The 24 Best Films of 2024
Please note that the films listed here were released in U.K. theatres within the calendar year of 2024.
24. The Wild Robot – One of this year’s best animated features is the delightfully adorable, The Wild Robot. The story of an abandoned robot Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) as she and Fink the Fox (Pedro Pascal) become the surrogate parents to Brightbill the geese (Kit Connor) make for an engrossing watch about misfits banding together. Kris Bowers composes powerful melodies that give a sense of wonderment and strength to this rag-tag family, while director Chris Sanders’ desire for a hand-painted style in this 3D animated film gives the feature a storybook quality that stands out as Dreamworks’ prettiest film to date. It is a fun, affectionate watch that will bring a smile to even the most cynical.
23. Longlegs – The Horror film that caught the cultural zeitgeist by storm, Longlegs was an impactful moment that demanded attention with its grippingly dour and eerie atmosphere. Boasting one of year’s most gripping opening scenes, Longlegs, sets its tone very quickly, as detective Lee Harker’s (Maika Monroe) search for the killer Longlegs (Nicholas Cage) takes her on a descent into a barren, grey and hopeless world where no good can be found. Oz Perkins makes you second guess every dark corner and - while we are used to some crazed Nicholas Cage performances – Perkins’ direction turns his mania into something fearful. While its slight genre shift and lack of ambiguity makes for a rather ordinary ending, the overwhelming feeling of dread Oz Perkins conducts is striking.
22. The Bike Riders – The Biker Riders was 2024’s biggest surprise. A film which looked like a conventional and rote tale about the real-life biker gang, the Vandals, turned out to be a thoughtful meditation on sexuality and community. Austin Butler leads the film as Benny, channelling his inner James Dean with a smouldering silence indicative of a man who wants to stay outside the noise of society. Writer and director Jeff Nichols and his production design team make for a convincing retro feel in its period accuracy and its framed narrative, narrated by Benny’s wife, Kathy (Jodie Cormer). Cinematographer, Adam Stone, adds to his quality with well shot biking sequences, rich colours and still frames that look like they could be hung up in an American Diner.
21. Blink Twice – Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut is a sharp, bleakly brilliant thriller about the reclamation of power. Its subject matter is serious (perhaps the first time a trigger warning has been attached to a new release), with its depictions of sexual assault, however, Naomi Ackie carries the film with poignancy in her performance. Channing Tatum sheds his comedic skin, morphing into someone slimy and sinister, but putting on a front of consideration, like a chameleon of care. Kravitz’s film leaves many mysterious to be solved, layering her film in engaging twists and turns that feels Hitchcockian in its essence.
20. Robot Dreams – Profound in its simplicity, Robot Dreams is a tender tale of love found, lost, and found again. Writer and director Pablo Berger chose to tell his story with no dialogue, as every emotion and humorous incident is depicted eloquently through the retro 2D animation style of Arcadia Motion Pictures. The everyday antics of Dog and Robot are charming, but it is a relationship born through a harsh reality, where loneliness stems from a feeling of anxiety and lack of belonging. Yet, Robot Dreams is ultimately about the importance of building such relationships, no matter where they are destined to go. Its retro-realised New York feels alive and the inclusion of September by Earth, Wind and Fire, that acts as the theme for Dog and Robot, brings bittersweet joy to the whole picture.
19. Conclave - Who knew the election of a new pope could be so thrilling? Well, director Edward Berger makes this Vatican City conspiracy a thoroughly captivating watch, filled with twist, turns, and spearheaded by the always brilliant Ralph Fiennes. Improving upon his previous feature (All Quiet on the Western Front), Berger’s film questions the meaning of faith and how its various interpretations can lead to human progress or regression. The Vatican City acts as a microcosm to real world political apathy, a race to find to the least immoral candidate amongst those desperate for power. Peter Straughan’s script is sharp and prevalent, with Fiennes’ speech on faith being one of the most enlightening pieces of writing you will find in a film this year.
18. American Fiction – Cord Jefferson’s, American Fiction, is comments on the establishment that pigeonholes Black storytellers. Much of its humour is derived from Monk’s embittered personality, brilliantly portrayed by the often-underrated Jeffrey Wright (also nominated for best actor) frustrated with the state of modern fiction. In turn, this pushes him to create a derivative, over the top novel that, to his bewilderment, becomes one of America’s most talked about novels. Yet, even with its primary thesis, American Fiction juggles many plots at once, never feeling overwhelming or unfocussed. Its ability to capture the tender and flawed aspects of love and family life, while having this meta commentary of how race is used in fiction, make for an impressive and captivating watch. Sincere, Witty and on the pulse, American Fiction is one astute feature.
