Welcome back to the second part of our big countdown to the film’s best movies, where the films that have delighted us the most and given us endless enjoyment are finally revealed!

But first, if you haven’t already, check out Part 1 of our countdown by clicking here, where you can find which films made numbers 30 to 16 – or, if you want to skip to any particular number, click the hyperlinks below!

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Send-Off

Enough chit-chat, let’s get right down to business…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 – Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (dirs. Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park)

The most recent entry on this list is currently basking in its post-Christmas glow (at least, here in the UK), and for good reason as the Plasticine duo made a triumphant comeback with a delightful new feature that proved once again why both Wallace and Gromit are the icons that they are.

Containing just about everything fans have come to expect over the years, from creatively wacky inventions to a fast-paced delivery of some genuinely hilarious gags, the film is a real treat for families and long-time viewers, especially with the long-awaited return of the iconic villain Feather McGraw, only the second-evilest penguin of 2024 after Colin Farrell’s Oz did what he did in that finale of The Penguin. Most of all, though, Wallace and Gromit themselves haven’t changed a bit, with the cheese-loving inventor as hapless and often hopeless as ever, while the ever-silent Gromit is a true titan of physical comedy, saying everything whilst saying absolutely nothing.

Maybe it’s just the post-Christmas high, but Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is simply impossible to dislike, and a perfect family comedy to go crackers about…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl now!


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14 – Hundreds of Beavers (dir. Mike Cheslik)

Keeping the classic cartoon spirit running is this absolutely riotous collection of some of the funniest slapstick this side of Looney Tunes – and all on a budget far lower than most of the rest of the films on this list.

Made for just $150,000 with a six-person crew, Hundreds of Beavers may look like something you’d find on your average fall down the YouTube rabbit hole, but director Mike Cheslik and star/co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews make the absolute most of their small allowance, by crafting some hilarious sight gags and even funnier physical comedy to go along with the simple story of an applejack salesman turned fur trapper incurring the wrath of numerous (hundreds, even) of man-sized beaver costumes. It’s a movie that needs to be seen to be believed, and that’s meant in the most complimentary way, for you truly won’t be able to comprehend how a film with such a miniscule budget can not only craft something that puts most studio-backed comedies to shame, but also capture the spirit of classic slapstick-heavy cartoons better than some of our far more prolific modern comedic talents.

Do yourself a favour and seek this miraculous little film out, especially if you’re after the absolute silliest of giggle fits…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Hundreds of Beavers now! 

 

13 – Unicorns (dirs. Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd)

The spirit of My Beautiful Laundrette is kept alive with this powerful LGBTQI+ romance between a hardened working-class lowlife and an out-and-99%-proud South Asian drag queen, and sparks fly like in no other romance this year.

A captivating pair of lead performances from Ben Hardy and Jason Patel – the latter in particular striking out in a turn that should send his star rising high – fuel the passionate and sometimes tense love story about two very different people from equally dissimilar backgrounds finding the courage to embrace their true selves, even amidst hateful and toxic environments. Co-directors Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd (the latter also being the film’s writer) carefully chart the rocky relationship at its centre, while also paying loving tribute to the “gaysian” scene which is shown in all its loving and accepting form, and most importantly making their film work as a truly strong love story, regardless of its sexual identity.

Like the pronouns that Patel’s Aysha uses to describe themselves, this is a film that really identifies as both “icon and legend” …

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Unicorns now! 

 

12 – The Room Next Door (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)

For his English-language feature debut, the Spanish auteur sacrifices none of his trademark glamour and appetite for melodrama, with a film that brings out his best qualities in a universal film that will hit you hard in the feels.

His leading ladies Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, both equally fantastic, headline a sobering exploration of a morally controversial subject, one that Almodóvar captures with his usual colour palette and penchant for lengthy monologues, as well as a profound empathy for the characters dealing with such difficult decisions. However, the film’s most striking feature is its poetic portrayal of how matter-of-fact life itself can be, with little build-up to certain major developments which come and go at equal nonchalance, in a striking and deeply moving approach that shows how fleeting one’s existence can be.

It’s a beautiful meditation of what it is to live the life we have been given, and all told in classic Almodóvar fashion…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch The Room Next Door now! 

 

11 – Kneecap (dir. Rich Peppiatt)

Belfast’s most provocative hip-hop group playing themselves in a fictional retelling of their origins might sound like a recipe for disaster, but thanks to the stylish work of its director – not to mention the fact that the band members are actually pretty good actors – it turned out to be one of the year’s fiercest experiences.

