The Top 20 Films of 2024

Ken Jones, OnScreen Chief Film Critic

2024 has come and gone, and so it is time once again to do the time-honored tradition of listing my favorite films of 2024. 

Living in Maine, there are always a few stragglers that get a limited release in late December before finally getting a wide release in January. Surprisingly, the only film that seems to fit that criterion this year is The Brutalist, which comes out in late January, which is too long to wait for this list to be completed. This list is a snapshot in time. I maintain a yearly ranking list on Letterboxd, which can be found here.

Overall, while I enjoyed a lot of what I watched in 2024, by comparison, it did not quite live up to the slate of 2023 or 2022, and I may even have 2021 ranked higher overall, too. The one thing that stood out to me this year more than anything was an incredibly strong slate of horror movies that came out in 2024. A whopping six horror movies cracked my Top 20 this year, and in addition to the titles listed below we also had I Saw the TV Glow, Abigail, Cuckoo, Arcadian, A Quiet Place: Day One just to name a few that I would consider honorable mentions. And that doesn’t even include Alien: Covenant, which some people were very high on (I was mixed). 

So, after all that preamble, here are my Top 20 Films of 2024:

20. Heretic (dir. Scott Beck, Bryan Woods)
I promise this is the most against-type performance from Hugh Grant that you will ever see. Some great conversation in the dialogue between Grant’s Mr. Reed and the two missionaries in this diabolically clever game of cat and mouse.

19. Blitz (dir. Steve McQueen)
This movie is about the perilous, fraught journey of a nine-year-old boy to get back to his mother amidst the destruction of World War II London. It’s not just the German bombs to be fearful of in a city where so many people are looking out for their own, and not even the bomb shelters are truly safe. The scene of the flooding subway terminal may be one of the most fraught and tense scenes of the year.

18. In a Violent Nature (dir. Chris Nash)
Friday the 13th, but make it an arthouse movie shot mostly from the perspective of the homicidal, supernatural slasher terrorizing a group of teens. Easily some of the most shocking, gruesome, and inventive on-screen kills I’ve seen in a while. Jason Vorhees would be envious. Never steal from the dead, people.

17. Longlegs (dir. Osgood Perkins)
Throw in some Silence of the Lambs atmosphere, with several drops of some monster of the week energy from The X-Files. Fold in a director, Anthony Perkins, who is the eldest son of Norman Bates himself. Finally, top it all off with a completely unhinged Nicholas Cage performance, and voila, you’ve got Longlegs!

16. Late Night with the Devil (dir. Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes)
A slight twist on the found footage subgenre, this movie takes a late-night talk show from the 1970s and injects its live broadcast with supernatural horror. It is not simply about demonic possession but also has some strong occult elements. It is a real treat to see a familiar face like David Dastmalchian get a chance to elevate his game from a supporting role player to a lead performance for a change.

15. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (dir. Mohammad Rasoulof)
I saw this at a film festival, and it has yet to get much traction in the US, but I expect it to be on the shortlist of the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film in 2025. An Iranian family slowly and then precipitously crumbles due to external and internal tensions. Weirdly, it made me think of The Shining if the Overlook Hotel was Iran and Jack Torrance was slowly possessed by totalitarianism.

14. A Real Pain (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)
We all have that one friend or family member who we love but also know they are missing a filter and will just share anything with absolutely anyone. A Real Pain is being on a trip with that family member for a week in another country. Eisenberg and Keiran Culkin are terrific as the mismatched cousins who embark on a tour of Poland to rediscover the roots of their recently deceased grandmother. Also, I didn’t realize the middle-aged divorcee that Culkin not-so-subtly hits on is Jennifer Grey!

13. Nosferatu (dir. Robert Eggers)
Nosferatu officially mints Eggers as a modern master of the horror genre. He does such an incredible job of planting his films in the time and place they are set in. Also, much of this movie looks like it has been drained of its blood. In a movie that stars Lily-Rose Depp, is Bill Skarsgard the next Johnny Depp, an actor who completely disappears behind his makeup and costumes?

12. We Live in Time (dir. John Crowley)
Hands down, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are the best on-screen couple of 2024. Their natural chemistry in this love story that jumps back and forth through three periods of this couple’s relationship over the course of a decade is unparalleled. I thought for sure this was an adaptation of a popular novel or something, but it is actually an original from director John Crowley and writer Nick Payne. A nice return to Brooklyn from Crowley after the widely perceived misfire of The Goldfinch.

11. My Old Ass (dir. Megan Park)
A goofy premise (getting high and meeting your future self) sets the stage for one of the most surprisingly moving films of the year for me. Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza play Elliott and Older Elliott, respectively, and both learn from each other the value of living in the present instead of pining for the future or dwelling on the past. I think/hope Maisy Stella has a bright future ahead of her.

