2024 has been a funny year for entertainment. Unlike many previous years, I cannot speak of one cinematic even that truly stood out. There's no Barbenheimer counter programming despite Glicked trying too hard to be a thing (maybe if they chose Wadiator it would be different?). No teenagers in tuxes turned out for Despicable Me 4 like they did with the pandemic-delayed Minions 2. And more to the point, there were a notable lack of comic book movies whirling through projectors. It is also the year that, after the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Poor Things (which was a 2024 movie in the UK), the uber-weird became the new critical darling. Watch The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding or Rumours and you'll see what I mean. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a memorable one. Far from it. Read on to hear my year in movie review and catch my Top 10 while you're at it...
While the biggest box-office hits and misses were pretty obvious, the amount of money made or lost has been great. Inside Out 2 made 1.6 Billion-with-a-B dollars defeating the The Lion King's crown to the highest grossing animated feature ever; a weird outcome considering it's a sequel to a rather low-stakes and thoughtful Pixar film. Deadpool & Wolverine was the only other film to cross the B-mark thanks to carefully placed member-berries and an effective marketing campaign from Disney (a rare thing of late). I reckon Wicked - which is still in theatres - may creep up to that number as its hype doesn't seem to be subsiding as we enter the awards seasons where it will surely do well for nominations at least.
As for the duds, they bombed hard. Movies like Borderlands, Madame Web and The Crow will likely become the new synonym for Hollywood turkeys while many a word has been said about the interesting failures of Megalopolis and Joker: Folie à Deux. And I reckon more will be said in the years to come as their narrative morphs and legend rises.
As for the duds, they bombed hard. Movies like Borderlands, Madame Web and The Crow will likely become the new synonym for Hollywood turkeys while many a word has been said about the interesting failures of Megalopolis and Joker: Folie à Deux. And I reckon more will be said in the years to come as their narrative morphs and legend rises.
In March Oppenheimer surprised no one by winning Best Film as the 96th Academy Awards. This year seems a lot more unpredictable. Sean Baker's excellent Anora got some early buzz but while a slew of nominations are pretty much a given, I don't think it will actually win much. The Brutalist seems to be picking up momentum but I'll have to wait until January 24th to see it here in the UK, but I reckon for the first time in ages an actual horror has a good chance in picking up the prize. Imagine hearing these words coming out of the mouth of an aging Hollywood royalty; "and the Oscar goes to The Substance". That would be something, wouldn't it. I also suspect Nosferatu to do well, but Robert Eggers hasn't grabbed Academy voters quite just yet (in case you're wondering why this excellent movie isn't mentioned anywhere else, it's because it is a 2025 movie for us Brits - just. It's release date was New Year's Day).
If I'm honest, most of my fondest moviegoing experiences in 2024 were actually for 2023 releases. Three spots in my Top 10 are for movies that came out much earlier in the United States and there were a few belated watches that would've surly scored highly on my 2023 list had I seen them in time. Next Goal Wins (★★★★☆) is Taika Waititi on small form again, yet no less fun or funny for it. Godzilla Minus One (★★★★★) was a far better Kaiju film than any attempt coming from the west and Anatomy of a Fall (★★★★★) tops any English-language thriller released this decade. And the Boxing Day release of Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (★★★★★) meant I didn't see it in time to rank it at the top spot it surely deserved.
As for the themes of this year, they weren't defined by what we got but what we lacked. Animation was all over the place in quality and quantity, as were blockbusters. For every Wild Robot or Robot Dreams, there was a King Fu Panda 4 or Garfield Movie. For every Deadpool or Dune sequel, there was a Borderlands adap or The Crow remake. If there was one trend we could point to, it's the belated legacy sequel. They range from excellent (Furiosa, Inside Out 2), surprisingly good (Alien: Romulus, Twisters), decidedly mid (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Gladiator II) to why bother (Kung Fu Panda 4, Mufasa).
So, until we get to them in my rundown, let's jump head first into my Top 10 Movies of 2024, starting with...
10
Now that the Coen Brothers have moved on to solo projects, you can definitely tell how each of their personalities shaped their impressive back catalogue as writer-directors. Joel Coen gave us the sombre monochrome adaptation of The Tragedy of McBeth in 2021 giving us an artistically austere attempt at the bard. Ethan Coen, on the other hand, gave us sparring lesbians and a severed head in a box. It's clear that he was probably the man behind the wit and whimsy of their collaborative work. In my mind, Drive-Away Dolls (★★★★☆) holds up alongside the likes of Raising Arizona and Barton Fink as a crime comedy with edge.
Geraldine Viswanathan is great in the lead as Marian, a sexually repressed woman drawn to the happy-go-lucky bravado of Margaret Qualley's crass Jamie who truly steals the show. Her blunt southern drawl makes for some hilarious banter making it one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud movies of the year.
And speaking of Margaret Qualley, she also shines in the out-there horror called The Substance (★★★★☆). Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat whose visceral debut Revenge turned heads in 2017, it's part of a growing trend of horror movies from different voices. Demi Moore, who have been getting some well-deserved accolades for her role, plays an aging TV star whose exercise show is losing relevance in a world where looks are everything. She is approached by a shadowy business offering her a way to stay young and beautiful - The Substance. And so, the younger Margaret Qualley is birthed from her back, but when the rules of the magical wonder-drug are broken, the shit really hits the fan. Death Becomes Her mixed with Society and added Cronenbergian body horror, it's a modern classic of the genre and one of those rare scary movies that looks to do well this awards season (as of writing Demi Moore has won her first competitive acting award at the Golden Globes).
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9
And speaking of Margaret Qualley, she also shines in the out-there horror called The Substance (★★★★☆). Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat whose visceral debut Revenge turned heads in 2017, it's part of a growing trend of horror movies from different voices. Demi Moore, who have been getting some well-deserved accolades for her role, plays an aging TV star whose exercise show is losing relevance in a world where looks are everything. She is approached by a shadowy business offering her a way to stay young and beautiful - The Substance. And so, the younger Margaret Qualley is birthed from her back, but when the rules of the magical wonder-drug are broken, the shit really hits the fan. Death Becomes Her mixed with Society and added Cronenbergian body horror, it's a modern classic of the genre and one of those rare scary movies that looks to do well this awards season (as of writing Demi Moore has won her first competitive acting award at the Golden Globes).
If The Substance was a Cronenberg body horror from the lens of a woman, I Saw The TV Glow (★★★★☆) is a Lynchian nightmare coming from the trans experience. Proud trans woman Jane Schoenbrun directs a personal story of a two young outcasts obsessed with a fantasy horror show only to find it creeping into their every day existence. Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) stars as a confused boy sleepwalking through life while Brigette Lundy-Paine (Bill & Ted Face the Music, Atypical) plays his more confident friend with a difficult home life. Spanning years, the dreamlike representation of a life stuck is a beautifully represented allegory for the trans experience, but you'd have to unpack a lot of the metaphorical filmmaking to find it. But if you cannot personally relate, it is also a movie about the shifting perceptions of age, childhood trauma and nostalgia. A haunting film.
8
I find it something of a tragedy that this belated sequel to Mad Max: Fury Road couldn't find its audience at the cinema. By releasing at the end of May, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (★★★★☆) perhaps released a little too early to capitalise on the summer season. The month was also stacked, with decent crowd-pleasers like The Fall Guy and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire also flopping while the new Godzilla and Planet of the Apes seemingly stole their thunder. In my opinion, Furiosa is better than all of them showing that octogenarian George Miller can still put together a visceral action flick. Anya Taylor-Joy does well in the role originated by Charlize Theron, cementing her character as a more complex and interesting face of the franchise than the action hero its named after. The poor returns means it'll be some time before we get another movie in the saga, but if we ever get one I'll be first in line. Furiosa deserved better.
7
One of the most gripping yet mildly humorous political thrillers in recent times, Edward Berger's Conclave (★★★★★) takes you inside the Vatican at a rather intense time. The pope has died which prompts the remain Cardinals to choose a new one. Scandals, backstabbing and surprising twists pepper the plot, but it never goes too preachy with its religious themes instead personalising the flawed humans involved. Starring Ralph Feinnes (great!) as Cardinal Lawrence, he's been tasked to oversee the conclave to make sure it runs smoothly. Frontrunners quickly make themselves known, including the scheming Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), the unconventional Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucien Msamati) and the mild mannered Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci). Each give it their all but Isabella Rossillini's Sister Agnes in one scene in particular give a memorable performance that's sure to earn her some supporting actor nominations. If there was once scene that incapsulates the tone of the movie, it's after her big scene which leaves the fully-garbed Cardinals in stunned silence, broken only by one of them taking a puff from an e-cig. You might be expecting a pious and dull religious film, but what you get is a deep and fun little thriller that never puts a foot wrong.
