Twisters! Tennis! Transformations! The best movie moments of 2024

From edge-of-seat chases to sexy role-playing, Guardian writers pick their most memorable scenes from films released in the US this year

Spoilers ahead

Amy Adams’s canine transformation in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch should be nothing we haven’t seen before. There is a fine history of moonlit metamorphoses in werewolf movies: moans that deepen into growls, the stretching and twisting of muscle, fur sprouting at lightning speed. In fact, some people criticised this film for shying away from the body horror at the heart of Mother’s animalistic breakdown. But there is a powerful whiff of catharsis in this low-key transformation scene: watching Adams sniff the midnight air, dig with bare hands into her own tidy suburban lawn, down on her paws, fully dog in body and mind, before the hair begins to bristle on her forearms. Adams’s eerily calm voiceover (“I have one thought: I am an animal”), follows the rippling fur as her character is reborn as a galloping red husky, with a cloud of strawberry-blond hair on a muscular frame. A hunting dog with a one-track mind: “Blood! Blood, blood, blood!” And it’s curtains for the neighbourhood cats. Pamela Hutchinson

Topics

24 biggest soccer moments of 2024: USWNT win gold, Mauricio Pochettino to USMNT, Lionel Messi playoff flop

Christian Pulisic dominated in 2024, Champions League debuted a new format and the rest of the year's big moments
CBS Sports - 1h
The 2025 Tennis Season Is Here. In 2024.

Who will rise this year, and how will the political machinations at the top of the sport play out?
The New York Times - 8h
The Best Boss Fights Of 2024

2024 saw players battling everything from smoky-headed world-enders to really, really big snakes. 2024 has seen the release of several classic game remakes, along with some incredible DLC ...
GameSpot - 8h
The best of the long read in 2024

Our 20 favourite pieces of in-depth reporting, essays and profiles from the year. Nicholas Saunders was a counterculture pioneer with an endless stream of quixotic schemes and a yearning to spread ...
The Guardian - 17h
The Best TV Shows You Missed in 2024

Diarra from Detroit, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh—these are the shows you might not have watched in 2024, but definitely still should.
Wired - 1d
The 10 Best Movies You Missed in 2024

From The Bikeriders to The Order, these are the movies you should watch before the year is through.
Wired - 1d
The Best Pets And Animal Companions In Video Games: 2024 Edition

Pets: They're not just critters that add to our monthly expenses. They're members of the family that we adore. Our love of cute furballs in real life also extends to how we view them in the games ...
GameSpot - 1d
The Best Street Style of 2024

Three continents, six countries, seven cities and endless inspiration.
The New York Times - 2d
The 20 best podcasts of 2024

Is Avril Lavigne really dead? Can Michael Sheen save us from chemical poisoning? And exactly how X-rated does Lily Allen get? Here are our top picks of the year’s hottest podcasts. It’s almost 40 ...
The Guardian - 13h