I can’t believe we’re already talking about the best movies of the year. Actually, pretty sure I was talking about them at my day job back in March but that post never actually went up so…feels like the first time. Writing two books simultaneously means I’ve missed a lot of new releases and I’m shocked I’ve seen as much as I have. But that’s where you come in by lovingly telling me in the comments “You didn’t watch [insert movie] here yet?!” Let me know what I need to jump on the bandwagon with so I can be in a good position when I update this list again in October.
Note, these are in particular order and only reflect movies out right now (so if it’s a Sundance title that hasn’t debuted yet, it ain’t eligible).
I’ve talked about my love for Josh Margolin’s Thelma since I saw it back at Sundance, and it hasn’t diminished one iota since then. The film follows a grandmother (June Squibb) whose money is taken in a telephone scam. Determined to get back what’s hers she commandeers a Rascal scooter and goes on a mission of revenge.
Squibb’s Thelma Post is a sweet and hilariously spritely character that you simultaneously want to hug and not piss off. More importantly, the film is an accessible (no pun intended) exploration of disability without explicitly being a disability narrative. The elderly are so often written off and infantalized, which Margolin’s script deftly explores with such nuance and heart. It’s also a bittersweet story about getting older. The scene wherein Thelma calls all her friends to give her a ride, only to discover how many are sick or dead is both funny as hell and far too relatable. This is just a perfect movie that everyone should be out supporting.
I did NOT expect to have Dune: Part 2 on this list at all at the beginning of the year. Director Denis Villeneuve is not my cup of tea and the first Dune felt like a beautiful perfume ad. But everybody told me that “the second one will actually have a plot” and since I saw it I’ve been unable to forget certain things. Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) is still a questionable white savior character, but the supporting cast here just made the movie everything.
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2024 is gonna be Austin Butler’s year, again, and while he was great in The Bikeriders (the best part, for me), his performance as Feyd Rautha is one for the ages. The fight sequences with him are immaculate. The movie also embracing the weirdness of Frank Herbert’s text also added some much needed levity. Josh Brolin’s Instagram review summed it up better than I ever could but any more that shows people getting sloshed on sandworm shots is worth a mention in the best movies of the year.
The ‘80s remain a ripe decade for storytelling, but no movie has let loose with the excess and decadence of it quite like Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding. This is pure pulp, neo-noir in the best way possible. Also, in a year where I’ve argued with people about the sexiness of movies, the fact that this has some intense sex scenes is a bonus.
Lou (Kristen Stewart) and Jackie (Katy O’Brien) are star-crossed lovers who meet at a local gym and quickly fall into a series of disastrous scenarios. Stewart and O’Brien work off each other so perfectly, particularly with Stewart as the woman trying to just find some semblance of peace and stability only to have it shaken by Jackie’s determination to win at body-building. If you saw Glass’ last feature, Saint Maud, this remains firmly in that territory, albeit with a heavy dose of David Cronenberg ickiness. Seriously, it’s been a minute where I’ve watched a movie where I’m just waiting for something to snap in a human or a bone to punch through skin. It was awesome!
I finally saw Anyone But You, finally, this year and…it was fine. If anything it was the perfect launchpad for its two stars to turn in far better performances in separate films. Let’s start with Michael Mohan’s Immaculate. I saw Immaculate twice and it is such a tension-filled slice of horror that, as a woman, hit all the right notes with me. Sydney Sweeney is perfectly cast as the sweet Sister Cecilia, sent to a convent in the Italian countryside who discovers she might be blessed with Immaculate Conception…or something far worse.
Sweeney is definitely a key reason this movie works. With her big doe eyes and innocence mien, the audience takes her to heart and follows her wherever the craziness takes her. But, more importantly, it’s Mohan and Andrew Lobel, as screenwriter, that turn this into a loving throwback to ‘70s features like The Devils. Every frame of this movie is just exquisite to look at and my Sydney Sweeney candle is still a prized collector’s item.
