#best of list

[pressure-machine]

✨ FIONA'S FAVOURITE ALBUM'S OF 2023 ✨

[goawaywithjae]

It's that time of the year...

[theadamantium]

Harri's Picks for 2024

Anora

Dune: Part Two

Challengers

Nosferatu

Wicked

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Alien: Romulus

Civil War

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

The Wild Robot

House of the Dragon - Season 02

The Gentlemen - Season 01

Fargo - Season 05

Shrinking - Season 02

The Penguin

Linkin Park - From Zero

The Black Keys - Ohio Players

Post Malone - F-1 Trillion

Dead Poet Society - Fission

Fontaines D.C. - Romance

Bayside - There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive

Coldplay - Moon Music

Imagine Dragons - LOOM

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield

Green Day - Saviors

Noah Kahan - We'll All Be Here Forever Tour

Creed - Are You Ready? Tour

Queens of the Stone Age - The End is Nero Tour

Kings of Leon - Can We Please Have Fun Tour

Limp Bizkit - Loserville Tour

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Black Myth: Wukong

Astro Bot

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Stellar Blade

[the-bitch-files]

Top Rated of 2024

Welcome to 2025! Here I'll be counting down my best TV shows, books, and films of the year. In the film and book categories, they were first watches/reads for me, so not necessarily released in 2024. However, for the TV shows, they were either first released or returning in 2024.

Best TV Shows of 2024

Rivals

Only Murders in the Building S4

Sweetpea S1

The Outlaws S3

English Teacher S1

9-1-1 S8 (ongoing)

Cobra Kai S6 (ongoing, parts 1 & 2 released)

The Bear S3

honourable mention: House (2004-2012)

Best Books of 2024

The White Album - Joan Didion

Zodiac - Robert Graysmith

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides

Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen - Brian Rafferty

A Killer By Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind - Ann Wolbert Burgess

Best Films of 2024

Priscilla (2023, dir. Sofia Coppola)

The Iron Claw (2024, dir. Sean Durkin)

Longlegs (2024, dir. Osgood Perkins)

Oppenheimer (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan)

Kinds of Kindness (2024, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024, dir. Tim Burton)

Lisa Frankenstein (2024, dir. Zelda Williams)

Everybody Wants Some!!! (2016, dir. Richard Linklater)

Conclave (2024, dir. Edward Berger)

Trap (2024, dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

The Holdovers (2023, dir. Alexander Payne)

Klute (1972, dir. Alan J. Pakula)

Hit Man (2024, dir. Richard Linklater)

May December (2023, dir. Todd Haynes)

[therappundit]

Kendrick was in my all-time top 5 long before all of the shenanigans over the past year, but reviewing this list - and especially the top 10 songs on this list - makes me wonder if I still have him ranked too low. 🤔

[oneofusnet]

The Best Films of 2024 Part Two THE BEST FILMS OF 2024 PART TWO Our best of 2024 film list continues with double the speed and that many more films for us to gush about. Come sit around the round table with the One Of Us Austin crew and see if we can turn you on to some stuff you may have missed.   YOUR REVIEWERS   Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss) Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled… Read More »The Best Films of 2024 Part Two read more on One of Us

[cinefilesreviews]

The 10 Best Movies of 2024

Out goes one year; in comes the next. A steady temporal turnstile incessantly reminding us that while we may slow down, the astronomical structures dictating our cultural conception of time are rigid enough as to appear as a constant. In other words, my eyes need a rest. In other other words, it is best-of-the-year time for all matters cultural discourse. There really is little value to it, this…

[ayzaart]

yoshiki, hikaru, and hikaru

[novelbear]

"maybe you'll feel it, too" -best friends to lovers prompts

a prompt list by @novelbear ᵔᴥᵔ

lingering hugs and stares

"you know i'm always going to be there for you, right? always."

compliments that are borderline (sometimes just blatant) flirting but they cover it up as just being a really supportive friend

^ "you sure this looks fine?" "trust me, you look fine as hell..."

being overly protective of the other (especially when it comes to relationships)

showing displays of affection that might seem questionable to others around them (ex. kissing each other on the cheek/ hands)

hand placement when hugging or guiding them also being a little more on the questionable side

"i'm always thinking about you."

being unable to tear their eyes off of them, especially when watching them excel at something they're best at

sharing clothes

"why are you looking at me like that?"

unconsciously including them in conversation when they're not even around

"there's no one else that makes me laugh the way you do."

noticing them blushing coincidentally after making a comment. but they can't be blushing because of what they said. they wouldn't. would they? no, of course not...right?

holding hands and neither of them knowing when (or wanting to) let go

when that realization hits that they really wouldn't rather spend their time with anyone else the way they do with their "best friend"

rambling on and on and on and wait are they looking at my eyes or my lips?

