2024 has been an interesting (and sometimes infuriating) year for cinema, with some absolute masterpieces crashing and burning at the box office, while inferior sequels have raked in the big bucks. As is our established custom, here’s our regular shout-out of our ten favourite films of the year (plus three ‘special mentions’).
As ever, they are listed in order of release.
The Holdovers
“Alexander Payne spins a moving, endearing and sweetly sad story about human interaction…”
Poor Things
“Hums with pure invention, switching from black and white, to heightened colour, from fish-eye lens interiors and cramped city streets to majestic – almost hallucinatory – landscapes…”
The Zone of Interest
“Real monsters are just everyday people fuelled by hierarchy, encouraged by their superiors to wade ever deeper into the sewer of depravity…”
American Fiction
“Both thoughtful and thought-provoking, American Fiction is an impressive piece of work, deftly straddling the highbrow/lowbrow chasm that so infuriates its protagonist…”
Dune: Part Two
“Allegories about the links between religion and drugs, the evils of colonialism, the ruthlessness of royalty, the inevitability of war between the poor and the privileged…’
Civil War
“A powerful sense of unease builds steadily throughout – I’ve rarely seen urban warfare depicted with such unflinching realism and attention to detail…”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
“A 79-year-old director at the height of his powers, unleashed into the world’s biggest sandbox and invited to play…”
The Substance
“An adept and powerful meditation on the subject of ageing and the ways in which women are constantly shackled and devalued by it…”
Speak No Evil
“There’s a gradual evolution from edgy confrontation into the realms of full-blown horror…”
Anora
“Sean Baker excels at placing marginalised people centre stage and showing them in all their complex, multi-faceted glory…”
SPECIAL MENTIONS
The Outrun
Late Night with the Devil
Robot Dreams
Philip Caveney & Susan Singfield
Bouquets & Brickbats 