Touch (c) Focus Feature
Two Years in Films: Best of 2023 & 2024
After the foregone conclusion of Oppenheimer at last year’s Oscars, the films of 2024 do not have a slam dunk favorite for Best Picture or in my own personal list with really good films that I admired seemingly now destined to be on my best films of 2024 “Best of” list.
Like last year, I will only list my favorite twenty films of 2024, in alphabetical order and not actually list them in order of my top ten favorites until the end of 2025, after a year of reflection and catching up on films I may have missed. In fact, at the time of this article, I have not seen Babygirl or All We Imagine as Light yet.
Which means, after a year of reflection, my final Top Ten of films of 2023 is below. I am also pointing out some 2024 performances that haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve from award groups so far. So, enjoy my wrap up of 2024 and, as always, I hope you have a safe and cinematically rich 2025.
2024
TIB’s Top 20 Favorite Movies of 2024
* As of Dec 31, 2023, possible candidates for No. 1
Anora
Bird*
The Brutalist
Challengers
Conclave
Crossing*
Dìdi
Dune Part II
Emilia Pérez
Hard Truths
I’m Still Here
Love Lies Bleeding
Memoirs of a Snail*
Monkey Man
Queer
A Real Pain
The Room Next Door
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Touch
Wicked Little Letters
11 Best Performances of 2024
(that have not gotten much film award recognition)
Hard Truths (c) Bleecker Street
Michele Austin – Hard Truth
While all the other characters (and the audience) are immediately repelled by Patsy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) with only Austin as her sister giving her empathy without letting her off the hook. Austin is our better self, personified.
Wicked (c) Universal Pictures
Jonathan Bailey – Wicked
He’s handsome. He can dance. He can sing. Don’t hold it against him.
September 5 (c) Paramount Pictures
Leonie Benesch – September 5
The smartest person in the ABC newsroom whose talents are ignored because of misogyny and Benesch is quietly strong.
Ghostlight (c) IFC Film
Dolly de Leon – Ghostlight
Theater is a healing ritual and de Leon exudes this truism with all her being.
Fred Hechinger – Thelma
Hechinger is in so many movies this year, but this is the one that he truly shines because Thelma’s grandson Danny isn’t riddled with syphilis or a racist jerk. As far as well know
Crossing (c) MUBI
Lucas Kankava – Crossing
You can feel Achi’s survival instinct as well as his humanity because of this young Turkish actor in one of the underseen gems of the year.
Femme Fatale (c) Utopia
George McKay – Femme
McKay is almost unrecognizable from his “1917” character as Preston, a racist and homophobic British guy who finds himself attracted to a black drag performer. And for the middle section, MaKay give the audience a reason to root for him, quite a feat.
My Old Ass (c) Amazon MGM Studios
Aubrey Plaza – My Old Ass
Yes, a lot of the performance is voice over, but her two sections on screen as the future self of the young optimistic heroine is sarcastic, dry, funny and heartbreaking. Plaza is great.
Sometimes I Think of Dying (c) Oscilloscope Laboratories
Daisy Ridley – Sometimes I Think of Dying
We all know co-workers like Fran Larsen, who feels put upon anytime you ask her for anything (for work or for small talk), and Ridley is appropriately sour who only gives her signature smile when she is actually dying (not really, but I can’t explain it).
The Order (c) MGM Amazon Studios
Tye Sheridan – The Order
Yes, it’s a cliché, by Sheridan plays the heart and soul about a local policeman helping the FBI investigate a white supremist group. His best role to date.
Memoir of a Snail (c) IFC Film
Sarah Snook – Memoir of a Snail
I really thought Hannah Gadsby was the voice of Grace Pudel, the main character and narrator of this great animated film about lifelong trauma but finding out it was Snook floored me. She’s great.
TIB’s Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2023
All of Us Strangers (c) Searchlight Pictures
And finally, after a year of catching up with movies I missed and re-evaluating the ones I did see, here is the final list of my favorite 2023 films.
1. All of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh
2. Perfect Days – Wim Wenders
3. Asteroid City – Wes Anderson
4. Monster – Hirokazu Kore-Eda
5. Passages – Ira Sachs
6. Joyland – Salm Sadiq
7. American Fiction – Cord Jefferson
8. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Aitch Alberto
9. The Boy and the Heron – Hayao Miyazaki
10. Eismayer – David Wagner
Honorable Mentions:
Mutt – Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan
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