There is a tradition around these digital parts that helps occupy the few weeks in between the Oscar nominations announcement and the gala ceremony where they hand out the trophies. Because the Academy has now weighed in on the most excellent cinematic offerings in the calendar year recently completed, the time seems right for me to do the same. From now until a few days before the ninety-seventh annual awards, I will indulge in that time-honored film critic activity of presenting my personal picks for the ten best features of the year.

As I prepared for this annual process, I’ve been thinking a lot about the first few years that I presented a tally of ten titles to a public audience. I was co-producer and co-host of a movie review program at my college radio station from the fall of 1990 to the spring of 1993, and my cohort and I always used the first show back from winter break to reveal our respective top ten lists for the preceding year in an episode devotedly modeled on the similar episode presiding over by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their long-running program. (Realistically, almost every element of our radio show was an imitation of the Siskel & Ebert model.) It was a process I always enjoyed, and yet I was painfully aware that my list was probably painfully incomplete at the time I opened the microphone and recited it. We were based in a small college city in the Upper Midwest and many of the most acclaimed films of any given year hadn’t made their way anywhere near me when the deadline arrived for bringing my list of ten to the airwaves.

And here I am again. After several years when the various studios seemed more willing to orchestrate broader access to their award-contending titles earlier in the cycle. That’s been less true this year. In the small college city in the Upper Midwest where I now reside, several movies that I feel like I should see before properly embarking on this project haven’t flickered upon a screen I have ready access to. I try to always approach this film pontificating I do with the humility of an informed amateur, and I stress that my top tens are by definition highly personal and defined by a viewing schedule more limited than I’d prefer. This time, I must concede I’m closer to having to file an incomplete than usual.

Acknowledging my gaps, I’m very satisfied with the tally I’ll track through over the course of the coming weeks. This list could theoretically change as I experience more 2024 releases, but that doesn’t make any of the films I’ll celebrate any less worthy. I’m happy to call these the best.

We begin tomorrow.