2024 was a fantastic year for movies, and so far, 2025 has been no different. It was hard narrowing this list of the best movies of the 2024/25 school year down to only ten movies, but I think I am happy with the ten I selected. Before we get to the top ten, I would like to list off some honorable mentions that were close to making this list: The engrossing and brilliantly acted biopic, The Apprentice, the witty and tense horror movie, Heretic, and the enjoyable and thought-provoking thriller, Sinners.

10. Saturday Night (dir. Jason Reitman)

Saturday Night is a film that depicts the hour-and-a-half period of time leading up to the first episode of Saturday Night Live, a show that I admittedly already had a large interest in the history of going into viewing this film. This movie is a blast to watch. It has so much energy to it that makes it so consistently entertaining throughout. This movie is very hectic and even stressful at times, as well as being very funny. This movie isn’t like the funniest movie of 2024 or anything, but I got a lot of laughs out of it on a pretty consistent basis. This movie has fantastic direction from Jason Reitman that elevates the stress and tension to another level. Another element that elevates the stress of the film is the fantastic original score from Jon Batiste. I find the character writing very interesting in this movie. Every character’s struggles and motivations are established in intriguing ways, but not resolved, which I appreciate because I found it to be an effective way to show how much personal baggage is attached to something with as large of a crew working on it as SNL. Lorne Michaels is a very interesting character to follow in this film, as the screenplay explores his ego and his ambition in a lot more nuanced of a way than I was expecting. The most noteworthy element of this film, its beating heart, is the phenomenal ensemble cast. My favorite performance was Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris (no relation). I found Morris’s performance to just be so magnetic. I loved Gabriel LaBelle’s performance as Lorne Michaels. Cooper Hoffman was electric in this movie, specifically in that wonderful scene in the stairwell. J.K. Simmons really shined in his small amount of screen time as well. I also really appreciated the performances of Ella Hunt, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, and Tommy Dewey. A fantastic film that may not be too deep or thought-provoking, but a really great time nonetheless, as well as being one of the best-acted films of 2024.

9. The Substance (dir. Coralie Fargeat)

The Substance is a body horror film that I have written about before (take a look at the suggested articles at the bottom of this article if you are interested in reading that), so I won’t go too in-depth here. The Substance is a stylish, unique blast of a movie about an aging actress using experimental methods in order to become younger once again. It’s funny and it’s gross and it’s wacky. It manages to be emotional a couple of times throughout the film, and my main criticism of the film is that I wish it leaned more into the emotion of the story, as it is based on very serious things that have greatly affected people’s lives in very negative ways, yet it rarely engages with any of those themes in a serious ways. I haven’t seen anybody else share this opinion, but I find aspects of this film to be in poor taste, despite how much I love every other aspect of the film. The production design and the costume design are so fun. The Oscar-winning makeup and hairstyling is incredibly impressive. Demi Moore gives a phenomenal lead performance that succeeds in both subtlety and showiness. Margaret Qualley is fantastic in similar ways to Moore. Dennis Quaid gives a hilarious comedic performance as well. I highly recommend The Substance as a well-made insanely fun body horror film, although, much like Saturday Night, it doesn’t get much deeper than that, besides for a few scenes in the first half. It’s still so crazy this was an Oscar movie lol.

8. Mickey 17 (dir. Bong Joon Ho)

Mickey 17 is a sci-fi comedy that I have also written about before. It is by Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho and is, in my and probably less than ten other people’s opinion, a substantial step up from his last film. I like Parasite, but I found it to greatly decrease in quality when it began to attempt more serious commentary on society and the class system. Mickey 17 makes some light societal commentary throughout, but that is never the focus at any point. Mickey 17 follows a man from Earth named Mickey, played by Robert Pattinson, who goes to an ice planet in order to work as an “expendable”, an explorer who is cloned every time he dies. This film’s main goal is to be a wacky, hilarious, creative, and very fun time, and it succeeds at that with flying colors. It has such an inventive screenplay that consistently introduces new sci-fi concepts that feel unique and well thought out. I found every turn the story took very enjoyable. It never lost me at any point, even though I do think it peaks early on. I loved this entire movie and have very few criticisms. The character writing is so great here. The character of Mickey is so likable and fun to watch. I love how he feels like he’s just an average guy who signed up to be cloned all of a sudden. Every side character is memorable and has interesting dialogue as well. The production design and visual effects were very impressive, too. I adore the ensemble cast here. Robert Pattinson has never been better. He is hilarious and magnetic in the role of Mickey. Naomi Ackie is great too. Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette are so funny here. Steven Yuen has great screen presence in his small amount of screen time. I had an absolute blast with Mickey 17 and I look forward to rewatching it in the future.

