Tuesday, December 10, 2024

2024 Movie List - The Top 196 Movies of the Year So Far

THE STANDOUTS (13) - This should go without saying, but these are all must-sees.

The Apprentice ***1/2
Anora ***1/2
Dune: Part Two ***1/2
The Brutalist ***1/2
We Live in Time ***1/2
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story ***1/2
The Truth vs. Alex Jones ***1/2
Sing Sing ***
Femme ***
The Substance ***
Babygirl ***
Day of the Fight ***
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter ***

THE GOOD (44) - These represent quality filmmaking all around.

Love Lies Bleeding ***
The Order ***
September 5 ***
Babes ***
Didi ***
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ***
Saturday Night ***
Will & Harper ***
Road House ***
Thelma ***
Relay ***
Presence ***
Skincare ***
Strange Darling ***
Rez Ball ***
Unstoppable ***
Nutcrackers ***
Smile 2 ***
A Real Pain ***
Don't Move ***
Blink Twice ***
Magpie ***
Old Fox ***
Lover, Stalker, Killer ***
How to Rob a Bank ***
Back to Black ***
Wicked ***
Immaculate ***
The Thicket ***
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed ***
The Speedway Murders ***
Biggest Heist Ever ***
Bad Genius ***
Watchmen: Chapter 1 ***
A Family Affair ***
Snack Shack **1/2
The Instigators **1/2
Damsel **1/2
Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever **1/2
12.12: The Day **1/2
Self Reliance **1/2
What Jennifer Did **1/2
An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th **1/2
MoviePass, MovieCrash **1/2

THE GOOD... BUT SHOULD'VE BEEN BETTERS (40) - Why weren't these good movies better? I don't really know. But they should've been. Hence, the name of this section.

Inside Out 2 ***
Conclave ***
Emilia Perez ***
Bird ***
The Cut ***
Speak No Evil ***
Nightbitch **1/2
The King Tide **1/2
Gladiator II **1/2
My Old Ass **1/2
Trap **1/2
Twisters **1/2
In the Land of Saints and Sinners **1/2
The Fall Guy **1/2
Rebel Ridge **1/2
The Line **1/2
Heretic **1/2
Alien: Romulus **1/2
Fly Me to the Moon **1/2
Challengers **1/2
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare **1/2
A Different Man **1/2
Riff Raff **1/2
The Wasp **1/2
Asphalt City **1/2
Blood for Dust **1/2
The Last Stop in Yuma County **1/2
Sasquatch Sunset **1/2
The Piano Lesson **1/2
Okie **1/2
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F **1/2
The Killer **1/2
Matt and Mara **1/2
Brats **1/2
Girls State **1/2
Scoop **1/2
Red Rooms **1/2
How to Have Sex **1/2
Sometimes I Think About Dying **1/2
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire **1/2

THE GUILTY PLEASURES (22) - These are movies that I shouldn't like but I do, for one reason or another. I only feel ashamed because the Internet tells me I'm supposed to.

Red Right Hand ***
Land of Bad ***
The Coffee Table ***
The Deliverance ***
The Beekeeper **1/2
DogMan **1/2
Terrifier 3 **1/2
5lbs of Pressure **1/2
1992 **1/2
Prey **1/2
The Underdoggs **1/2
The 4:30 Movie **1/2
V/H/S/Beyond **1/2
Werewolves **1/2
Incoming **1/2
The Union **
Jackpot! **
Unfrosted **
You Can't Run Forever **
Trigger Warning **
Tarot **
Cult Killer **

THE UNDERWHELMING DISAPPOINTMENTS (54) - Chalk it up to expectations but these movies just didn't cut it for me.

Longlegs **1/2
Civil War **1/2
Megalopolis **1/2
The Seed of the Sacred Fig **1/2
Blitz **1/2
Monkey Man **1/2
Kill **1/2    
MaXXXine **1/2
A Quiet Place: Day One **1/2
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes **1/2
Late Night With the Devil **1/2
The First Omen **1/2
Handling the Undead **1/2
His Three Daughters **1/2
Moana 2 **1/2
The Bikeriders **
Humane **
Wolfs **
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 **
Eden **
The Last Showgirl **
Juror #2 **
Abigail **
Argylle **
Greedy People **
Deadpool & Wolverine **
The Strangers: Chapter 1 **
Ricky Stanicky **
The Seeding **
The Crow **
I.S.S. **
A Sacrifice **
He Went That Way **
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 **
Y2K **
The Damned **
Red One **
Founders Day **
The Shadow Strays **
The Exorcism **
Limbo **
The Platform 2 **
Lumberjack the Monster **
Joker: Folie a Deux *1/2
I Saw the TV Glow *1/2
Bad Boys: Ride or Die *1/2
Heather *1/2
Mr. Crocket *1/2
Oddity *1/2
Kim's Video *1/2
The Bricklayer *1/2
Lift *1/2
AfrAId *1/2
What Remains *1/2

THE BAD (23) - For better or worse, I just don't know what these movies were thinking.

