Alec's Top 10 Films of 2024
It was a good year to be Timothée Chalamet or Zendaya when it comes to this critic's favorites.
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I watched 304 movies in 2024 – of these 164 were released last year. Between reviews, podcasts, interviews and television appearances I unleashed 109 pieces of content upon y’all (down 29 from my 2023 output - what a slacker!). Please feel free to check out my backlog here. My random cinematic comings and goings are also available for your viewing pleasure over on Letterboxd.
Despite doing an awful lot of viewing there are some important titles I missed – among them “Better Man,” “The Brutalist,” “A Different Man,” “I Saw the TV Glow,” “Nickel Boys” and “Sing Sing.”
Anyone who follows my work knows I watch and review a lot of garbage. Most of these movies are of the low-budget variety and I’m certain the creatives behind them did their honest to goodness best. I’d prefer to punch up as opposed to down, so I’ll single out some higher profile releases as my least favorite of the year.
It was generally bad news to be an Amazon MGM Studios original action film, comedy or action-comedy on Jeff Bezos’ (in Bo Burnham sing-songy voice, “Jeffrey Bezos!”) Prime Video as “The Underdoggs,” “Ricky Stanicky,” “Canary Black,” “My Spy: The Eternal City” and “Brothers” all stunk to holy hell. (Exceptions to this rule - barely - were “One Fast Move” and the “Road House” remake.) Additionally, Adam Sandler’s pretentious sci-fi drama “Spaceman” would’ve been better off jettisoned in the Netflix ether.
My Honorable Mentions listed in order of admiration are “IF,” “Trap,” “Blink Twice,” “Strange Darling,” “It’s What’s Inside” and “The Wild Robot.”
With no further ado, here’s my Top 10 of 2024 …
10.) Love Lies Bleeding - If you saw writer/director Rose Glass’ feature debut “Saint Maud,” you know she’s fully capable of telling an audacious, unsettling tale. This trend continues with her sophomore effort “Love Lies Bleeding”
“Love Lies Bleeding” reminded me a bit of the Coen brothers’ “Blood Simple” and Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain” (the presence of Ed Harris and all the ‘roids hammers this idea home). In spite of this, it’s a darkly comedic neo-noir that very much has its own voice and proves that Glass is no flash in the pan who adroitly avoids a sophomore slump.
The acting is pretty great across the board. Kristen Stewart has proven to be a talented actress outside of the world of “Twilight” and this is some of her best work to date. Former Carmel, Ind. police officer-turned-actress Katy O’Brian skillfully switches between sensitive and scary and will be booking roles for years on the basis of her performance here. Harris (resembling the Crypt Keeper and almost as entertaining) and Dave Franco’s characters are truly hissable, but they appear to be having a ball playing these bastards.
Speaking of the Coen brothers, between Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” and this 2024 was a very good year for darkly comedic lesbian crime thrillers. (Now streaming on Max.)
9.) Scrambled - Leah McKendrick is hugely impressive in her roles as writer, director and star. She deserves an awful lot of credit for bravely telling this semi-autobiographical tale and baring body and soul. She’s strongly supported by Clancy Brown (making a habit out of playing different protagonists’ Pops in recent films including “Promising Young Woman,” “Dumb Money” and this) and Andrew Santino (this dude’s reliably hilarious despite often appearing in dreck and his shallow character reveals great depth late).
“Scrambled” is like a female-centric “Knocked Up” by way of Andrea Savage’s dearly departed TruTV sitcom “I’m Sorry.” It’s equal parts comedic, confessional, heartfelt and horny. Furthermore, it’s a raunchy reminder that you can’t truly love someone else without loving yourself first. I can see the movie having a big impact on women of a certain age (namely between 25 and 45), but it’s funny enough that it’ll likely appeal to their boyfriends and husbands too. (Now streaming on Hulu.)
8.) The Fire Inside - Cinematographer-turned-director Rachel Morrison has made an incredibly assured first feature with a sharp script from the esteemed Barry Jenkins (the “Moonlight” filmmaker also currently has “Mufasa: The Lion King” out in theaters).
