2024 art & culture favorites

the movies, TV shows, books, and albums that I loved this year

Happy end-of-year-list season! This week, my favorites from art & culture. (Next week, a reflection on my work/personal happenings of the year.)

A note on the curation: First, I stuck to things that were released in 2024. Second - I’m sadly not positioned to be an authority on any of this, by which I mean: down with hierarchies, but man would I love to be a proper pop culture critic in some future life chapter so I can actually engage in enough quantity of art to give fair thoughts on this year’s greats. As it stands, though: I make it a point to see a lot of movies, but I still don’t have any fancy film festival passes or regular access to early screeners; I only make time for TV that feels possible at the end of the workday; books take a backseat to readings I assign my students; and my music taste, today, is simply narrow. I didn’t remotely see/hear enough 2024 art to declare that these are in any way the best of anything. Instead, I will share things I loved, most of which I think also have legit artistic chops. 

In the comments, please tell me your 2024 picks! What do we agree on, what do you think I’m totally bananas for loving? 

Movies.

So many of the award buzzy films haven’t been released yet. In general, I went to fewer movies this year (see: partner’s cancer treatment, my fibroid treatment, working full-time, & writing a book). So these are my favorites of the small (for me) batch I saw from roughly January—November. 

The Big Bend

One of the few unequivocally excellent films I saw this year was also one of the least distributed. The Big Bend is a story of four friends who reunite for a weekend in the desert. A pretty major drama unfolds, but the real heartbeat of the film is in the relationships between the characters and how we see each of them confront their respective repressed truths. Even with a bit of an adventure plot, the film is deeply intimate, and I loved it.

Twisters

I don’t have much to say for myself other than I really like when a summer blockbuster does what it’s supposed to do, especially when there’s real character development, real chemistry (love him or hate him, Glen Powell is a master at chemistry), and Lee Isaac Chung-shot images of gorgeous Midwest fields. I loved it, y’all, I just loved it. You can read more of why here. 

hillbilly punks! irresistible!

Anora 

I want to say upfront that I wanted to love this. I really, really liked it, (enough to make this list), but I think Sean Baker’s made better films. That said, it was an adventure to spend time in Anora’s New York — it was a feeling similar to the one I felt watching Uncut Gems, which is to say intensely stressed but in a pleasurable way. The performances were excellent, the soundtrack was a delight, the dances were hot (they at least consulted SWers). I really like being in movies that give fair attention to the worlds of the working/hustling class. But I did not love the ending, and I really don’t know why every single story about sex workers needs to include blurry boundaries (see Sanctuary, The White Lotus, and the OG, Pretty Woman). Still, I am rooting for it in awards season and plan to watch it again when it comes to streaming.

there was some really good nail dialogue.

Civil War

I know most people hated this movie, and as I wrote, if I would have seen it through the lens many people saw it through—and, as it turns out, as the filmmaker Alex Garland intended—I would have disliked it too. But I honestly still think of scenes from this movie regularly, it was so incredibly affecting. If you missed my essay about it, I hope you’ll give it a read to get a better understanding of why I think ambiguous art like this is still worth celebrating. 

I Saw the TV Glow 

I struggled with parts of this, but it’s another film that has haunted me in the best way. I wrote about how impactful the soundtrack felt, and how the whole experience felt very 90s-indie-movie. It’s important queer/trans filmmaking, and I’ve landed on really appreciating it. 

The Substance

I continue to have a love-hate relationship with this body horror nightmare, but as I wrote here, it’s undeniably powerful and evocative storytelling, and it was, like all the films on this list, something that consumed me for weeks after seeing it. 

