Joel Edmiston's Favorite Movies of 2024

by Joel Edmiston

When reading and listening to movie reviewers and movie-podcasters this time of year every year, it does tend to feel like a one-way conversation that I am the voiceless half of, so I’m happy to have this article as a way to get my voice out there (and also have one-sided conversation with you, reader). I feel I have bumped up with many people’s movie opinions this year. It’s been a year without consensus on much (not just movies), and my perhaps-a-bit-off-kilter list will add to the disharmony.

The main thing I want to bring up is how many times I’ve heard that this was a bad movie year. I’ve not been so sure about that, but in making this list, I realized that it’s a pretty great year. When I had to bump incredible movies like A Different Man, Anora, Late Night With The Devil, and Nosferatu off my list, I thought to myself “what are we talking about here? This year is awesome.”

Forgive me if, at times in this article, it seems like I’m writing as if you know all about each movie. A lot of these movies have been talked about to death in the last year, so I’m not going to go too into details about plot and cast and crew and all that. If you’re confused, perhaps open a Google tab (while keeping this one open of course) and read a little up on whatever movie I’m talking about and, once you’re ready, come on back here and read what the hell I have to say about it.

I wrote these blurbs out of order pre-and post-January 1st, the day I decided I would quit nicotine pouches cold turkey. I wonder if you’ll be able to decipher which were written with a pouch in my mouth and which were written in the cloudy haze of withdrawal. Guess in the comments (not so one-sided after all).

10. A Complete Unknown (dir. James Mangold)

In September, I travelled with my friends to Buffalo to see Bob Dylan perform a concert. At one point, he banged a wrench against his microphone during one of my favourite songs of his ("Desolation Row"). It was perplexing, but mesmerizing. That is also how I would describe that man as a whole. A man who, make no mistake, I love and whose music is very meaningful to me.

All this to say, I was skeptical going into this movie, and while there was no scene that explains how Bob found his infamous wrench, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this. It is depicting rather well-trod territory in Bob Dylan lore (the mid '60s), but it’s still an awesome time period to hang out in, and that’s what Mangold’s having us do here: hang out with Bob Dylan. That’s something I wanna do and Chalamet has done enough work (clearly a lot) to make me forget he’s not actually him. The movie doesn’t make the same mistake that a lot of its characters do, which is trying to figure out who this guy is. It lets Bob be this weird, mysterious asshole whose songs you can’t help but gawk at in amazement and gosh it’s fun to gawk in amazement.

One last thing: now that we have the movie about everything leading to Dylan going electric in Newport, I say in 60 years, lets get Chalamet back and make the movie about everything leading up to Dylan going wrench in Buffalo.

9. A Real Pain (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)

Sometimes, you need to watch a movie that’s mostly just two sad people talking. We used to get this a lot more and, yeah, they weren’t all good. Dialogue’s gotta be sharp. The characters have to be interesting. The emotional moments have to hit. A Real Pain’s got all of this, all the while exploring some themes I don’t think I’ve seen in a movie before. Eisenberg’s writing has that spark that Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson have. I’m very excited to see his next project.

In every shot of him, Keiran Culkin’s got this stewing emotional rawness right behind his fragile smirk. First thing I thought when I saw him was, “This man is going to make me cry isn’t he?” He did.

Also, as a cousin guy (a guy with cousins), I wanted to bring up how meaningful it is to have a new cousin movie (movie about two cousins). I like Larry David’s Sour Grapes more than most people, but I’m glad to have another cousin movie that’s not Sour Grapes is all I’m saying. What are the other cousin movies?

8. The Shadow Strays (dir. Timo Tjahjanto)

Perhaps you’re like me and just want to see awesome shit for a while? Well you’re in luck, because readers… this thing just fuckin’ kicks ass so hard. Enough said? A good action movie hits good, right? Kind of like the first Nicotine pouch of the day. What a feeling. Oh man. Maybe that’s how I get through these withdrawals? Just watching action movies every time I get a craving? Doesn’t sound like a bad life - watching action movies all day, every day… for the rest of my life. Anyway, this is a good one. Say “No” to Zyn, kids. Watch The Shadow Strays instead.