17. Hit-Man - Glenn Powell only solidifies himself further as a true Hollywood star, bringing an effortlessly cool persona to Ron; all the while pulling off a quaint, docile aura whenever he returns to his true self. Powell manages to ground the silliness of his situation with dramatic conviction whenever the stakes are high, but never loses his comedic senses throughout. Adria Arjona is Powell’s perfect pairing, bringing immediate weight to the narrative from her first scene, shaking up the story with a chaotic lightning bolt. The Hit Man’s tension and stakes build naturally over the course of its dangerous romance, with exciting twists and turns that lead to a nail-biting third act. There is a clear purpose to Linklater and Powell’s romp, engaging in ideas of authenticity and the true self. Within its slightly ridiculous confounds, The Hit Man asks these questions as to whether validation only comes once the outside world feels drawn to our personality, whether through a change in appearance, confidence, or outright performance.
16. Civil War - While this is A24’s biggest film to date, budgeted at around 50 million dollars, do not go in expecting massive action spectacle. Civil War is not a film set out to politically divide its audience. This is a story of ambition, the loss of innocence and the desensitisation of violence. Garland’s characters feel real with purpose, imparted with morally questionable flaws, questioning the very humanity that must be removed to portray what must be seen. We see how violence effects everyone uniquely, how it transforms individuals, and how it can be capitalised on. This may be one of the last films Alex Garland directs and if so, he has concluded his filmography with a triumphant piece that holds a mirror to the world and the essence of violence itself.
15. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Mad Max: Fury Road is hailed as not only one of the greatest action films ever made, but one of the best films of the 21st century; thus, trying to replicate that film and its style would only lead to harsh comparison and disappointment. Director George Miller understands this, going for a slower paced film that gives us time to soak in the twisted world Miller has set before us. Anya Taylor-Joy’s stoic, rage induced presence gives real tenacity to her quest, matching Charlize Theron’s version of the character, making this film flow seamlessly into Fury Road. Chris Hemsworth hams it up with villainous delirium, making for one of the best performances of his career. The action is of course slick, stylish, and drowning in a diesel-punk aesthetic that makes for some of the most visually stimulating action you will likely see all year. Miller’s film is once vibrant and rich in saturation that sets itself apart from a film landscape that is desaturated and afraid of colour. Furiosa succeeds in what a prequel should do: enriching the story of its predecessor and the world of the Wasteland even further.
14. Anora – Sean Baker’s dismantling of the American dream continues in this stellar dramatic comedy. The fairy tale of a young sex-worker, Anora (Mikey Madison), who falls for the young and rich, Ivan, makes for a hilarious comedy imbued with catastrophe. Mikey Madison is destined for Oscar gold in a performance rich with personality, grit, and gusto. Baker has always been able to surround his leads with remarkable character actors, which is no different here. Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn and Karren Karagulian make for some of the impressively authentic supporting performances that bring the chaos to life. It is a humorous journey, but one clouded in callousness and selfishness that the viewer also falls in to. Baker’s greatest trick is convincing us that all of this is real, falling for a feigned romance just as Anora does, powerless as to the consequences.
13. La Chimera – Imbued with strange magical realism, La Chimera is an oddity of a film. Taking influence from Italian modernist cinema, La Chimera fittingly and filmically has one foot in the past and one in the present. It is about the connections between the past and present, how our own pasts shape our present-day persons and motivations. Josh O’Connor’s silent, cantankerous being is a curious watch, one that fills you with frustration and whose motivations remain clouded until the film’s stellar conclusion. The band of crooks he journey’s with provide moments of cooky alleviation, but also reflect Arthur’s status as a nomad, seeking what is lost while his soul too is missing that piece of contentment.
12. The Holdovers – Inspired by films of the late 70s and 80s, such as The Last Detail, Five Easy Pieces and Dead Poets Society, The Holdovers is a heartfelt tale of the bonds formed between the lost and the lonely. Set to become a Christmas classic, the film follows a grumpy, alcoholic boarding schoolteacher, Paul (Paul Giamatti) who has been put in charge to babysit a handful of kids over the holiday season, including one particularly bright troublemaker, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa). Giamatti rightfully earned a nod for Best Actor as the disgruntled, regretful teacher instilled with pathos. Paul’s evolving relationships with Angus and the School cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who deservedly won Best Supporting Actress) make for moments of familial joviality and heart-rending revelations. David Hemingson’s characters are well realised by director Alexander Payne who brings sincerity and conviction out of his performers, whose journey’s reach touching and satisfying conclusions.
