By Bob Grimm
I’ve said this annually as of late: Hey, this past year was not awesome for movies.
Hollywood is still scrambled up from those strikes and the confinement-causing viruses that threw the industry into chaos. There is no sense of normalcy when you go to a theater these days; it’s, like, a bunch of people seemingly thinking, “Should we really be here? We’ve got a big screen at home, and that dude over there just sprayed snot all over the candy counter.”
That said, I did seriously like, and maybe even love, some movies in 2024. The year was a late-bloomer and uneven, but the final weeks placed a couple of movies in front of my face that helped me round out a semi-healthy Top 10 list.
With that said … here we go! Hooray!
The Best!
1. The Brutalist: One of the best epic films of the 21st century, this movie about an architect escaping Europe during World War II and coming to America stands alongside the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood when it comes to monumental films. It was made for somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million, and shot in just more than a month; you would think it took at least 10 times more money and time to make it, considering how damn good it looks. Adrien Brody should get another Oscar nomination, as should Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones and director Brady Corbet. The Brutalist is three hours and 35 minutes long, and it feels too short.
2. Nosferatu: A close second place goes to this Robert Eggers masterpiece, a remake of the classic gothic vampire film based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Bill Skarsgard terrifies as the title character while Eggers pilots another top-tier entry in the horror genre. The sound of Skarsgard’s vampire feeding will haunt you. I was scared—and I’m still scared. Yikes!
3. Thelma: For a long time, this film, released back in June, stood as my No. 1 for the year, a quirky comedy starring June Squibb as a grandmother who gets scammed and conducts her own investigation to retrieve the funds. Squibb is deadpan hilarious tooling around on a scooter with Richard Roundtree (who died after Thelma was filmed). Easily the year’s funniest movie.
4. A Real Pain: Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg gives Kieran Culkin the role of his life as they play cousins heading to Europe to remember their grandma. Culkin is on fire for the whole film, while Eisenberg shines as a performer, writer and director.
5. The Substance: Easily the year’s yuckiest movie, The Substance is both a strong satire regarding the battle by women to keep looking young, and a throwback to ’80s/’90s gorefests delivered by the likes of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley put themselves through the ringer, and the result is a hilarious, gross howl.
6. Sing Sing: Colman Domingo does career-best work as a prison inmate coping with the help of theater, in a film based on a compelling true story.
7. Saturday Night: This real-time look at the minutes leading up to the premiere of the iconic show feels authentic and features wall-to-wall winning performances. Chevy Chase recently stated that director Jason Reitman should be “embarrassed” about this movie. This from the man who participated in Oh! Heavenly Dog; Cops and Robbersons; and The Peanut Butter and Jelly Gang. (I made that last title up, but it does sound like the sort of movie his dickish self would make.)
8. Love Lies Bleeding: One of the year’s crazier movies, Love Lies Bleeding is a love story on steroids, featuring Kristen Stewart on fire.
9. Woman of the Hour: I loved this directorial debut from Anna Kendrick, who also stars in this true story of a woman who appeared on a game show with an actual serial killer.
10. A Complete Unknown: Yes, it’s a bit by-the-numbers as far as biopics go, but Timothee Chalamet marvels as Bob Dylan, with Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro equally amazing, as all of them do their own singing and playing. Yeah, it’s a bit choppy in stretches, but I’m calling this a sentimental favorite and giving it a slot.
The next 10 (by name only): Juror #2, Civil War, Smile 2, A Different Man, Dune: Part Two, Deadpool & Wolverine, Nickel Boys, Oddity, Strange Darling, Heretic.
The Stanky Worst
Here are 10 movies I won’t be watching again, unless you dare me. I’m always up for a dare.
1. Megalopolis: Despite all the acid being thrown on Megalopolis by critics, I went into it thinking, “It’s Coppola; he’s gone crazy before, and that gave us stuff like Apocalypse Now, which was divisive at the time, and is now a classic.” This one is not going to age well; it is confounding in its stupidity and incoherence. The production quality is worse than Caligula, and so is the dialogue. Over-ambition is one thing; delirium is another. I still love him, but wow.
2. Joker: Folie a Drop a Deuce: I knew that the only way they could get Joaquin Phoenix back into his Joker makeup was to make something totally crazy and unique. This film accomplishes that—but not in a good way. Todd Phillips can’t make a sequel to save his life (see The Hangover movies), and this quasi-musical is a dull, useless escapade. I think Phoenix is done with his Joker. Please, let him be done with his Joker. The first one was stupid, too!
3. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: I was encouraged by the previews but completely disgusted with the results. It appears only Ivan Reitman knew how to make a good Ghostbusters movie, and even he failed with Ghostbusters 2. They’ll probably keep churning them out, and I’ll probably keep watching them, thinking, “Oh, this could be good.” I’m a stupid, gullible schmuck.
4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: You are screwing up in major ways when you have a giant gorilla punching Godzilla in the face, and you can’t make it interesting.
5. Anyone but You: I’m trying to like Sydney Sweeney. I really am. Even with her great work in The White Lotus, I’m just not there yet, thanks to films like this. I preferred her nuanced work in that Rolling Stones video.
6. Trap: I appreciate a good M. Night Shyamalan yarn, but at this point, the bad outweighs the good, and this is his worst since The Happening. Thanks to the unfolding of implausible events in this concert-set thriller, I surpassed my personal record of saying, “Give me a fucking break!” at a movie, previously held by—hey, wouldn’t you know it, The Happening!
7. Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1: Kevin Costner got all super-cocky with his Yellowstone return to super-mega stardom—so cocky that he decided to throw that all away in favor of this wannabe magnum opus. He invested a lot of his own dough (Coppola style!) to produce a movie so bad, the second installment of his intended four-part saga got its release date moved to God Knows When. The rest of this tired old Western series is probably coming soon to your least-favorite streaming service.
8. Unfrosted: Jerry Seinfeld gave us Seinfeld, so he is forever forgiven for delivering mostly crap since then. Pop-Tarts weren’t funny in his act, and they aren’t funny in this movie.
9. Here: There were plenty of ambitious failures this year. I consider this one starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, examining the same spot of land throughout history, as an honest try at something different. I also look at it as one of the most boring, pretentious and downright useless movies Robert Zemeckis has ever made, and he made The Polar Express.
10. The spot is reserved for vastly overrated sequels—films that did well with critics and audiences, but underwhelmed me. I have no need to see any of the following again: Gladiator II; Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice; Bad Boys: Ride or Die; and Twisters. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t need these sequels until I saw them. The wasteful Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was especially disheartening.
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