Ep. 805 - The Top 10 Films of 2024
Added 2024-12-31 17:00:12 +0000 UTCNote: Each of our top 10 films are listed below. To preserve the surprise of our choices, listen to the episode before reading the shownotes. Or don't! Live your life the way you want to live it. Enjoy.
We have arrived at that time of year once again - The Filmcast’s Top 10 Films of 2024! David, Devindra, and Jeff start off 2025 by looking back at the biggest film news stories of 2024. Then, they count down their top ten films of the year. Tune in for all the twists and turns from their lists.
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Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)
Stories of the Year (~00:03:25)
Top Ten Films of 2024 (~00:28:20)
Devindra’s Top 10 Films of 2024
10. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
9. Love Lies Bleeding
8. The Fall Guy
7. Anora
6. All We Imagine As Light
5. The Brutalist
4. Sing Sing
3. Nickel Boys
2. No Other Land
1. I Saw The TV Glow
Jeff’s Top 10 Films of 2024
10. Orion and the Dark
9. The Fall Guy
8. Blink Twice
7. Conclave
6. Last Stop in Yuma County
5. Heretic
4. Ghostlight
3. Dune: Part Two
2. Anora
1. Challengers
David’s Top 10 Films of 2024
10. Anora
9. Hundreds of Beavers
8. Ghostlight
7. It’s What’s Inside
6. Skywalkers: A Love Story
5. The Order
4. Red Rooms
3. Dune: Part Two
2. Challengers
1. The Brutalist
Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993.
Credits:
Our theme song is by Tim McEwan from The Midnight. This episode was edited by Noah Ross who also created our weekly plugs and spoiler bumper music. Our Slashfilmcourt music comes from Simon Harris.
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Comments
No Society of the Snow? It came out on Netflix January 4th, so it was right on the cusp.
Tim Langford
2025-01-15 02:11:30 +0000 UTCAgreed. I said this elsewhere but musical biopics are not musicals, just like there is a difference between seeing Bob Dylan play live at Madison Square Garden and seeing Wicked on Broadway. They're not at all the same category of entertainment, even though there's music being played at both.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-07 22:39:11 +0000 UTCI’m confused or Jeff is. He said “during our review of Conclave” but they didn’t do review (main or otherwise) of that film. And then he says they didn’t do a review of Anora, but I could have sworn they did! 😵💫
Alexander Sanchez
2025-01-06 18:45:09 +0000 UTCAppreciate the back-and-forth. (Sometimes I feel like comment boards are just shouting into the wind, so appreciate the discourse.) As you mentioned, film is definitely subjective, so I'm thrilled that you found last year to be an amazing year in cinema. I'm curious which were the ones that really stood out to you from last year? I try to see as much as I can, and while I see a lot more than the average person, I feel shame when I hear about how many some are able to catch. While I see between 50 - 70 each year (this year was an even 60), my jaw drops when some people watch over 120 new relases. That said, I am personally loving this year. I had a hard time picking my number one film and vascilated between four different films. I also haven't seen Nickel Boys or The Brutalist yet (actually waiting for my showing of Nickel Boys as I type this). Both films seem exactly in my wheelhouse, and if so I don't know what I'll do with my Top 10. Either way, I agree that 2025 is shaping up to be a banger of a year and I am very much looking forward to what is on top. Happy New Year to you and here's to a great year in film. Thanks for chatting.
Scott M. Adams
2025-01-06 02:42:25 +0000 UTC“The Dune-Heads are going to be unhappy about the stuff that was left out.” No no no…. The Dune-Heads are unhappy about the characters and plot-lines that were COMPLETELY CHANGED FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE. Dune Pt. 2 got 2/5 stars from me.
Steven Kennick
2025-01-05 23:43:37 +0000 UTCA Complete Unknown is not a musical. If everyone in the movie thinks a person is a musician and they are watching this person play music, that's a movie about a musician. In a musical, everyone sings and everyone dances as just a normal part of every day and nobody thinks that's weird.
Janelle Durham
2025-01-05 23:08:41 +0000 UTCYep, that's why I think this isn't an isolated incident. I doubt that was the first time it's happened either, and odds are this isn't limited just to movie stars. Maybe I'm wrong, but I expect we're gonna hear a lot more about this kind of thing.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-04 10:54:25 +0000 UTCIt’s not. The Amber Hurt v. Johnny Depp trial anti-Amber Hurt internet propaganda was done by the same firm that attacked Blake Lively for the benefit of Justin Baldoni.
Olivia Oliver
2025-01-04 10:50:28 +0000 UTCI will say, I saw Hundreds of Beavers with a crowd and came away feeling the same way as Jeff
Austin Buccowich
2025-01-04 07:33:25 +0000 UTCGreat episode as always. One of the highlights of my podcasting year. Was hoping to see Ibelin get a mention, but I think it got lost in the shuffle.
