My Top 10 Movies of 2024

2024, what a year! This was my first year on Substack, and I had the privilege of connecting with many fantastic writers and film heads—it was pretty sick! I don't have my numbers handy, but I spent a lot of my time this year in theaters posting my go-to "Now Seated For," excited for the lights to go down, transported to new worlds, and heard new voices of cinema. Before I do my honorable mentions and top 10, I'd like to give a big shoutout to my lovely fiancé, Leah. She's the one who pushed me to start a Substack instead of just posting little reviews on my Instagram story. She's been my guiding light for many years, and I couldn't be more appreciative of her constant support. Looking over some of my work and giving insightful criticism means the world to me.

Now, let's get down to brass tax! 2024 was a fantastic year in film. I have such a deep love for movies, and even if I didn't like or give a harsh review, I understand making a film is fucking hard. It's a miracle any of them hit the big screen. So here are some honorable mentions just outside my top 10: Cloud, Love Lies Bleeding, Juror #2, Sing Sing, Challengers, Anora, Evil Does Not Exist, The First Omen, Rebel Ridge, Strange Darling, Dìdi, Hit Man, Queer, Oddity, & Babygirl. I found all of these to be fantastic, but there were just a few I found to be a cut above the rest.

All the quotes below are taken directly from my complete reviews of the films below, which I highly recommend checking out!

10. The Substance

Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is unlike anything released in 2024. It's a body horror glam masterpiece that demands to be seen in a crowded theater. Demi Moore is electrifying yet vulnerable, giving a career-best performance, while Marget Qualley jumps off the screen in every scene. It's B Movie camp galore with kinetic energy and vibrant Barbie colors that will stimulate all your senses while destroying them with gore. It is an authentic introspective look at an industry that will toss away women at a certain age without care, but even more profound, I think it looks at how uncomfortable we all are in our weird meat sack bodies and how aging makes us want to grab and rip our skin off. The last 30 minutes is some of the wildest shit put to screen and will have your jaw on the floor. David Cronenberg and John Carpenter would be proud if you knew anything about their "body" of work.

9. A Different Man

Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man is a masterful blend of humor and dark themes, a delicate balance that keeps the audience engaged and intrigued. It's not just about identity, shallow acting practices, hypocrisy, and society's terrible treatment of those with disabilities; it's also about Adam Pearson bursting into scenes like Austin Powers in his outrageously cool outfits. This hysterical dark comedy, with Sebastian Stan delivering a career-best performance, invites us to look into the mirror and examine who we are. It's a journey that may make us cringe and lose our minds with hideous laughter. The film's morbid charm, beautifully shot and framed with some of the best-lit scenes of the year, is a testament to its artistic brilliance and will leave you visually stimulated. A Different Man is undoubtedly one of 2024's best films, and that's not just Renate Reinsve's gaslighting me or our main protagonist; it's true!

8. La Chimera

La Chimera asks us, the audience, many questions. What does it mean to dig up the past? What capitalist forces may have forced us to violate the tombs of the long dead? What are real connections or just a dream? How do we grieve and pass the time along? Do we ever truly recover from loss? Would you join a merry band of gypsies and drunkenly galavant across the Italian countryside? Well, absolutely, to that last question. Director Alice Rohrwacher has delivered a wonderous film that, at times, will make you laugh with its Buster Keatonesque chase sequences in one moment and then destroy you emotionally with Josh O'Connor's breathtaking, depressive performance. La Chimera is nothing short of a cathartic masterpiece that will live on with you long after you leave the theater. 

7. Dune Part 2

Dune Part 2 is finally here, and I am happy to say it delivers on every front. It is no hyperbole to say that Dune Part 2 is not just one of the greatest sequels ever but will go down as a groundbreaking cultural blockbuster. Denis Villeneuve has perfectly constructed this from the top down. The film is paced unbelievably well for a 3-hour run time. Visually, it's a masterpiece in terms of action and set pieces. The acting and care for character development are given to every actor, showing some career bests. Zimmer's score to Fraser's Cinematography is all 10/10s here. Denis understood not just the magnitude of Dune in terms of scale but also the themes of Frank Herbert's epic, which he completely nails here.

6. I Saw the TV Glow

Growing up a nice Catholic boy, I vaguely remember the parables I was taught at Sunday School. I think of The Prodigal Son or The Rich Fool. These stories are supposed to teach young kids ethical lessons or be possible warnings. Lessons that tell you not to be too envious, prideful, greedy, and overall a good human, yada yada. I Saw the TV Glow is one of the most potent and beautiful parables I've ever watched. It's an unbelievable trans/queer allegory that shows the terrible consequences you can face by denying who you are. Set in the backdrop of suburbia, late-night surreal television, and a phenomenal score by Alex G, you are in for a nightmarishly good time. Jane Schoenbrun's sophomore debut is nothing short of masterful cathartic goodness, and nothing in the year 2024 has invoked such strong feelings out of me. It's never felt so good to let go during a film and let it take over you.

