Films I Saw in 2024
My 2024 faves and first time watches
As the Golden Globes approach, we’ve about run out of time for my “favorite films of 2024” list, probably. If you follow me on Letterboxd, you know what I enjoyed this year. There are still quite a few films I haven’t seen — I have an afternoon date with The Brutalist and my beloved Pedro Almodóvar’s new film this week, and I’m waiting for Sing Sing to return to the theaters. So, for this list, I’m naming the 15 films I loved the most last year (in no particular order), followed by my favorite first-time watches.
Wicked
My favorite thing about Wicked is that I can listen to a friend tell me it’s the best movie ever and also listen to a friend who hates it and they can somehow, both be right? I don’t have any objectivity when it comes to this film. I’ve seen the stage show 10 times (we used to enter the lottery multiple times a week in Chicago the summer it debuted1). I think Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were brilliant. I still think I prefer the Original Broadway Cast Recording, but “No One Mourns the Wicked” and “What is this Feeling” are bangers on the movie soundtrack. I’m gonna buy it tonight and watch it after the Globes.
La Chimera
Josh O’Connor is the only white boy flavor of the month I’m tasting2. I fell in love with him during God’s Own Country, and then the world fell in love with him after Challengers. Hearing him speak Italian in this gorgeous movie is a religious experience.
Challengers
I’m so glad people haven’t forgotten this film (it feels like it came out in 2019!!), which is Luca Guadagnino’s best film from last year and also the most fun I had in the cinema besides Wicked. I remember being hungover, having barely slept, dragging myself to a 10 am screening of this on a Sunday because I ABSOLUTELY NEEDED to see this film. When I left, I furiously texted my best friend about how much I loved it and then saw it again twice in theaters. I know I said Josh O’Connor is my ride-or-die white boy, but y’all are giving Mike Faist his things!! Run back West Side Story, a movie that deserved as much love as Wicked got this year! Steven Spielberg knows how to direct a fucking musical.
Conclave
I was LIVING during every moment of this movie. Who knew the Vatican was this messy? Why was I gagging at Ralph Fiennes using a copy machine?! The ending was a bit ho-hum for me but I loved the hell out of this.
Hard Truths
Who am I going to have to fight to get Marianne Jean-Baptiste an Oscar nomination?? The conversation begins and ends with her in this movie. I fucking love Mike Leigh.
Trap
This movie falls off the rails an hour in and the music and acting from the pop diva in Smile 2 is much better, but I haven’t been this on board with M. Night Shyamalan’s mess in years. I would watch ten more Trap movies.
The parts of Dune: Part Two that I remember because that was the most stoned I was all year
The edible hit as SOON as the credits rolled, perfect timing.
Madame Web
Actually, I take it back — the most fun I had at the movies last year was watching Madame Web. This movie kicked off a year of excellent celebrity press tours and we should all thank Dakota Johnson for her service!
Denzel Washington in Gladiator 2
“I own your house!” Denzel is all I could talk about for weeks after seeing this movie, sorry Paul! I even gave it five stars on Letterboxd. I was Gladiator 2 pilled. Then I rewatched it with friends on New Year’s, and I discovered this movie is actually… a mess! Someone make the YouTube supercut of the Denzel scenes, please…
Nickel Boys
I love this film’s audacity more than anything. Telling a Black story in such an unconventional way will inspire so many future Black creatives. I’m in awe of the direction and every technical aspect of the film. I cried when it finished.
Anora
Mikey Madison, the queen that you are. I want nothing but the best for everyone who has ever starred in the Scream franchise.
We Live In Time
I don’t think enough people paid attention to this beautiful, hilarious, and devastating film. Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh delivered two of my favorite performances of their careers. John Crowley is just really good at telling romantic, human stories.
A Real Pain
I adore Jesse Eisenberg’s writing. It’s funny, uncomfortable, and heartwarming all at once. And wow, Kieran Culkin in this is truly, truly fantastic. I can’t wait to see him in Glengarry Glen Ross this winter!
A Different Man
I know the girls were gagging over The Substance this year, but for my money, a film that tackles the same themes but better is A Different Man. This kind of came and went, just like Sebastian Stan’s other film this year The Apprentice (I still haven’t seen), but it’s absolutely the funniest thing I saw all year. It’s satirical and farcical and searing and more than anything, rips up the idea of the “artist’s ego” at every turn.
Nosferatu
I wish this horny vampire film was a bit more gay (the Nicholas Hoult vampire bite scene did not make me horny, sorry, the Count did not have that boom boom), but nobody does it like Robert Eggers. Another banger from him and a perfect performance from Lily-Rose Depp.
My favorite first-time watches:
Laura, 1944. Dir: Otto Preminger.
Elevator to the Gallows, 1958. Dir: Louis Malle.
Torn Curtain, 1966. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.
Baldwin’s Nigger, 1968. Dir: Horace Ové.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, 1972. Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Don’t Look Now, 1974. Dir: Nicolas Roeg.
Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap, 1980. Dir: Pedro Almodóvar.
Dark Habits, 1983. Dir: Pedro Almodóvar.
What Have I Done to Deserve This?, 1984. Dir: Pedro Almodóvar.
The Bedroom Window, 1987. Dir: Curtis Hanson.
High Heels, 1991. Dir: Pedro Almodóvar.
Bitter Moon, 1992. Dir: Roman Polanski.
Dazed and Confused, 1993. Dir: Richard Linklater.
Kika, 1993. Dir: Pedro Almodóvar.
I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996. Dir: Mary Harron.
No, 2012. Dir: Pablo Larraín.
Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015. Dir: George Miller.
Split, 2016. Dir: M. Night Shyamalan.
Tenet3, 2020. Dir: Christopher Nolan.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, 2022. Dir: Akiva Schaffer.
Talk to Me, 2022. Dir: Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou.
Watcher, 2022. Dir: Chloe Okuno.
Thanksgiving, 2023. Dir: Eli Roth.
I was also an assistant stage manager on a show at Loyola at the time, which I used to finagle my way into watching the stage manager of Wicked call the show one night.
For one, he has lips!
I was so stoned in 2020 when I first watched this that it does not count. This movie is perfect, I can’t believe I ever hated it!
Omg Trap was such a blast and I absolutely did NOT mutter “murder me daddy” at Josh Hartnett at any point no siree!!
Can’t wait for your thoughts on Sing Sing! I loved it. Have you seen Exhibiting Forgiveness?