It’s propelled by the impressive central performances of Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry and the palpable chemistry they share. Destiny is just so damned likable and lovely on screen. It’s fair to assume she’s destined for a long and fruitful career. Henry is already a proven commodity who’s never less than captivating. I’d have absolutely no problem with either of them deservedly getting acting nods this awards season.
The flick isn’t too fight-centric, but the ones we get have an immediacy, intensity and intimacy to them thanks to the cinematography of Rina Yang, the editing of Harry Yoon and the impressive efforts of the fight and stunt coordinators and performers.
“The Fire Inside” inspired me, pissed me off and then inspired me all over again. I laughed a little and cried a lot. It’s one of the better movies of 2024. (Now in theaters.)
7.) Saturday Night - Jason Reitman needn’t listen to Chevy Chase and his bullshit. (More here.)
His “Saturday Night” chronicles the 90 minutes of chaos that proceeded the show’s first live airing on Oct. 11, 1975. A lot of folks have referred to the film as a stressful experience and I can certainly see that perspective, but knowing that “SNL” would not only ultimately succeed but flourish for almost 50 years helps alleviate the tension. I mostly just enjoyed hanging out with this motley cast of characters.
I don’t know if it’s that I watched “Saturday Night” in New York City at an Alamo Drafthouse and briefly met Spike Lee before my screening, but I had a fantastic time with the film. The script from Reitman and his co-writer/co-producer Gil Kenan is sharp. The cast is uniformly great with standouts being Gabriel LaBelle (after essentially playing Steven Spielberg in “The Fabelmans” and Lorne Michaels here, I can’t wait to see what youthful creative visionary of the ‘70s this talented young actor will tackle next), Rachel Sennott, Nicholas Braun (doing double duty as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman) and Tommy Dewey as loudmouthed head writer Michael O’Donoghue (this dude looks and sounds so much like Joel McHale I thought he was McHale for a hot minute).
I laughed. I cried. I had a blast and a half. “SNL” fans are in for a real treat. (Available on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, Jan. 7. I’m assuming it will also be streaming on Netflix shortly.)
6.) We Live in Time - Sometimes a good old-fashioned weepy just hits the spot. When said tear-jerker has leads as appealing as Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh and employs not-so-old-fashioned out-of-sequence storytelling techniques it’s even better. John Crowley’s “We Live in Time” is this movie.
Crowley seems to have my number emotionally. The first time I saw “Brooklyn” was on a flight home from Ireland while drinking Woodford Reserve and ginger ale and I was a blubbering mess. “We Live in Time” is no exception to this rule. You’ll need Kleenex … and not just for the much ballyhooed about sex sequences – one of which made cinematographer Stuart Bentley hide in the corner when Garfield and Pugh didn’t hear cut. (Granted, these are admittedly pretty hot too.) I cried. My wife cried. A gal behind us needed to borrow napkins from another gal beside us. I suspect there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The reason “We Live in Time” works as well as it does are the performances of and the chemistry between Garfield and Pugh. She has the flashier role and gives a more interesting performance, but he’s quite good as well and his Tobias is just so innately likable. The script by Nick Payne is occasionally a tad too cutesy, but Garfield and Pugh never miss a beat in selling the schmaltz.
“We Live in Time” is one of the better movie romances in recent memory and one of the best films of the year. I’d highly suggest y’all see it … just don’t forget the Kleenex. (Available on Blu-ray Tuesday, Jan. 7. It should also be streaming on Max shortly.)
5.) Civil War - There likely wasn't a better sequence than the one that employed Sturgill Simpson's "Breakers Roar" in 2024. Leave it to talented albeit misguided Brit Alex Garland to team Texas and Cali together in a civil war. This is somehow simultaneously the most and least political movie I've seen in a hot minute. Spoiler Ahoy: It was pretty dope/wild to see a black woman merc a white president regardless of what his politics were. (Now available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray and to stream on Max.)
