The Best of 2024
The Crew picks our favorites from last year
You’ve probably had your fill of recaps (we know we have) but they are too fun to pass up. We think our “best of” list will differ from others you’ve read. That’s because we had one rule: all five of us had to agree on the top three picks. So, none of us got exactly what we wanted, but we all liked our picks enough to happily (begrudgingly) agree. Here’s to another great year of movies, friends!
The Best Movies of 2024
Dune: Part 2
From the world building to the performances, all cylinders were firing wowing us for its entirety. The epic soundtrack and sound design playing in concert with the cinematography made this Dune: Part 2 one of the best theater experiences of the year.
Anora
A small plot movie with a big impact. We didn’t expect to laugh as hard, or as much, as we did. A great surprise that opened us up enough to get caught off guard by an absolutely devastating ending. Anora has everything that makes for a great story: desire, challenges, high stakes, risk taking, and a hero you rootin’ for, even after the end credits roll.
Inside Out 2
The experience I had in this movie was a monumental moment in my life. A beautifully painted picture of what anxiety actually feels like, and made me realize it’s how I might operate. Which scared me and ✨gave me anxiety✨ lol. There’s something about feeling seen and understood that gives me comfort, and I’m assuming a lot of other people too. Not to be too sappy. But that feels good. Petition for “Delulu” in the third one. - KH
Top Actors
Chris Hemsworth (Furiosa)
We loved seeing Chris get weird. What a great reminder that he can walk the tightrope of being a charismatic leading man with enough depth that we actually care about him.
Bill Skarsgård (Nosferatu)
Bill is the undisputed king of transforming himself into (entirely different) horrifying monsters. The voice work alone should get this man an Oscar.
Jesse Plemons (Civil War, Kinds of Kindness)
Jesse’s 2024 run was a perfect example of the disproportionate impact he has versus his screen time. He might only be a movie for a few minutes, but you will probably remember his performance more than the lead’s.
Top Actresses
Zendaya (Dune: Part 2, Challengers)
We were hard pressed to think of an actress that had a bigger 2024 than Queen Zendaya and she absolutely brought it in two of our favorite movies from the first half of the year.
Naomi Scott (Smile 2)
Expectations were tempered heading into Smile 2, but we were blown away by Naomi’s performance. While we would like to officially motion to add her into the Scream Queen club, but it was the more subtle acting that nailed it for us.
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Up until this point Mikey has made a career of small, but impactful roles. In Anora she proved that she’s meant to be a leading role and can handle characters that could easily be unlikeable in lesser hands.
Top Soundtracks
Challengers
The score was a leading character in the movie that gave a performance that is constantly thought about even eight months after its theatrical release. Wimbledon- caliber tennis for the ear drums.
Babygirl
CRUSH by Yellow Claw, Natte Visstick, and Rhyme during the rave scene levitated us to new heights while Father Figure by George Michael in the hotel room changed lives.
Wicked Pt. 1
If we left this off the list all the theater kids who sang along during our screening would have us tarred and feathered.
Best Visuals
Nosferatu
Eggers creates an atmosphere that is impossible to look away from. While the actors pulled out their A-game (shoutout Depp, Hoult, Skarsgård, Dafoe, Taylor-Johnson, and the rest of the crew), the beauty of this movie makes it an all-timer. The darkness was mesmerizing, the shadows were deliberate, and Eggers forced us into an evil world with intentional darkness that haunts long after the credits roll.
Dune: Part 2
Sure the screenshot above is actually from the movie, but it’s also footage of our souls leaving our bodies. Antigravity suits, cultural rituals, worm-riding, epic battles for liberation—the spectacle of images flashing across the screen were the epitome of show don’t tell.
Longlegs
Say whatever you want about this movie, but one thing that isn’t up for debate is how perfectly it was shot. The lighting, the composition, and the production design were one of the heaviest vibes of the year.
Top Full Movies (held in thought, laugh, cry)
Anora
See notes on Best Movies above
Didi
A 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy living in a multigenerational home feeling out of place and trying to find where he belongs in a AOL instant messaging 2000s world was bound to make us think about our own upbringing—the cringe, the endearing, the pain, the love, the let downs, all of which makes us teeter totter between loving and hating life.
A Real Pain
ARP could be the poster child for a full movie. Based on how much we laughed, cried, and continued to think (long after the movie was over), this could be the fullest movie of 2024.
Best TV Shows
Presumed Innocent
After each episode, it was near impossible not to press next episode. A courtroom drama with wordsmith litigators so convincing by episode three we started to question if we committed the murder. Anxiety inducing and hard to watch at times, but impossible to look or walk away.
Shrinking
At $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, watching Shrinking AppleTV+ is the cheapest copay for therapy you’ll find. Best bang for a buck.
Penguin
Oswald Cobb was a character we wanted more screen time in The Batman (2022), but after two episodes into the MAX limited series, we didn’t expect to forget about Gotham’s billionaire savior entirely. Gotham might be Bruce Wayne’s world but this city belongs to Oz Cobb and Sophia Falcon.