Top 10 A24 Movies | A CineFix Movie List

when you see the a24 logo before a movie

you know what you're going to get and by

that we mean you really have no clue

what you're going to get nine times out

of 10 though you're going to see

something pretty damn great you may not

know what you're walking into but you'll

for sure leave feeling sad happy angry

joyful vulnerable confused disgusted

elated despondent or if you're lucky

unsure of your place in our vast cosmic

sprawl a24 doesn't have a set genre for

its films but it does strive for a vibe

and for that it earns its very own movie

list so here are our picks for the 10

best a24 films

[Music]

a24 which began as a distribution

company in 2012 and has now grown into a

production house as well helped reignite

and reinvigorate the indie film scene

over the past decade with small budgets

fueling big ideas a24's curation of

thought-provoking auteur driven projects

has not only brought us films from more

established indie greats like adam

mcgoyan gus van sant and sophia coppola

but it's also given some truly fantastic

filmmakers their debuts whether it's

their english language debut like den

evil knows enemy or their first feature

coming out of a different medium like

rose glass with saint maude or bo

burnham's eighth grade the directorial

debuts a24 has had a hand in have been

truly staggering but for our number 10

pick our favorite debut is greta gerwig

with lady bird so we're being passive

aggressive

you are so infuriating

i'm not yelling

oh it's perfect i love it after years in

the indie scene as an actress and writer

greta gerwig made her solo directorial

debut with lady bird a

quasi-autobiographical coming-of-age

dramedy about a precocious difficult

catholic school senior played by circa

ronan growing up in sacramento

california resistant to advice and

resentful of her lower middle class

standing in the midst of richard pierce

lady bird is a tremendous tonal triumph

depicting cutting hilarity stinging

honesty and resounding heart the various

coming-of-age stories that a24 has been

able to shepherd run the gamut of tragic

to comedic to somewhere blissfully in

between and ladybird is able to be all

at once dramatic and hilarious giving us

a taste of real with a splash of bitter

wit

for a24 any genre is a sandbox worth

exploring science fiction has proven to

be a particularly popular realm to

tinker with on an indie level provided

large ideas take precedence over large

budgets whether it's scarlett

johansson's starring as a man-eating

alien in jonathan glazer's under the

skin colin farrell living in a future

where partnerless people are turned into

animals in the lobster or robert

pattinson and a baby hurtling toward a

black hole in high life sci-fi doesn't

require kazillions of dollars or

extensive world building it just needs

fresh ideas game actors and an awesomely

askew take on the world and we think

there's no better example of that than

our number 9 pick alex garland's ex

machina

do you have a name

yes

ava

i'm pleased to meet you ava

by the time 2015's ex-machina rolled

around first time director alex garland

had already made waves in the sci-fi

world for over a decade having written

screenplays for danny boyle films 28

days later and sunshine after already

having his debut novel the beach turned

into a danny boyle movie as well after

pinning 2012's dread garland set out to

direct his first film which turned out

to be a devilish claustrophobic

controlled burn of ai intrigue

ex-machinist starred oscar isaac as a

tech genius ceo who invites a low-level

programmer played by donal gleason to

his secluded estate to evaluate and test

the emotive responses and humanity of a

robot he's built played by alicia

vikander xmac in it doesn't reveal what

type of movie it is right away instead

slowly unraveling itself moving from

budding man machine romance into

something more dark and diabolical it's

a tight sparsely populated movie with

style and smarts to spare making the

most of its small scale set and larger

than life ideas and oscar isaac's

ability to boogie down with his fembots

you tore up her picture

i'm gonna tear up the dance floor dude

check it out by the end in what can be

seen as garland's most effective and

cutting work you're thrust into a world

of nightmarish paranoia and dystopian

possibilities

moving from the front half of the sci-fi

fantasy section into the back end

fantasy unlike most other genres tends

to be a little harder to pull off

without a massive budget but that

doesn't mean you can't go completely

wild with just the bare necessities

imagination can take you anywhere

whether it's joel cohen's surreal

dreamscape take on shakespeare's the

tragedy of macbeth or the palpable

paranoia and madness of robert eggers is

the lighthouse or the insanely high

concept of the daniel swiss army man yes

sometimes a fantasy realm can be

manifested via nothing more than a

painfully alone person in their

intrusive delusions hobbits and dwarves

are wonderful but think of the funtastic

fantasy gollum created in his own mind

just by living in a cave by himself for

400 years and our number 8 pick is not

only the newest film on this list but

it's also one of the most delightfully

inspired spectacles in recent movie

history seeing is believing and those

who've seen everything everywhere all at

once know that it's an a24 instant

classic

you may be in grave danger there's no

time to explain hold this

helmed by the daniels the collective

name for directors daniel kwan and

daniel scheinert this hyperactive

immensely moving adventure through

multiversal therapy was conceived and

plotted out back before the multiverse

was just beginning to make pop culture

waves like on that one episode of

community where the house warming party

erupts into tumultuous timeline hopping

trips

[Applause]

