Since I led off with a Ferris Bueller quote last year to speak for my year, I might as well do it again.
“When you don’t know what to do, do the thing in front of you.” – Elizabeth Elliot
I’ve come to realize for a long time that I lead sort of a double life with this film critic side hustle. When people in my education day job circle find out that I do the volume of movie work I do or when my movie peers find out I’m a full-time elementary teacher, their responses are almost universally the same: “I don’t know how you do it.” Well, that’s where my chosen quote comes into play. I set priorities, learn to say “no,” and peck away. I live and die by an organized calendar. When time is presented, I get to work and leave work at work.
Letting Letterboxd logs help with the math, I saw 109 movies that received a theatrical or digital release in 2024. Thanks to a bump from some festival coverage, 107 written reviews were published on Every Movie Has a Lesson, a jump from the last few years. Many of those also ran on my top outlet of Film Obsessive, where I successfully completed my first year as Editor in Chief and Content Supervisor. Add on 42 episodes of the Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast with Will Johnson, guest spots on other shows, a smattering of Tiktok videos, a new social media hub on BlueSky, my leadership work helping run the Chicago Indie Critics voting body, and, yeah, maybe “I don’t know how you do it” fits.
My top movie-related highlight from 2024 has to be the sunny and gorgeous November trip to Los Angeles provided by Amazon MGM Studios to cover Nickel Boys as part of the Critics Choice Association. Believe it or not after all these years, I completed my first-ever in-person interviews after being granted time to talk to Oscar nominee Aunjunae Ellis-Taylor and the young duo of Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson. With some free time there, I was able to visit the Academy Museum for the second time and get some quality hang out and networking time with fellow critics who have become new long-distance friends. I am eternally thankful for the perks that come with being part of that prestigious organization.
The arrival of 2025 brings a mini landmark to Every Movie Has a Lesson. This little website that I dreamed up and started way back on Google Blogger turns 15 years old in May of 2025. Before start a year of celebration, I owe you a “10 Best” list for 2024. I couldn’t (and can never) see everything, where I have my blind spots and gaps, but, as you can see, I specialize in digging for treasure behind the mainstream.
All poster images: impawards.com and Letterboxd
MY 10 BEST FILMS OF 2024
2. SING SING
3. GUY FRIENDS
4. HIT MAN
5. SEPTEMBER 5
9. ONE LIFE
10. ADAM THE FIRST
After finishing this ranked list, hearing some feedback from friends, and comparing it with the lists from my fellow film critic peers, I realized that I, rather hilariously, have a “type” when it comes to films. Call it part of an occupational hazard being a school teacher, but if a movie moves me and punches my heart, it’s got me. Pair that with being a hopeless romantic “softie,” and I indeed have a “type.” As finely made as many current Oscar contenders are that you’ll see on the year-end lists of major publications, I found many of them cold, pretentious pieces of artifice. I can tip my hat at their craft, but they don’t linger like these ten do. I only gave eight movies the full five stars (my lowest spread in years), and they’re all here.
Topping the list, Exhibiting Forgiveness, a heavy family drama made by painter Titus Kaphar debuting as a filmmaker, and Sing Sing, a true story of an enriching and healing prison theatre program, were two films that impressed me both on the artistic side and on the empathy engine front. They are 1 and 1A, and the performances from Andre Holland, John Earl Jelks, the aforementioned Aunjunae Ellis-Taylor, Colman Domingo, Paul Raci, and Clarence Maclin across the two films will fill every ballot I complete this awards season.
Much like the micro-budgeted Black White and the Grays high on my list last year, I’m happy to champion two more tiny hidden gems in Guy Friends and Adam the First. The former is whip-smart romantic comedy with unknown actors better than the stuff Hollywood puts out now. The latter, a coming-of-age mystery movie of a teen rambling around to find his birth parents starring Oakes Fegley and David Duchovny, has, without a doubt, the best final 15 minutes of any—and I mean any—movie I saw this year. The jaw-dropping happy tears come back just thinking about it. Completing the heart punch parade are more titles that destroyed tissue boxes for me this year in The Wild Robot, We Live in Time, and One Life. All of them are complete keepers.
THE NEXT TEN BEST:
11. GHOST LIGHT
13. OUT OF MY MIND
14. NICKEL BOYS
15. DANDELION
16. CHALLENGERS
17. THE FIRE INSIDE
19. THELMA
As for the next ten, the heartwarming course continues with the exceptional Ghostlight, which would make a great double feature with Sing Sing and its theater setting. Sure, maybe a few more cinephile-centered picks like Nickel Boys, Challengers, and A Complete Unknown cracked in. Yet, those too had an energy to move me in some way behind their showy exterior. Speaking of A Complete Unknown, three music-forward movies have spots here with Dandelion and The Greatest Hits. Following The Wild Robot, Out of My Mind, also based on a book that many of my fifth grade students have read, became an instant family and classroom hit for me. Lastly, the old sports fan in me misses the hey-dey of annual sports movies and found himself impressed by the reality and platforms of The Fire Inside. The old 1990s comic book geek in me loved Deadpool & Wolverine a didn’t care about whiny holes poked by ugly fanbases. Even so, there goes June Squibb and Thelma stealing a spot ahead of the Marvel blockbuster as, cheekily, the best action movie of the year.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Babygirl, Bad Genius, Bang Bang, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, The Bikeriders, The Brink Of, Deep Sky, Good Bad Things, His Three Daughters, Horizon: An American Saga: Chapter 1, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Idea of You, The Listener, Los Frikis, Monkey Man, Music by John Williams, Nosferatu, Ordinary Angels, Peak Season, Rally Caps, A Real Pain, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, The Taste of Things, To the Moon & Back, War Game, Wicked Little Letters, Wolfs, Woman of the Hour
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED
