Trevor’s Favorite Movies
of 2024
So this is my final list for last year, counting down the best things about Cinema in 2024. Unfortunately, I did not have time to do a TV list this year, If you would like to know my 10 favorite Shows of 2024 just ask and I will let you know 😊 This was NOT one of the better years for movies overall, probably the least favorite since at least 2016 in my opinion. I found plenty to love in the year through streaming or by going to the theater with the wife probably more times than ever (thanks AMC movie Stub Pass!). In past years I listed movies here I found overrated or bad, but I’m not going to do that this year. Look- we are all entitled to our own opinions, if you want to ask if one of your favorites didn’t make my list I will honestly tell you what I thought of it because based on what critics love or what is nominated for Awards season, my list will confound some people as it’s a mix of what I thought deserved to be recognized for greatness.
The 15 movies I am putting on here I did truly love, and as with any year if you search hard enough you will find the ones that move you in some way. As time goes on and the true masterworks stand as out as they always do, I will revisit the year as there are many I have not had a chance to see yet (September 5th, I’m Still Here, Flow, Seed of the Sacred Fig, Sing Sing, just to name a few). You may see my list and say something different, or that my 15 choices didn’t live up to your expectations! To Each their own, I’m just sharing my thoughts.
After today I’ll be counting down my 15 favorite movies of the year one at a time, there were just too many great ones this year to only do 10! Here are the honorable mentions:
About Dry Grasses – Perhaps my favorite current Foreign Director working right now, Nuri B Ceylan cuts to the heart of human existence in his own way. Though 3 hours long, the movie about a public school teacher’s moral dilemma flies by and is thought provoking in the best way.
Strange Darling – A take on a non-linear way of telling a story that keeps you guessing and entertained. Straight forward, it would still be good but told in 5 parts out of order, it becomes sort of great. More a thriller than a horror movie, in whatever genre it’s among the best of the year.
My Old Ass – Often heart breaking and hilarious at the same time, this coming of age story is about an 18 year old who becomes in contact with her future self-twenty years older than her through physical appearance and sometimes phone calls though no one else can see her. There is a sequence in the middle, a drug induced illusion of becoming Justin Bieber, that is one of the funniest moments in movie I’ve seen. On the flip side, Aubrey Plaza shows off her dramatic side in a role now made even more tragic, by her husband’s real life passing.
I Saw the TV Glow – Quite the serious and haunting take on what it means to out of synch with the world, I saw the TV Glow takes the 1990’s camp horror tv shows and updates them to a more metaphysical plane- is the world you live in or body you live in your own, or somebody else's? Though too grim for some takes, it’s sort of like the final movie David Lynch made though he had nothing to do with it before his passing recently.
Hard Truths – Mike Leigh has made a habit of making movies in the “extreme emotions” often painting pictures of characters who are either very happy or very sad. This movie is about the latter group, as the main character seems unhappy with everything and everyone. In a way she is fascinating to watch go to the store, dentist, deal with her family but in another way it’s extremely painful. Leigh remains a director who casts the best actors in the best ways, and it leaves a long impression on our minds.
The Girl with the Needle – I was surprised by this Dutch film thinking it would be about one thing and quite deftly turning into another. The premise is based around the question is it wrong to kill a child, thinking in terms of unwanted pregnancy, and all the horrors that can explore. The fact that it was based on a true story of a serial killer of children- might make this the actual scariest movie of 2024. Only watch this one if you have a very strong stomach, as it’s chilling to the bone.
Carry On – Really just an honorable mention for being a fun throwback and popcorn movie even though it only came out on Netflix. It's for fans of old school action movies like Die Hard, also based around x-mas, but its something new as well- new as in playing with technology and based around a great villainous role by Jason Bateman- somehow he always knows which buttons to push on his fellow man….and on us in the audience.
15. Tuesday
An odd name for an oddity of a movie, Tuesday is a unique take on the story of Death as a real life character. The fact that the specter exists here not as a cloaked, dark figure and as a low-voiced parrot is many of its charms. Well, as much weird charm that a movie about a child dying of cancer can have. That child (played by Lola Petticrew) is the 15 year old daughter of the lead character (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and their relationship is fraught with lies, pain and anguish. It’s true to life that a mother would not handle her daughter having a fatal disease as well as even the child dying from it would, and Dreyfuss’s literal attempt to stop a talking parrot from ‘taking’ her daughter is both comical and fascinating. There are very few movies these days I cannot predict how something will happen, and I can say Tuesday never stopped entertaining me throughout the whole runtime and I still think about it everyday since I have seen it.
