I’M RIGHT REVIEWS’ DEFINITIVE RANKING OF 2024 MOVIES – PART 4 (#17 – #11)

The better the movies, the harder they are to rank. I’ve poked at and jiggled my top 10 a thousand times now and by next week, I’m sure I’ll have shuffled it around a thousand times more. We currently find ourselves at the somewhat awkward spot right before we enter the cream of the crop. These movies are not quite transcendent but don’t let the double digits fool you, they’re excellent nonetheless and each worthy of your valuable time.

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#17. IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE

This is sure to be one of my most controversial picks on this list. Really? That random Netflix movie I scrolled by without a second thought because, uh, Netflix? Well, a broken clock is right twice a day and It’s What’s Inside is one of the most purely fun movies of the year. It’s a comedy/drama/thriller about a dysfunctional group of body-swapping 20-somethings, like Bodies Bodies Bodies with a sci-fi wrinkle. It does such an impressive job of withholding the precise amount of information needed for its devious twists to be shocking and for you to still be able to keep track of who’s who and what’s what. The film takes its premise everywhere you’d want for them to go with it and way, way more. Do yourself a favour and don’t skip this, I swear it’s not the usual Netflix garbage we’re all used to at this point.

#16. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR AND THREE MORE

I’ll start by saying that this probably shouldn’t be on my list. Technically, these are four short films that came out in 2023 that were amalgamated into one bingeable film in 2024, and I’m using that ambiguous release date as an excuse to be able to talk briefly about how much I love Wes Anderson. These shorts are a rapid-fire showcase for Anderson’s smartest inclinations: stories within stories, hyper-stylized diegetic narration, symmetrical chaos, and Ralph Fiennes. Lots and lots of our beloved Ralph Fiennes. The impact may not be as profound as Asteroid City but it’s not trying to be; these films are simply wondrous adaptations of some of Roald Dahl’s best deep cuts. Wes Anderson can do no wrong at this point. 

#15. PROBLEMISTA

Julio Torres is the next generation of comedy. In Problemista he distills our (or perhaps my) existential malaise into such a hilarious, tangible, and painfully relatable guy who’s just trying to be an eccentric artist in a world designed to cater to the capitalist. His odyssey to become a renowned toy designer is laced with absurdity throughout but rarely devolves into downright silly territory, with much of the humour coming from mundane things like Tilda Swinton’s phone flashlight being left on for the entire movie or Torres mustering up the courage to demand a job interview. Torres’ palpable confidence – in terms of directing, writing, and performance – is so admirable; it gives me hope that the comedy as we know it isn’t dead, it’s just been transferred into his adept hands. I think the world will be feeling Torres’ influence within the next five years and we’re all better off for it.

#14. ANORA

A part of me wishes we could live in a world where Anora is considered an underrated gem rather than a Best Picture winner. It just creates so many expectations and even writing this review now, post-Oscar win, I feel like my review is being subtly nudged towards negativity despite the fact that I really like this movie. I think its pacing is stellar, Mikey Madison is superb, and I laughed out loud plenty of times. But that’s just it – I think Anora is a really funny movie and not too much more. Its ending brings some much-needed meaning to the whole package, satisfyingly paying off the debauchery with a very grounded take on what sex means as a currency and what it means as emotional expression. And that’s great. I like the movie for what it is. And I’m reviewing Anora for what it is, not the awards it’s won…and yet I can’t ignore the part of my brain that wants Anora to be something more than the sum of its parts. It hasn’t lingered with me the way, say, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project has. I really want to unequivocally adore Anora and though it bothers me that I can’t quite get there, that shouldn’t discourage you from enjoying a film that I consider a bright spot within the controversial pantheon of Best Picture victors.

#13. DUNE: PART TWO

Denis Villeneuve once said that he hates dialogue and that he remembers films not for any one line but for a “strong image”. This is an insane, hyperbolic statement and Denis is wrong, just like he’s wrong about Emilia Perez being good. And yet I can feel this ethos permeating throughout Dune: Part Two in the best way possible. Denis (along with whichever DP he works with) has a stunning understanding of space and captures his spaces with unparalleled beauty, even if they’re largely CGI. Despite Dune being a series filled with complicated sci-fi politics and intricate relationships, Denis has found a way to work around those constraints to create a world that you feel physically rather than understand entirely through dialogue. Now, that doesn’t mean dialogue is absent, nor does it mean that the dialogue is bad by any stretch. Denis is a great writer, even if he wouldn’t admit that himself. Nitpicks like Stilgar being reduced to comic relief and some stilted chemistry between Timothée and Zendaya fall by the wayside when you witness an ornithopter take off or a Shai Hulud erupt from the sand. Denis makes being wrong feel…oddly right. 

#12. THE SUBSTANCE

The Substance is on the nose and that’s the point. Maybe some messages are so worth saying that ambiguity or room for interpretation are unnecessary obstacles. Maybe removing vagueness makes room for an irresistible sense of style, of colour, of grotesqueness. Coralie Fargeat knows that you know exactly what she’s trying to say within the first act and so she toys with you, pushing her characters (character?) to their limits as they struggle to realize what we’ve known all along. The Substance is about how easy it is to see how inevitably tragic Elisabeth’s decisions are and yet there are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t hesitate to abuse the opportunity she was cursed with. The world sees her as disposable – hell, disposed of already – and so she believes it, too. As a longtime fan of body horror, nothing is more gut-wrenching than the brutality we see characters inflict upon themselves, and The Substance has self-mutilation in spades – all in the name of being anything, anything but a woman past her prime. I think that’s a message worthy of a thematic sledgehammer.

#11. VERMIGLIO