The top 50 films of 2024 - Part I, with trailers
Our film critic, Mark Walsh, delivers his verdict on the top 50 films of 2024 - in two parts.
The writers’ and actors’ strikes in the US from last year gave the summer a slightly barren feel as far as big blockbusters are concerned. So my top 50 this year is almost Marvel and DC free, but what we lacked in big tentpole releases we certainly made up for in quality, especially at the start of the year.
It’s been an exciting year for the city as well with four cinemas now available in central Cambridge and more within easy reach. November releases, including Gladiator II, Wicked and Moana 2 have all done spectacularly well, proving that the appetite for cinema is as strong as ever.
Here’s what got me excited during 2024: as ever, if you have a five-star rating system, everything on this list would get at least four from me and is strongly recommended. Whatever you’re watching over Christmas, happy viewing.
50 Small Things Like These
The adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Orwell Prize-winning novel was a masterclass in understated anger and grief. Cillian Murphy is the coalman who becomes aware of a difficult situation at the local convent, as Tim Mielants’ film reflects on the legacy of the Magdalene Laundries.
49 I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun’s film uses the hook of nostalgia and an invented TV history to explore themes of self-identity. Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine are the teenagers whose relationship with their favourite TV show The Pink Opaque begins to warp their perception of reality.
48 Hundreds of Beavers
A Loony Tunes cartoon write large for the big screen, Mike Cheslik’s film worked its way from the festival circuit in 2022 to a full UK cinema release this year. A woodsman must overcome the titular quantity of beavers, who all (like every animal in the film) are people doing silly things in beaver costumes in a black and white comedy with a high gag hit-rate.
47 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller’s prequel to the colossal epic Fury Road doesn’t quite hit the same heights and suffers a little too much from CGI-itis, but there’s still plenty to enjoy with Anya Taylor-Joy explaining the origins of Charlize Theron’s warrior from the last Mad Max film.
46 Woman of the Hour
Anna Kendrick directs as well as starring in this unconventional serial killer story based on real events. She plays the woman who encountered serial killer Rodney Alcala – in the midst of his killing spree – on the American version of Blind Date, The Dating Game.
45 Nezouh
Soudade Kaadan’s drama feels deeply timely to revisit at 2024, given that it depicts a Syrian family whose father almost comically refuses to leave their home, even as it is bombed to pieces around them. Daughter Zeina (Hala Zein)’s struggles of adolescence offer a needed contrast to the turbulence of war.
44 Inside Out 2
Pixar’s track record with sequels that weren’t Toy Story have been a slightly diminished return on the original, and while this is true of Inside Out 2, there’s still warmth, heart and intelligence to be found as Riley hits puberty and new emotions attempt to set themselves up in her brain.
43 The Fall Guy
David Letch’s action comedy was one of the bright spots of the early summer, a remake in spirit of the Lee Majors TV series that brought Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt together, allowed their chemistry and comic timing to do its stuff, then delivered a stack of impressive stunt work to boot.
42 The End We Start From
Jodie Comer’s effortless screen presence is put to strong use in this post-apocalyptic British drama based on Megan Hunter’s slim novel. A woman heads north with her new baby to attempt to avoid catastrophic flooding as the film explores the human consequences for climate change.
41 There's Still Tomorrow
Shot in a style that evokes the neorealist classics of Italian cinema of the era in which it’s set, Paola Cortellesi, who also co-wrote and directs, is the woman seeking hope and escape from her loveless and abusive marriage in post WWII-era Rome.
40 Alien: Romulus
Set between the Ridley Scott and James Cameron entries that started the series, Fede Álvarez offers a significant improvement over his entry into the Evil Dead franchise. David Jonsson shines as the artificial human with conflicting priorities when he and his fellow crew encounter the xenomorphs.
39 Heretic
Hugh Grant should get to play the baddie more often on this evidence, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ horror giving him chance to turn his normal charisma on its head as the loner who traps two Mormon missionaries and asks them to question the nature of their own beliefs.
