Two Thumbs Up! The Individual Top Tens of 2024 | Features

Chaz Ebert: As Roger Ebert would have said “Two Thumbs Up” for our Top Ten Lists! For a Film Critic, putting together a Top Ten Best Movies List at the end of the year is like playing Santa Claus at the North Pole. We are giving our loyal readers a gift list of film riches to enhance all of their senses. And here at RogerEbert.com we do the gifting in two steps. First under the Christmas tree we deliver a composite consensus list of Top Ten Films of 2024, which we delivered Tuesday.   

We invited a group of our brilliant critics and independent contributors, including both our regular reviewers and our freelancers, to submit their individual film lists. During the course of the year you may find that you agree (or disagree) with one reviewer or another a majority of the time and thus may be more interested in the list of that person than a composite list. This year, over thirty-five of our writers were eager to share with you the list of films that ignited their passion for going to the movies! 

As the publisher, I don’t always participate. But this year I did, because I had a passion for a particular film above all others, and that is “EMILIA PÉREZ!” We see so many movies over the course of the year that we yearn for something different, either in a plot we haven’t seen before, or a character we never would have expected. “Emilia Pérez” has that and more. It is shot beautifully by the cinematographer Paul Guilhaume. One of my favorite films is “Paris, Texas,” because its German director, Wim Wenders, brings an outsider viewpoint to an American city that renders it entirely different than what an American director would have done. “Emilia Pérez,” even though telling ostensibly a Mexican story, was written and directed by the French director Jacques Audiard. Some have objected to his gaze, but he brings an over-the-top outsider view that enhances the film for me. And, importantly, there is still room for Mexican directors to tell their own stories. 

There is an inspired standout performance by Zoe Saldaña as a lawyer to the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. She hates defending the criminal but knows it may be her only path to financial independence. Her only hope is that there can be some redemption in the work she eventually does when the cartel boss has a change of heart. So we get to see some aspects of the FECK Principles at work: forgiveness, empathy, compassion and kindness. And surprisingly, Saldaña can dance! Yes, this film is also a musical. In fact, there are moving performances by all of the women in this film: Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz. And in the first of its kind, the quartet of actresses were awarded an Ensemble Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. This film has also garnered 10 Golden Globe nominations. 

There are over 200 films cited below, so let’s move on from my Number One pick to the wonderful lists put together by the Film Critic Santas. Two Thumbs up and Enjoy! 

CHAZ EBERT

1. “Emilia Pérez”
2. “Hard Truths”; “Separated”
3. “Touch”; “The Room Next Door”
4. “The Brutalist”; “Nickel Boys”
5. “All We Imagine as Light”; “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
6. “Wicked”; “Conclave”
7. “Unstoppable”; “Anora”
8. “The Piano Lesson”; “The Fire Inside”
9. “Problemista”
10. “Megalopolis”

BRIAN TALLERICO

1. “Anora”
2. “The Brutalist”
3. “I Saw the TV Glow”
4. “Nickel Boys”
5. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
6. “No Other Land”
7. “His Three Daughters”
8. “A Real Pain”
9. “The Room Next Door”
10. “Ghostlight”
    Runners-ups: “All We Imagine as Light,” “Babygirl,” “Bird,” “Dune: Part Two,” “The First Omen,” “Hit Man,” “Love Lies Bleeding,” “Sing Sing,” “Small Things Like These,” and “The Wild Robot”

ROBERT DANIELS
“All We Imagine As Light”
“The Brutalist”
“Dahomey”
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World”
“Hundreds of Beavers”
“I Saw the TV Glow”
“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell”
“No Other Land”
“Nickel Boys”
“The People’s Joker”