The film, spoken entirely in the indigenous Irish language (a move that has made it a potential contender for the upcoming International Feature Film Oscar), tells the anarchic and often hilarious story of defiance via strongly-worded rap lyrics, in ways that call to mind Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting with its eccentric vision of working-class strife and grungy pockets of the local culture, as well as the venomous (and somewhat justified) hate toward British authority. The language itself is used almost like a weapon against such a system, with the numerous songs carrying a profound punk spirit to them that lifts all the middle fingers to the antagonistic Brits (and I say that as someone who is very much British) while also being certified bangers.

Hilarious, energetic, and all around a good time at the movies, it will leave you wanting to download that Irish course on Duolingo…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Kneecap now! 

 

10 – Longlegs (dir. Osgood Perkins)

Designed almost as a counterargument for those claiming Silence of the Lambs to be a horror film, writer-director Osgood Perkins’ disturbing and indeed scary procedural chiller goes to places where even that Oscar-winning classic wouldn’t, and is all the better for it.

The 90s-set serial killer thriller dazzles and terrifies with a consistent sense of fear from its first scene right up to its shocking climax, with some excellent cinematography incorporating various aspect ratios to set an unnerving atmosphere, while Perkins’ direction ensures that the horror comes not from cheap jump-scares but from the pure mood being mined out of some haunting set-pieces.

That’s even before you take into account the most out-there Nicolas Cage performance in years – and that’s really saying something about an out-there performer like Cage – whose unrecognisable get-up makes his titular killer a truly horrifying presence, something that is neatly complimented by Maika Monroe’s impressively subdued turn as the Clarice Starling to Cage’s Hannibal Lecter (extra credit, though, goes to Alicia Witt in a very against-type turn that is as shocking as it is unexpected).

It’s one of the year’s most outstanding horrors, which makes it all the more curious as to what this same director is going to do with the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Monkey – let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, that said monkey at the very least comes with Cage’s unhinged vocals…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Longlegs now! 

 

9 – Wicked (dir. Jon M. Chu)

Everyone knew that the big-screen version of the beloved – popular, if you will – stage musical would be an enormous box office hit – but the real surprise was that it turned out to be such a great viewing experience that harkened back to the golden age of movie musicals.

Despite only covering the first act of the musical (with next year’s Wicked: For Good covering Act Two), Jon M. Chu’s film brought to life the undisputable magic of Oz in a way not seen since perhaps the world-famous 1939 classic film, with a fantastic blend of practical sets and well-crafted visual effects capturing the lovable energy of this fantastical world, along with some excellent choreography and colourful cinematography enhancing the already-iconic musical numbers.

However, so much of the film’s warmth and charm comes from the powerful connection between its leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, whose playful and heartfelt chemistry elevates the story and makes you root for their friendship to conquer all, even if you know full well how this particular story ends. Both actors are magnificent singers as they are fantastic actors, with Grande in particular stealing scenes a la Ryan Gosling in Barbie with some pitch-perfect comedic timing and stunning operatic vocals that are currently putting her in the frontrunner position for some top-end awards in the coming months.

Though it’s only less than a year to go until this particular story wraps up, Wicked has already defied more than just gravity by being an essential modern movie musical that has the power to please just about anyone with a brain, a heart, and a little bit of courage…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Wicked now! 

 

8 – The Wild Robot (dir. Chris Sanders)

In a stunning twist, the year’s best animated feature came from neither Pixar nor Disney, but instead from their biggest competitor DreamWorks Animation, which with director Chris Sanders’ plentiful leadership has itself a winner unlike any other.

Sanders crafts a beautiful tale about the struggle between science and nature, and how both can work together to create an exciting and prosperous future, with some stunning watercolour-inspired backgrounds providing a mere backdrop for characters both mechanical and animalistic that share the innate ability to tug at your heartstrings with powerful messages that resonate extremely well with audiences young and old.

It also perfectly blends a fine mix of respectful comedy (with even a little bit of gallows humour for the older crowd) and compelling drama, elevated by a majestic musical score by Kris Bowers and some stellar voice acting from the likes of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal, while telling a powerful story of what it is to care for others, even when it’s outside of our most basic programming.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find another animated film that comes with the same level of gravitas and sophistication this year – made all the more shocking that it’s from the same studio as The Boss Baby

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch The Wild Robot now! 

