Here are my favorite movies from 2024! My full movie list can be found here.

11) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: ★★★★

I’d never seen any of the Apes movies before this year, but this one finally got me on the monkey train. Deeply regret not giving the franchise a try sooner – the climax of War was the most hype I’ve felt in recent memory.

It’s in competitive company, but to my eyes Kingdom is probably the weakest of the four so far. I’m hoping future installments can do some more work on the new characters – I found myself unable to care too deeply about a lot this. That said, if you put enough apes together you’re gonna get a strong movie.

10) Inside Out 2: ★★★★

Apart from the vibrant new characters and ideas, I can’t stop myself from feeling like this kind of just a retread of the first one. But if it’s formulaic, it’s a good formula.

9) My Old Ass: ★★★★

I’m not usually huge on rom-coms, but this is fresh. Just a genuinely sweet, touching movie with some great humor. I was having a bad day when I watched this, so it was kind of exactly what I needed.

8) Lowlifes: ★★★★

Really, really fun horror. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing.

7) Wicked: ★★★★½

This show was my introduction to musical theater as a kid, and I have a huge soft spot for it. Not that a play this legendary needs the help.

A lot has been said about how this movie looks. I will say I’m not sure why Dancing Through Life was so aggressively backlit, that in particular was kind of ugly to me. I’m no aficionado, but to me everything else looked from okay to good. The washed out colors didn’t really bother me.

I think the movie is close to the best an adaptation could have possibly been, and I’m pleased to say I think it does the stageplay more than ample justice. I did in fact ascend during The Wizard and I. My gay inner child is healed and I can’t wait to be destroyed by Act II.

6) Transformers One: ★★★★½

Before this, I was a Transformers virgin. I see the vision now. Fully on board with cars that are aliens and also kind of robots but not really.

5) I Saw the TV Glow: ★★★★½

There’s a desperate dread in this movie that maintains its impact throughout. Some of the imagery and moments got under my skin and haven’t left, and the final sequence is distilled existential horror. Any movie with a King Woman performance is gonna be good.

4) The Wild Robot: ★★★★½

Beautiful in every aspect.

3) Longlegs: ★★★★½

This movie builds tension like nobody’s business. Everything feels deliberate, and it’s all around just a really fun, solid horror movie.

2) Dune: Part Two: ★★★★½

Things don’t get much grander than this

1) Challengers: ★★★★½

Utterly unbelievable cinematography, and I feel like the screenplay is actually perfect. Zendaya is the owner of 2024 I guess

Movie posters provided by TMDB