everything everywhere all at once

features a career best for the iconic

michelle yeo who gets to bring

everything she's known for to the table

from drama to action to truly absurd

comedy the story follows a family who is

struggling both financially and

emotionally with their taxes being

audited and their future feeling

uncertain as a cosmic visitor arrives to

tell you evelyn that she's the only

version of evelyn in the entire

multiverse who can save reality as we

know it from an unstoppable enemy

looking to swallow everything as evelyn

utilizes the talents and skills of other

versions of herself from across

different dimensions she also

experiences an endless universe of

what-ifs catching glimpses of what her

life would have been like if different

choices had been made everything

everywhere all at once is a salad bar

for the senses running you through the

entire spectrum of human emotions as

part of a punchy poignant look at family

fate and franks for fingers

one genre that never seems to run out of

steam as there are in fact a million

stories to tell is the old reliable

coming of age tale which a24 has

definitely put its stamp on there are

some obvious picks here the

aforementioned lady bird and eighth

grade jonah hills mid 90s sean baker's

the florida project or andrea arnold's

american honey but a24 has a collection

of films that boast a broader definition

of coming of age these are films that

study someone's formative years no

matter which years they happen to be

it's an always fascinating resonating

watch and just because we're at our most

vulnerable and awkward as children

trying to make our way in the world

doesn't mean this genre has to be about

kids they can tackle tales from middle

schoolers yearning for acceptance or

okay hear us out the nephew of king

arthur trying to carve out a heroic

destiny in our number 7 pick the green

knight tell me a tale of yourselves

so that i might know thee

i have nothing to tell the king

yet

you have none to tell yet

david lowry's lush and mesmerizing look

at arthurian legend of the green knight

is a fantasy film but it also as lowry

himself described is a failure to launch

story about squandered potential lowry's

reimagining of ye olde narrative poem

sir gowan and the green knight delivers

an enchanting gorgeous fable about fate

fortune temptation and courage this

weird and grimly whimsical tale about

the only night of the round table with

no courageous exploits to share is a

fever dream of deconstructive fantasy

infusing old lore and myth with modern

worries and fears gowen's odyssey is

filled with dangers wonders twists and

tests as lowry unspools a haunting

exploration of what it means to be a

hero and the unusual challenges we face

when trying to write our own story

one of our favorite things about a24 is

what the company's done with horror

which is why it's getting three slots in

the middle of our list horror is a genre

that never needs stars or money great

horror can be made cheap and it's

something audiences are always hungry

for survival is the name of the game

when maniacs are creeping around in the

dark trying to cut you and gut you with

anything sharp and handy why just this

year a bunch of sex positive filmmakers

were trying to make their own mark in

independent cinema and got ganked by the

horniest mima in texas in thai west's ex

and gen z will get skewered figuratively

and literally in helena rayne's body's

body's bodies where seven young friends

discover that being systematically

murdered during a hurricane is like

super toxic behavior and then there's

the absolutely berserk and barbaric

thriller about a punk band savagely

scrambling to survive the night in our

number six pick jeremy sonier's green

room i just cowered behind these

trees till i got shot

covered in paint

but rich i agree be done

sorry man we gotta go that's okay

oh is that a pep talk ready

one of the late great anton yelchin's

final film performances came in this

2016 film where he played a member of a

diy punk band whose no-frills club tour

of the pacific northwest takes a detour

into a grimy bar in the oregon woods of

course the somewhat snotty members of

the ain't rights discover a little too

late that their gig is at a nazi

watering hole but if that wasn't bad

enough they also witness a murder and

have to hole up in the club's green room

with the dead girl's friend while the

white supremacists armed with knives and

fighting dogs do their best to rid the

world of any and all witnesses green

room will have you clenching anything on

your body that can be clenched for a

