I released my list of the best horror movies I watched this past year, and the best older movies, now it’s time for my list of the best newer movies (released within the decade) that I watched in 2024. As always, check JustWatch to see where the movies may be currently streaming.
Tier 1: Cinematic Masterpieces
Burning (2018) directed by Lee Chang-dong
I didn’t know anything about this movie beforehand, other than it was South Korean and highly acclaimed. So it was fascinating to watch while having no idea where it would go—because the film goes to some wildly unexpected places by the end. I don’t want to say what it’s about because any spoilers would detract from the viewing experience, but the only film I can remotely compare it to is The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Dream Scenario (2023) Directed by Kristoffer Borgli
In this super surreal movie, some random guy (Nic Cage) starts showing up in people’s dreams around the world. It has a very Charlie Kaufman-esque tone, sort of like a mix between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. In fact, Dream Scenario might be better than anything Kaufman himself has done since Eternal Sunshine.
Dune: Part 2 (2024) directed by Denis Villeneuve
Dune: Part 2 is on par with the first Dune film by Villeneuve: amazing visual effects, sound, set design, and directing. On the one hand, I’m surprised these dense science fiction movies are so popular among general audiences because I don’t know how they could possibly understand what’s going on without additional context from the book. So much is either omitted or left unexplained in the movies. On the other hand, perhaps that is the precise reason why the Dune movies are so popular—by not getting bogged down in the details of worldbuilding, it makes the movie more accessible to mass audiences. They can enjoy a more simplified story, while book readers pick up on the deeper elements that go over the normies’ heads. Villeneuve’s movies are about as good as you could do adapting Dune to the screen, but they are still missing so much of the richness that comes from reading Frank Herbert’s novel.
Tier 2: Great Films
American Fiction (2023) Cord Jefferson
A dramedy about an African American author who writes high-brow literary fiction that struggles to sell. Publishers claim to want a book that represents the “black experience,” so to prove a point he writes a stereotypical book about a black gangster drug dealer, but it unexpectedly becomes a bestseller. The premise may sound like a high-concept comedy, but the film focuses on the interpersonal drama within his family—though there is plenty of satire directed at the publishing industry, Hollywood, and white liberals.
Arkansas (2020) directed by Clark Duke
I hadn’t heard anything about this movie until it popped up on Netflix. The cast seemed good enough, and I always like a good crime movie, so I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s like a Southern noir with Tarantino vibes, combining crime and comedy, with a great performance by Vince Vaughn.
Beau is Afraid (2023) directed by Ari Aster
This was one of the most bizarre movies I’ve ever seen (which is saying something). I don’t know what to compare Beau is Afraid to because I’ve never seen anything like it. Actually, it’s not the most bizarre movie, as there are other movies that are more bizarre, but such movies are so nonsensical that they’re unwatchable. Beau is Afraid rides the fine line of being extremely bizarre while also being captivating and entertaining. I didn’t know anything about the film beforehand other than it was written and directed by Ari Aster. After loving Hereditary and Midsommar, I will see anything he makes. Beau is Afraid has less overt horror than those movies, though there are certainly some horrific elements. Instead, the movie feels more like a bad dream, as the story follows dream logic similar to David Lynch movies. It’s either a dream or Beau’s distorted perception of reality from schizophrenia, anxiety, or whatever mental illness he may be suffering from.
Knight of Cups (2015) directed by Terrence Malick
Nobody else makes movies quite like Terrence Malick. Knight of Cups doesn’t follow any kind of traditional narrative with a structured plot. It’s much more impressionistic, like an audio-visual poem. I’m normally a “story” guy, so you’ve got to be a really good filmmaker to make a plotless movie compelling—and Malick is that good. The film follows Christian Bale as a Hollywood screenwriter having a midlife crisis, partying with different women and having family issues. It feels more realistic than other movies, like you’re voyeuristically dropping in on this man’s life, and you get a sense of what it would actually feel like to be him. Bale himself barely says anything throughout the movie, which adds to the sense of the viewer experiencing life from his perspective while interacting with other people in his life. But the true reason Malik is such a master is because of the beautiful visuals and music. I could watch and listen to his films without any plot or dialogue and still find it captivating.
