The Top 10 Films of 2024

Another year, another several dozen movies I didn’t get around to seeing but desperately wish I had.

Anora took the top prize at the 97th Academy Awards, and now that this competitive season has come to a close we can focus on the most important ceremony of them all: the JoJos.

For the uninitiated, I don’t purport these lists or any of the nominees in my curated categories as containing the “best” movies, performances, etc. of the last calendar year, but it’s not strictly a compilation of my favorite flicks, either. These 10 cinematic offerings exist somewhere in between, a synthesis of filmic experiences I found meaningful and instances of technical prowess of which I’m in awe. Several made waves at the Oscars. But even with independent cinema winning big across the board, I don’t think the Academy recognized nearly enough smaller, truly independent movies, which is reflected in the number of my nominees which were noticeably snubbed by the Academy, including my Best Picture of the year.

10. Longlegs

The top 10 starts of with a film that was likewise ignored by Oscar voters, though I can’t say I blame them on this one. Writer/director Oz Perkins (son of famed Psycho actor Anthony Perkins) and the rest of the creative team have made something that will surely become a spooky season favorite for years to come. Longlegs just *feels* evil, from its titular, eccentric serial killer played by the singular Nic Cage, to its muted, claustrophobic presentation and slow burn as its characters are forced into a violent, fateful finale that suggests a more malevolent force is at work. Without a doubt this is the feel bad movie of the year.

9. I’m Still Here

One doesn’t require prerequisite knowledge of Brazil’s long and winding road to a (somewhat) functional democracy to understand why a film like I’m Still Here resonated with voters throughout awards season. The Best International Feature winner at this year’s Academy Awards is a powerful reminder of how quickly the freedoms we take for granted can be taken from us, certainly, but I think more importantly it articulates how crushing and quiet the months and years can be after surviving such political upheaval, and it explores how survivors choose to navigate their grief and potentially achieve some measure of peace. Fernanda Torres is nothing short of magnificent as Eunice Paiva, the matriarch of a family whose husband was kidnapped and murdered by government forces in 1971 as part of a crackdown against dissident political forces. Her steely determination in the face of violent authoritarianism is a clarion call to all decent people starring down similar brutality around the world, and the very beginnings of such darkness here in the United States.

8. The Substance

Maximalist, Cronenbergian body horror doesn’t exactly scream “Oscar favorite,” yet it was Demi Moore’s turn in The Substance that boasted the best odds to win Best Actress in the weeks and even days leading up to the ceremony. And even though she lost (The Substance picked up just one win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling out of its five nominations) I think we’ll be discussing her turn as Elisabeth, an aging award-winning actress who turns to an experimental treatment to maintain her youth and revitalize her career, for a long time. It’s seriously gross and over-the-top disgusting in the best ways possible. Even those I know who are averse to body horror have come out on the other side of their viewing cheering. Horror deserves this kind of mainstream success!

7. Robot Dreams

Past Lives proved to be my favorite film of 2023, so why wouldn’t a similar story of what could have been between a robot and his anthropomorphized dog/owner make my 2024 year end list? The genius of Robot Dreams lies in the viewer’s ability to map onto the central relationship whatever it is that you most want. Do you see it as the tale of two friends who fall apart as the seasons change? True love that evolves but still remains even after the other person has moved on? Whether you interpret this film as platonic, romantic, or anywhere in between, it expertly captures the excitement of finding your person, the crushing disappointment of losing them, and the bittersweet realization that they helped you to become a better version of you in the short time you were together, so that when that next person comes along and brightens up your world, you’re better prepared to hold onto them and cherish that time together.

6. Civil War

Only time will tell if this pick looks foolishly edgy or all too prescient. Civil War was arguably the most talked about release of last spring; it drew criticisms from every corner of the political spectrum, spawned countless think pieces attempting to pin down exactly what its worldview was (to say nothing of the logistics and battle lines it draws), and then it just… disappeared. Maybe the possibility and eventual reality of electing a fascistic regime that promises to test our democracy’s durability, or the threat of violence being used as a political tool in real life soured critics and audiences on a film that unflinchingly depicts all of that and much, much worse. I guess war isn’t as much fun when theory becomes practice.

