The Best Movies and TV I Watched in 2024

After looking back at the movies and TV I’ve watched in 2024 (not everything was released this year), I’ve landed on these as my favorites of the year. I watched more movies than TV, mostly because I spent my time focusing on watching films and reading books this year. You can see my top books in the post The Best Books I Read in 2024.

Movies

1. American Fiction (2023) – An unexpected joy. I managed to forget everything I’d heard about this one before watching, which made for a great experience. A genuinely near-perfect story, with hilarious moments of sarcasm and irony. Jeffrey Wright, Sterling Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Adam Brody stand out for obvious reasons. Shout out to Leslie Uggam here as well.
2. Godzilla Minus One (2023) – One could argue that Godzilla Minus One has the perfect amount of Godzilla in it, which is to say, less than the average Godzilla flick. The story combines the atmosphere of post-war Japan with the tensions of an oncoming Godzilla attack. It’s impressively cinematic, especially in the Minus Color edition, which you should make sure you watch (I didn’t know it existed until a friend mentioned it).
3. The Wild Robot (2024) – What can I say about The Wild Robot? Close to an instant classic that gave me strong Iron Giant vibes. There are multiple visually stunning scenes, the characters are well-developed, and the message will last as long as there are moms.
4. Orion and the Dark (2024) – Another children’s book adaptation. But don’t be fooled, just because it’s on Netflix doesn’t mean that it’s one of their algorithmic passive-media movies. This one is meant to be watched and enjoyed. A clever story about overcoming fears with a short run-time, lovable characters, and an equally compelling message.
5. The Holdovers (2023) – A Christmas season flick with a sadder, lonelier, Dead Poets Society vibe. Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa are fabulous. There’s one specific moment where they break the leisurely pacing of the film to deliver a huge surprise that still sticks with me.
6. Bottoms (2023) – One I’d almost guarantee you’ve probably never heard of. A mocking look at high school from the POV of some atypical characters. Sort of a Freaks and Geeks meets Superbad with a female-driven story that mocks and breaks reality to hilarious effect.
7. Inside Out 2 (2024) – You’ve probably seen this one or at least know what it is. Anxiety is a well-written addition to the story, though I still don’t know if it would call it an emotion.
8. Wicked (2024) – Another big one. As close to the stage production as you can get. What it lacks in being IRL with amazing artists it makes up for in set changes that bring scenes to life and top-tier talent.
9. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) – Mile-a-second dialogue. American’s continued man-crush on Ryan Reynolds. Dogpool. Snipes, Evans, Tatum, and Garner. Pure fun. Also, Emma Corrin is fabulous. Another Leslie Uggams shout-out here for Blind Al.
10. Barbie (2023) – This one got enough press that I feel like I don’t need to talk about it. The same goes for Oppenheimer, who didn’t make this list but was also well-made and, like Barbie, endlessly terrifying concerning our capacity as humans.

2024 Movies I Still Want to Watch: Robot Dreams, My Old Ass, Transformers One, Sonic 3, Civil War, A Complete Unknown, The Imaginary

Every film I watched this year (obv. not all for the first time):

TV

Like I said, I watched far less TV this year than I typically do. It was a good thing for my productivity, but this list is pretty slim.

1. Fallout S1 – A surprise shocker for most, I think, Amazon delivered with its take on the video game universe. Ella Purnell as Lucy is killer as she shakes her naivety in the real world. Walter Goggins as Cooper Howard is as charismatic as anyone I’ve seen on screen in a long time. Oh, and Leslie Uggams is here too as Betty Pearson.
2. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) – An animated sequel slash remake of the original Scott Pilgrim. Tells the same story a different way, with all of the key voice actors coming back for their parts. It’s an interesting compositional experiment that works, and it’s nice to get to visit that world again.
3. Invincible Season 2, Part 2 – The continuation of Skybound Entertainment’s Image Comic TV adaptation. Season two moves the Omni-man/Invincible dynamic in interesting ways, and sets Season 3 up to be something special. Familiar voices include those of Sandra Oh and J. K. Simmons, while Steven Yuen is a delight.
4. Star Wars: Bad Batch S4 – The conclusion to the long-running clone trooper story that started with Star Wars: The Clone Wars back in 2008. Season 4 did some of the best storytelling in Star Wars since Andor. A lot of folks can’t get over the animation, but there are some sequences here that are as visually compelling as anything I’ve seen.
5. Reacher S2 – Sometimes you just want to see Alan Ritchson beat people up. Not quite as compelling as the S1 story, but still one of the best of the year. Malcolm Goodwin and Serinda Swan as Finlay and Dixon, respectively, are great. Also, love seeing Bruce McGill again.
6. Star Wars: The Acolyte S1 – Another Star Wars entry, this time for the attempts made to do Star Wars a little differently. It offers a different look into the world of witches and Sith, in a world-building attempt that a certain type of very vocal Star Wars fan didn’t like much. Right now the show is canceled, but here to hoping that it can come back from the dead. Lee Jung-jae, Amandla Stenberg, and Manny Jacinto are freaking great.
7. Bonus: Cobra Kai S5 P1/2 – The eventual end of this series is something I’m already sad about. The original Karate Kid is a huge piece of my childhood, so going back to the mat with these stories has been so much fun. Ready for the Sekai Taikai to finish up and get some closure to the story.
8. Bonus: Futurama S12 – I think the writers got some of their groove back this year. While I was elated last season for Futurama to return, the topics felt topical but already dated. This season felt less like it was directed social commentary on the last few years of American life, and more abstract like prior seasons had. A great return to form before S13.

There’s a lot of good TV that has been recommended to me and I hope to make my way through more of it in 2025, but right now, because TV shows require so much time and attention, I’ll still be limiting how many of them I dip into.

Here’s a short list of all the TV I watched this year (again, not for the first time):