The Best Movies of 2024

Park’s follow-up to her excellent feature debut, The Fallout, is funny and approachable without ever getting near twee or sentimental. It takes a well-rehearsed idea (what advice would you give your younger self?) and moves it in an unexpectedly poignant direction. Produced by Margot Robbie, it has a great young cast led by Nashville’s Maisy Stella as Canadian teenager Elliott, with The White Lotus’ Aubrey Plaza as Elliott’s 39-year-old (but definitely not middle-aged) self. The result is a pretty perfect look at the time of life when impatience to start adult life can blinker you to all the good childhood stuff you’ll miss when it’s gone. Fun, emotional, and coming in at under 90 minutes, it’s one for your to-watch list. – LM

18. Gladiator II

Ridley Scott shows once again he’s the old master with this epic piece of bravura cinema. It’s none more in-your-face than when the conquered “barbarians” are battling rhinos, baboons, and totally historically accurate sharks in the arena for the amusement of despotic twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). At the center of the movie is Paul Mescal’s Lucius, son of the first movie’s dead hero Maximus and the daughter of the late great Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). Lucilla is married to respected military man General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), by all accounts an honorable man, who is pitted against Lucius in war. Lucius is hell bent on revenge and Denzel Washington’s shady Macrinus promising him Acacius’ head it, all points to a tragic outcome that benefits no one. This film is spectacle on toast: bloody, sweaty, gory and manly. It’s worth every minute in the cinema.- RF

17. September 5

As relentless and tight a 95-minute ride as you are likely to experience in a cinema this year, director and co-writer Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 is a sober-eyed recreation of the 1972 Summer Olympics Israeli hostage crisis in Munich, Germany as witnessed from the limited perspective of the ABC Sports newsroom on the ground. With a restrained, fly-on-the-wall minimalism that would have done actual 1970s auteurs like Sidney Lumet proud, September 5 basks in the dread and confusion of a newsroom witnessing an international crisis in real-time.

Rarely showy and anchored by performances that are uniformly underplayed by Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and many more, the anxiety of September 5 comes from its uncanny ability to remind any viewer of those moments where it feels like the wheels of society are coming off the bus. The film uses that queasiness to then discreetly offer a case study in the ethics of modern 21st century journalism 50 years after the fact. Nearly every principled and professional conundrum the newsroom in the film will face mirrors the daily moral hazards that digital and cable news offices around the world stare down, and the choices made on that day remain as nebulous and debatable as so much else about what went wrong in ’72. – DC

16. Wicked

Big screen adaptations of Broadway musicals are hit or miss. While some productions have left devotees with unadulterated loathing (we’re looking at you, Cats), others have reignited interest in beloved shows. However, nothing has quite hit the Hollywood landscape like a tornado over the planes of Kansas like Wicked. Based loosely on the Gregory Maguire prequel novel to The Wizard of Oz, as well as the Stephen Schwartz Great White Way spectacle, Wicked tells a recontextualized story about one of cinema and literature’s greatest villains. Fueled by two now Golden Globes-nominated performances, Wicked has rightfully established itself as one of the most successful movie musicals ever made. 

Near-EGOT winner Cynthia Erivo (she’s just missing an Oscar) delivers the ultimate ‘I’m not that girl’ performance as the alleged Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. With a hidden ferocity behind her green exterior, Erivo’s Elphie commands the silver screen in an honest-to-goodness showstopping role, ready to defy gravity. Elphaba’s best-frenemy, Glinda, is portrayed by pop megastar Ariana Grande. While there was no doubt the singer could handle the vocal workload needed for the part, some questions arose about her acting ability. Those doubts were immediately shattered as soon as Glinda floated down onscreen. In a bubble gum-infused performance, Grande perfectly balances the 1950s starlet energy, slapstick physical comedy, and the operatic singing necessary to bring such a character to life. Between the two powerhouse leads, an excellent ensemble, impeccable set design, and miraculous attention to detail, Wicked is the rare Broadway adaptation that’ll leave aficionados dancing through life. – Lee Parham