11. Dune Part 2 – What else can be said about Dune Part 2? An epic in every sense of the word, everything about Dune is massive, in its scale, cast, visual effects and ideas, that deal with themes of destiny, the manipulation of faith and colonialism. Denis Villeneuve’s sequel takes us to another world with wonderous work by cinematographer, Greig Fraser, and magical visual effects work by DNEG, that show what can be created with blockbuster financing (I’m looking at you Wicked and Deadpool & Wolverine). Timothée Chalamet commands the screen like we have never seen him before and his physical rival, Feyd-Rutha (Austin Butler), gives a deviously psychotic performance that captivated whenever he was onscreen. However, it is Zendaya who carries the soul of the film, whose emotions and character outcome prove what has been lost through Paul’s conquest. Dune Part 2 is the type of film that can only be appreciated on the big screen; so, if you (somehow) missed it, Dune Part 2 returns to IMAX screens this January.
10. The Iron Claw – Based on the harrowing tragedy that befell the Von Erich wrestling family, director Sean Derkin weaves a story of loss and, most essentially, one of pain. How pain pushes us, breaks us, and sets us on the road to ruin. Zac Efron epitomises this feeling, (perhaps best emblemised in his first fight with Ric Flair) as a man striving for greatness refusing to recognise the trauma and distress he is under. Efron has never been better, carrying the film with emotional and physical might. The rest of the cast, including, Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, and most essentially, Holt McCallany, are all on excellent form, pushing themselves to physical limits and emotional depths to depict a remarkably tragic tale with the utmost conviction.
9. Monster – Inspired by the Rashomon storytelling technique, Monster, depicts the consequence of miscommunication and misinterpretation that befall a mother, her son, and his teacher. Monster’s ability to instil and play with our human misunderstandings and frustrations makes you realise the emotional power film can have over its viewer. Director Hirokazu Koreeda and writer Yûji Sakamoto know precisely when to conceal and reveal character information in order to deliver the most powerful emotional punch. As every passing chapter goes by the film’s title grows more salient, for what makes us monsters? In Koreeda’s film, perhaps it is simply ignorance or a lack of communication that divides us and fashions a fabricated hatred. Monster is an undeniably relatable picture, one where its structural design is entangled with its messaging to resonant effect.
8. Queer – Luca Guadagino’s second film of the year is a tremendous, surreal exploration of lust and loneliness. Daniel Craig gives a career best performance as, Lee, the heroine addicted ex-pat who falls for the young Eugene. Guadagino’s ability to convey longing and love’s destructive qualities in his films (Call Me by Your Name, Challengers, Bones and All) have stood as his greatest skill as a filmmaker; yet, never has it proven more effective and heart-breaking than in, Queer. Due to the surreal quality of William S. Burroughs’ novel, Guadagino can go beyond the physical realm to depict desire as a ghostly spirit desperate for touch, and at times, an amalgamation of two beings, searching for something within. Guadagino’s surreal touch never takes away from the grounded emotion, reaching an existentially moving conclusion to Lee’s journey. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score (the pair who also worked on Challengers) give the film an ethereal, tender touch with one of the year’s best compositions too.
7. I Saw the Tv Glow – While I Saw the Tv Glow is labelled as a horror film, its unsettling nature is not derived from jump scares or violent deaths, but from a visceral expression of emptiness and loneliness experienced by trans people. Its reflections on memory and nostalgia are perfectly embodied by Jane Schoeburn’s direction, which create a dreamlike, uncanny reality, in which the only humanity that exists is by the love shared by Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) for a Tv show named, The Pink Opaque. Justice Smith gives the most underrated performance of the year, one enveloped in melancholia and misunderstanding, culminating in a haunting conclusion indicative of our inability and impossibility to empathise with an experience we do not fully understand. The film flows like a dream, making it hard to discern memory from fantasy, with its gentle stream pulling you along this uncanny world of missing humanity.
6. The Taste of Things – Undoubtedly 2024s most romantic film, Anh Hung Tran directs a delicate culinary journey into the bonds formed through passions and expression. Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) has been the head chef to housemaster Dodin (Benoît Bouffant) for years, a relationship based on respect and longing. The set-up is already infused with traditional romanticism, but it is the expression of love through cooking (conducted with care in its soft camera work and smooth edits) that makes for deliciously fresh viewing. Eugénie and Dodin’s romance is rich with history; a history that is felt through their familiar gaze and respect, all expressed naturalistically through Binoche and Bouffant’s performances. Few words are needed between the two, as long, appetising sequences of cooking demonstrate their understanding of one another. The Taste of Things is about how all our own unique relationships and bonds are formed through passion and how we can express emotion through a shared love.