7. Warfare (dir. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza)

Warfare is a war film (believe it or not) about a real-life encounter between the U.S and Iraqi military in 2006. It was co-directed by Ray Mendoza, who was one of the soldiers on the U.S side of this encounter. He is portrayed in the film by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. The other c0-director of this film, Alex Garland, is well-known for directing films such as Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Civil War. The direction of this movie is one of its biggest strengths. The camera movements are so intense, and abrasive, and unrelenting, and all those same words could be applied even greater to this film’s sound design. A lot of effort was put into making the sound design as realistic as possible. For example, they had to reengineer how they would make a gunshot sound in order to make it sound more accurate and less like how the sound is generally depicted in Hollywood productions. The sound design is unbearable in certain sections of the movie, so much so that it caused me to cry solely because of how intense the film was, which is a massive compliment. The ensemble cast are all great here. Joseph Quinn and, especially, Cosmo Jarvis are so distressing and heartbreaking here. The entire ensemble play the innocence of these men going into something so horrific incredibly well. Warfare is a stressful, exhausting, and mentally taxing time that I highly recommend. I also highly recommend watching any interview with the cast of this film. They are all obviously so close to one another, which makes watching them interact so sweet and funny and charming.

6. Will and Harper (dir. Josh Greenbaum)

Will and Harper is a documentary that follows Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele, who has recently transitioned into a woman, going on a road trip across America. I had never been a fan of Will Ferrell going into watching this documentary, besides for enjoying his performance in Barbie, and I had never heard of Harper Steele, but this movie made me fall in love with both of them and their incredible friendship. This is a hilarious, emotional, and moving documentary that I think everyone should watch. It explores how Harper feels within America after transitioning in a nuanced and interesting way. By the end of the documentary, it really feels like you know Will and Harper very well. I love the choice to film this trip and make it a documentary, because when you have someone who is as much of a mainstream icon as Will Ferrell, it is a powerful thing for them to show themselves as such allies of these marginalized communities. A lot of people probably watched this documentary who never would have watched something with this subject matter if it didn’t involve Ferrell, but because it did, they watched it and were possibly able to gain more sympathy and understanding for a minority they may have had preconceived notions about. There is a delightful, heartfelt original song in this film by Kristen Wiig that makes me cry every time I listen to it. Will and Harper is a beautiful documentary, and I wish Harper Steele and Will Ferrell eternal happiness.

5. Queer (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

William S. Burroughs’s Queer is one of my favorite books of all time, and I was very excited to see how a director as talented as Luca Guadagnino would adapt a book with a plot that meandering yet profound, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. Guadagnino’s Queer follows an American man named William Lee who is living in Mexico City when he falls in love with a younger man named Allerton. It is a movie that explores queer loneliness in such a profound and fascinating way that builds brilliantly off the themes of the novel it is adapting. My two favorite lines of the film were written for this movie and were not in the book, which I find so impressive. The screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, whose only other screenplay was the equally as brilliant Challengers, found a way to build off a book that was written over seventy years ago in such a nuanced way. There are chunks of this movie that are expanded versions of short segments of the book. A lot of the third act of this film is straight up not in the book, but these additions complement the pre-existing story so perfectly. I love the way the characters are written in this movie. Nothing is straight-up told to us about them, and we have to mostly make assumptions based on what we do see of them, which is great because there is also a disconnect between the characters themselves. Lee and Allerton don’t truly know each other on a deep level either. They are just making assumptions based on the little they do show to each other. This movie is very surreal at times, which also complements the original novel very well. I love its use of surreal imagery and what it shows about the characters. This movie is directed brilliantly. It is a very visual film. The third act kinda hinges on the direction, and Guadagnino does not disappoint. It is an insanely visually beautiful film as well. The cinematography from Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is just stunning. I love the ensemble cast of this film. Daniel Craig perfectly embodies William Lee and all of the sadness and regret that comes along with him. Drew Starkey gives an incredible subtle performance as Allerton. Starkey is able to convey so much to the audience with so little in a way that is just so impressive. Lesley Manville and Jason Schwartzman are also fantastic and very enjoyable here. Queer was one of the best movies of 2024, and I highly recommend giving it a watch on HBO Max, which it is now streaming on.

