed: get people back on board with the notion that Marvel still has plenty to offer post-Thanos.
Obviously, you can’t talk about Deadpool without talking about Ryan Reynolds, who is as good as ever playing the Merc with the Mouth. But adding Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in was just the icing on the cake. The two effortlessly captured Logan and Wade’s dynamic that we comic book fans know and love; the way Jackman and Reynolds play off each other is just popcorn joy. The laughs are genuinely funny for the most part, the in-jokes work without needing to be explained if you’re not a Marvel fanatic, and I actually enjoyed the performance that Emma Corrin was giving as Cassandra Nova. DP&W delivered summer blockbuster fun in a way that we desperately needed and pushed the MCU toward getting back on track. What more could we have asked for from it?
#21: Immaculate
Is Immaculate a polarizing film? Absolutely. And we shouldn’t have expected anything less. Religious horror was very big this year (we’ll see a couple more entries related to it in the next part of my top 30), and you’re never going to satisfy everyone when you dive into that particular cinematic thornbush. But if you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not doing horror right — and you’re especially not doing nunsploitation-adjacent horror right. This Michael Mohan-directed film relies on the slow build until it’s time to go absolutely bonkers with its plot, and then it goes full-bore in that direction as well.
And personally, I was here for all of it. It helps of course that Sydney Sweeney was holding things down with a knockout central performance as Sister Cecilia, the American nun who travels to Italy to join a remote convent. Sweeney shepherded this film into being as a producer and was clearly passionate about developing the project. It’s clear to see why, because she has a hell of a role to sink her teeth into. And in doing so, she shut up a lot of people who were quick to dismiss her acting talents. Mohan knows exactly what kind of movie he’s making and he directs the hell out of the sequences while the supporting cast — particularly Álvaro Morte as Father Tedeschi and Dora Romano as Mother Superior — are strong. But it’s the final act where this goes from a solid film to one of the best of the year, all the way up to and including one of the ballsiest final five minutes seen on screen in 2024. It’s a brilliant, if admittedly divisive, film that acknowledges there’s still a lot left in horror’s tank even considering how effectively genre has delivered in the past few years.
And that will do it for part one! Join me once again later this week as we continue the Year in Review with the next ten. Until later this week, don’t forget to read the many other great columns, news articles and more here at 411mania.com! JT out.