December means another movie year comes to an end. For all the talk of this being a weak one amid the bottleneck of post-strike releases and the halt on production altogether in 2023, 2024 was a rich one for independent and international fare, as well as (in some cases underappreciated) original studio fare. While a Barbenheimer-level multiplex groundswell didn’t quite land with “Gladiator II” and “Wicked” (with “Wicked” certainly taking that title on its own), there was still much to pore over, ponder, enjoy, and shell out for dating back to the beginning of 2024.

George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” didn’t quite hit with audiences (though IndieWire loved it) as stirringly as “Fury Road,” but it’s still one of the year’s best films and one critics continue to champion. Intimately scaled trans stories like “I Saw the TV Glow” and “The People’s Joker” captured cult audiences...