WWelcome to the final guide of 2024! I hope you all have a great holiday and have a better idea of what day it is than I do. As is tradition, we’ve put together our own roundup of the best culture of the year, and then this week we’re leaving it up to you. Discover the movies, TV shows, music, performances, and podcasts that will blow your mind in 2024.
Thank you to everyone who sent in suggestions. Sorry if I couldn’t include your suggestions. Enjoy the rest of your Christmas break and see you on the other side of the new year next Friday for 2025 Preview!
film
“I don’t know if it’ll get the recognition it deserves when awards season comes around, but Love Lies Bleeding was the best movie I saw in 2024. It’s dirty, violent, It was larger-than-life in many ways and very impressive.” -She has previously appeared in 2019’s Saint Maud, directed by British director Rose Glass, making her one of the most exciting talents of our time. I’m one of the. ” – Andrew McGregor
“Dune: Part 2 was great. The gut-pounding bassline is now unmistakable. It was so good that I saw it twice in theaters. I’m totally caught up in Paul’s movement – kill them all, Paul! Please ignore Chani’s whining and buzz killing! Let’s ride that worm and take them to paradise! I’m afraid it won’t end well. ” – Suzanne Stockton
“‘The Heretic’ and ‘Long Legs’ were standout films: diabolically disturbing psychological thrillers by Hugh Grant and Nicolas Cage held together by a troubling script and deeply creepy developments.” “Long live Santa!” – Monty Smith
“The Beast, starring George MacKay and Léa Seydoux, was an existential science fiction story that spanned three different timelines. The middle story about an “incel” and the woman he’s tailing was one of the most surprising pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever seen. I wish the film’s director, Bertrand Bonello, had scrapped the rest and made it a whole movie, but it’s still worth checking out for that part alone. ” – Jane
tv set
“My favorite TV show this year was Hux. I loved this new season! It came out around the time my baby was born, and I watched it in the evening while he was sleeping in his crib (just the right length). This show is so funny that I tried to laugh quietly so as not to wake him!” – Enik Syhard Jansek (Absurdly, Season 3 of Hux) is not yet available in the UK. Sort it out, powers! – Ed)
“‘Big Boys’ continues to be the nicest comedy on TV. But while nice sounds like a faint compliment, it’s also incredibly funny. Please!” – Janet Andrews
“Race Across the World, especially the brother-sister team James, breaks down in tears thinking about his sister Betty’s problems and asks the cameraman for a hug. It breaks the team’s illusion of isolation and breaks their hearts.” – Anthony Train
“Mr. Loverman. Lennie James and Sharon D. Clark shine the brightest in this film, which is based on Bernardine Evaristo’s typically humanitarian work, but the supporting cast is also wonderful and lively. It’s refreshing because it’s a story about black Britons that isn’t just about immigration and crime.” – Richard Hamilton
music
“My album of the year is ‘Filthy Underneath’ by Nadine Shah. It’s alternately raw and intimate, and big and powerful. She reminds me of Tori Amos. When it comes to live performance, it’s Brighton. It was the remarkable Sahara Halgan. The Somaliland singer was so light and moaning with a great band. We couldn’t stop smiling all night.” – Rob Mansfield
“This is a preview of FKA Twigs’ track “Eusexua,” which was released in September, and her third album, which is scheduled to be released in January. He’s a confusing artist, but that’s all the more so. ” – David McCutcheon
“There is no doubt about it, 2024 is the year of Linkin Park. The phoenix rises.” – François de Kock
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“I can’t believe Los Campesinos!” I’m back for the first time in 7 years (though it feels like much longer). And I can’t believe they’re back with their best album to date, All Hell. This is also completely DIY, self-funded, self-recorded and self-released. ” – Chris
podcast
“Serial Season 4, Guantanamo Edition. Sarah Koenig and her producer Julie Snyder continue to be masters at digging deep into horrifyingly complex issues. ” – Richard Hamilton
“As someone who is trying to quit doomscrolling, Screen Rot has become my essential guide to the weird and wonderful (but mostly weird) things social media has to offer. With hosts Jacob Hawley Jake Farrell looks at all the nonsense so I don’t have to and wonders why on earth we care, what goes viral and why. He speaks with just the right tone of thinking deeply about something. ” – Miles Brown
“There are many podcasts about cults and sects, but the BBC’s The Secret, which tells the story of a manipulative pastor based in Nigeria and the vulnerable young people he recruits from thousands of people, I found The World of Secrets to be a standout. I also enjoyed The Bad Guru, the latest installment in the World of Secrets series.
take five
Each week, we highlight five important pieces of pop culture that we’re watching, reading, and listening to.
