The 10 Best Movies I Saw This Year
Similar to last year, this is not a list of the best movies to come out in 2024. I defended a dissertation, started a new job, and moved to a new state this year.[1] I did not have the time to go see that many movies in theaters. When I did, I saw a lot of horror stuff, some of it on this list and some of it as far off this list as possible.[2] But I did get the chance to watch some older movies for the first time! Mostly at home, but sometimes in the theater as well. I ranked the best ones that I saw. Please enjoy! Let me know if you watch and enjoy any of them. I have perfect taste and love being a trendsetter.[3]
10. Emily the Criminal
Aubrey Plaza is one of America’s greatest working actors. Emily the Criminal is a character study, following Plaza’s Emily, a down-on-her-luck graphic designer who turns to crime to help pay off her student loans/bills. Plaza brings great emotional depth to the character and the supporting cast more than holds their own. This is a great little movie that doesn’t quite go where you think it will and doesn’t stick around longer than it should. Well worth the watch.
9. Death Becomes Her
Calling a movie a “cult classic” can damn a film with faint praise. Too often, it refers to a movie that mostly sucks but has like twelve irony-poisoned fans with a bigger than they deserve online presence. That is not the case for Death Becomes Her. It earns the moniker a million times over. This should be on everyone’s list of greatest movies of all time. It’s a wild ride featuring prime Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, and Meryl Streep. It’s cliché to say that Hollywood doesn’t make movies like they used to, but they certainly don’t make movies like this anymore. DBH is a wild ride, funny and surprising at every moment. Watch immediately.
8. Aelita: Queen of Mars
I have been accused - by my mother-in-law no less - of liking “weirdo-ass movies.” Aelita: Queen of Mars certainly falls into this category. It’s a Russian film released in 1924, during the early days of Stalin’s rule. It’s a science-fiction film about a Russian engineer who travels on a rocket to Mars, eventually helping lead a revolt of Martians against the ruling class with the help of the eponymous Queen Aelita. It’s great! Some very cool special effects, fun performances, and politics that are a little all over the place. It was filmed in part to show that Russia could hold its own against Hollywood. It was released in the US and did not do well. Very fun.
7. The Substance
Nepo babies are everywhere in Hollywood, the subject of tirades, SNL sketches, and mind-numbing think pieces.[4] The correct take on nepo babies is that I should get to pick which ones get to work. Margaret Qualley is one of them. The daughter of Andie McDowell, Qualley is a new superstar in the making, with The Substance showing that she can hold a movie on her own. Co-starring the equally game Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid,[5] The Substance covers the same exact thematic territory as Death Becomes Her, just in a wildly different way. At turns funny, bloody, and surreal, The Substance is one of the best movies of 2024.
6. Dune: Part Two
Lisan Al-Gaib! Complicated hand salute. May thy knife chip and shatter. Etc etc. Dune: Part Two is killer. It’s a great follow-up to the first one and gets bonus points for finally giving Zendaya something to do. The music isn’t quite as arresting as it is in the first one, but everything else is great, and it still manages to be funny without resorting to Marvel-level quipspeak. It’s a heater! Even space Christopher Walken isn’t too distracting. Plus, it’s got some big ol worms. Now that’s the magic of cinema.
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5. Heretic
Hugh Grant turns in the performance of a lifetime in Heretic. Oftentimes actors known for playing romantic leads who are tasked with playing the villain lean into it too much. They try to ham it up, chewing scenery until their gums bleed. Grant is better than that. Instead of trying to go all-out evil, he just plays himself to great effect. He’s essentially playing a slightly older, slightly more sinister version of his Four Weddings and a Funeral or Love, Actually characters. It pays off in spades. His understated performance brings a level of dread and suspense to the role that no one else could. The movie itself is great, a twisty, turny, three-hander that doesn’t tread where these types of movies usually do.
4. Drive Away Dolls
Margaret Qualley is also in this one! Everything is coming up Qualley. Written and directed by husband and wife duo Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, Drive Away Dolls stars Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan,[6] Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, and others. It’s a fun, frothy, wisp of movie that isn’t trying to be more than just a fun time. It’s wildly raunchy in a way that you don’t see much outside of HBO shows, but in a very slapstick way. Do not watch with your parents.
3. Shiva Baby
This came out a while ago so shame on me for not seeing it until this year. It’s also the third year in a row that a Rachel Sennott movie has made it onto this list. Every actor’s dream. This is a movie all about building uncomfortable tension and then holding off the release for as long as possible. It’s very, very funny, and perfectly short. Any longer and the movie wouldn’t work. Truly a must-watch, even for the goys like me.
2. Civil War
Alex Garland’s newest flick, Civil War is great, if not exactly a philosophical powerhouse. Some people wanted it to have like a coherent political analysis, but I don’t really care about that when it comes to movies. I’m a big dummy who likes to watch pretty things. Civil War has some great performances from Kirsten Dunst and Stephen McKinley Henderson. It also has the scene of the year from Jesse Plemmons. Plemmons continues his reign as Hollywood’s top go-to for “threatening weirdo” roles. Certainly, don’t go in thinking that you’re going to get a particularly deep movie, but you will get one that is interesting to watch. What’s better than that?
1. Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos is a nutjob and I mean that as a compliment. Poor Things is fully a movie that can only exist because of the success of Superbad. Without the success of Superbad - and, to be fair, Easy A - Emma Stone wouldn’t have that star clout to get this made. Just one more thing we have to thank Seth Rogen for. In any case, this flick has one of the all-time great line-reads from Mark Ruffalo, a bravura performance from Stone, and Willem Dafoe’s normal-excellent work. If you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to spoil anything, other than to say that, damn, babies do be like that.
[1] Honestly? That’s too many things. I gotta chill out.
[2] Which I guess is just, not on this list? Metaphorical distance is a hell of a thing.
[3] People should pay me for it.
[4] Political nepo babies are a bigger problem than Hollywood ones, but so it goes.
[5] I know.
[6] She’s great! Check her out in Blockers.
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