6
Sean Baker has stood on the cusp of respectability for a while now. His movies tended to put some people off due to their frank attitude towards sex (Red Rocket) and sexuality (Tangerine) but if you've seen The Florida Project you'll come to understand that he's not about that at all; he's about the underclass, the forgotten and the unfairly maligned. Anora (★★★★★) continues this trend as exotic dancer Anora (a fierce Mikey Madison) marries Igor (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoilt rich son of a Russian oligarch, on a whim but gets thrust in a battle of wills when his parents arrive to forcibly annul the union. Its story, which plays like the non-fairy tail version of Pretty Woman, is more structured than the slices of life that make up Baker's previous works making it more accessible to the average moviegoer. It has also made it an early frontrunner for a Best Picture win at the Oscars. In a year that's all but certain I doubt it'll win (it was the biggest loser at the Golden Globes) but it is a movie that deserves to be remembered when the Academy make their votes.
5
We've been blessed with two Luca Guadagnino movies this year. I've yet to see Queer though I am looking forward to it. By all accounts, his fist picture of the year is probably the better of the two. The hot young stars of Challengers (★★★★★) may have taken away all of the thunder from an exceptional movie, but the talents that are Mike Faist (West Side Story), Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country) and Zendaya (Spider-man's soon-to-be wife) make for a steamy and alluring ménage-a-trois.
Best friends Art and Patrick (Faist and O'Connor) are up-and-coming tennis superstars. When they meet Zendaya's beguiling Tashi, whose skill on the court is already earning her some sponsorship deals, the two compete for her attention. And Tashi loves it. More than that, she loves Tennis and after an unfortunate injury takes her out of the game, she uses the two boys to keep close to the court. It is an incredibly sexy movie that surprisingly contains not a single sex scene. Instead, lust and frustration is taken out on the tennis court, each thrust of the racket and groan of energy as intoxicating as a clandestine visit to OnlyFans but filmed with precision from its talented director. A modern classic.
One of the three movies from 2023 on list, I found it somewhat of a surprise that the UK got to see this quintessentially UK-centric romantic fantasy later than most. It's January release meant that All Of Us Strangers (★★★★★) was primed for awards greatness but was sadly and surprisingly snubbed. Perhaps that's due to its subject matter; a lonely gay man named Adam (played by the hugely underrated Andrew Scott) begins seeing the ghosts of his dead parents (the perfectly 80's Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) who died when he was young. Looking the same age as when they died - about the same as Adam is now - he subsequently reconnects with them role-playing life moments he never had. He talks about his life, his hope, his dreams and his sexuality, finally coming out to his parents which he never got to do in one heartfelt scene.
He also talks about a recent acquaintance, a neighbour in his mostly-empty apartment building played by Paul Mescal. The two share a melancholy bond and eventually turn to lovers, but Adam cannot let go of the ghosts of his past causing conflict. Loosely based on a Japanese novel, re-moulded as a modern English gothic gay romance, it becomes an immensely personal piece for gay director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, Looking). A melancholy masterpiece.
Dennis Villeneuve completes his fantastic Dune duology with an equally entertaining and intelligent sequel. Dune: Part Two (★★★★★) picks up exactly where Part One left off. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has ingratiated him in the Fremen tribal culture, their opposition to the industrialisation of spice forcing them to live in the dangerous deserts of Arakkis, the planet known as Dune. It is with these free men, and love interest Chani (Zendaya), where he learns of a prophecy; he is the chosen one , the "Giver of Water", the saviour of Arakkis. But the evil Harkonnens have taken over the production of spice from his family. He has no power, but in learning the ways of the Fremen - including the riding of sandworms - he can strike back.
4
One of the three movies from 2023 on list, I found it somewhat of a surprise that the UK got to see this quintessentially UK-centric romantic fantasy later than most. It's January release meant that All Of Us Strangers (★★★★★) was primed for awards greatness but was sadly and surprisingly snubbed. Perhaps that's due to its subject matter; a lonely gay man named Adam (played by the hugely underrated Andrew Scott) begins seeing the ghosts of his dead parents (the perfectly 80's Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) who died when he was young. Looking the same age as when they died - about the same as Adam is now - he subsequently reconnects with them role-playing life moments he never had. He talks about his life, his hope, his dreams and his sexuality, finally coming out to his parents which he never got to do in one heartfelt scene.
He also talks about a recent acquaintance, a neighbour in his mostly-empty apartment building played by Paul Mescal. The two share a melancholy bond and eventually turn to lovers, but Adam cannot let go of the ghosts of his past causing conflict. Loosely based on a Japanese novel, re-moulded as a modern English gothic gay romance, it becomes an immensely personal piece for gay director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, Looking). A melancholy masterpiece.
3
Dennis Villeneuve completes his fantastic Dune duology with an equally entertaining and intelligent sequel. Dune: Part Two (★★★★★) picks up exactly where Part One left off. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has ingratiated him in the Fremen tribal culture, their opposition to the industrialisation of spice forcing them to live in the dangerous deserts of Arakkis, the planet known as Dune. It is with these free men, and love interest Chani (Zendaya), where he learns of a prophecy; he is the chosen one , the "Giver of Water", the saviour of Arakkis. But the evil Harkonnens have taken over the production of spice from his family. He has no power, but in learning the ways of the Fremen - including the riding of sandworms - he can strike back.
A visual and audial feast, Dune: Part Two is top tier filmmaking. The taming of the sandworm is a marvel of cinema, the deep bass shaking the screen of the cinema in which I saw it. It leaves you stunned in awe all the way through. Part of me wants to rank it as the best movie of the year - and in a way it kinda is - but in truth two smaller scaled movies that came out the year before in the states spoke to me more.
2
I saw Alexander Payne's The Holdovers (★★★★★) four times this past year. Once in cinemas when it reached our shores in January, twice when it first his streaming and again over Christmas. I had to, this is a Christmas movie after all. The curmudgeonly private boarding school teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is tasked with staying over the winter holidays to look after the holdovers - those kids who can't go home for Christmas. Among them is the smart-mouthed over-achiever Angus Tully (a remarkable debut by Dominic Sessa) who can't go home as expected as his divorced mother has recently married a rich widower and would rather spend time with him than her son. Along with the recently bereaved resident cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph who won an Oscar for her role), the trio form an unlikely bond in their grumpiness.
Set in the 1970s and shot perfectly to look like it, The Holdovers fits right into the cosy dramadies of the era, most notably the works of Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude, The Last Detail). It's set up is also incredibly reminiscent of a 1935 French movie called Merlusse (slang for codfish). Like The Holdovers, this classic features and grumpy teacher with a dodgy eye and the scent of a fish looking after boarding school kids over Christmas, though I feel like it has more in common tonally with It's a Wonderful Life. A great film I wouldn't have seen had I not loved this one. It was almost on my top spot, but in the end I had to go with...
1
We were blessed with two Yorgos Lanthimos films this year. In June Kinds of Kindness was a bit of a disappointment (I'll elaborate below) but only because what we got in January 12th was so spectacular. Even though Americans could see it from December 8th 2023, the hype over Poor Things (★★★★★), was growing over the month-long wait for it to arrive across the pond. And it stayed with me at the top of my all throughout the year. Nothing else could surpass it.
Emma Stone, who was a shoe-in to win best actress, stars as an anonymous a pretty young thing whose nearly-dead pregnant body was found floating in a river. Christened Bella Baxter by the mad doctor who saved her (Willem Dafoe, perfectly pitched between a nurturing father figure and a callous quack), her brain was swapped out with that of her unborn baby's. As she learns to grow up in warp speed, she sees the world in a curious mix between child-like curiosity and grown-up sexuality that speaks to how a woman's beauty can somehow dehumanise her in the eyes of lecherous men.
The initial set up reminded me of the true-life case of L'Inconnue de la Seine from 1900. A young woman's dead body was found in the Parisian river. Not an unheard of occurrence, but her reported beauty capture the whole country to a point where her death mask was replicated to become a common artistic feature in many homes. A similar infatuation was ascribed to Bella from anyone who met her.
