Bill Newcott’s Top Movies for 2024

As the year-end movie blockbusters suck all the oxygen from America’s multiplexes, these five flicks remain my favorite movies of the past year.

The Brutalist

(In Theaters)

When the Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Director, Cinematography, and Original Screenplay Oscar nominations are announced, it’s a safe bet cowriter/director Brady Corbet’s sprawling tale of tortured genius, naked ambition, and social stratification will be on every one of them. Adrien Brody is haunting as László, a dark-eyed Hungarian immigrant, Holocaust survivor, and architect, who stumbles into a monumental but thankless commission from a Philadelphia millionaire (Guy Pearce). László is thankful for the job, of course — until his boss, who projects himself as a having a common touch, reveals himself to be as condescendingly patriarchal as they come.

Ghostlight

(Streaming)

The year’s most heartfelt family drama stars a cast of Chicago-based actors you’ve probably never heard of — but you will never forget the shatteringly authentic human performances they give in this deeply moving and stubbornly hopeful story of the healing power of art. Keith Kupferer stars as Dan, a construction worker who finds escape from his trying family situation by secretly taking up with a community theater, where a series of implausible yet believable events lands him in the role of Shakespeare’s Romeo. At first, Dan feels understandably ridiculous playing the teenaged tragic hero, but soon he embraces the part — and we likewise fall into line. Kupferer’s actress/wife, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, costars as Dan’s spouse, and their daughter Tara Mallen plays the couple’s troubled teen. But don’t go screaming “Nepotism!” The three form an authentic, touching triad in the year’s most organic acting ensemble.

Conclave

(In Theaters and Streaming)

Big-studio filmmaking at its best, Conclave — the story of a particularly messy Papal election — combines peerless star power (Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini) with taut direction, lush production design, and even the first musical soundtrack in years that I’ve actually sought out to re-hear. Unfolding in a painstakingly authentic Sistine Chapel setting, Conclave is a tense, closed-doors drama with career-best performances and a twist ending that I guarantee you’ll never see coming. (Forget those spoilsports who complain the final switcheroo is too manipulative — being manipulative is what art is all about!)

Hit Man

(Streaming on Netflix)

Too often, Best Pictures of the Year nominations largely ignore early-year masterpieces and instead focus on the Best Pictures of the Last Month or Two. Case in point: The great crime of this awards season is the way cowriter/director Richard Linklater’s universally acclaimed comedy thriller has largely disappeared into 2024’s Cinematic Awards Memory Hole, mostly because it arrived in theaters way back in June. Glen Powell is charmingly sweet as Gary, a mild-mannered philosophy professor who is enlisted by the cops to supply his insights as they try to ensnare people who are looking for hired assassins. As Gary explains to us in an early voice-over, “Hit men don’t really exist.” But that doesn’t stop a procession of hapless saps from trying to enlist Gary to do away with spouses, partners, and other inconvenient people. Of course, Gary eventually falls for one of his marks (Adria Arjona), who insists she needs to kill her hubby before he kills her. Or is she just playing Gary for a patsy? Linklater’s breezy storytelling style and the cast’s relentless good will make Hit Man the year’s most enjoyable cinematic bon-bon.

Honorable Mentions

The Piano Lesson (Streaming on Netflix) A compelling mix of family and historical drama starring Samuel L. Jackson and Danielle Deadwyler.

Saturday Night (Streaming) Co-writer/director Jason Reitman collects a spot-on cast to re-imagine the 90 frantic minutes before the first episode of SNL aired in 1975.

Flow (In Theaters) Majestically rendered and lovingly animated, this wordless tale from Latvia traces the adventures of a handful of disparate animals as they cling to survival in a wooden boat adrift in a post-apocalyptic, sea-covered world.

We Grown Now (Streaming) A testament to the persistence of childhood, writer/director Minhal Baig’s tightly focused drama follows two young boys as they navigate Chicago tenement life with a sense of innocent adventure and impish abandon worthy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Remembering Gene Wilder (Streaming) Wilder’s 40-year career of classic films (and forgettable misfires) speaks for itself. But this adoring documentary from director Ron Frank offers a tender coda; a welcome reminder that those emotionally unpredictable but essentially decent souls Wilder played in films like The Producers and Young Frankenstein got their authenticity from being, at heart, a lot like him.