Welcome to 2025. 2024 is in the rear view mirror, and with all that will be going on, my motto for this year is "Survive 2025". The first Grab Bag will be coming up soon, but before that, it's time for me to list my favorite movies that I have seen in 2024, in mostly no particular order. Some (or all) you may have seen, some you may not, and may be worthy of checking out! At the end, I have list a couple duds, that I want my time back for viewing!
Drum roll please: Wicked: Duh! Only seen the movie four times now, (and more to come!) endured my partners "singing" during the sing-a-long version, and is quite simply just a dang near perfect movie! People have written PH.d's on all the layers this movie has story-wise (a little to close to real life), and is a fun, visual masterpiece! Throw ALL the awards at them, especially to the leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande (the surprise performance of the movie), and EVERYONE wants Jonathan Bailey! Part 2 comes out later in 2025, and if you haven't seen the musical, y'all ain't ready! Green and pink DO go well together! Best to see it for the first time on the big screen when you can!
Alien: Romulus: Finally, my beloved franchise returns back to its scary, steamy, metallic, claustrophobic roots! A new crew (and cast) make the decision to investigate an abandoned space station, and find out they should've just sailed right past that ship! EASILY the scariest movie of 2024! The audience we saw it with could not DEAL with a couple of the kill scenes, some rushing towards the exits! Highest scream decibel I've heard in a long time! Yep, its deliciously Alien gory and scary- my tummy was in knots, my left hand almost crushed by my partner (in space, no one should hear him scream!). If not for Wicked, This was my fave movie of 2024! Only quibble I have is that the film threw too many challenges at our Romulus crew. Oh, and there is a surprise cameo that viewers have FEELINGS about! If you liked the first two Alien movies (this one takes place between the first and second), then come back home, especially for the zero-gravity scene, which starts with a great idea, and moves quickly to "oh fuck!". Gotta think these things thru! :)
Oh, and the sound effects really crank up the tension- I better see awards given out for that alone! UPDATE: It just debuted on Disney+...I kid you not-due to Disney's new partnership with Hulu, which had it first!
Dune: Part 2: If you enjoyed Part One, the second part delivers the goods, with a lot more action, prophecies fulfilled, worm riding, absolutely stunning cinematography, and solid acting from the cast to a story that remains faithful to be beloved novels! Not much more to say, other than if you watch both back to back, you are viewing a cinematic masterpiece!
Wild Robot: Okay, I have your family film here! A robot gets thrown off course and lands in the forest, where it soon discovers the ways of life amongst the forest animals, moving from fear and uncertainty to acceptance. That's the simple synopsis of this animated film. What I can tell you is me and my partner bawled our eyes out at times, and were a (happy) blubbery mess once we left the theater. No Super Duper stop-over that day! Another visual masterpiece, and a script that goes straight for the viewers heart with the cast of critters you and the Robot, come to care about! Highly recommended for a good date night, or a good sappy cry!
Quiet Place: Day One. The third movie in the Quiet Place franchise. As the title suggests, it is the first day these nasty, sightless, but amplified hearing aliens hit New York, the loudest place on the planet. Things do not go well for the citizens of Gotham. We follow two characters, one with a cat, as they navigate thru the destruction of Manhattan to the bay (as the aliens hate water) after the aliens have basically destroyed NYC; being VERY VERY careful not to make the slightest sound. Unlike the first two Quiet Place flicks, there IS a bit more dialogue in this one (not counting the screaming!), and the audience is tense through out just waiting for a fork to drop, a glass to spill, or a chair to squeak! Speaking of squeaking, that damn mouse!!!!!! Spoiler alert: The cat survives, barely!
Challengers: Zendaya had a great year! First with Dune, now with this sexual- psychological drama set in the world of professional tennis. I reviewed this last year, and I'm going to do the same thing again by quoting another reviewer, who nails exactly whats going here in this flick, from EW's Maureen Lee Menker:
Built around a Challengers tournament match between former friends turned rivals, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the film volleys between timelines as swiftly as a tennis ball, shading in the contours of the duo’s past. The lynchpin between them is Tashi Donaldson (Zendaya), a promising young tennis star they both lust after. Tashi really only cares about one thing, though — tennis — and she pits the boys against each other with the aim of amping up their game.
After an initial dalliance with Patrick and a career-ending injury, Tashi comes to coach — and eventually marries — Art. She registers Art in a Challengers tournament, seemingly with the aim of boosting his confidence before he makes one last run at winning the U.S. Open — and their regrets and recriminations come to a head when he must face off against Patrick in the finals.
Justin Kuritzkes's twisty script leaves us guessing as the trio's mind games wreak havoc on each other and the audience all at once. Zendaya has called the project Codependency: The Movie, and it is a deliciously audacious tale of three damaged people who cannot live without each other. There is lust and loathing in equal measure, but the primary truism is that they are hopelessly entangled with each other, for better or worse.
The soundtrack by Trent Reznor (Who won the Golden Globe!) and the amazing filming of the tennis matches, especially the final match (we are the ball!) are shot with a heart-racing intensity as things reach a climax (pun semi-intended), that leaves the audience to interpret the ending! Zendaya brings the heat, but it's the boys who bring the steam (pun very intended!).COME ON!
