The movie year, jumbled a bit by , might feel like it’s only just getting going. The box office is, finally, booming But at the year’s midway point, a lot of terrific movies have already come out – more, maybe, than you might realize. Not even counting some of the movies that had qualifying releases last year — two of our favorites were and “Tótem” — 2024 has accumulated a wide range of standout movies big and small, with and without sandworms.
Here are our favorites: — a dramatic leap forward for filmmaker and a transfixing trans parable — is one of the most exciting movie events of the year. The film, available for digital rental, is a chilling 1990s coming of age in which a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-like series called “The Pink Opaque” offers a possible portal out of drab suburban life and other suffocations. It feels chillingly, beautifully ripped out of Schoenbrun’s soul — and it’s got a killer soundtrack.
—Coyle Its box office supremacy may have been eclipsed by some animated feelings, but “ ” is still the most dazzling cinematic spectacle to have graced theaters in 2024. “ ” was always going to be a hard act to follow, but ’s continuation of Paul Atreides’ rise manages to be both thrilling and deeply unsettling — a cautionary tale about a would-be messiah who you can’t help but root for. Thanks a lot for the moral crisis, Chalamet.
—Bahr Look, I don’t make the rules. But it turns out that an animated movie about .