I’ll admit, I was late to the Lisa Frankenstein game and I should have been there from the beginning, dammit! I’m a long-time lover of Diablo Cody and she hasn’t lost an ounce of her bite with this loving throwback to both ‘80s horror movies and Universal creature features like Frankenstein and Creature From the Black Lagoon. Kathryn Newton plays Lisa, a teenage girl who reanimates a long-dead man who goes on a killing spree in her honor.
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The film plays on a lot of commonalities with Cody’s other horror feature: the equally underseen (at the time) cult classic Jennifer’s Body. It’s also a worthy successor to black teen comedies like Heathers, and, damn did I love how hard this movie went! A scene with flying genitalia was the icing on the proverbial cake of weirdness! There’s musical numbers, a bitchy Carla Gugino, and a random subplot about Lisa’s mom being murdered by a serial killer that goes nowhere; it’s on par with my favorite Barbie one-liner about Ruth Handler’s ghost keeping an office at Mattel.
Holy shit has this been a good year for horror! I’ve watched my fair share of the genre this year — and I’m also working on a horror book right now — but I think, of them all, Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs might be the best horror movie of the year. Dare I say it might be the best horror movie of the last 10 years? Culling from the likes of The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, Maika Monroe plays an FBI agent on the hunt for a notorious serial killer known only as Longlegs (Nicholas Cage).
I have a very vivid memory of sitting in a screening room watching this movie and just feeling the anxiety hit me instantly the minute a small child has their first interaction with Longlegs. Make no mistake, Cage’s performance is so unsettling and creepy that it will stick with you, whether you think it’s haunting, cringe-inducting, etc. For me, he scared the shit out of me (but I also have an irrational fear of Tiny Tim, the singer, which this played on….don’t ask) and I still haven’t gotten over it.
Outside of Cage’s performance Perkins is just a director who excels so skillfully at coming the beautiful with the terrible. There are so many exquisitely bleak shots blended with the most disturbing images. It’s an indescribable film but the emotions I got out of it left me scarred.
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man is my favorite romantic comedy of the year. Bouncy, sexy, with so many memorable one liners. (“Who the fuck is Gary?” is something I now say regularly.) I’ll confess, I didn’t get Glen Powell until I saw this. His performance as Gary Johnson, a man who impersonates hit man in FBI sting operations, is a relatable introvert, but Powell just goes for broke with all the disguises he undergoes. The makeup and costumes are impeccable but what seals it is Powell’s creation of so many unique and individualized characters. And his ultimate performance as Ron makes him a leading man for the ages.
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In a landscape where sex scenes are either on the way out or critiqued for existing, Hit Man shows the sexiness, the sensuality and the playfulness of love and sex. The way the script, written by Linklater and Powell, plays with the idea of fantasy is so fascinating, particularly as it is so sex positive. Also, the Old Hollywood connections are still utterly amazing. I maintain, Glen Powell IS our new Henry Fonda. Also, the Notes app argument…chef’s kiss.
This little Universal gem came and went back in April and it’s a shame. I’ve talked about how the Dark Universe crashed and burned but that I’d still love to see something done with revitalizing the characters, and Abigail was a worthy attempt. Loosely inspired by 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter (honestly, the biggest mistake Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett made was saying this was the inspo), the film is a heist film involving a group of criminals who kidnap a child-like vampire.
Yes, the trailer spoiled the twist. But, regardless, the script is a fun Ocean’s 11-esque story about a group of disparate cads brought together to try to survive a night with a vampire. The entire cast is good but young Alisha Weir, in particular, as the title character is able to hold her own. Dan Steven also gave me my favorite one-liner of the year…so far (“Sammi, those are fucking onions!”).
I laid out a lot of why I loved Maxxxine in my initial review, but it’s mostly because of just how it transported me back to ‘80s Los Angeles. Also, the blind love for the Hollywood filmmaking of that era. Also, Elizabeth Debicki in over-the-knee boots. Seriously, they keep me up at night.
