2024 Mid-Year Top 5

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With half of 2024 in the books, it is time to look back at the best of the year so far. This year we have our usual five best movies and two honorable mentions. The qualifications to make this list is that the movie had to have had its wide release between January 1st, 2024 and June 30th, 2024 and I need to have seen it. Just to clarify, if a movie did not make this list it does not mean I did not like it, it just wasn't the top five of the year so far. There was really only one movie that was clearly not going to make the list and I'm fairly certain readers know why it's Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver. That said, here's this year's list.

Honorable Mention 2: Inside Out 2

This one just missed the list because, not only did it manage to live up to the quality level of the original but it debatably managed to surpass them. The original Inside Out did not shy away from some of the more awkward or unattractive aspects of having emotions beyond blind happiness and the arrival of Anxiety in Riley's psyche manages the exact same thing. The portrayal of both crippling anxiety and the management thereof is fantastic and, had it not been for the late arrival of one other film on this list, this would have made the top five.

Honorable Mention 1: Seeking Mavis Beacon

This one only doesn't make the list because it hasn't had it's wide release yet but, when it does come out either on streaming or theatrically, the documentary Seeking Mavis  Beacon is a definitive must-watch. It follows two investigators who try to locate the iconic yet anonymous cover model known worldwide for appearing on the cover of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. This documentary paints a fantastic narrative about identity, representation, and some of the legalities that go into likeness rights. As of right now this film does not have distributor but if the opportunity occurs at a local film festival to see this documentary, definitely take the opportunity.

5. Civil War

This was an interesting one because, if you remember our 2024 preview at the end of the year in review, we completely wrote this one off because it appeared it would be a somehow apolitical movie about a hypothetical second American Civil War. When you watch the movie however it turns out that the movie is more about how quickly people can dehumanize each other in that situation. The line from the trailer (and the movie) delivered by Kristen Dunst about why she put herself in harm's way to bring the physical human toll of war to people's attention is the entire point of the movie. To be clear, the fact that the film does not ascribe "republican" or "democrat" to who is running what parts of the country in this conflict does not mean it's apolitical since it is relatively clear who is where in this conflict.

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

While Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is not quite as good as Mad Max: Fury Road (that's a pretty high bar to hit), when George Miller is given the space to do what he wants, and deliver a major action set piece, he delivers above and beyond what most other directors are capable of. The movie may be a shade long and a little more plot heavy that the predecessor that this serves as a prequel to, but once you get to some of the action sequences, they look fantastic (so long as they're done practically and not with CGI). Also, Chris Hemsworth is absolutely fantastic as the unhinged bad guy in this film.

3. Fancy Dance

I saw Fancy Dance last year at the Hamptons International Film Festival so it was left off last year's lists because it didn't have its wide release until June 28th on AppleTV+ but this film is 100% one of the best movies on that streamer. The movie follows Jax (Lily Gladstone), a Native American woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation who is responsible for taking care of her niece Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) after her sister goes missing. The two head out to try and find Roki's mother while avoiding Jax's father (Shea Whigham) who is trying to assume custody of Roki. Lily Gladstone puts on a fantastic performance (as to be expected) and the film is just a fantastic somber exploration of family, disenfranchisement, and the erasure of identity that makes it a must-watch.

2. Challengers

This was one of the biggest surprises for me this year, and it really shouldn't have been since Luca Guadagnino is one of the best directors working today. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor all have fantastic performances, the score from Trent Reznor is phenomenal, and the third act tennis match is absolutely riveting for a match that has very little on paper consequence but has the emotional weight of the world riding on it. This would be the film of the year if not for the number one movie. Besides all that, this movie had one of the best cut trailers in the last decade.

1. Dune: Part 2

Who could have saw this coming besides anyone who has had to live with me being an evangelist for Dune: Part 2. This movie is just an absolute masterpiece in the science fiction genre and goes a long way to prove that Denis Villeneuve is a master director. Timothee Chalamet fantastically embodies the villainous turn Paul Atredies takes in one of the single best scenes in a movie this year. The score is just phenomenal and the film is the most visually stunning movie of the last few years, including Dune in 2021. This is absolutely the best movie of the year and it is going to be a tough bar to clear at the end of the year.