Jon
2025-01-04 01:37:25 +0000 UTCA crime has been committed and that is rebel ridge being left off all the lists.
Kyle Smith
2025-01-03 21:35:05 +0000 UTCThis was basically a response to my comment below, so I'll respond. Obviously everyone has subjective tastes, but I see a lot of movies every year, especially new ones in theaters, and saw probably 90% of the films the hosts selected for their lists, and this was definitely a considerable step down from what we saw the previous year. This wasn't a terrible year for movies though, and part of the step down in quality I think is because I feel like 2023 is going to ultimately go down as one of the all time best years in cinema. Not THE best, but probably a top 25 year all time. I mean, the quality of all kinds of movies just across the board in 2023 was incredible, it wasn't just the amazing selection of movies that ended up being the awards contenders. In 2024 though, there was a very noticeable fall off, not just in the top tier films, but really in the sheer number of just very good movies throughout the year. Week after week I saw movies that failed to make much of an impression, and this was jarring after seeing so many little known gems in 2023. Fortunately, like I said below, I think there's an obvious explanation for this: the dueling strikes in Hollywood. A dip in quality was really unavoidable given the circumstances. I do hope we're going to be moving beyond that though, as there look to be a couple movies coming out this month that legitimately look like they actually could be quite good (and I'm not even referring to Den of Thieves 2, which looks awful). And given how January is usually Hollywood's dumping ground for their garbage (see the aforementioned Den of Thieves 2), I take that as an encouraging sign for what 2025 might have in store for us at the movies.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-03 12:08:38 +0000 UTCI'm guessing they recorded this episode before this all broke, but ultimately I think what will end up being the film-related story of the year is the whole Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni "It Ends With Us" ongoing brouhaha, as I think that's going to wind up having far reaching implications. I would not be surprised if that's merely the tip of the iceberg of a brewing entertainment-wide scandal, or like the first domino to fall. Maybe not, we'll have to wait and see, but this seems unlikely to be an isolated incident.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-03 11:49:04 +0000 UTCI think Dave's take was way off in general with saying "musicals are back", mainly because I don't think we have even one example of a recent movie which was marketed specifically as a musical that was a success. I think he's just playing semantic games to make a spurious claim. Jeff and Devindra were right that neither animated kids films like Moana or musical biopics qualify as musicals, as those have totally different audiences that go to those movies. Just like there is a difference between going to see Wicked on Broadway and seeing Bob Dylan play live at Madison Square Garden. And just like if you tell someone you love musicals and list Frozen, Pinocchio and Aladdin as your favorite musicals, people will correct you that those are not the same as movies like Singing in the Rain or Oklahoma or Moulin Rouge. I feel like the last three movies we had that were actually marketed as musicals were West Side Story, Cats and In the Heights, and all flopped hard. Presumably that is what started the trend of hiding the fact that musicals are actually musicals, as we saw with Wonka, The Color Purple, Mean Girls and Wicked. Two of those were successful and two flopped, but since many people going to see them may not have known they were musicals, I don't think you can really draw much of a conclusion from that. Joker 2 did sort of advertise that it was a musical, but it flopped as well. I think Wicked 2 will probably be a big success even if it's marketed as a musical, but even if that happens, the difference there is it's a sequel to a hit movie. I think to truly feel like "musicals are back", we need a new standalone movie to be marketed and advertised as a musical and then for it to be a hit. Until then, Dave is just wish casting.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-03 08:27:55 +0000 UTCThere was only a performance of half of a song in that movie, and it was because a pop star was doing a rehearsal for a live show. That's definitely not enough to qualify as a musical IMO.
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-03 07:58:12 +0000 UTCI love this episode every year, such diverse lists this time! Thanks for all the great entertainment!!
Butts McGee
2025-01-03 02:00:31 +0000 UTCNo love for The Remarkable Life of Ibelin?!! For shame!
AF
2025-01-02 22:54:35 +0000 UTCI was a bit confused by the story of the year segment - was it meant to be movie-related stories? The juxtaposition of Jeff’s popcorn buckets and Devindra’s election coverage was quite jarring. They seemed to be on different wavelengths.
Peter Tribe
2025-01-02 21:08:51 +0000 UTCI think politics was realllly being shoehorned in to the “Story of the Year” discussion. Felt really out of place.
Steven Kennick
2025-01-02 20:06:17 +0000 UTCYou’ve made your point. Time to move on.
Ryan Crisp
2025-01-02 19:55:51 +0000 UTCSmile 2 was a successful musical...
