It has been an interesting year for movie and TV buffs, with exciting new and the continuation of existing movies and series continuing to fill our screens. Whether you love TV or you prefer cinema, here's a list of the top 10 must-watch movies and TV shows 2024.
10. Dune: Part Two
When it comes to blockbusters, Denis Villeneuve never misses, does he? With the first part of Dune having done most of the heavy lifting of adapting Frank Herbert’s Sci-fi epic novel to cinema, this second part tops it with moral complexity and intriguing desert battles to make it even better.
This is definitely one of the top movies in 2024, with an 8.5 rating on IMDb and 6 awards from 23 nominations.
9. Baby Reindeer
Streaming on Netflix, British miniseries Baby Reindeer follows the dark but funny story that recounts an experience the creator, Richard Gadd, had with stalking and sexual assault when he was in his twenties.
Gadd’s acting, writing and honesty in this tv series transforms it from your average 1980s Hollywood story about female predation into a jaw dropping experience.
The black comedy cum psychological thriller was on Netflix in April 2024 and has seven episodes spanning 3 hours 57 minutes. It bagged 11 nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards and won 6, including Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Lead Actor. It is rated 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.7 on IMDb.
8. Green Border
At a time when the issue of refugees and migration have taken center stage across the United States and Europe, Agnieszka Holland’s film Green Border offers a powerful response. The story follows a group of Syrians, Africans, and Afghans caught between Belarus and Poland, treated like pawns in a political game.
They endure harsh conditions in the cold forests of Eastern Europe. But the film also shows hope—in young Europeans who reject cruelty and in the migrants themselves, some played by real refugees.
Green Border is a grim yet powerful film about humanity starring Maja Ostaszewska, Tomasz Włosok, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi,, Maciej Stuhr, Dalia Naous, Agata Kulesza and Jalal Altawil.
7. Mr and Mrs Smith
Although it is not to be confused with the 2005 Action/Comedy film of the same title, this American spy TV series actually takes inspiration from it. The difference between this and the 2005 movie is instead of following the story of a married couple who work as spies for different outfits, this is about two strangers tag teamed as a duo of spies.
The duo, played by Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, must live undercover as a married couple under the aliases John and Jane Smith, as opposed to real names in the original movie.
Created by Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover, it premiered on February 2, 2024, on Prime TV. The assumed couple take on separate missions throughout the 8 episodes of the series as their ability to live together and espionage skills are put to the test.
Mr and Mrs Smith was nominated 16 times in the Primetime Emmy Award for its first season. Nominations include Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress for Erskine, Outstanding Lead Actor for Glover, and other nominations for some of the featured guests. Definitely worth bingeing. All 6 hours 31 minutes of it.
6. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller's Mad Max franchise has been spot on since the first installment. Now with the release of the fifth, Furiosa, this might just be the best franchise since Lord of the Rings.
This post-apocalyptic action film strays a bit from the series and does not focus on the principal protagonist Max Rockatansky. It is set years before the events portrayed in Fury Road and follows Furiosa’s (a character played by Anya Taylor-Joy) life for over 10 years. This installment promises to shock you and leave you in a state of awe.
5. Masters of the Air
A charismatic cast of flyboys from the 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Forces—Austin Butler, Nate Mann and Callum Turner—risk frostbite, flak, hypoxia and Luftwaffe fighters to carry out their missions of dropping bombs on the Third Reich during WWII.
This American war drama miniseries is based on the novel Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller, and was created for TV by John Shiban and John Orloff. The show highlights the intensity and dangers of war, and the friendships and relationships the airmen develop as the war takes its course. The show premiered in January 2024, has 9 episodes, and a run-time of 8 hours 31 minutes.
4. A Different Man
In A Different Man, Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a struggling actor who cures his facial deformity with an experimental drug, only to spiral into madness.
As he loses his role in a play about his own life, Edward meets his doppelgänger, played by Adam Pearson, whose confidence drives him further into despair. Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the film mixes dark humor and surreal storytelling to deliver a unique perspective on identity and self-acceptance.
3. One Day
This Netflix romantic drama series follows Dexter (Leo Woodall) and Emma (Ambika Mod) who jointly made a decision from their first meeting on July 15, 1988 to meet once a year on the same day and see where they stand in life. Having done this over a period of two decades, they arrive at the conclusion that they have more to share in common than those around them.
The series is based on a novel of the same name written by David Nicholls in 2009, and shows incredible depth as it tackles issues such as class divides, infidelity, drug abuse, and death. And in case you're confusing it for the 2011 movie by the same name featuring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, yes it's the same story but this is simply better.
2. The Zone of Interest
This 2023 historical war drama is loosely based on a novel of the same name, authored by Martin Amis and published in 2014, which is itself based on real life events.
The movie was written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, and centers on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig. They both live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest", which sits right next to the concentration camp he helped create. Christian Friedel features as Rudolf Höss with Sandra Hüller playing Hedwig Höss.
The Zone of Interest, produced on a $15 million budget, was released in the United States in December 2023. It has grossed over $52 million from box office alone. The movie received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards. It won two: Best International Feature and Best Sound.
1. Shogun
The location is Japan. The year is 1600. A chess-like drama plays out between powerful warrior factions looking to take control of a feudal realm. The drama sees Lord Yoshii Toranaga fighting to save his own life from united enemies on the Council of Regents. In the midst of this, a mysterious ship from Europe is found marooned in a fishing village nearby.
Shogun was created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, based on a 1975 novel written by James Clavell. The American historical drama is inspired by actual events that took place at the height of Japan's Warring state era and features a cast that’s majorly Japanese. This includes Cosmo Jarvis, Tommy Bastow, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, Takehiro Hira, Fumi Nikaido and Anna Sawai. Dialogue is mainly in Japanese.
Initially as a miniseries, the first two episodes of the first season appeared on FX on Hulu and FX on February 27. The rest were released weekly to critical acclaim which led to the early development of a second and third season. Shogun was the first TV series in Japanese to receive a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.
Its first season is rated 8.6 on IMDb and won 18 categories at 76th Primetime Emmy Awards becoming the most awarded single season of television in the history of the Emmys. If you've got 9 hours to spare, you should definitely check this out.
Final Thoughts
Even though this list was carefully curated to cater to all types of genres, the most important thing that was taken into consideration was quality. As a cinephile and TV enthusiast, you should consider checking out each of the titles in this list, you will be glad you did.