2024 feels like a year where there weren't that many great movies, but looking at my list, I realize that some of them on here are some of my favorites of the last few years. It seems like every year, there is somewhat of a central theme that runs through my viewing adventure of that year, whether it be movies or TV shows. For example, the year where Parasite was my favorite movie, the theme of rich vs. poor was prevalent throughout my media consumption.
This year is no exception. It seems like a common thread for this year has been identity. Who are we really? As individuals? As a country? Are we truly living our authentic self, or are we hiding who we really are because society tells us we have to? This is something I've been thinking about all year, and it was interesting to see it also reflect in my media consumption.
First, let's do my honorable mentions. There is one that I didn't include in my original list so I'll mention it briefly: The Substance. I am not a big body horror fan so this movie made me squirm the entire time. However, Demi Moore puts on an incredible performance and Margaret Qualley - who I've liked ever since The Leftovers - shines as well. The reason it's not in my top ten besides the body horror aspect is that it seems to deliver its metaphor about aging and how women are treated in society as they get older with the largest hammer ever. This movie is certainly not subtle.
Honorable Mention: Hundreds Of Beavers
A delightfully crazy romp of a movie that feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon come to life. Creative and expressive with little dialogue and a lot of people in mascot suits running around causing mayhem.
Honorable Mention: Late Night With The Devil
I don't know why this year I gravitated towards a genre I often overlook: horror. If I was a therapist, I would probably tell myself that it's because watching horror movies helps me escape the horror of living on this earth during this time of existence, but I'm not so I'll just say that this year had some great horror movies, this one being one of the best ones. It reminded me of the Satanic Panic of the 1970's and some of the effects in this movie were truly jaw dropping.
Honorable Mention: A Quiet Place: Day One
I agree with a couple of the hosts at the filmcast podcast that the title of this movie definitely doesn't pay off and was marketed wrong. We were told that we were going to get a movie that explained how everything began and how humanity discovered that silence was the key to survival against the horrifying aliens. We didn't get that. What we did get though was a beautiful story about a woman coming to terms with her mortality. Lupita Nyong'o is fantastic in this. And so is the cat. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time worried about that damn cat.
Ok, now here is my top ten, from ten to number one.
10. Challengers
Not very many people know this, but I was a huge tennis fan in the mid to late eighties. I didn't play the sport much, but the first time I saw Andre Agassi play on TV I was hooked. This is a tennis movie; but more than that it is a movie about friendship, the cost of obsession, and how thruples are super sexy and super impossible. The tennis is great, but the three main performances are even greater. I had a really great time watching this movie.
9. The Wild Robot
Another Nyong'o performance that was outstanding this year; this one being the voice of a futuristic robot sent to a land full of animals. It's main theme is about adoption, but there is so much more going for this film. I cried a few times, and although it seems like animated films are designed to do just that these days, it wasn't forced. I only wish I could have seen the animated movie Flow before deciding this was my favorite animated movie of the year.
8. Will And Harper
I try to include at least one documentary every year that challenged me and made me see the world in a different light. This is a movie about a road trip by Will Ferrell - the comedian, SNL standout and comedic movie star - and his long time friend, Harper. Harper was a writer on SNL during Ferrell's tenure. One day she told Will that she was a trans woman, and they agreed to go on a road trip to some of Harper's favorite parts of America. Such a fascinating look at friendship, the way trans people are treated in different parts of the USA, and the fears and challenges of finally accepting who you are vs. who others think you are.
7. It's What's Inside
Oh man, what a fun movie this was. I don't remember who recommended this to me; I was a bit skeptical about it but having loved Bodies Bodies Bodies even though the gen Z-ness of it kind of irritated me, I gave this movie full of gen z actors a chance and I'm so glad I did. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so the basic detail is that a group of friends are getting together and one of them brings a tech machine that allows you to swap bodies with others. Hilarity and horror ensue and the director does such an amazing job of helping you keep track of who is in who's body. So much fun.
6. Dune Part Two
Another little known fact about me: I grew up devouring the Dune books. I brought one of them to a trip with my best friend when I went with him and his family to Alaska, and because it was summer and there was twenty hours of sunlight, I read it over and over again over those two weeks. I remember the David Lynch movie when it came out; it was strange and crazy and could have been good but the technology just wasn't ready in the eighties to really make it work. Denis Villaneuve is one of my favorite directors of the last decade and he got this story right. I did miss Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck holding a pug in one hand and a blaster in the other leading the charge of the Atreides against the Harkonnens and the Sarduakar, but everything else was perfect. And he made the right call with the ending of this movie, changing the triumph of Paul Atreides as not a good thing but rather an ominously bad thing.
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