(This article is part of our Best of 2024 series.)
I didn’t get to the theater as much as I would have liked last year. However, I did manage to see several great films on the big screen in 2024, including Megalopolis (I had to see that on the biggest screen possible!). Of the five films mentioned below, there’s only one that I would consider my clear favorite of 2024, with the rest (including my honorable mentions at the end) all fighting for second place. So, without further ado, here are my five favorite films of 2024.
Saturday Night
I’m one of the defenders of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but even I have to scratch my head and wonder why Reitman opted to direct an entry of the sci-fi comedy franchise when Saturday Night proves that he’s at his best directing more dramatic fare. A biopic about the 90 minutes leading up to the 1975 premiere of Saturday Night (later known as Saturday Night Live) wouldn’t have been on my must-see list at the start of 2024, but after marketing got underway, this quickly skyrocketed to the top of my hit list. The cast is phenomenal in their respective roles while the movie itself was funnier than any sketch (outside of Weekend Update) that SNL has put out in the last decade. Seriously, if you haven’t seen Saturday Night, check it out. Even if you don’t like SNL, I guarantee you’ll enjoy Saturday Night.
The Wild Robot
I was way late to the party on The Wild Robot. A delightful animated adventure about a robot who becomes a mother to a goose. I’ve been saying it since at least 2022, but DreamWorks Animation has somehow surpassed Pixar as the best animation studio working today. I’m way more interested in what DreamWorks is putting out now instead of Pixar. Also, the current Pixar style (which some call Aardman-lite) is just atrocious, while DreamWorks continually reinvents its style (and it somehow keeps getting better).
Carry-On
Outside of its Oscars-baity movies, Carry-On is easily the best Netflix original film in a looooong time. Now, would this be anywhere close to my Top 5 if Taron Egerton wasn’t in it? Probably not. But I haven’t seen him on my screen in a long time, so this was getting watched whether it got dogshit reviews or not. Jason Bateman is passable as a “not-a-terrorist terrorist,” but it’s Egerton’s movie and he delivers. Seriously, someone please give this guy another action movie. If Disney isn’t going to give us Kingsman 3 then I need at least a new action movie with Egerton every other year.
Hundreds of Beavers
Sailor Monsoon told me to not bother with Hundreds of Beavers, claiming I wouldn’t like it. Well, he’s eating crow now because this movie ended up being my favorite of 2024. Imagine a world where we never figured out how to record sound, meaning we were stuck with silent pictures, but our humor continued to evolve. That’s Hundreds of Beavers in a nutshell. An absolutely hilarious movie that is ripe with modern-day jokes, yet looks and feels like something made a century earlier. Some take issue with the recurring gags (especially when the last half of the movie is wholly original), but I think each gag just gets better the more times it’s used. The animal costumes look great and the lack of dialogue (save for the awesome opening number) means that audiences around the world can access this movie with ease. If you are forced to watch one movie from this Top 5, make sure it’s Hundreds of Beavers.
Challengers
Challengers has been in my Top 5 since the moment I first saw it. The main three — Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist — give awards-worthy performances in this romantic sports drama, which cuts back and forth between a present-day tennis match between the latter two and the 13 years preceding it. The tennis match at the end is the clear highlight of the movie, paying off what was built up across the 131-minute runtime. Director Luca Guadagnino has been on a bit of a roll lately and I cannot wait to see his next feature, whether it’s the Austin Butler-led American Psycho or the Sgt. Rock movie for DC Studios.
Those are my five favorite films of 2024. The runner-ups would be Juror #2, The Substance, A Different Man, Transformers One, and Hit Man.
What are your thoughts on the movies that made my top five? Share them down below!
