The great thing about a Scriptshadow Best Movies of the Year list is that you’re not getting any b.s. All these other list-makers are giving you their cinephile-signaling choices, the movies they think they’re supposed to tell the world they like. Not Scriptshadow!
Every single pick here is, genuinely, one of my favorite movies of the year. That means you’re going to see some movies you’re not used to seeing in a Top 10. There will be complaints. There will be defiant comments written, comments that sound something like this: “That movie was garbage. It was boring and I hated the characters and you could see the twist coming from a mile away.”
Those comments? Those comments are wrong.
Every single pick on the Scriptshadow Best Movies list is, objectively, one of the best movies of the year according to moi.
Before we get to those picks, I want to comment on some movies that didn’t make the list, in case you were wondering where they were.
I haven’t seen Wicked because I assumed I wouldn’t like it. But several friends who aren’t Wickeders, or whatever you call them, saw the movie and enjoyed it so there’s an off-chance that if I saw the movie, it would make my Top 10. I finally saw A Quiet Place: Day One and it was better than I thought it would be but too flawed to make the list.
Longlegs was too “indie” for my taste. The movie felt like it needed another 20 million in budget to make the most of its potential. Smile 2 was a nice surprise. Great directing. But I definitely wouldn’t call it one of the best movies of the year.
Blink Twice was better than I thought it would be so if you haven’t seen it, check it out. Just not “best of” worthy. I absolutely positively HATE The Substance. It has permanently put me off body horror. Late Night with the Devil was probably the best surprise I had all year. Very fun movie. Nearly made my Top 10.
The Last Stop at Yuma County would’ve made the list if it extended to Top 15. A tense little thriller with great directing and good use of payoffs. As would Love Lies Bleeding, another directing tour de force. A very spooky film that makes you feel off-center from the very first scene. Oh, and Magpie! Magpie’s concept comes from Daisy Ridley. A fun little slow-burn thriller about a family that’s falling apart with a unique plotline that involves a married couple’s child landing a role in a big local movie.
Never saw Here. Never saw Monkey Man. Never saw Heretic. Of those three, Heretic is the only one that legitimately had a shot at making my Top 10.
All right, now that you know all that, time to get to the Top 10 movies of the year!
NUMBER 10 – CIVIL WAR
I watched this movie at just the right time. If I would’ve watched it when it came out, I think the hype would’ve led to disappointment. But I went in long after the movie hit streaming and therefore my expectations were low. The movie is not perfect. And, if I’m being honest, it’s slow, especially early on. But it grows on you. You start to care about the characters. And when you hit one of the best scenes of the year – Jesse Plemons killing anybody he sees fit – you’re all in. The movie then has a big finale that climaxes in the ultimate character arc. If you’re looking for a good adult movie, this is the second best option of the year. I’ll get to the first soon enough.
NUMBER 9 – KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
There may not have been a studio movie this year I was more convinced I would dislike than Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. 20th Century Fox has had issues with this franchise from the start. Every single one of the movies looks the same. Every single one of these movies has a title that sounds the same. I had no interest in seeing this. But the director does an incredible job mining an emotional story from the ape characters. I was shocked at how intensely I was drawn in. It’s one of the few examples of a studio putting character over spectacle. Definitely worth your time.
NUMBER 8 – DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE
Deadpool and Wolverine had a lot to live up to. If it would have toppled, it would’ve taken all of the 2024 box office with it. So give it to Ryan Reynolds for knowing exactly what the audience wanted and giving it to them. The thing I was most impressed by with this movie was how the character of Deadpool was in this sunny crazy kooky movie while the character of Wolverine was in this dark dusty devastating movie. And yet, somehow, they still played off each other perfectly. You know a movie is working when you don’t even care about the parts that aren’t working. For example, I have no idea what was going on with the villain in this film or what she wanted. Didn’t matter. We got Deadpool and Wolverine fighting 300 Alternate Universe Deadpools and that’s all we needed. That and Madonna.
NUMBER 7 – CONCLAVE
Conclave is a masterclass in plotting. A big part of plotting is pacing – understanding when to introduce new plot developments into the story and how frequently. Most writers wait too long to introduce the next big plot point and, as a result, their stories stall. You don’t get that with Conclave. Conclave keeps hitting you with new plot points every 10 pages. And each of those revelations either make the story more interesting, add higher stakes to the proceedings, or both. It’s a great example of how you can build an exciting plot into “small” situations. You don’t need to have Tom Cruise trying to save the world. You can build compelling plot points out of many different situations, especially high-stakes situations like needing to anoint the next pope.