Corey Proft
2025-01-02 19:13:20 +0000 UTCI love this episode. Their top ten, AKA a “list of movies written down and discussed that I missed so it’s an easy way for me to see a list and look up all these films now”
Jaxon Hampton
2025-01-02 15:59:21 +0000 UTCI was shocked that Jeff didn’t have a limerick for his number one choice!
Chris A.
2025-01-02 14:58:27 +0000 UTCSomebody did this last year. If we give 10 points to every Nr. 1 and go down the line and sum it up all up, this is the ranking: 1. Challengers 9+10 = 19 2. The Brutalist 10+6 = 16 Dune: Part Two 8+8 = 16 3. Anora 1+9+4 = 14 4. Ghostlight 3+7 = 10 I Saw The TV Glow 10 5. No Other Land 9 6. Nickel Boys 8 7. Red Rooms 7 Sing Sing 7 8. The Order 6 Heretic 6 9. Skywalkers: A Love Story 5 Last Stop in Yuma County 5 The Fall Guy 2+3 = 5 All We Imagine As Light 5 10. It’s What’s Inside 4 Conclave 4 11. Blink Twice 3 12. Hundreds of Beavers 2 Love Lies Bleeding 2 13. Orion and the Dark 1 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 1
Mountain of Conflict
2025-01-02 11:28:57 +0000 UTCI'm probably the only one bothered by this... every year I get annoyed at hearing "great choice!" 30 times during the top 10 episode. It gets repetitive enough that it feels like a perfunctory, performative ritual and becomes distracting. It also seems to imply that the hosts need or want validation for their choices, which I doubt is true. And it serves to constantly redirect focus to the person making the choice rather than the films themselves. I listen to a bunch of movie podcasts that do year-end lists and nobody else does this fwiw (at least not nearly to this extent) so it really stands out. Ultimately this is a "me problem" but I think there are some valid points there worth considering
DarmineDoggyDoor
2025-01-01 21:04:20 +0000 UTCIf Jeff saw Sing Sing, I think it’d be his number one. Also, there are a couple films on one person’s list that I think are objectively terrible films but hey love the diversity of opinions haha.
John Terranova
2025-01-01 19:20:18 +0000 UTCThat may be why he limes them. Plus adrenaline is addictive!
Dianae Weeks
2025-01-01 17:09:24 +0000 UTCI enjoyed having it to listen to as I rested before my night shift New Year’s Eve.
Dianae Weeks
2025-01-01 17:06:36 +0000 UTCI love having this list of 30 movies to pick through for something to watch to alleviate the search for a good sit! Only seen about half of them Let me throw in my vote for Anora as my number one also! May not be the best but its tbe one I enjoyed the most as a former stripper.
Dianae Weeks
2025-01-01 17:04:24 +0000 UTCGreat list, always enjoy the show. Been over 10 years. I have been listening.
Mark Griffith
2025-01-01 15:31:59 +0000 UTCSkywalkers, Fire of Love, Free Solo. What is it with death defying love stories in doc form that turns David on so much 😃 Feels far away from his life.
Mountain of Conflict
2025-01-01 10:39:00 +0000 UTCI think they liked it just fine, it’s just that the film was only ok
Mark P
2025-01-01 09:07:56 +0000 UTCNot a single placement for The Substance?! A prime candidate for movies ‘we didn’t get’ next week!
Jay Wood
2025-01-01 07:56:53 +0000 UTClol get outta here. That is some straight foolishness.
Reynaldo K. Cruz
2025-01-01 05:39:23 +0000 UTCCan you point to something showing this was "the left" doing this? The Wall Street Journal and Fox News also did not report on that when it happened, and it was because the source was so suspect (a blind shop owner supposedly got his laptop and gave it Rudy Giuliani), that it was thought it was a good chance it was attempted election interference from a foreign adversary. Trump was in charge of the government, the FBI and the DOJ when that happened, and Twitter and Facebook are privately owned companies, so it seems extremely specious to say that was somehow "the left" manipulating the media. Also interesting that your only example is from more than 4 years ago. Twitter was much more egregious this year. Doesn't seem to be nearly equitable on both sides, wouldn't you agree? And as such, seems fair to complain about the side that's vastly worse, yes?
Stranger2Reality
2025-01-01 01:47:59 +0000 UTCPre-Musk. I’m suspect of how Musk is using the platform now
Joe Cabello
2025-01-01 00:55:13 +0000 UTCI’m not even American so have no horse in this race but why would Musk’s Twitter be suppressing anything to do with a Biden?
