It feels odd to celebrate my tenth year of blogging and movies when, for my posting at least, the year was basically just NaPoWriMo in April and three Blindspots before that. Heck, I still haven’t gotten around to completing my 2023 Blindspot list! I realize I’ve been out of practice for months, but 2024 still had quite a few excellent films that I enjoyed and will hopefully get to review eventually. Like last year, there weren’t quite a full twelve that I loved enough to add to my Top 365 List, but my love of lists demands a full complement and #12 is still a high runner-up in my book.

As is tradition, I must make mention of the other runners-up seen last year that I still liked and would recommend, even if they didn’t make the cut. These include Long Way North, A Man Called Otto, Mean Girls (2024), Past Lives, American Fiction, Dreamgirls, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2, Civil War, Carry-On, Gladiator, and Flow. Beyond the world of film, I also have been seeing a lot more touring and local stage productions lately, as research for my own musical project and just to widen my horizons. I thoroughly enjoyed Shucked, Beetlejuice, and Into the Woods (way better than the movie), as well as Peter and the Starcatcher and To Kill a Mockingbird for straight plays. 

Plus, my vacation to Europe in October allowed me to see two shows in London’s West End: Stranger Things: The First Shadow (great for fans of the show and coming to Broadway in April) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Musical. The latter is very different from the movie, but, with its Celtic musical style and an exceptionally talented cast, I think it’s my favorite thing I saw all year. Sadly, it’s closing next month, but, if you ever get a chance to see it, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Once again, this list isn’t exactly full of Best Picture nominees (maybe a few), but it reflects my personal favorite movies seen, all but two of which were actually from 2024. I probably need to start watching more older films again. Anyway, what were your top movies from last year? I always welcome recommendations, but for now, on to the Top Twelve list!

12. Dune: Part Two (2024)

As many noted after the successful first installment, any story split into two parts is going to hinge on how well it sticks the landing, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune did it with just the right amount of prophetic guile and sci-fi grandeur. The big moments feel appropriately huge – Paul’s first worm ride, the Fremen attack on the palace, the climactic knife duel – and even if Dune overall isn’t my favorite tale in the genre, the skill and scale of this adaptation deserve praise.

11. Furiosa (2024)

While not as universally well-received as Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller’s prequel was still an awe-inspiring thrill ride, focusing on the past of Charlize Theron’s tough-girl Imperator, played by the always reliable Anya Taylor-Joy. With Chris Hemsworth in rare form as the crazed desert warlord Dementus, Furiosa serves as a fitting origin story of one woman against a world gone mad, reminding us why Mad Max felt like a supporting character in the previous film.

10. Cabrini (2024)

Continuing the theme of one woman against the world (albeit in very different circumstances), Cabrini brought to life the story of the first American saint, the Italian immigrant and missionary nun Francesca Cabrini. Cristiana Dell’anna gives an award-worthy performance in the title role, and her strength and conviction in the face of stubborn powers-that-be represent the kind of inspiration that Hollywood rarely delivers these days, especially for religious audiences.

9. A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

While I couldn’t care less about the latest Saw or Terrifier, I am fully invested in the Quiet Place franchise, which remains my brand of horror. Scary and intense without resorting to gore, this prequel separate from the other films, set during the beginning of the sound-based alien invasion, continues the themes of loss and self-sacrifice with an excellent Lupita Nyong’o in the lead. Although, let’s face it: her cat is the real star.

8. Alien: Romulus (2024)

What was that about gore? I don’t know exactly why, but Alien is in a league of its own, and this latest entry in the long-running sci-fi horror franchise is one of its best. A crew of orphaned workers trying to escape to a better planet try their luck with a derelict space station, and naturally things go south quickly. Bridging the gap between the Prometheus and original Alien timelines, Romulus sticks to what this franchise does best and creates some outstanding action setpieces amid the android betrayals and xenomorph ambushes. Even seven movies in, I’m still eager to see what comes next.

7. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

After an excellent trilogy of Apes films in the last decade, it seemed like adding another entry into this hoary franchise might backfire, but Kingdom managed to surpass expectations. It follows the hero’s journey of Owen Teague’s young chimp Noa after a human girl appears and his clan is captured by a would-be tyrant. With some of the franchise’s best effects yet and room for more to come, Kingdom breathed some welcome freshness into this simian dystopia. 

6. Inside Out 2 (2024)

Proving that last year’s Elemental was a return to form rather than a fluke, Inside Out 2 built on one of its best films of the last decade. It explored further corners of Riley’s mind while bringing in new teenage emotions like Embarrassment, Ennui, Envy, and especially Anxiety, something that is all too relatable nowadays. The imaginative storytelling at Pixar is still going strong.

5. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

In the Venn diagram of anime fans and Lord of the Rings fans, I am squarely in the center, so it hurt my heart to see War of the Rohirrim ignored at the box office and largely written off as a failure. I can’t argue with some of its weaknesses, whether it’s unrealistic feats or the slightly choppy animation, but it felt so good to return to Middle-earth, complete with music from the Peter Jackson trilogy, that I didn’t care. Regardless of what it could have been, I still love it.

4. The Holdovers (2023)

Appropriately a “holdover” from last year, Alexander Payne’s tale of a student, a teacher, and a cook at an emptied New England boarding school at Christmas is an instant holiday classic. Despite the bratty insolence of Dominic Sessa’s teenage Angus Tully or the crotchety disdain of Paul Giamatti’s Paul Hunham, the layers of surliness are gradually peeled back, allowing the insecure humans underneath to unexpectedly bond. Along with Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Oscar-winning role as a grieving mother, their trio of performances is pitch perfect.

3. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Easily the biggest surprise of the year, Godzilla Minus One managed to win over audiences and critics alike with its impressive effects and a genuinely moving story of survivor’s guilt. I was convinced to see it only based on the wave of popular buzz, and it challenged my preconceived notion of what a Godzilla movie could be. It’s a true reinvention of what had once been the stuff of B movies.

2. Wicked: Part 1 (2024)

What a surprise that a musical fan enjoyed the biggest musical movie of the year! Again, the truest evaluation of Jon Chu’s adaptation of Wicked will have to wait until Part 2 (For Good) comes out later this year, but Part 1 certainly delivered the tunes and Ozian wonder of the classic musical’s first half. With both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande excelling in career-defining roles, Wicked found the success that has eluded so many other movie musicals of late, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

1. The Wild Robot (2024)

Similar to how Pixar made an inquisitive robot beloved in WALL-E, DreamWorks Animation delivered an exquisite fable of technology finding a way to live in harmony with nature. After Lupita Nyong’o’s unprogrammed robot Roz is stranded on a forested island, she must rise above her directives to connect with the local wildlife, particularly a hatchling goose in need of a mother. The animation is stunning, the score soul-stirring, and the voice cast peerless. The Wild Robot is that always-welcome animation that can appeal to anyone of any age, and, despite an imperfect ending, it was my favorite film of the year.

And thus ends another blog year, as sparse as it may have been. Nevertheless, here are my own unofficial awards for the year’s films:

Best opening scene: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Best final scene: Wicked: Part 1

Coolest scene: Alien: Romulus (the ending escape)

Biggest emotional impact: The Wild Robot

Oldest film: 8½ (1963)

Most recent film: Wicked: Part 1

Longest film: Dune: Part Two (166 minutes)

Shortest film: Long Way North (81 minutes)

Best soundtrack: Wicked: Part 1 (naturally)

Best score: The Wild Robot

Best special effects: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Most family-friendly: Inside Out 2

Most mature: Furiosa

Funniest: Inside Out 2

Scariest: Alien: Romulus

Best male performance: Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

Best female performance: Cristiana Dell’anna in Cabrini

Personal favorite poem written: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Most represented year: 2024, with ten films

So there you have it. While I regret how much I’ve left this blog in limbo lately, I’m still grateful for everyone who has read, liked, commented, or followed in the past year and for this blog itself as a creative outlet. I really want to return to a more regular posting schedule and get to some of the lists I’ve had in the back of my head for a while now. Thank you to all, whether you be a long-time reader or a newfound visitor, and I wish everybody a blessed 2025!