Big Picture Big Sound

If 2021 and 2022 felt the effects of the pandemic across the movie industry, 2024 is the year the effects of the writer and actors' strike left its mark. Movies - once again - were delayed, and productions came to a screeching halt. For a while, it seemed like the highs of 2023 (which will always be known as the "Barbenheimer" year) were signs of the entertainment industry being reborn, only to stall again.

When it's time to write year-end articles, critics will always deem it a good year in movies or a bad one. Some years are better than others, but - luckily - there is no such thing as a bad year in movies. You just have to be willing to look around.

Some big movies in 2024 didn't work, and other highly and personally anticipated movies were a letdown. It happens every year, but the limited amount of big movies being released gave the diamonds in the rough an opportunity to shine. Not every year will produce a masterpiece like "Oppenheimer" or "TÁR," but there will always be films to discuss, ponder, and reshape how we look at the ever-changing world around us.

Movies remain in uncertain waters. The continuous push to streaming and shorter theatrical windows have neutered going to movies as an event. Plenty still draw crowds, but the kinds of films that get people to theaters seems to be dwindling. That's why it's important to highlight movies at the end of the year, because some movies are easier to miss than others.

Without further ado, the best movies of 2024 are...

10. National Anthem
Luke Gilford's gorgeously captured "National Anthem" is a human piece of filmmaking, brimming with insight and empathy. Charlie Plummer stars as a 21-year-old construction worker who is trying to make enough money to begin living his own life, away from his demanding mother and younger brother. Plummer's Dylan is quiet and reserved, but starts to come out of his shell when he meets the members of a queer rodeo, who show him that family can come when you least expect it.

9. The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar's "The Room Next Door" marks the Spanish auteur's first English-language feature. Former friends Martha (Tilda Swinton) and Ingrid (Julianne Moore) reconnect after years of not speaking when Martha is battling cancer. Ingrid spends a lot of time visiting Martha, who eventually asks Ingrid for a big favor. There are some screenplay quibbles in Almodóvar's first English feature, but the elegantly shot (including the director's trademark dark reds and greens) "The Room Next Door" treads in tricky moral ground, which leaves a lasting impression.

8. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Though the title is a mouthful, Ariane Louis-Seize's "Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person" is a tightly constructed 90-minute film. Louis-Seize takes a quirky and offbeat approach to the vampire film by following Sasha (Sara Montpetit), who can't bring herself to kill people in order to feed off them. Things change when she meets Paul (Félix-Antonie Bénard), who expresses his wishes to end his life. Since Sasha is too sensitive to kill anyone in order to feed, Paul offers himself to her so she can stay alive. "Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person" is an odd and entertaining film about an unlikely friendship.

7. Megalopolis
Is "Megalopolis" a bad movie? Some are saying so. When director Francis Ford Coppola puts a new movie out in theaters, it's an event to be experienced. "Megalopolis" is a dizzying mess of a movie - but an entertaining and thrilling one to take in. The movie, which stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and Jon Voight, has been a passion project of Coppola's for decades. He self-funded the movie because no one would dare take a risk on such a madcap collection of ideas - some work, some don't, but "Megalopolis" is an overwhelmingly daring movie to experience. It's also a ton of fun.

6. Love Lies Bleeding
Go into Rose Glass' "Love Lies Bleeding" as blind as possible. The strange and twisted movie stars Kristen Stewart as gym manager Lou, who begins a relationship with a bodybuilder named Jackie (Katy O'Brien). Their relationship sets off a string of events that each become darker than the last, especially once Lou's father (Ed Harris) becomes involved.

5. Ghostlight
One of the many strengths of "Ghoslight" is how it withholds information from the audience for a large portion of the movie. Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer - who are a family in real life - play a family who has been through something tragic. They all deal with things in different ways, but Kupferer's Dan joins a community theater troupe, which allows him time to escape what the family has been through. "Ghostlight" is about art imitating life and how art may not be able to fix a broken heart, but it can provide solace through any storm. "Ghostlight" is brimming with an intimate authenticity rarely seen in movies.

4. The Brutalist
Brady Corbet's three-and-a-half hour "The Brutalist" is a giant meal of a movie. Adrien Brody gives one of the best performances of the year as László Tóth, an architect and immigrant who is commissioned by a wealthy client. Co-starring Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, and Joe Alwyn, "The Brutalist" is a movie that must be seen on the big screen to capture the entire scope and depth of Corebet's vision.

3. A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg's sophomore feature as a director is a giant step forward for the filmmaker. He co-stars alongside Kieran Culkin (who is assuredly headed towards an Oscar nomination and possible win) as odd-couple cousins who travel to Poland in honor of their late grandmother. "A Real Pain" is sweet and funny, and Eisenberg and Culkin make for a great mismatched pair.

2. Challengers
The dazzling and electrifyingly made "Challengers" is the most fun had at the movies this year. Director Luca Guadagnino's movie was quickly labeled "the sexy tennis movie" for a reason. Zendaya stars as Tashi, a former tennis pro who turned to coaching after an accident derails her career. Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor co-star as the other pieces of the movie's love triangle. "Challengers" is some of the most propulsive and kinetic filmmaking to come out this year.

And the best movie of 2024 is...

1. The Last Showgirl
The quiet and effective "The Last Showgirl" completely took me by surprise. Gia Coppola's movie about an aging Las Vegas showgirl operates in familiar territory, but the film is done with such an empathetic touch. In the performance of the year, Pamela Anderson is given the role of a lifetime and she puts every bit of her heart and soul into the performance and leaves it all on the screen. She plays Shelly, who learns the show she's been dancing in for decades is closing. Shelly has only known this show, so an uncertain future shakes her to her core. "The Last Showgirl" is a melancholic tale about the past, present, and future colliding, all done with a sensitive touch. Coppola's film truly sneaks up on you and leaves a lasting impression.

Thank you for another year of movies. Here's to 2025!