The 15 Best Movies Of 2024

2024 was a tough year for the film industry. The effects of the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were noticeable in the year's slimmer-than-usual release schedule, and more worryingly, production remained slow to pick up, even after the strikes were resolved. With threats of even greater media consolidation on the horizon, AI still threatening creative jobs even post-strikes, and executives and agents growing ever more cautious about anything that could be even remotely controversial, there are plenty of reasons to worry about the future.

And yet the movies were still good, some of them even great. Many of the best were independent or international films, but some of them managed to smuggle something meaningful out of the dysfunctional Hollywood system. The clearest common thread between 2024's best films is that they took risks. Whether innovating new artistic techniques, challenging common wisdom about the movie business, or making bold statements regarding governments and corporations, these 15 films stand in defiance of a culture of creative cowardice.

My selection of these films, listed in alphabetical order, is based primarily on personal opinion, though all of them have also earned significant critical acclaim across the board, and some of them have also found box office and/or awards success. As such, only films I have seen myself qualified for inclusion (apologies to "Nosferatu" and any other 2024 films I still need to see).

Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce

Director: Brady Corbet

Rating: not yet rated (expect an R)

Runtime: 215 minutes

Where to watch: in select theaters December 20

The New York Film Critics Circle's pick for 2024's best film, "The Brutalist" is a massive, ambitious, complicated artistic masterpiece about, among many other things, how difficult it is to produce massive, ambitious, complicated artistic masterpieces. How do you even make a 3.5-hour VistaVision historical epic for less than $10 million? Hopefully Brady Corbet's experience making "The Brutalist" (for which he won five awards at the Venice Film Festival, including best director) wasn't quite as traumatic as László Tóth's (Adrien Brody) experience building his community center in the film.

Corbet's epic is a reminder that immigrants built this country — and that this country has always mistreated immigrants. "The Brutalist" presents a dark vision of America and the rot at its capitalistic core that is downright devastating. Between the heavy subject matter and the lengthy runtime, it's understandable to feel intimidated by the film. However, thanks to exceptional directing and three of the year's best performances from Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce, it proves so enthralling it could honestly go even longer (though its well-placed intermission also helps a lot).

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini

Director: Edward Berger

Rating: PG

Runtime: 120 minutes

Where to watch: in theaters, PVOD

"Conclave," a prestige drama about electing a new Pope, opened in theaters less than two weeks before the United States elected a new president. The film is not subtle in drawing parallels between the frustrations of both electoral systems, but it has a certain level of faith in the system working in support of liberal ideals that, in light of current events, will now read as unrealistic for many viewers.

But there's nothing wrong with enjoying an idealistic fantasy, and this one is both exceptionally well-crafted and far more entertaining than you might expect. The memes are right: All the catty backstabbing between the Cardinals plays somewhere between a tense political thriller and "Mean Girls." Ralph Fiennes stands out amidst a top-notch ensemble as Cardinal Lawrence, a man struggling with religious doubts who claims he doesn't want the papacy even if he'd make one of the best candidates. Some of the twists are heavily foreshadowed, but the final one comes as one of the best surprise endings in recent memory — and its audacity only feels braver post-election.

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austin Butler, Javier Bardem

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 166 minutes

Where to watch: Max, PVOD

Sometimes the Hollywood studio system works exactly as it should. A sweeping science fiction epic starring a who's who of the hottest stars and featuring the most impressive special effects money can buy, "Dune: Part Two" is close to the platonic ideal of the crowd-pleasing popcorn blockbuster. The highest-rated film of 2024 on Letterboxd, the film is so thoroughly entertaining and thematically robust that it makes you wonder why so many other big-budget tentpoles don't even come close to this level of quality.

The second half of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel offers the satisfying action-packed payoff to all the elaborate set-up from 2021's "Dune: Part One" while building audiences' emotional investment in seeing the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) continue in future sequels. The themes of religious fanaticism, resistance to imperialism, and how would-be heroes can turn into villains remain as relevant today as they were when Herbert first created the world of Arrakis.

Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Rating: R

Runtime: 111 minutes

Where to watch: in theaters

There were many great horror films in 2024 — more than could fit on this list. The Satanic suspense of "Longlegs" and gonzo grotesquerie of "The Substance" warrant honorable mentions; both would easily make my top 25, but on this list, they're just narrowly edged out by the religious reckoning of "Heretic."

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' film earns its place here due to a screenplay that excels at clever dialogue, theological debate, and slow-building horror, all brought to life by an outstanding trio of actors. Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East's experiences growing up in the Mormon Church informed their performances as missionaries, which have struck a chord with many Mormon and ex-Mormon viewers. Hugh Grant, meanwhile, clearly had the time of his life playing the missionaries' anti-theist tormentor, monologuing about Monopoly, singing Radiohead, and doing the worst Jar Jar Binks impression you've ever heard.

Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta

Director: Richard Linklater

Rating: R

Runtime: 115 minutes

Where to watch: Netflix

As people continue to argue about whether an over-reliance on franchises has killed the movie star, Glenn Powell looks like he might be the real deal. "Twisters" was a legasequel, sure, but one that succeeded in large part due to its leading man, and Powell and Sydney Sweeney were the main reasons "Anyone But You" became so popular. But if you need proof that Powell isn't just handsome and extraordinarily charismatic — proof he can act (and also write!) — look no further than "Hit Man," which released on Netflix in summer 2024 after receiving much acclaim at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

In one of the best comedic performances of the year, Powell plays a philosophy professor pretending to be multiple fictitious "hitmen" as part of questionable police entrapment schemes. When he actually comes to care about one of his targets (played by Adria Arjona), the film turns into one of the year's steamiest romances. This is loosely based on a true story, but Powell and Richard Linklater's script gets playful with how loose such adaptations can get, especially when it comes to "Hit Man's" ending.

Cast: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan

Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 100 minutes

Where to watch: Max, PVOD

When I reviewed "I Saw the TV Glow" for Looper, I wrote that it "leaves such a strong impression that it's hard to stop thinking about it days after seeing it." Let's now amend "days" to "months," because this is a film that keeps getting richer the more you think about it and the more details you notice. After watching it a second time, I'm closer to being able to say what I think is really happening in the movie, but part of the genius of Jane Schoenbrun's horror-drama is that it holds up to multiple interpretations.

2024 has been a particularly terrifying year for trans people, making the identity-questioning terror of "I Saw the TV Glow" an especially vital work of art. Just look at the inspiring and heartbreaking responses to the film on TikTok and you'll see how deeply the film has resonated with the trans community. But anyone, cis or trans, who's ever worried about having wasted their life or longed for something more than their ordinary existence will find something to connect with in this brilliant movie.

Cast: Yumi Kawai, Mizuki Yoshida

Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama

Rating: 13+

Runtime: 58 minutes

Where to watch: Prime Video

"Look Back" is a true passion project for Kiyotaka Oshiyama; the founder of Studio Durian not only wrote and directed this short anime feature, but also did the character designs and most of the key animation by himself! It's easy to understand why such a driven artist would be drawn to adapting Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga about two similarly driven artists. The result is almost as close to a perfect adaptation of almost as close to a perfect manga as possible.

A surprise hit in Japan and the highest-rated animated film of the year on Letterboxd, "Look Back" packs a surplus of stunning artistry and overwhelming emotion into less than an hour. It's a powerful statement on creating in the face of personal tragedy that gains additional resonance as a hand-drawn act of defiance against the threat of AI.

Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson,  Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Director: RaMell Ross

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 140 minutes

Where to watch: in select theaters December 13

"Nickel Boys," RaMell Ross' adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning novel "The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead, exists at the intersection of experimental art film and traditional narrative drama, succeeding as a stellar example of both forms. In its own way, it's as historically important, formally innovative, and disgustingly upsetting as 2023's "The Zone of Interest," but with a perspective focused on characters you actually like and care about.

Perspective is the big key to the film; most of it is shot in first-person through the eyes of Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), two African-American boys sent to an abusive and violent reform school in the 1960s. It goes without saying this is a more emotionally stirring use of the first-person format than, say, "Hardcore Henry." The technique might not work for everyone in the audience, but if you connect with it, you're blown away. Over a third of reviews on Metacritic give it a perfect score, and Ross has won multiple best director prizes.

Cast: Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, David Liebe Hart

Director: Vera Drew

Rating: not rated (content equivalent to R)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Where to watch: PVOD, MUBI

In a year where "Joker: Folie à Deux" became a historic bomb and "Saturday Night" failed to generate much excitement, the best movie about both The Joker and "Saturday Night Live" is the one Warner Bros. didn't want you to see. "The People's Joker," a parody film about a transgender clown (Vera Drew) waging war on Gotham's comedy scene, had a long road to theaters, facing legal threats during its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and only being made available to the public after a year and a half of negotiations and further editing.

If all "The People's Joker" did was annoy David Zaslav and troll Lorne Michaels, it would be worth seeing, but it achieves so much more. Its quotable satirical dialogue and fast-paced mixed-media sight gags add up to perhaps the funniest comedy of 2024, while Drew's semi-autobiographical coming out narrative gives the film's insanity (or "super-sanity," if you prefer) a touching emotional core. The reinterpretation of the Batman mythos in this work of fan fiction as punk rock resistance even earned acclaim from legendary comic author Grant Morrison.

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Rating: R

Runtime: 90 minutes

Where to watch: in theaters

"A Real Pain" has stood out as one of 2024's best films since the very beginning of the year, when it was the most critically beloved film and a screenwriting award winner at Sundance. Written, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, "A Real Pain" demonstrates a major improvement from Eisenberg's 2022 directorial debut, "When You Finish Saving the World." It's perhaps the saddest comedy of the year, and one of the funniest films ever made about bipolar disorder and the legacy of the Holocaust without ever being disrespectful.