Poor Things is a weird movie, the kind that I really enjoy but struggle to get my friends interested enough to see it with me. The casting of Emma Stone convinced some of them and it's a testament to how good this is that both came out singing its praises. So, with little hesitation, I must too. Despite being a 2023 movie in some territories, Poor Things is my favourite film of 2024.
2024 was both a good and bad year for horror. We may have had a sequel to Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and a Mickey Mouse inspired copycat, but we also these immensely entertaining and brash horrors to give up goose bumps. Abigail (★★★★☆) is a fun vampire flick that works better if you don't know that going in. Unfortunately, the trailer and promotional material gave it away pretty quickly but it's still an entertaining romp regardless. A group of ne'er-do-wells kidnap the daughter of a crime boss in search of a little revenge (and for some, financial gain), only for her to reveal herself to be a creature of the night hell bent on picking them off on-by-one in inventive ways. Slick, sick and oh-so over-the-top, Abigail is a blast.
Written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and Directed by Zelda Williams (Robin's daughter) Lisa Frankenstein (★★★☆☆) is a love letter to those cheesy teen horror comedies from the 80's and 90's like My Boyfriend's Back, One Bitten or My Best Friend is a Vampire. Kathryn Newton (charismatic, also stars in Abigal) plays Lisa Swallows who becomes obsessed with a handsome corpse who, through a freak circumstance, comes back to life. Played by Cole Sprouse (ever underrated, needs better projects) like a silent-movie mime, he's missing body parts, and they must be procured from the living. Unfortunately, by the time he can speak the picture has run out of steam making the middle section a bit of a chore to watch. Despite having Diablo Cody on writing duties, Lisa Frankenstein somehow lacks the wit and warmth of her previous work never quite reaching the heights of Jennifer's Body. About the same quality as the cheesy B-movies that inspired it.
Sting (★★★★☆) plays on the monster movie tropes rather well. Set in a New York apartment during a heavy snow fall, a young girl find a curious spider crawling around her doll's house and decides to keep it as a pet. It seems intelligence, responding to her by whistling back sounds as if it understands. Little does she know that this arachnid is an alien that made its way to Earth on a meteor and it is quickly growing in size after every feed. Like Arachnophobia before its a movie that truly lives up to its premise as the spider slowly terrorises the glum residents. Just what I wanted from a giant spider creature feature.
The initial set up reminded me of the true-life case of L'Inconnue de la Seine from 1900. A young woman's dead body was found in the Parisian river. Not an unheard of occurrence, but her reported beauty capture the whole country to a point where her death mask was replicated to become a common artistic feature in many homes. A similar infatuation was ascribed to Bella from anyone who met her.
Poor Things is a weird movie, the kind that I really enjoy but struggle to get my friends interested enough to see it with me. The casting of Emma Stone convinced some of them and it's a testament to how good this is that both came out singing its praises. So, with little hesitation, I must too. Despite being a 2023 movie in some territories, Poor Things is my favourite film of 2024.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
2024 was both a good and bad year for horror. We may have had a sequel to Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and a Mickey Mouse inspired copycat, but we also these immensely entertaining and brash horrors to give up goose bumps. Abigail (★★★★☆) is a fun vampire flick that works better if you don't know that going in. Unfortunately, the trailer and promotional material gave it away pretty quickly but it's still an entertaining romp regardless. A group of ne'er-do-wells kidnap the daughter of a crime boss in search of a little revenge (and for some, financial gain), only for her to reveal herself to be a creature of the night hell bent on picking them off on-by-one in inventive ways. Slick, sick and oh-so over-the-top, Abigail is a blast.
Written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and Directed by Zelda Williams (Robin's daughter) Lisa Frankenstein (★★★☆☆) is a love letter to those cheesy teen horror comedies from the 80's and 90's like My Boyfriend's Back, One Bitten or My Best Friend is a Vampire. Kathryn Newton (charismatic, also stars in Abigal) plays Lisa Swallows who becomes obsessed with a handsome corpse who, through a freak circumstance, comes back to life. Played by Cole Sprouse (ever underrated, needs better projects) like a silent-movie mime, he's missing body parts, and they must be procured from the living. Unfortunately, by the time he can speak the picture has run out of steam making the middle section a bit of a chore to watch. Despite having Diablo Cody on writing duties, Lisa Frankenstein somehow lacks the wit and warmth of her previous work never quite reaching the heights of Jennifer's Body. About the same quality as the cheesy B-movies that inspired it.
Sting (★★★★☆) plays on the monster movie tropes rather well. Set in a New York apartment during a heavy snow fall, a young girl find a curious spider crawling around her doll's house and decides to keep it as a pet. It seems intelligence, responding to her by whistling back sounds as if it understands. Little does she know that this arachnid is an alien that made its way to Earth on a meteor and it is quickly growing in size after every feed. Like Arachnophobia before its a movie that truly lives up to its premise as the spider slowly terrorises the glum residents. Just what I wanted from a giant spider creature feature.
Despite the cynical nature of a legacy sequel, I surprisingly got a lot out of most of them this year. You already know my stance on Furiosa, but Alien: Romulus (★★★★☆) is probably the best since the franchise has been since Ripley threw herself in an incinerator in Alien³ (vastly underrated in my opinion). A group of young workers on an ever-dark mining planet hatch a plan to escape their unwilling servitude by hijacking that abandoned ship that's recently entered the planet's orbit. Little do they know that this is the remains of the ship from the first Alien film, and there's still life on board. The movie is scary, surprising and satisfies all that you'd want from the franchise, yet my biggest gripes pertain to those that cling to the older films. A resurrected Ian Holm returns as android Ash, this time a mix of CGI and animatronics may work in the context of the film, but he's visually uncanny. And that one line repeated from Aliens (you know the one) is so out of place and out of character it takes you out of the movie for a good chunk of time. It's the biggest misstep in an otherwise decent sequel that makes me think - like Predator before it with Prey - that the franchise is finally in good hands.
Those hands aren't Ridley Scott. After his turn in space, he's been back on the historical epic train, and Gladiator II (★★★☆☆) is a marked improvement over Napoleon, though it cannot hold a candle to the all-time classic original. Paul Mescal plays Lucius, the son of Russel Crowe's Maximus and Connie Nielsen's Lucilla who fled Rome for political reasons after Emperor Commodus died in the gladiatorial ring. Rome didn't return to the people, instead being lead by brothers Emperors Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger). But they and their crazy shenanigans aren't the true villains. That job goes to Denzel Washington's Macrinus who plots to rise to power in the most Machiavellian way possible. More sensationalist and pulpy than the original, with an over-complicated plot that differs from the original in only the most superficial of ways, it still managed to warm its way into my heart. Not enough for me to give it another star like I thought about doing, but enough for me to leave the cinema entertained. Something that Napoleon did not do.
Three more awards contenders that failed to arrive on UK shores before 2023 ended. Each deserve attention no matter how many golden statuettes they won. American Fiction (★★★☆☆) is an humorous critique on the black experience in the entertainment industry. Black scholar and novelist Thelonious (Jeffrey Wright) has a distain for black stories that he sees as stereotypical and begins to write one under a pen name to expose the hypocrisy. He writes about gangs and violence in a stereotypical African American English vernacular and it turns out to be a best seller. Not just that, but one that enters the zeitgeist. Wright makes for a pompously righteous lead but I found the racial politics at play to be a little mixed, as if the movie didn't know whether to side with the opinions of the main character or not. As such, I don't think it deserved to win Best Adapted Screenplay over Poor Things.
Society of the Snow (★★★★☆) and The Zone of Interest (★★★★☆) were both up for Best International Feature Film, though the latter deservedly won it. With it's slow-burn nature and observational narrative, The Zone of Interest is a movie I doubt I'd watch again. During the second World War, the family of SS Officer Rudolf Höss move into a lavish house just outside the walls of Auschwitz. They go through their mundane daily lives as terror goes on around them. It is a film about what's happening just over the wall, not about those you see happily existing in front of you. And it's a technique that truly accentuates the horror of the holocaust. Coupled with the narrative style, it makes for a difficult yet profound watch.
To this day, this story behind Society of the Snow is the reason why I don't eat pork chops. It's based on the incredible true story that inspired the 1993 movie Alive. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was transporting a Chilean rugby team over the Andes when it crashed, leaving the survivors to fend for themselves in the freezing climates for 72 days. They did so by doing the unimaginable; eating the dead. Directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage) is a slick adaptation of Pablo Vierci's source novel that's a more humanist take than the 90's Hollywood movie.