4. The Brutalist (dir. Brady Corbet)

The Brutalist is a historical drama about a Hungarian architect named László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody in his Oscar-winning role, who immigrates to America in 1947, leaving his wife and daughter behind in post-war Europe. It is a three-and-a-half hour film with a fifteen-minute intermission in the middle of it, but I never felt like I wanted it to end. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience of viewing this movie, and after the first half, I sat through the intermission just so excited for the second half. This movie was captivating from start to finish. This film starts insanely strong, with how incredible the film’s cinematography by Lol Crawley, original score by Daniel Blumberg, and direction are being evident within the first few minutes. The Brutalist is one of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen, and I was very happy to see Crawley deservedly win an Oscar for his work on this film. I still actively listen to songs from Blumberg’s original score. It sounds great, and I adore how it was utilized throughout this film. It adds so much to how you view the events of the film within the perception of the protagonist. The score is so epic-sounding, which perfectly illustrates László Tóth’s hope and his belief in the American Dream. Brady Corbet’s directing is so brilliant. Much like the score, it also adds to the way we view the events and the scope of the film as a whole. Every camera movement and shot composition feels so deliberately crafted in such a meaningful way. The production design is also stunning, and it really sells you on how amazing of an architect the main character is. Every work we see him create is as amazing as we are told they are by the characters in the film. It makes all the scenes where his work is unveiled to the audience for the first time truly breathtaking. The screenplay is great too. I love the progression of László Tóth as a character and how that character arc is executed. The dialogue is fantastic, especially in the exchanges between Tóth and Harrison Lee Van Buren, a rich industrialist played by Guy Pearce, who hires Tóth to create a massive project for him. I love this film’s epilogue. It was one of the most haunting and emotionally overwhelming things I saw in 2024, and it has really stuck with me. The performances here are great. Adrien Brody is phenomenal here. He embodies all of the pain of the character and his progression throughout the entire film so perfectly. His performance is heartbreaking at times. He wasn’t my personal pick, but his Oscar win was deserved for this. Guy Pearce was mostly fantastic, but I did find him to feel unnatural in his first scene. Felicity Jones was great as well, especially in the big scene at the end of the film (if you know, you know). Joe Alwyn blew me away in certain scenes of this film. His performance in the scene right before the epilogue was incredible. Stacy Martin and Alessandro Nivola were also great in smaller roles. I went into The Brutalist honestly expecting to be kind of bored by it, and I just didn’t think it would be my kind of movie, but I was absolutely captivated by it for three-and-a-half hours.

3. Freaky Tales (dir. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck)

Freaky Tales is an action comedy anthology film from the directors of Half Nelson and Captain Marvel, and having seen both of those movies, Freaky Tales is not a movie I would expect them to make, but boy am I glad they did! Freaky Tales is one of the most unique movies I have seen in a while, despite it taking clear inspiration from films of the past. It takes these inspirations and crafts a completely singular experience that I enjoyed every second of. From the film’s opening Star Wars-style text scroll, this movie is oozing with personality that finds its way into every element of it, from its creative and fun direction to its witty and engaging screenplay and its playful and endearing performances. Freaky Tales is made up of four segments, tales if you will, and each tale is an absolute delight. Each one takes place in 1987 Oakland, California, and depicts fictionalized versions of true historical events and figures from that time period and location. The opening tale follows the regulars of a music club deciding to fight back against the Nazis that have attacked their club several times before. This tale culminates in a wonderfully stylized action scene that made me so excited to view the rest of the tales, and I was not disappointed. The second tale is my favorite. It follows two girls in their twenties who enter a rap battle competition against a rapper who is well-known in their area. This tale is equally hilarious as it is hype and empowering. The film is able to get you invested in the two main characters in a short amount of time, so you are really rooting for them by the end of it. This second tale includes the first appearance of Ben Mendelsohn’s phenomenal comedic performance in this movie. Mendelsohn appears in three of the film’s four tales, and is very enjoyable every time he pops up. The third tale is the most dramatically riveting, I would say. It follows a man, played by Pedro Pascal, attempting to leave his life of crime behind. While working on a dramatic level, this tale has its moments of hilarity as well. Tom Hanks has a cameo appearance in this tale, and both his dialogue and his performance are so funny. The fourth tale includes the best action of the film. It follows a fictionalized version of the real-life basketball player Sleepy Floyd. The action in this story is absurd and just so fun to watch. This is definitely the tale where I enjoyed Boden and Fleck’s direction the most, as this was when it was at its most stylized. Please watch Freaky Tales. It is being criminally underseen. There is a massive audience out there for this film, and I really hope they get to see it someday.