 

7 – Love Lies Bleeding (dir. Rose Glass)

No end-of-year film list would be complete without at least one pulpy B-movie throwback, and director Rose Glass’s unconventional romantic crime thriller more than fits the bill.

Collaborating with Weronika Tofilska on the script (the latter also having a breakout year with her directorial work on Netflix’s Baby Reindeer), Glass’s follow-up to Saint Maud could not be more different to her striking debut, with the director employing a keen eye for late-80s fashion and culture for her story of a gym manager’s budding relationship with an aspiring bodybuilder, mixed with some fierce criminal activity in which Ed Harris don his freakiest hair-do yet (and even eats a beetle for good measure).

Kristen Stewart is on top form as the aforementioned gym manager, while Katy O’Brien commands attention as the impossibly muscular love interest, with their relationship forming a beating heart amidst some gnarly violence and increasingly surreal steroid-infused fantasies, both of which come to a head during an out-there climax that sees Glass truly embrace the dream-like nature of her narrative.

A fine blend of A24 absurdism and compelling crime/romance thrills, Love Lies Bleeding should give Rose Glass all the muscle she needs to make whatever film she wants as her follow-up to this outstanding piece…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Love Lies Bleeding now! 


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6 – Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

The first of two Zendaya-starring movies originally scheduled for release last year before a lengthy SAG-AFTRA strike-related delay to show up on this list is, quite possibly, the greatest tennis movie ever made – and by far one of the year’s best films.

Zendaya shines under the direction of director Luca Guadagnino, as do Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist as the rival tennis players pining after their female co-star in a nonlinear multi-year narrative filled with casual flings, petty antagonism, underlying and overlying homoerotic attraction, and lots and lots of balls (of the tennis variety, you filthy perverts), all in a film that sees Guadagnino embrace an accessible yet compelling love-triangle plot which takes a number of unexpected and sometimes cold-hearted turns.

But whenever the film turns the action towards the tennis court, especially during its wraparound match between O’Connor and Faist (with Zendaya watching like a hawk from the sides), the film comes alive as Guadagnino – armed with a heart-palpitating electronic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – uses clever camera tricks and immersive cinematography to convey the sheer adrenalin one experiences during a tennis match, something that spills over into scenes that take place nowhere near the court, as you can practically feel the rackets swinging as characters trade barbs, swap grievances and make power plays in order to dominate their matches.

It’s very much the Whiplash of tennis movies, which can only mean great things as this is a film that leaves you on the perfect high, regardless of whether your preferred challenger scores their match point…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Challengers now! 


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5 – Sing Sing (dir. Greg Kwedar)

It would have been so easy to write this film off as blatant Oscar-bait, but director and co-writer Greg Kwedar’s astounding prison drama transcends that thin categorisation and immediately enters a realm occupied by the likes of The Shawshank Redemption and Cool Hand Luke as one of the all-time great prison movies, not to mention a compelling argument for the necessity of the arts in all our lives.

The fictionalised portrayal of the very real Rehabilitation Through the Arts prison program, one that stars many actual former convicts who participated during their time behind bars (including the outstanding supporting player Clarence Maclin), avoids easy prison tropes to show a meditative and cathartic study of dealing with incarceration through the power of the stage, while also taking a fun look at the creative process as the convicts elect to craft their own madcap stage play, one involving Egyptian mummies and Roman gladiators (together at last!).

It’s a film that refuses to demonise any of its characters for their past actions, including a never-better Colman Domingo as the play’s writer John “Divine G” Whitfield, and offers nothing but compassion for their redemptive path that the stage provides in ways that may well leave you overwhelmed with emotion, which at a point in time when the debate surrounding the effectiveness of the prison system – especially in the United States – is heating up more than ever, makes it all the more compelling in its argument that the arts, along with other useful programs, can help transform criminals into upstanding citizens beyond the metal bars.

Few other films reach the truly emotional heights that this one reaches – except, perhaps, the next bunch of films on this list…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Sing Sing now! 


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4 – Hit Man (dir. Richard Linklater)

Since it debuted last year to rapturous praise at various film festivals – and I should know, because I witnessed first-hand the spontaneous applause at a press screening for it during the BFI London Film Festival – Richard Linklater’s real-life comedic caper was destined to be a massive crowd hit. Then Netflix picked it up.