Argylle (★★★☆☆) is a little unfairly maligned. Contrary to popular consensus, it is not one of the worst films of the year and in my view actually has a lot going for it. It is a comedic spy thriller that sees the fictional writings of author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) merge into her real life as the fictional Bond-a-like Argylle (suave Henry Cavill) turns out to be the buffoonish undercover agent Aiden Wilde (Sam Rockwell) in real life. The road the plot goes down forces you down some serious leaps of logic, but I found it to be a fun if not particularly successful ride. Being an Apple Original film, it notoriously bombed at the box office, but with the streaming premier not far behind, it probably affected sales. It works better on the small screen anyway.
The Fall Guy (★★★★☆) had a similar predicament at least in the US where it streamed on Peacock later that same summer as its cinema release. The box-office somewhat surprised me as there was a lot of hype prior to its premier, with the ever-affable Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt seemingly everywhere. Perhaps general audiences got sick of them, or stacked movies in May meant it got lost in the pack. Either way, this tale of an ex-stuntman getting embroiled in a deadly conspiracy after returning for one more film is immensely fun in an old-school way. Star-lead movies seem to be dying out one way or another, but The Fall Guy proves they can still be entertaining.
A trio of big-budget Netflix duds that do nothing but big up their portfolio. Atlas (★★☆☆☆) features the return of Jennifer Lopez who struggles to play against type as an intelligent counter-terrorist agent who harbours a deep distrust of artificial intelligence. The dystopian future on display runs on video game logic, with little depth presented in how it all works. Lopez is game as an action heroine and she surely gives it her all, but like the CGI, it's over-indulgent and comes off as false.
Similarly, Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon: Part 2 - The Scargiver (★★☆☆☆) is a nothing of a movie. Like its predecessor, I can't really remember much about it and I'm unwilling to sit through the 3-hour (!!!) Director's Cut to refresh my memory. Something about a band of rebels defeating an evil empire (sound familiar?).
While still forgettable, the Millie Bobby Brown starring fantasy movie Damsel (★★☆☆☆) does fare better. She plays a newly-wed princess who is really just a sacrifice to dragon living in a nearby cave. Voiced by the inimitable Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, 24) the dragon can easily be placed amongst the best of such creatures ever to grace the silver screen. Alas, the story is predictable, the revelations trite and final act rushed and borderline unfinished. A good movie is in here somewhere but the filmmakers didn't manage to find it before the final cut.
A couple more legacy sequels that peaked my interest. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (★★★☆☆) could've been a disaster - and I was fearing as much. What we got has a lot of flaws, but I still rather enjoyed it. The plot has many storylines going on at once as if the studio had multiple different ideas for the sequel and couldn't decide on which direction to take. So they took them all. As such, the main antagonist is severely under-developed and only serves the plot as a means to transport the living daughter of Winona Ryder's Lydia (an underused Jenna Ortega) into the underworld. And only Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice, in a far less sinister turn, can get her out. Beetlejuice is not the hero, but the villain making this more of a legacy sequel to the kids animated TV show than the original movie. Only a slight disappointment.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (★★★☆☆) also suffers from shoving in too many plot points. I like how the legacy characters return here, with Dan Akroyd's Ray now the proprietor of an oddity junk shop that specialises in supernatural trinkets. When a copper orb with immense psychic energy is sold to him by a local slacker (Kumail Nanjiani, whose use of broad comedy makes me think he doesn't know the kind of movie he's in) it kickstarts a city-wide flash-freeze that makes Elsa's powers in Frozen look tame. Meanwhile, the underage Mckenna Grace has been barred from busting ghosts, so she instead falls in love with one (leading so some bizarre and out-of-place character choices).
Once again, the chaos of the premise is side-lined for cheaper set-pieces taking place in a small location. I would've like to have seen the Ghostbusters explore the frozen-over streets of New York City on the hunt for the entity that caused it, but instead they passively wait in the iconic firehouse for it to come to them. Like Afterlife, there is good stuff in here but no-one involved seems to want to go the extra mile to make an otherwise good movie great.
Three out-there musical biopics that star the musical artists as themselves. Better Man (★★★★☆) is about ex-Take That member Robbie Williams and his rise to fame as a solo artist and the struggles that came with it. Notably, Williams plays himself, but as a CGI monkey. It certainly got the tabloids buzzing at the trailer, but the movie itself, directed by The Greatest Showman's Michael Gracey, is a winner. With the artifice of the main character, you do tend to wonder how authentic it actually is, but whether or not it is is a moot point. The concept works incredibly well. At the turn of the millennium, Robbie Williams was a megastar here in the UK at least, and this unflinching biopic tells his story warts and all.
Retelling the birth of Gaelic rappers Kneecap (★★★★☆), their self-titled biopic is as angry as it is funny. As silly as it is political. Playing like an Irish Trainspotting, much of its bile is (deservedly) aimed at the English who had the language outlawed in the courts until the Northern Irish Act in 2022. Playing themselves, Liam Ó Hannaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin have been best friends since childhood, and the latter's father Arló (Michael Fassbender) has instilled in them pride for their countries language. He's also a wanted republican paramilitary who faked his death to escape British authorities. This leaves his son down the path of a drug dealer and labelled an undesirable by the police. When Liam meets music teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh, the three of them form Kneecap to help popularise Gaelic throughout the country. Alive with an energy few others could muster, Kneecap is an engaging piece of cinema that could make even an Englishman enamoured in Gaelic. Excellent.
Piece by Piece (★★★☆☆) is both the weirdest and banal of the three. Filmed like a talking heads documentary with footage replaced by LEGO animation, this movie about the life of Pharrell Williams doesn't to much to warrant its premise. You can view Robbie Williams as a performing monkey, or understand Gaelic rap through vibes only, but the metaphor in Piece by Piece doesn't quite sit. Had this been a scripted drama, the filmmakers could've laboured the idea that he built this life, but as a documentary any allegory feels forced. Still, I wonder what the likes of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar et al thought about their interview being turned into LEGO.
A couple of actress-turned-director made splashes on competing streaming services this year. Zoë Kravitz (The Batman) gave us a blistering directorial debut with Blink Twice (★★★★☆) on Amazon Prime. Ostensibly a feminist Get Out that sees a group of young women join a wealthy tech billionaire (a truly terrifying Channing Tatum) on his private island with a promise of a hedonistic weekend with some of his mates. It turns out that they're there for much longer than a weekend, with the memories of what that happens each night slowly returning to them, it appears this is no holiday but a nightmare. A great thriller filled with shocking twists that makes it one of the best films of the year.
Over on Netflix, Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) directs herself in a true-life tale of a contestant on The Dating Game (also known as Blind Date) narrowly missing a date with a serial killer. The subject matter is as dark as it is fascinating, but screenwriter Ian McDonald rewrites the telecast as female empowerment giving the otherwise footnote in a larger story real heft. Kendrick never quite leaves her trademark perk behind, which brings along sparks of a happy ending, but considering where the real-life tale goes, Woman of the Hour (★★★★☆) is a somewhat light affair.
This was supposed to be Bill Skarsgård's year. Not only is the lead in a couple of mid-budget actioners, but he plays the lead in Nosferatu, one of my most anticipated movies of 2025 (remember: UK release). Alas, one movie sits firmly in my worst-off list, but despite early promises Boy Kills World (★★☆☆☆) isn't a whole lot better. Skarsgård plays Boy, a deaf mute who witnessed his parents murder as a child. The film is narrated by his inner monologue, and he's chosen the voice of a video game announcer. It's wild, chaotic and over-the-top but in an empty way. There's some good action and it definitely aspires to be original but in the end it's ultimately a dud.
George Clooney directs The Boys in the Boat (★★★☆☆) a by-the-numbers yet cosy period sports picture that tells the story of a men's rowing team in Washington. Starring Callum Turner (Glue), the British cast and filming locations makes it feel more like a British movie than an American one. Replace Washington with Cambridge or Oxford and a similar movie could easily have been made. Well made, well acted, yet unoriginal.
Outside of Challengers, fellow Brist Josh O'Connor continued to further his acting clout this year with the Italian magical realist drama La Chimera (★★★★☆). Playing like an art house Indiana Jones, he stars as Arthur, an English archaeologist and grave robber who has the uncanny ability to douse for Etruscan burial tombs. The narrative is ethereal and meandering, saying more about the psyche of our main character than the ancient magical wonders he loots. Slow moving and artful, you have to be in the right mood to appreciate it. But I was, and I did.