7. Furiosa (dir. George Miller)

I have been truly baffled by people not liking this movie. It rips so hard. What do people want? I do not understand. I’m dumb and can’t articulate why everyone is wrong but you are and you need to let this into your heart, or don’t, I don’t know, do whatever you want. I like when there are fast vehicles on a vast and beautiful landscape. People are chasing each other and trying to kill each other with their vehicles. Yeah, it happened in Fury Road, and I liked it then, but I also like it here. And also, Furiosa is a good movie and it’s not a bad movie, you understand? I know the difference. And also, c’mon this and Fury Road are different. It’s not just some big rehash. They do different things. They’re about different things. What are they, you ask? Fuck, don’t ask me these things. Watch the movie is all I can say. Fury Road is still Fury Road and now we also have Furiosa. Hopefully everyone will be happy about this in five years.

Ok couple things about this blurb. First of all: Big nicotine withdrawal energy coming from it. I seem nuts (I was when I wrote it, and still am to an extent), but I’m not going to edit it all. I said what I said. Second of all: I wrote it before I listened to Patrick talk about this movie as one he didn’t get on the podcast. He’s saying he heard a lot of people liking it. We disagree on the quality of the film (and that is ok!), but also I guess we are consuming different outlets, or perhaps we are under different rocks, or perhaps this movie’s just quite divisive and the voice that feels the loudest is the one that’s disagreeing with me. Nonetheless, that’s something fun about this year. Nobody really agrees about anything.

6. The Brutalist (dir. Brady Corbet)

This one is my most recent watch on this list, so I am feeling very indecisive about this placement. If it was just that first half, it would certainly be my number one. I used to watch a lot of theatre (well not a lot, but way more than I do now) and I’ve never sat back down after an intermission so excited and so ready for Act Two. It tells such a perfect story in that first act. There’s this song on the score called “Steel” which brings us into the intermission, over a breathtakingly underplayed monologue, leading to a still photo that made me gasp. I honestly covered my mouth and it is not anything shocking at all, other than that it’s just very lovely. And yes, I was so shocked at this loveliness that, yeah, I covered my mouth and even gasped a little. Well anyway, I’ve been listening to that track, “Steel” by Daniel Blumberg, non-stop on Spotify. Let how little I’ve said about the second half indicate how I felt about it. All I’ll say is, do not let people saying that the second half is not as good discourage you from seeing the movie. It all still works and the flaws of the second do not in any way taint the highs of the first.

5. Red Rooms (Pascal Plante)

The internet is so fucked. We know this. I can’t really think of a movie that captures this quite as well as Red Rooms does. Many have talked about how many directors are afraid of making movies set in modern times because of phones and the internet. Red Rooms bites off this challenge like a dog, all the while making a compelling serial killer thriller in the process. This may be the movie I’ve recommended the most to people this year. We needed a French Canadian David Fincher movie, even though we may not have realized it. Quebec is a special and twisted place and it’s about time people start figuring that out.

4. Frankie Freako (Steven Kotanski)

Yes I have two Canadian movies in my top 5. It’s allowed. We’re doing awesome things up here. Frankie Freako is the funniest movie I saw this year. Have people heard of this one? I remember people going crazy for Psycho Goreman (same director!) and this one is just as great. Honestly, it’s better. Seeing as how I bet a lot haven’t caught up with this, I’m going to give a quick summary:

An uptight guy calls a hotline while his wife is away and a trio of puppets show up to his house and cause havoc in his personal and professional life.

It’s quite something.

Saying that they are simply reconstructing the vibes and images from nightmarish puppet horror movies and kids programming from the '80s and '90s would be a cheap way of selling it, because the recreation is done with such a distinct, sharp style, and humour. It’s not trying to parody or make you nostalgic, but instead uses these tropes as a playground for their own sensibilities, and it's a large playground that they explore every inch of. There’s a line by Kotanski’s frequent MVP, Adam Brooks, which he utters while he is stuck in a bunch of glue, that has been making me laugh periodically for months every time I think about it.

3. The Substance (dir. Coralie Forgeat)

We get a lot of horror in the mainstream lately, and my complaint with a lot of them is that many of those movie don’t actually go there. I want to see the crazy shit, you know? I’ve always thought modern filmmakers are maybe fearful of turning people off. You hear people all the time saying “I hate gore,” “I don’t like intense movies,” “I don’t wanna see gross shit,” etc. I sometimes think mainstream horror these days is made just for those people.