Kieran Culkin deserves all the acclaim and awards he's winning for his performance as Benji, who can be a "real pain" for his brother David (Eisenberg), but also proves to be a source of real joy for almost everyone he meets — which makes the depths of pain Benji feels about himself all the more heartbreaking. In its depiction of complicated family relationships and the mess of human emotion surrounding histories of oppression and privilege, "A Real Pain" feels both timeless and particularly vital to the present moment.

Director: Benjamin Ree

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 90 minutes

Where to watch: Netflix

2024's standout documentaries include the trans rights road trip "Will & Harper," the inspirational biopic "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," and the prison prom tearjerker "Daughters." The critics' favorite, "No Other Land," would make this list if an American distributor had the guts to actually release it. But as far as films the general public has access to, no documentary proved more certain to make viewers cry than "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin."

The winner of both the directing and audience prizes in Sundance's World Cinema Documentary selection, "Ibelin" explores the life story of Mats Steen, a Norwegian man who died at the age of 25 from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. His parents feared their son was wasting his life in video games ... only to realize he was absolutely beloved in "World of Warcraft," making friends and helping people around the world as his character, Ibelin Redmoore. It's an all-too-rare story about the positive potential of gaming and the internet at a time when such outlets often turn toxic.

Cast: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 168 minutes

Where to watch: in select theaters

In celebrating films that took brave risks in 2024, there's no greater example than "The Seed of the Sacred Fig." Director Mohammad Rasoulof shot the film undercover while facing an 8-year prison sentence for criticizing the Iranian government and fled to Germany to finish it. That story alone would make "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" a must-see — luckily the film itself is also impressive in its own right.

This fascinating drama confronts Iran's civil unrest from the perspective of a family caught in the middle. Iman (Missagh Zareh) is working for the theocratic government as a judge approving death sentences. His wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) wants to do all she can to support him, while his daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostama) and Sana (Setareh Maleki) support the feminist protests. By the film's final hour, the family's conflicts have escalated into a full-blown thriller.

Cast: Colman Domingo, Paul Raci, Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez

Director: Greg Kwedar

Rating: R

Runtime: 168 minutes

Where to watch: returns to theaters January 17

"Sing Sing" had unfortunately the most awkward release of any movie on this list. After premiering to rave reviews at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival — where Colman Domingo won a tribute award, foretelling his future awards success for playing wrongfully imprisoned actor John "Divine G" Whitfield — A24 picked it and put it in limited release in July 2024. Unlike most of A24's limited releases, however, "Sing Sing" never expanded beyond 191 theaters and has yet to show up on streaming.

Hopefully, it will find greater success in its upcoming rerelease, as "Sing Sing" has the potential to be a huge crowdpleaser if crowds actually show up. The inspiring true story about the theater program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison is told with incredible sensitivity and realism. Aside from Domingo and Paul Raci, all of the actors in the film are former members of the program itself. In both its content and its very existence, the film provides a powerful reminder of how art can help us through the worst situations.

Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey

Director: Jon M. Chu

Rating: PG

Runtime: 160 minutes

Where to watch: in theaters

"Wicked" — "Wicked: Part I," if we're going by the onscreen title — might not be perfect (there've been plenty of quibbles over its lighting and color grading), but no other movie felt like a bigger event in 2024. Going in, there were valid reasons for skepticism. Could Ariana Grande act? Was Cynthia Erivo too old to play Elphaba? Why was "Part I" longer than the whole Broadway show? Yet all those doubts fade away in the face of Grande and Erivo's amazing performances and the most stunning big-screen musical spectacle in recent memory.

Similar to "Barbie" in 2023, the box office success "Wicked" has experienced proves women and queer viewers will come out in droves if you make high-quality blockbusters aimed at them. While "Wicked" is a work of grand entertainment first and foremost, it's also a story about a woman of color standing up in defiance against lying politicians who attack marginalized groups — not hard to imagine why that might feel relevant at the moment. The film's combination of crowd-pleasing artistry and social importance is already positioning it as a major Oscar contender.

Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Kit Connor, Pedro Pascal

Director: Chris Sanders

Rating: PG

Runtime: 102 minutes

Where to watch: in theaters, PVOD

All sectors of the film industry have experienced tough times in 2024, but animators have had it even rougher than most — a shame, especially since animated movies are often among the best and most successful films being made today. From both critics' and general audiences' perspectives, "The Wild Robot" is one of the great filmmaking achievements of the year — which makes it all the more aggravating how the artists who created it have been hit with major layoffs.

Watching "The Wild Robot," however, one is left with hope that maybe we'll all make it through our immense struggles. If Roz (impeccably voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) can rewrite her programming to reach new achievements while holding to the kindness at her core, aren't we all capable of achieving things we never thought possible? If the film's animals can put aside their enmities to preserve everyone's survival, might humanity have similar hope in the face of the disasters we face today? And now I'm getting myself all emotional about the robot cartoon all over again ...