NUMBER 6 – KINDS OF KINDNESS
Contrary to popular belief, I need my “weird” in my movie-watching. I don’t always want it. But I eventually crave it because I need something to balance out all the logical storytelling that dictates my taste. Kinds of Kindness gave me all of that and more. What surprised me most about the movie is that, even though it’s a compilation of 3 short stories, each of those stories is really good. Normally when writers do this, there’s always a weak story. But not here. Each one is weird in its own wonderful way. The storytelling Yorgos Lanthimos uses is one where he plops you into a story that you don’t quite understand yet and you need to keep watching to figure it out. I noticed that that device was very effective here as I always wanted to know more. I kind of wish Yorgos would’ve figured out how to make this one big movie because, that way, more people would’ve seen it. But even in its current state, it’s a gem that people will stumble upon and enjoy for years.
NUMBER 5 – THE WILD ROBOT
The second I saw this trailer, I knew it was going to be great. The contrast of this mechanical being placed in the midst of such unforgiving nature was a pot just dying to boil up plenty of drama. I was telling a writer how clever the writing was in that it could’ve been really sappy with just the robot and the little bird. But the writer, Chris Sanders, added this conniving fox to the mix and that created the perfect balance to the proceedings. The movie has these great sequences that are both cinematic and emotional. When Roz teaches Brightbill to fly, it’s total movie magic. Sanders also took a big risk by embracing maturity instead of catering to a more youthful approach. He could’ve easily pandered to children here and the film probably would’ve done a lot better at the box office. Instead, he kept it mature and, as a result, it’s going to win the animation Oscar and go down as a classic.
NUMBER 4 – STRANGE DARLING
It’s hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, move on to the next movie on the list. Okay, spoiling commencing. Strange Darling shows that you can make a small cheap movie hit hard. One of the best ways to do this is to tap into a belief that the general audience has been conditioned to believe and then slam into them with the opposite. The last four years have been movies telling us: Men toxic, women perfect. Director JT Mollner uses that belief against you. When our evil looking dude is hunting our helpless heroine, we’re rooting hard for her to get away. That is until we find out that the heroine is the villain and the man is the hero. It’s a great midpoint twist that turns the movie into a whirlwind of emotions and momentum. Biggest surprise of the year. Didn’t see it coming.
NUMBER 3 – SPEAK NO EVIL
A few of you are probably surprised to see this movie ranked so high. So let me explain why. Speak No Evil is, in my opinion, the type of screenplay you can get the most bang for your buck out of. Because all you’re doing is putting characters in a situation. There are no monsters here. There are no shootouts. There are no car chases. It’s just a group of people, in this case a family, placed in a dangerous situation that they probably won’t escape. I love scripts like this. I love scripts that reveal things before our heroes know. Cause now you’re strictly using dramaturgy (in this case, dramatic irony) to keep the reader invested. It’s pure writing, these stories. So to see one done so well? I’m always going to celebrate when that happens. And even if you throw all the complex screenwriting terms to the side, it’s just a fun thriller. It’s tense. It’s suspenseful. It’s got a couple of great reveals. It’s got a great villain. For pure entertainment, you can’t beat Speak No Evil.
NUMBER 2 – FURIOSA
Years down the line, random people are going to stumble across this movie on streaming and wonder where it came from and how they’ve never heard of it before. It is a riveting movie. It’s also an epic story. This isn’t Mad Max. It isn’t Fury Road. It takes place over years and years. We see characters grow and mature and move their way up the ladder. We see these incredible action sequences. The best car chases you’ll see in any movie this decade. I remember watching this film and, at first, feeling that it was too clunky. But it was only because I didn’t understand how big the scope was. Every time I look back at this film, I grow more and more fond of it. It achieves that rare feat of feeling big (incredible set pieces) and small (intimate moments) at the same time. I have no idea why this movie didn’t do better. Maybe it’s because nothing in this universe could’ve looked better than that Fury Road trailer. So it was always doomed. But this movie was freaking awesome.
NUMBER 1 – ANORA
When I think of Anora, I think of one word: Energy. Every single frame of this movie is packed with energy. You don’t see that anymore. We used to get it in movies like Trainspotting and Fight Club and Amos Perros and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We don’t see it much anymore, though. Sean Baker is one of the few filmmakers who’s able to infuse that same level of energy into every moment of his movie. Anora is a long film but it never plays like it. The entire second act is a chase where we’re always one step behind. The screenplay preys on your expectations at every single juncture. You always think you know what’s coming. You don’t. Even when we get to the ending, a time when we’re usually able to put all the pieces together, we STILL don’t know where it’s going. And it’s an amazing experience because of it. The acting is incredible. The casting is incredible. The directing is superb. Scott says this movie won’t win the Oscar because Neon doesn’t have the cash to bankroll an Oscar campaign. But I think this movie is so good that it will overcome that. Expect Anora to pick up a golden statute this March.
