Last year, there were four year-end movie posts on this blog: One for the ‘best’ movies of 2023, one for favourite movies of 2023, one for best pre-2023 movies I watched in 2023, and one for favourite pre-2023 movies I watched in 2023. We are doing the same thing for 2024, and today’s edition is the ‘best’ movies of the year.
When it comes to discerning between ‘best’ and ‘favourite’, there is sometimes an overlap. However, I think there are movies that are excellent (for technical reasons, for writing, for acting, or usually a combination of the three) that I likely wouldn’t spend a Friday night to sit down and re-watch, and those are the ‘best’. Then there are movies where I would absolutely throw on for a re-watch at midnight when I just want to enjoy relax, and those are ‘favourites’. Clear? Hope so.
The five ‘best’ movies released before 2024 that I watched this year was already covered, as was my five ‘favourite’ movies released before 2024. We recently went over my ‘favourite’ movies of 2024, too.
A quick note: there are a handful of movies I haven’t had a chance to see. The local movie theatre generally only shows blockbuster-type movies, so there a lot of smaller films that haven’t been sent to streaming/on-demand yet which I haven’t been able to enjoy. For example, The Brutalist and Sing Sing weren’t released here. This list is incomplete, but when it also gives them a chance to be recognized in next year’s column of pre-2025 movies.
Are we all set? Great. In no particular order, here are what I thought were the five best movies from 2024 with a handful of honourable mentions at the end.
The Substance
Director: Coralie Fargaet
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley
This movie appeared in the ‘Honourable Mentions’ section of my favourite movies, but this was unquestionably one of the best movies I saw from 2024. As mentioned in that earlier post, this movie features Moore’s character (Elisabeth) as an aging TV star who is being replaced by a younger option. When in a hospital, she is told of a mysterious substance that can produce a younger version of herself. Elisabeth takes the bait, but what she doesn’t realize is the younger version is literally spawned from her own body, creating a duplicate. The two halves cannot exist at the same time, so they take turns as one lives in the real world while the other is locked in a bathroom just laying on the floor, alive but unable to move.
As one can imagine, the tension grows between the two halves as both want to continue living their lives and that tension is what propels the movie. The overarching theme of beauty standards in Hollywood (and for women in general) is apparent throughout, but it also delves into what we do today borrowing from tomorrow, as well as the unceasing march of time. This is a body-horror movie, and a particularly gruesome one at that. It won’t play well for all audiences, but the directing, performances, and effects all align for a tremendous feature.
Major awards shows typically don’t favour horror movies, so this is unlikely to garner the attention it should, but there were very few movies that had an impact on me like ‘The Substance’ did. While this is from a woman’s perspective, there are themes that apply to everyone, and that’s what elevates it from a specific genre to a wide-audience appeal.
Red Rooms
Director: Pascal Plante
Starring: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin
This was also in the ‘Honourable Mentions’ section of my favourite movies, and while I did enjoy it tremendously, the difficult subject matter is what kept it from being one of my truly favourite movies of the year. By the same token, that subject matter is what made it one of the best movies of the year, and one that cannot be recommended enough.
In this story, the characters of Kelly-Anne (Gariépy) and Clémentine (Babin) are two women obsessed with a murder trial in Québec, Canada. It is a particularly vicious murder trial as the accused is a man who abducted high school girls and then auctioned off internet streams of their severe torture and subsequent murder. The women both appear to think that the man is being falsely accused and there is a lot of tension between them and the case, the parents of the deceased children and those women, as well as within themselves. It is a brutal look at obsession and the disassociation that goes along with that level of obsession.
To be clear: Not everyone will appreciate, let alone enjoy, this movie. It is not an easy watch, and has a couple of scenes that will churn the sternest of stomachs. But it is incredibly well-made, well-acted, and has timely themes running throughout. It is a small, French-Canadian movie, but one of the best of 2024.
Society of the Snow
Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Enzo Vogrinic, Matias Recalt
Society of the Snow was technically released at the end of 2023 but in a limited fashion before being released to the wider public on streaming in early January of 2024, so that’s why it finds its way here.
This movie is a re-telling of the Uruguayan soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in 1972. Some people may be familiar with the movie Alive from 1993 which covered the same story, but this version takes it to a whole other level.
There are few movies that can pull off two polar extremes in the same film with such a deft touch, but this one does exactly that. It shows the extreme some of the players had to go through to stay alive in order to be rescued, and that includes cannibalism. It also shows them working together to try and survive, a remnant of their time together as sports teammates and friends. It doesn’t have its tougher spots glossed-up as can happen with Hollywood-produced movies, which is what makes this Spanish production a difficult, yet triumphant watch.
Another movie that falls in the “not for everyone” bucket, Society of the Snow shows the range of (in)humanity we possess in the direst situations, and the performances match that difficult theme. It is a long movie, but not a slow movie, and one of the best of the year.
Dune Part 2
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya
Sometimes, a movie with a big budget, marquee director, and great cast that makes a lot of money at the box office really is that good. We saw that with Oppenheimer in 2023, and we saw it again with Dune Part 2 in 2024.
Having re-watched this recently, what stood out was how it improved on everything the first instalment did well. The set pieces were bigger and more dramatic, the performances were tremendous across the board, the world was expanded, and it was visually stunning at nearly every turn. It told the story through what we saw on the screen, and not necessarily what was spoken by the characters, and that is the mark of a wildly successful cinematic experience. This was in my ‘Favourites of 2024’ column, and in it the part where Paul Atreides rides the sand worm was mentioned. That is still one of the best moments I’ve had in a movie theatre in recent memory.