2. A Real Pain (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)

A Real Pain is a comedy-drama, written by, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg. It follows two cousins, David, played by Eisenberg, and Benji, played by Kieran Culkin, who reunite to go on a Holocaust tour through Poland to honor their grandmother, who recently passed away. This movie legitimately has one of my favorite screenplays of all time. It starts out very hilarious and witty, and while that smart humor is present throughout the rest of the film, it becomes something much deeper and personal and human. This movie is a perfect representation of the human experience. As members of the human race, we experience so much pain, both firsthand and secondhand, and we have to figure out how we cope and process this pain. The characters are taking a tour showcasing one of the worst atrocities to have ever happened, yet they have come into it with so much personal pain as well, which creates a fascinating dynamic between the characters and their environment. David and Benji’s dynamic is written flawlessly. They are two people who have so much history together, and all that history is ever-present within their writing and their performances (I’ll get to those performances soon). This movie does a great job showing how our history with someone changes how we view them completely, and how it is so hard to view them in a new way and forget how they used to be, even when they’ve changed so drastically. The two lead characters are such opposites of one another, yet I think everyone can see bits of themselves in both of them. Both characters chose such different ways to live their lives, yet you completely understand both sides, and the film doesn’t pass judgment on which lifestyle is better. It is simply portraying two people, all their pain and their joy. I love the ending of this film a lot. I enjoy the way this film is directed overall, especially the emphasis that is given towards the environment the characters are in, as it is such a key part of the story and themes of the film. I enjoy the way music is used throughout, and when it is chosen to be playing and when it isn’t. All the music used is preexisting music composed by Frédéric Chopin, a composer who died over one hundred and fifty years ago. The acting in this film is unbelievable. Kieran Culkin absolutely deserved his Oscar for this, although he is most certainly not a supporting role. Culkin is hilarious yet heartbreaking, like the film is as a whole. It is a very showy performance, yet a lot of the nuances are very subtle. There is pain ever-present in Culkin’s performance, even when that pain is not fully apparent to the audience yet, as with Eisenberg’s performance as well. Jesse Eisenberg is astonishing in this movie, and I am tired of his performance being so overlooked. Yeah, Culkin is slightly better, but what Eisenberg accomplishes in this film is still monumental. Eisenberg has two scenes where his performance never fails to make me cry every time I rewatch them. It is one of the realest depictions of everyday pain that I have ever seen. Jennifer Grey, Will Sharpe, and Kurt Egyiawan also give great naturalistic performances in their small amount of screen time. A Real Pain is a profound, impactful film that I find myself thinking about again and again throughout my everyday life.

1. Anora (dir. Sean Baker)

Anora is an unbelievably incredible film. It is a comedy-drama that follows Anora (who goes by the shortened version, Ani), played by Mikey Madison, a Brooklyn twenty-three year old, who falls in with Ivan, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, the son of a Russian oligarch, by indie darling Sean Baker, who previously directed such acclaimed films as The Florida Project, Red Rocket, and Tangerine. Baker also edited the film. I am someone who typically heavily disagrees with the choices that the Oscars make on what awards to give to whom, but Anora winning Best Picture was one hundred percent the right choice. There was not a funnier movie in 2024, and there was also not a movie with as much emotional depth in 2024. The screenplay by Baker is one of the best screenplays ever written. The dialogue is so electric, but natural. I love the way the dialogue is written in a way favoring realism so much so that it risks being boring. I love Baker’s unwavering commitment to coming off as realistic within this screenplay. The dialogue is repetitive and meandering at times, but it is never uninteresting. Every line is captivating and full of character. I love the way the characters are characterized throughout. We don’t learn a whole lot of factual information about any character, but we have a good understanding of every character through their dialogue and actions. By the end of the film, it feels like you know the characters so well. Every character is written in such a human, empathetic way. For example, when the employees of Ivan’s parents are first introduced, you view them as typical Russian henchmen, but the more screen time they have, the more empathy you feel for their characters and the more real and human they come across. This movie has a brilliant way of using comedy in relation to its drama. It is a perfect representation of how we use humor to get through our lives and cope with our trauma. When our world is falling apart, we laugh. What else are we supposed to do, you know? This movie’s ending is incredible. The dialogue in Ani and Igor’s final interactions is so funny and emotional and profound. I love the note that this film ends on. An absolutely phenomenal final scene. I love the way this movie is edited. Like I said, it is edited by Baker himself. This film’s editing adds so much to the comedy and energy of certain scenes. The wonderful home invasion scene is a brilliant showcase of how incredible of an editor Baker truly is. The direction of this movie is fantastic. It showcases the joy of the highs and the sorrow of the lows of this film through a visual language incredibly effectively. I specifically love the way the Las Vegas sequence is filmed. There is some great use of licensed music throughout. This film has an ensemble cast for the ages. Mikey Madison gives one of my favorite acting performances of all time in Anora. She is hilarious and heartbreaking and insanely charming and electric. I am so excited for the future of her career, and I will never forget the joy that watching her win the Oscar for Best Actress gave me. Mark Eydelshteyn is unbelievably funny in this film, as well as just feeling so natural. He makes this wacky character feel so real and lived in. Yura Borisov conveys so much in this film through the subtlest of facial expressions. His performance is lovable and saddening and funny and endearing. Karen Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan blew me away as well with how hilarious yet natural their performances were as well. I could go on about the genius of Anora forever. It was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It is one of the most profound movies I have ever seen. It was the best movie of the 2024-2025 school year.                       This is Liam Murphy, Knight Krier writer, signing off. Goodbye and good luck.