TV – Squid Game
Ah, Netflix: you know how to push the buttons!The highly anticipated sequel to one of the biggest youth shows of the decade will be released on Boxing Day, when everyone is at home, of sorts. It’s the kind of power play that has made the show the biggest streamer in town. You’d have to have been isolated from society by, say, a murderous Korean game show to not know about the resurgence of squid games by now, but you can probably eat a lot of them now, just in case.
Want to know more? The final season of the hit comedy-drama Somebody Somewhere is now available to stream on Now in the UK.
Podcasts – Remember this
It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Carina Longworth’s incomparable Hollywood history podcast, but just before Christmas, I decided to share the interesting subject of late films from the greats of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. We’re back with a new season. Titled “The Old Man is Still Alive” (after a self-referential quote from RKO stalwart George Cukor), the book features a collection of sometimes surprising works by Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Howard Hawks and others. Should focus on the production of movies in August.
Want more? Want the latest award season analysis? Ankler’s podcast Prestige Junkie has you covered.
Movie – Order
I hereby declare this “Holt’s Winter.” After a storming performance last month in The Strangely Treated Juror #2, Nicholas Hoult will have two major roles in theaters in 2024-2025. Nosferatu, in which he plays an incredible real estate agent, will have to wait until New Year’s Day. Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth, Nitram) stars as Holt, an undercover FBI agent played by Jude Law, on a wild journey. He plays an evil new neo-Nazi bank robber. At the movie theater now.
Want to know more? Also in theaters is Better Man, a Robbie Williams biopic with a twist (he’s portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee).
Album – 2024 EP
You’ve probably read enough about the best albums of the year by the Guardian and other newspapers. But what about EPs? 2024 had some great examples of shorter formats. New York outsider hardcore group Show Me the Body’s two Corpus EPs feature collaborations with the likes of High Vis and Texas rapper Blackie. ‘Escape’ and ‘Mindsnap’, two 2024 EPs by Weird University jungle collective World News (FYI, a Christmas single has also been released). The relentless Pulse Echo EP from Bristol bassist DJ Peverelist. and “Catching Chickens” by Baltimore R&B/Soul/Pop/House/Noise Rock/Artist Nourished By Time.
Want to know more? The Guardian’s music writers have highlighted the best albums you may have missed this year, along with some really good ones.
Book – “What in Me Is Dark” by Orlando Reed
Read’s passionate book spans centuries and incorporates many writers, philosophers, and politicians who took inspiration from Milton’s Paradise Lost. This scholar fell in love with the epic as an undergraduate, and wonders why others have loved it over the years as well, and the role it plays in shaping aspects of society. I am interested in what you have accomplished. “Mr Reid’s enthusiasm and curiosity prevail,” said Dorian Lynskey, a critic for the Guardian.
Want more? If you’re a crime fan, check out the featured novels from Ian Rankin, Vera McKee, Mick Heron and other crime writers over the Christmas holidays.
read more
Brady Corbet’s three and a half hour epic The Brutalist is one of the most anticipated films of 2025 (for UK audiences who haven’t seen it yet, of course). Xan Brooks meets the director behind the cinematic monster.
The New York Times is the surprising publisher of this article, which delves into the surreal state of Manchester’s grassroots music venues. Crack photos too.
In Manhattan, neon signs are increasingly being replaced with LED visuals. New York Mag pays homage to the glittering lights.
And when it comes to works by artists deemed to be ‘past their peak’, Guardian critics nominate the best late albums by great musicians.