To be fair, the streamer did put this film out in more cinemas than it usually does whenever it decides to do the obligatory awards-qualifying single week on limited theatrical screens, but as soon as that exclusive two-week window was up, much of the buzz surrounding it died as soon as it plopped onto the service. And it’s a damn shame, because Hit Man is a film that is more than deserving of the full crowd experience, and could easily have become at the very least a mid-sized box office hit if literally any other distributor had picked it up.

With all the swagger and charm you’ve come to expect from a laid-back filmmaker like Linklater, his screwball retelling of the fake undercover assassin Gary Johnson – played with Peter Sellers-level of comedic layering by Glen Powell, who also co-wrote the script – was not only incredibly funny, especially with all the various guises that he dons to catch potential criminals, but also incredibly sexy, as Powell’s chemistry with co-lead Adria Arjona was off the charts, leading to some of the year’s spiciest scenes where the two actors beautifully played off each other to endless comedic effect (a climactic scene involving the Notes app is a particularly grand showcase of their vast talents).

Sadly, like many of the best Netflix releases, it looks as though it’s destined to be lost to the algorithm forever, but there is still hope that more and more people will discover this absolute riot of a movie and give it the time of day it really deserves…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Hit Man now! 

Also, click here to listen to the Film Feeder podcast episode on Hit Man that we released back in June, with special guest Mathew Buck!

Click here for the video version, only on YouTube! 


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3 – Dune: Part Two (dir. Denis Villeneuve)

Leaving an impression very early on in the year – possibly too early, because currently it seems to be underperforming with awards voters who may not seem to remember this March release – was director Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated second part of his major Frank Herbert adaptation, and even now it provides a treat for audiences craving brains to match the blockbuster’s brawn.

Villeneuve dives much deeper into the themes of religious martyrdom that few other big-budget studio movies would dare to tackle, in a truly complex dissection of the traditional hero’s journey as Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides slowly succumbs to the sinister prophecy that has been used to keep the Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis in check, presenting a unique scenario where there are no real heroes but just corruptible figures versus even worse factions, represented partially by a crazed Austin Butler as a dome-headed psychopath who steals entire scenes from under Chalamet’s nose.

The fact that this version of Dune exists at all, let alone as a major two-part adaptation, is a testament to Villeneuve’s strength as a filmmaker who favours challenging his audience over pure mindless spectacle, as well as to the audience itself who, thanks to pure patience and a willingness to see this story play out in full (a luxury that past filmmakers like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky were cruelly denied), have turned the film into its own cultural phenomenon, not seen since Peter Jackson first took viewers to his rendition of Middle-Earth.

Even better is the fact that Villeneuve plans to cap his trilogy with an adaptation of the original book’s first sequel Dune: Messiah, meaning that even better things for this fully realised sci-fi world could be within our near-ish future…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Dune: Part Two now! 


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2 – Anora (dir. Sean Baker)

For this year’s number 1 spot, it really was a toss-up between Sean Baker’s majestic modern love story and the eventual title-claimer. In the end, I gave the edge to the other movie because it left me utterly shell-shocked by what it set out to do and how it achieved such goals (and you’ll find out why very shortly).

Granted, I was also pretty shell-shocked by Anora, albeit not quite as much as the other film, for it not only exceeded my already high expectations, which were in part due to its surprise win of the Palme D’Or prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but it also gave me and plenty other viewers exactly what they wanted while offering everyone a whole bunch of things that nobody was expecting to receive.

For starters, nothing can prepare you for the absolute force of nature that is Mikey Madison in this film. The actor, first introduced giving a near-naked lap dance in a seedy New York strip club to a heart-pounding remix of Take That’s “Greatest Day”, is nothing short of magnificent in this film, as she fully asserts control as the young sex worker who falls in big time with the immature son of a Russian oligarch, only to later fiercely defend her honour and dignity as her fairy tale ending comes crashing down like a ton of scantily-clad bricks, and the whole time you are firmly on her side as she witnesses and endures such harsh compression from deeply judgemental and controlling forces that even a near-silent Russian goon (an equally show-stopping Yura Borisov) is compelled to stand up for her in his own subdued way.

