Avalon's Picks: Best Films of 2024

It's that time of year again! Looking for a cinematic escape as the year draws to a close? Well look no further, because I've got you covered. Dive into Avalon's Picks for the Best Films of 2024 and discover which cinematic gems you can't miss.

Dune 2 - I cannot tell you how many times I've watched Dune Part 2 this year, which is my number one film of 2024. "Dune: Part Two" explores the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Alien: Romulus - While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) does an impeccable job resurrecting a franchise with equal servings of fan service and originality, Alien: Romulus keenly delivers Xenomorph blood and thrills.

Deadpool & Wolverine - Deadpool's peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon unites with his would-be pal, Wolverine, to complete the mission and save his world from an existential threat.

Proving that Marvel can poke fun at itself, Deadpool & Wolverine is chock-full of deep-cut cameos and Easter eggs while also having a lot of heart.

Femme - With his performances as Aphrodite Banks, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Candyman) has a place among London's celebrated drag artists. One night after a show, he steps out to get some cigarettes and is brutally attacked by a man (George MacKay, 1917), out with a gang of his friends. Although Jules is able to recover physically, he withdraws from the outside world, traumatized. Months later, he recognizes his attacker by chance in a gay sauna. Without make-up and wrapped only in a towel, Jules is able to approach the other man incognito and find out who he is. He begins an affair with the closeted Preston, with a plan to take his revenge.

Sexually charged and riddled with tension, Femme redresses the noir genre and may leave audiences biting their nails to the nub.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by the Immortan Joe. As the two tyrants fight for dominance, Furiosa soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home.

Come for Anya Taylor-Joy and stay on the edge of your seat for the CGI-heavy action. Furiosa does not disappoint fans of the franchise and welcomes newcomers to jump onto the thrilling Mad Max ride.

Challengers - From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist - West Side Story), Tashi's strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O'Connor - The Crown) -- his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.

A Quiet Place: Day One - Grounded in raw humanity by Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn, this sideways entry into A Quiet Place finds fresh notes of fright to play amid the silence. Day One delivers a wildly effective big city disaster film while making the most of the franchise’s core concept and keeping the series character-first. Lupita Nyong'o's energy and fight are hugely captivating. An ace digging into character complexities.

The Beekeeper - In The Beekeeper, one man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as "Beekeepers".

Fast-paced and full of action, The Beekeeper delivers everything Jason Statham fans will be looking for.

Kill - When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him -- turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.

GORE GALORE. If you like John Wick type of movies, you’ll probably like this one. If violence in movies makes you uneasy, do not watch.

The Shadow Strays

Skilled in the art of killing, a young assassin defies her mentor to save a boy from a ruthless crime syndicate — and she’ll destroy anyone in her path. Timo Tjahjanto has directed one of the best actioners of the year, a bloody descent into the underworld that can get tiresome with the 2.5 hour runtime but always returns to the palpable grit and kinetic energy that defines it. Indonesian action teams are doing some of the best work in the genre.

Aurora Ribero has the potential to be a HUGE star. She is the full package - 5 star action talent and WOW can she hold a scene. Timo Tjahjanto gives her an EPIC to chew on. The Shadow Strays is breathtaking

Twisters - Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Golden Globe nominee Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better. As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.

Civil War - From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. Civil War does a good job of putting the viewer on the ground, although it'll be frustrating for anyone hoping to get any clues as to what caused the conflict in the first place.

Conclave - CONCLAVE follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events -- selecting the new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.

I Saw The TV Glow - Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.

I Saw the TV Glow is a confident, original film, birthed and crafted in a way that feels wholly different to anything you’ve seen before – certainly not in mainstream Hollywood cinema.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar's reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

If the plot loses a little momentum after a strong opening, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes still delivers stunning visuals, compelling performances, and proves to be a solid entry in the Apes cannon.

The Fall Guy - He's a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?

Crazy, silly, stupid fun with a kick of romance, The Fall Guy is a classic action popcorn movie that doubles as an elegy to stunt performers.

All of us Strangers - One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.

All of us Strangers is a deeply emotional drama with outstanding acting and a strong story,the film is likely to stay on your mind long after its final scene.

Rebel Ridge - Terry Richmond enters the town of Shelby Springs on a simple but urgent mission-- post bail for his cousin and save him from imminent danger. But when Terry’s life’s savings is unjustly seized by law-enforcement, he’s forced to go head to head with local police chief Sandy Burnne and his combat-ready officers. Terry finds an unlikely ally in court clerk Summer McBride and the two become ensnared in a deep-rooted conspiracy within the remote township. As the stakes turn deadly, Terry must call upon his mysterious background to break the department’s hold on the community, bring justice to his own family-- and protect Summer in the process.

With a whip-smart plot, a strong lead in Aaron Pierre, and a standout villain in Don Johnson, director Jeremy Saulnier has done it again.

Road House - In this adrenaline-fueled reimagining of the 80s cult classic, ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.

Road House updates a cult classic for a new generation, happily replicating the original's emphasis on cheesy brawn over narrative brains.

Carry-On - A young TSA agent (Taron Egerton) fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight.

Die Hard karaoke this may be, but it delivers — and eclipses at least two of John McClane’s outings in the process. Look forward to future eye-rolling debates as to whether it qualifies as a Christmas movie.

Transformers One - TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

this was one of the best transformers movies in a long time. There needs to be a second part to keep it going. If you still haven't seen, go see it was really good.

Monkey Man - Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Dev Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city's sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.

solid action movie, plot was hard to follow but the choreography and acting was solid. worth watching. Dev Patel in my opinion is a credible action hero and hope to see him in more action films.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - This latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence -- and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins, and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

With fantastic effects and plenty of action, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has everything you're looking for from a kaiju adventure.