Honorable Mentions: Conclave, excellent Oscar-bait that I happily ate up, but I just wanted it to lean in a bit more to the camp; Problemista, Julio Torres is masterful and distinct in the surreal visual language he brings to this story, offering some of the most compelling portrayals of the violence of bureaucracy I’ve ever seen on film; Iron Claw, men’s emotions and wrestling!; Bikeriders, men’s emotions and motorcycles! (and a stellar Wisconsin-accented Jodi Comer); Find Me Falling, an underrated rom-com with a charming cast of characters and a truly pleasant earworm of a theme song; Drive-Away Dolls, hands-down it’s Margaret Qualley’s best performance, and also totally laugh-out-loud funny (and gay); My Old Ass, is the most queer Zoomer-vibed film I’ve seen, and I adored it, so moving!; Wicked, did what it was supposed to, but with very bad lighting and costumes! Good thing the music/story is so enjoyable & nostalgic for many of us!; Rebel Ridge, was so satisfying, right up until the very end; Kneecap, was such a boy movie, but the young radical Irish politics were awesome and I had a good time with it!

Haven’t seen yet, but would maybe change this list: Sing Sing; A Complete Unknown; Emilia Pérez; Babygirl; Queer; A Real Pain; Nickel Boys; The Last Showgirl; The Brutalist; Nightbitch. I’ll do another award season post after I’ve seen some of these! (I am counting down the minutes til Babygirl…)

Television.  

There wasn’t much television that wowed me this year. I’ve narrowed my favorites to two shows with a number of honorable mentions. 

The English Teacher

I just think this show is so fucking smart and funny. (And also prescient! Jordan Firstman has that line about listening to Red Scare and tbh this is the insight we need into a culture that elects Trump for a second presidency.) 

Ripley 

Honestly, a masterpiece. An immersive and anti-multitasking brilliant series. At the end of every episode I felt like clapping my hands together and saying, “That’s cinema, baby!” It’s visually stunning, compelling, intricate, and Andrew Scott acts the shit out of the psychopathic titular character. You can read more of my thoughts on it here. 

Honorable Mentions: The Golden Bachelorette, just because it brought me great comfort and I loved seeing the Boomer male friendship; Baby Reindeer, an incredibly dark and smart show that I think only got bumped down here because it felt so difficult to watch; The Bear (Season 3), it’s not been as magic as Season 1 since Season 1, but there was so much I loved about the latest batch of stories from the now-beloved restaurant workers in Chicago; A Man on the Inside, absolutely heartwarming and moments of being really funny; Black Doves, was a pulpy delight! a wonderful, albeit outlandish, thriller with really likable characters and excellent chemistry across the cast. 

Haven’t Seen: Somebody Somewhere - most recent season (but loved Season 1; I am a Duplass Brothers productions devotee through and through); Futurismo (I think I will like this); many others!

Overrated: Slow Horses (I said what I said!); Industry (simply could not get past halfway through the second episode. Weird vibes, not endeared to anyone.) 

Music.

Hey listen, I want to be someone whose punk roots and music snob credentials remain steadfast through age. The truth is, my taste in music is getting boring. What you’ll notice about my top albums of the year is that they are all basically country-influenced indie folk rock from people who feel, by way of vibes, like they have some kind of history with punk or DIY. I also tossed in the pop albums that grew on me. 

Waxahatchee

Obviously. Long time readers know that Katie Crutchfield is my #1 musical love. I’ve been a mega-fan since her punkier PS Eliot days. Waxahatchee’s first album, American Weekend, came to me in my late 20s and served as a sort of sonic scrapbook of that decade of my life. I fell in love with that album, in the truest sense. I liked the handful of post-American Weekend albums Katie released, but it wasn’t until her 2020 album, St. Cloud, that made me feel as seen as her first album did all those years ago. Crutchfield’s pivot toward her country roots aligned with my own, and once again, I became fully obsessed. Her latest album, Tigers Blood, didn’t hit quite as potently as St. Cloud, but it was close, and it was on repeat over and over (and over) this past spring and summer. Absolute front porch music for girls in their 30s whose once-wild hearts are a bit more tamed, a bit more ready for melodic reflection. 

