With Oscars Near, My Own Ten Best Movies List

It's finally final. Plus: a few hot political cartoons.

Feb 19, 2024

Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books (see link) and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre” which are still up at PBS.org. Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. »»»You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free.«««

Every year—for most of the past two decades—I have published at a site or blog my Best Movies of the Year list because, why not, everyone else is doing it. But, when I first offer a draft in late-December, I always add the caveat that it is based only on films I have seen so far. I watch a lot of films, but so many allegedly worthy ones don’t get wide release until early in the new year, so my first list always has a bunch of spots that likely will be re-occupied when I do my final list a few weeks later.

So here we are with the final assembly—with helpful trailers—plus runner-ups and disappointments. (For much, much more on “Oppenheimer,” which swept the British BAFTAS this past weekend, see my “other” newsletter launched last summer.)

These are all dramas, with one mixed addition, as my Best Documentary list is yet to come (and I should mention a candidate that I directed for PBS, Memorial Day Massacre, watch here, 29 minutes). Down below you will find our usual political cartoons. Please leave your own responses or list in Comments! And don’t forget to subscribe to this newsletter, it is still free.