Mainstream (2020) directed by Gia Coppola
Mainstream is about three aspiring YouTubers in Los Angeles who team up to create videos satirizing influencers, but when their videos go viral, they turn into the actual thing they were originally satirizing. It features a brilliant performance by Andrew Garfield as the influencer who becomes a quasi-cult leader. Mainstream portrays the perils of “audience capture,” how YouTubers and other social media influencers must continue delivering their audience what they want, and in the process become caricatures of themselves, oftentimes needing to go to ever greater extremes just to maintain the audience they already have. This movie, especially Garfield’s performance, should have gotten more acclaim. I think it will eventually. Decades from now, critics will look back on Mainstream as a film that truly captured its time. It just takes time to appreciate that.
Poor Things (2023) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
A mad scientist revives the corpse of a pregnant woman who committed suicide by implanting the brain of the fetus into the mother’s body. Like Beau Is Afraid, Poor Things is a truly bizarre and twisted film that you will either love or hate—though I’m not sure whether I loved it or hated it myself—but it’s definitely one or the other. So I’ll put it in tier-2 for now.
Strawberry Mansion (2021) directed by Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney
A surreal fantasy comedy set in a near future where the government records and taxes people’s dreams, and a dream auditor discovers corporations have secretly been inserting advertisements into our dreams. It’s like a Charlie Kaufman script directed by Terry Gilliam. Plus it features an immersive soundtrack by Dan Deacon (being a fan of his music, that’s how I discovered the movie). Much of the film takes place in people’s dreams, which feel quite surreal. It was clearly shot on a low budget, but they were creative in how they used special effects.
Tier 3: Just Good
Aporia (2023) directed by Jared Moshe
While the science was not at all plausible, Aporia has a fresh take on time travel. The characters cannot go back in time, but they can use the time machine to kill people in the past, removing them from their timeline—such as the drunk driver who killed her husband. It gets a bit melodramatic at times, but was thought-provoking.
Barbie (2023) directed by Greta Gerwig
This was a fun movie, with a concept similar to a screenplay I wrote years ago, a meta-fantasy/comedy about fictional characters entering the real world. (I am in the process of adapting that script into a book.) Some have criticized the Barbie movie as being pro-feminist propaganda, which on the surface it may seem to be. The “real world” is not as farcically patriarchal as it is depicted in the film, but whether the filmmakers realized it or not (probably not), the movie also illuminates subtle critiques of feminism as well. The film explicitly criticizes Ken for the masculine patriarchy he establishes, but it also implicitly shows the folly of the Barbies’ original feminine matriarchy where they unfairly treated the Kens. While the film does not spell this out, and the message may go over the heads of much of the audience, it is clear that a balance of masculinity and femininity is needed—in Barbieland and the real world.
Exegesis Lovecraft (2021) directed by Qais Pasha
A documentary about H.P. Lovecraft made by a lifelong fan who is reckoning with Lovecraft’s racism. It features interviews with the great Lovecraftian scholar S.T. Joshi, as well as other writers and fans.
Linoleum (2022) directed by Colin West
An indie sci-fi movie with Jim Gaffigan playing a Bill Nye type TV science guy. It’s more of a character study focused on the family drama than the science fiction concept.
Nerdland (2016) directed by Chris Prynoski
A raunchy and violent animated comedy about two slackers in Los Angeles trying to break into the movie industry. It’s also a satire of Hollywood and brings back memories of my time living in L.A.
The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story (2018) directed by Scott Barber & Adam Sweeney
A documentary about the founding and rise to success of Nickelodeon, the first kids-only television network. It brought back nostalgic memories of my childhood growing up in the 90s, watching shows like Double Dare, Rugrats, Doug, and others.
