10. CHALLENGERS

Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you: pickleball rules and tennis drools – except those friends who have seen Challengers, Luca Guadagnino’s thrilling story of tennis, love, and jealousy.  Admittedly, I’ve never been much of a fan of Guadagnino’s work – and I’ve seen almost everything he’s released since 2009’s I Am Love.  But Challengers is different.  It has an exciting energy to it that his previous films lacked.  In fact, many of his previous films could be compared to a pickleball match.  Slow, patient, and strategic, yet painfully dull to watch.  Challengers, on the other hand is more like a tennis match; it’s fast-paced, fun, and it doesn’t waste anytime dinking around.  Even the film’s score, which is undoubtedly the year’s best, single handedly elevates the pace of the film beyond any of Guadagnino’s previous works.  Sure, story itself is basically a two-hour soap opera of love and lust, but the way Guadagnino tells it makes it feel like we’re watching match point at Wimbledon the entire time.

9. A REAL PAIN

By far, the biggest issue I have with A Real Pain is the fact that it’s going to steal a “Best Supporting Actor” Oscar from a deserving candidate.  And no, that’s not a Kieran Culkin diss.  His layered performance is by far the best thing about A Real Pain, and one of the finest performances of the year.  But it’s also a role that is far too significant to be deemed supporting.  Not only does Culkin appear in 65% of the movie, but the film revolves around his character, who struggles with bipolar disorder.  He’s Raymond in Rain Man, or Ratso in Midnight Cowboy, and Culkin’s performance is every bit worthy to be compared to those primetime Dustin Hoffman accomplishments.  Yet, the film has plenty of other things to like, too, especially the fantastic screenplay by Jesse Eisenberg.   I have friends who can’t stand Eisenberg, but something tells me they’ll have a brand-new respect for him when they see what he’s accomplished with A Real Pain.

8. FLOW

In a year where many of the best movies dealt with racism, rape, and depression, it was so refreshing to see a movie that simply told the story of a cat that roams the countryside for 85 minutes.  Admittedly, I nearly dozed off a few times during this beautiful animation – not because the movie was boring, but because it took me inside a world that is so peaceful that relaxation comes at ease.  But, despite its simplicity, Flow is also an incredibly touching story about a group of pets that work together to overcome the challenges set forth by global warming.  As homes flood, they sail away in a small boat, picking up any stranded animals they find along the way.  In an era where movies are so seldom sweet, Flow is a magical journey that teaches us that we’ll be just fine, as long as we learn to work together.

7. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Nearly twenty years ago, director James Mangold cast Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.  Although it would lead Phoenix to his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, it seemed obvious that he had far greater things in store for the future.  It wouldn’t be long until he’d be the best actor in Hollywood.  Now Mangold has done it again.  In A Complete Unknown, he casts Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, leaving little doubt that the rising star will soon be America’s top leading man for Oscar-worthy roles, if he isn’t already.  Chalamet gives his best performance to date as Bob Dylan, as he perfectly matches Dylan’s unique pitch and hipster look.  As someone who is a lifelong Dylan fan, A Complete Unknown reminded me how perfectly music can be paired with film. Much like Jamie Foxx in Ray and Phoenix in Walk the Line, Timothee Chalamet’s perfect impersonation of Bob Dylan infuses the movie with magic.  Let’s also give Monica Barbaro some credit for her bravo performance as Joan Baez.  Ariana Grande could easily win an Oscar for flinging her hair repeatedly in Wicked, but the performances Barbaro, along with Margaret Qualley (The Substance) and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys) are worth far more than gold.

6. NO OTHER LAND

If there is any silver lining to the devastating fires that destroyed the homes of many Los Angelenos over the past month, it’s the way we came together as a country to show our support.  Firefighters flew in from around the world, hundreds of millions of dollars were donated to fire victims, and virtually everybody was glued to the news.  While watching No Other Land, I couldn’t help but think, “why don’t we show this same type of love to the Palestinian people whose homes are demolished by the Israeli military on a regular basis?”  Is it because we feel that we have too little in common with these Palestinians?  Surely it can’t be.  As I was watching No Other Land, I noticed how similar these people are to me: they care for their children, joke with their friends, and dream about their futures – at least until those dreams are shattered by the Israeli government, sometimes, literally, in the form of tearing down its schools.  Ignorance may be bliss, but No Other Land gives us the knowledge and power to help out.  That’s the incredible power film can have, when its main focus isn’t on making a studio rich.  No Other Land is the most powerful documentary I’ve seen in years, and one that will hopefully drive the change that the film demands, and deserves.

