2024, as with previous years, provided some wonderful and imaginative sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and TV shows, which were quite memorable. Here are the best films and TV shows that came out in 2024, many of which took everyone by surprise. Feel free to comment with your own choices.

Films

10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The third film in the Sonic film franchise fully embraces its video game lore with its colorful characters and their engaging backstories. As usual, Jim Carrey stole the film with his performance, as wells as Keanu Reeves who voiced the fan-favorite Shadow.

9. Late Night With the Devil

David Dastmalchian shined in this found footage horror film that took the guise of recordings from a broadcast of a 1970s late-night talk show. The film was genuinely creepy and disturbing as the show’s host, Jack Delroy (Dastmalchian), cameto grips with the realization that the occult-themed episode of his show had unpleasant connections to his own life.

8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

George Miller directed one of his finest films ever with an intense origin story about the breakout character from Mad Max: Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy was simply perfect as the younger version of Furiosa, who navigates her way through a brutal post-apocalyptic world overrun by vicious gangs and extreme car chases throughout barren deserts. It’s a Mad Max world at its best.

7. Alien: Romulus

The Alien franchise rightfully returned to its horror roots with this entry that takes place in a claustrophobic space station swarming with alien xenomorphs hunting down the main characters. Even though a lot of the material was familiar and had callbacks to the other films, Alien: Romulus was fresh and inventive with its back-to-basics approach.

6. Nosferatu

The latest remake of the classic German silent horror film version of Dracula was genuinely creepy and disturbing. Director Robert Eggers has emerged as a true master of film horror with his version of Nosferatu that fully utilized disturbing sounds, eerie shadows, dark cinematography and an overall unsettling atmosphere that will keep you up at night.

5. Civil War

This is one of the most disturbing recent films to be released due to its subject matter of a near-future civil war in the United States and its ramifications. While the choice not to explain what caused the war and its apolitical stance may not satisfy everyone, this approach allowed director Alex Garland to focus on the cruelty and insanity of war and its impact on modern-day society. The film was also a powerful and cringe-inducing war film that ramped up intensely in the final act with a distressing, yet pulse-pounding battle in Washington, D.C.

4. A Quiet Place: Day One

The third film in the A Quiet Place franchise, was a prequel that chronicled the early days of the alien invasion that devastated the Earth and brought it to a silent standstill. The film had the smarts to introduce new characters and a new setting which was a terrifying location for the invasion: a noisy New York City that could not help but attract the deadly alien creatures that murder anyone making sounds. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn were outstanding as two misfit survivors trying to reach the home of Nyong’o’s character while avoiding the aliens. Their personal stories were the heart of the film and set the template for future installments.

3. Deadpool & Wolverine

The fourth-wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) teamed up with everyone’s favorite X-Man (Hugh Jackman) in a violent and humorous road/buddy trip throughout the multiverse. As the sole film release from Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the year, Deadpool & Wolverine had a lot riding on it given the fact that recent MCU films have struggled. Fortunately, the film delivered a funny and entertaining romp that both serviced the grand MCU plotline about the multiverse and was a love letter to the now-defunct Marvel films from 20^th Century Fox.

2. The Wild Robot

Arguably DreamWorks Animation’s greatest film, The Wild Robot is a heartwarming and beautifully animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel about a service robot in the future that was stranded on an island populated by animals that distrusted her. Over time, she gained their trust as she adopted and raised a young goose and befriended many of the animals. At the same time, the robot began to develop sentience and emotional attachments to her companions, especially her adopted child, who she must raise and protect.

The Wild Robot was surprisingly engaging with its themes of parenthood, friendship, environmentalism, and empathy. It is too bad that this will be DreamWorks Animation final in-house film since the company has proven it can deliver genuine animated classics as it did with The Wild Robot.

1. Dune, Part Two

Director Denis Villeneuve concluded his grand adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi epic novel about political and religious machinations and war in the distant future. Dune, Part Two actually adapted the second half of the novel and it was a wise decision to split the novel into two films since it allowed Villeneuve the time to fully explore the intricacies of the distinct human cultures across the universe.

While the film was wide-sweeping and bursting with glorious production values and effects, at its core, Dune, Part Two, focused on the burden of its main protagonist, Paul Atreides, who unwillingly became the messianic leader who leads the inhabitants of the desert world called Dune in a holy war. Any viewer could empathize with Paul’s struggle as he faced his destiny despite his doubts about his actions as he sought vengeance for his father’s death and freedom for his adopted people.

Dune, Part Two is a true cinematic epic that demonstrates once and for all, the validity of a solid sci-fi story being successfully adapted into a cinematic masterpiece. The film also establishes that Villeneuve is a true master of sci-fi films who has the bold vision needed to undertake such an adaptation.

Noteworthy Mentions:

Abigail; Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; Elevation; Flow; Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire; IF; Inside Out 2; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; The Substance; Transformers One; Venom: The Last Dance

TV Shows

10. What If…?

The third and final season of the animated MCU TV show had some truly WTF episodes. The execution of the outlandish alternate realities varied but when they worked, they exceeded expectations as the stories ran wild with the premise of alternate takes of MCU characters and situations.