Alex Garland's terrifying account on what seems all too plausible in the near future of America is a visceral piece of war cinema. Civil War (★★★★☆) follows Kurstin Dunst as Lee, a war photographer perhaps named after another Lee (who saw Kate Winslet play her in a biopic this year, which I've yet to see) as she documents the new reality the US is living in. She encounters the worst of humanity as the once civilised country becomes fractured and dangerous. Once normal citizens use their right to bear arms with abandon and display their racist and xenophobic biases on their sleeves. While the press releases for the movie state that there was no real-life inspiration for the plot, it's obvious that Trump and his potential refusal to leave office was the catalyst. If true, this movie is likely the best thing to come out of either of his presidencies. Unless a civil war does actually come to pass, then I'll likely never have the stomach to watch it again.
Musicals continue to get made, but if you go by their trailers alone, you wouldn't know it. Like last Christmas' Wonka, The Colour Purple (★★★☆☆) not once made reference to it being a musical, despite its very successful run on Broadway. Unlike Wonka, I found the movie to rather bland and charmless far preferring Steven Spielberg's straight retelling from the 80's. It tells the story of Celie as she navigates through the early 1900's as a poor African American girl. Despite having some impeccably performed musical numbers, I found the movie to be more dour that the original in its darker moments, an unaffecting in its emotional ones. Not quite a whole miss, but one I doubt I'd make the effort to re-watch.
Emilia Pérez (★★★★☆) almost passed me by this year had I not found out it had come to Netflix by accident. It's a compelling musical starring Zoe Saldana as Rita, a talented Mexican lawyer overlooked by her male counterparts who is enlisted by a crime lord for a top secret special request; to help him transition. Combining an affecting trans-identity drama with music was an ingenious turn, each song expressing the frustration and inner desires perfectly. Directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone), I expect great things to fall upon it come awards season.
Unlike the others in this section, everyone and their mother knew Wicked: Part One (★★★★☆) was going to be a musical going in. What they perhaps didn't know is that it only covers the first half of the hit Broadway play. It's perhaps a good move, as the plot is generally rather episodic and a normal run time may not be able to cover everything it needs to. Now, I'm gonna be controversial here. I'm not a fan of the stage play. I came out thinking it was very teen-girly, comparing it to Mean Girls or Clueless but set in the magical land of Oz. And I kept waiting for that cool-looking dragon that towers over the stage to do something. Anything. But it never did. Why is it there?
Anyway, I know I'm in the minority. As for the movie, however, I think it adapts both the source novel and book rather successfully, nodding to the MGM original without stepping on their copyrighted, ruby-slippered toes. It also allows the epicness of the story to shine through. Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba is exceptional, taking care to present the vulnerability and strength the character deserves while Ariana Grande is a revelation as Glinda, morphic from the energetic mean girl to breathless best friend with ease. I now greatly look forward to its second part next Christmas.
The Count of Monte Cristo (★★★★☆) has always been one of my favourite stories growing, more so than Alexandre Dumas' more famous tales of The Three Musketeers. This latest adaptation made in its country of origin is a handsome and classy epic, but the bloated run time does hurt the pacing a little. Still, I have a such a soft spot for it that it'll probably feature on my re-watch list frequently.
There were only two comic book movies of note this year (Sony's Spider-Villain-Verse is so bad they don't count), but Deadpool & Wolverine (★★★★☆) is the only movie to be wildly successful. It's an odd beast, tying together Fox's X-Men lore of the first two with Disney's MCU continuity. It also expands their current obsession with the multiverse, though you'd have to see both seasons of Loki on Disney+ to truly understand it. The result is a movie with so many references, cameos and meta-jokes that it becomes almost impenetrable to those who aren't obsessed with superhero cinema. Personally, I had a blast, but I can imagine my reverence for it will die out over time.
The opposite is likely to be said about Joker: Folie à Deux (★★★☆☆), a rather strange follow up to the gritty Joker from 2019. My estimation for the original has waned with each re-watch, but after a disappointing first watch my opinion changed slightly on its second. Both films play with what is real inside Arthur Fleck's head, and Joaquin Phoenix plays him with crazed intensity. Here, he's joined by Lady Gaga's Lee Quinzel who's Harlequin character could be seen as a figment of his warped imagination. Joker is sent to court for the crimes committed in the first film, and it is here where most of the film takes place while the cries of a revolution seep in from outside. The musical numbers, as cringey and superfluous as they are at first, disarm the viewer asking them to see the justice system as an exercise in performance. There's a lot more going on in the film than at first glance making it better than its current reputation, but with it's climax that was anti-climactic on both viewings, I still think there was mark that it very much missed.
Two naff Christmas movies that seem to have been conceived by AI. Dear Santa (★★☆☆☆) is the better of the two starring Jack Black as not Santa, but Satan. When a dyslexic child writes to him, the big man down under excitedly gives him a visit. Surprisingly, he act just like Jack Black, but the jokes mostly don't land.
Red One (★★☆☆☆) is even worse. The Rock stars as one of Santa's elves who, after the big man up north gets kidnapped, goes on a mission with aging bad-kid Chris Evans to save him. From jacked polar bears, CGI snowmen to a mob-boss Krampus, a lot of money was inexplicably spent on this guff.
Two animated movies from Illumination encapsulate the company's lazy take moviemaking. Despicable Me 4 (★★☆☆☆) is more of the same; some superspy stuff is going on, but the Minions bring the laughs. Is anyone else tired of them yet?
Migration (★★☆☆☆) is a little better, but it's by the numbers family fare. A family of mallard ducks fly south for the winter getting into all kinds of hijinks on their trip. Utterly unoriginal, and later in the year another, better animation that features bird migration is miles better.
Demon possession is making a come back, and these movies show what can (and can't) be done with the premise. After the surprisingly fun and pulpy The Pope's Exorcist from last year, you'd expect Russel Crowe's newest movie The Exorcism (★★☆☆☆) to be much better. A washed up actor aims to make a comeback by starring in a horror film, but is his bizarre actions on set a drug-related relapse or a supernatural possession. While it keeps the pulp, the fun is nowhere to be found.
Continuing the good legacy sequel train (or prequel in this case), The First Omen (★★★★☆) is far better than you might expect. In fact, I reckon it's the best movie in the long-running Omen franchise. That's quite a claim to let me explain briefly why. Set in the early 70's in a Roman nunnery and shot in beautiful 35mm film, it is gorgeous to look at. The plot supposes two factions of the Catholic Church; one being the height of hypocrisy that we all know and the other secretly working to birth the antichrist. This nunnery belongs to the latter and, through some striking imagery and truly scary scenes, they work to sire the son of Satan. Meanwhile, Rome is suffering political violence as this is in the middle of the Years of Lead. What a great backdrop to usher in the son of Satan.
But this was not the only Omen movie to be released this year. In April, Baloji Tshiani's Omen (aka Augure) (★★★★☆) plays on the superstitions found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After some time living and working in France, Koffi (Mark Zinga) returns to his home country with his white wife Alice (Lucy Debay) to pay the dowry to his family. But Koffi's family is not so peaceful. When he was born, his mother grew suspicious of the birth mark on his cheek making her believe he is the son of the devil. More of a familial drama with magical realist overtones than a demon possession horror movie, Augure adeptly deals with the clashes of culture and belief.
The last true devil movie to wow me was Late Night with the Devil (★★★★☆) which is a rather more sensational affair than The First Omen. It's basically a found footage movie about the last broadcast of late night chat show in the 70's. David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad) plays host Jack Delroy who, in a ploy to increase ratings, books a girl who's supposedly possessed with the devil. Promising a live exorcism, the light-hearted events soon turn towards the horrifying in one of the years best horrors.
Two big-budget sci-fi creature features that were some of the few to make bank this year. Despite having Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest) at the helm, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (★★☆☆☆) is a poor take on the infamous kaiju. Especially when Godzilla Minus One wowed us all the previous year. His turn towards big budget Hollywood movies hasn't gone well at least artistically, and the silliness on screen could only induce yawns from me.
Faring much better war Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (★★★★☆). It may be the fourth movie in this new iteration of the franchise, but it works as a stand alone piece of cinema. Several generations have past since Caesar lead the apes to independence, and in that time human presence has decreased even further. Most are believed to be mute animals, almost inconsequential vermin to the chimpanzee tribes. We follow Noa (a mo-capped Owen Teague), son of a tribal chief who, after being attacked by a power-hungry ape, vows to take revenge. He soon befriends a curious human woman who can not only speak, but also has her own reason to travel the evil ape's tribe. The computer generated apes still wow me whenever I see them, and the fully realised and intelligently conceived world is a great setting to tell a story. This one is more simple than the still-excellent Caesar trilogy (each of which I give a full five stars), but I still had an immensely good time at the cinema.
