Another year come to a close, and a new year of movies is on the horizon. Such is the life of a film critic. And I’m not even necessarily a good one. I had a difficult year, slowed down on my reviews, and didn’t see nearly as many movies as I wanted.
But I’m going to try and get back on track in 2025. Hopefully, you’ll hear my voice chatting with Kyle about more films this next year.
Of course, before we get to that, let’s talk about my favorite movies of last year. Now, these aren’t necessarily the most prestigious or most award-winning films. If you want those lists, I can direct you to articles elsewhere in The New Yorker or The Los Angeles Times. You know, the big-time critics. I’m just a simple gal who likes watching movies. And these are the 10 from 2024 that I enjoyed the most.
10 Drive Away Dolls
It’s not often we lesbians are treated to movies specifically made for us, so imagine my surprise when we got two of them in 2024. This one came from Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke (who co-wrote the script and identifies as a lesbian). The gay culture depicted in this movie is crafted with such attention to detail from the hookup and bar scenes to the difficulty of finding love in a time before same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. It’s a wacky time capsule of a movie with a bizarre story and two leads who have solid chemistry.
9 Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Movies adapted from video games have had a hard road with some truly abysmal results. Fortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog continually defies expectations and provides colorful, exciting films with big doses of humor and heart. And Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is the best one yet, adding a tortured Keanu Reeves to the cast and a double helping of hysterical Jim Carrey. It dialed up all the fun parts of the previous entries while lowering the few annoying pieces.
8 Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom
I’ve been a Gundam fan since I was a little girl, and for years and years, we heard this movie would get made to continue the story of the original Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series. Imagine my surprise when, around 20 years later, the movie was finally finished and released, adding some fantastic updated animation for my favorite giant robots and satisfying arcs for characters I grew up watching.
7 Deadpool & Wolverine
Marvel’s last few releases haven’t been stellar, but I was pleasantly surprised with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman coming in to save the day. Jackman gave his all in a heartbreaking Wolverine performance, and Reynolds gave us what he always does, entertaining action and plenty of laughs. Yes, the cameos were (mostly) great, but I think what I respected about them was they served, not only as a nostalgia bomb but as a love letter to all the Fox comic book movies that crawled so the MCU could run (and occasionally trip) today. Oh, and the soundtrack was dynamite.
6 Twisters
I’ve made no secret that my favorite movie of all time is Twister. So, when I heard they were doing a reboot, I was immediately skeptical. Imagine my surprise when the new movie is just as good as the original, injecting fresh ideas and coasting on the raw charisma of Glen Powell. Twisters was an immediate purchase for me when it finally came to DVD, and I’ve already rewatched it multiple times. It stands on its own and delivers lots of cowboy tornado-chasing fun.
5 Dune: Part Two
Outside of Star Wars, we ain’t getting much in the way of big-budget space operas (Rebel Moon doesn’t count). So thank God for Denis Villeneuve who is just knocking every movie he directs out of the park, including Dune: Part Two. This epic sci-fi adventure somehow found ways to up the beautiful cinematography, music, action, and character intrigue from the first movie as everyone from Timothée Chalamet to Rebecca Ferguson to Zendaya and Javier Bardem all get great moments to shine. It’s a dazzling spectacle leaving me hungry for his adaptation of Dune Messiah.
4 Alien: Romulus
The Alien franchise has had its ups and downs, but Fede Álvarez gave the franchise an elevator ride back to the top with Alien: Romulus. This is a movie that returned the series to its horror roots and carried such a keen attention to detail with brilliant, retro-looking set design and sound engineering that I left the theater in awe. From a craft standpoint, it’s epic. And we’re given a gripping and horrifying story with xenomorphs, facehuggers, and unfortunate space travelers on top of that. It’s a marvel the movie only cost $80 to make because it looked and sounded better than movies with twice or triple that budget.
3 Civil War
Kirsten Dunst carried a brutal dystopian warning about America’s future in Civil War, a simple story about photojournalists documenting the last days of President Ron Swanson. The editing and deep pauses allowed audiences to fully absorb the haunting moments Alex Garland’s film
delivered. I was shell-shocked by the time the credits rolled. Jesse Plemons had a 10-minute scene that stole the show while chilling me to my core. It’s just a phenomenal film.
2 Inside Out 2
Against all odds, Pixar made a better sequel than the original Inside Out (already a masterful film). This movie has no business being the powerhouse of emotional performance it turned out to be. And most of the credit for that goes to Maya Hawke and Amy Poehler who grab onto your heart early on and don’t let it go until the credits roll. The way Inside Out 2 expands on the original story with charm and wit while tackling mental health and complex emotional self was a . . . joy (ha) to witness.
1 The Wild Robot
I think I knew The Wild Robot would be my favorite movie of the year shortly after watching it. Dreamworks crafted a perfect and simple story about motherhood and family. The breathtaking way it tackles faking it until you make it as a parent, knowing when to lift your child up and how to let them go into the world, and building a community left me crying no less than five times. Lupita Nyong'o gave a flawless performance as a robot with more heart than most human beings. And a stacked cast each earned their moment in the spotlight, including Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames. The animation is colorful and mystical. The message is timeless. It’s a story I desperately want to see continued from books 2 and 3 of the series this movie was adapted from. This movie touched me so much that I immediately sought out and read the book series just to have more of Roz’s adventures. I can’t say enough kind things about this work of art, and it’s my favorite movie of 2024. May it take the Best Animated Feature Oscar in a few months.
And that’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed my list. Here’s hoping I’ll see you throughout the year for more reviews on KUAF and Ozarks and Large.
