Best Movie and TV Performances of 2024

original-written date: 2/4

2024 was a strange year of movies in my opinion. It felt like a down year at the physical theatres - it didn’t seem to have the box-office highs of years prior with Oppenheimer, Barbie, Top-Gun Maverick, Mission Impossible. Maybe that’s just because Dune: Part Two was early in the year and the summer blockbusters didn’t perform like expected. Or maybe it’s because the late-season Oscar contenders weren’t theatre draws and had varying levels of success with audiences (aside from Wicked - $30 of my girlfriend’s dollars contributed to that $743K box office for us to go in the fall). Felt similarly about the TV landscape at times as well - but the way 2025 has started, that industry is heating back up. And there were lots of great films, shows, and performances throughout the year - below are some of my personal favorites and ones I recommend checking out.

Obviously there’s lots of movies/shows I missed, but all these are ones I actually watched and, for the most part, enjoyed.

Movie Performances 

Jesse Eisenberg - A Real Pain

His co-star Kieran Culkin is deservedly getting praise for his performance in this film, but not enough flowers for the director/star Jesse Eisenberg. I’ve always been a big fan of Eisenberg, and Culkin’s one of my favorite actors ever since Succession, so this movie was on my list immediately.  But I found myself more interested in Eisenberg’s performance, probably because I found him more relatable.  The Culkin scenes are intentionally uncomfortable, placing the viewer in Eisenberg’s character’s shoes, and I think it’s super effective. I just think he had such a clear vision, executed it beautifully, mixed genres, and incorporated relatable themes through a unique perspective - all while being the heartbeat of the film.

Josh O’Connor - Challengers

My hopes were sky-high for Challengers as someone who loves Sports movies, and while it definitely didn’t live up to that hype, I still thought it was worth the watch. Mostly for Josh O’Connor’s performance as Patrick Zweig - I left pretty underwhelmed by Zendaya and Mike Faist, but thought O’Connor was a standout.  He’s impressive at toeing the line of being an asshole and a friend, which is necessary for the relationship between he, Art and Tashi that the movie is going for.  I think the direction of the movie pushed him into scenarios that I didn’t enjoy watching, but there was more good than bad. He looked legit in every tennis scene, made me laugh more than anyone else, and he’s undoubtedly the winner of the film looking back 10-12 months later.

Glen Powell - Hit Man

The release of this movie fucks with me because when you google it, it says this is a 2023 film, but it was released on Netflix in May 2024 and Glen was nominated at the Globes, so it counts for me.  This was my preferred Powell-Performance this year over Twisters (which he still rocked in). But I liked it because he finally had more to do. Top Gun Maverick, Everybody Wants Some, Twisters, Anybody But You - he’s pretty much playing the same type of cool guy. And although his main alter ego in Hit Man is that patented cool dude, his real character is much different than other roles.  I’ve rewatched this movie a ton and think it’s greatest strength is it’s Glen. Powell is on screen A TON - I literally think he’s in every scene. Whether he’s doing his best Bale American Psycho impression, hiding out in a surveillance van or teaching a college philosophy class  - everything he does in the movie is interesting to me. (Also shoutout Adria Arjona and Austin Amelio, who were great).

Timothee Chalamet - Dune Part Two

Was a tough decision picking just one Dune performance with so many greats like Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, and Austin Butler standing out in this film, but it was always gonna be Paul Atreides earning honors here. I think Chalamet is getting nominated at the Oscars for his 2nd best performance of 2024 in A Complete Unknown portraying a legend in Bob Dylan. He brought more gravitas, power, and confidence than I thought he was capable to playing Paul Atreides. I think it was a step-up from his performance in the first Dune film, as is the sequel as a whole.  It’s also been the year of Timmy Chalamet - Duke of Arrakis, Knower of Ball, Crusher of Monologues, Puller of Jenners.

Daisy Edgar-Jones - Twisters

I didn’t see that many movies in 2024, and I’ve already used Glen Powell for another. But one of my favorites last year was Twisters and I’d be remiss not to include it on this list. And I haven’t seen many of her movies, but I really enjoyed Daisy Edgar-Jones in this one. Confident, endearing, smart, reserved. She wasn’t over-the-top in a way that would distract from the spectacle of the movie, which In my opinion, with a movie like this, you don’t want to take away from the action. This is a CGI-heavy movie about tornadoes that occasionally catch on fire and more-than-occasionally ruin Oklahoman communities, so any positive takeaway about the actors is a win.

