I watch a whole lot of movies every year. Cinema is pretty much my only non-car-related hobby. It combines my twin passions of storytelling and sitting in a comfortable chair eating snacks. This year I saw more movies than any year previous, and some of those movies had some pretty rad cars in them. I thought it would be a good idea to give you all a rundown of the ten most rad and ten worst disappointing use of cars appearing in film this year. Why not, right?
For the purposes of this list I’m sticking to movies released in 2024 or the back half of 2023. While I loved my recent re-watch of “Gremlins” and Gizmo does a great impersonation of Juan Manuel Fangio, it doesn’t warrant a place on this list. I am also considering every kind of transportation a “car” because a plane is a sky car, a space ship is a space car, a train is a car on tracks, motorcycles are two-wheeled cars, etc. It’s just better if you don’t question it.
So here we go. Good and bad car movies of the year.
The Best Cars In 2024 Cinema
10. Fly Me To The Moon
This little-seen Apple-produced film about faking the moon landing was delightful and fun from beginning to end. Aside from the actual rockets and space stuff, which is cool, Scarlet Johansson pitches an ad for the Ford Mustang and Channing Tatum drives a Camaro convertible. Good cars all around in this period-comedy.
9. Twisters
This was almost beat for beat a redo of the 1996 Twister, but Glen Powell has more rizz than Bill Paxton.
8. Gladiator II
Look, they fight sharks from a boat (water car) in the middle of a flooded Coliseum. I don’t see why you wouldn’t love this movie.
7. Anora
I won’t spoil the ending, but the closing shot and emotional hinge point of the film happens in the driver’s seat of a car. There’s also an incredible scene about the consequences of illegally parking your Escalade in New York. This was among my favorite movies of 2024.
6. Drive Away Dolls
Margaret Qually gave two of my favorite performances in 2024. Drive Away Dolls is a silly fun road trip comedy about delivering a mysterious package to a government official. Listen, you just have to watch it. It’s so funny and weird. Yeah, the car is a lame Chrysler K, but maybe it’s better for it?
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
I think I liked this movie more than most people. Like Fury Road, the vehicles are incredible and the world-building is just so absurd and over the top. I still want to ride Dementus’ radial-powered chopper.
4. Alien: Romulus
Weyland-Yutani Corporation uses Sherp go-anywhere all-terrain vehicles to explore foreign planets. When I saw them on screen I let out a little yelp. Incredible use of a car.
3. The Bikeriders
Biker gangs are about family and earned respect. Until they aren’t. Damn kids!
2. Will & Harper
A touching and beautiful road trip between friends in a totally rad Jeep Wagoneer, what’s not to love?
1. The Fall Guy
Is the plot particularly good? No. Is the acting great? Eh, it has its moments. Is it an action-packed romp with incredible stunts and great cars? Yes. And can’t we all relate to crying to Taylor Swift at max volume? David Leitch was cooking with this one.
The Most Disappointing Cars In 2024 Cinema
10. Nosferatu
Aside from the fact that I think Nosferatu should have just driven to his new house, there just wasn’t enough plague boat action for my liking. More plague boat in the sequel, please. Fucking great movie, but not very good use of cars
9. Deadpool & Wolverine
I liked the use of the Honda Odyssey as a kind of cage match for Deadpool and Wolverine to fight again, but why the beef with the Kia Carnival? Come on, guys, the Carnival is a pretty great van.
8. Argylle
This had such promise. There’s a fight scene on a train, which should be awesome, but kinda lands flat. For a spy action thriller that is ostensibly a comedy, it’s light on all of the beats that would make any of those words good. Cars and motorcycles are used in the film, but man, just not well.
7. Hit Man
Easily one of my favorite movies of 2024, but it needed better cars. At one point there’s a pretty neat gold Ford Bronco, but it doesn’t get enough screen time. A murder-for-hire guy should have cooler cars.
6. Lift
This was just “The Italian Job” but without the cute Minis, or good acting, or humor.
5. The Watchers
Ishana Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut was so good. Ethereally spooky and a totally incomprehensible mystery from beginning to end, I really liked this movie. However, Dakota Fanning’s Suzuki Jimny breaks down at the beginning of the movie, and everyone knows those are impossible to kill.
4. Mean Girls
Look, Regina George drives a Lexus SC430, not a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe. I can’t believe I have to say this. The car casting in this remake was atrocious.
3. The Substance
I think this was my favorite movie of the year, honestly. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it a couple months ago. There is, however, a big car problem. Demi Moore’s Elizabeth Sparkle drives a mid-1990s SN95 Ford Mustang GT convertible, but in the plot-driving car crash it somehow magically transforms into a 2005 Mustang V6 coupe. It doesn’t really matter, and doesn’t make the movie worse, but it’s something I noticed.
2. Carry-On
Speaking of car crashes, there is a completely incomprehensible car crash/gun fight in the Netflix Christmas plane terrorism/TSA copaganda masterpiece Carry-On. It’s all done in a studio, of course, and they built a cool rig for the car, but the background is horrible CGI slop and looks like shit. It’s a shame, because the rest of the movie kicks so much ass.
1. Race For Glory: Audi Vs. Lancia
Such promise, absolutely wasted. The cars are incredible, but this movie is so forgettable. It also didn’t have subtitles, so you have to be fluent in French, Italian, and German to understand it. Also it pitches the Lancia 037 as some kind of underdog, which is laughable.
For the full list of everything I watched in 2024 and how I rated them, check out my Letterboxd account. Then make sure to come back here and yell at me about how bad my cinemapinions are.