4.) Dune: Part Two - "Dune" (2021) set the table. "Dune: Part Two" is the feast ... and what a fuckin' feast it is! This was probably the best I liked Timothée Chalamet in a film prior to seeing another movie that may appear later on this list. Zendaya is very much the picture's heart and soul. Javier Bardem plays pretty much the most likable religious fanatic ever committed to celluloid. Dave Bautista running in fear from Chalamet may go down as one of the funniest images from 2024. Denis Villeneuve is the man and this is a vast improvement over its predecessor. (Now available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD and to stream on Max and Netflix.)
3.) Anora - “Anora” feels like “Pretty Woman” were it directed by John Cassavetes. It’s funny, freaky, filthy, sexy, surprising and surprisingly moving. I often didn’t know where this wild ride of a movie was going to go and I can’t remember laughing this much in a theater in a long time.
The performances are outstanding across the board, but I was especially impressed by Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov.
Madison, who has a history of getting set ablaze on screen (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Scream” (2022)), is on fire here. Ani is money-hungry but also goes into her marriage mostly in good faith. She seems incapable of genuinely giving or receiving love outside the physical realm. She’s fierce, foul-mouthed and surprisingly sensitive. Madison aces all these notes and plays plenty more. She’s a force of nature in this flick and is deserving of all the accolades she’s received thus far … more (including nominations and awards) will most assuredly be coming.
I was unfamiliar with Borisov and the dude’s a real find. He imbues Igor with an inherent decency that’s rare for a role such as this. His line delivery is also often hilarious. Igor is the film’s heart and Borisov and writer/producer/editor/director Sean Baker work in lockstep to ensure it’s made of gold.
I don’t know if Baker is a skeevy perv, genuinely wants to examine what’s going on in society’s fringes or both, but he seems to have a deep-rooted fascination with sex workers and this subject matter has marked much of his filmography, i.e. “Red Rocket,” “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine.” I think I’d like to see him tackle something different next time out, but if he continues making movies as funny, freaky, filthy, sexy, surprising and surprisingly moving as “Anora” then he should do whatever the hell he wants. (“Anora” is currently in theaters and available on VOD.)
2.) Challengers - I expected “Challengers” to be good. I’ve admired the films of director Luca Guadagnino’s that I’ve seen (it’s admittedly a small sample size consisting of the Timothée Chalamet double bill “Call Me by Your Name” and “Bones and All” and his other 2024 offering “Queer”) and think star Zendaya is one of our most promising and talented young actresses. I was unprepared for just how accomplished, awesome, entertaining, funny and most importantly, sexy, this thing was gonna be.
“Challengers” is an abundance of riches. Zendaya (doing her best work to date and sounding strangely like Jennifer Lopez), Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor are all electric and have wonderful chemistry with one another. None of their characters are particularly likable nor are they entirely hissable. They’re flawed folks who are never less than fascinating to watch. The script by first-time feature screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes (husband of “Past Lives” writer/director Celine Song … what a talented couple!) gifts these three prodigious performers with all sorts of notes to play. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross fucks harder than our protagonists do. Guadagnino’s frequent cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom shoots the tennis sequences stylistically and in a manner more befitting a boxing match. These are some damned visceral visuals! Guadagnino cheekily makes a nod to “Call Me by Your Name” by placing a basket of peaches in Art’s locker room prior to a match.
“Challengers” is a lot of things – an excellent and exciting sports movie, an interesting study of relationship dynamics, my favorite Guadagnino film from what I’ve seen and a call to see more of the Italian auteur’s works. In short – it’s a ball. (Now available on Blu-ray and DVD and to stream on Prime Video.)
1.) A Complete Unknown - Co-writer/producer/director James Mangold bests his already very good "Walk the Line" with the even better "A Complete Unknown." Timothée Chalamet is sensational here as are Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro (singing better than Joan Baez!) and Elle Fanning.
This is my favorite flick of 2024 and it'd make an incredible double bill with the Coen brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" - my second favorite flick of theirs.
It’s a moving glimpse into the mind of a musical genius. (Now in theaters.)
That’s a wrap on 2024’s movies. Many thanks for reading and happiest of New Year’s to you all. Thanks also to my friend and colleague Christopher Lloyd for his mentorship and support and to my wife Jamie Toombs for her love and patience. I eagerly anticipate what cinema has in store for us all in 2025!