The Film Buffa: Top 10 movies of 2024
Scroll for my favorites, a few films that disappointed, and a final word on last year's cinema.
2024 was a fine year for film. Superheroes didn’t rule the day, Greta didn’t unleash a Barbie, and no legendary bombmakers helped win a war. While there were some popular movies I didn’t love as much as others and some that disappointed me, many memorable movies will be enjoyed again. Hopefully, a few of these films below find more eyes than Timothee Chalamet for once. Let’s begin with a true story-inspired tale about prisoners turning a penitentiary into a movie theater to free their souls.
It’s great when you go into a movie theater and leave surprised in the best way possible. Greg Kwedar’s heartfelt ode to the theater program at the legendary prison lifted my spirits and reminded me for the fifteenth time that Colman Domingo deserves all the accolades. He plays Divine G, a popular fella (akin to Red in Shawshank Redemption) who organizes the plays with Paul Raci’s Brent Burwell, combining elements from various works of art to create a gonzo presentation for audiences that help fund the program.
Clarence Maclin is a new inmate who joins the program for a Hamlet-inspired play, bonding with Domingo to create a friendship that ignites the second half of the film. Most of the wonderful ensemble is full of real Sing Sing prisoners who participated in the theater works. This one will sneak up and floor you.
Dev Patel didn’t exactly reinvent himself with this revenge-tinged drama about one man’s inherent desire to avenge the death of his mother, but he did vividly expand his repetoire. Patel’s loner kills time wearing a monkey mask and taking a beating in underground fights, but he’s quietly planning an assault on a general who broke his life in half. Along with making the best case for a different kind of James Bond, Patel co-wrote and directed the vibrant John Wick meets Slumdog Millionaire banger. The fight scenes are perfectly messy and brutal, and there is a healthy roster of sidekicks for Patel’s avenging momma’s boy. It’s available on Prime Video with a subscription.
Netflix scored big with this modern-day slice of First Blood gloriousness. If you didn’t know Aaron Pierre, you’ll have a perfect primer before he portrays Green Lantern in James Gunn’s revamped DC Studios. He’s a good samaritan who rides his bike into the wrong town intending to pay his sibling’s bail, a place stuffed with dirty cops and bad company. Don Johnson makes for a seedy sheriff with bad intentions from the jump. One could classify this as a thinking man’s action adventure. The movie explodes with a scene revolving around a key term called “P.A.C.E.”
Well done, Netflix. More fun like this and less of the drivel that seeps out of your shop too often.
Credit Sean Baker’s film for making 139 minutes move as quickly as a full bag of Swedish Fish moves through my system. It takes a loaded gun tale of an escort who meets a rich Russian overgrown child one fateful night and places it on a wild few-day cinematic bender through marriage, possible annulment, and enough drama to make you laugh and be glad this isn’t your family. A Brooklyn native who spits fire with a heavy “I’m WALKING HERE” accent, Madison is a revelation as the title character. From getting pegged by Brad Pitt in the face with a can of dog food in a Q.T. joint to leading the most well-reviewed movie of the year is quite a trip.
Come for her talent, but stay for new faces on American screens like Karren Karagulian (the kid’s handler) and Yura Borisov (the most unlikely love interest).
Maisy Stella is also a good find in this unusually powerful coming-of-age drama, but it’s Aubrey Plaza who walks away with writer/director Megan Park’s sneakily moving flick. There are genuine laughs, good writing, breakout acting, and that lived-in feel for a story that takes place on a cranberry farm. In different hands, this could have been an average Farrelly Brothers movie; in Park’s hands, it’ll just about make you cry in the final twenty minutes. Like Sing Sing, I didn’t see this one’s power coming until my chin (and head) was turned.
Credit Patel, Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour), and Michael Keaton for outstanding directorial efforts last year. This Keaton-infused tale follows a hitman battling a fast-moving form of dementia and an estranged son (James Marsden) who needs help cleaning up a murder. This unlikely father-son redemption song is a cool customer thanks to Keaton, who gives another sharp performance, and treats the makeup and aesthetic of the movie like it was made in the 1970s. A couple of twists and turns and some good writing make this one a solid experience for anybody.
Brady Corbet’s slice of Once Upon A Time In America produced another incredible Adrien Brody performance, playing a visionary architect who escapes the awfulness of World War II concentration camps only to fall into rich opportunity in Philadelphia. Guy Pearce cuts a cold antagonistic rug as the rich industrialist who soaks all the genius from Brody’s Laszlo Toth with an ambitious project in Doylestown. Felicity Jones is ferocious as Toth’s wife who comes to America after Laszlo but quickly sees the signs. Corbet’s biggest magic trick is fooling our moviegoing minds into thinking a three-and-a-half-hour movie can’t fly briskly through the morning. Another nice touch is putting a literal intermission exactly halfway through the movie, allowing his viewers to breathe and rally behind the Toths as they blaze a trail through history against all odds.
When it comes to making a movie for our times that hits too close to home, nobody topped Alex Garland in 2024. In his latest, the country has divided itself into three alliances: California and Texas, Florida, the government, and everyone else. Imagine if the United States of America’s security collapsed, leaving every wicked soul to use weapons and force to take their piece of the pie. Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons collectively steal the movie, with the former playing a wartime journalist making a daring trip across the country to the Capitol for a big Presidential address (Nick Offerman as the President!) and the latter portraying the epitome of evil as a “soldier” who will kill you if you’re from the wrong state. Garland paints a punk rock blunt sensibility behind the canvas, making it sear into our brains easily. Get ready for an experience.
SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY
He may have been a superhero to movie audiences, but the original Superman saved his big-time heroism for off the screen. If you thought you knew everything about Reeve and his courageous battle back to health after a near-fatal horseriding accident, think again. Robin Williams’s friendship, his indelible wife sticking by him, and his beautiful children talking about watching their fictional hero become a real one. He blew up the landscape with those types of injuries, paving the way for other quadriplegics.
Have Ralph Fiennes in your cast, and your movie will travel wherever. There are thought-provoking moral conundrums at play in Edward Berger’s film about the trials and tribulations of selecting a new Pope, but it’s the seasoned actor who can steal a film with a supporting role or completely take it over with leading man work. He plays the Cardinal who must lead the tedious process, which includes other Cardinals voting for him to be the new mind to lead them all or someone more politically fit. It brings to mind the old ways of doing things and the modern ideals of a leader who won’t be as racially divisive as the last Pope. Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini are phenomenal in a movie that challenges your thoughts on religion blending with philosophy.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Deadpool and Wolverine, Thelma, Heretic, Will and Harper, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and A Quiet Place: Day One.
DISAPPOINTMENTS: A Complete Unknown, Carry-On, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Joker: Folie a Deux, The Bikeriders, Fall Guy.
Here’s to another strong year of film this year, and this annual list will be the only time I hand out awards. Until next time, I’ll see you at the movies.