For all of the box office doomsday prepping that dominated the discourse at the beginning of the year, the whole “moviegoing business” is doing surprisingly well. People are still flocking to theaters for blockbusters they care about while more indie fare is gaining attention online and on social media by way of ingenious marketing campaigns and unintentionally sexual popcorn buckets. Despite the panic over opening weekend dollars, the movies are doing what they’ve always done: bringing us together to laugh, cry, debate, and marvel at Austin Butler sans eyebrows.
Pop culture is so back, baby!
To celebrate, our UPROXX movie critics got together to vote on the best films that had a hand in saving theaters this year. They were sports dramas and sci-fi epics, trans coming-of-age odysseys and futuristic political apocalypses, but they were all fascinating to watch and worth the price of a ticket … or a stream. We don’t care how you watch these movies, just that you do.
Challengers
Viewed through the lens of Luca Guadagnino, tennis isn’t just a sweat-drenched, Gatorade-glugging, primal-screaming metaphor for sex, it’s also a battleground for Queer desire, both realized and repressed. Naturally, that’s made Challengers one of the most-talked about films of the year. The addition of beautiful people behaving badly in Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist didn’t hurt its box office trajectory either and while the Queer-coded motifs of churros and towel-less saunas and half-eaten bananas earned the bulk of the internet’s think pieces, what really elevated the film was its bone-rattling score, mesmerizing cinematography, and the undeniable chemistry of its leads. — Jessica Toomer
Civil War
Love it or hate it, Alex Garland’s Civil War was made to be talked about. That’s evident in every choice the director makes, from the premise of an American collapse thanks to a power-hungry president (Nick Offerman, of all people) to the bombing of recognizable landmarks, the killing of journalists, the secession and alliance of diametrically opposed states like Texas and California. Every plot point exists to push people’s outrage button, but when you look closer, at the stellar performances from Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, and Wagner Moura as journalists documenting tragedy with their cameras and navigating catastrophe after catastrophe with an eerie sense of apathy, the film becomes more. More of a rumination on how easily a nation pedestaled by its own moral righteousness can fall into disarray, succumbing to the same conflicts it often tries to “rescue” others from. More of a reflection on how we desensitize ourselves to violence and the slide into chaos that it helps spark. More of a movie worth talking about. — Jessica Toomer
Dune 2
Austin Butler takes a decisive turn away from being too handsome in this sequel that puts him on the weirdest leg of his career so far. That’s only a tiny slice of what’s going on here, too. Timothée Chalamet riding a sandworm grabbed most of the headlines, but do not sleep on Zendaya coming into her own this year, both with this movie and another tour-de-force turn in Challengers. Denis Villeneuve also cued up Florence Pugh’s character for more, similar to how the first Dune remake set up Zendaya for future greatness. And I would be remiss to not mention Rebecca Ferguson owning the screen as Lady Jessica. This film and cast is too stacked to give it fully adequate treatment in a mere blurb, but that’s a fine problem to have while writing about movies. — Kimberly Ricci
The Fall Guy
Ryan Gosling is carving out a niche for himself as a dim but loveable bro — in The Nice Guys, Barbie, and now Fall Guy — but while it’s a damn good time watching him jump, punch, and fall through Australia, splitting time as a stunt man and unofficial sorta detective, this is Emily Blunt’s movie. Blessing our screens across multiple genres for the last two decades, Blunt doesn’t consistently get to remind us of her comedy chops, but they’re clear as day opposite Gosling, especially when they’re locked in a flirt duel talking about umbrella drinks or she’s being wonderfully wicked tossing him around like a rag doll while abusing her power as the director of a sci-fi trainwreck. Overall, Fall Guy can feel a little lost in its influences (Shane Black action comedies, most specifically), but Blunt imbues the whole thing with enough soul to make Gosling’s willingness to risk life and limb feel like a fair tradeoff. — Jason Tabrys
Hit Man
No matter the era, certain things just play — a leading man (Glen Powell) letting a little zaniness in while dressing up in various disguises to play all the assorted flavors of a professional killer that his mild-mannered teacher character can conjure. The palpable heat between he and co-star Adria Arjona as they lock eyes for the first time before their characters get progressively, inappropriately closer, creating real stakes when a little murder mixes in with the real. Hit Man isn’t necessarily the best movie of the year, so far, but it feels like the one with the most replayability because it’s so evergreen and fun. — Jason Tabrys
Hundreds Of Beavers
It’s about time someone made a goofy black-and-white comedy about a drunken applejack maker named Jean Kayak who goes to war against not dozens, but hundreds (!) of beavers to convince a grumpy merchant to let him marry his daughter. Hundreds of Beavers is immensely enjoyable slapstick nonsense that’s inspired as much by The Revenant and Evil Dead II as Looney Tunes and Wallace & Gromit (with some Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton thrown in for good measure, too). The micro-budget indie from director Mike Cheslik (who co-wrote the script with star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) is not only an instant cult classic that you’ll want to tell everyone you know about — it’s also the funniest movie of 2024. — Josh Kurp
I Saw The TV Glow
2024 has seen the release of a trio of unique films from young transgender filmmakers: Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, Theda Hammel’s Stress Positions, and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw The TV Glow. But as Schoenbrun told Bright Wall/Dark Room, “Three films by three white trans girls does not a trend make.” She’s right! But it’s still great to see so much trans cinema representation in theaters, with the A24-released I Saw The TV Glow — a captivating coming-of-age story about two outcasts who bond over a cult TV show — leading the way. Also great: the soundtrack. — Josh Kurp
Love Lies Bleeding
Kristen Stewart’s career trajectory has been a joy to watch because she’s clearly driven to blaze a path for future Hollywood rebels, and good on her. Look, by most standards, she made so much money from those Twilight movies that she could have afforded to retire comfortably by age 25. That obviously was not her preference, and not only has Stewart scored an Oscar nomination (for Spencer), but she’s only making the movies that she wants to make. That includes this knockout revenge thriller/bodybuilding-romance flick directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud). This film is Stewart’s ultimate middle finger to everyone who tried to paint her as only capable of being Bella Swan. Additionally, Katy O’Brian dominates the screen as Jackie, and Ed Harris is the most revolting that he’s ever been. A good time was had by all! — Kimberly Ricci