If reading this is makes you think “Hey, what a douche, this guy needs a kick in the head,” I’ll tell ya what, seeing this movie at 11am on a weekday was a real kick in the head for me. Not only did this movie give me 10 or so disgustingly gory things I’d never seen in a movie before… Not only was the last 30 minutes the most tense I’ve felt in a movie all year… But also it’s a gigantic success and perhaps the most-talked about movie of the year? I, the guy asking for crazy shit, saw this and was like “This shit is crazy even for me” and then people are talking about it at the damn water coooler, like “didn’t you love when she pulled the (REDACTED FOR SPOILERS) out her (REDACTED FOR SPOILERS)?”? That rules. Movies are going to be OK, I think.

2. The Last Stop in Yuma County (dir. Francis Galluppi)

So my top two here are movies I saw a lot earlier in 2024. This happens to me most years. It makes sense. I’ve had time to think about these ones, to watch them multiple times, champion them, recommend them, root for them. I’m not a guy who is constantly thinking about this list all year, but I do have this thing where I’m constantly comparing the second half movies (the festival faves, the awards frontrunners, etc) to the first half ones I loved the most. I watch Anora and I’m like “Yeah that’s good, but if people like this so much, where were they for The Last Stop in Yuma County?” (Anora is just an arbitrary comparison, not too much in common here, other than they are both funny and tense I suppose). I don’t personally know anyone involved in Last Stop in Yuma County, but I was immediately so proud of the people who made it when I watched it. That something this tight, accomplished and so entertaining could be made with as little as it was just makes me believe that artists can break through from anywhere. This movie is the personification of the scrappy underdog for our time. From the lead being indie filmmaker and actor,Jim Cummings (known for his passionate approach to low budget filmmaking) to its supporting cast full of recognizable horror actors (Richard Brake, Jocelin Donahue, Barbara Crampton, to name a few) who always give it their all no matter what the project but who are really giving it here, likely because of the impeccable script (this is my pick for best written film of the year). Everyone seems excited about this one.

This film is mostly set in one location. This is something a lot of indie films do. I think this movie doesn’t see this as a limitation, but as more as a challenge and a chance for innovation. It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. It feels like a choice. The direction by Francis Galluppi traps us in this diner in a way that always feels dynamic, never stagey. I loved the creative methods in which he showed us new information before characters found out about them. Every plot development -- every power shift between characters, every act of violence -- is so shocking and sold so well by the cast and filmmakers.

1. The Bikeriders (dir. Jeff Nicols)

I’ve never ridden a motorcycle and I likely never will, but gosh do I love watching guys in movies ride motorcycles. Add some social commentary, some fun voice work by great actors, some Shakespearean intrigue, Michael Shannon playing the smelliest-looking man you’ve ever seen and, yeah, I could’ve guessed this would’ve been my number 1 before I saw it.

First time I watched this, I simply couldn’t wait to watch it again. I walked around for a week, wishing I was at the damn theatre, seeing those Vandals just sitting around talking. When I finally went back, I felt the exact same. It knocks me out. What can I say? Honestly, I wish I was watching it right now.

Not a lot of people talked about it much this year and that kind of puzzled me, but it also let me keep this movie as my little pet, my beloved The Bikeriders. I’ve always loved Jeff Nichols movies. They depict worlds and lifestyles that are dirty, grimy, and violent, the kind I’d typically want to avoid in my personal life, but his characters are always people I want to keep hanging out with.

If I only ever saw Austin Butler on a red carpet or in interviews, I would think that I would not like him as an actor, but to my surprise, I have thoroughly enjoyed all three of the major performances I’ve seen of his (Benny in this, Elvis in Elvis, Young Stellan Skaarsgaard in Dune 2). In this, he, much like Chalamet in A Complete Unknown, adds some weird-guy to his bad boy, which makes Benny so much more interesting than if he was just a handsome biker. Speaking of an odd little duck trapped inside of a hunk’s body, I think Tom Hardy puts in one of his best performances ever in this movie. It’s a great choice having Johnny not be the real deal, but also not really a poser either. I found him to be a fascinating character, one I’ve been thinking about all year. People love dunking on Hardy and his voices these days, but you know what I love? Him. He’s still one of my favourite working actors. He’s got odd taste, but always throws himself all the way into what he’s doing. People dunk on Venom as well, but I’m over here saying “The last two Venoms are the only good post-pandemic Marvel movies” and guess what? I’m right. Also, I’ll take the Venom Trilogy over any MCU shit, from any phase.

Honourable Mentions: Venom: The Last Dance. Actually it’s my number one. Scrap this list. Venom 3 is 1 through 10.