solid 90 minutes and if your bucket list

also just so happens to randomly have i

want to see beloved actor patrick

stewart play the leader of a murderous

nazi click then this is definitely a

must see

delving into the sinister and

supernatural end of the horror pool

however is what helped put a24 on the

map the most solidifying the company as

true taste makers when anything's

possible terror has free reign there are

quieter entries into this supernatural

subgenre here like the haunted house in

david lowry's a ghost story splendid

giallo throwbacks like the haunted dress

in peter strickland's in fabric and the

is it real or imagined religiously

haunted mind in rose glass's saint maude

nothing though tops the gory and

gruesome possessions taking place in our

number five pick hereditary

don't you swear at me

don't you ever raise your voice in me i

am your mother all i do is worry and

slay and defend you and all i get back

is that

face on your face

so full of disdain and resentment and

always so annoyed ari astor's ruthless

debut film which also stands as one of

the few films a24 has co-financed is

blunt force trauma in art house horror

form hereditary begins as elevated

psychological terror before leaving you

with heavy hitting hardcore revelations

that blow the mind and explode the heart

perhaps one of the more polarizing films

on this list simply due to the film's

third act insanity hereditary is a movie

that unravels in ways you never see

coming established stars tony collette

and gabriel byrne headlined this tale of

generational secrets and familial wounds

as the graham family suffers the loss of

its cold and strict maternal grandmother

as increasingly tragic and bizarre

things continue to happen to the family

hereditary becomes a dreadful cocktail

of drama and gore and demons and

ritualistic sacrifice and incredibly

crisp lenses in the cinematography that

proves it's never too late or too early

to do one of those 23andme tests

provided it can detect being the vessel

of an overlord from hell in short

hereditary provides everything you need

in a good supernatural horror film and

instantly solidified aster as a voice to

be reckoned with in the genre

doesn't have to go that hard of course

it can be quieter more patient and less

gooey it comes at night from 2017 is an

absolutely terrifying watch and it only

involves a family trying to shelter and

protect themselves in a future world

ravaged by a deadly plague oz perkins's

the black coat's daughter is another

slow burn treat split into three

timelines keeping you guessing until the

very end and previous mentions on this

list need to be name-checked here again

as a ghost story and under the skin

undoubtedly qualify however it's another

film that horrifically plums the depths

of what it means to have a purpose that

takes our number four spot and whether

you spell it w-i-t-c-h or with those two

you know those two v's in there as the w

there's no denying the power and dread

of robert eggers is the

witch of righteousness

a24 had of course been very successful

before 2016 but with the witch came a

sea change in brand recognition the

witch was the most financially

successful film for the company to date

and with some absolutely glowing reviews

under its colonial buckle it stood as a

high water mark for low-budget new wave

horror the sheer scariness of this

unrelenting unnerving tale which only

involves a small wooden house and the

nearby woods is a prime example of just

how impactful horror can be when it's

composed and precise anya taylor joy

became an instant star as thomason the

oldest daughter of a 17th century family

that gets targeted by a nearby coven of

witches after the father's strict

religious beliefs got them all exiled

from their new england colony which you

know was already pretty rigid in its

puritanical ways over the course of this

wicked hellish yarn thompson's basically

framed and blamed for everything that

goes wrong at the invisible hands of the

nearby servants of satan simply because

she's a young girl on the cusp of

womanhood and men were so fearful of

women their bodies and their desire to

have a will of their own that they lose

their sanity at the thought of bodily

autonomy come to think of it nothing at

all has changed since then which is why

the witch plays so well here in the 21st

century encapsulating hatred of women

through the lens of black magic hysteria

this is the story of a girl who cried a

river and well decided that living

deliciously was better than suffering at

the hands of a society that was destined

to make her life miserable

[Applause]

