The Top 10 Underseen Movies of 2024. Plus: James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd on ‘The Terminator’ at 40!

Emilia Pérez 2024

Showed up on five shortlists, six times overall; the front-runner nobody who sees it seems to love.

Wicked 2024

Made four lists; its below-the-line chances grow by the day, though its score should arguably be ineligible as a Broadway adaptation.

The Substance 2024

Made makeup and hairstyling but not visual effects, a sign the branch is at least watching it.

Civil War 2024

CR's favorite of the year; recognized in visual effects but snubbed in sound, which Sean finds unnerving.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 2024

Shut out entirely. Bobby, president of Furiosa Hater Nation, maintains it's a 7 out of 10.

Dune: Part Two 2024

Hans Zimmer's score ruled ineligible for reusing material from Part One.

Saturday Night 2024

Likely gone: Jon Batiste's score wasn't shortlisted.

Alien: Romulus 2024

On the list three times; a solid 3.5-star scare with genuinely impressive CG.

The Wild Robot 2024

On three lists, including Chris Bowers's score; the stiffest competition for Flow in Best Animated.

Gladiator II 2024

I Saw the TV Glow 2024

Its original songs, Phoebe Bridgers included, missed the cut, a snub aimed straight at guys like Bobby.

The Brutalist 2024

Daniel Blumberg's score, now on Spotify, keeps Sean going bananas; a slow rollout could still work in the film's favor.

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point 2024

No. 1. Tyler Taormina's Long Island Christmas-party movie; a roving, Altman-esque ensemble (Michael Cera, Francesca Scorsese, Greg Turkington) and the most Long Island thing to ever happen in movies. On AMC+ and VOD.

Hundreds of Beavers 2024

Mike Cheslik's black-and-white slapstick epic: Buster Keaton by way of Jackass and Looney Tunes, with actors in giant beaver suits. Finally on Tubi.

Femme 2023

A drag performer connects with the man who attacked him; a sustained thriller and a companion piece to Red Rooms. On Hulu.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin 2024

Benjamin Ree's doc about a young man with muscular dystrophy who built a deep community inside World of Warcraft. On Netflix.

What You Wish For 2023

A grimy, Twilight Zone-style crime piece with Nick Stahl as a down-on-his-luck chef who takes a dead friend's job. On Hulu.

Carry On 2024

Jaume Collet-Serra's LAX Christmas thriller: Die Hard by way of Phone Booth, with Taron Egerton and a phoned-in Jason Bateman, plus one of the best car crashes in a decade. No. 1 on Netflix in a day.

Flow 2024

Gints Zilbalodis's dialogue-free Latvian animation about a cat and its companions after a flood; the most beautiful thing she's ever seen, and stressful enough to make her want to hold a stranger's hand.

The Shadow Strays 2024

Timo Tjahjanto's Indonesian action-horror; too long at 2.5 hours but every set piece is crazier than the last, in the John Wick lineage with the violence left in frame.

Rap World 2024

Connor O'Malley and Danny Scharar's hour-long found-footage comedy about suburban Pennsylvania kids trying to make a rap album in 2008. Free on YouTube.

Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron 2024

A making-of process doc that reframes The Boy and the Heron: the aging master outliving his collaborators and building a soccer field the local kids finally use.

Y2K 2024

Kyle Mooney's directorial debut: a Can't Hardly Wait New Year's Eve that turns into a machine-uprising horror comedy, wall-to-wall with 1999 needle drops and a scene-stealing Fred Durst.

Dìdi 2024

Sean Wang's 2008-set coming-of-age film about a Taiwanese American skater kid; a MySpace-era strike zone Rob happily calls himself the perfect audience for.

Between the Temples 2024

Nathan Silver's indie love story: a cantor who's lost his faith (Jason Schwartzman) and a woman looking to convert (Carol Kane), plus a mean, unforgettable Dolly de León.

Good One 2024

India Donaldson's debut: a 17-year-old (Lily Collias) on a Catskills hike with her father and his friend; almost nothing happens, and the two-thirds turn changes everything.

Martha 2024

R.J. Cutler's Martha Stewart doc, delivered by voice note; the testy interview and the orange-knife dressing-down haunted Amanda. Martha hated the classical score.

The Terminator 1984

The 40th anniversary. A ~$6.4M independent film pieced together from HBO, Hemdale, and Orion's foreign side; casting Arnold as the heavy pivoted the whole undercover-assassin concept on a dime. Shot guerrilla-style in an Olympics-emptied Los Angeles.

Aliens 1986

Cameron had signed on before The Terminator; the six-month Arnold delay gave him time to write it, drawn to Ripley as an elevated last-girl story.

The Abyss 1989