From Robert Eggers’Nosferatuto George Miller’sFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga,2024 has delivered some visually stunning movies. In the streaming age, as more and more audiences are waiting to watch newmoviesat home, filmmakers are having to push the envelope further and further to get people out to theaters. One way to do that is to make a movie that’s so gloriously well-shot, with such deeply cinematic imagery, that it demands to be seen on the big screen.
The surreal sci-fi visuals ofDune: Part Twonot only got audiences out to theaters, but got them out to the biggest screens in the world. It wasn’t enough to seeDunein a theater; it had to be an IMAX theater. Some of the year’s horror efforts, likeNosferatuandThe Substance, were bolstered bygorgeous cinematography— and evenone of the most widely panned films of 2024,Joker: Folie à Deux, was shot beautifully.
5Joker: Folie À Deux
Directed By Todd Phillips
Joker: Folie à Deuxwasn’t for everyone. The courtroom storyline was criticized for not only rehashing the first film, but even lambasting its own fan base. The final scene withthe “real” Jokerwas criticized for making both movies null and void (even though it was always clear that Arthur Fleck wouldn’t be Batman’s arch-nemesis, just based on the timeline). Butone thing that everybody can agree on is that the movie looked incredible.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Cast
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is just as stunning the second time — and thanks to all the fantasy sequences, he has even more opportunities for sumptuous visuals. From the gloomy pits of Arkham Asylum to the colorful, nightclub-style musical numbers, theJokersequel is a visual treat. Sher comes out of this movie with his reputation intact.
4Nosferatu
Directed By Robert Eggers
Robert Eggers took on a daunting cinematic challenge in remaking F.W. Murnau’s classic unofficialDraculaadaptationNosferatu. If he couldn’t deliver visuals as powerful and expressionistic as Murnau’s, then the remake would’ve been a failed endeavor.
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ButEggers has always been a bold filmmaker; he’s delivered visuals as unsettling as a witch breastfeeding a crow and Robert Pattinson having sex with a mermaid. Eggers’Nosferatuis every bit the mesmerizing visual treat that Murnau’s is.
Nosferatu
Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name from director F. W. Murnau. Robert Eggers is crafting his own version of the story for the reboot as writer and director, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the shoes of Count Orlok. Nosferatu tells the tale of a young woman who falls victim to a vampire utterly infatuated with her.
Eggers’ go-to cinematographer Jarin Blaschke takes great pleasure in disturbing and confounding his audience with the haunting visuals ofNosferatu. These images are appropriately shrouded in darkness, leaving a lot to the viewer’s imagination.
Directed By George Miller
George Miller is a master visual storyteller on par with Alfred Hitchcock. He designs his movies so meticulously that anyone anywhere in the world could watch them without the subtitles on — or even without the sound on — and still be able to follow the story.
In the hands of cinematographer Simon Duggan, the wasteland has never looked so vibrant, with the bright oranges of the desert lighting up the screen.
He doesn’t tell his stories with dialogue and exposition; he tells them with the sequencing of images.His latest post-apocalyptic action epic,Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is a prime example of that.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be.
In the hands of cinematographer Simon Duggan,the wasteland has never looked so vibrant, with the bright oranges of the desert lighting up the screen.Miller’s old-schooluse of stunts and practical effects make his action sequences a sight to behold. There’s no weightless CGI inFuriosa; the high-speed chases and gnarly crashes are all happening for real.
2The Substance
Directed By Coralie Fargeat
One of the best ways to deliveran unforgettable visual experienceis to freak the audience out.Coralie Fargeat’s body horror epicThe Substancehas some of the most disturbing imagery ever put on film, mostly thanks to Pierre Olivier Persin’s masterful prosthetic effects. The aging-up of Demi Moore gets more and more shocking, and “Monstro Elisasue” — a hideous spectacle amalgamating every ridiculous male fantasy into a jaw-dropping grotesquerie — is a masterpiece of movie magic.
The Substance
Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity, turns to a mysterious drug that promises to restore her youth by creating a younger, more beautiful version of herself. But splitting time between her original and new body leads to horrifying consequences as her alternate self, Sue, begins to unravel her life in a disturbing body-horror descent.
Much like Fargeat’s last movie,Revenge,The Substanceculminates in an opera of bloodshed. The entire set gets painted red in an homage toCarrie’s prom scene. As much as they might want to, audiences won’t be forgetting the visuals ofThe Substanceany time soon.
1Dune: Part Two
Directed By Denis Villeneuve
Greig Fraser followed up his Oscar-winning cinematography from the firstDunemovie with even bigger, bolder visuals inDune: Part Two. Wadi Rum is one of Hollywood’s most commonly used filming locations, butFraser shot it in a way audiences had never seen before. His lenses turned a regular Earthly desert into the otherworldly landscapes of Arrakis. InDune: Part Two, he returns to Arrakis for another mind-blowing IMAX spectacle.
Dune: Part Two
Dune: Part Two continues the epic saga of Paul Atreides as he allies with Chani and the Fremen. Pursuing retribution for his family’s devastation, Paul grapples with a significant decision impacting his personal desires and the universe’s future, attempting to avert a dire destiny that only he anticipates.
AfterDuneset the table,Dune: Part Twowas free to deliver all the payoffs. FromPaul Atreides riding the sandwormto theLord of the Rings-sized battle scenes,Dune: Part Twois full of awe-inspiring cinematic images. This movie’s visuals demanded to be seen on the biggest screen possible and rewarded a trip to the theater.