Adrianne Lenker

Adrianne Lenker’s solo stuff is like if Big Thief was sadder and more gay. What is not to love?! Lest you thought I was being metaphorical, the best track on the album is called “Sadness As a Gift.” Cry gratefully about it! 

MJ Lenderman

I’d been vaguely familiar with Lenderman, but he got more on my radar this year because he sang on the first single off Tigers Blood, “Right Back to It.” I loved the discordant monotone he brought to the track, it worked so uniquely well. His solo album, Manning Fireworks, was truly perfect summer-to-fall transition music. Also made for front porches, but this one with friends and stories not just about the old days, but the good ones to come, too. 

Honorable mentions: the pop girlies deserve some cred! Charli XCX, BRAT (if it matters, I’ve been a fan of Charli for over a decade and even though I’m not a club-kid, I like music that sounds like I am, which is a taste I developed when I was teaching/making playlists for fitness classes); Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest American Princess (yes, this is 2023, but obvi this album had its year this year; also: paid subs will know I outed myself as feeling very ‘meh’ on her, which I kind of still standby, but girlie def grew on me with her refusal to endorse a genocidal border cop, and a number of her songs grew on me too); Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (it took me a minute, but I’m fully on-board with her genuinely clever & sexual-innuendo’d lyrics, and the fact that she is, in my book, one of the straight girls who gets Honorary Femme status; her whole vibe is CAMP. also, she & BK were butch/femme culture if I’ve ever seen it). Also: Kendrick Lamar, GNX; Kendrick has some bad takes, but his music is so solid, album to album. 

Books. 

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib 

It’s hard to write about Hanif Abdurraqib. He just constantly awes me and putting words to his words always feels so inadequate. Here is what I’ll say about his latest book, There’s Always This Year: it is a journey. In Abdurraqib’s stunning poetic prose, we are woven through the history of LeBron James’s rise to stardom by way of reflections of Black grief, and Ohio aviation, and James Brown’s hair, and what it means to feel proud of where you come from, even when (or especially when) it hurts. Hanif makes me even prouder to be an Ohian. His presence is truly a gift to books and to stages and to whoever is lucky enough to get him across a dinner table. 

All Fours by Miranda July 

It had a few problems (rich people will always be hard for me!), but I loved it. And I was inspired by it. I wrote here about what it prompted for me re: aging, gender, desire, and more. 

From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire by Sarah Jaffe 

Sarah Jaffe is an inspiration to me in how she weaves nonfiction research about power and politics with smart theory and gorgeous prose. Her latest book is a showcase of that skill, and about a topic that touches all of us: grief. I got my copy the day before I found out about the loss of a childhood friend, and it was good company to my early sorrow. In our pandemic, apocalyptic, genocidal era, a book that examines the personal and political stakes of loss is so necessary, and Sarah provided it here. 

They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us by Peter Gelderloos 

If I may! Peter Gelderloos’s book is impassioned and important. He looks back on movement history to demonstrate all the ways we fail to remember lessons from the wins and losses of our collective past. It’s a case for continuity, a case for remembering, and it is a crucial companion to face & fight the apocalyptic times we’re in.

Constellations of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice ed. Cindy Milstein 

I loved this much-needed edited collection. Here’s what I said in my blurb for it! “Constellations is balm on a collective wound, with each essay offering validation and relief. The feminist world-building illuminated in this collection is heartening and hope giving, providing a mercurial map toward the radical relationality we need to sustain us.” 

Honorable mentions: Margo’s Got Money Troubles, a delightful story of a young single-mom who makes good money on OnlyFans - I feel a tiny bit complicated about this since author Rufi Thorpe doesn't have experience as a sex worker, but I still really love this story and hope that anyone who buys it also tips a SWer!; An Honest Woman - it’s always wonderful to spend time with Charlotte Shane’s prose, and this was a moving and relatable account of sex work and loving men that felt both intimate and astute. 

Okay, your turn! What did you love reading, watching, and listening to this year?