Steve Pulaski’s Top 10 Films of 2024

In my own small little world, the new year doesn’t fully begin until I curate my list of favorite and least favorite films from the year prior. This list was much more difficult to curate than in years past. In 2024, I merely gave one film four stars. I only saw one film I would truly consider excellent. I saw many very good to great films, but desperately few excellent ones.

That said, I still need to see a handful, including Better Man, The Brutalist, Megalopolis, and Saturday Night to name a few. Every year this exercise in some ways feels incomplete because I can’t see everything I’d like before the concept of a best/worst list feels like a dated concept so deep into the new year. It’s the cross I bear.

For some additional fun math as well, seeing as I am an AMC Stubs A-List member, my Stubs membership has resulted in me paying about $3.20/ticket this year. That’s amazing value, and if you’re someone who goes to the movies at least two or three times a month (or could see yourself going at that rate, for that matter), and have an AMC Theaters near you, you need to become a member.

Without further adieu, here are my favorite films of 2024. Also included are streaming platforms where you can watch said movies.

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1. Longlegs: Longlegs slithers under your skin in a masterful way, thanks to a wide variety of elements all coalescing into one of the finest horror films of this, or any other year. Some might lament that Perkins leaves a few threads hanging by the time the closing credits (which crawl down the screen, rather than up). I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a couple small misgivings. But when a film is so expertly aware of the mood it seeks to create, and delivers a disquieting examination of something that is equal parts unstoppable and unknowing, with this much craftsmanship and talent on display, I can be forgiving. It’s been too long since we’ve seen an amalgam of the psychological and supernatural to this effect, which in itself is further proof just how rare Osgood Perkins is as a filmmaker.

Where to watch: Vudu
My review of Longlegs

2. The Substance: Growing up and getting older isn’t always so bad. For example, one day you’re a teenager making an account on an overseas social networking site for film lovers and subsequently arguing with cinephiles more than double your age. Over the years, you see it transform into a laudable streaming service, and eventually, a quietly powerful mecca for arthouse film distribution. Then, as you’re rapidly approaching 30, you see that website’s same logo before one of the best movie experiences you’ve had in theaters all year.

Tip of the cap, Mubi. Glory to your rising empire, and thank you for all you’ve done.

The Substance is an audacious work of body horror and satire, one that retains its silliness without compromising its potency in either department. A difficult feat, but seemingly effortless for a talented auteur like Coralie Fargeat, whose sophomore effort feels like a Cronenbergian take on the Showgirls formula with all the eroticism replaced with nasty images that seer themselves into your retinas.

Where to watch: Mubi
My review of The Substance

3. Late Night with the Devil: Fans of analog horror and the ongoing webseries Local 58 like myself will almost surely revel in the visual charms, idiosyncrasies, and palpable terror afforded by Late Night with the Devil.

The high-concept horror film is the work of Australian brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, who fully commit to the bit. This is a project that converges documentary filmmaking with found footage techniques all illustrated to give the look and feel that one is watching this demented episode of late night television on an old TV set. Of course, with most viewers set to watch this on their TV at home, I recommend turning off all the lights in effort to set a true mood. The beauty of analog horror is the idea that malevolent forces beyond your control have overtaken the images on your TV. Do yourself a favor and make an already unnerving film even more-so.

Where to watch: Shudder
My review of Late Night with Devil

4. Coup de chance: At 88-years-old, and now with his 50th film in the can, Woody Allen has nothing left to prove. Die-hard fans anticipate his latest works due to our gratitude that he is still with us, not to mention able-bodied enough to gift us more even as he approaches nonagenarian status. We know full-well that his newest film will have elements of his previous, but at this point, the familiarity is what brings us back. More often than not, it merits a gentle smile.

Coup de chance inspires gratefulness, even as its suspense forms a light-but-present chokehold on you in its final 20 minutes. It inspires gratitude that Woody Allen is still doing his thing, be it writing books or making films. It inspires gratefulness for the blind luck and fateful chances that are responsible, whether we know it or not, for our successes in life. There’s a complementary film to be made about the darker side of these largely uncredited facets of these unseen forces in our lives, and maybe that’s to be examined in Allen’s next project. For now, however, it’s a pleasure to relish in the positives, which Coup de chance liberally bears.

