Daniel's Favorite Movies of 2024

Tennis, gladiators, vampires, and more!

Before we get into the list, I want to share a few movies that I have been highly anticipating from this year, but did not have a chance to see. The following are movies that very well could have landed among my favorites, but I have not watched them:

A Different Man - Nickel Boys - Flow - Cloud - Chime - The Shrouds - All We Imagine as Light - Oh, Canada - The Seed of the Sacred Fig

I watched a total of 65 feature films released in 2024, and these are my favorites of the year.

25. ‘Alien: Romulus’ (dir. Fede Alvarez)

Much like Scott’s sequel to Gladiator, Alien: Romulus is a movie that is comfortable playing the hits. Major points are taken off for the CGI-necromancy of an original Alien cast member. It is a lazy, fan-servicey idea that is executed in a completely uncanny fashion, and that is not even wading into the muddy waters of the ethics of using CGI/deepfake technology to revive dead actors.

But everything else about Alien: Romulus, from the visceral sound design to the beautiful lighting and Cailee Spaeny’s confident, strong outing in a completely new type of role makes this sci-fi-horror hybrid a worthy entry in one of my favorite franchises. Spaeny is a definite standout, a breakthrough performer who impressed me in last year’s Priscilla and another great performance in Civil War this year.

24. ‘Gladiator II’ (dir. Ridley Scott)

Ridley Scott’s long awaited sequel to the Best Picture winning Gladiator occasionally falls into legacy sequel trappings, with messy plotting that unnecessarily ties itself too closely to the original film for small stretches. But when Gladiator II does its own thing, and especially when it allows us to relish in watching Denzel Washington prance around the screen with a devilish glee— one of the most entertaining performances of the year— the historical epic soars higher than I could have expected.

The original is not a film that I have a strong fondness for, so I found the ensemble cast and Shakespearean plotting more entertaining in the sequel. Scott’s late-career output and style continues to impress me.

23. ‘The Substance’ (dir. Coralie Fargeat)

A raucous, thrilling, and often funny parable of self-loathing and the decay of adhering to society’s abusive and damaging body standards. There has been a lot of discourse about this film online, people arguing over whether a movie that lacks subtlety in this way can be thoughtful, or whether those who dislike it simply don’t understand what it is about. I don’t think that is the case. The film never attempts to be subtle, and that is what I love about it.

The grotesque, Picture of Dorian Gray-esque dynamic is very well executed, and Demi Moore delivers a fearless performance.

22. ‘Rebel Ridge’ (dir. Jeremy Saulnier)

A pressure cooker of a movie, like everything else Saulnier has made. Aaron Pierre should be a major star.

21. ‘The Bikeriders’ (dir. Jeff Nichols)

The Bikeriders is a stylish and fun riff on a GoodFellas types of narrative. We enter into a new and enticing world of crime, but the comedown is less explosive and more… pathetic. These are just lonely, weird guys who got bored and decided a club. They’re way in over their heads. That’s what makes The Bikeriders such a fresh and interesting examination of masculinity, it deconstructs the theme in a way that reveals the underlying core is simply that men cannot be left to their own devices without self-destruction.

20. ‘The First Omen’ (dir. Arkasha Stevenson)

A movie that exceeded every single expectation. Who thought they needed a prequel/origin story to Richard Donner’s The Omen, a 70’s classic of evil kid cinema? But Arkasha Stevenson— in her feature directorial debut— delivers one of the most confident, visually striking movies of the year.

Stevenson turned what could have been a boiler-plate, unnecessary dive into an old horror IP into a horrifying and challenging film about bodily autonomy and political conspiracy. Nell Tiger Free is a revelatory scream queen in The First Omen.

19. ‘Hit Man’ (dir. Richard Linklater)

Glen Powell’s movie stardom has only been more apparent in Top Gun: Maverick. What a shame that Hit Man was virtually lost to the streaming abyss, because this movie would have been a wonderful experience in a packed theater.

18. ‘A Real Pain’ (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)

Kieran Culkin manages to make a character so irritating and so sympathetic at once in A Real Pain. One of the strongest performances of the year.

17. ‘The Order’ (dir. Justin Kurzel)

The Order is a timely examination of our nation’s history of bitter, bigoted militias attempting to “take back” something that was either never theirs’ to begin with, or something that never existed in the first place. Definitely plays with an extra layer of dread considering the political direction of present-day America.

Jude Law is great.

16. ‘Conclave’ (dir. Edward Berger)

Begins as a seemingly boilerplate Focus Features-demo targeted Oscar picture, and unravels into a challenging and humanist homily about whether values and morals matter more than appearances. Ralph Fiennes carries a quiet burden throughout Conclave, giving one of the most subdued and effective performances of the year. But the movie is not entirely self-serious, it frequently devolves into Mean Girls-esque gossip between cardinals which lands with a great impact in the hands of actors like Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow.

The wide, sprawling establishing shots of the Vatican are stunning.

15. ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (dir. Jane Schoenbrun)

I Saw the TV Glow crawls under your skin and stays there for a while. One of the most quietly dreadful experiences I’ve had in a theater.

14. ‘Laufey’s A Night at the Symphony’ (dir. Sam Wrench)

A favorite musical discovery of mine this year. I’m so glad Laufey is finding success while introducing younger listeners to a more classical form of pop music.

The concert film was sort of a dying breed until these past couple of years, and I am so glad they are back.

13. ‘Anora’ (dir. Sean Baker)

Mikey Madison finally gets to carry a movie from start to finish, after really impressing me with her supporting turns in both Scream and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Sean Baker has become a fairly divisive filmmaker online, but I am very taken to his neorealist Americana style.

