The year in which Hollywood tried its darnedest to recover from a year of disruption and underperformance, and the resulting 12 months ended up being a mixed success.

Some studios like Disney saw some of their biggest box office hits in years with the likes of INSIDE OUT 2 and DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE while noted auteurs, notably Francis Ford Coppola and George Miller struggled to make their mark either creatively, financially or both. At least the indie sector, animation and films around the world kept pushing the art form forward in a turbulent time where it has never been more necessary.

As per usual, before my full top 20 films of 2024 (UK release dates), here’s the individual scenes that have stayed with me.

Best Scenes of 2024:

DUNE: PART 2 – Feyd in the Arena 

Baron Harkonnen (Stellen Skarsgård) presents his nephew and heir to his subjects on Feyd’s coming-of-age, the deadly and psychotic young royal (Austin Butler) stepping into an arena to prove his physical prowess against (mostly) drugged prisoners as his fight is bathed in the cold light of Gedi Prime’s black sun. A sequence made in its boldness and in Greig Fraser’s ingenious infrared cinematography, Feyd makes one hell of a first impression.

POOR THINGS – Bella Acts Up

Still at an awkward phase of her development and seen as hugely embarrassing in public by the man who is more than happy to take advantage of her lack of inhibitions in private, reanimated cadaver Bella (Emma Stone) upends Duncan’s (Mark Ruffalo) fancy dinner engagement at a lavish hotel before dancing with wild abandon. Jerskin Fendrix, the film’s composer cameos as part of the band and also soundtracks Bella’s dance floor liberation, her jerky movements more than matching the discordant notation.

ALL OF US STRANGERS – One Last Family Meal

After regularly visiting his long departed parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) in their home, Adam (Andrew Scott) realises it is time to let go of his past and his regrets and decides to say his goodbyes at a location close to all of their hearts – a slightly depressing American-style diner in a British shopping centre. You’d have to have a heart of stone to not be moved by this lowkey, impeccably acted farewell representing Adam finally coming to terms with his regrets and his grief.

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE – Mini Van Fight 

The Merc with the Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolvie (Hugh Jackman) haven’t had the most harmonious introduction, with the former essentially kidnapping the latter to save his universe, and after some uncomfortable truths are swearily unleashed, both stabby, regenerating antiheroes lay into each other in the confines of a family SUV soundtracked by a malfunctioning radio. It’s by some distance the film’s least spectacular action sequence but by imposing limitations of space on the scene it becomes its most memorable too.

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA – The Stowaway 

The only sequence that even comes close to rivalling the spectacle of FURY ROAD sees the young Furiosa disguised as a mechanic and clinging to the underside of the brand-new, shiny and chrome war rig on its maiden voyage, inevitably coming up against some marauding raiders and fiery chaos ensuing. Miller specialises in escalation, tactility and momentum and this chase provides all of this in spades as well as serving as a searing character introduction for the now-adult title character (Anya Taylor-Joy).

HIS THREE DAUGHTERS – Perfect Goodbye 

After a whole film’s worth of upsetting family squabbles as three sisters (Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen) watch over their dad in his final weeks dying of cancer, a moment of welcome tranquility comes at the story’s close. As his daughters carefully manoeuvre him from his sickbed to his favourite chair, Vincent (Jay O Sanders) appears to recklessly tear out his IV and heart monitor, only for it to be revealed he has stepped out of his now unresponsive body to tell his children how proud he is of all of them.

THE SUBSTANCE – New Years Show 

After breaking the unbreakable rule of using The Substance – not to double-dose – the younger ideal version of Elisabeth Sparkle Demi Moore), Sue (Margaret Qualley) horribly mutates into a third form, Monstro Elisasue. Not wanting to bow out of hosting the upcoming star-making New Year show on TV, the shambling horror squeezes into her dress, puts on her makeup and earrings and staples a promo image of her formally glamorous self to her face and heads down to the TV station for one of the most extreme, claret-soaked and hilarious film finales of all.

EVIL DOES NOT EXIST – Town Hall Meeting 

When an unthinking corporation swoop in and expect a small rural community to cooperate with their proposal for the building of a power generator, their token offering of a public consultation quickly gets out of hand. Quickly their slick representatives crumple in the face of calm, firm and well-informed questions from the locals who just want to be left to their peaceful way of life.

REBEL RIDGE – P.A.C.E

There are plenty of great turning points in movies, moments where you feel a seismic shift in tone. After being pushed around, discriminated against and threatened by corrupt and prejudiced authorities, Terry Aaron Pierre) turns the tables on them as he has a heated conversation with the police chief (Don Johnson) outside his station. Terry gradually reveals he has a dark past and is a force to be reckoned with, just as the chief’s colleagues battle iffy WiFi to look to his service record and everyone realises simultaneously what a mistake it was to mess with him.

ANORA – Ani Goes Beast Mode 

Inept thugs sent to break up an unapproved marriage between Russian playboy Ivan and stripper Ani (Mikey Madison) fatally underestimate how formidable she can be. Before long she is holding her own against two much larger men and causing them lasting damage as they fall over fancy furniture and attempt to restrain and gag her, her sailor’s mouth and flailing limbs making them think twice about every attempt they make to contain but not hurt her.

Best Films of 2024:

Honourable mention: ISRAELISM

20. MONSTER Full review here.

19. REBEL RIDGE Review in brief here.

18. THE SUBSTANCE Review in brief here.

17. INSIDE OUT 2 Review in brief here.

16. HIS THREE DAUGHTERS 

15. THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN Full review here.

14. CONCLAVE 

13. ANORA Review in brief here.

12. MY OLD ASS

11. SING SING

10. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS Full Top 10 write up here.

9. THE WILD ROBOT

8. SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING

7. KNEECAP 

6. THE ZONE OF INTEREST

5. PERFECT DAYS

4. ALL OF US STRANGERS

3. ROBOT DREAMS

2. THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE

1. POOR THINGS Full review here.

Coming up in a jam-packed 2025 we have the return of DC superheroes with James Gunn’s SUPERMAN and hopefully the return to form of the MCU with CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, THUNDERBOLTS* and THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Tom Cruise reportedly bids farewell to Ethan Hunt in undoubtedly spectacular fashion in the eighth MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and we can look forward to new films from Bong Joon-Ho, Ryan Coogler and others. That’s not even getting started on all the other IP including AVATAR, WICKED and the live-action takes on LILO AND STITCH and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Here’s to a year of cinema that will help us cope with uncertain times. SSP