Aside from what an achievement this was as a film, it will also be a movie that is looked back on in 20 years that announced the next generation of great actors. Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, and Austin Butler were all outstanding, and it really does feel like a baton-passing moment for Hollywood. It sets a high bar for the third edition, whenever that comes, but this is a near-perfect movie on its own.
Anora
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Edelshteyn
This is another movie that updates a classic as Anora is a modern riff on Pretty Woman where Madison’s character (Anora) is an exotic dancer/sex worker who becomes entwined with a wealthy, young Russian man named Ivan (Edelshteyn’s character). One thing leads to another, they get married, and then things really take off.
While this may riff on Pretty Woman, this isn’t an early-90s rom-com. This is a movie that investigates a lot of themes, particularly for American audiences, ranging from foreign economic pressure, to the ability of the lower class to rise up the ladder, to internal desire for a change in circumstances (and all that goes along with following through), among others. It also does a very good job at blending genres, fluidly moving between a rom-com, a thriller, a drama, and often a meld of the three. Sometimes, small Movie Festival entries are overrated, especially to wider audiences – Anora is definitely not one of them.
The one thing that bothered me is that it is a 140-minute runtime and it’s clear where this is going about 30 minutes in. What helps me overlook that is that Madison’s performance is legitimately one of the best of the year, the middle-third of the movie plays almost like a slapstick comedy, and it is beautifully shot and written. It doesn’t feel slow at any point and is genuinely one of the best of 2024.
*
Okay, those are at the top, so let’s get to some honourable mentions.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Director: George Miller
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth
To be clear: this is an expertly made film that has a few exhilarating sequences like the opening motorcycle chase, the attack on Gastown, and the War Rig fight. It is not a slow movie and Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth provide polar-opposite performances that complement each other very well. All the same, it’s hard to not compare it to Fury Road, which might be the most well-made movie of the 21st century. It is a notch below its predecessor, where Dune Part 2 improved on its first outing.
Juror #2
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette
It is a shame this was sent straight to streaming (it had an extremely limited theatrical release). It feels like a movie that is so good that it would have had legs for a long(ish) run in cinemas, but I digress. This is a different vision on the classic 12 Angry Men formula about how a single juror can change the mind of an entire jury, but the key twist is shown early on, and that provides the tension that is maintained throughout the film. This is truly one of the best dramas of the year, and one of Eastwood’s best movies since Million Dollar Baby.
The Fall Guy
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt
Ever want to watch a well-made action movie that is funny throughout? This is the one. It plays as an ode to stunt performers and a lot of the stunts are practically done, which gives the film a feel that a lot of modern action movies do not. Add that to charming and funny performances from both Gosling and Blunt, and this might be the most enjoyable popcorn flick of the year. It is great to just throw on, enjoy for two hours, and then never think of again. I want to say that we should get more movies like this, but it’s hard to say if that’ll be the case.
Nosferatu
Director: Robert Eggers
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp
A re-telling/re-imagining/not-quite-either of the classic vampire movie, Nosferatu is a stunning movie. Everything from the performances from Depp and Skarsgård, to the way it’s shot by Eggers, to the switch of colour palettes, to the excruciating(ly good) sound design, this is a true cinematic experience. A bit of the story can fall a little flat, which is why this didn’t make it into my top-5, but it is unquestionably one of the best movies to see on a big screen from 2024. This would have made it to my honourable mentions list for ‘favourite of 2024’ had I seen it sooner than the very end of December.
Challengers
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor
Sometimes, you do ‘have to hand it to them’. While romantic dramas are typically not my flavour of movie, the narrative structure of Challengers helps provide the tension that holds from beginning to end, and the performances from the three leads (the two named plus Mike Faist) carry an excellent film. The soundtrack is one of the most memorable of the year and helps provide another dimension to a movie that has a lot of them already. It was a good year for Zendaya, and it started with this.
Rebel Ridge
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson
If Juror #2 is a successful update on 12 Angry Men, then Rebel Ridge is a successful update of Rambo. It features Pierre’s character (Terry) who heads to a small town with a bag of cash to post bail for his cousin. He is pulled over on his bike by the police, who seize his money in a civil forfeiture situation. After some shenanigans from the cops regarding bail and prison transfers, things eventually escalate to the point where Terry and the police are embroiled in a battle that goes far beyond just Terry’s current situation. It expertly covers a very real situation too many people find themselves in, and Pierre’s performance carries the weight of the movie.
Civil War
Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaney
This was included in my ‘favourites of 2024’, and it holds up as one of the best of the year, too. We won’t go long here because it was already covered in that prior post, but I think we’ll look back in 10 years and wonder why this movie didn’t get more love from both critics and audiences.
Woman of the Hour
Director: Anna Kendrick
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Alcala
This was also on the ‘favourites of 2024’ list so again, we won’t have a big discussion here. But this real-life story about the serial killer that went on ‘The Dating Game’ television show is a tense 90-minute thriller that was very well done. It is one of those movies that makes you want to see what Kendrick does next.
In A Violent Nature
Director: Chris Nash
Starring: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic
A third movie that was featured in my ‘favourites of 2024’ column, this is a Teenager Campers Get Terrorized And Murdered By A Supernatural Being movie. Those have been done to death (pun!), but this is a fresh twist on that familiar trope and is one of the best horror movies of the last couple of years.
Cliffy's hell-hole 