5. Red Rooms

Sometimes I think I am some film sicko. I revel in disgustingly dark and horrible stories put on screen with glee. Show me what wickedness lies in man's heart and what they are capable of. The more sinister, the better, I always say. But then I watched Pascal Plante's Red Rooms and realized I was not built for something this profoundly evil. Red Rooms fills you with immense dread as you closely examine the blackest of souls. A person who has become obsessed with their self-destruction and takes it to malevolent places you didn't think possible. Its eerie and almost alien-like direction makes you almost feel like you shouldn't be watching this as if you are a specter witnessing true psychosis on screen. It is a film that closely examines our online fixation and isolation and how it can spiral uncontrollably and lead us down a path of depravity.

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a myth put to screen. It expands and enhances the Mad Max universe in every facet. The undeniable action, superb worldbuilding, and fantastic performances are all firing on all cylinders. George Miller has once again proven why he is a master of the craft of filmmaking and does something wildly ambitious while staying true to himself. Furiosa is his Sergio Leone western, which he's probably dreamed of making his whole life, and he nails it here. Anna Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth leave indelible marks on the film with two badass and wild performances. The box office hasn't been kind to Furiosa, but allow me to gush about why this could be the film of 2024.

3. The Brutalist

Every twenty to thirty years, we are blessed with a sweeping American epic that taps directly into the American zeitgeist. We had Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood twenty years ago. Before that, we had Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Before that, we had Orson Welles's Citizen Kane. Today, we have Brady Corbet's The Brutalist. It is a film with immense scale and soul. The cinematography is a visual feast that will leave your jaw on the floor. The performances will tap into every fiber of your being, moving you to the core. The score swells and tingles the hairs on your neck, leaving you with a euphoric release. It's not just the definitive immigrant story but one that taps so much deeper into the heart of a rotten country, a rotten dream, and a rotten core at the heart of America. The film's exploration of the dark side of the American Dream will leave you feeling enlightened and introspective. In the face of atrocities and hardship, how do we live? Do we destroy ourselves and push away the ones we love and lust after? Do we push on, and how does that look? This great American novel and painting put to screen gives you everything and more, and Adrien Brody delivers the performance of the decade with pride and sorrow. Monumental would be an understatement. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but its deep and rich appreciation for visionaries is awe-inspiring. This is made to be seen on the giant screen, where its visual and emotional impact can truly be felt.

2. The Beast

In recent years, we have faced an uphill battle against Artificial Intelligence in the arts. One film controversy after another involves using generative AI instead of the artist or the worker, replacing them to cut costs. It's been a sickening trend to see, but an essential aspect to consider is not just the loss of jobs but the loss of humanity. If this computer program creates this piece of "art," is it truly art? Where is the soul or emotion behind this piece? As we consume more artificial flavors and ingredients in our daily diet, will we soon be consuming lifeless imitations of art made by algorithms? Bertrand Bonello's The Beast dives right into the impact of AI on art and who we are becoming as a society. Are we doomed to copy everything of the past and allow that past to determine our future? Are we simply going through the motions of life, and what does it mean to be fulfilled versus full of life?

The film speaks for itself more than I ever could. I can only tell you how it made me feel and how it left a bleak, dark hole in my heart by the time this story was over. The Beast will ask a lot of you as an audience member, but if you allow it in, it will speak to who you are as a human. If you love Black Mirror, it actually goes deeper than surface level, if that helps. It is easily in my top five films of 2024. (I know it came out in 2023, but still.) Go feel dread!!!

1. Nickel Boys

If there's one movie in 2024 that gave me hope for the future of cinema, it would be RaMell Rose's Nickel Boys. It makes me so goddamn happy that we still have ambitious and daring visionary storytellers who are willing to challenge us as an audience. Nickel Boys isn't just a deep insight into our dark history as a country but an honest look at the scars that have lingered into today. The film highlights that this story isn't that old and still relevant today, and we must confront those realities. It features some of the most beautiful cinematography I've ever seen, in which you see so many worlds in every frame. Most of the film takes place in first-person, which could have come off as a gimmick, but never have I ever been genuinely immersed in someone else's life in such a touching way. Its audacious flashing imagery, sensory overloading sound design, and impactful performances combine to create one of this decade's visionary masterpieces.

Thank you all so much for checking out my stuff, and I'll see you all next year! (lmao)

Written by Kevin J. Pettit