10. Nickel Boys (dir. RaMell Ross)
Black teens must navigate the poor conditions of a reform school in the Deep South in the 1960s. This adaptation of a novel is an experimental film that tells its story in a POV format from the perspective of two teens, literally put in their shoes, dealing with the strict and abusive environment they find themselves in. Haunting, challenging, but also beautiful. Shows you what magic some films and directors can still be capable of without relying heavily on special effects. See this when it finally shows up on Amazon Prime.

9. Rebel Ridge (dir. Jeremy Saulnier)
Not gonna lie; Saulnier is like catnip for me. This is a “one versus all” action movie in the vein of Stallone’s First Blood. Racial tension is the subtext of the movie, but it never swamps the action or comes close to moralizing with an overt “MESSAGE” in flashing lights or anything. The message about injustice still gets through. Don Johnson is incredible as the big bad sheriff around these parts. We need to make Aaron Pierre a star, like yesterday. In a world full of movies based on streaming algorithms, be a Saulnier movie.

8. Civil War (dir. Alex Garland)
This one hit me like a ton of bricks when it came out in the spring, and I haven’t had the stomach to revisit it. I’m not one to panic and say the sky is falling, but Garland’s future is a warning of a plausible future if we lived in the absolutely darkest timeline. Also, it’s a call to arms for journalism in increasingly difficult times and how merely observing and reporting may not be enough these days with so many sources clamoring for people’s attention. Jesse Plemons shows up for only one scene in this movie, but it is so tense it will stop your heart.

7. Sing Sing (dir. Greg Kwedar)
If a movie like Civil War may make you question humanity's future, Sing Sing is the palette cleanser that just may restore it. It features non-professional actors, many portraying themselves as convicts who find hope and community by putting on theater performances for their fellow inmates. Coleman Domingo, nominated for a Best Actor Oscar last year, may have an even better shot at winning this year.

6. Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
No movie was as kinetic and raucous as Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers in 2024. A tennis match between two former best friends unfolds with flashbacks to their friendly rivalry and the eventual disintegration of their friendship when Zendaya’s Tashi is introduced into the mix. The love triangle that transpires is as intense as the tennis match. It’s steamy and sexy without being too graphic. Zendaya is officially undeniable, and the propulsive score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross elevates everything.

5. The Substance (dir. Coralie Fargeat)
Don’t be fooled by the glossy sheen of Hollywood in this movie; this was the most disturbing horror movie of the year. Director Coralie Fargeat gives an unflinching, uncompromising, and uncomfortable critique of the youthful obsession in Hollywood, perpetuated by the entertainment industry and by the fame drug that makes it so hard for celebrities to leave the lengths they will go to stay in that spotlight. It may be a career-best performance from Demi Moore. It is a film intended to provoke, even before the truly gonzo ending, that will polarize audiences. Instant induction into the body horror Hall of Fame.

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (dir. George Miller)
George Miller created a female action icon in Furiosa, and Charlize Theron brought her to life in Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller goes back to show us Furiosa’s origins with Anya Taylor-Joy assuming the role. Miller does not try to duplicate Fury Road here. Furiosa brings the glorious action worthy of the Mad Max world, but Furiosa’s tale is a meditation on vengeance, whether it can truly satisfy, and what it can cost you. It’s also got Chris Hemsworth turning in a delightful Anti-Thor and Anti-Mad-Max performance.

3. The Wild Robot (dir. Chris Sanders)
I was not emotionally prepared for this beautiful movie about an intelligent robot named Roz who builds a community with an island full of animals while also raising a runt duckling to prepare it for the winter’s migration. Beautiful animation (that at times looks like a Bob Ross painting coming to life) is coupled with a simple but positive and uplifting message that kids, parents, and people of all ages can enjoy and appreciate, and it may even pull at the heartstrings like it did mine.

2. Dune: Part Two (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
Villeneuve is a director at the peak of his powers and has been for some time. He is one of the few directors who can pull off making big-budget, big-scale movies and still keep a personal story at the heart of it that keeps the audience invested in the characters and not just the spectacle and scale. Timothee Chalamet comes into his own as Paul Atreides, portraying his inner conflict as a reluctant messiah figure. When he finally embraces his destiny and addresses the assembly of Fremen, it feels like Chalamet is becoming the movie star that everyone has said he could be.

1. Anora (dir. Sean Baker)
Nobody was a bigger revelation this year than Anora actress Mikey Madison as the sex worker Ani who gets her own Cinderella story, except her guy Ivan is no Prince Charming. Anora is like a play in three acts, and all three are different in tone, but director Sean Baker makes them work together as a whole. The first act is a whirlwind girlfriend experience that turns romantic and culminates in a quickie marriage. The second act sends the couple into a slapstick comedy as Ivan’s Russian mob family insists the marriage be annulled. And the final act is Ani trying desperately to hold onto what she has gained in the face of increasingly insurmountable odds. It all culminates in an ending that is tender and vulnerable but also maybe emotionally ambiguous. Whatever the ending is to you, it is cathartic and earned, and none of it would work without Madison’s performance at the center of it all. Anora is explicit, empathetic, and funny. Cinde-F***ING-rella, indeed.