The Best Films of 2024

What do you give someone on the fifth anniversary of a significant occasion? For weddings it’s something made of wood. But for film critics? I’m giving myself a pat on the back, as this is my fifth year voting for the best films of the year with the Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA).

Each December, after completing the viewing and voting season, I have written up my thoughts on the process and that year’s best (and sometimes worst) films. Here are my summations for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

At the bottom of this article, I will list my top ten films as well as the BOFCA top ten. There are about forty members of BOFCA, and each reviewer submits his or her selections for a number of categories (actor, score, cinematography, etc.) and their top ten best film choices.

As far as the voting process goes –if I reread my past annual roundups—I’m probably a broken record at this point. Beginning in late October the films start arriving. By mid to late November, it’s a deluge. Each year, there are more links as opposed to DVDs or Bluerays.

It’s a streaming world after all, and it’s not only harming the movie-theater experience but also the critical response. Pre-streaming, how many movies would any film-goer walk out on after ten minutes? Very few. But as a critic, with around 150 titles, in my inbox, I can give up on a film after ten minutes. It’s just too easy.

This is not a practice I embrace, and unless the movie is truly terrible or offensive I try to stay with it until the end. This means I have less time to consider films which may be deserving but never get to. Each year, I feel I’m missing more vote-worthy films because of these conditions.

Of the 150 titles sent to me this award season, I was able to watch about 30. Naturally, not all the 120 I missed are stellar material, but in the past film critics would be hard pressed to say they never saw a number of the year’s top films. They knew, in the main, what should be considered and what set aside. Now, the studios, the streamers, and the distributors throw as much as they can at the wall to see what sticks. The result, at least for me, is fewer films sticking on my wall and more sliding to the floor not to be seen before the voting deadline.

It’s a paradox. At no time in human history is filmmaking more accessible and democratic. Everyone is walking around with a movie studio in their pocket (smart phones), and everyone who makes a video has instant access to distribution and exhibition. One can make a two-minute film on their phone, upload it to Tik Tok, and, in an instant, it can go viral and be seen by millions around the world. Try explaining that to Cecil B DeMille.

Yet at the same time, those hunting for the votes of reviewers have an easy time putting out lengthy slates that no critic can sift through let alone consume. We’ve got so much at our fingertips and that’s a gift, but there’s little consensus any more on where to begin.

The 30 films I watched might be wildly different than my fellow critics’ viewing choices. The variety is a blessing, but it also leads to a striated and isolated experience. We are all off in our own corners and literally not leaving the corners (our homes) to seek out a communal experience.

Indeed, there are so few independent and art theaters remaining that even good choices cannot be found by the public. One of my favorites of the year, Ghostlight, is a small, indy drama, which only a handful will see in a theater. It will be available on demand or on Amazon Prime, but it’s just not the same.

It is the best of times and the worst of times for movies, for audiences and for reviewers.

Nevertheless, we persist, and 2024, if I could characterize it any way, was the year of the political film. Movies have always pushed agendas, but they were especially pushy this year. Racism, immigration, institutional corruption, transphobia, sexism, and a slew of screeds were impressed (not subtly presented) upon narratives.

Oftentimes, a film is described as important or brave for highlighting an injustice or marginalized person or community, but how many of these films are entertaining? We might celebrate Emilia Perez or The Substance for the subject matter they tackle, but would you watch them again? That is the mark of a great film; if it endures. And many of these activist and high brow, issue-raising movies are good for the moment—but that’s all.

2022 is vivid for me because the films I chose for my top two positions, The Stranger and Close, remain profoundly in my memory, and I have watched both several times again. In 2023, there were many strong films made –with a variety of messages and themes—but none of them have I returned to for repeat viewings.

The same, I believe, is true of 2024. My list of top ten films includes some excellent work, but even the films I rate as non-political or not trying to address a controversial topic will probably not entice me to see them again. We will issue awards and call them the ‘best,’ but will they last?

When I look back at my previous years’ ballots, some of my top selections do not ring any bells. Many  were reflections of the time, and I appreciated what they accomplished. But they were not timeless.

What do the next five years hold? If the counter culture is onto something, I would hope filmmakers consider that. There’s nothing wrong with a political film. But politics fade. Attitudes change. Viewpoints skew. And what seemed like a movie the world had to see fades into the background.

In a few years, Wicked won’t be a memorable film, but The Wizard of Oz will forever be. I’m always on the lookout for the latter. 2024, unfortunately, had a little too much of the former.

My top ten film picks are followed by the BOFCA group’s ten best…

Randy Steinberg Top Ten

1. SING SING
2. GHOSTLIGHT
3. NICKEL BOYS
4. THE WILD ROBOT
5. THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
6. HANDLING THE UNDEAD
7. MY OLD ASS
8. NOSFERATU
9. MOTHER’S INSTINCT
10. ANORA

BOFCA Top Ten

1. THE BRUTALIST
2. THE SUBSTANCE
3. ANORA
4. I SAW THE TV GLOW
5. DUNE: PART TWO
6. NICKEL BOYS
7. HARD TRUTHS
8. FLOW
9. WICKED
10. NOSFERATU