As we hurtle headlong into summer, we’re dully aware six months’ worth of new content has already hit our streaming platforms and our feeds this year – and in some rare cases, even gotten us out of the house and into a movie theater.
While consensus seems to be that a lot of what pop culture has brought forth thus far in 2024 has been a bit “meh,” there have also been standouts, triumphs and attention-getting titles worth of celebrating.
Here’s our list of some the year’s best performances and content so far:
MOVIES
Best (or, most chillingly effective) cameo – Jesse Plemons in ‘Civil War’
The Oscars “conversation” already includes “Kinds of Kindness” star Plemons delivering a brief performance so menacing, it calls to minds the scant 24 minutes Anthony Hopkins spent on screen before clinching an Academy Award for “Silence of the Lambs.” Plemons’ demented “soldier” in a crumbled and war-torn version of the near-future US, dispensing life and death with callous disdain, more than drives home the point filmmaker Alex Garland was trying to make with his latest movie. It’s anyone’s guess how “Civil War” star Kirsten Dunst – who is married to Plemons in real life – felt comfortable going home with him after shooting his scene.
Best genre-defying comedy – ‘Problemista’
Writer, director and actor Julio Torres is an exceptional cinematic voice who has actually been around for awhile, creating excellent content for “Saturday Night Live” and series such as “Los Espookys” and the soon-to-be released “Fantasmas.” “Problemista,” which won acclaim at several festivals in 2023, features Torres as a toy designer from El Salvador trying to find opportunities to unleash his creative vision in the US, while also figuring out a way to stay in the country. He runs into both expected roadblocks as well as ones that are frustratingly inane, like a poorly designed grant website with a broken drop-down menu that makes it impossible for anyone located outside of country to apply. With artfully realized details like that, “Problemista” does the remarkable job of remaining universally engaging while exploring a very specific and individual experience. Plus, Tilda Swinton turns in one of her best idiosyncratic and delightfully deranged performances opposite the gifted Torres.
Best meet-cute – ‘The Idea of You’
Not since “The Devil Wears Prada” has Anne Hathaway captured the zeitgeist like this, and we’re here for it. In “Idea,” she has a run-in at Coachella with It-Boy Nicolas Galiztine (of “Red, White & Royal Blue” and “Mary & George” fame) that is so silly, and so disarming, it’s hard not to go along for the gender-flipped “Notting Hill” (plus a few age-gap years) that follows. Other reasons to watch include the music performance scenes (the fictional boy band in the film isn’t so fictional in that it was essentially created for the movie and has actually released music) and Hathaway’s character’s positively enviable Los Angeles enclave.
Best visuals – The Harkonnens in ‘Dune: Part Two’
It’s getting harder and harder to dazzle with a truly original vision on the silver screen, but Denis Villeneuve pulls it off in his epic sci-fi sequel, which had been drastically delayed for a variety of reasons but finally dawned in the theaters this past spring. The sequences depicting the villainous Harkonnens – mostly monochromatic and overexposed to create an off-putting yet hypnotic ambiance – simply look like nothing else, and succeed in imparting a foreboding and terrifically extraterrestrial feel. Actor Austin Butler’s improvised kiss planted on his uncle Baron (Stellan Skarsgård) helps as well.
Honorable mentions:
Best sports-infused romance/romance-infused sports movie – “Challengers”
Best use of profanity – Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in “Wicked Little Letters”
Best music documentary – “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon”
Best horror film – “Late Night with the Devil”
Best animated film – “Orion and the Dark”
TV
Best production – ‘Shogun’
The series production of the year, FX’s “Shogun” managed to create the second showstopping television event based on the acclaimed James Clavell novel, after the first series did way back in 1980. CNN’s Brian Lowry wrote in his glowing review that the new show “blends an intoxicating combination of action, romance and political intrigue, majestically spread over 10 parts that, unlike most limited series, sustain that weight and then some.”
Best show (somewhat) inspired by real life – ‘Baby Reindeer’
While “Baby Reindeer” is by no means an easy watch, Richard Gadd’s (true to an extent, that will surely be battled over for some time) recounting of his experience with a stalker – and how a previous experience of abuse played into it – is ultimately gratifying for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Gadd’s layered and vulnerable performance anchors the show, and serves as the perfect foil for the brilliant Jessica Gunning – who plays his increasingly menacing stalker Martha – to truly shine and chew scenery at the same time.
