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Selecting just 15 films out of so many great releases this year and actually having to rank the 15 as well was always going to be a challenge. So many great films, sure to miss out and not make its way into the list, but I have managed, ladies and gents, to compile my official list of the top 15 movies of 2024. Now, this of course is just my list. Be sure to let me know what you would change in the comments below, but without further ado, let's count down my top 15 movies of the year.
In at 15th Place, we have Andrew Arnold's newest release, Bird. This is vintage Andrew Arnold, gritty misery, purposed classic British social realism. I think someone who is only paralleled this Century by the works of Shane Meadows, both of the masterminds and the forefront of contemporary British film. This work combined with pretty unexpected spiritual tones. Uh, I mentioned in a previous review, it's visually similar to how I imagine a Hayao Miyazaki might work, uh, adapted for live action. It's got so much emotion while also having humor and really, really heartfelt self-discovery notes, and a film that unquestionably carries one of the best ensembles of the year as well.
In at number 14, we have the latest Clint Eastwood endeavor, Juror #2. A wonderfully structured, old-school type Hollywood courtroom drama concentrated on ethical dilemmas of the judicial system. The type of Hollywood film that we have kind of been calling for. It feels very reminiscent of kind of the classic courtroom dramas of the 50s to 70s. A film that asks so many questions, uh, of a moral note, and I think a film that was very much unfairly shelved in favor of the myriad of cash grabs we have. Didn't get much time, uh, in theaters and on the big screen, um, and it features really, really great performances as well, especially from Nicholas Hoult as the lead, who I think gives probably his career performance to date.
In at 13, we have M. Night Shyamalan's Trap. Equally ridiculous and thrilling while having that typical silly nature that M. Night provides, while also being a really sentimental piece on fatherhood. A film that feels very video game-like, like the levels on a Hitman game, for example, full of absurd power plays and setups, um, while being a very intimate film. Um, each conversation delivering the right notes and perfectly capturing every panic-fueled and upsetting, uh, character response. So full of love and a clear homage to his family and his daughter's talents. A great, great work.
In a 12th Place, we have the latest Mike Leigh film, Hard Truths. A very funny but painful film. Watching Marianne Jean-Baptiste's character, who, by the way, delivers probably my favorite performance, especially lead performance of the year. Watching her day after day reiterate the same mental struggle she's been suffering with, the agonizing torture that comes with grief and what just the conventions of everyday life can actually do to someone's psyche. The film itself not only manages to be viscerally upsetting, you know, reducing people to tears around me when I saw it at London Film Festival, but also just giving and providing some of the most hilarious one-liners you could ever think of.
In at number 11, we have The Beast, which I think will actually go up, um, on this ranking list when I get around to rewatching it. And it's a film that has undoubtedly divided opinion. Many have mentioned its Lynchian story-detailing tendencies and its very equally atmospheric tone and creepy nature, but also its Cronenberg-esque tendencies as well, and these long, insightful stretches of intimacy and affection portrayed in just the most ballsy fashion, and unlike any other film that we've had in the past few years. It's messy at points and conceptually bizarre, but really manages to convey the central allegory for human connection, um, in just the most grandiose manner. George MacKay is fantastic and, dare I say, easily one of the best performances of the year.
Into the top 10, and the 10th Place spot goes to The Substance. A film that has no interest in dealing with, uh, female beauty standards and self-perception with any ounce of subtlety, uh, which is something that has worked for some very well, like myself, and also has not worked for some, which is more than understandable. Highly satirical punchlines, grotesque body horror, as many have already mentioned. It's a sparkling tale on the exterior and a deranged and horrible and deeply sad one on the inside. Loads of fun, but never loses its central theme, one that I really understand why it wouldn't work for some, but I had a great time with this overall.
Ninth Place, we have A24's new film, Anora. Appreciated in this way I didn't even imagine. It's simultaneously one of the year's funniest with some of the year's funniest singular moments. There are sequences in this that had everyone in my cinema howling, while also a film that has profound sadness. So close, a perfectly calibrated mix of anguish and comedy. Overwhelms you with humor one moment and deep sadness the next. Mikey Madison is incredible, exceptional, as you might expect, and I think this is just such a significant project, um, in contemporary American cinema.
In eighth, similarly to many on this list, another divisive film, and that is I Saw the TV Glow. A really, really empowering film. I even think that labeling a project like this just empowering is a disservice because I think this is potentially life-changing. As I've said in previous reviews, uh, very personal to the director with just individual emotions serving as the true vehicle for the narrative. Obvious trans allegories and identity allegories that come with, you know, knowing and understanding your true identity and your place in the world and having responsibility and control. A display of self-destruction. Justice Smith is incredible. Um, several sequences just drew me into the point of a complete emotional response and a physical one in the face of terror as well. A film that I think regardless of whichever side of the coin you land on with it, whether you love or hate it, I think is a must-watch.
