Whew, what a year for movies 2023 was. After a few years where it felt like we were working out what would fill the post-Marvel void, that Barbenheimer summer made the movies feel like a proper event again. Doing the Barbie-Oppenheimer double-bill on that opening weekend in July was a) very funny and b) rewarded with two wildly different high-grade cinema experiences. This year might not have a Barbenheimer, but take a look at what we reckon will be the best movies of 2024 and that bubbling feeling of hype is hard to keep down.The standouts are all universe-extenders: Gladiator 2, Dune Part Two and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in particular. But there’s a certain dustiness and scorched grandeur to them that feels more serious and heavyweight than most tentpoles of the last few years. Obviously these things are worked out years in advance, but it feels like we’re taking the Oppenheimer fork in the path rather than the Barbie one. Then again James Acaster’s been cast in the new Ghostbusters,...