Jason Bateman - Carry-On

Carry-On was a holiday movie with a direct to Netflix release. It’s far from a perfect movie, but it’s an exhilarating and fun ride.  And Jason Bateman’s role as the villain - a domestic terrorist to be exact - was my favorite aspect of it. He was a menacing villain because of how calculated he is, but also because he looks like a completely normal guy. He’s a terrorist walking through an airport WITH A NERVE AGENT WITH 100% FATALITY RATE - and the one person who knows can’t do anything to stop him. That’s a terrifying thought, and I’m glad the movie didn’t do a better job making things feel realistic, otherwise I’d probably be scared of getting on a plane. Great role, great actor for the role.

Tommy Dewey - Saturday Night (Donoghue)

I watched Saturday Night when it came out on Netflix recently and had more fun with it than critics. I don’t know the history of SNL and didn’t know who a lot of the characters were, and weirdly I think that made it more enjoyable for me. And I thought there were lots of great performances in the ensemble. Tommy Dewey as Donoghue was my favorite though - and what a fun fucking role for an actor. A wise-ass writer and performer on the show, he has so many of the best lines from the film.  His rant while tearing up the edits from the network was phenomenal.

Honorable mentions - Corey Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Gabriel Labelle as Lorne Michaels, Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol

TV Performances 

Anna Sawai - Shogun

My favorite show of 2024 was Shogun from FX and Hulu, and honestly it wasn’t particularly close. And I watched it with English subtitles not dubbed - that says a lot about how engaging it has to be. Shogun was such a gripping, confident, enthralling show that had me hooked immediately. There’s no shortage of great performances - Cosmo Jarvis as the “Anjin”, Hiroyuki Sanada as Toranaga, and Tadanobu Asano as Yabushige to name a few favorites. But Anna Sawai’s Mariko was my favorite character and performance of the series. She had the most complete character arc for sure, and the fact they were able to essentially make a poetry competition centered around her the pinnacle of a season about war, cultural shock, grief, religion, loyalty, etc - is impressive. As the translator for The Anjin, she gets opportunities to deliver lines in both English and Japanese, which helps the performance even more for me. 

SPOILER ALERT: I know there’s a second season in the works which hopefully will be just as engaging, but it will be missing its heartbeat without Sawai’s Mariko involved.

Peter Sarsgaard - Presumed Innocent

I had mixed feelings about Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent re-imagining starring Jake Gyllenhaal, but my most positive takeaway was the powerhouse performance of Peter Sarsgaard’s Tommy Molto. Molto is an over-looked, under-appreciated prosecutor working alongside Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabich.  He also clearly holds a lot of bad blood for Sabich, so when they’re pitted against each other at court, it’s special.  Sarsgaard is exceptional - and it was really my first experience watching him. For me there was a turn about halfway through the season - when Tommy does his opening statement to the jury - where my opinion on him flipped. He was a slimy, greedy, self-obsessed bad guy at first, but then I began thinking he was right. And I started rooting for him WAY more than I was for Gyllenhaal’s character. And I like the show a lot overall (despite not loving the ending) and think his performance was the best by a long shot.

Cristin Milioti - The Penguin

I’m not a huge comic book nerd, but I’m a massive Marvel/DC movie and TV nerd, and I loved 2022’s The Batman.  Cristin Milioti is a terrific actress - I watched her in Palm Springs, Wolf of Wall Street, Black Mirror (the best Black Mirror ep of all time - USS Callister ep), and some of How I Met Your Mother and always enjoyed seeing her on screen. In The Penguin, she’s playing a villain, which I hadn’t seen from her before. Her portrayal is great for many reasons - particularly her ability to act so calm and reserved, then flip the switch in an instant. Her character’s magnum opus, the 4th ep: Cent’anni, was not only the best episode of the season, but was entirely built on Milioti’s performance and her character’s master plan.  She was my personal favorite character and aspect of the show.

