This was supposed to be a bad year for movies. Although, to be fair, that becomes a mantra that bubbles up every other year or so. Despite strikes a year prior, despite upheaval in the industry, some of the best movies of this decade found their way to theaters in 2024. It was something of a welcome relief.
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Granted, as The Playlist unveils our top 20 films of the past 12 months, some popular titles are missing. No, the blockbusters “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” didn’t make the cut. The crowd-pleasing “Wicked” would have likely been in the top 25, but not the top 20.
We should point out, however, that three of the 20 titles debuted at fall festivals in 2023 before finally being released this calendar year. And four other films, “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Nosferatu,” and “Babygirl,” will not be in limited or general release until Christmas Day, a little over two weeks after this feature is published. So, perhaps these rankings can whet your appetite for the cinematic treats to come.
Follow along for all our Best Of The Year and Most Anticipated coverage here.
20. “The People’s Joker”
The fact Vera Drew’s Gotham Award-winning wonder found any distribution is a miracle in and of itself. Drew plays a combination of the Joker and The Harlequin, using the world of the DC characters to explore her coming out as a trans woman. As The Playlist critic Christian Gallichio noted, “Often when a film is aiming for cult status, it inevitably fails. There’s nothing worse than someone self-consciously trying to replicate a campy aesthetic. Yet under all of these genre pretenses, ‘The People’s Joker’ is so deeply rooted in personal experience that it feels quite revelatory and transgressive.” – Gregory Ellwood
19. “Between The Temples”
Writer/director Nathan Silver reunites with “Thirst Street” co-writer C. Mason Wells to make their best film yet. A hilarious and sweet screwball comedy about grief, recovery and new possibilities, Jason Schwartzman stars as a depressed Jewish cantor still mourning the death of his wife and in a crisis of faith. Unable to sing, his life is further thrown into chaos when his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane) re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. Robert Smigel is hysterical in his small role and as manic and rollicking as this film is—with some of the best, purposefully clipped comedic editing we’ve seen in ages—it also has an intimate and sweet center about lost souls finding each other that is so deeply warm and lovely (read our review). – Rodrigo Perez
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18. “My Old Ass”
A sweet, funny and melancholy story about love, reconciling with our traumatic pasts and letting love into our hearts no matter the pain, “My Old Ass” is a fantastical comedy-drama about Elliott, a young teenager (Maisy Stella), who goes on a mushroom trip and meets her older self in the form of Aubrey Plaza. That should be it when the high recedes, but the young girl realizes that her older self has put her cell phone in her contacts, and somehow, talking to her future self works. But the meat of the narrative is Older Elliott trying to warn her from dating a boy who ruins her life in some kind of mysterious fashion. One problem, she’s already falling for him. Written and directed by Megan Park, “My Old Ass” is a capital B breakout film, wise beyond its years and will make you cry genuine happy tears in its bittersweet conclusion (our review). – RP
17. “The Wild Robot”
As a director and screenwriter, Chris Sanders knows something about tearjerkers. He crafted another one with this adaptation of Peter Brown’s popular trilogy. Assisted by a team of talented animators and a breathtaking score by Kris Bowers, Sanders turns the utility robot Rozz (an empathetic vocal performance from Lupita Nyong’o) into the most unlikely of heroes. Perhaps Sanders’ gutsiest and most inspired choice is to not give the audience the complete happy ending you’d expected from a studio animated film. What a way to make a memorable animated epic even more so (read our review). – GE
16. “Dune Part II”
While not quite the achievement of “Dune,” in so far that it’s maybe just a little too long for its own good, director Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious and towering “Dune Part II” is still pretty damn spectacular. Crafted with such impressive grandeur and portent, Villeneuve shapes an epically scaled blockbuster in the vein of Christopher Nolan; magnetic, enthralling and deeply cinematic. And once again, a terrific cast is at its center; Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya proving they are the superstars of tomorrow (if not there already), with terrific performances by the supporting cast, Rebecca Ferguson, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Javier Bardem. There’s a reason the casts of these films are insane; everyone in Hollywood wants to work with this master filmmaker. – RP