Orion and the Dark (2024) directed by Sean Charmatz
An animated children’s movie written by Charlie Kaufman, better than the recent Pixar movies—though it gets pretty existentially heavy for a children’s movie. It would also make for a good entry in my “Social Anxiety in Movies” series.
Self Reliance (2023) directed by Jake Johnson
A fantastic premise, about a guy who is recruited to compete in a dark web game show where people hunt and try to kill him. If he survives for 30 days, he wins $1 million. The hunters cannot attack him if he is with someone else, however, making it seemingly easy—but that proves to be harder than it sounds. It reminded me of a great Robert Sheckley short story I read a couple of years ago, “Seventh Victim,” though the movie is more of a comedy than that was.
Time Bomb Y2K (2023) directed by Brian Becker & Marley Mcdonald
A documentary about the hysteria around the Y2K computer bug leading up to the year 2000. I remember the fear and uncertainty at the time. This doc captures what it felt like to live through it, by telling the story exclusively through archival footage. There are no contemporary interviews or voiceovers with our current knowledge looking back—it is all news clips from 1996 to 1999. The footage they assembled is retroactively fascinating, full of many forgettable television segments that you thought would be lost to time.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) directed by Joseph Kosinski
This is basically a solid old-school 1980s-style action movie—but with a bigger budget and better action. You get a sense of what it is actually like to fly in a fighter jet. I enjoyed the movie but am surprised it became the #5 highest-grossing movie of all time. It says more about the state of Hollywood than the movie itself, that audiences were so starved for a mere solid old-school action movie.
Violent Night (2022) directed by Tommy Wirkola
There is endless debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. (I would lean toward no. The true mark of a Christmas movie is: would it be absurd to watch it any time of year other than December? Die Hard fails this test—you can watch it whenever. But you’re not going to watch Jingle All the Way in July.) The creators of Violent Night set out to end the debate and truly make a “Die Hard Christmas movie.” The real Santa battles terrorists who are trying to pull off a heist at a mansion. It works surprisingly well as both an action movie and a Christmas movie.
Tier 4: Flawed But Entertaining
The Creator (2023) directed by Gareth Edwards
A sci-fi action movie about a future war between humans and robots. Gareth Edwards is a talented director—the film has rich visuals, special effects, and worldbuilding—but the script was poor. With that subject matter, it could have been so much better…
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) directed by Gil Kenan
This wasn’t terrible, just mediocre. It had some good moments but was ultimately forgettable. They tried to combine both the old Ghostbusters with the new generation, but it didn’t quite work. It would have been better if they focused on one or the other. By doing both, neither is fully developed in the limited amount of screen time.
The Guilty (2021) directed by Antoine Fuqua
A contained thriller about a 9-1-1 operator.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) directed by J.A. Bayona
I mistakenly watched this thinking it was the newest film in the series and didn’t realize until halfway through that it was the older one I had already seen. I barely remembered any of the movie, which says less about my memory than the quality of the story.
Spaceman (2024) directed by Johan Renck
I’m so sick of these movies about depressed lonely astronauts who miss their family back on Earth. There are plenty of single introverts who would gladly sign up for that mission and have no issue being alone in space. The movie was dull and boring. The plot was similar to Andy Weir’s book, Project Hail Mary, which was far better.
Tier 5: Disappointing (Don’t Bother)
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) directed by James Cameron
I can’t believe this movie got such a positive reception. It felt like a 3-hour video game cut scene. It looks pretty but it doesn’t look real. I never bought the Navii as 3-dimensional physical beings—they just look “pretty good for CGI.” Not only does the movie seem animated but the story is cartoonish as well, with some of the most simplistic one-dimensional mustache-twirling villains. The first Avatar had a mediocre story, but the special effects were so innovative and impressive that it was worth watching. In Avatar 2, the special effects are still great but less impressive this time around because we’ve already seen it, and the story is worse, so it’s not worth watching for one hour, let alone three. The movie is built around the spectacle of this beautifully rendered alien world that you want to explore—but a video game is a better medium for that.
T.Z. Barry 