In a seventh place, we have Joshua Oppenheimer's, for lack of a better term, bizarre musical, The End. A musical experience so distinctive. You know, you've got this single location, post-apocalyptic musical, so one-of-a-kind. I feel not really on the surface should not work as well as it manages to, or at least in my experience. Um, it's constructed on reflections of a forgotten existence before the events that we see have taken place in the film, uh, recollections that draw you closer to regret and guilt, a family buried beneath the surface, as with their memories, with some just really silly musical notes, full of sadness and humor. Uh, a cast so brilliantly silly with Michael Shannon, Tilda Swinton, and George MacKay, who is just a force to be reckoned with in this. A film, as I said, I don't know why this worked so well for me, but it just did, and I absolutely loved it.
In at six, we have the first, but certainly not the last, Luca Guadagnino film on this list, and that being Challengers. An electric, sensual explosion, an insightful examination into relationships, inescapable relationships with a trio of actors on their absolute best form throughout. And of course, with Mike Faist as the cinematographer, this one is such a visual feat. The score endlessly pounding on your eardrums, every swing of a tennis racket and the stillness cutting through it, um, unavoidable. A spectacle filled with pride, desire, and malice, and never a dull moment.
In a five, Robert Eggers' latest film, Nosferatu. A film that really manages to showcase a haunting of purity and wonderfully brings the vampire back to its original mythology and fable. A full-blown Gothic melodrama with tons of visual nods for previous works, and what could be argued as Robert Eggers' most accessible film could easily also be argued as his biggest achievement today.
In at the fourth place spot, we have the next Luca Guadagnino film that I was referring to earlier, Queer. And not only my favorite Luca of the year, but my favorite Luca work altogether. A film that deals with both subconscious and physical addictions, gestures that we give and receive in order to gain human connection. Daniel Craig being a brilliant embodiment of feeling, an intimacy, a look at desires, whether unhealthy and healthy, through Daniel Craig's eyes. And honestly, I'd be challenged to find another working director at this time who delves into the intimacy between human beings quite as well as Luca is able. A film saturated with rich, grainy imagery, fantasy-like scenery, and some of the most impressive sets and production design I've seen in, I'm going to say years, with a third act that is so inaccessible, um, even for Luca's standards, and forceful and ballsy, it made me respect the film that much more and just worked for me tenfold.
Into the top three we go, and at third place is a direct sequel, an undeniable blockbuster that matches the impact, or almost does, of the first film, and that is Dune: Part Two. An overwhelming sensory experience drenched in tragedy and a furthering of the mystique and mythology that we got in the first film. A mounting sense of fear and understanding of the stakes. I think just a one-of-a-kind event to remember, an unbelievable experience that even given my incredibly high expectations going in, it still managed to max them, if not exceed them.
In at second place, we have the French-Canadian psychological thriller, Red Rooms. Much can and has been said about the ongoing desensitization to true crime. There've been many films about it, the interest in real-life atrocities that start out as just morbid curiosity, a human sense that frequently grow into these voracious obsessions. This film does that better than any I've ever seen. A continuous journey into the fall of a woman's psyche when everything else feels rudimentary and lost. She has her path through life, she does the same thing every day, she has no real connections, and it's a showcase of a disregard of humanity. We hear the horror roaring and screams as loud as can be, but going back to what I said in previous reviews, as Michael Haneke himself said, the challenge limited to the topics of violence is not how do I display violence, but rather how do I show the audience his own position with the violence and its portrayal. Similar to The Zone of Interest, for example, of last year, to elicit fury and outrage in a project, it's not always necessary to exhibit it directly, but rather allude to the horrors that take place. And this film actually just made me feel incredibly uneasy, not because of any jump scares or anything particularly viscerally horrible showcased on screen, but because of the palpable reality to it all.
And at number one, for the film that I believe to be the best of the year so far, in a film that I have seen three times over, and that is George Miller's Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. One of the very, very few prequels that feels necessary. An enormously expansive masterpiece that furthers the mythos and has a brilliantly crafted and striking visual style that showcases George Miller back in his wastelands at the height of his career as a filmmaker, expanding on his harsh, dismal playground. Chris Hemsworth giving by far his career best to date, and Anya Taylor-Joy just being fantastic as always, working on so many levels from messy action melodrama to a coming-of-age story about survival in a restrictive civilization that culminates in typical George Miller vile and decrepit retaliation. A true milestone film of his career, I would argue, full of these jaw-dropping, just tantalizing set pieces and action sequences, and these seemingly infinite landscapes far and far and wide that really emphasize Furiosa's isolation. A true masterpiece through and through.