Ewan Mitchell - House of the Dragon

There are lots of actors scattered throughout the ensemble that is HBO’s House of the Dragon - Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, and Tom Glynn-Carney to name a few. But the standout for me, in both season 1 and season 2, was Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen.  Now Season 2 as a whole for HOTD was a slight letdown for me (I just want more to happen), but Mitchell’s performance is one of my favorite aspects.  That, in part, is due to how interesting the character Aemond Targaryen is on the page, but I give him credit for what he brings to the role.  Both Aemond and Aegon are crazy, terrible people - but Aemond is a scarier force because of how smart and calculated he is (Oh, and the fact that his Dragon is the size of Vermont). 

Antony Starr - The Boys

The Boys is a gory, NSFW show about Superheroes where lots of gross, unpleasant, crazy shit happens on the regular. It’s gotten so outrageous that the actors won’t be winning Emmy’s for their portrayals - But it’s an intense, action-packed, well-acted show that deserves more respect. Specifically, Antony Starr’s breakout performance as Homelander - the Superman-like main “hero” of the show that is actually a villain.  Over the course of 4 seasons, he’s been legit one of the best actors on TV.  He’s intense, terrifying, complex, evil.  In the newest season of The Boys, what comes to mind is episode 4 where he gets “revenge” on the scientists that studied/worked on him as a child as a particularly wild acting performance from Starr. Pretty Slept on actor.

Sagar Radia - Industry

If you don’t watch Industry, it’s one of the best prestige TV shows that doesn’t have the following of others. Ken Leung, Harry Lawtey, Marisa Abela, Myha’la are all standouts in the cast, but my personal favorite this season was Sagar Radia’s Rishi.  I went pretty off the rails with this one — went like 3X as long as I did for any of the other ones — but if you have seen this show, you know why he’s my favorite. He’s an absolute shit-bag of a human-being, but he’s hilarious and every scene is exciting when he’s there. If you haven’t watched, feel free to read an overly eloquent wordy recommendation below, or skip to the next.

• Rishi is a market-maker on the CPS desk for PierPoint, and throughout the first 2 seasons he was mostly good for some off-color jokes and insults, a whole lot of shouting on the trading floor, and the occasional conversation with another character. In S3 we got a whole lot more Rishi - specifically in the 4th ep, which is becoming widely-known as the “Uncut Rishi” ep for its anxiety-inducing plot a la Uncut Gems. The balls it takes to write an hour-episode for a side character is admirable, but what’s made it so revered and impressive is Radia’s performance.  He plays the full spectrum of emotions from his typical confident/cocky persona to a man truly broken. We see how he balances trouble at home, his addictions, and his work life through his lens.  The lengths he goes and the risks he takes is honestly difficult to watch at times - you just have a pit in your stomach as a viewer begging him not to make the terrible choices he makes.  Radia is charming, twisted, vicious, unhinged, deplorable, and still somehow funny throughout the runtime. If you love Uncut Gems, either catch-up on or read a synopsis of the first two seasons and watch this episode.

Alan Ritchson - Reacher

The second season of Reacher was pretty disappointing for me after a debut season that I loved.  I thought it was awesome seeing a show without a ton of big names, just a really good plot, action/fight sequences, and mystery at the center.  I don’t know all the lore from the Reacher book series, but I do know that the character of Reacher is a massive man that scares people shitless.  Alan  Ritchson fits the bill. Google him. He’s awesome as Reacher — he’s intimidating, calculated, ultra-confident, badass, funny (mostly - there are lots of corny jokes and line deliveries written in but it works for me) and just a compelling character. Even if I didn’t love the plot/storyline of S2, I still love the character.

Steve Gerber - Tires

Everybody knows and loves Shane Gillis these days for his comedy specials, College Gameday appearances, Bud Light commercials, and hit Netflix series Tires.  He’s blown up in popularity and is becoming one of the most well-known comedians around, and he’s hilarious as expected in Tires. But the unsung hero of the show is Steve Gerber’s character Will, the shop manager. He’s the king of the awkward, uncomfortable style of comedy that plays perfectly next to Gillis.  His mannerisms and quirks are so funny — constantly panicked, never relaxed. He’s the heart and soul of the show in many ways, and it isn’t nearly as funny with someone else in the role.

I’d love to do a little honorable mention list, but I mentioned most of them above and basically all the worthwhile movies and shows I watched in 2024 were covered above, and that was already about 2,000 words too many for the down year of movies it was.  Here’s to hoping 2025 gives us even more performances to remember. 

Personal Top 3 from 2024:

1. Dune Part Two

2. Hit Man

3. A Real Pain