My New PATREON plus the Best Movies of 2024

Hey guess what, I just launched a Patreon! It’s fully free (for now, at least), and it already has some stuff!

I’ve released a zine about my favorite movies of 2024… I spent way too much time (but no regrets because it was fun!!) making a GIANT crossword puzzle about the movies of 2024. 150 movies from the year are referenced in the puzzle. I’d originally wanted to make the zine 4.25×5.5″ format but had to upgrade to 5.5×8.5″ because the crossword got so big! I hope you have fun with it!

Besides that puzzle, the zine has two connect-the-dots pages, a Color Squared puzzle, a coloring page (plus the cover is kind of also that), my top movies list, and a bunch of customized recommendations for if you like certain kinds of movies.

The Patreon post with the zine includes two free pdf files: one is all the spreads of the zine, which can either be viewed on a screen or some can be printed out (the crossword will be easier to play printed out), and the other is a print file which will print double sided and fold into the complete zine!

In addition to the zine, I also made an elaborate video about the movies of 2024, which includes my best-of list and an awards show!

That’s on YouTube (and embedded below) but I also put it on Patreon so you can watch it there without yt ads, if you prefer. (Maybe if you love it, you could still give it a thumbs up on yt if you want to though?) The video features a bunch of fun awards that people suggested, like best knitwear, and best to craft to, and lots of not-craft-related ones too!

So I’ll blow through the rest of this post as briefly as I’m able to, showing you my favorite movies of 2024, and you can check out the zine and video for more. I will say that my list order is flexible… I finalized it like two weeks ago and as I was uploading these posters today I was already like, “Why did I put that ahead of that?!” a bunch of times—the order could be so different depending on my mood. They are ALL movies I loved and would recommend!!

A note: I modified my faves of 2023 list because there were two movies that were technically 2023 releases, though they weren’t available for me to see until 2024 so I’d been counting them as 2024, that were up near the top, and then I changed my mind at the end of the year. So, The Zone of Interest and Monster were retroactively added to my 2023 list. (This whole release date annoyance issue is the reason I didn’t finalize this year’s list until early February!)

First, honorable mentions! Evil Does Not Exist (Japanese ecological drama—this got a mention in the video), Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (French Canadian quirky horror comedy), The Girl with the Needle (traumatizing Danish historical thriller that is way too relevant today).

A Real Pain (American—but takes place in Poland—comedy drama), A Different Man (American comedy drama that would pair nicely with The Substance), The Seed of the Sacred Fig (tense Iranian thriller).

Flow (wordless Latvian animation), Rebel Ridge (entertaining and infuriating American action thriller), Conclave (verrry entertaining Vatican-set gossipy mystery that featured the loudest collective GASP I’ve ever heard in a theater).

Trap (superduper fun American comedy thriller), National Anthem (gorgeous American drama—I talked about this one a bit in the video), Slay (American/Canadian comedy horror—I also mentioned this in the video!).

Caddo Lake (American drama… if you know nothing about this, I highly recommend watching it without reading the genres or anything else!), Lisa Frankenstein (American horror rom com), The Monk and the Gun (Bhutanese comedy drama—I watched this one way at the end, like the day before I finalized my list… I think it would’ve ranked higher if I’d had more time with it, it was really fun!).

And now on to my numbered top 20!

20. The Fall Guy. American action rom com. Just so much fun! The perfect version of the type of movie it is.

19. Woman of the Hour. American thriller drama. A movie I liked more the longer I sat with it, thought about it, read other people’s thoughts on it, etc.

18. Perfect Days. Japanese drama. I’d originally had this higher, then bumped it down… but I still go back and forth on whether it should be in the top 10 actually. Beautiful film.

17. River. Extremely cute and fun Japanese time-loop comedy! SO MUCH FUN! See it! It’s streaming free with a library card on Hoopla! I wish the poster looked more silly and fun, how the movie actually is.

16. The People’s Joker. American super-independent comicbook comedy. Absolutely LOVE this movie’s whole deal. Did not quite connect to it personally because I was never a comic book kid or a batman world fan so I just didn’t get a lot of the references and jokes and stuff, and also I’m cis. Think it’s awesome. I talked about this a bit in my video.

15. Ghostlight. Beautiful American family drama. Just love it. Cried my eyes out.

14. Thelma. American comedy. Fantastic. Talked about it in my video.

13. The Substance. US-set body-horror by a French filmmaker. Probably tied with Conclave for my most memorable theater experience. Won a fun award in my video.

12. Kneecap. Belfast-set comedy drama mostly in Irish. So damn much fun.

11. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World. Romanian comedy drama. Talked about this in my video. It was in my top 10 until the very end when I saw a few last minute and had to move things around.

10. Sing Sing. American drama. So fucking good.

9. Red Rooms. French Canadian thriller. So fucked up.

8. Crossing. Georgian/Turkish drama (characters are from Georgia and travel to Istanbul where it mostly takes place). Just completely fell in love with this obscure film I watched on Mubi. Wanted it to be twice as long to keep hanging out with the characters. Talked about it a little in the video.

7. I Used to Be Funny. Canadian drama. Another more obscure one I completely fell in love with. Bought it on blu ray already. Don’t really want to give away what it’s about because it plays with time, narratively, but it’s streaming free with a library card on Kanopy and it’s also on Netflix, so you should watch it. Rachel Sennott is so good.

6. Green Border. Polish drama. This ripped me apart. Hardest watch of the year. My letterboxd review: “Absolutely one of the hardest films I’ve ever watched but I’m glad I did. If you can make it through the first half you’ll find much more hope for humanity in the second half.” That second half was very important and the reason it’s in my top 10.

5. Nickel Boys. American drama. Gorgeous. Love everything about it and also hate what it’s about but it’s so good. Cried so hard.

4. My Old Ass. American-made Canada-set coming-of-age drama with some rom com and a little sci-fi if you want to call it that, or magical realism perhaps. Hit me so hard. LOVED it.

3. Hundred of Beavers. Extremely independent American comedy. Hilarious and amazing. Talked about it in the video. It’s streaming in lots of free places (kanopy, hoopla, tubi) so you have no excuse not to check it out!

2. Problemista. American comedy. So glad I got to see this in the theater because I feel like so few people have even seen it at all and it’s sooooo freaking good!! Funny, clever, innovative, heartwarming, just fantastic!

1. I Saw the TV Glow. American drama horror. So glad we went to see this on opening night (which we almost never do) having no idea it would end up being my number one of the year! Rose to the top thanks to lots of thoughtful people talking/writing about it, and interviews with the filmmaker, helping me to see what I may have missed on the first viewing and gain extra appreciation. Loved it as I was watching it the first time, but I think I gave it a 4 or 4.5 star rating immediately then raised it to 5 after hearing it talked about. Beautiful, heartbreaking, unique film. Soup party!

The notes under the YouTube video give where everything is streaming right now, but if some time has passed you can use the JustWatch site or app to check where they are available! Keep in mind that JustWatch can be incorrect about library apps Kanopy & Hoopla, which are excellent ways to watch lots of things, but you may need to discover them there and not depend on JustWatch for those. Happy movie watching!!