Kneecap 2024
Rich Peppiatt's film about a Belfast rap trio agitating for the Irish language; now on Netflix. Chris called it one of the most fun moviegoing experiences of his year. Michael Fassbender appears; Adam hadn't caught it yet.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five
The Top Five Movies of 2024
December 6, 2024/ 99 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Adam Nayman · Amanda Dobbins
The year-end countdown. Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, and Adam Nayman each rank their five best films of 2024, and Amanda Dobbins phones in a top five (really seven) from parental leave. Precursor awards and three current releases come first.
25 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Out Nowthree quick reviews before the lists
Queer 2024
Luca Guadagnino's second film of 2024, adapting the William Burroughs novel with Daniel Craig as Lee, an American drifting through 1950s Mexico City. Craig won the NBR best-actor prize. Sean and Adam both admired the ambition but found the movie unsuccessful, and Adam preferred Peter Weller in Naked Lunch.
The Order 2024
Justin Kurzel's 1983-set thriller about an FBI agent (Jude Law) chasing a white-nationalist bank-robbery cell led by Nicholas Hoult. Shot by Adam Arkapaw. All three had seen it; praised as a tightly built, great-looking B-movie.
Chris Ryan's Top 5revealed No. 5 up to No. 1
No. 1
Civil War 2024
No. 1 - Alex Garland's Heart-of-Darkness road movie with Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny as war photographers. Chris kept thinking about it after the election and called it a heavyweight title contender.
No. 2
Rebel Ridge 2024
No. 2 - Jeremy Saulnier's civil-asset-forfeiture thriller. Aaron Pierre becomes a movie star; Don Johnson and AnnaSophia Robb co-star. Chris has watched it two or three times.
No. 3
Anora 2024
No. 3 - Sean Baker's Palme d'Or winner. Chris just cared what happened to Mikey Madison's character; three movies in one, ending in an argument he loves that people are having.
No. 4
The Brutalist 2024
No. 4 - Brady Corbet's postwar-architect epic. Chris saw it with Sean and was mesmerized; hit the quadrants that matter - sound, image, performance, writing.
No. 5
Strange Darling 2024
No. 5 - JT Mollner's nonlinear serial-killer film with Willa Fitzgerald, Chris's favorite performance of the year. Hard to discuss without spoiling.
Adam Nayman's Top 5reserves the right to reshuffle when the Ringer list runs
No. 1
Red Rooms 2023
No. 1 - Pascal Plante's French-Canadian film. Adam disliked it at first, then reversed himself in a MUBI piece; Juliette Gariepy's performance is an all-timer. Fincher juice, courtroom drama that isn't one.
No. 2
Juror #2 2024
No. 2 - Clint Eastwood's pressurized legal thriller, which Sean and Adam devoted a whole episode to. Adam singled out the ending; a can't-look-at-your-phone movie.
No. 3
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World 2023
No. 3 - Radu Jude's late-capitalism comedy in Bucharest with a Nina Hoss cameo and a 40-minute long take. Adam's best comedy of the year, and a better Bob Dylan movie than A Complete Unknown.
No. 4
The Beast 2024
No. 4 - Bertrand Bonello's three-timeline sci-fi with Lea Seydoux and George MacKay. Adam likes that not everything works; drew walkouts at TIFF, which he takes as a good sign.
No. 5
Nickel Boys 2024
No. 5 - RaMell Ross's first-person adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel; won best director from the New York Film Critics Circle. Also lands on Sean's list.
Sean Fennessey's Top 5revealed No. 5 up to No. 1
No. 1
The Brutalist 2024
No. 1 - Brady Corbet's epic, which Sean has seen twice. He'd been desperate for a big, important-seeming film all year; sees Coppola, George Stevens, Visconti, Bergman, and PTA's The Master on its surface.
No. 2
Nickel Boys 2024
No. 2 - RaMell Ross's film, which Sean says levitates you in its final 20 minutes. He saw it at Telluride; shares its use of archival footage with his No. 1 debate about Here.
No. 3
Challengers 2024
No. 3 - Luca Guadagnino's tennis love triangle. Sean has seen it three times; loves the Reznor/Ross four-on-the-floor score and Josh O'Connor's performance. A meeting point for him and Amanda.
No. 4
Dune: Part Two 2024
No. 4 - Denis Villeneuve's Herbert adaptation, Sean's event movie of the year. The Harkonnen soldiers gliding to the mountaintop sold him; a blockbuster that ends on a tough note.
No. 5
Evil Does Not Exist 2023
No. 5 - Ryusuke Hamaguchi's follow-up to Drive My Car, about a fishing village facing a glamping development. Sean's only seen it once and doesn't want to sully the feeling; pairs it with Zemeckis's Here.
Amanda Dobbins's Top 5a top seven, really - phoned in from leave, no rules
No. 1
Anora 2024
No. 1 - Amanda's pick before Sean even asked. A movie-ass movie that stays with you; she keeps turning over the last scene and everyone's different reading of it.
No. 2
Challengers 2024
No. 2 - the most Amanda movie of the year. Guadagnino, Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist, bumping soundtrack, and fancy hand-cream product placement. Says Luca sees her.
No. 3
Twisters 2024
No. 3 (tie) - one half of the Glen Powell Special, her summer blockbuster aside from Dune 2. A 'we used to build things in this country' vibe.
No. 4
Hit Man 2023
No. 3 (tie) - the other Glen Powell pick, Richard Linklater's Netflix comedy co-written with Powell; probably the best thing she saw on Netflix this year.
No. 5
The Bikeriders 2023
No. 4 - Jeff Nichols's film with Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and Austin Butler. The one the guys liked but wouldn't rank; it made hers.
No. 6
The Beekeeper 2024
No. 5 (tie) - the January Jason Statham / David Ayer film, Amanda's transcendent-garbage category. Enjoyed it at the time; hasn't revisited it since the election.
No. 7
Lonely Planet 2024
No. 5 (tie) - Susannah Grant's Netflix film with Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth. Got her through a dark three days in early October; 'swing route.'
Also mentioned raised along the way
Awards-season roll call WickedA Complete UnknownHard TruthsBetween the TemplesA Real PainBabygirlConclaveFuriosa: A Mad Max SagaGladiator IISing SingEmilia PérezGreen BookCrash
Honorable mentions I Saw the TV GlowSnack ShackIn a Violent NatureSoundtrack to a Coup d'EtatThe First OmenA Different ManUnionChimeHereThe SubstanceThe Wild Robot
In passing ThiefSorcererLawrence of ArabiaApocalypse NowNosferatuMegalopolisForrest GumpUncut GemsNomadlandNaked LunchCall Me by Your NameA Bigger SplashNitramMademoiselleTrainspottingBackbeatThe ApprenticeThe Piano LessonSeptember 5Deadpool & WolverineThe Master1900The Loved OneTom JonesMinority ReportTitanicMulholland DriveThe Wizard of OzHeatThe Girl with the Dragon TattooDrive My CarMidnight in the Garden of Good and EvilTrue CrimeBlood WorkShowgirlsGoodfellasHot FrostyDespicable Me 4WarfareKnives Out
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Black DovesSay NothingTwin PeaksThe Underground RailroadThe Great
Podcasts BandsplainWTF with Marc Maron60 Songs That Explain the '90s
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