Good Grief (★★☆☆☆) is essentially performative grief beset with shallow conversations that pretends to be deep. This Netflix original stars Dan Levy (Schitt's Creek) as a mourning widower whose hot husband (Luke Evans) dies in a car accident while on his way to his secret boyfriend. The surviving spouse spends the next hour-and-a-half self-indulgently pouting. Dan Levy also directorial the film, marking his debut. He also wrote the script. This is all his fault. Good grief indeed.
If you want a good cry on the streaming service try His Three Daughters (★★★☆☆). Carrie Coon (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) and Elizabeth Olsen (WondaVision) play three mis-matched sisters who have return to the family home to be there in the final moments of their father's life. Their vastly different personalities cause conflict amongst them as Coon's stern pragmatist and Olsen's heartfelt mediator clash with Lyonne's layabout from a different mother who lives as her father's carer for years. The script is deliberate and the performances practiced making this appear like an adaptation of a stage play, but despite the performative artifice, the emotions really strike true.
Continuing the excellent year for horror, but these three add a touch of thriller to the formula. First up is Heretic (★★★★☆), a violent serial killer film the sees a never creepier Hugh Grant entice a couple of Mormon missionaries into his house to kill them. But not before he plays some mind games with them.
Directed by the Oz Perkins, the son of Psycho himself, Longlegs (★★★★☆) is a startlingly disconcerting feature that - however fairly - has been compared to Silence of the Lambs. Personally, I believe there is more than enough here for the movie to stand on its own long legs. A never freakier Nicholas Cage plays a serial killer with a high-pitched voice who preys on young girls. As a child, Maika Monroe's FBI Agent Lee Harker - unknowingly at the time - had a confrontation with him and the memories of this leak into her current investigation. In intensely gripping piece of cinema.
On the lower budget side of things, Irish horror Oddity (★★★★☆) unnerves incredibly effectively on such a small budget. A year after the murder of his wife, Ted (Gwilym Lee) is all set to marry his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton). But this anniversary also calls to Ted's ex-sister-in-law Darcy (Carolyn Bracken in a dual role). The blind proprietor of a curiosity shop, she turns up unannounced with something odd in tow; a life-size wooden carving of a man screaming in fear. A ritualistic trinket used for psychic cleansing, she claims, but as the truth about what happens the year before it appears that it's a lot more than that. A terrifying movie surrounded by a murder mystery that would do Agatha Christie proud. I was so impressed I looked up writer-director Damian Mc Carthy's previous film Caveat from 2021 which was also pretty darn good. He's certainly a name to watch.
Glen Powell's star power is continuing to rise, and these two movies prove it. Richard Linklater's Netflix original Hit-Man (★★★★☆) earned whisper of award nominations when it came out in May, but I doubt he or the film will earn anything of note. That's not to say that this comedic tale of a boring and timid everyman moonlighting as a suave government killer for hire isn't any good. It's one of the best Netflix movies of the year, and despite being a true story (supposedly), the film itself is a heck of a good time.
As is our next legacy sequel, Twisters (★★★★☆). I'm not the biggest fan of the original 1996 movie thinking it to be adequate blockbuster fare, but for some reason this one hit all the right places for me. Just like the twisters. The plot is formulaic and some of the science is incredibly spotty, but the set pieces are exciting, plausible and - in our world of superheroes and giant monsters - somewhat original. More importantly, the characters are well realised and performed, with a pitch perfect performance from Powell.
Two low budget comedies that I enjoyed but, after forcing my friends to watch them, became an unfortunate in-joke. I spoke earlier up the page at how hard it is to get my friends to watch anything that's even the little bit kooky, and Hundreds of Beavers (★★★★☆) sure is that. Filmed on a budget of just 10,000 dollars - and Canadian ones at that - this black-and-white silent movie takes inspiration from the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, but with a heavy dose of Chuck Jones and those Looney Tunes he helped create. A down-on-his-luck lumberjack is thwarted at every turn by a bunch of beavers (played my obvious men in furry costumes). The visual invention on display is incredible and, if you can share it with like-minded people, you'll be in for a blast. Unfortunately, my friends aren't so like-minded. Each one of them vociferously hated it.
They also hated Sasquatch Sunset (★★★★☆), which actually rather similar to Hundreds of Beavers. It is also a silent movie, but plays more like the raw footage of a nature documentary. It follows a family of Bigfoot (including Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough unrecognisable in full-on furry mode) as they navigate the encroaching modern world over the course of a year. The concept may be silly, but the idea of voyeuristically watching a family of animals that are perhaps the last of their kind adds a lot of pathos. But it's also very funny. The visual jokes, often as crass as they are poignant, earned a lot of chuckles out of me but sadly not my friends who mocked it and my tastes just as much as Hundreds of Beavers.
Since I begun writing my annual movie reviews, I've been predicting the return of the high-concept rom-com. Some of those years, a couple of films have peeked over the threshold promising to prove me right, but a full-blown renaissance has never occurred. And, in 2024, the output was even worst. While not exactly high concept, The Idea of You (★★★☆☆) is perhaps the closest it came this year. It stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-something single mum who somehow manages to woo a 24-year-old musical superstar (Nicholas Galitzine). Seeing Ms. Hathaway (who is the same age as me yet looks 10 years younger) and you'll see why. An adaptation of a book expanded from the author's Harry Styles fan fiction, it actually has something to say about middle-aged romantic desire and the relationship age gaps.
Unicorns (★★★☆☆) is a more downbeat romance. Ben Hardy (Love at First Sight, Bohemian Rhapsody) play Luke, a London rude boy who, after stumbling into an Asian gay bar, begins to have feeling for drag queen Aysha (Jason Patel). Only ever identifying as straight, his new feelings begin to effect everyone around him, including his ex-wife and young daughter. While sensitively portrayed, there is something that rings false about the romance, as if it purports that straight-identifying men can be queer if they only just met the right gay. No true, of course, but as presented here (and added to the underrepresented queer Asian culture in England) is makes for a good movie.
Inside Out 2 (★★★★☆) is one of the biggest movie of the year, and one of the biggest movies of all time. It follows young Riley as she enters puberty which bring with it all kinds of new emotions such as Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Anxiety (Maya Hawke) to torment Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) et al in her headspace. One of Pixar's best sequels since Toy Story 3, I hope this sees an end to the company's recently spotty output.
Despite earning a lot of money, Moana 2 (★★☆☆☆) doesn't give me any hope that Disney's animation division is reversing its run of poor movies. My only hope is that the money that this raked in - most likely off the back of the original's high quality - will keep the division funded long enough to weather this low point. This project started life as a Disney+ streaming show and it shows. Every aspect, from the visuals, animation, the script and the music is bland and uninspired. A movie better suited to the small screen than the big one. Do better Disney!
Unfortunately, with Mufasa: The Lion King (★★☆☆☆) released this past Christmas, it seems they're not doing better any time soon. At least this time I managed to sit to the end, unlike the live action The Lion King which I had to turn off. That's because I actually paid money to see it in a theatre (begrudgingly). Worst decision I ever made.
Yorgos Lanthimos' other movie of the year is smaller in budget, but greater in self-indulgence. Kinds of Kindness (★★★☆☆) is a tryptich of shorts that didn't quite work for me, even if I can see what the director was going for. The first story is called 'The Death of R.M.F.'. It follows Jesse Plemons as he bends over backwards doing anything and everything his boss Willem Dafoe tells him to, including everything in his personal life. After an unforeseen car accident, he loses his job because this action was not one of his orders. Desperate to get back into his manipulative boss' life, he errs towards the unthinkable.
The second story, 'R.M.F. is Flying' also stars Plemons in a different role, but here he's grappling with the disappearance of his wife played by Emma Stone. When she is eventually found, something is different about her causing Plemons to believe she is an imposter. His suspicions are so all-encompassing he makes her do terrible things to herself prove who she is.
The final tale, 'R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich' switches to Emma Stone as the protagonist. She is a member of a cult lead by Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau who do not let their followers drink any liquid unless it has been purified by one of their tears. When the leaders disappear, she along with fellow cultist Jesse Plemons goes in search of them so everyone can finally drink again. But, during their mission Stone's character is assaulted and as her partner was not pure (ie. not a cult leader), she is banished from her cultish community. Nevertheless, she still seeks out the leaders which leads her down an unbelievable road.
