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14 OF THE BEST FILMS OF 2024, updated



Everyone can google IMDB and Metacritic, in about a second, or Variety or Den of Geek or Sight and Sound, and find other lists of the best movies of 2024. Here are 14 out of 20ish I will post eventually, though the final ones may only come in a few months, since in the UK many of the releases are due later in the year (or I have yet to see the movies). Of the films I expect may appear later, some you will have heard of - A Complete Unknown, A Real Pain, Dahomey, Flow, Nosferatu, Sing Sing, The Brutalist, The Nickel Boys, and The Wild Robot.

Still - each of these 14 listed below is already on many end of year lists, and is, in their own right, a very good or great movie. At least five of the films listed below have a good chance of winning the Oscar for Best Picture in a few months (their list is ten films long) - an asterix indicates the three I currently believe have the best shot.

*ANORA - heartachingly sad, side-splittingly funny, sometimes scary, often sexy, it's uniquely potent

BLITZ - a beautifully filmed revisionist take on the Blitz Spirit by Steve McQueen

CHALLENGERS - a witty, erotic highly stylised play on the tennis as love theme


CIVIL WAR - Jesse Plemons steals the show as a MAGA-like madman


*CONCLAVE - Ralph Fiennes never better in a clever Christie-adjacent thriller


DUNE 2 - I still prefer Lynch's mad version, but this was epic smart filmmaking


*EMILIA PEREZ - potentially offensive, but with great songs and acting; maverick


HERETIC - maybe best-acted horror film since SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and theologically smart


JUROR #2 - a bit stodgy at first, but its final moments leave an indelible powerful point


MEGALOPOLIS - deeply-flawed work of late style genius from eccentric director


MY OLD ASS - Plaza charms in this sweet, very low-key coming of age comedy


REBEL RIDGE - a star was born in this startlingly fresh take on an old plot


THE SUBSTANCE - visually stunning, powerfully feminist body horror


WICKED, PART ONE - As good an adaptation as fans could wish for, and thought-provoking too


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