12. ‘Juror #2’ (dir. Clint Eastwood)

The kind of movie that could skate by on the premise alone. A juror discovers he may have incidentally caused a death that is being tried as a homicide. But Clint Eastwood brings a steady directorial hand and a great ensemble cast to solidify Juror #2 as one of the best thrillers of the year. The exact type of film we used to get a handful of every year, and even with an iconic director at the helm, it unfortunately struggled to even play in any theaters this year.

11. ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

A haunting parable of the endless conflict between humankind’s vision of progress and nature’s harsh indifference toward it. Some of the most beautiful images of the year.

10. ‘Nosferatu’ (dir. Robert Eggers)

Robert Eggers has been talking about making Nosferatu for years, and finally seeing it in a theater, it is clear that there’s a seamless relationship between the filmmaker and the text here. The film plays a classic story surprisingly straight, but with such a strong hold on the gothic, romantic overtones of the novel that inspired the original film. Nosferatu is a feast of great performances, with Lily-Rose Depp especially blowing me away, and Willem Dafoe having a blast as the film’s Van Helsing counterpart.

9. ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (dir. Rose Glass)

Bodies, machines, sex, and guns. A true child of Cronenberg, not because of explosive body horror but because of how the movie blends griminess and sexiness into a sleek crime thriller. Kristen Stewart is incredible when she plays into anxious ticks, Ed Harris is pure evil in this film, and Katy O’Brian was a new face for me but one that I am eager to see grace many more films in the future, especially the upcoming Mission: Impossible sequel.

8. ‘Dune: Part Two’ (dir. Denis Villeneuve)

Every bit as grand as I could have imagined. Special praise to Austin Butler for stealing the movie with very limited screentime as the sadistic Feyd-Rautha.

7. ‘Trap’ (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

The late-period M. Night Shyamalan revival has been one of my favorite arcs to watch unfold these last few years. From his early, daring thrillers and even through his murkier periods, Shyamalan has remained one of the most interesting filmmakers of his generation. Once a critical punching bag, often unfairly mocked, he has now settled into this incredible rhythm of delivering a tight, funny, sincere, and beautiful thriller every year or two with remarkable consistency. Since Split, I have been on board, but Trap might be the most fun I’ve had with any of his movies.

Trap is a perfectly efficient and entertaining premise delivered with a heightened, stylish flair and an endearing amount of goofy dad-humor that supports my case of Shyamalan being one of the most earnest storytellers in the industry.

6. ‘The Brutalist’ (dir. Brady Corbet)

Nearly every review of this movie will use some variation of “monumental” to describe what Brady Corbet has accomplished with this three-and-a-half hour epic of a Jewish immigrant fleeing from the Holocaust to start a new life in America. The Brutalist is a towering achievement, a movie that constructs and deconstructs the American Dream right before your eyes. You won’t feel its length, you will only be swept up in the grandeur of everything from the heavy brass instrumentations to Adrien Brody’s magnificent lead performance.

5. ‘La Chimera’ (dir. Alice Rohrwacher)

An incredibly tender, vulnerable movie about memory and the things that draw us to the past.

4. ‘Challengers’ (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

For the Reznor & Ross score alone, Challengers is one of the greatest achievements of the year. An electrifying, sweaty, sensual drama with propulsive editing and some of my favorite shots of the year. Zendaya’s star power has never been leveraged better than here. I’ve had stock in Mike Faist since he blew me away in West Side Story, and he has not let me down yet. But the true revelation of Challengers for me is Josh O’Connor playing the most lovable scumbag of the year.

Challengers was the first of two collaborative efforts from director Luca Guadagnino, Reznor & Ross as composers, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (who also shot Trap), and others who reteamed for my third favorite of the year. It is an incredible feat that this crew made two movies with such different tones and styles which both hit exactly how I hoped and expected they would.

3. ‘Queer’ (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

After Challengers, Guadagnino and Co. reassembled for a melancholic, intoxicating exploration of loneliness, regret, and longing that is adapted from William S. Burrough’s 1985 novella and aspects of Burrough’s own life. Queer is the emotionally raw B-side to the sunnier and energetic Challengers. Daniel Craig’s performance is heart-wrenching and my favorite of the year.

Queer is less accessible than Challengers, but it clicked with me in ways I haven’t shaken since leaving the theater. The first chapter in particular is so visually striking, and the score is absolutely beautiful.

2. ‘The Beast’ (dir. Bertrand Bonello)

Nothing has come closer to capturing David Lynch’s late-career, horrifying digital work. The Beast is tragic, romantic, upsetting, and at times so discomforting that I was on guard in my own home, feeling as though a force from within this story had crept from the television into my living room. Lea Seydoux continues to have one of the most interesting acting careers of any of her contemporaries.

1. ‘Furiosa’ (dir. George Miller)

“The darkest of angels. The fifth rider of the Apocalypse.”

The pure elation I felt seeing the war rig chase in Furiosa surpasses any theatrical experience I’ve had this decade. George Miller constructed a biblical action epic that enriches his expansive Mad Max series while standing alone as the most unique and visionary movie of the year. Chris Hemsworth is giving what may be a career-best performance as the Shakespearean warlord, Dementus, a tragic reflection of exactly what Max could have become in this world if he had surrendered his morals to the Wasteland. Anya Taylor-Joy brings new life into a character already perfected by Charlize Theron.

Miller cashed a massive blank check with Mad Max: Fury Road, and even if Furiosa did not land with the same impact, time will be very kind to these two movies as a complimentary pair. All things considered, Furiosa is the most transcendent and exciting moviegoing experience I have had in years.