While the year is still young, 2024 is already shaping up to be a banner year at the multiplex. 2023 was a strong year for cinema, with notable releases such as Oppenheimer, Barbie, Past Lives, and more. Looking ahead to 2024, there is much to anticipate, with Denis Villeneuve’s highly anticipated sequel to Dune, George Miller’s return to the bullet farm with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the resurrection of the Alien franchise, and numerous other highly anticipated films on the horizon. We have been fortunate to enjoy a number of high-quality films so far this year, including All of Us Strangers, Yorgos Lanthimos’s riotous Poor Things, and Luca Guadagnino’s sexy AF tennis psychodrama Challengers. These are just a few of the excellent reasons to visit the cinema.
The criterion for entry is that some of these movies were released in the US at the end of 2023, with the intention of qualifying for the Oscars. However, we have based this list on UK release dates in order to include the best worldwide releases from between January and December. Please be advised that we will be updating this list with any new releases that meet the criteria as they become available. We therefore ask you to keep this list bookmarked.
1. The Zone of Interest
Film, Drama
A great artist can offer a radical new perspective on a well-trodden subject. Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust masterpiece takes Hannah Arendt’s phrase ‘the banality of evil’ and shows us what banal evil really looks like. The family life of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife (Sandra Hüller) is a vision of cursed domesticity. The horrors remain out of sight but, crucially, not out of earshot. Sound designer Johnnie Burn’s soundscape includes the yelling of guards and the crack of rifle shots, which punctuate scenes of gardening and kids’ playing. The result is a Come and See for the 2020s.
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2. Poor Things
Film, Drama
The conversation on Yorgos Lanthimos’s singular adaptation of Scottish writer Alasdair Gray’s cult 1992 novel came late, but it came hard. Was it a sensual coming-of-age journey on helium or a problematic story of sexual exploitation? Despite his previous successes with Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Favorite, the Greek director is renowned for creating unconventional, niche visions of the human experience. This latest film, a Victorian Frankenstein riff starring Emma Stone as a lustier-than-normal monster, is no exception. It is arguably the most unconventional film to receive 11 Oscar nominations.
3. Dune: Part Two
Film, Science fiction
Does Denis Villeneuve ever make mistakes? Mr. Villeneuve has demonstrated remarkable success in the blockbuster filmmaking industry, with a hit rate of nearly 40%. His latest project, the sequel to Dune, further solidifies his reputation. Having already created a new vision of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic in the first Dune, Part Two adds further depth to the world-building and galactic scheming with moral complexity and giant desert battles. However, even the impressive cast cannot match the sheer scale of the sandworms, which are a standout feature of the film. These giant sand trains, which traverse the sandy terrain of Arrakis, provide the movie with its most awe-inspiring visual motif.
4. All of Us Strangers
Film, Thrillers
A remarkable piece of work – in the sense that it will leave you emotionally affected – Andrew Haigh’s ghostly love story could just be the Brit’s masterpiece. The film is the story of a screenwriter (Andrew Scott) whose solitary life in a London apartment block is disrupted by a mysterious neighbour (Paul Mescal) and an even more mysterious visit to his childhood home, where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) await him. The film is at least semi-autobiographical, with Haigh shooting it in his own boyhood home. This makes the undercurrents (connection, loneliness, and a sense of missing one’s parents) feel personal as well as universal.
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Film, Action and adventure
The Mad Max franchise, created by George Miller, is one of the most successful in the film industry. Its latest releases, Fury Road and Furiosa, are both blockbusters that offer moviegoers a high level of entertainment value. In contrast to the sleek, arrow-like Fury Road, Furiosa, a generational origin story with Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy stepping into Charlize Theron’s boots, is encumbered by additional narrative elements. However, the film benefits from the performance of Chris Hemsworth as the scheming, oratorical Dementus, as well as one War Rig chase that is as impressive as anything seen in the previous film. Consequently, it is still a film that is essential viewing. There is no one else quite like the Australian doctor.
