My 10 favorite films of 2024

Beavers, daughters, robots and prisoners.

We made it. We’re just a few weeks out from the official end of the year, but it’s time to start counting out 2024. Today, we’re going to start with my list of my favorite films of 2024. Wednesday, I’ll have my 10 runners up, and Friday I’ll have a list of the other pop culture items I loved this year. Look for one more post about Santa movies during the weekend, as well as one final post on Sunday before I take a bit of a break for the rest of the year.

Every year has good movies. Not every year is a great year for cinema. But 2024 was pretty strong. My top 10 list shifted right up until the end; in fact, many of the movies near the bottom of this list were in contention for my top spot at one time or another. It was a good year to be a movie fan if you knew where to look. True, a lot of the biggest budget stuff left me underwhelmed. But there were many strong voices doing quality work, and I’m happy to honor them here.

I consider all of these movies great; the fun in the rankings is looking back to see which ones spoke loudest to me and have not left my mind over the course of the year. A best-of list says nothing about me; a favorites list does (although I consider all of these films to be high quality, not just films I enjoyed). In fact, for the first time, I actually named a different movie to the top of my best-of list when voting for the Michigan Movie Critics Guild than tops this one (it’s not a big change; #1 and #2 basically just switched spots). So, just a clarification that I realize we can quibble about “best;” these are the 10 I loved most.

With that out of the way, let’s get started, and begin with a live-action cartoon that hasn’t left my brain since I saw it in February.

10. Hundreds of Beavers

Here’s part of where “favorite” over “best” comes into play. Is Mike Cheslik’s (largely) silent comedy about a drunken apple jack salesman who sets out to kill multiple beavers in the Great White North really better than some of this year’s award hopefuls? Probably not. But the one thing I ask for every year is for a filmmaker to give me something I’ve never seen before, and few things impressed me more than this goofy bit of slapstick, made on a shoestring budget yet told on a mind-boggling scale. Part Buster Keaton, part Looney Tunes, and part Nintendo, I’ve described this as the movie equivalent of Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes: it starts funny, begins to wear on you, and then is so relentless in its silliness that it comes back around to hilarity. From its jaunty opening theme song through what I can only describe as “Beaver Voltron,” this is one of the great works of DIY cinema, and I’m glad to see it’s already a cult classic and midnight movie favorite.

9. His Three Daughters

Azazel Jacobs’ film begins with Carrie Coon speaking directly to the camera; she’s actually talking to one of her sisters, but the theatricality is apparent. That’s fitting; His Three Daughters, which focuses on three siblings sitting in their father’s apartment while he’s in hospice care, is all about how we slip into old roles and performances when we gather with family. This funny, touching and insightful film understands sibling dynamics better than any other movie I’ve seen, and examines what might be left to hold the family unit together once its center of gravity passes on. Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Coon deliver fantastic work, and while I imagine its final minutes might be a bit too on-the-nose for some, I’ll simply say the last act hit me like a sledgehammer.

8. I Saw the TV Glow

Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore feature divided critics this year, and that’s understandable. The story of teenagers consumed with (and possibly by) a television program isn’t the most accessible movie, and its shadowy aesthetic and moody tone might bounce right off many. All I can say is it haunted me like few other films have, and its depiction of alienated and isolated youth burrowed into me. Justice Smith’s performance struck some as wispy and one-note; I found his depiction of someone who feels like they’re on the verge of imploding deeply affecting. Is this a movie about our obsession with nostalgia and how it curdles in adulthood? Is it about the moment when you realize you might have missed your chance at happiness and now you’re trapped, apologizing for your self-inflicted misery? Is it a trans allegory? The genius of Schoenbrun’s film is that it’s all of those things at once. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

7. Challengers

If I knew tennis could be so sexy, I would have picked up a racket years ago (maybe pickleball is also sexy?). Few directors put desire on the screen as palpably as Luca Guadignino, who sets up a riveting love triangle on and off the court. Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’ Connor are wonderful as the throuple whose relationships collide and entangle, and the film presents its characters’ switching desires as ping-ponging game itself. The fun of Challengers, however, is in not really knowing whether sex or tennis are the main goal – many of the film’s love scenes feel like foreplay, with the real action taking place on the court. Propelled by a dynamic score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and ending on a thrilling note of athletic transcendence, it’s as fun and purely entertaining a movie as Gaudignino has made.

6. Daughters

There’s a very sweet, warm and fuzzy story that could have been made out of Daughters, which follows a group of prison inmates as they prepare for a daddy-daughter dance. And Angela Patton and Chad Morris’ documentary definitely has moments that pull at the heartstrings. But what elevates this film is the way it doesn’t flinch from the hardness of its subject matter. Yes, the film is centered around a chance for these fathers to connect with their daughters. But it’s also honest about the difficult emotions that surround the event, not just for the inmates but for the daughters and for their mothers. It observes the casual cruelty of the American prison system, which forces families to pay to interact with loved ones and inhibits “no touch” policies between parents and their children, denying them a link that could be crucial to rehabilitation. The documentary highlights a program in which more than 95% of its participants stay out of jail after release, and brings humanity to people trapped in a system designed to strip it away.

5. Anora

Sean Baker is a filmmaker of deep empathy – a skill that I value more as the years go on. He gives humanity and dignity to people who society normally judges or devalues, particularly sex workers. He understands that American culture is designed to reward the wealthy and keep the marginalized right where they are. And all of that is present in Anora, particularly in its final hour. But what elevates this film is its humor and entertainment. Yes, you could describe this as “Real Pretty Woman” – it is the story of a sex worker who gets a ticket out of her lifestyle only to find the American Dream doesn’t apply for people like her. But Baker’s film is a wry and funny look at the transactional nature of many American relationships, not just when it comes to sex and marriage, but to the goons just trying to get the job done for a boss they don’t particularly like. The middle stretch of this film – in which Ani tags along with thugs to find her husband – is as funny and entertaining as any big-budget comedy. But Anora finds its weight in Mikey Madison’s fierce, career-making performance, and the tender relationship she builds with one of her captors (Yuri Borisov).

4. A Real Pain

When I finished Jesse Eisenberg’s film, my first thought was that it was enjoyable, but not necessarily one of the year’s best. And yet, few films have stuck to the ribs like this one, a movie that is both funny and sad, but with a tonal balance that ensures one never outweighs the other. Eisenberg’s sophomore film follows two cousins touring Poland after their grandmother’s death and facing their family’s deep legacy of suffering as well as the shifting dynamics between them. Kieran Culkin is abrasive, charming and charmingly abrasive as a man who is fully alive and who feels everything deeply – even though much of what he feels hurts like hell. But don’t sleep on Eisenberg, who is also fantastic as someone who wishes he could be as vivacious and present as his cousin but also is driven nuts and embarrassed by his behavior. It’s funny, thoughtful and has something to say about how we manage the darkness inside and outside of us. I think about this movie’s final shot all the time.

3. The Wild Robot

This is the year in which DreamWorks finally out-Pixar’d Pixar. I can’t imagine a single parent making it through The Wild Robot without bursting into tears at least once; it’s that good a story about the willing sacrifices that come with raising a child in a world where everything seems bent on destroying it. Lupita N’yongo does heartfelt and funny voice work as a robot baffled at her willingness to override her programming to become a parent, and the film’s animation is colorful and painterly in a way we don’t usually get from studio animated releases. The movie gains added power in its back half, when it becomes about the necessity of working with enemies and overcoming our primal urge to destroy each other in order to survive – a theme we probably all need right now. Plus, Matt Berry utters the phrase “male bovine excrement” in the way that only he can. A beautiful movie.

2. The Brutalist

As I said in my introduction, this was my #1 pick for the Michigan Movie Critics Guild this year. Brady Corbet’s film is simply too big and bold a statement to ignore. This immigrant tale is so rich and detailed, I was shocked to find it’s not a true story nor is it based on a novel. Corbet uses his 3.5 hours to tell a story about the aspiration and curdling of the American dream, with Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce both doing career-best work as men who both need each other and resent that fact. It’s a gigantic, almost overwhelming treatise on art and obsession, perseverance, and – much like Anora – the fact that capitalism will crush originality. A tremendous achievement.

1. Sing Sing

And yet, the heart wants what it wants. And no film moved me this year like Greg Kwedar’s drama, Sing Sing. Like Daughters, this is about the importance of maintaining humanity and dignity in the American prison system. Like another great 2024 film, Ghostlight (we’ll get there Wednesday), it’s about the healing power of theater. But Sing Sing has a restraint that makes its emotional moments hit harder. This could easily be a fish-out-of-water comedy or overwrought melodrama. Instead, Kwedar’s film observes the emotional growth the men experience from this program. Colman Domingo is blistering as a man unjustly imprisoned who knows how much this program has kept him from despair; Clarence Maclin – like many cast members, a real-life program graduate – is great as the skeptical prisoner who finds healing through Shakespeare. In its best moments, Sing Sing deals with many of the same themes of The Shawshank Redemption and – I know this borders on heresy – does so more successfully and realistically, particularly in its final stretch. This movie moved me to tears several times; don’t miss it when it gets a theatrical re-release in January.