All three surrealist tails have nothing seemingly in common, except for the recurring character known only as R.M.F.. He appears briefly in each segment, doing exactly what the segment's title says he's doing which is seemingly arbitrary and unconnected. And that could be the point, unhealthy relationships are rather arbitrary and pointless and offer little for all involved. This thesis is the movie's true meaning; manipulation masquerading as kindness is not kindness at all. In each chapter, in their characters' pursuit of happiness, they deny themselves kindness or twist their conception of it and never find the happiness they're looking for. The film it almost impenetrable in is allegorical metaphors which may be fun the theorise about, but I didn't get quite so much out of watching it.
All three surrealist tails have nothing seemingly in common, except for the recurring character known only as R.M.F.. He appears briefly in each segment, doing exactly what the segment's title says he's doing which is seemingly arbitrary and unconnected. And that could be the point, unhealthy relationships are rather arbitrary and pointless and offer little for all involved. This thesis is the movie's true meaning; manipulation masquerading as kindness is not kindness at all. In each chapter, in their characters' pursuit of happiness, they deny themselves kindness or twist their conception of it and never find the happiness they're looking for. The film it almost impenetrable in is allegorical metaphors which may be fun the theorise about, but I didn't get quite so much out of watching it.
Two of Sony's Spider-man Universe (SSU) movies that I wish they'd give up on already (and would you know it, they have!). Venom and its first sequel are by-the-numbers fare that could've offered something twistedly special if they were brave enough to push the concept. Unfortunately Venom 3: The Last Dancer (★★☆☆☆) is the safest one of all. Dull. But it's still better than the other two.
Kraven the Hunter (★★☆☆☆) is much the same. It is a safe attempt at an interesting comic book character, but it is also one that doesn't have the same recognition as Venom. Aaron Taylor Johnson at Kraven doesn't quite embarrass himself as Jared Leto in Morbius or Dakota Johnson in Madame Web (see below), but he looks uncomfortable at times. With some bizarre directorial choices, the film existence is nothing short of baffling. Much like the entirety of the SSU.
DreamWorks would always swing wildly with the quality of their films, but for the most part they offered some good pictures. Until the last few months of the year, I thought they were in their worst down turn yet. Ruby Gillman sucked and Trolls: Band Together was generic family fare. Then we got Orion in the Dark (★★★☆☆) which went straight to Netflix with little fanfare. Based on the popular children's book by Emma Yarlett and adapted by famed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). With its super-powered personifications of real-world concepts, it plays more like a poor man's version of the studio's own Rise of the Guardians. Here, pre-teen scaredy-cat Orion spends twenty-four hours with one of his fears - Dark - learning not to be afraid in the process. Told as a bedtime story by Orion as an adult to his young daughter, the framing device attempts to add some emotional heft and complex themes, but it fails more than it succeeds. With such an interesting concept, the failures of the final product screams studio interference. And with Charlie Kaufman's much more interesting original draft that was leaked online, this appears to be the case.
But at least it wasn't as bad as Kung Fu Panda 4 (★★☆☆☆). Considering how good the previous three were, the cheapness on display here is one of the most heartbreakingly disappointing movies of the year. Jack Black returns as Po, as does most other characters bar the too-famous thus too-expensive cast for the rest of the Furious Five. They're now mute and benched to make room for Akwafina's out-of-place fox ninja. Her character looks more in keeping with the Puss in Boots character design than the punkier, more angular ones found in the original films and for any discerning animation lover it would cheapens the whole project had the script and story not done that long before she showed up.
So, I was about to lose all hope for the company for the nth time when The Wild Robot (★★★★☆) trailer hit. It looked fantastic! And while the movie itself may not have the same heft it promised, it is still proof positive that there are good artists working at the DreamWorks. After a shipment of helper droids crash into a forest, one of them (played with the right amount of emotion by Lupita Nyong'o) boots up and in her effort to find her master, she accidentally steps on a nest of goose eggs. Only one survives, a runt named Brightbill (Kit Connor) and she vows to hatch and raise it. And when migration season begins, she has to teach him to fly too. A perfectly pitched kids movie that has a strong message about acceptance and perseverance wrapped up in an exciting and often very funny action sci-fi in the same mould as The Iron Giant.
Turning Tolkien - specifically Peter Jackson's take on Tolkien - into a Japanese animation is a bit of an unexpected left turn. And before I saw The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (★★★☆☆), I'd have said it was a welcome one. Unfortunately, the poorly scripted tale of the early days or Rohan and Helm's Deep is a rather dull experience. Character motivations are confused and contrived, as the son of a neighbouring tribe seeks blind revenge after his brash father challenges the King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, and loses not just his pride, but his life. Told from the point of view of Helm's daughter Héra, she makes for a bland protagonist. The hand-drawn backgrounds are beautiful, but when the stilted animation of the characters are set against CGI environments, it looks rather ugly. All in all, a rather disappointing endeavour.
Three of the weirdest movies of the year. Love Lies Bleeding (★★★☆☆) is a crime thriller set among the backdrop of female bodybuilding. Kristen Stewart's Lou (excellent) becomes infatuated with a new gym member called Jackie (a revelatory Katy O'Brian), and it's not long before the two become a deeply intense couple. When Lou's sister get brutally beaten up by her husband (Dave Franco), a comment made in anger makes Jackie, who's performance-enhancing drug use is making her increasingly disturbed, believe she has to kill him. And she does. What follows is a hallucinatory fever dream of the two lovers trying to get away with murder, all the while one of them is tripping balls. There's some insane imagery on display here that's equal parts disturbing and beautiful, but beyond the pristine production and cast, the overall story never quite engaged me as much as I wanted it to.
Rumours (★★★☆☆) is bizarro comedy at its finest. Cate Blanchet, who after the Oscar-baiting TÁR, is making some out-there choices and I'm all for it. For this film at least. She plays the fictional German chancellor Hilda Orlmann who, along with other world leader, have gathered together at a German castle for the annual G7 summit, but things take a strange turn when their staff begin to go missing leaving these leaders of the free world alone and helpless in the wilderness. And something strange is lurking in the woods. The satire may be broad and the comedy over the top, but the sheer insanity of the premise made me leave the movie with overall positivity. You can certainly say that there's no other film like it.
Stranger still is Stopmotion (★★★☆☆), a well-worn horror story told in the most captivating way possible. Ella (Aisling Franciosi) is the daughter of a famed animator who suffers from her mother's overbearing and abusive personality. When she is hospitalised with a stroke, Ella continues her work but her mental health declines and the stop-motion bleeds into her real life with strange and violent consequences. The story of a character's decent into madness is a common one in horror, and it isn't as deftly told here as it is in the likes of Censor or Saint Maud, but the freaky animation and inventive imagery is what will truly stick in your mind.
Ti West's X trilogy ends in in the series' low point, but MaXXXine (★★★☆☆) is still no damp squib. After the events of the 70's-set first film, Mia Goth's Maxine Minx has made a name for herself as a porn star but still has ambitions to make it as a movie actress. It is now the 80's so anything's possible and she gets a gig as the lead in a slasher movie sequel. But word of a serial killer is on the loose, and those dying just so happen to be close acquaintances. Determined not to let is scupper her big break, Maxine's survivor instincts (and a touch of PTSD) from the first film kick in, just in time for her be the target. The most pulp and convoluted of the three, the attempt at critiquing women in media and moral panics fall flat with some surprising reveals that leave you groaning instead of grinning. Competent and entertaining but not nearly as essential as X or Pearl.
Being a Blumhouse remake of a Danish modern classic, I had little hope for Speak No Evil (★★★★☆). But then the positive review started to come in so I decided to take a punt on it when it reached streaming. A little less bleak than the original, but no less affecting, the film follows the Daltons () Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy, a friendly American family who have befriended an English couple Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi) on cruise. They connect so well that they decide to meet up again in Paddy's English country home some time later. But when the Daltons arrive and meet the rest of the family, they realise that something is not right with them. An intense and nerve-wracking inverse of a home invasion film that stars a never-scarier James McAvoy on top form.
Some period set British comedies that vary drastically in quality. Sieze Them! (★★☆☆☆) is insanely low budget and it shows. It's clear that the money was spent on a who's who of comedy talent from out shores. Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education, Living) stars as the spoilt Queen Dagan overthrown by the bloodthirsty peasant Humble Joan (Nicola Coughlan, Bridgerton, Derry Girls) and goes on the run with her loyal servant Shulmay (Lolly Adefope, Saltburn, Ghosts) learning life lessons along the way. While the cast is game, the comedy is as empty as the set design but it does just enough to not be a blight on anyone's CV.