Where to watch: Tubi
My review of Coup de chance

5. Dìdi (弟弟): In its hyper-specificity, Dìdi achieves universal appeal and delight, although I do suspect men will find it a bit more relatable than women. In scenes where Chris tries to find his place with kids his age, and those older than him, such primal boyish behavior can only be summed up by one of my new, favorite phrases: “guys being dudes.” This is an ideal, low-key gem to end a rollercoaster summer at the movies.

Where to watch: Peacock
My review of Dìdi (弟弟)

6. The Bikeriders: Jeff Nichols makes his welcomed return to cinemas — eight years after his last film, Midnight Special — with The Bikeriders, a greasy deep-dive into the world of motorcycle gangs in 1960s Chicago featuring actors nobly attempting the region’s deceptively complex dialect.

Some-20 years ago, Nichols picked up a copy of Danny Lyon’s photobook The Bikeriders and marveled at the images therein. A Brooklyn native, Lyon traveled with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club for four years, riding high off inspiration from Hunter S. Thompson’s book on the Hell’s Angels biker gang. You could see the romantic side of the project, even if Lyon later became perturbed by the violence and antisemitism that contributed to the gang’s identity. Nichols is the ideal filmmaker to bring the nearly 60-year-old book’s images to life. The passage of time make it easy to forget how his films like Take Shelter and Mud were textured depictions of masculinity in the Midwest and deep south, respectively.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
My review of The Bikeriders\

7. Thelma: Hollywood has done such a fabulous job at alienating middle-aged and elderly moviegoers that I’m no longer shocked when an older person tells me they haven’t seen nor been to a new movie in years. I think the last movie my 84-year-old grandma went and saw was Fat Albert in 2004, with me, which is probably a story fit for a movie in itself.

Alas, she might’ve smiled and even laughed along with Thelma, a low-key revelation that hits theaters just as bad boys are shooting everyone and everything in one theater and animated emotions are running around in another. Here’s a movie in which its star is a 93-year-old woman with mature jokes about aging and legacy that don’t consequently play their demographic for fools. It confronts these inevitabilities in a beautiful way while revolving around an all-too-real situation for millions.

Where to watch: Hulu
My review of Thelma

8. Snack Shack: Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Snack Shack oozes with charm and lovingly illustrated characters. This is a comedy that mixes broad, vulgar humor with more subtle brushstrokes of wit. The film reminded me a great deal of The Way, Way Back from over 10 years ago, another film that used the setting of the neighborhood pool as the breeding ground for friendship, hormones, and other integral elements of coming-of-age stories.

Writer/director Rehmeier knows it’s the heart of the characters that makes the comedy stronger. His screenplay works hard to develop the external and internal emotions of his characters, with Sherry and LaBelle revealing their characters to be more than just two foul-mouthed young men. They are ambitious and street-smart for their age. Furthermore, Mika Abdalla’s Brooke isn’t a villain. She appears slightly older than her male counterparts, but she is also a person with her own aspirations. Even if her intentions aren’t always clear, and admittedly hurtful (to A.J. specifically), we’re led to believe it’s more of a product of her subconsciously knowing she won’t be in Nebraska City for very long.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
My review of Snack Shack

9. Civil War: When the trailer for Alex Garland’s Civil War dropped, it set the internet ablaze. Like an old George Carlin stand-up clip going viral, people on both sides of the aisle couldn’t wait to use both the paratext and the to-be-released film as a preview for whatever one of this country’s sorry ass presidential candidate’s America would look like.

Because everything is contentious and controversial in this country, Garland’s decision to make Civil War as apolitical as the photojournalists he follows in the film will surely be divisive. I’ll admit, it’s remarkable to make a film as emotionally stirring and frighteningly (and literally) close-to-home as this one without taking a side. But Garland’s decision is a lot like one of his character’s philosophies. He clearly sees himself as something of a photojournalist. It’s his job to write and frame the story, and let the images therein be interpreted by the viewer.

Where to watch: Max
My review of Civil War

10. The Last Showgirl: In some ways, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl reworks the old philosophical thought experiment that is “if a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” In Shelly’s case, she harbors all the nostalgia and history of Le Razzle Dazzle. The look of excitement on her face as she perfects her makeup and her outfit suggests she’s just waiting for someone to ask her about something remotely related to the show, so she can expound about its legacy in Vegas and its ties to Parisian culture. But if you have all this knowledge, and nobody cares to hear it, does it really matter?

Where to watch: In theaters (streaming coming soon)
My review of The Last Showgirl

Steve Pulaski’s Top 10 Worst Films of 2024