no matter what genre a24 is trying its

hand at drama is usually at the heart of

it this goes double for horror since

horror can play as the backdrop for

anything slashers are fun and creature

features like 2016's the monster are a

blast but horror most often is a

reflection of very real human traumas

and fears this was never more evident

than in our number three pick which not

only thematically dovetails our

transition from horror to drama but it's

also arya's fever dream follow-up to

hereditary midsamar happy birthday to

you

stop it's fine

what

you didn't think i forgot did you

i'm sorry

yep ari astr is two for two when it

comes to a24 horror bangers mitsumar

features florence pew as a tragedy

stricken young woman who makes the

mistake of traveling to a mid-summer

festival in central sweden with a shitty

boyfriend who secretly wants to end

things with her as pugh's dany still

reels from the untimely death of her

entire family she clings to a young man

who doesn't want to deal with the

remnants of her trauma at the pagan

festival which presents itself as

sunshine and rainbows well okay sunshine

and hallucinogenics the couple and their

friends find themselves in the

progressively off-putting and alarming

grip of a murderous cult who's

wholeheartedly into voluntary and

involuntary human sacrifices midsummer

is a frightening fascinating watch that

will leave you with more than a few

malignant memories it's visually

stunning emotionally punishing and also

operates as sort of a malicious breakup

movie yes a lot of death and calamity

unfolds but at the heart of mitsumar is

a dany who accidentally stumbles upon a

pretty radical way of dealing with her

demons

sometimes though all you need is a

charismatic kooky character at the

center of your drama and yes it can

actually help if they're kind of

unlikable as long as they're interesting

enough for you to get carried away in

their exploits and invested in their

goals you've got a winning flick there's

the based on a real twitter thread zola

from jenixa bravo ethan hawk garnered

some of the best reviews of his career

as a priest having serious struggles

with his faith in paul schrader's first

reform both ryan reynolds and ben

mendelsohn scored big as desperate

gamblers in anna boden and ryan fleck's

mississippi grind or any of the

characters in yorgos lanthimosis the

killing of a sacred deer speaking of

gambling though the neurotic nucleus of

our number 2 pick knows all too well the

risks of letting it ride on a so-called

short thing i want the celtics to cover

i want the celtics halftime i want

garnet points and rebounds garnet block

shots but what do you know going at this

going at that what do you know i don't

know i just know well i'll tell you what

i know that's the dumbest bet i ever

heard of i disagree also known as the

movie to finally get adam sandler an

acting award that didn't have the word

wurst in front of it uncut gems saw the

comedian take one of his rare breaks

from movies where donkeys have

weaponized diarrhea and try his hand at

something different and more dramatic

previously sandler's experiments with

drama had him working with the likes of

noah bomback mike binder and paul thomas

anderson here teamed with the brothers

josh and benny safety who were following

up their a24 critical hit good time

sandler shined brighter than ever before

as a fast-talking gambling addict who

races around manhattan's diamond

district to retrieve an expensive gym he

purchased in order to pay off his debts

it's another instance of a comedian

proving that they can absolutely ace

drama class when given the right

material and uncut gems is a grimy

anxiety fueled film that aptly takes

advantage of sandler's motor mouth

skills and ability to deliver quick

hilarity in the midst of dramatic frenzy

oh and sandler won the independent

spirit award for best male lead that

year in case you were wondering what a

word he got

the best way to move someone to stir up

emotions and empathy is with the

standard traditional human drama this is

an arena that a24 excels in whether it's

the emotional journey of a suburban

african-american family in trey edward

schultz's waves the rocky relationship

between a radio dj and his nephew in

mike mills come on come on or the

dysfunctional thanksgiving portrayed in

stephen karum's the humans or lulu

wang's bittersweet the farewell drama as

a nifty side effect also happens to be

the best way to win awards just ask the

star of a24's room brie larson and her

close personal friend oscar t statue or

minare's yun-yu-jung and her pal adam e

award or the entire cast and crew of

best picture winner moonlight

all right

first things first you can't sit at my

table like that

can't sit with your back to the door

come on

ain't gonna know somebody creeping up on

you

all right see that

now you can see everything

which is a24's biggest critical victory

to date barry jenkins moonlight the

first film a24 co-produced also picked

up a best supporting actor trophy for

mahershala ali and the best adapted

screenplay prize but these much deserved

rewards aren't the reason moonlight is

the top a24 film though they are a

testament to its greatness moonlight is

a compassionate remarkable story that

diverging from the heightened out-there

genres that populate much of this list

digs deep into pulverizing human drama

its personal heartbreaking and pure

presented in three chapters representing

three stages of life for the main

character shyron moonlight is a

juggernaut of dramatic and poetic

storytelling tackling themes of abuse

sexuality and identity as a child chiron

grows up with a crack addicted mother

and a drug dealer as a father figure as

a teen he's bullied and beaten for being

gay even betrayed by his best friend and

first ever sexual partner as an adult

shiron wears the scars of his torment as

he attempts to reconcile with his past

based on an unpublished

semi-autobiographical play by terrell

alvin mccraney beautifully wading into

the thematic pools of the black male

identity toxic masculinity and

loneliness moonlight is easily one of

the best films of this century and an

easy choice for one of the best films to

come from a24

so what do you think did we miss one of

your favorite a24 films or leave out an

entire category of films they do

incredibly well we didn't even mention

lamb or under the silver lake or the

disaster artist or a most violent year

or climax or you know what they make

nothing but great movies over there let

us know in the comments below and

subscribe to ign movies and tv for more

cinepix movie lists

you