14. It’s What’s Inside
Twisty, sci-fi premise movies can be a turn-off on paper but when they work on the screen it is amazing to watch. This movie, mainly seen through Netflix subscribers and mainly involving smaller or unknown actors in their 20s, is one of those- with a premise straight out of the Joss Whedon cannon (Buffy the Vamp Slayer, Dollhouse) where a device is invented that can switch someone’s mind and place it in someone else’s body. In the form of a drunken party game, antics ensue but there is more to the story here and those who like stories such as these can probably guess where much of it is going. But in the relationship dramas and all of the high school reunion / old grudges and secrets, something kind of great happens and many true to life scenarios unravel. Multiple characters are given depth and complexity that they wouldn’t normally have, and there are many surprises in their personalities. Director Greg Jardin also wrote the screenplay, and it was his 1st attempt at both. Sometimes what seems silly on paper can come off better on the screen, which is the magic of the movies.
13. A Complete Unknown
Trying to demystify a figure like Bob Dylan is usually a mistake, because the whole point of his persona is that he came from nowhere and writes some of the greatest songs ever. The idea that it can happen to anyone, anywhere, means there is hope for us all, which is the ‘everyman’ quality people like Dylan bring to the public. The truth is…..much more blunt, that some people are meant to be up there shining on stage and one way or another they will make it though the chances are astronomical. Dylan definitely changed history, there will never be and never was anyone quite like him, and played by Tim Chalamet he is a figure that remains an ‘ass’ to many of his peers but also somewhat of a genius in terms of songwriting and the times getting swept up in his wake. Did he use manipulation and other people to obtain star power? Well, doesn’t everybody?
I really did like this movie. I think the issue a lot of Dylan die hards will have is, well there is just not enough time in a two hour movie to cram in all of the Dylan things. Scorsese made a documentary about 20 years ago (the great 3 ½ hour No Direction Home) that this movie gets its basic timeline from in the era of Dylan beginning to make music in the years 1961-1965….. and then just stops. Of course there is more the story and this is only a quick glimpse behind the curtain, but how could it not be? Great casting and acting all around especially by Edward Norton who plays Pete Seeger as someone who understands Dylan up to a point- but then is just confounded by his unwillingness to conform. There are some nice iconic figures are hiding in the background if you know where to look (ahem, producer Tom Wilson!) , but the typical rise to fame and glory / story cannot fully satiate a fan of Dylan- because he simply has too much to hear, too many ideas and too many cultural moments. Perhaps there will be a part two that will be 1966-1967 covered in his life, because two hours wouldn’t be enough to cover even that (Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding era albums, for those that care 😊
12. His Three Daughters
The three sisters that are in every frame of this movie are portrayed by three actors that have all different kinds of careers, and they merge brilliantly in this movie. Based around the father’s apartment in his final days, the sisters have long unresolved issues that are pretty true to most families. Carrie Coon is the overbearing, controlling one who always feels a need to monitor the baby sister’s comings and goings. The youngest is Natasha Lyonne, with her world-weary wisdom and attitude always shining through. In the middle is Elisabeth Olsen, who might be the most checked out of societies patterns, a former Deadhead who now is a mother obsessed with her children and stuck in patterns. Her character may have the most astute line, “Just because I don’t complain doesn’t mean I don’t have issues!” The movie is full of poignant lines of dialogue like that. Each character gets a chance to show off their acting chops in this tale but also shed some new light on a person you might think at first glance you have all figured out. If it sounds like it could be a stagey play, the surprise is there is nothing stagey last all about it, and it's one of the more memorable comedy/dramas of the year. Writer/ director Azazel Jacobs is definitely a talent to watch.
11. Rebel Ridge
I always love a good action movie, especially when it is directed with care and foresight like this one. Lead character Terry Richmond (star making performance by Aaron Pierre) is a former marine going to get his brother out of jail in a town that may be just a little more than corrupt and backwards than he thought. Leading the local police force is a sheriff played by Don Johnson with all of the beautiful, evil and simple-minded portrayal he is so good at- in fact he channel’s quite a bit of the late Kris Kristofferson’s sheriff from Lone Star (1996) in this performance. What starts off as a battle of wills between Richmond and the local police evolves into something much more deadly very quickly, as we learn who our protagonist is and what he can do and will do to save his family.
