Our favorite (older) movies of the year
We share our lists of the favorite films we watched for the first time in 2024
Elliott: I set a new personal record in movies watched in a calendar year in 2024 (this is not a brag… I’m hoping to have a lower number in 2025 in order to make time for books and other Experiences).
Over on my ole Squarespace website, I’ve listed my 101 favorite pre-2024 films that I watched for the first time this year, and paired each one with 4 still images from the film. You can find that list of movies by clicking the link here:
Elliott’s 101 Favorite First Watches of 2024
This is the second year I’ve done this and it’s immensely rewarding looking at the images I’ve spent time with these past 12 months. It’s not too different from looking at a photo album, or like an extremely detailed Letterboxd Wrapped. I didn’t write anything about the movies, instead preferring to let the images speak for themselves. John Ford showed up 6 times in 2024 compared to 2023’s 7 appearances (second year in a row he had 2 films in my top 4). But I did read a 700 page+ biography of the great (deeply flawed) man in the Spring.
Shawn: Ditto that to putting up record numbers this year (though meager by comparison, there’s no catching the king up top), along with hopefully not matching those heights in ‘25 for broader horizons. With the overwhelming majority of our viewing diets in a given year coming from past years instead of new releases, it’s only fair to celebrate the best of the best. Just an approximately ranked top 50 on Letterboxd from me, with another big and belated year-end exercise coming from me in the new year. We’ll see ya then!