The 25 Best Films of 2024: A Video Countdown
Film critic David Ehrlich has dropped his annual visual love letter to cinema in the form of an expertly cut & crafted video countdown of his top 25 movies of 2024. You can also watch on Vimeo. Please note before you watch though:
This video includes a significant amount of footage from the endings of several films, most notably “Challengers,” “The Substance,” and “I Saw the TV Glow.”
The musical choice for Nosferatu had me cackling — an absolute perfect selection. Here’s the full list of his selections:
25. The Outrun
24. The Breaking Ice
23. Megalopolis
22. Hard Truths
21. The End
20. Babygirl
19. Juror #2
18. The First Omen
17. Between the Temples
16. The Brutalist
15. Flow
14. All We Imagine as Light
13. Evil Does Not Exist
12. The Substance
11. Close Your Eyes
10. I Saw the TV Glow
9. Nosferatu
8. The Beast
7. Challengers
6. A Different Man
5. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
4. Anora
3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2. No Other Land
1. Nickel Boys
On a personal note, I’ve seen only two of these films — three out of the six movie theaters I usually go to within an hour’s drive of my house permanently closed in 2024. There’s a lot less diversity in offerings now…everyone has to show the same blockbuster stuff because that’s what most people want to see and I don’t really care for the experience offered by the one remaining theater that shows more arthouse stuff. As usual, Ehrlich has got me fired up to fill in the gaps in my film watching, though it’s going to be impossible for me to see Nickel Boys until it comes out on streaming in like April or May.
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I continue to be surprised by the seemingly durable critical appreciation of Megalopolis. That movie was as hot a mess as I have seen in recent years.
I knew in advance it was getting very polarized reviews, but saw it nonetheless, giving Coppola's the benefit of the doubt. It's definitely two plus hours I'd like to have back.
it really was that bad, it wasn't even visually/cinematically interesting, a question I left with was: where did all the money go? my sense is some people thought it was "so bad it was good," it did drift into camp at times, but didn't stay there. and others gave a few stars for being bold, unique, auteur expression (Brody in the New Yorker).
Such a wonderfully edited video.
Don't go out of your way to see The Brutalist. We went yesterday to get our minds off the inauguration. Bad choice. Reminded me of a friend who went to the movies to get over a break up. Unfortunately, his buddy took him to see Apocalypse Now.
Jason, I'm sorry your theaters closed. I was impressed that so many of your media diet movies were seen "in person" in 2024. Despite my local theater having fewer but fancy, fully reclinable seats, I feel uncomfortable there. As if I'm watching from my couch but strangers are in my living room. Can’t believe I’m going to say this but … maybe it was better when we all sat shoulder to shoulder and got cricks in our necks?
Nickel Boys was a slog in the theaters. Love his books, and this is probably my #1, but it was disorienting. I really liked the approach to telling the story, but I'm not sure it worked for a 2 hour film. Maybe it's better at home where you can walk away for a few minutes.
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