(This article is part of our Best of 2024 series.)
2024 turned out to be my favorite movie year since 2019. So suffice it to say it was extremely tough to narrow a group of around 70 films I watched down to just five. We had everything from throwbacks to yesteryear, updated takes on the usual formula from different perspectives, and some of the most original movies we have had in a while. 2024 made up for a lot that we missed at the beginning of this decade and delivered some films that instantly climbed to the top of my all-time favorites list. Below are just a few I’d like to share. Enjoy!
The Bikeriders
The Bikeriders just felt like a throwback to films we don’t get much of anymore. Men just being men. Men who just liked working on and riding bikes while drinking beer and hanging out. However, it is also a layered film about the freedom of a young man without responsibility and men who are tamed by responsibility. Austin Bulter and Tom Hardy are cool as hell here but Jodi Comer steals the show with her energetic presence in every scene. The all-star cast and banging soundtrack help round out this trip down memory lane.
Love Lies Bleeding
This lesbian erotic thriller is everything a growing boy needs and more. It’s rare when one of your most highly expected movies actually meets those expectations and then some. What I didn’t expect was for muscle mommy Katy O’Brain to steal my heart and make me a fan to see what she does next. Director Rose Glass creates a film that is raw and filled with a surreal style that is hypnotic at times while also dealing with destructive relationships. Kristen Stewart and O’Brian are a perfect match for each other oozing chemistry and workout love sweat. Ed Harris is sinister and Dave Franco in a mullet. Gotta love this damn thing.
We Live in Time
You had me at Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Two of my favorites working right now paired up in what has become one of my favorite romance dramas. Garfield is just lovable as all get out here and Pugh is determined and sexy as ever while they feel like the realest couple of all-time on screen. The journey we go on with these two had me smiling and teary-eyed at times. Director John Crowley takes us on an emotional journey in a unique fashion that is honest and unashamed about being romantic.
Longlegs
“Mommy! Daddy! Save me from the hell I have been living!!!!!” Nic Cage is at his Nic Cagiest here and I am all for it. He portrays one of the creepiest characters of all time in this thriller that gets under your skin like no other. Maika Monroe delivers another great horror performance as the young FBI agent who seems a bit off. Ozgood Perkins creates an unsettling atmosphere that makes the viewer feel uneasy and unsure of where everything is headed. Very haunting and bone-chilling and plays like a homage to Silence of the Lambs but never feels like a cheap copy.
Nosferatu
I have had season tickets to every Robert Eggers movie since The Witch, and Nosferatu solidified him as one of my all-time favorite directors. No sexy vampires. No shapeshifting. No suave or debonaire Dracula. Just a wretched old vampire with a mustache and a crush. I love everything about Eggers’ Nosferatu, from the color palette to the gothic imagery to the performances of everyone involved. Lily-Rose Depp absolutely kills it in her performance with her ability to slip from an innocent young girl to a possessed naughty lady with her use of physicality. My biggest concern going into the film was Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of the Count but I was instantly set at ease as he freaking killed it from the first time we heard his voice to the final scene. All signs of Skarsgard were lost in his performance to create a singular character unlike any other. Nosferatu is an instant horror classic.
What are your thoughts on my Top Five? Share them below!
