Letterboxd Fever: an extremely biased review of the best (and worst) movies of 2024
by Alice Simon, Features Editor
I don’t want to be that person, but I was on Letterboxd way before it was cool. I would get made fun of by my friends for insisting that they get on the app, and look at where we are now! It’d be pretentious to say that I wish it hadn’t gained as much traction as it did, but unfortunately, my job is all about being pretentious for your entertainment. So, I will say it: I miss when Letterboxd was unpopular. I miss when it wasn’t flooded with troll reviews that obscure the real criticisms that people may have. I miss when having a Letterboxd profile made me sound edgy and mysterious. Now, it just makes me another sheep in the herd. All of that is to say that this piece is a rather indulgent excuse for me to rave (and rant) about the best and worst of what I watched in 2024, as a self-identified cinephile.
The Apprentice (2024) dir. Ali Abbasi
As you can see from my very normal review, I have strong feelings about Jeremy Strong, so imagine how I felt when he actually received an Academy Award nomination for The Apprentice. Although this list isn’t meant to be a ranking, as time goes by, I have come to think of this movie as my favorite of the year. Maybe it’s because of how politically relevant it is in our current political climate, or maybe I’m just a deluded fan of Jeremy Strong, but what I thought would be a simple caricature of Donald Trump and Roy Cohn turned out to be surprisingly emotional. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the movie excellently teeters on the line between legitimate criticism and insightful psychoanalysis of both Cohn and Trump.
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong deliver performances of a lifetime without veering into cartoonish imitations of Trump and Cohn, which is incredibly commendable considering how over-the-top and monstrous both men have been in real life. The movie works as well as it does entirely because of the casting, and it’s obvious to the viewer how seriously Stan and Strong take their jobs as actors. The latter, in particular, has been criticized and made fun of for being too involved in his acting, which has always been baffling to me. If The Apprentice is the outcome of such commitment to the craft, I never ever want Jeremy Strong to change.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024) dir. Zelda Williams
The fact that this movie flew under the radar for so many people should be considered a criminal offense. Diablo Cody’s pen has done it again, and I am convinced that in just a few years, Lisa Frankenstein will gain the same cult following that Jennifer’s Body eventually did. What I adore most about this film is that the main character is fully allowed to be weird and quirky. Lisa Swallows, played by Kathryn Newton, is entirely strange and over-the-top, and it is so refreshing to see. I often feel like, as a society, we’ve reduced the ‘weird girl’ persona to just a profitable aesthetic, which downplays the experience all of us freaks had to undergo in high school. None of us were quiet and seductive; we were severely socially awkward and emotionally stunted thanks to our unsupervised Tumblr usage. Lisa Frankenstein completely appeals to my twelve-year-old self and all her emo antics, which is why it has already earned comfort film status in my catalog.
Challengers (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino
Say it with me: snubbed!
It is unbelievable to me that Challengers didn’t receive any nominations at the Academy Awards. Not even for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack? Are we fully losing the plot? This grave injustice is made even worse by the fact that Emilia Pérez stands proud with thirteen nominations, and for what? For butchering the musical genre while misrepresenting the experiences of both trans and Mexican people? For my own sanity, I will pretend it’s not true, and continue to delude myself into thinking that Luca Guadagnino will get his flowers one day. I never would’ve thought a movie could make me care so much about tennis, but I guess all it takes is two sweaty, pathetic men and a stunning but cruel woman to get me to tune in. What is even more addictive about this movie is how awful all of the characters are. I remember my boyfriend disliking Challengers because of how horribly selfish he found all of them, but that is what I love most about the movie. While I am a proud member of Team Patrick, Challengers is ultimately about a throuple that just can’t stop messing up each other’s lives, and I think that’s beautiful.
The Substance (2024) dir. Coralie Fargeat
I don’t think it’s delusional of me to say that I manifested Demi Moore’s Best Actress nomination with my Letterboxd review. On the other hand, Margaret Qualley, I am so sorry we all failed you.
As someone who was already familiar with some of Coralie Faregat’s work as a director (Revenge, 2017) I had such high expectations for The Substance. Thankfully, Fargeat delivered excellently and some more. Although I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t already been said, I am elated that a horror movie is getting so much recognition in the film world. I am a firm believer that horror is one of the best mediums to express societal anxieties; it brings the ugliest parts of ourselves to the forefront, which can often be intimidating to engage with. The Substance is such a successful horror film because it doesn’t hold back on how gruesome it can be. I’ve seen some people dislike that aspect of it, saying that it distracts from its commentary and turns it into a parody, but I have to disagree completely. The movie works because it puts its themes forward unabashedly, without holding back in the slightest, which is what I think has been missing from some so-called feminist films in recent years (cough cough, Poor Things).
Longlegs (2024) dir. Oz Perkins
If there was an award for best marketing of 2024, it would have to go to Longlegs. I do have to get something out of my chest though… Here it goes… I do not like Nicholas Cage. Not one bit. His face is scary yet familiar, and he has a weird voice that scratches all the worst parts of my brain. I’m sorry. Now that I’ve said it, I can admit that despite my initial apprehension, he is flawless in this movie. His portrayal of a washed-up rock singer turned cult leader with botched plastic surgery is utterly terrifying, but of course, the internet had to come in and ruin the fun for all of us. Longlegs was turned into a meme.
Fine, I expected that. What I didn’t expect was how quickly the general public was swayed by a few misdirected tweets. Fine, whatever, but I don’t really care that you thought Longlegs wasn’t scary. I’m just baffled by the need that people have to make it publicly known how they found it stupid and goofy, criticizing the main character for being too awkward of a detective. Neurodivergent detectives’ lives matter. You don’t understand Lee Harker as I understand her, and you never will.
Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for, here’s a lightning round of the worst movies of 2024 (a true and accurate opinion):
MaXXXine (2024) dir. Ti West
What a way to single handedly demolish a trilogy. The more I think about it, the angrier I get, so I’ll keep it clean and simple: MaXXXine was boring, uninspired, and full of missed opportunities and unrealised potential. It almost felt like it was trying to be a satire of ’80s slashers and fully missing the mark. It gets a pass but only because the cast was stacked with pretty women, so I guess you could call it visually appealing.
Trap (2024) dir. M. Night Shyamalan
I have to be really careful not to anger a very specific group of people on Twitter who have decided that this movie is successful in what it’s trying to do. Yes, Josh Hartnett is kind of attractive, but is that everything I was meant to take away from Trap? It sure seems like it.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) dir. Shawn Levy
All I have to say is please commit to the bit. The gay jokes were funny at first, but they get increasingly annoying once you realize that they’re only intended to make slightly homophobic twelve-year-old boys laugh. Be brave and make them kiss or get out of here. Also, by the time we reached the third or fourth cameo I just wanted to scream, laugh, and burst into tears at the same time. Oh, and I find Ryan Reynolds to be such a one-note comedic actor, at least now we know which Ryan is the superior one, so thanks.
With this list, I leave 2024 behind, hoping that 2025 will bring more and even better things to the table. And for the love of God, we all need to stand against the plague of remakes and sequels that we’re being bombarded with. Enough is enough. Let’s put our thinking caps on and create original content.
If you enjoyed this or found yourself nodding along to any of my intense opinions, do not hesitate to shoot me a Letterboxd follow; there’s nothing I love more than hyperanalysing people’s four favorites.