NELL MINOW
“The Brutalist” – Grand in scope but sensitive to the smallest moments, it has thoughtful looks at pride, art, trauma, and the places we create for home, worship, and work.
“Conclave” – An arresting combination of visual splendor, thrilling performances, the beats of a door-slamming farce, and serious, dramatic engagement with issues of honor, faith, and leadership.
“Inside Out 2”– There is so much wisdom about how even our most painful and fearful emotions can help keep us safe, and of course so much charm, with endearing characters and imaginative settings.
“Mountains” – This low-budget indie has sensitive performances, nuanced characters, gorgeous cinematography, and an insightful, layered story about gentrification, assimilation, and family.
“My Old Ass” – I was not expecting the emotional wallop at the end of a story about a teenager who meets her future self, but by the time it ended, it felt exactly right.
“A Real Pain” – Writer/director/star Jesse Eisenberg gave Kieran Culkin the showier role, and he gives one of the best performance of the year. But what stays with me is Eisenberg’s speech about Culkin’s character that is at the heart of a film about individual and generational pain and the connections that help us bear it.
“September 5” – Mr. Rogers told us to look for the helpers when tragedy strikes. This tightly scripted, superbly acted and edited story of sports journalists who never anticipated they would be covering a terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics, is a welcome reminder of how lucky we are to have people of courage and integrity to report the news.
“Thelma” – The most lovable underdog story of the year is this heartwarming film about an elderly woman who takes on a scammer.
“Touch” – This is the tenderest of love stories, stretching over oceans and half a century, beautifully filmed.
“Wicked” – The biggest of Hollywood musical extravaganzas is wildly entertaining but keeps the focus where it belongs, on two characters who remind us that no one is all good or all bad.

Other movies I loved this year: “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “Emilia Perez,” “The Fall Guy,” “Flow,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Hard Truths,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Sing Sing,” “The Wild Robot,” “Wolfs”

MATT ZOLLER SEITZ

1. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
2. “Nosferatu”
3. “The Old Oak”
4. “Hundreds of Beavers”
5. “Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds”
6. “Sing Sing”
7. “Challengers”/“Queer”
8. “Look Into My Eyes”
9. “Nickel Boys”
10. “Kidnapped”

CLINT WORTHINGTON

1. “Nickel Boys”
2. “No Other Land”
3. “The Beast”
4. “Sing Sing”
5. “Good One”
6. “Love Lies Bleeding”
7. “Memoir of a Snail”
8. “Conclave”
9. “Better Man”
10. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

SIMON ABRAMS

1. “Ryuichi Sakamoto Opus”
2. “The Tuba Thieves”
3. “Gift”
4. “Malaikottai Vaaliban”
5. “Hundreds of Beavers”
6. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
7. “Art College 1994”
8. “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point”
9. “I Saw the TV Glow”
10. “Nickel Boys”

SARAH ADAMSON

1. “Conclave”
2. “The Substance”
3. “Deadpool & Wolverine”
4. “Inside Out 2”
5. “Gladiator 2”
6. “A Complete Unknown”
7. “Dune: Part Two”
8. “A Real Pain”
9. “The Fall Guy”
10. “The Brutalist”

CARLOS AGUILAR
“All We Imagine as Light”
“Challengers”
“Chicken for Linda!”
“Close Your Eyes”
“Flow”
“I Saw the TV Glow”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Nickel Boys”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Sujo”

JASON BAILEY

1. “Anora”
2. “Nickel Boys”
3. “His Three Daughters”
4. “Sing Sing”
5. “The Substance”
6. “Rebel Ridge”
7. “September 5”
8. “The Fire Inside”
9. “Red Rooms”
10. “Love Lies Bleeding”

NANDINI BALIAL
“All We Imagine as Light”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part 2”
“The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”
“Heretic”
“His Three Daughters”
“Monkey Man”
“My Old Ass”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”

MONICA CASTILLO

1. “The Brutalist”
2. “Nickel Boys”
3. “Anora”
4. “Hard Truths”
5. “Janet Planet”
6. “No Other Land”
7. “I Saw the TV Glow”
8. “Ghostlight”
9. “All We Imagine as Light”
10. “Green Border”

GODFREY CHESHIRE

1. “Green Border”
2. “The Room Next Door”
3. “I’m Still Here”
4. “The Brutalist”
5. “Conclave”
6. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
7. “Anora”
8. “Oh, Canada”
9. “Hit Man”
10. “Trap”/”Heretic”

SEONGYONG CHO

1. “Close Your Eyes”
2. “Sing Sing”
3. “Anora”
4. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
5. “Ghostlight”
6. “Civil War”
7. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
8. “Hundreds of Beavers”
9. “Challengers”
10. “The Old Oak”
    Runners-up: “Conclave,” “Dune: Part 2,” “Flow,” “Good One,” “His Three Daughters,” “My First Film,” “Rebel Ridge,” “Robot Dreams,” “The Room Next Door,” and “The Substance”

LAUREN COATES

1. “The People’s Joker”
2. “The Substance”
3. “I Saw the TV Glow”
4. “Exhibiting Forgiveness”
5. “The First Omen”
6. “Lisa Frankenstein”
7. “Kneecap”
8. “Dune: Part Two”
9. “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”
10. “Your Monster”