5. The Substance – A modern day reimagining of, The Picture of Dorian Gray, mixed in a blender with Re-Animator and a Cronenberg body-horror, may be the closest thing you can get to describing The Substance. However, such comparisons do a disservice to The Substance’s audacious originality, a story that always remains focussed on its allegory for addiction and the unjust beauty standards perpetuated by mass media. The outward battle between Elisabeth (Demi Moore)and Sue (Margaret Qualley) is indicative of the internal hatred we have of our own bodies and appearances at times, while the body-horror elements take those feelings to the extreme. Yet, what has not been credited enough is the film’s dark, over the top humour, that make for some of the funniest moments you will see in a 2024 film. This is a hyper-realised world, one in which its absurdity cleverly makes clear the ridiculousness of our own reality and standards. Over the top, grotesque, hilarious, tragic, and filled to the brim with enough visual odes to Kubrick, Cronenberg, Cinderella, and Psycho to satisfy any film buff. The Substance is a real treasure to behold, but perhaps not for the faintest of hearts.
4. The Zone of Interest - Much like Jonathan glazer’s previous feature (Under the Skin), The Zone of Interest, explores humanity and the immeasurable depths of human evil. Set in 1943, the film centres on Nazi Officer, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), his wife, Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller) and their family, as they live a life of luxury and contentment in their villa, positioned right next to Auschwitz concentration camp. Glazer’s direction is masterful. The power and unsettling nature of the film is in the imagery of everything that is and is not explicitly shown. The camp, the sounds of gunshots and screams, the smoke from chimneys or steam from trains pervade almost every shot of the household. A place where no discussion, remorse, or fraction of empathy is shown for the crimes committed only a few metres away. As every scene layers new horror upon the last, Glazer is doing the inverse of what he did in Under the Skin: showing the depletion of humanity, becoming something terrifying and wholly alien. It is harrowing, but The Zone of Interest will leave you utterly compelled.
3. The Beast – Lea Seydoux and George McKay star in 2024’s most elusive film to define. One part The Age of Innocence and one part David Lynch horror with a sprinkling of The Matrix; The Beast is a genre jumping, time warping tale unlike any other. Set in the future where most of humanity are deemed useless by A.I., we decide to give up our freedom of choice to escape to a simulated world where all our real emotion is dulled. Wholly original and utterly bizarre, The Beast will remain a mystery throughout most of its runtime, but one you will want to uncover. Bertrand Bonello’s film implores the need for human connection and emotion in a digital era where we are slowly drifting apart, while also unpacking the terrors and cruelty our emotions can take us. Seydoux and McKay’s romantic and hostile journey through time and multiplicity take Bonello’s ideas of unjust emotion to more personal dimensions, transcending into the operatic.
2. Sing Sing – The story of an acting troupe confined behind the bars of the Sing Sing prison, makes for the most emotionally resonant experiences in a 2024 film. Colman Domingo and his co-star, Clarence Maclin (producer, co-writer, and former prisoner whose own story the film is based on), reach into their souls to deliver genuine, flawed humanity. The majority of the supporting cast are prisoners playing themselves, yet you could never tell that these are not professional actors. Director, Greg Kwedar’s, commitment to his performers in their conveyance of compassion within the human spirit, has made for an emotionally evocative piece of cinema. In a world where art’s worth seems to be diminishing by a desire to leave all creativity to technology, Sing Sing proves the necessity of expression and art itself. How we can use it to heal and form community in the darkest of times. No piece of technology could replicate a fragment of profundity found within Sing Sing.
1. Poor Things – The first film I watched this year has remained unbeaten across everything else I have seen.Yorgos Lanthimos has crafted his finest film yet with Poor Things. A Frankenstein inspired story of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman brought back to life with the curious and quickly evolving mind of a child. Lanthimos’ vision is a fantastical blend of steam punk and the surreal, perfectly brought to life by production designers Shona Heath and James Price, evoking a sense of wonder, confusion and horror that fills Bella’s mind on her journey of self-discovery. Lanthimos’ ensembles are freakish and hilarious (particularly Mark Ruffalo’s utterly ridiculous Duncan Wedderburn), spearheaded by an audacious Emma Stone performance that stands as her greatest piece of acting. Lanthimos returns to his study of control, with the twisted objectification and control of Bella used to highlight the insecurities of masculinity, while also providing a refreshingly progressive understanding on the self and sexuality. Hilarious, progressive, and emotional, Poor Things is a steampunk inspired wonderland that cannot be missed.