Abigal: If you enjoyed M3GAN, Have I got a flick for you! The plot on its surface is pretty simple: A bunch of kidnappers snatch a billionaire's young daughter, a budding ballerina for ransom, hold up in a house/mansion the boss directed them to, and wait till dawn to collect their ransom. Simple, right? Not so fast. Turns out none of the kidnappers know each other, and a big part of the movie is them and the audience finding out who they are and their motives, which leads to some great twists and turns! Oh, did I forget to mention that their kidnap victim is a VAMPIRE??!! Yes, a ballerina-dancing vampire (some of the best campiest scenes in the film!)! This horror movie doesn't shy away from the blood and gore, and I was quite pleased with the ending. Easily the most FUN movie I've seen (several times) in a while. Who needs Swan Lake when you can get a double pirouette floating in the air as our vamp launches down on you for the kill! She DOES like to play with her food! Highly recommend for a Halloween Watch party!
Conclave: Well, this movie pleasantly surprised me with its intrigue, subterfuge, fantastic acting, beautiful interior set designs, and a WOWZA twist at the end. Definitely one of the best dramas of 2024. I'm afraid I might spill more than i should, so I am going to quote Jordan Augustine's summation from Peacock (where it is currently airing!) website: Conclave, the papal political thriller directed by Edward Berger and based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris, follows Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) as he oversees the intricate, covert process of convening the College of Cardinals to select a new pope after the unexpected death of the beloved previous Holy Father. It’s a twisty, high-tension thrill ride stuffed to the vestments with incredible performances and stunning cinematography. Due to the inherently theatrical nature of the proceedings and the larger-than-life characters involved, the movie is also entertaining.
Mysterious in its own right due to the process, Conclave is like peeling back the layers of an onion, as secrets and agendas are revealed- including that whopper at the end. So sit back, enjoy the popcorn, and delve into the secret world of how a new Pope is selected!
Carry-On: It is now official, Carry-On is now in Netflix's top ten movies OF ALL TIME! Some folks have been comparing this to a lower budget Die-Hard, and the film has scored very high with the critics and audiences. It's a simple, formulaic story. TSA agent gets compromised by a terrorist who wants our agent to pass thru a deadly weapon at the TSA check-point. While we don't get much action till near the end of the film, we do get a great cat and mouse game between the protagonist and antagonist. The ole "how is he going to get out of this situation" trope is played well as the tension builds throughout the film. I HAVE to give a special shout-out to the fantastic filming and editing of the car FIGHT while driving towards the airport between our very smart lady cop and the bad guy (slight spoiler there!), that was wild- and a scene I have played over and over again for its cinematic artistry! If you ever wondered why your checked luggage gets lost or sent to another location, this film may answer that question for you! :) :)
Late add: Yea, I saw it over the first weekend of January, but it came out in 2024! The Substance: Just another movie about the ole age/youth beauty issue, especially in Hollywood, probably satirical, right? That element runs thru this movie on MUBI streaming, but for the love of Ozempic, this movie, as it goes on, goes off the rails into bat-shit BONKERS territory. I loved the directors use of colors (the yellow coat, the white bathroom), and her camera angles with size, shape and scope (the twisty long hallway to the bathroom), the close-ups, and the acting by the two leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley (in this case, the script did need the nudity both actresses did, not gratuitous), this flick will go down as one of the most BONKERS flicks to hit the cinematic screen. This is by the end, a HORROR MOVIE, the monster being what lengths people will go to for youth and fame. And it's not alien-acid horror, but the real-life icky horror stuff (lets just say I wish my tooth extractions, while just as gory, were as easy as they were in this film, and fingernails falling off- ick!). By the last act, production must have used hundreds of gallons of fake blood for an almost literal fire-hose of blood-spraying; at this point I was laughing my ass off for the all the right reasons, the film went ALL IN on it's over-the top gore, a fantastically gory move!
To say I was (happily) shooketh by the end of the film would be an understatement! So if you can handle nudity, and cover-your-eyes gore without hurling, this flick is for you! My friend David will avoid this like the plague just based on the two examples I listed above! :) The trailer below is very good at laying out the HOW, but also does a great job of NOT revealing the consequences I laid out above! You have been warned! :) Also: You. Are. One.
Update: Demi Moore won her first Best Actress Award ever, for this flick at the Golden Globes!
And to wrap up, the two WORST movies I saw this year! Joker: Part Deux- I've read that the director, after seeing the reactions to the first Joker film, made this one as a FU to those fans, and boy, does it show! So, so boring, and stupid, and to make it a faux musical?? Wicked has nothing to worry about on that account. Joaquín Phoenix and Lady Gaga did their best with what they were given, but I'm pretty sure they would like to wash this one off their resumes. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice: This film just seems to be fumbling around trying to find a cohesive story to tell, and ends up telling multiple ones that muck up the pipes and starts inducing migraines. The cast was game, but even they seem they were trying to catch up to where the story should be, or lost in the confusion. I can give it a half star for the very entertaining last part of the film, which is the wedding sequence...now THAT was fun, and captured the spirit of the original film! There you have it! Next up will be the best TV shows/miniseries I saw in 2024 (doesn't mean they were released in 2024!)
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