The Best Films I Saw in 2024

Monday is about movies, and sometimes TV. Here’s the final “newsletter” of 2024, and so it’s about the 2024 releases I watched…

Let that picture be your clue — I had two clear favourites when it came to films I saw in the cinema this year.

And let this piece about albums be your other clue:

I don’t do the typical “best of the year” lists anymore. I’m done with that, filed those for years. And anyway, how could listing my favourite films that came out in 2024 be anything other than shilling for the film companies, if my best film experiences of the year were joining the Wellington Film Society, and seeing Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon — for the first time ever! And on the biggest screen in the country! As part of a sold out audience! That’s on such a bigger level than going to Dune Part Two — a film that couldn’t contain itself and has to keep spilling out under the ruse of being thorough but actually just wants as much of your money as it can take. Ditto Wicked.

My other favourite film experience this year was rewatching Heathers. First time in years. Amazing movie. Better than when (and where) I left it. And again, so great to see it on a big screen. (My first time actually).

I watched so many films this year — across so many formats and platforms. I was at the movies once a week for the first quarter of the year. The family getting a new puppy slowed that momentum. I watched films on Netflix, AmazonPrime, Disney, Kanopy (R.I.P.), TVNZ+, Neon, Plex, Doc+, Tubi, ThreeNow, Sky Sport, AppleTV+, YouTube, Shudder and good old fashioned DVD. I went to some preview screenings and premieres — and I watched hundreds of short films, limited TV series’, true crime docos (bleurgh!) and stand up comedy specials.

Burnout was a certainty.

But still, I continued to log everything I watched on Letterboxd — and to occasionally write reviews here, there, or on Instagram.

And then I decided to make a list of everything I watched in 2024 that was a brand new release — because making lists on Letterboxd is kinda fun.

So here is a list of everything I watched in 2024 that was a new release.

If you click on that link you can see them all and even read a review of every title — admittedly some of the reviews are just a single sentence. Some are copy-pastes of things I put in previous newsletters. Here, I’ll provide photo evidence of 2024’s new releases I watched:

This list includes some limited series’ and stand-up comedy, concerts, and short films — and in some cases when I went to the movies this year, in New Zealand, I was seeing a brand new release in 2024 that was actually made in 2023. Same with premiering content on any of the streaming platforms. So those won’t show up.

But let’s get close to an old fashioned Best of the Year list despite my protestations. Here are the highlights as I see it — or as I saw them:

The Substance:

My favourite film of 2024. Facts.

The Substance — My favourite film of 2024 has arrived

Challengers:

My second-favourite film of 2024. Or first equal perhaps. That would suit the tone of this film more to say that anyway.

Film: Challengers

So nice, I wrote about it twice!

I Love (ALL!) Tennis Films

Thelma:

I am not trying to do the rest of this list in any order, but this was probably my third favourite film — just lovely. And funny. And a brilliant lead performance which made the movie.

The Outrun:

This felt like the sort of quality, slow-burn drama we’d see 20 and 30 years ago. A wonderful lead performance, which carries the weight of the film. The second star is the setting, the scenery, the remote location. Brilliant filmmaking. Loved this.

The Greatest Night In Pop:

A good Netflix doco is a low bar, a good music doco is also a low bar, so to see a great music doco on Netflix? Almost unheard of — The Greatest Night In Pop is thrilling, emotional, nostalgic, and fascinating. More than a few heroes are on display, and one or two villains (Waylon Jennings! Lol). Also, what timing, because R.I.P. Q. What a swan song for his legacy.

R.I.P. Quincy Jones

Will & Harper:

A charming, must-see doco. Watch it with your kid/s, your family, your older family members too. Watch it more than once. There’s a lot of humanity — and some huge sadness — hiding in plain sight in this film.

STEVE!:

The Steve Martin doco — STEVE! — is a two-parter, and part one is incredible. Five star. Part two is a bit smug, pleased with itself, and turns into a huge ad for his TV show, Only Murders — but it’s still a pleasing distraction all up, from one of the legends of stage, screen, and letters in my lifetime.

FAYE:

The Faye Dunaway doco is masterful, so well made — such a story, and so well told. And so incredibly worth of course, the subject I mean. What a star. What a legend. One of my favourite actors.

Jim Henson: Idea Man:

I’d have loved this for the pure nostalgia blast alone, The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock all shaped my life. But deep in this doco is the idea that the “Idea Man” wasn’t ever a complete man, was a conundrum (because aren’t we all); was an absent father and husband, an all consumed artist AND businessman, even if the business largely took care of itself. A fascinating look at one of the most important creative forces of the 20th Century.

The Apprentice:

I genuinely thought this was a brilliant film — shades of Scorsese in the look and feel and way the film was made. Incredible performances. And a lasting document that now stands to also show just how stupid and embarrassing the American voting public, political system, and therefore and country is.

Go and see The Apprentice

The Hardest Line — The Story of Midnight Oil:

I wasn’t expecting an incredible Midnight Oil documentary — but this was one of my absolute favourite watches of the year. Obviously, I adore the band, but this was such a smart music doco, the absolute antidote to trash like the Beach Boys one, and unnecessary plodders like Beatles ‘64. Just a total class act.

Music by John Williams:

That thing when you are so excited about a documentary (of any type of film) in the build up, and then it does not disappoint at all! Yeah, that.

Music by John Williams

Phil Collins: Drummer First:

I’m aware that this is music-doc heavy, but what a way to finish the year. The DRUMEO channel (YouTube is your friend!) teased this — and I was expecting a 45-60 minute nerd-fest around technique. But it’s a 2-hour movie in tribute to one of the greatest drummer to ever live. It’s bittersweet of course, he’s crippled to a level where he cannot play the drums at all now, but it’s nostalgic, and still a nerd-fest, but it has heart. Huge heart. And I loved this film more than I thought might be the case.

Link to full film is in here:

So, there you go, a baker’s dozen of films — mostly docos, largely music related in the end. Weird. But that’s what I came up with, 2024 wasn’t a great year for new releases. But if you look at my longer list of the nearly 100 brand new films I saw in 2024 you’ll see there were plenty of things I did love that weren’t just entertainment-industry documentaries. It was a good (ish) year for horror. And there are a few films I still want to see from 2024 — most especially Smile 2. And there’ll be more 2024 films that will only see the light of day in 2025. And, yeah, most importantly, there were films from 1972 and 1988 and 1959 and 1968 that I saw for the first time, or first time in years in 2024 that meant more to me than anything brand new. So, how about you? What were your movies of 2024? And what have I missed, or missed the boat on this year as far as you’re concerned?