Best visuals – ‘Ripley’
In a very different way from the villainous Harkonnen family in “Dune” – but still depicting a nefarious villain nonetheless – the black-and-white Netflix series “Ripley” can draw you in at practically any juncture, with stunningly ornate stylistic details and seaside Italian locations that are gasp-inducing maybe partially because they lack color. You could take screenshots from almost any scene and frame them as fine art, and the show – an austere retelling of the Patricia Highsmith novel after Anthony Minghella’s far more colorful (literally and figuratively) film from 1999 – has the beguiling ability to make your eyes crave its somehow comfortable, monochromatic simplicity when you’re not watching it.
Best sophomore season – ‘Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire’
“Interview” has only improved on what’s come before – its first season, as well as the 1994 Neil Jordan movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt – and continues to be one of the best-acted and best-written shows on TV, while also remaining the juiciest. Vamps have never been more compelling than the iterations of the Anne Rice characters depicted here. Alternating between notes that are tragic, beautiful and sometimes hilarious, it’s got a bit of everything. Which means its no surprise that AMC announced a third season renewal just this week. – Scottie Andrew
Best cameo – Carrot Top on ‘Hacks’
When Mr. Top (real name Scott Thompson, who while you weren’t looking has become a major fixture in Las Vegas) comes out on screen in the second episode of this well-received third season of “Hacks,” double-takes abound as to whether that’s “really him.” His commitment in the scene is top notch, and stick around for the post-show featurette to watch him take director notes and do great line readings. Honorable mentions go to Dierdre Hall playing herself, sort of, as Paul W. Downs’ mother in the Christmas episode, along with Christopher Lloyd as her maybe-new paramour. “Hacks” also enjoys featured guests J. Smith-Cameron from “Succession,” who finally gives (great) face to Kathy – Deborah’s detested and two-timing sister – and Helen Hunt as a ball-busting network exec.
Honorable mentions:
Best documentary portrait of a living artist – “Steve! (Martin): A documentary in two pieces”
Best unabashed romance series – “One Day”
Best mindless guilty summer reality obsession – “Summer House”
Best mystery – “Monsieur Spade”
MUSIC
Best musical genre reinvention – Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’
A truly monocultural moment in music, Queen Bey’s landmark eighth studio album took the old – like the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” – and made it new and vital again. It shined a light on both trailblazers and up-and-coming artists that normally aren’t associated with the ever-changing genre that is “country,” while betraying a very personal story from Beyoncé herself about her own experience in the music world as an artist of color.
Best album that’s definitely not for everyone – Vampire Weekend’s ‘Only God Was Above Us’
There are few immediately hummable songs on the new record that call to mind “Harmony Hall” off of their last album in 2019, and the instrumentation is rich and complex and strangely captivating, like the band wanted to stuff as many distinctive sounds into each song as they could. And their trademark clever wordplay is very much on display in songs like “Gen-X Cops.” – Brandon Griggs
Best breakout – Chappell Roan
While her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” was released late last year, Roan has been steadily gaining attention ever since – and rightfully so – with viral performances at Coachella, the Governors Ball and Bonnaroo, along with a wonderful (and also very viral) set on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series in March. With a queer-centric performance style that is very drag-inspired, her latest single “Good Luck Babe!” epitomizes her fiercely independent, raw and authentic vibe. Plus, rock legend Elton John has already given his seal of approval. We’re so in. – Scottie Andrew and Alli Rosenbloom
BOOKS
‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ by Rufi Thorpe
Soon to be a TV series starring Elle Fanning, this novel – following a young, single, new mother with no job who joins OnlyFans and begins creating sexual content to stay afloat – toys with our perceptions of power and morality. What does it mean to be a good person, and who gets to decide? Over the course of the book, readers see Margo desperately trying to survive her situation, contending with the difficult – and sometimes unconventional – choices she makes in order to do so. – Leah Asmelash
‘Sociopath: A Memoir’ by Patric Gagne
The release of “Ripley” in April coincided with the arrival of the memoir “Sociopath,” which offers a quite different case for demythologizing what it means to be a sociopath. Author Patric Gagne, a successful therapist who’s married with kids, writes of her lifelong (and largely successful) struggle to quash her more violent urges, and argues that the condition is widely misunderstood, grossly stereotyped, and likely under-diagnosed. – Sara Stewart
PODCAST
Best and most hilarious podcast about nothing in particular – ‘The Bald and the Beautiful’
The beloved queens from “Drag Race” Trixie and Katya blather on about nothing, and it’s just everything. Their conversations get extremely raunchy and graphic, so be warned, but there are few funnier people on the planet than these two drag legends. – Scottie Andrew