9. Fallout

The post-apocalyptic world has never been this full of adventure and intrigue as with Fallout. Taking the best elements from the video games, this adaptation had plenty of interesting plotlines, twists, gross-out moments and characters to keep us tuning in to see what happened next.

8. The Boys

The fourth season of The Boys continued to present an unsettling and dark mirror of our society when it comes to media, politics, and celebrities with a superhuman twist. Loosely adapting the events of Garth Ennis’ comic book, The Boys was still a darkly humorous and cynical look at superheroes and the dangers they pose to us.

7. Star Trek: Prodigy

The spirit of classic Star Trek is alive and well with Star Trek: Prodigy. The second and final season continued to feature many intriguing episodes dealing with time-travel shenanigans, classic Trek lore and served as a loose sequel to Star Trek: Voyager. It was a welcome treat for fans of the 1990s Trek to see returning favorites such as the Emergency Medical Hologram and even Wesley Crusher.

6. X-Men ‘97

“Remember it!” Indeed, we all recall how great the 1990s X-Men animated TV show was and were relieved to see that X-Men ’97 not only faithfully captured the essence of that show but embellished it to be much more. X-Men ’97 took many memorable X-Men comic book storylines and somehow crammed them into one season without coming off as overstuffed. The show raised the standards for how to do animated superhero shows that lovingly evoke the popular tropes of X-Men comics in their prime.

5. Superman & Lois

The final Arrowverse TV show ended with a tear-jerking flourish that perfectly encapsulated the romantic relationship between Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane. The final season brought together many interesting elements from recent DC Comics storylines and zeroed in on his relationship with his wife, sons and neighbors. The final moments of the last episode are guaranteed to invoke tears as it chronicled the couple’s final years together. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch truly outdid themselves with their thoughtful performances of the title couple and set the bar for future portrayals of Superman and Lois.

4. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

After a series of disappointing Star Wars TV shows, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew surprised everyone by how entertaining it was. While on the surface, it seems to be a kids’ show, Skeleton Crew is much more than that. Imagine Spielberg’s and Amblin Entertainment’s best adventure films from the 1980s mixed with Stranger Things and Treasure Island set in the Star Wars universe and you get an exciting adventure series full of mystery, intriguing characters, and imaginative worlds. Kudos have to go to creator and director Jon Watts, who was able to establish a new and fascinating corner of the Star Wars universe.

3. Agatha All Along

Buoyed by strong performances and fascinating characters, Agatha All Along was a worthy sequel to WandaVision while functioning as its own noteworthy spinoff. Kathryn Hahn led a strong cast of actors as she reveled in her role as the witch Agatha Harkness as they underwent a twisted spiritual journey that seemed like a dark version of The Wizard of Oz. Even though Agatha was a decided anti-hero, beneath her bluster she hid a tragic backstory that made her both unforgettable and elevated her status in the MCU as one of its strongest characters.

2. Dark Matter

This TV series about a physicist traveling through several alternate worlds in an attempt to return home was very imaginative and enthralled viewers with the plight of Jason Dessen (Joel Edgarton). Thanks to the actor’s solid and nuanced performance and the scripts, it was easy to identify with Dessen as we rooted for him. At the same time, Edgarton and many of the other actors were skilled enough to present different versions of their characters with both subtle and overt differences.

Unlike other TV shows or films with the theme of alternate worlds, Dark Matter was mature, imaginative and focused on the characters, as it explored many aspects of Dessen and his circle. The end result was that while it was not action packed, it still engrossed viewers with the many visits to alternate worlds and iterations of Dessen and other characters.

1. The Penguin

When The Penguin was first announced, many scoffed at it as an unnecessary spinoff of The Batman. As it turned out, the show blew away expectations as it turned out to be not only one of the best comic book-related TV shows but a gritty and engrossing crime drama that can be compared to The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

Colin Farrell turned in the performance of his lifetime as the two-bit, disfigured gangster Oswald “Oz” Cobb who figuratively claws his way up the underworld of crime. The actor was unrecognizable with the extensive prosthetics he wore, but his performance that evoked James Gandolfini or Robert De Niro was instantly captivating and award worthy.

The Penguin also boasted other notable performances by the characters that circled Cobb’s world such as Christin Milloti and Rhenzy Feliz as Sofia Falcone Gigante and Vic Aguilar. The way Cobb negatively influenced their lives was distressing to watch since they had they had tragic backstories. But the unrelenting character study of the criminal Cobb reinforced why the character is one of the greatest Batman villains.

Noteworthy Mentions:

Avatar: The Last Airbender; Creature Commandos; From; Halo; House of the Dragon; Silo; Snowpiercer; Star Trek: Lower Decks; Sweet Tooth; Teacup; Terminator Zero; The Three-Body Problem; The Umbrella Academy