Flasz On Film

Wouldn’t you believe it that 2024 is about to slip into our rearview mirrors in a few days? With that, tradition dictates that I look back at the previous twelve months and take stock of the movies I watched and pick out the ones I enjoyed the most. Therefore, here are the Top 10 Movies I Saw in 2024.

10. Inside Out 2

I don’t think I had as good a time at a Pixar movie since Luca, and given my own historic suspicions towards sequels in general, I consider adding Inside Out 2 to my list of best movies I saw in 2024 as a strong statement. It successfully built on the gimmickry of its predecessor and forged a truly four-quadrant experience where an entire family could easily spend an afternoon at the movies and get a lot of value out of it. Quirky, colorful and accessible despite the complexity of its central assignment of reducing complex emotional mechanics into storytelling tropes a child could get, Inside Out 2 stands as an achievement in my estimation. (Full Review Here)

9. Longlegs

Longlegs turned out to be both a masterclass in alternative viral marketing and an ultimate example of a cultural hot air balloon because the praise it received from the more “influencery” corners of movie fandom didn’t last very long and the consensus eventually turned against the new Osgood Perkins movie. However, it nevertheless won me over on the back of its mood and tone all working together in tandem to craft a dark fairy tale with a sinister core that traverses seamlessly between a procedural in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs and something more profoundly steeped in the occult. Maika Monroe is a standout. (Full Review Here)

8. The Apprentice

The Apprentice was an honest surprise as far as I can tell because what I expected was a paint-by-numbers biopic, but instead what Ali Abbasi turned in as the final product was way more nuanced and intellectually poised than a prestige biopic could ever aspire to. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong stand out in the way they veer from base imitation towards an elevated interpretation of who Donald Trump and Roy Cohn are (or were in Cohn’s case) and the movie as a whole serves more as a decoding machine for those who’d like to understand how a man like Trump got to the top of the food chain and how his mind likely works. A truly terrifying piece, specifically in light of Trump’s recent re-election. (Full Review Here)

7. Immaculate

Out of the handful of possession movies harking back to the 60s and 70s, Immaculate is the one that stayed with me (while The First Omen and The Exorcism either fell flat or actively infuriated me instead). There’s something more raw and rugged about this Sydney Sweeney-starring genre piece about a nun trapped in an Italian convent that serves as a potent allegory on female bodily autonomy and anxieties of unwanted motherhood. Even though it lacks the visual nods tethering it to classics like The Omen, Possession or The Exorcist, I found Immaculate wholly engrossing, blood-curdling and inherently memorable enough that any qualms I would have otherwise had with convenient plotting and stenciled characterizations of background players were successfully dismantled. (Full Review Here)

6. In a Violent Nature

Look, in this day and age, nearly five decades since Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, it’s incredibly hard to add anything fresh to the tattered slasher template. While widening the space of villain iconography seems to be where filmmakers are most successful (the Hatchet and Terrifier series are useful examples and the recent meta-slashers like Scream sequels and Thanksgiving also add to the conversation), In a Violent Nature stands in my books as the most audacious wholesale reinvention of the slasher concept since Tucker and Dale vs Evil. While it still relies on genre familiarity and leans heavily into the kind of mythos you’d easily associate with slasher icons like Jason and Michael Myers, In a Violent Nature is a truly immersive and incredibly effective experience. Fresh, immediate, appropriately violent, this upside-down slasher cake remains one of the most memorable movies of the year for me. (Full Review Here)

5. Abigail

I am fully aware I might be the only person out there (or at best surrounded by a small minority of misfits) who’d put Abigail anywhere near their end-of-year lists. But I feel I ought to make a statement here because as far as pure entertainment goes, Abigail has it all. It’s way funnier, more dynamic, self-aware and effortlessly entertaining than the vast majority of movies I saw theatrically this year and movies like that also deserve to be remembered, if only for the fun they provide in the moment. The dynamic duo of Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin once again (after their Scream movies and Ready or Not) prove they can add vivacious spice into the horror space. (Full Review Here)

4. Trap

M. Night Shyamalan is an acquired taste, I am aware of that. However, I have remained an ardent supporter of his work throughout the years (even through his period of Hollywood banishment) as I vibe with his idiosyncrasies and gleefully read into the stories he tells to extract stuff others may not be even interested in thinking about. Thus, I was incredibly happy with Trap which serves as a meta-commentary on Shyamalan’s relationship with the critical community and a reflection on the craft of a storyteller with an MO of a seemingly elusive twist guy who consistently stays a few steps ahead of the viewer. A great performance from Josh Hartnett and an all-around fantastic spectacle that successfully cuts through the franchise-laden box office slate with enough originality to last you all year. (Full Review Here)

3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

The Mad Max series has consistently revolved around its titular character for decades and only now (having witnessed a glimpse of the possibility in 2015, mind you) we get to see the universe of this iconic post-apocalyptic wasteland open up its mythos and include other colorful characters. Furiosa is an honestly perfect fairy tale set in this world, rich in detail and reliant on Anya Taylor-Joy’s amazing turn as the titular heroine. It successfully proves there’s a lot of fight in this dog and George Miller at the ripe age of 79 still has the necessary chops to deliver a top-class spectacle that could rival the franchise fare. Even though the audiences clearly made their choice and stayed in the safe embrace of Disney products, Furiosa is the summer movie of this year, as far as I’m concerned. (Full Review Here)

2. Civil War

Even though it divided critics along political lines, Alex Garland’s Civil War is a powerful piece of storytelling that gets right under the epidermis of the current political divisions using a combination of potent visuals and incredible character work on behalf of its co-leads Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny. A sensory onslaught start to finish and a poignant commentary on the fractured state of the West as a whole, all brought together as a Conrad-esque odyssey into the heart of darkness of America. (Full Review Here)

1. Anora

Without a shred of doubt, Sean Baker’s Anora is the best and perhaps the most important movie of this year. A perfect blend of irreverent comedy, poignant social commentary and artistic elevation, it is a towering achievement on all fronts. This modern-day subversion of the age-old Cinderella story drives a stake through the society where the divide between classes is so wide, it is physically impossible for the poor to leave climb the mythical social ladder. Which is where fairy tales no longer serve their purpose and instead remind us all thatcwe ought to look for connection and comfort among those around us because nobody else cares and some don’t even think we’re deserving of love in the first place. (Full Review Here)