It's What's Inside *1/2
In a Violent Nature *1/2
Cuckoo *1/2
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire *1/2
Drive-Away Dolls *1/2
Kinds of Kindness *
The End *
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice *
The Watchers *
Nickel Boys *
Brothers *
The Gutter *
Caddo Lake *
Azrael *
Boneyard *
Poolman *
Trim Season *
Madame Web *
Night Swim *
Sleeping Dogs 1/2*
Killer of Men 1/2*
It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This 1/2*
Ick 1/2*

IN PROGRESS (4) - I started watching these but I never quite finished. Make of that what you will... but not always. Sometimes, it's just a matter of viewing circumstances.

Borderlands (45 minutes)
The Garfield Movie (45 minutes)
Killer Heat (30 minutes)
The Killer's Game (20 minutes)

EMBARGOED (1) - Silence is golden... for now.

Carry-On

DON'T FORGET (4) - I first saw these 2023 movies a while back. This list is for me, so I don't forget them.

Jamojaya ***1/2
Woman of the Hour ***1/2
Hit Man ***
Knox Goes Away **1/2

OOPS, I MISSED (147): About Dry Grasses, Adam the First, All We Imagine as Light, The American Society of Magical Negroes, American Star, Am I OK?, Apartment 7A, Arcadian, Armor, Arthur the King, Atlas, Bad Shabbos, Bagman, The Beast, Beautiful Wedding, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Better Man, Between the Temples, Bob Marley: One Love, The Book of Clarence, The Breaking Ice, Close Your Eyes, La Cocina, Cold Copy, The Contestant, Cora Bora, Dahomey, Damaged, Daughters, The Dead Don't Hurt, Dear Santa, Despicable Me 4, Divorce in the Black, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Downtown Owl, Elevation, Evil Does Not Exist, Exhuma, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, Fancy Dance, Firebrand, Flow, The Front Room, Get Away, Ghostlight, Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive, Good One, Goodrich, The Grab, The Greatest Hits, Green Border, Hard Truths, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Here, Hold Your Breath, Hot Frosty, House of Spoils, The Idea of You, IF, Imaginary, Incoming, Infested, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, In the Summers, Io Capitano, It Ends With Us, I Used to Be Funny, Janet Planet, Jim Henson Idea Man, Joy, Kung Fu Panda 4, Late Bloomers, Lee, Let's Start a Cult, Lights Out, Lisa Frankenstein, Lonely Planet, Longing, Look Into My Eyes, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, Marmalade, Mean Girls, Memoir of a Snail, Miller's Girl, Monolith, Monster Summer, Mothers' Instinct, My Spy: The Eternal City, Never Let Go, No Other Land, Oh Canada!, One Fast Move, Ordinary Angels, The Outrun, Outside, Piece by Piece, Prom Dates, The Radleys, Reagan, Rebel Moon - Part 2: The Scargiver, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Remembering Gene Wilder, The Return, Role Play, The Room Next Door, Rumours, Salem's Lot, Scrambled, Sebastian, She Taught Love, The Six Triple Eight, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Slingshot, Small Things Like These, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, Space Cadet, Spaceman, Spellbound, Spin the Bottle, STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces, Stopmotion, Stress Positions, Suncoast, The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, Sweethearts, The Taste of Things, This Is Me... Now, Time Cut, Totem, Touch, Transformers One, Treasure, Tuesday, Ultraman: Rising, Under Paris, Venom: The Last Dance, Vermiglio, What About Love, Which Brings Me to You, White Bird, Wildcat, The Wild Robot, Winner, Young Woman and the Sea, Your Monster

COMING SOON (10): A Complete Unknown, The Fire Inside, The Girl With the Needle, Kraven the Hunter, Los Frikis, Mufasa: The Lion King, Nosferatu, The Performance, Queer, Universal Language