As the movie goes, there is somewhat of a love interest (the local secretary played by AnnaSophia Robb) and other characters that have deeper layers of loyalty than you might think (David Denman, always a killer character actor), and everything progresses in classic Western fashion to an epic standoff. Rebel Ridge has a lot on its mind for a movie that seems like a revenge story /David vs goliath. It has been compared to the plot of Rambo…..but that’s probably giving Rambo too much credit 😊It is a taught, well made thriller with elements of action and philosophy than is more akin to John Woo than the average American made action movie.
10. Knox Goes Away
Michael Keaton has only directed a couple of movies, but they always seemed to be based around ex-cons trying to do the right thing but drawn back into a world of corruption. In this movie, Keaton has gone straight but then has to answer a late night door knock from his estranged son (the getting better and better as he ages James Marsden) and take on one last job while not admitting to many people that he also may have cancer. Plenty of people want him dead, and he doesn’t want to bring his son into his violent way of life, but perhaps the better nature or purity is something he has lost forever. Can someone who has lived a certain way- whatever that job may have been or how the world has shaped he/she- ever change toward the end of their life?
Keaton has had a resurgence of late, since Birdman from 2014 and onwards he has been very much back in the public spotlight, but he never really went anywhere. His The Merry Gentlemen from 2007 told a similar story to this one, with Kelly McDonald playing the other lead, of a man who feels he can’t be reformed. Perhaps that’s what Tim Burton saw in Keaton when he cast him as a superhero all those years ago, some deep inner pain of a man who is truly haunted. Keaton’s performance (as does Marsden’s) in this movie as well as his direction deserve more praise, Knox Goes Away barley got a theatrical release and was shifted off to streaming. But in my mind, it’s easily one of the best films I saw in 2024.
9. Nightbitch
The concept of this movie is one thing, but the execution is quite something else. Amy Adams is truly the most fearless actress in cinema right now, but only in her own quietly fearless way. The hardship of motherhood, those told to just smile and be ok at staying home and raising the kids, is something often hinted at by keen storytelling but hardly ever the full subject of a movie. The literal transformation into a wolf at times could have gone bad in so many different ways, but somehow, it my eyes it stayed true.
So a lot of people hated this movie, I get it. A lot of people are just not going to like the same sorts of things no matter how much you may want them too. But i implore people to give this movie a look with an open mind. Marielle Heller is a director on the rise, each movie she has made is more interesting than the last, and with her oddball sensibilities coming to the front, the confidence is growing and this movie is proof of her genius. The next movie she makes may resonate more universally, or she could just keep getting weirder and weirder. I'm ok with either option, as long as the results are this entertaining.
8. Civil War
No one knows what another Civil war would actually look like, but this movie gives us one pretty sketched out idea that it would not be a fun prospect and quite different than anything we have experienced before in the USA. For those coming into the movie expecting, well, a war movie….you will be disappointed. But movies should always be allowed to be what hey ‘are’ and not what we expect them to be, so Alex Garland’s little vision of the future through the eyes of war photographers is an good as anything anyone could hope to come up with. Kirsten Dunst plays the lead as sort of a worn-out version of someone who has either ‘seen it all’ or just had enough of the way the world is; her resignation to the mundane existence of life in a war-torn America sets the tone of the movie. Its also highlighted by Geoff Barrow’s soundtrack (ex-Portishead), a combination of bands like Silver Apples and Suicide but also new ambient sounds that makes for the most haunting score of the year.
It’s a bleak, haunting movie but also hopeful in an odd way. Cailee Spaeny plays the newer character, that needs to be shown the ropes of modern-day war photography by Dunst and her crew, and a trip to Washington D.C. is the road trip of the movie to confront the president and see if power can be taken back (and photograph whatever happens. There are some really haunting moments, showing that just walking down the street can be risky because you never know if people are going to hunt you down just for having of a different viewpoint than they have, culminating in a scary performance by Jesse Plemons as a soldier who has quite lost his mind (no best supporting actor nod there, hmmm Academy?). In all, Civil War can mean many things these days: politics, ideals, ways to approach life as checked out or giving a damn (apathy vs action). Sticking to the old paradigms of the past won’t work much longer, that’s all I know for sure. If there ever is another civil war, it won’t just be over a country or borders or political stances- it will be over what it means to be civil with one another.
7. Conclave
Conclave is a rarity, because it is a movie that rewards you in the end as it is not what it seems. As I was watching it the first time, I was slightly bored, then intrigued but thought I knew where it was going, then completely floored by the ending. As someone who watches a ton of movies, being genuinely surprised is rare. But that’s what Conclave is, a perfectly executed attempt at telling a story. It doesn’t really matter if you agree where the politics lean, enjoy certain acting more than other people’s, or care for a certain type of setting, because in the end it has the sway to pull you to it’s side. It also contains like the best acting ensemble of the year (I believe it won the top prize at the SAG awards, as it should have) and having Ralph Fiennes in the lead position helps because he is never greedy but shares the wealth of acting with others. To watch Conclave with an open mind is to experience what it means to be moved by something, to be one with the people of your own universe. I have now watched it 3 times, and it’s better every time.
