My Top 20 Films of 2024
I watched 106 films from 2024. Everything from drama, comedy, documentaries, sci-fi, horror, foreign, animated, concert films, & more. These were my favorites.
1. ANORA
This film written, directed, produced, and edited by Sean Baker, hits you hard in the face. It’s nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture. It’s a dark comedy about a stripper who falls in love with a billionaire. Starting off with Pretty Woman vibes, the movie changes its direction to an all-out maddening cat-and-mouse as the Russian mafia searches for the playboy who marries the stripper.
2. FEMME
This movie is a stylish erotic thriller about a drag queen who suffers from a hate crime. But weeks later, when he’s out of drag, he bumps into the closeted attacker at a sauna. He makes the attacker eventually fall in love with him beginning a tale of revenge that will keep you guessing. I saw a Q&A with the directors of the movie and they said that they were inspired by erotic thrillers of the 90s and wanted to see LGBT characters represented well in that genre. They sure did what they set out to do.
3. FLY
A new jaw-dropping documentary by the 2018 Oscar-winning team of the film Free Solo. This time the filmmakers follow a number of couples that are deeply involved with the fast growing sport of BASE jumping. Also considered the most dangerous sport in the world, people jump off cliffs with barely any safety. It’s incredible to see. It’s beautiful and at times nauseating.
4. I’M STILL HERE
Yes, I’m bias to the fact that this is a Brazilian movie. But trust me, this film is great. The subtleties in the acting are captivating. The direction by Walter Salles is filled with detail and nurturing the culture of the times. It’s based on the true story of Eunice, an activist whose husband disappeared during the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 70s. This movie is nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress.
5. PROBLEMISTA
Julio Torres writes, directs, and stars in this nutty and other worldly film about s struggling toy designer who out of necessity starts a job as an assistant to an eccentric artist played by Tilda Swinton.
6. MEMOIR OF A SNAIL
This stop-motion animated film is nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Film. It follows the struggles of a girl named Grace Pudel and her twin brother Gilbert, who have to take care of their paraplegic alcoholic father. Though it is animated, this film is not at all for children.
7. THE SUBSTANCE
This film accomplished a rare feat, it has received many award nominations, especially Oscar nods, including Best Picture. This scary flick stars Demi Moore as a fitness guru fired from her network job for being too old. She starts a trip down a dark path when she injects herself with a substance that splits her in two: her current self and a younger version, played by Margaret Qualley. The last third of this movie was shocking and unpredictable in all the good ways.
8. CHALLENGERS
Marco Costa’s editing here shines. The film paces and forges ahead at thrilling rollercoaster speeds. The story follows a couple of tennis pros bros that find themselves in a love triangle with another tennis sensation. The triangle doesn’t hold tight and the claws come out scratching at everyone and everything. Betrayal pushes their friendships to their wits’ end.
9. SUGARCANE
A documentary that follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system. It won the Grand Jury award for Directing at Sundance. And it does what documentaries do best. It keeps a full, all-around point of view while it grabs your mind to focus on the issues at hand. This film definitely deserves its recent Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
10. EMILIA PEREZ
The first musical I’ve ever seen that really doesn’t care about being polished. This film is purposely raw to the bone. It tells the story of a Mexican cartel leader, played by Karla Sofia Gascón, who asks the help of a lawyer played by Zoe Sadaña. The cartel leader wants to transition into a woman and become Emilia Perez. But the journey there won’t be easy and every step tangles things up until it bursts.
11. IN A VIOLENT NATURE
This slasher film pays homage to the 1980 Friday the 13th. For the first time ever, that I can recall, it shows the entirety of the film through the killer’s eyes. Scenes are played far and our point of view is from behind a tree, or outside the window, or across the lake—you get the point. This could’ve failed, but not here. The movie is so full of tension and suspense, that I wanted to scream. One of the best horror movies I’ve seen in years.
12. SEPTEMBER 5
This historical drama thriller follows the Munich massacre at the Olympics in 1972. What is innovative here is that it shows the story through the eyes of the ABC Sports crew on sight. This was the first time the Olympics was being televised live. As the Israeli Olympic team is kidnapped by a Palestinian militant organization called Black September, the ABC crew has to figure out how to air this unprecedented nightmare.
13. WILL & HARPER
In this moving documentary, Will Ferrell receives an email from one of his best friends Harper Steele, a writer he met during his years starring on Saturday Night Live. The email says that Harper will be transitioning to a woman. Will proposes to go on a road trip across the U.S. to help the friends transition their friendship into a new chapter while encouraging Harper to face their fears.
14. WICKED
This coming-of-age, musical fantasy film dazzled my eyes this year. Based on the stage musical of the same name, this adaptation deepens the story and is polished by the stunning visuals and performances. The film follows the story of Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, who arrives at Shiz University to find out she is a witch. As she accepts training, a web of intrigue is discovered and she can’t help but to find herself in the middle of it all alongside her ally Glinda, played by Ariana Grande.
15. THE APPRENTICE
Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump in his early years as a rising entrepreneur in the real estate and investment New York society. It explores his business realtionship with Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong, an attorney whose ways of the world were questionable. But the state of things during the New York of the 70s and 80s opened up doors to welcome in a businessman unafraid to fail.
16. STRANGE DARLING
A thriller like no other I’ve ever seen. This movie focuses on a one-night stand that turns into a deadly cat-and-mouse game. The story is intriguing and the acting top notch. A super interesting thing of note is that the story is told out of sequence. And as it unfolds, there are so many twists and turns that my brain had a total mindfuck.
17. DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Probably my favorite Marvel installment so far, or at least as far I can remember, this Deadpool & Wolverine mashup, hits all the right notes. It’s packed full of action, laughs, story development, as Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman heat up the screen with chemistry. Reynolds co-wrote the script this time.
18. THE LAST SHOWGIRL
Pamela Anderson stars as a middle-aged Las Vegas showgirl who learns the revue she’s been in for the last 30 years plus is closing. Not knowing what to do next makes her have to deal with issues and people she hadn’t faced in a long time. Jamie Lee Curtis plays her encouraging and out of sorts best friend. Anderson gives a performance of a lifetime here.
19. INSIDE OUT 2
This animated coming-of-age story follows its 2015 predecessor Inside Out to great heights. This time around, Riley finds herself surrounded by new emotions as she dives into her teenage years. It is heartwrenching, exciting, and endearing all at once to see the older emotions react to the newcomers.
20. A REAL PAIN
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin light up the screen in this buddy comedy-drama. Two cousins go on a trip from NYC to Poland to visit their grandmother’s childhood heritage. The script written by Eisenberg earned him an Oscar nomination, while Culkin got an Oscar nod for acting.