Mark P
2025-01-01 00:50:34 +0000 UTCGrateful for you all as always. I look forward to every episode and this episode is a particular favorite. In a different take from the comment below mine, I think 2024 was an incredible year for film and that is highlighted by how diverse these picks are. I went through and while I most align with Jeff, part of that is because there are so many films in your list that I have not seen. I matched 75% of seen films with Dave, but that's only because I have only seen 4 of the films he listed. Even with Jeff, there were only 7 of his top 10 that I had seen. I"m going to guess that's probably true for a lot of people and I believe highlights the strength of cinema this year. I will say that there are a few films that I had the no one mentioned which surprised me given their reviews. Most notably are Wicked (I was sure it would be on Dave's list) and Nosferatu (I thought it would be on Jeff's). I am curious to hear the honorable mentions. I also thought Jeff might include Inside Out 2 like me, which seems to have faded from everyone's memory despite the incredible reviews at the time. (I know Dave and Devindra did not care for it.) Anyhow another great year and three incredible lists. Here's to 2025 and three cheers for three great podcasters and people.
Scott M. Adams
2024-12-31 23:40:33 +0000 UTCAnd to be clear, I don’t think it’s a good thing for right wing media manipulation either
Joe Cabello
2024-12-31 23:32:36 +0000 UTCSuppression of the Hunter Biden laptop stories in Facebook and Twitter
Joe Cabello
2024-12-31 23:31:29 +0000 UTCI'll bite: can you provide an example of "left wing media manipulation"?
Stranger2Reality
2024-12-31 23:26:41 +0000 UTCKind of a down year for film, especially after how incredible 2023 was for movies. I'm guessing the writers and actors strikes played a part in that. Feels like there's at least 4-5 movies from 2023 which were better than anything that was released this year. Hopefully 2025 will be better.
Stranger2Reality
2024-12-31 23:25:30 +0000 UTCI’ve been listening since mid-2010. Very thankful for the literal 1000’s of hours I’ve spent listening to DC across this podcast and various others
Mark P
2024-12-31 23:17:13 +0000 UTCNo a reference to the film Crash from 2005. I believe the dialogue in question is spoken right at the start of the film by Don Cheadle
Mark P
2024-12-31 23:15:37 +0000 UTCamen
Asher Maitin
2024-12-31 22:58:24 +0000 UTCI would strongly bet Dave Chen will tell us that "Didi" almost made the #10 slot next week when he talks honorable mentions.
Papool Chaudhari
2024-12-31 22:51:24 +0000 UTCIf you include musical biopics (which the hosts definitely intend to include), Piece by Piece (the Pharrell lego movie) and Back to Black (Amy Winehouse bio pic) sticks out. Bob Marley: One Love did well in the box office because of how popular Marley is, but it's not good. Ditto for Mean Girls (2024), which is a straight musical as it adapts the stage musical to screen a la Wicked.
Papool Chaudhari
2024-12-31 22:50:13 +0000 UTCBit random, but I'm struck with how thankful I am for you guys. This podcast has lasted me for about a decade, from senior year of high school to now. So many small simple things we take for granted, but glad to end the year with no New Year's Eve plans listening to everyone's top 10 of 2024.
Timothy Mably
2024-12-31 21:34:12 +0000 UTCThis may not be the podcast for you bud
Reynaldo K. Cruz
2024-12-31 21:24:37 +0000 UTCWhat musical besides Joker 2 flopped this year?
BananaJoe
2024-12-31 21:07:09 +0000 UTCThank you for a great year, fellas! I have yet to see several movies on your lists and now I have renewed motivation to check them out. Happy New Year to you all!
Ryan Crisp
2024-12-31 20:16:39 +0000 UTCJeff may not have his finger on the pulse of the movie-going public, but he certainly has his hand in the popcorn bucket.
Chris Cameron
2024-12-31 19:40:23 +0000 UTC“Oh god, here comes Borderlands” got a laugh from me. 😄 Devindra is lowkey hilarious.
Grant McConnaughey
2024-12-31 19:40:20 +0000 UTCWas “we crash into these popcorn buckets” a Dave Matthews reference?
Chris Cameron
2024-12-31 19:39:38 +0000 UTCI really thought someone would go to bat for TRAP.
Andy Armstrong
2024-12-31 19:03:06 +0000 UTCNgā mihi o Te Tau Hou. Happy 2025 from a listener from the deep south. Heads up 2025 seems to started OK soooo far.
Todd Taiepa
2024-12-31 18:59:28 +0000 UTC🙄
Don Wood
2024-12-31 18:38:49 +0000 UTCSome serious snubs here: My old ass Strange Darling Didi Late night with the Devil Alien Romulus Music by John Williams The greatest night in pop
Asher Maitin
2024-12-31 18:27:38 +0000 UTCDevindra commenting on right wing media manipulation while ignoring left wing media manipulation 🤮
Joe Cabello
2024-12-31 17:34:36 +0000 UTCThanks for all your time and thoughts gentlemen! May your new year be prosperous!
Reynaldo K. Cruz
2024-12-31 17:27:32 +0000 UTC