5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

It was never going to reach the glorious heights of Mad Max: Fury Road, but Furiosa deserved so much more than a $174.1 million worldwide total gross, which was only $6.1 million more than its reported budget. Chris Hemsworth practically locked up a JoJo win all the way back in May of 2024 for his performance as Dementus, the crazed, charismatic leader who opposes Immortan Joe in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that now spans five films. And yet even with Furiosa’s plethora of insane performances, outlandish cinematography, and death-defying stunts, it found about as much success on the awards circuit as it did at the box office. Other than the top spot on this list, I imagine Furiosa is possibly the 2024 film most obviously destined for cult status.

4. Conclave

This stark, realist take on the selection of a new Pope amidst changing political winds in the Vatican is infinitely more interesting than any of the Dan Brown pulp Hollywood has adapted to great success, and comes at a time when powerful institutions like the church are at a crossroads of faith and financial security (or, more generally, power). But it’s entertaining, too! Everyone is at the top of their respective games here. The score, the cinematography, the writing and direction are all dialed in, unified and singularly focused in their effort to tell a more compassionate and honest story involving the complexity surrounding gender than any of its Best Picture competitors – looking at you, Emilia Pérez!

3. Anora

I’m still in awe of Sean Baker’s Oscars sweep. Look at his filmography: from Take Out to Tangerine, The Florida Project, and right up to his latest, it’s apparent people on the margins who lead wildly different lifestyles than the one he does make up the bulk of his filmic interests. Anora represents the most polished of these efforts, one that combines his fascination and respect for sex workers with his working class, ethnic neighborhood bonafides (as an aspiring filmmaker, Baker shot wedding videos in the same Brighton Beach area he’d return to use as a setting for his Oscar-winning feature 20 years later). But even then, this isn’t the kind of story the Academy usual rewards, at least not since the New Hollywood films of the 70’s. Good on Baker and his collaborators for making an independent movie worthy of this kind of celebration and running a hell of an awards season campaign.

2. Nickel Boys

More than any other movie I saw this year, this one seems *important,* and not just because of its historical and cultural significance. The way this is shot, its presentation, the narrative framing, the visual choices… Roger Ebert once called cinema an empathy machine through which we can understand people different than us, and there are few films that have made me feel l was truly experiencing the world through another person’s eyes the way Nickel Boys does. I put my viewing of this movie off for the longest time because it felt like work. What I experienced was nothing short of cinematic magic.

1. I Saw the TV Glow

Jane Schoenbrun is here to stay. Their debut feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair shocked and delighted in the waning months of 2022 and announced the writer/director as a talent to watch, but it’s I Saw the TV Glow that makes the case for Schoenbrun as a generational horror voice with an ability to tap directly into the overly-online ethos of Gen Z and the feelings of isolation, peculiarity, and self-loathing which plague seemingly everyone in the internet age. While both of their films can be read as explicitly trans texts, I think the reason these stories have such staying power is their ability to be understood as universal tales of disappointment that depict a struggle to live a life worthy of one’s authentic self, themes that are all too relatable regardless of gender or sexual identity. And that’s why I’ll be thinking about this movie for a long, long time.

The JoJo Awards:

Picture: I Saw the TV Glow

Director: Sean Baker, Anora

Actress: Demi Moore, The Substance

Actor: Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa

Supporting Actress: Margaret Qualley, The Substance

Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov, Anora

Cinematography: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

Original Screenplay: Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow

Adapted Screenplay: RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys

Animated Feature: Robot Dreams

Editing: Sean Baker, Anora

Original Score: Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist

Original Song: yeule, “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” I Saw the TV Glow