MAX COVILL

1. “Dune: Part Two”
2. “The Brutalist”
3. “I Saw the TV Glow”
4. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
5. “Anora”
6. “Conclave”
7. “All We Imagine As Light”
8. “Universal Language”
9. “Babygirl”
10. “Nickel Boys”

KAYLEIGH DONALDSON

1. “La Chimera”
2. “Evil Does Not Exist”
3. “Love Lies Bleeding”
4. “Babygirl”
5. “Bird”
6. “A Different Man”
7. “Sing Sing”
8. “The Room Next Door”
9. “The Substance”
10. “Queer”

ISAAC FELDBERG

1. “I Saw the TV Glow”
2. “Nickel Boys”
3. “Universal Language”
4. “Evil Does Not Exist”
5. “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point”
6. “The Beast”
7. “Challengers”
8. “Between the Temples”
9. “Green Border”
10. “No Other Land”
    Runners-up: “All We Imagine as Light,” “The Brutalist,” “Coma,” “Dune Part Two,” “Flow,” “Good One,” “Hit Man,” “Hundreds of Beavers,” “Kneecap,” “Last Summer,” “Megalopolis,” “Nosferatu,” “Oddity,” “Oh, Canada!,” “Rebel Ridge,” “Rule of Two Walls,” “Trap”

MARYA E. GATES

1. “No Other Land”
2. “Flow”
3. “The Monk and the Gun”
4. “Nickel Boys”
5. “Slow”
6. “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
7. “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry”
8. “Sometimes I Think About Dying”
9. “Green Border”
10. “Hundreds of Beavers”

TIM GRIERSON

1. “Nickel Boys”
2. “Janet Planet”
3. “A Real Pain”
4. “Challengers”
5. “His Three Daughters”
6. “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell”
7. “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
8. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
9. “Here” (Bas Devos)
10. “The Brutalist”

BRENDAN HODGES

1. “The Beast”
2. “Evil Does Not Exist”
3. “Red Rooms”
4. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
5. “La Chimera”
6. “Challengers”
7. “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
8. “Anora”
9. “I Saw the TV Glow”
10. “Chime”
    Runners-up: “Look Back,” “All We Imagine as Light,” “Rebel Ridge,” “The Brutalist,” “Twilight of the Warrior: Walled In,” “Trap,” and “The Order”

ALLY JOHNSON

1. “Nickel Boys”
2. “The Colors Within”
3. “I Saw the TV Glow”
4. “Evil Does Not Exist”
5. “Look Back”
6. “The Monk and the Gun”
7. “No Other Land”
8. “A Different Man”
9. “Flow”
10. “All We Imagine as Light”

RENDY JONES

1. “I Saw the TV Glow”
2. “Nickel Boys”
3. “Sing Sing”
4. “Janet Planet”
5. “No Other Land”
6. “The Brutalist”
7. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
8. “Dune: Part Two”
9. “The Wild Robot”
10. “Daughters”

CORTLYN KELLY

1. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
2. “Thelma”
3. “No Other Land”
4. “La Chimera”
5. “Evil Does Not Exist”
6. “Maria”
7. “Exhibiting Forgiveness”
8. “Dahomey”
9. “The Brutalist”
10. “Nickel Boys”

GLENN KENNY
“About Dry Grasses”
“The Beast”
“The Bikeriders”
“Eno”
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
“Green Border”
“Good One”
“Hard Truths”
“Limbo”
“Oh, Canada”

WAEL KHAIRY
“Anora”
“Dahomey”
“Emilia Perez”
“The Girl with the Needle”
“Mars Express”
“No Other Land”
“Queer”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Strange Darling”
“Wicked Little Letters”

TOMRIS LAFFLY

1. “The Outrun”
2. “The Brutalist”
3. “Hard Truths”
4. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
5. “A Real Pain”
6. “Anora”
7. “Memoir of a Snail”
8. “Conclave”
9. “Emilia Pérez”
10. “Will & Harper”

ZACHARY LEE

1. “Exhibiting Forgiveness”
2. “The Monk and the Gun”
3. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
4. “Between the Temples”
5. “I Saw the TV Glow”
6. “Between Goodbyes”
7. “La Cocina”
8. “Good One”
9. “The Last Stop in Yuma County”
10. “Babes”
    Runners-Up: “Anora,” “Conclave,” “Hard Truths,” “In the Summers,” “Kneecap,” “Love Lies Bleeding,” “Nickel Boys,” “No Other Land,” “MadS,” “Oddity,” “Smile 2,” “The Brutalist,” “The Fire Inside,” “The First Omen,” “Thelma,” “Transformers One”.