Timestalker (★★★☆☆) is multi-hyphenate Alice Lowe's follow up to the exceptional Prevenge and it continues her rather unique quirky comedy-horror vibes for the arthouse scene. She plays a number of roles throughout time, following her soul through the eras after each untimely death. These deaths, which are often deliberately hilarious as they are shockingly gory, are caused by her unfettered infatuation with the reincarnated characters played by Aneurin Barnard (1899, Dunkirk). There are moments of directorial whimsy at play which gives the broad comedy a strange independent vibe that just about works. It may not be as laugh-out-loud funny or as thought-provokingly deep as it wants to be, but Timestalker is a good movie that showcases the winning talents of the writer-director-star rather well.
Two very different true-life tales from the British Isles. Released in April, the Netflix original Scoop (★★★☆☆) which dramatizes the infamous interview with Prince Andrew pips Amazon Prime's A Very Royal Scandal mini series by a good five months. If you ask me, this is arguably the better work. It focusses on Billie Piper's Sam McAlister as she breaks the news of sexual impropriety (to put it mildly) and bags an exclusive interview for the BBC. Gillian Anderson also stars as veteran journalist Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewel plays the disgraced royal, but this is really McAlister's movie which makes it a more personal one.
Whenever Jessie Buckley and Olivia Coleman go head-to-head on screen in Wicked Little Letters (★★★★☆), it is a blast. In a small English village in the 1920s, reserved Enid (Coleman) begins to receive hate mail filled with the most inventive curse words this side of an underground rap battle. She blames neighbour and sometimes best-friend Rose (Buckley) whose Irish brogue and brash attitude, and the two embark on a wild battle of words as they go to war with each other. The twist is telegraphed from a mile off, and being based on a true story some may already know but this movie soars solely based on the two leads. Loads of fun.
The Shyamalan-verse expands as M. Night's family enter the industry to less than stellar results. Directed by the man himself, Trap (★★☆☆☆) is an incredibly silly story about a serial killer's daddy-daughter trip to a Lady Gaga-like musical concert is just an elaborate sting by the FBI to capture him. M. Night's daughter Saleka stars as a singer who becomes a lead character in the second half of the film and you can tell this was a nepo choice. Not as fun as the utterly bonkers premise promises to be, and the idea of it being more of a comedy seems like a post-release re-appraisal, but I don't begrudge anyone for liking it. Unfortunately, I didn't.
His other daughter, Ishana, as she proves to have some talent with The Watchers (★★★☆☆) which she also wrote the screenplay. After getting lost in a strange woods in Ireland, Mina (the always good Dakota Fanning) finds shelter with three other strangers, only to find that they've been there, unable to leave, for years. During that time, evil unseen entities from the darkness beyond the trees are watching them like a reality TV show. Shot with great style, but lacking the potency of a punchier script, The Watchers is a decent watch if you can get to the trademark twist and not groan.
Now that that's over, it's time to talk about the worst of the worst. Movies so bad
WORST 5 OF 2021
5
Essentially Tommy Wiseau's The Room with a budget, It Ends With Us (★★☆☆☆) is a poorly judged romantic drama about an abusive relationship. But that's not all they have in common. Both are directed by their lead actor, both tried to sully the name of their co-stars after release and both feature memorable scenes in a flower shop. It End With Us isn't as memorable for the wrong reason like The Room is. In fact it isn't memorable at all, but it is here above some other non-entities solely for the behind-the-scenes controversies that stain its reputation. Like The Room before it (and more recently Don't Worry Darling) the the making of it has more to say about human nature than the so-called insights found in the movie itself.
4
If ever a remake was worth a stab Mean Girls: The Musical (★★☆☆☆) was it. Not as a simple retelling of the classic 2004 teen comedy, but as an adaptation of the somewhat beloved stage musical. Alas, this movie does both a disservice. They've softened up the hard edges of the actual mean girls, while tearing out the innate sweetness of the central character Cady. Taking on the Lindsay Lohan role, the miscast Angourie Rice show no sign of the comedy chops I know are there (she was the only good thing about Netflix's Senior Year). Also absent is her singing ability, though Reneé Rapp's Regina George more than makes up for it. Alas, this is an entirely misjudged endeavour that doesn't understand the originals let alone betters them which is a feat for such a simple movie.
3
Both Lift (★☆☆☆☆) and Borderlands (★★☆☆☆) - or Kevin Hart's Failed Attempts to be an Action Hero: Parts One and Two - are two massively misjudged movies. Lift, which has the excuse of being a straight to streaming Netflix original, casts Hart as a gruff leader of a gang of art thieves who has been hired by the FBI to steal a painting on a plane because reasons. That reason is to prevent a terrorist attack but I'll be damned if I can remember what they actually did in the story (I've been trying to forget it since January). Directed by the workmanlike F. Gary Gray (Fast 8, Men in Black: International) it's the epitome of a movie everyone involved made just for the fat Netflix paycheque. Bland, forgettable, pointless.
Borderlands is a little better, though it seems some studio meddling may be more to blame. A few years ago, I was impressed by The House with a Clock in its Walls stating that the sometimes horror maestro Eli Roth should dip his toe in adventure fare more often. A bad omen it seems. Based on the very violent adult-only video game set to get a fourquel in 2025, it roughly translates the plot of the second game. Hart plays a gruff soldier who, alongside a motley group of Hollywood actors with wildly different star power, embarks on a mission to find an ancient artefact because reasons. It's a frustrating watch because you see the cracks of a good movie within it, and a potentially sanitised one fit for a much younger crowd. The cast look bored; Cate Blanchett may be miscast but does her best until you get to the point where she blatantly gave up trying. It looks like everyone got the memo by the time Jamie Lee Curtis comes on screen much later in the film as she appears lost and confused that goes well beyond her character. Kevin Hart himself ends up being a non-entity leaving the best played role to Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina. A wasted opportunity.
2
Who wanted Madame Web (★☆☆☆☆)? Sony's Spider-man Universe consisting only of his villains has been a non-starter from the very beginning. Outside of the Venom movies that coast on the character's name recognition alone, none of them have sat well with critics or audiences alike. Madame Web became a memeable laughing stock when it was released, featuring clunky exposition, a tired plot and more bad acting from the rarely good Dakota Johnson as Spider-man fortune-teller Cassandra Webb. The plot is so lazy, I don't think I can be bothered to remind myself of it. Instead, I'll quote the movie; "(movie villain Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim)) was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died." And that was when Madame Web was born. Literally.
1
A confused remake of the gothic comic book movie that singularly inspired Goths for years, The Crow (★☆☆☆☆) comes nowhere near that level of iconography. The bold make-up, long leather jackets and attractive depressed tone are nowhere to be found here. Instead, the youth culture as been updated to the shambolically cultivated style of badly-shaved hair and tattooed torsos that went out of fashion when Die Antwoord stopped charting a decade ago when it was about halfway through its development hell (it was first announced in 2008). It takes an age to get going - over half an hour before romantic ex-convicts Bill Skarsgård's Eric Draven and FKA Twigs' Shelly die and kickstart the plot. It's over an hour before Draven assumes the coldly vengeful role of The Crow (both occur in the first act in the original) but you'd likely checked out of the movie long before then.
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Gosh, I bet you've seen more films than most professional film critics. Some useful recommendations here, including films that had entirely escaped my attention. I will try to see them at some point. That was an interesting observation about Unicorns. I haven't seen it, or even heard about it until now, so I don't know how this romance is portrayed. However, I do believe that a drag queen, if she is is sufficiently feminine, would be far more attractive to a straight man than to a gay man, since we would prefer them when they are in male clothing. An example would be... Roger Taylor in drag in the I Want To Break Free video, which many straight men find attractive, apparently. However, if the lead of this film continues to find the drag queen attractive when out of drag, that would be strange, yes. Then he can't be classified as straight.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the upcoming Oscar season, even though I need to see more films.
And yes, I am tired of the Minions, too. They were funny in their cameo roles in the earliest Despicable Me films, but everyone should be tired of them by now. We just need to stop going to the cinema to see them. I wish I had given myself this advice before going to the cinema to see them. I'll resist next time.
DeleteJust to clarify, that comment above was from the same person: me.
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