If I didn’t love Maika Monroe from It Follows already—nah, I fell in love all over again. My wish for this film was that it didn’t embrace tropes as mild parody. Perfect marketing, beautiful design.

Easy to paint this as an airport read in the vein of 60 Shades. Don’t. It’s an honest and humane look at sexual relationships with one of the year’s sexiest men and an incredible actress who still cares about her work. Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman still throwing heat this year.

That Demi Moore fastball I just talked about? This is it. Even when it loses me—the last act of the film, not my thing—it was still one of the most entertaining, can’t-look-away works of 2024. Side note: Watch Margaret Qualley in Stars At Noon if you want more.

Another revelation on this list. The movie was recommended to me and sat in my To-Watch notes for too long. Watch it for the way Damian McCarthy heightens tension, even in archetypal situations like shooting from inside a tent.

I’m not sure this one should be that good, either. Written from a picture book and starring a hard-to-ignore Jodie Comer accent, it watches more like the story arc of a biopic. A really good biopic.

Though it’s at No. 14 on this list, Red Rooms probably held my “What’s going to happen?” face longer than any other movie I saw this year. Held it until the end when (maybe?) my face still looked the same.

One of two movies that I probably shed a tear at when it ended.

I’ve written about it previously, but the middle act is a highlight of the year. Sean Baker knows how to get everyone in a room and create chaos.

I wasn’t ever a huge fan of Dylan’s music, so I didn’t know much about the man he was or where he came from. The movie made me realize he was much more of a kindred spirit than I knew him to be, and it had me re-listening to his oeuvre with a new respect. That’s almost everything a biopic could want.

Nosferatu, the movie Robert Eggers always dreamed of making, is perfect in its vibe, tone, and storybook, moonlit kingdom. But his Willem Defoe character gets too far off the rails for my taste, turning into the Explainer Of Difficult Things So The Audience Knows What’s Going On. Some classic Eggers shots that become cinematic pantheon are here (the first time we see Count Orlok suck blood, the final shot); Lily Rose Depp was throwing so much heat.