CHRISTY LEMIRE
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“Challengers”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Flow”
“The Girl with the Needle”
“Kneecap”
“My Old Ass”
“Strange Darling”
“The Substance”

CRAIG LINDSEY
“Anora”
“Black Barbie”
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“His Three Daughters”
“Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger”
“The Monk and the Gun”
“Nickel Boys”
“Omen”
“Sing Sing”
Runners-up: “Babygirl,” “A Real Pain,” “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” “Memoir of a Snail,” “Pictures of Ghosts,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

SHEILA O’MALLEY
“All We Imagine as Light”
“The Brutalist”
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point”
“Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
“Green Border”
“Hundreds of Beavers”
“Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara”
“No Other Land”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Small Things Like These”

KATIE RIFE

1. “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
2. “A Different Man”
3. “The People’s Joker”
4. “Red Rooms”
5. “Hard Truths”
6. “The Brutalist”
7. “Nickel Boys”
8. “Universal Language”
9. “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”
10. “Black Box Diaries”

PAUL RISKER

1. “Good One”
2. “All We Imagine As Light”
3. “Dune Part 2”
4. “Limbo”
5. “Anora”
6. “Memoir of a Snail”
7. “Challengers”
8. “The Count of Monte Cristo”
9. “In the Summers”
10. “Small Things Like These”
    Honorable mentions (in order): “Robot Dreams,” “Santosh,” “La Cocina,” “Sujo,” “The Settlers,” “A Real Pain,” “The Outrun,” “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” “Daddio,” and “Conclave”

KAIYA SHUNYATA

1. “Femme”

2. “Dune: Part Two”
3. “Viet and Nam”
4. “Sometimes I Think About Dying”
5. “Sebastian”
6. “Challengers”
7. “Civil War”
8. “Bird”
9. “Queer”
10. “The Room Next Door”
    Runners-up: “Sing Sing,” “My First Film,” “A Real Pain,” “National Anthem,” “The Apprentice,” “The Beast”

PETER SOBCZYNSKI

1. “The Beast”
2. “I Saw the T.V. Glow”
3. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
4. “Megalopolis”
5. “Universal Language”
6. “All We Imagine as Light”
7. “Hit Man”
8. “Anora”
9. “Love Lies Bleeding”
10. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
    Runners-up: “Cuckoo,” “Flow,” “Hard Truths,” “Hundreds of Beavers,” “Memoir of a Snail,” “Nickel Boys,” “Nosferatu,” “The People’s Joker,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “Sing Sing”

COLLIN SOUTER

1. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
2. “Flow”
3. “Memoir of a Snail”
4. “Megalopolis”
5. “Eno”
6. “Nickel Boys”
7. “Anora”
8. “Evil Does Not Exist”
9. “Hard Truths”
10. “Better Man”

SCOUT TAFOYA

1. “Familiar Touch”
2. “Last Summer”
3. “Shadow of Fire”
4. “Megalopolis”
5. “The First Omen”
6. “Black Tea”
7. “Here”
8. “Horizon: An American Saga Part 1”
9. “Suspended Time”
10. “Vulcanizadora”

CHRIS VOGNAR
“The Apprentice” – A biting supervillain origin story that pulls off the impossible task of turning Roy Cohn (a fully committed Jeremy Strong) into a sympathetic character.
“The Brutalist” – A full-on epic (with overture and intermission) of deep emotional and historical resonance. Worth every minute.
“Day of the Fight” – Old-fashioned? Sure. But also muscular, poetic, and utterly gorgeous.
“Evil Does Not Exist” – An eco-poem (and echo-poem) with rage bubbling under its placid surface. It sounds like nothing else.
“Kinds of Kindness” – I never thought “Rainbow in the Dark” could make me laugh so hard.
“Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger” – In which Martin Scorsese reminds us he isn’t just the greatest living filmmaker, but also perhaps the greatest film critic/historian.
“Nosferatu” – Few vampire movies have leaned so forcefully and palpably into the essential brew of sex and death.
“Pictures of Ghosts” – Memory, memoir, and movie theaters.
“A Real Pain” – Find someone that looks at you the way Kieran Culkin must have looked at this screenplay.
“The Substance” – An assured and thoroughly disgusting burst of imagination. Imagine David Cronenberg making “Death Becomes Her.”

