My 2024 began with the iron claws of wrestlers, and ended with the claws of Nosferatu. I’ll be honest: the previous two years set the bar pretty high for new movies, and 2024 couldn’t help but be a slightly less good movie year. In 2022, we had Everything Everywhere All at Once, Tár, The Fabelmans, Bones and All, and my favorite, The Banshees of Inisherin. 2023 brought us Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Past Lives, Anatomy of a Fall, and The Holdovers. I have a feeling that this year’s Oscar nominations won’t line up with my favorites as much as the last two years did. However, there was still much that I loved, and out of 157 movies, here’s my top 6.3%.
Top Ten Movies of 2024
1. SNACK SHACK – It’s not just a teenage summer fluff movie. It blooms into something so much better, and burrowed into my heart. I cannot believe how much it gets away with. It’s funny, sweet, wise, and brought up so much nostalgia for me. I’ve seen it twice. For very personal and subjective reasons, it’s my best movie of the year.
2. A REAL PAIN – I can’t wait to see it again, and I felt that way before the end of my first viewing. It’s a poignant exploration of the human condition. Kieran Culkin gives my favorite performance of the year as one of the best characters I’ve seen in a movie in years and years and years.
3. PERFECT DAYS – This was technically a 2023 release, but I didn’t see it until ‘24. It deserves to be on a “best of” list regardless of the year. Wim Wenders’s film about several days in the life of a professional public toilet cleaner in Japan is surprisingly and hypnotically beautiful, and I was humming/whistling Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” for a week after seeing it.
4. I SAW THE TV GLOW – This movie has already changed lives. It has helped the queer/trans community feel seen when it comes to their “egg crack” moment. It didn’t change my life, and I can’t relate to it on that level, but I was able to appreciate the cinematography and 90s TV nostalgia. If you’re a fan of David Lynch, particularly Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive, you will eat this up. My second viewing of it was outside after dark on a quiet, still summer night. Porch lights off. Nothing but the glow of the TV.
5. THE SUBSTANCE – A wickedly funny, dark satire and commentary on the beauty standards women are held to in the entertainment industry. Demi Moore gives the best performance of her career. Margaret Qualley is something else. And Dennis Quaid is better here than anything from his prolific last year and a half, including Reagan. It builds up to an insane final sequence of blood and body horror. My jaw was on the floor throughout the last 20 minutes.
6. JUROR #2 – Clint Eastwood is good at getting me riled up. He specializes in telling stories of wrongfully accused innocent people, and/or unfairly railroaded ones. They get me very emotionally involved. Juror #2’s plot is one of the wildest coincidences I’ve ever heard of, but it’s an amazing engaging movie. The cast includes Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland. If this ends up being 94-year-old Eastwood’s last film, it’s a hell of a way to go out.
7. THE WILD ROBOT – From Dreamworks Animation. Lupita Nyong’o provides the voice of a Siri/Alexa-like robot who finds itself on an island. It’s touching, sneaky-funny, and I’d better be hearing that song from it on Oscar night.
8. BETWEEN THE TEMPLES – Jason Schwartzman plays a recent widower and synagogue cantor who navigates life, loss, and a new unconventional relationship in this quirky Judaism-themed dramedy. It has a unique pulse.
9. FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA – It’s a gift that 79-year-old George Miller is still behind the director’s chair for the Mad Max series, which began 45 years ago. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth fit right in here. This is a perfect action epic, and one of the best action epics I have ever seen.
10. CHALLENGERS – I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I saw it. I’ve seen it twice. I don’t think there’s a director alive who creates sexual tension better than Luca Guadagnino. It has a kinetic energy. The three main characters aren’t going to win any kindness awards (some of the most hurtful, toxic things I’ve ever heard are said in this movie), but they are well crafted characters, even if they aren’t great people. This is a tense movie, always absorbing and in your face.
Final Grade Tally
157 movies. As always, B is the winner, with 30.
B+ and B- are tied for second place, with 21 each.
C+ and C have 17 each.
A- has 14.
D has 10.
A, the coveted grade, and C- are tied, with 9 each.
D- has 5.
D+ has 3.
I did give one F. Not Another Church Movie. Let’s never speak of it again.
B- and C+ is my pass/fail cutoff. If you think I’m a tough critic, this year I had 95 movies that were a B- or higher, and 62 were C+ and lower. I liked more films than I disliked.
The Honorable Mentions
Anora – Sure to be a top Oscar contender. From the director of my beloved The Florida Project. Mikey Madison gives one of the best performances of the year.
Strange Darling – One of the most unforgettable movies of the year. My original review is safe to read, but otherwise, you should go in cold.
What You Wish For – An underrated, under-spoken-about, wild ride. Watching it, I felt the same way I did when I saw Parasite and Pig for the first time. And hey! The official Guster account liked and commented on my Threads post that linked to this review, as the name of the movie shares a title with a Guster song. Their activity on my post brought a small wave of people over to it.
The Fall Guy – It’s action for people who don’t normally enjoy action, and it’s the most pure fun movie of the year.
Rebel Ridge and Incoming – Both on Netflix. The former started off as a top 10er, before declining a little bit, and the latter is American Pie for this generation. I liked it better than American Pie. Both are very strong movies.
Ghostlight and Sing Sing – Perfect companion pieces to each other. They are both love letters to the community theatre people who are doing the thing for very little or no money – just out of love. They are beautiful testaments to the healing power of theatre.
In a Violent Nature – A slasher movie from the killer’s point of view. Clever and fascinating.
Arthur the King – Mark Wahlberg is doing a marathon, and a dog starts following his team around. A feel-good film based on a true story. If you’re a dog lover, don’t worry. It ends well.
Scrambled and Babes – Both are funny, forthright explorations into becoming a new mother (or wanting to be one) in your late 30s.
The Guilty Pleasures
It’s What’s Inside – On Netflix. A body-switching movie, Vice Versa/Freaky Friday style. A talented and attractive cast.
F*** Marry Kill – Virginia Gardner.
Peter Five Eight – One of only three new movies Kevin Spacey has appeared in since 2017. It’s ridiculous and unintentionally funny, like The Room.
The Strangers: Chapter 1, Abigail, and Late Night With the Devil – Fun enough spooky season viewing.
The Multitaskers
You’re bound to see some of the same actors more than once in a year. Here are several that made the biggest impression.
Kiernan Shipka (Longlegs, Twisters, Sweethearts, Red One)
J.K. Simmons (You Can’t Run Forever, Saturday Night, Juror #2, Red One)
Willem Dafoe (Kinds of Kindness, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Saturday Night, Nosferatu)
Rachel Sennott (I Used to Be Funny, Saturday Night)
Gabriel LaBelle (Snack Shack, Saturday Night)
Margaret Qualley (Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness, The Substance)
Dennis Quaid (The Long Game, Reagan, The Substance)
Nicholas Hoult (Juror #2, Nosferatu)
Scoot McNairy (Speak No Evil, Nightbitch, A Complete Unknown)
Bobby Cannavale (Ezra, MaXXXine, Incoming)
Virginia Gardner (Beautiful Wedding, F*** Marry Kill)
Aubrey Plaza had two out the same weekend, and I felt very differently about them. My Old Ass and Megalopolis.
Happy new year, everyone. Thank you for having me as one of your go-to critics.
Film Reviews by Mark 
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