6.The Wild Robot
Rarely does a movie come as fully formed as this, showing the progression of all the animated movies before and the legacy of its creators. Chris Sanders, who has had hands in many other Disney creations (Beauty and the Best, The Lion King, Aladdin) and even started his own company making the best out of Dreamworks (Lilo and Stitch, especially the How to Train Your Dragon series) takes advantage of all of the full breath of life in the movie, a touching story of a robot becoming one with its nature and helping a small, underdeveloped duckling form into its own.
There are many things Sanders does correctly, from the touch points of emotions from the smaller characters to the Miyazaki inspired tapestry to all of the wonders of flights of all the animals. The unpredictability of the second half and how it differs from the first is another thing that sets the story apart, as it was adapted from a book and beautifully brought to life. Sure, it is a story we have seen before, but every character has a real humanity to them a personality that makes them distinct – or better said: what differs a robot from a human? Every frame of the story is a visual piece of gorgeous poetry, and there was not a more perfect piece of animation all year. With time, I believe this movie will be counted among the greats of all animated movies.
5. The Brutalist
Hats off to the Brutalist for being, at least, a one of a kind movie going experience in 2024. For no other movie I can think of was there an intermission and for no other movie was there quite the spectacle. It’s a movie that truly, goes all out. When you think about the story, it works better episodically like a mini series of events, and most everything works out very well. The look of the movie has a feel of a classic, the cinematography is set up gorgeously for so many of the outdoor and indoor locations. The score is one of the most memorable ever heard, and I am glad it is so celebrated. And somehow….this was all made for 10 million dollars? Included paying these amazing actors…..it kind of puts most other movies to shame.
Still, the acting is one of a kind. Guy Pierce embodies a devastatingly real villain, someone who lives to exploit an artist simply because he is not a creator himself. Felecity Jones comes in the second half of the movie and saves in from banality, gives such a love and heart to that was missing before; most of all, gives the power of being a revolutionary into the flesh. And Adrian Brody- rightfully deserving of his Oscar no matter how long his stupid speech was- completely creates a character you feel empathy for- not because he is just soooo smart but because he is very human in how he approaches life in all its unfairness, his past connections and life long friendships with others, his willingness to stay true to what he believes in. The brutalist is about architecture but also about life, insane how brutal life can be sometimes to someone who immigrates form another country, out of one frying pan and into another kind of fire.
4. Perfect Days
Some movies make you care about the characters and some movies entertain you with plot, well really some do both. As long as they do one of these things, in the long run I’m ok with it. This one really made me feel for the main character, Soto, played by Koji Yakusho. He goes along cleaning his restrooms around Tokyo and enjoys it, well maybe ‘enjoys’ is too strong a world. But he takers pride in what he does, his job just happens ot be cleaning up restrooms. It’s the structure of it he likes, and the repetitive nature is what keeps his life in balance and under control (and happy?). He does also loves a good mystery book in his spare time and collects only rock music cassettes. Every thing in this character’s life is ‘perfect’ because it is planned out and in control- I guess some people just think like this (me included)
As the movie is mainly about character, a woman named Aya and a fellow worker Takashi come into his routine life and disrupt it mainly just by being different to his schedule. Director Wim Wenders, a German man fascinated by Japanese culture, is kind of the same way, he ponders life and he looks at it form odd angels. His most famous movies: Wings of Desire (1987), Paris, Texas (1984) are about people that would rather watch life than actually live it. Thought there is the question through out so many of his films, what does it mean to truly live? Somehow even though his plots are scarce or nonsensical (take his astonishing 4 hour Until the End of World from 1991) he still always makes us in the audience care about his characters. Some interesting things really do happen in Perfect Days and the enigmatic Wenders draws a parallel line to Japanese culture- as he has previously had drawn line to American culture- proves we humans have similar traits no matter where we are from.
3. Dune: Part Two
As good as Dune Part one was, it felt like half of a story. This movie doesn’t feel like a second half at all, it feels like a stand-alone saga that you never want to end. That is what the best movies should always do, find a way to elevate the material and sweep us away in a story in ways we haven’t seen before. Dune Part 2 has some of the best sound, music, acting, and above all cinematography and visual effects of anything released in the 2020’s. It helps too that most of the acting by this ensemble elevates the material to another level.
Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides comes into his own here, again growing and channeling all he knows to become a true force of nature- an alien one, but still. His polar opposite is Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha, a very terrifying role of a knife welding maniac that always had interesting roots and influence in the original novel but was never quite brought to life on the screen before. The rest of the actors are good, but these two really stand out above all others and form the core of the story. Director Denis Villeneuve had a huge task ahead of him with this Dune two part (so far) saga: to remake a movie that had only had failed attempts before AND to make a story from the 1960’s relevant when it has already influenced so much and be recycled through pop culture many times. Miraculously, whatever you think of Dune Part 2- it’s very coherent, straight-forward and accessible- not a mess. It’s one of the best Sci-fi films I’ve ever seen, for sure. It has all the guts and glory and passion behind it to make it work, and I am glad it exists. How Villeneuve keeps producing masterpiece after masterpiece will something film scholars will be studying for hundreds of years to come.
2. A Real Pain
A real pain can be many things. It can be a physical pain, from a fall or an injury that occurred. It can be a Psychic pain, leading from the trauma that happened and not getting over it in a time deemed ‘appropriate’, like the prolonged death of a loved one. It could be an emotional pain, from a deep longing that something in your life is just not going right, and maybe it will never be right again. This story of two cousins going to revisit their roots in Poland after their grandmother passed away is all 3 of these real pains and maybe more. Somehow, this movie balances the comedy and the tragedy of living this life on Earth perfectly which is a very, very hard thing to do.
Jesse Eisenberg stars and directs this film with the skill of someone who has lived these kinds of pains. He also wrote the movie and I feel he had a hand in editing it- it is probably one of the tightest movies I have ever seen as far as editing goes. Kieran Culkin gives such a tight, believable performance of this man down on his luck that he sort of flies above all other contenders around him in 2024. He won every award possible this award season for best supporting actor, and he deserved everyone of them. He supports Eisenberg in this movie, but also kind of carries it as I’m not sure one performance would work without the other. In the end, 'support' is what this movie is about. It was only 90ish minutes long but it stuck with me like no other movie this year and was probably the best one I saw overall.
And what does this story mean in the end? Who is here and who is not really here? I have my theories. It will be a movie that people discuss for all time, a movie not easily categorized or summarized easily. I don’t wanna say my theories on what the movie is actually about, because once you see it- you have to imagine it all in a different context. It’s the rare movie that will get better and better with each subsequent viewing.
1. Hit Man
So, A Real Pain was probably the best movie of 2024. Hit Man was delayed from 2023, blame the writer’s strike or whatever, as its main screen debut to most people was on Netflix last May. But there is no way to talk about 2024 movies without the influence Hit Man had; there is such a twisty and mysterious vibe to it while also being very a hilarious screenplay and philosophical in only a way that Richard Linklater can be. The energy of Glenn Powell seems to be the ‘lightning in a bottle’ feeling of the year as well, so much charisma for someone who has been around for quite a while. The opening scene has a teacher talking to a classroom full of students about a Nietzsche quote, while the reminder of the movie has to do with a man who becomes a fake hitman for the police force to catch those trying to do bad in the world. It is based on a true story but twisted and formed into an original story, pinned by Powell himself and director Linklater.
Adria Arjona plays the “femme fatale role” (very well) with a twist because Hit Man knows exactly what type of movie it is. Film Noir tropes mixed with dire philosophy, mixed with a sardonic style of comedy that stems from the Joss Whedon era of TV shows, Hit Man is many things at once. The key line in the film I believe is – “Seize the Identity that you want for yourself” because that is the idea behind the film: reinvent yourself as often as you can and move to the rhythm of your own drum. Many live life just being so ordinary, what they always are and sticking to what is safe, but the thing is- there are no rules to life. You can drop everything you are doing right now, and go drive 100 mph down the interstate. You can go to the store and buy $1,000.00 in groceries, and then just run out the door. You can sell everything you own and give it away to charity, and probably recover just fine. Linklater and co. hide all this philosophy behind a story of a Hitman who falls in love, but the ideas it presents are of the most ‘free your mind’ variety it rivals films such as The Matrix or Inception with out having to have the sci-fi tropes or budgets. If you have seen it, try watching it again with these types of ideas. I’ve watched it about 5 times now. Confidence and knowledge will get you further in life than any amount of money or any sort of standards. Many people didn’t like the ending…perhaps to many, it's the most horrifying ending of all movies….complete freedom.