38 American Fiction
A vehicle for the significant talents of Jeffrey Wright, Cord Jefferson’s searing, ridiculous satire is based on Percival Everett’s novel Erasure and sees Wright frustrated after his attempts at publishing serious literature keep failing, but then sees his mocking takedown of “black” novels become a resounding success.
37 Boy Kills World
A whirling maelstrom of kinetic action, which makes more sense when you see Evil Dead director Sam Raimi credited as a producer, but Moritz Mohr finds his own style as a deaf-mute martial arts expert out for revenge with a videogame-inspired voiceover in his head.
36 Abigail
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have delivered scary fun with the two most recent Scream films and Ready Or Not, and here find the perfect cast to complement their gorier impulses. Dan Stevens has a lot of fun as part of a gang of thieves paid to kidnap a girl, without knowing her dark secret.
35 Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Using an archive of footage collected by the Reeve family, plus interviews with its surviving members, Super/Man tells two contrasting tales: the rise of Christopher Reeve to the role which made him an icon, and then his development after the fall which caused his paralysis and changed his life.
34 Monkey Man
It’s been a wonderfully strong year for 18-rated action movies and Dev Patel’s directorial debut (co-produced by Get Out’s Jordan Peele) has the perfect crescendo of action beats to accompany his revenge-seeking kid that draws heavily on Indian imagery.
33 Robot Dreams
This offbeat, delightfully innocent animation sees Pablo Berger adapting Sara Varon’s comic about a dog and his robot friend in Eighties’ New York. Eschewing dialogue, this Spanish-produced animation has charm and quirkiness redolent of Ghibli and Aardman.
32 Strange Darling
JT Mollner’s thriller puts a new spin on serial killer tropes by chopping its story into six chapters and an epilogue and playing them in an order that only gradually reveals the motivations of its leads. Willa Fitzgerald is on the run, but we’re not sure if it’s from danger or towards it…
31 Bird
Andrea Arnold’s latest opened the Cambridge Film Festival this year, with a curious yet compelling juxtaposition of Arnold’s usual class study of the social fringes, mixed with more fantastical elements. Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski and newcomer Nykiya Adams all excel in balancing the magic with the mundane.
30 Hoard
Luna Carmoon’s defiant, often surreal coming-of-age drama with a difference is told in two parts: Hayley Squires is the mother who hoard rubbish to dangerous levels, while years later her daughter (Saura Lightfoot Leon) searches for meaning and connection in her foster family.
29 All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia’s drama picked up the Grand Prix at Cannes this year, and topped Sight And Sound’s poll for the best film of 2024. The story of two Mayalali nurses living in Mumbai and reflecting on life and relationships is beautifully shot and wistfully warm.
28 Priscilla
A much more effective look at the mythology of the preeminent rock and roll star of the 20th century than Baz Luhrmann’s recent effort, Sofia Coppola examines Elvis (Jacob Elordi) through the eyes of his wife (Cailee Spaeny) from their romance to the disintegration of their marriage.
27 The Bikeriders
Mike Nichols’ passion project, based on Sixties photojournalism of a biker gang around Chicago, has a fabulous cast: Tom Hardy offering Brando-inspired smouldering, Austin Butler giving his best reckless James Dean, and Jodie Comer as the woman attempting to keep his wilder impulses in check.
26 Rebel Ridge
Jeremy Saulnier continues his track record of tense, muscular dramas in the American heartlands, following up Blue Ruin and Green Room with Aaron Pierre as a former Marine facing injustice in a small town from the corrupt police force headed by a slimy Don Johnson.
Look out for Part II - coming soon.
Look out for Mark’s previous guides to the top movies of 2023 (part I and part II), 2022 (part I and part II), 2021 (part I and part II), 2020 (part I and part II), 2019 (part I and part II) and 2018 (part I and part II), plus a guide of the best movies of the first 20 years of this century (part I and part II). Phew!