SHERIN NICOLE
“Conclave”
A culmination of cast, culture, and cinematography, Edward Berger’s adaptation is symphonically visual storytelling. The actors simmer with complexity, ego pitted against grace, righteousness interrupted by longing. The camera work is art—the cascade of exploded dust falling through shattered stained glass, the tilt upward to capture the tears from a sobbing face, and the Kubrick-esque shots propelling us through doors and down hallways with a peripheral sense of foreboding. The performance anxiety, the cutthroat chase for the vote; I lovingly call “Conclave” the Vatican Idol.

“Sing Sing”
Sing Sing lights you up with an enthusiastic emotional upheaval. Through a ‘divine’ friendship and the escapism of theater, it lets the sunshine in, and we witness humanity from the inside of incarceration. Every performer here deserves their flowers.

“The Wild Robot”
There were so many meditations on motherhood this year but “The Wild Robot” is the one with the greatest grace. Somehow, science-fiction and animation find their most honest depictions of humanness, learning who you are, and finding your family within the inner workings of mechanical hearts. If it were a live-action, Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor would fly onto every awards list. Director Chris Sanders and his co-writer Peter Brown would be there too.

“We Grown Now”
I’m not sure whether I should be mad at writer/director Minhal Baig for crushing my heart or hug her for gifting us with these characters. I only know I ache after seeing her gorgeous elegy of childhood. Two boys and their families—like so many innocent poor people before and after them—are caught in the crossfires of crimes born of scarcity and America’s wars on crime, drugs, anything… “We Grown Now” is a poetic reminiscence on the community that once infused America’s most iconic housing project and love in its many mercurial forms.

“Challengers”
Hear me out, I chose it for the art and allegory. The chaotic camera angles, the costuming and sumptuously saturated palette, the ambitiously infectious score, and the boldness of the storytelling. Where else can you become the ball—rocketing back and forth on the tennis court? I’m not sure if I like “Challengers” or not. And I don’t care. The aesthetics are gorgeously realized in this tale of the goddess Nike, who has come down to earth to press her capricious whims onto two hapless players who misbelieve themselves to be in control. Winning becomes the ultimate power play in a love triangle made of sharp edges. While Zendaya’s Tashi is the goddess of the game personified. Game. Set. Match.

“Frida”
It’s as though a newly discovered diary by Frida Kahlo lifts off the shelves of a mystical library, and opens itself to immerse us in her story. Filled with animated paintings and sketches; love letters and portraits of lovers; fading footage and photographs: This is the “Frida” (2024) documentary. It is methodical and restrained yet exquisitely rendered in the service of ‘herstory,’ self-realization, and the calling of art—as observant of Frida’s alchemical soulfulness as she was of the world.

“Wicked”
Following its Broadway musical origins, “Wicked” is an experience. Beyond the fairytale costumes, sociopolitical messaging, femme empowerment, fabulous performances, incredible production design, a wizard of a director, and one of the best songbooks from over any rainbow…Whew! That’s a lot…excuse me while I catch my breath. Beyond all of that, it’s the experience that makes it special. One of my goddaughters cried tear tracks through her Elphaba-green face paint. Meanwhile, all four of us silently sang along like we were on the stage. That memory is the magic of “Wicked.” No notes.

“All That We Love”
Directed with understated charm by Yen Tan, co-written with Clay Liford, and embodied by Margaret Cho, “All That We Love” is a meditative cycle of healing. Impactful in its gentleness, it is tangible for those who mourn and relatable for those who love.

“Flow”
A black cat and four other animals hop into a boat—forming an unbreakable bond in the aftermath of a cataclysmic flood. This film is part magical realism, part climate warning, and animated so devotedly you can feel the warmth of fur and the chill of melted icecaps. “Flow” immerses us in a sense of wonder that must be shared.

Final Pick
My last pick took deliberation. Should it be the playful creativity of “Piece by Piece” or “Emilia Pérez,” a film I playfully call “Almodovar the Musical”? There are the artistic lenses of “Exhibiting Forgiveness” and “Nickel Boys” or the art and impact of “Dahomey.” What about “The Taste of Things,” a film I adored from late 2023 that arrived in America in February of 2024? It’s a delicious filmic feast that lingers on the palate with bittersweetness. Or maybe “Dune: Part Two.” Not only gorgeous filmmaking and story craft but it has its boot on the neck of who humanity is now. I think I’ll dwindle off into silence and quietly back out of the 2024 screening room…