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With 2024 in the rearview and the 97thOscarsjust up ahead, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the absolute juggernaut films we’ve seen this year. A phrase that’s been tossed around that perhaps best epitomizes this moment in cinema is, “The movies are back!” But are they, really?
User Jack Moulton on Letterboxd put together the ‘Top 50 Movies of 2024,’ a list ranked by average user rating rather than popularity. In other words, hemeasured these films' success qualitatively instead of just compiling those that performed best at the box office, for example. (Though, it’s worth noting that some box office hits made the cut.) So, without further ado, let’s take a look at which films made and missed the mark.
The Wildest Double Feature Imaginable with ‘Anora’ and ‘The Apprentice’
One of the least surprising picks on the ‘Top 50’ list is Sean Baker’sAnora, a film called “a modern take onPretty Woman” due to its plot about a sex worker going from rags to riches when she falls in love with a client. The comparisons stop there, though, as the tone is more extreme (in all directions) and less fluffy rom-com. Interestingly enough, though, Ali Abbasi’sThe Apprenticedidn’t end up on the list despite also being well-received and containing similar themes.
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Anora received acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival and beyond. Here are some other films to check out following post-Anora bliss.
The Apprenticeis a Donald Trump biopic, but it focuses heavily on his attorney and role model, Roy Cohn, and first wife, Ivana.BothAnoraandThe Apprenticeare about vibrant Eastern European-American women with their whole lives ahead of them becoming entangled with the sketchiest rich guys imaginable— onlyAnorais from the woman in the scenario’s POV, andThe Apprenticeis from the man’s.
Perhaps it’sThe Apprentice’s flaws that kept it out of the running, as one Letterboxd reviewer,Thomas Flight, expertly summarizes, “Really love the way this is shot. The intercutting between old footage of NYC and the film itself isso seamless.Compliments to the chef, it’s really incredible, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. It’s impeccable period production. Sebastian Stan pulls this off remarkably well, and Jeremy Strong is doing his thing, unhinged as usual.” He continues:
“That’s not to say this is particularly profound or flawless. It feels like a surprisingly small and almost sleight film in proportion to the looming, imposing figure that DT is today. I don’t know my DT lore that well, but this film places a lot at the feet of Roy Cohen, which I can believe, but it feels like there’s some large piece of what’s really undergirding Trump’s psyche that goes unexamined. Still, this handles the material in only the way I think an international filmmaker really could. And for a movie that could have gone terribly wrong in so many ways it manages to dance rather deftly through its fraught subject matter.”
Being that both explore the perils of settling down with a man-child who love-bombs you and stops at nothing to have you,AnoraandThe Apprenticemake for the perfect Top 50-inspired double feature.
More Snubs Include ‘The Substance’
The Substance, one of the most talked-about body horrors in recent history, is notably absent from Moulton’s ‘Top 50’ list. But then again, horror films have a long history of being overlooked. According toAll the Right Movies:
“In total, only six horror films in 92 award ceremonies have been nominated for the coveted Best Picture award and only one,The Silence of the Lambs (1991), actually went on to win the award. It also took a long time for a horror film to land a nomination in the category, with 1973’sThe Exorcistbeing the first to do so.”
The article goes on to imply that the voting bodies for the Oscars have historically viewed horror as a niche market with too bold of narrative choices, favoring period dramas and biopics instead. Obviously, we can see that not much has changed, but (extremely) slowly but surely, the group is becoming more inclusive over time to allow for a more diverse range of films to be nominated for prestige awards. In fact,Varietyhas included it in their Oscar Best Picture nominee predictions for this upcoming awards season.
More Dubs Include ‘Dune Part Two,’ ‘Wicked,’ and ‘Challengers’
If that last omission shocked you, thenyou may be comforted to know thatChallengers,Dune: Part Two, andWickedpredictably made the list. All have ended up on theOscars 2025 shortlist, but withDunebeating out the others for the number 1 spot on the ‘Top 50’ list, too, it’s safe to say that it was the blockbuster of the year.
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Christopher Nolan’s mysterious new movie adds to new actors — Zendaya and Anne Hathaway — to the already announce cast, Tom Holland and Matt Damon.
It also seems safe to say that animation had a good year — that is, in terms of quality of output. This comes in spite ofall the hurdles that animators have faced lately, with unrealistic timetables imposed on them by directors, as well as layoffs and the threat of AI nipping at their heels. With the type of pressure-cooker environment in which most animators find themselves nowadays, it’s a miracle thatMemoir of a Snail,The Wild Robot,Flow, and others turned out as good as they did. They all claimed spots on the list, while Pixar’sInside Out 2didn’t.
It’s worth noting that if your favorite film didn’t make the Top 50 list, it could also be that the release date didn’t make the cutoff. Anyone who sawWoman of The HourorHis Three Daughtersin theaters or on Netflix in the past 12 months would surely be surprised not to see either of those films represented. However, both technically had 2023 release dates. The complete list can be foundhere, with the top 10 films in our table below.
Top 50 Position and Rating
Dune: Part Two
I’m Still Here
No Other Land
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
The Wild Robot
Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron
#10: 4.2/5