More than ever, Baker’s humanism shines through as he gives not just Madison’s Ani but her fellow strippers and sex workers a voice to be reckoned with, and you feel both the camaraderie and the pettiness between simple scenes of them talking or boasting about big-time clients that are presented without judgement (except for those who are rightfully villainised) and just as a matter of fact. Neither Ani nor her comrades are defined solely by their stigmatised profession, a stigma that Baker has sought to remove in past films like Tangerine and Red Rocket, and here in his most accessible – and by far and away his most accomplished – feature to date he succeeds at giving a deep soul to people who so happen to be living on the sidelines of society, something that we need to recognise as a species going forward if we are to all come together to face the unknown dangers awaiting us in years to come.

It’s a true rollercoaster of a movie, slowly taking you higher and higher before the inevitable plunge into chaos, and Baker’s humanist touch gives it the beating heart that it needs to become a lasting modern classic – along with the next film on this list…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch Anora now! 


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1 – The Substance (dir. Coralie Fargeat)

There are many good reasons why writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s genre-defining satire on women’s beauty standards is Film Feeder’s Top Film of 2024, but one truly stands out: of all the films I saw this year, The Substance was the only one that left me in complete and utter shock from the very images I was witnessing on the screen.

This is a film where you think you know exactly what you’re going to get as soon as certain elements are introduced, but the deeper it gets into exploring the fragility of its central characters, as well as the upsetting truths regarding what women have to go through in order to make themselves look what they’ve been told is “beautiful”, it transforms into a much more deranged and unpredictable experience. Then, as it enters an utterly wild final act, complete with Tarantino-like stylised gore and the most outrageously designed make-up prosthetics, it literally transforms into a full-on gonzo fever dream, the kind where you are seeing things that you swear you’ve never seen another film pull off, to where you almost feel privileged to be seeing it for the first time on the big screen.

Fargeat has made a film that breaks countless filmic barriers, in terms of creativity and commentary, with her heightened distortion of reality – complete with Kubrick-esque faraway shots and strikingly minimalist set design – crafting messages that in some respects seem obvious but nonetheless need to be said, in an over-the-top manner that is far from subtle and yet completely necessary for the kind of world this all takes place in. Said world is one rampant with open misogyny and self-hatred, whether it’s conveyed through Dennis Quaid’s shrimp-chomping chauvinist TV executive or through Demi Moore’s ousted former starlet, or most blindingly through the rampant sexualisation of contemporary modern media such as in a borderline pornographic workout show that Margaret Qualley’s younger clone ends up headlining, which leads into Fargeat’s fascinating approach to the male gaze which calls it out for what it is without the need for a soapbox to dictate what is wrong with this scenario.

It is a film that, unlike a lot of other movies this year (even many of the ones on this very list), dares to go the distance with its themes and ideas, creating things that you’ve simply never seen before, and done in ways that are simply spellbinding for how enthusiastically they are executed. Its originality, its biting satirical humour, its complete embrace of body-horror imagery, and its career-best performances by its three central actors are all solid enough reasons for this film to land the #1 spot, but none are more paramount than the fact that this movie left me not just shocked into oblivion, but made me excited as to what future filmmakers can do now that Fargeat has shown the world that in the world of film, anything is possible…

Click here to read our review from earlier this year – and check below to see where you can watch The Substance now! 


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And with that, our Best Films of 2024 list is finally over! But if you want a recap of numbers 30 to 16 on this list, click right here!

 

 

Thank you for helping to make this another stellar year for Film Feeder, with plenty more awesomeness to come in 2025 – see you in the New Year!

Want to find a specific film?

Search for it in the box below:

Captain America: Brave New World (dir. Julius Onah)

Sam Wilson investigates a dangerous new conspiracy as Captain America…

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (dir. Michael Morris)

Bridget Jones embarks on the next chapter of her ever-rocky love life…

Heart Eyes (dir. Josh Ruben)

A masked serial killer stalks a couple on Valentine’s Day…

Memoir of a Snail (dir. Adam Elliot)

In 70s Australia, young Grace is tragically separated from her twin brother…

Love Hurts (dir. Jonathan Eusebio)

A real-estate agent is forced to return to his violent past life…

Dog Man (dir. Peter Hastings)

After an accident, a cop and his dog companion are brought together in an unexpected way…

September 5 (dir. Tim Fehlbaum)

During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American broadcasting team covers a devastating event…

Kinda Pregnant (dir. Tyler Spindel)

A woman pretends to be pregnant for attention…

The Fire Inside (dir. Rachel Morrison)

In 2012, 16-year-old boxer Claressa Shields makes Olympic history…

Hard Truths (dir. Mike Leigh)

Two sisters have two very different reactions to grief…

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