5. THE SUBSTANCE

Earlier this year, Caralie Fargeat’s The Substance became the first movie I’ve ever walked out of before the ending credits rolled.  I walked out, not knowing if I liked it or hated it – I just knew I couldn’t take any more of the gushing blood and uncompromising pain it inflicts on its viewers.  Yet, since then, The Substance remains the one film from 2024 that I cannot forget, and one that will likely remain sketched in my mind for some time.  It tells the story of Elisabeth, an aging movie star turned aerobics instructor who struggles with the pressure the industry puts on her to remain young and beautiful.  When a young nurse informs her about a black-market anti-aging serum, Elisabeth decides to give it a try.  What follows is the bloodiest, most horrific, and unforgettable film of the year.  Like a medical procedure that can’t be reversed, The Substance is a harrowing viewing experience, that will stay with its viewers for the rest of their lives.

4. MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

In a year where there were so many standout animated films – from The Wild Robot to Flow to Inside Out 2 – the best of the bunch was a stop-motion import from Australia.  Memoir of a Snail tells the story of a snail-loving woman who endures a very challenging life, to say the least.  After her father passes away, she is forced to part ways with her brother, and live with a pair of wacky swinging nudists.  By now, you probably realize that this isn’t the kind of family fair we’ve all come to expect from an animated film.  And it’s not, because it’s a film that feels so personal and deals with adult emotions and challenges.  After the credits rolled, I was convinced that the story was written by the film’s main character, because the journey felt so real.  Instead, I was surprised to see its creator is Adam Elliot, who turned Mary and Max into a minor hit many years ago, and even won an Oscar for Best Short Film for Harvie Krumpet.  In a just world, he would win another for Memoir of a Snail, which may just be the most underrated and underseen movie of 2024.

3. THE BRUTALIST

Remember those double VHS tapes like The Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia that took up more than their share of space on the shelf, as if it were a statement that the film was more important than those around it? Well, with its three-and-a-half-hour runtime, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist feels like it deserves to be packaged in a double VHS tape on a shelf surrounded by less worthy films.  Instead, it’s playing in theaters, surrounded by less worthy films that are made out of recycled ideas and overused CGI.  The Brutalist tells the story of Laszio Toth, a Holocaust survivor and renowned architect who immigrates to America in hopes of starting over.  His big break comes in the form of a working relationship with Harrison Lee Van Buren, an incredibly wealthy business man who hires Toth to build a memorial in memory of his recently deceased mother.  What follows is a 214-minute epic that somehow has less minutes of boredom than any movie I saw in 2024 – perhaps with the exception of Anora.  Some critics disapproved of the ending, completing misunderstanding the purpose. In my mind, Corbet is reminding us that our legacy lies in what we leave behind.  For Toth, it’s his masterful artwork; for Van Buren, it’s something far less honorable.  And for Corbet, it’s a masterpiece that should be remembered for years to come, even if it never ends up on a double-VHS tape.

2. ANORA

“I want your parents to like me,” Ani remarks to Ivan, shortly after the couple gets married on a whim.  And, if this were a fairytale, they would.  But writer-director Sean Baker isn’t about fairytales and their predictable formulas.  Besides, this is America, where class and wealth matter.  At least that seems to be the message at the heart of Baker’s newest film, Anora, which is his best film since The Florida Project.  Like Ani, Anora isn’t perfect, but it’s far closer than most the movies we got in 2024.  It tells the story of a pretty 23-year-old stripper who meets an immature, but enormously wealthy 21-year-old Russian named Ivan, who dreams of becoming an American citizen.  The two travel to Vegas together, and they return as newlyweds, much to the dismay of Ivan’s prominent and powerful parents.  Much like he has with his previous films, Baker’s newest film focuses on the less fortunate who use sex as a tool to make ends meet.  He has an enormous talent of making us sympathize for these characters, and root for them to one day end up in a Sean Baker fairytale.  Until then, we’ll settle for his truthful heartbreakers like Anora, which ranks alongside Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights as one of the most heartbreaking stories ever told about the rise and ever so painful fall of an American sex worker.

1. NICKEL BOYS

Being an A-Subs member at AMC, I can nearly recite every line of that overplayed Nicole Kidman commercial that plays before every show.  “We come to this place for magic.  We come to AMC Theaters to love, to cry, to care, because we need that.” Well, for me, the only movie in 2024 that gave me the desire to truly care for the characters on screen was RaMell Ross’s heartbreaking story of the boys who lost their lives at the Nickel Academy.  Nickel Boys, which is adapted from Colson Whitehead Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, tells the story of Ellwood Curtis, one of those innocent children who were sent to Nickel Academy simply because of the color of his skin.  Nickel Boys is an incredible debut by Ross, who previously had only directed a TV series and a documentary.  He tells the story from a first-person point-of-view that feels fresher than any cinematography we’ve seen since Terrence Mallick’s The Tree of Life burst onto the screen in 2011.  By doing so, Ross allows viewers to experience the pain and prejudice that black boys like Ellwood faced throughout their lives.  So, if you actually do go to the movies to love, to cry, and to care, the only movie you really need to see from 2024 is Nickel Boys.  And even if you have other goals when you go to the movies, you should still see Nickel Boys for one simple reason: it’s the best and most important film of the year.