Fin: The best of the first 100 movies I saw this year

Spielberg and Scorsese's possible next projects, against "breaking" on SNL, Conan clips, and more in this week's notes column.

The above poster for the upcoming movie Hit Man, I must admit, sucks. It looks silly; it’s inconsistent with the film's tone, and it conveys just about nothing about what this movie is or its about.

That said, Hit Man — which I saw last fall at the New York Film Festival — is the best 2024 film that I’ve seen to date, having just seen my 100th film of the year. It’s funny, its writing crackles, it has insane chemistry between Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, and it cements both as movie stars.

The one part of that unfortunate poster that I do like is where it says, “in select theaters May,” indicating that this crowd-pleasing film will get seen by crowds on a big screen starting on May 24, before it hits Netflix in June. One scene in the movie caused the Lincoln Center crowd to applaud last fall.

The trailer is out now, too:

My top ten films of 2024, through my viewings of 100 movies, go…

1. Hit Man

2. Drive-Away Dolls

3. Dune: Part Two

4. I Saw the TV Glow

5. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World

6. Problemista

7. The People’s Joker

8. A Storm Foretold

9. Snack Shack

10. Challengers

Honorable mentions include Lisa Frankenstein, Racist Trees, The Greatest Night in Pop, Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All, The Beekeeper, Orion and the Dark, Rolling Along, Hundreds of Beavers, Hendrie, and Remembering Gene Wilder.

As for the worst movie of the year so far? You guessed it, Madame Web, and it’s not even close.