"if we were dating i'd take you to all the best places.." "what's stopping you?" "excuse me."

"can i kiss you?" "you have no idea how long i've waited to hear you ask that."

the relief that washes over both of them when the feelings are finally out there

"why didn't you tell me?" "the same reason you didn't tell me. i didn't want to lose you."

[back-and-totheleft]

Eight Best Oliver Stone Movies, Ranked

The 1986 war drama "Platoon" was Oliver Stone's fourth film as a director, but it proved to be his breakout in the public consciousness. Before 1986, Stone helmed two horror movies ("Seizure," "The Hand,") and a biopic of war photographer Richard Boyle ("Salvador"), but "Platoon" put him on the map. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director. Stone immediately emerged as an enfant terrible, ready to interrogate and criticize previously romanticized American institutions. He also became wildly ambitious, seemingly possessing the temerity to assume his films would change the way the public thinks. In some cases, he was right. 

Stone wore his politics on his sleeve, and often spoke about how much he hated the American right wing. Two of his films are deeply critical biopics of Republican presidents, and several of his more recent documentaries analyze politicians in power. He has turned his lens on Vladimir Putin, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Hugo Chávez. He made a film arguing for increased use of nuclear power, and extensively unpacked the origins of the Cold War in his 2012 series "The Untold History of the United States." Why make films, Stone seems to ask, if they're not going to ask provocative questions and challenge the viewer's beliefs? 

Stone's career is not free of a few stinkers, however, as his bold stylistic experiments sometimes fail. Additionally, Stone, now 77, could only stay angry for so long, and some might accuse his more recent films of being less bitter and more gentle than his earlier ones. That said, let's sift through Stone's filmography, pick out his eight greatest movies, and determine which are the best. Let's look back on his left-leaning ideas. To quote a movie that we'll get to shortly, "Back, and to the left."

Any Given Sunday (1999) Warner Bros. With "Any Given Sunday," Stone looked to the great American institution of the National Football League, and sought — over the film's prodigious 157 minutes — to examine every last element of it. The main character is a beleaguered football coach (Al Pacino), but it's more of an ensemble drama, also featuring an aging player (Dennis Quaid), a cutthroat team owner (Cameron Diaz), a shady doctor (James Woods), an overly defensive quarterback (Jamie Foxx), and multiple others. The film also features Lauren Holly, Elizabeth Berkley, Matthew Modine, Aaron Eckhart, and LL Cool J. 

"Any Given Sunday" is less about its story than it is its sprawl. Stone wants to splay the entire world of organized football bare, creating a film that may be kind of a mess, but is admirable in its ambition. (Pacino's big speech was especially personal to the director.) And in a few key sequences, he also points out that American football is essentially a leisurely parallel to deadly combat. Indeed, a lot of football terminology is derived from military lingo. Watching "Any Given Sunday," one can tell that Stone has a great deal of romantic affection for football, but also that it's part of a semi-corrupt institution. This is one of the better sports movies of its era.

Savages (2012) Universal Pictures Admittedly, "Savages" is a hot mess. It's a chaotic, splayed-out jumble of events, and Stone seems to think that a criminal throuple (Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is more shocking to modern audiences than it actually is. More than anything, it proved that Stone was, as late as 2012, still capable of going a little crazy with fast edits, swirling criminality, and eye-punching photography. There was still an element of the film student lingering in Stone, and it was a welcome return to form after the massively disappointing "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" in 2010. 

What sets "Savages" apart is its brief commentary on the war on drugs. The central throuple of "Savages" live in Long Beach and make their living growing marijuana. In 2012, distributing weed was still illegal, and people were still killing each other over control of the trade … but there's a pervasive sense that the pot-dealing underground is about to draw to a close. One character even notes that it's a matter of days before weed is legal, and all the pride and honor associated with well-moneyed drug cartels is going to instantaneously evaporate. In a subtle way, "Savages" deconstructs generations of crime movies. Hey, criminals: Would you still do it if it wasn't illegal?

W. (2008) Lionsgate Given Stone's politics, one might think his biopic of the notoriously dumb, warmongering George W. Bush would be more acidic. Josh Brolin was a weird choice to play W. as well, bringing a physical presence and confidence to the role that the former president never displayed. Instead, Stone merely pointed to W.'s complete weakness of character, pointing out that his aw-shucks, down-home fratboy persona (on which he campaigned successfully, twice) isn't the same thing as having an ear for policy, or even a basic understanding of government. 

"W." also points out that the disastrous quagmires in the Middle East, which Bush started, were all based on bad ideas, lies, and a misguided need for a gibbering pseudo-leader to prove himself to his daddy. It's an oversimplification, of course, but Stone wanted to depict Bush as a simple man. Bush, he argues, was happier as a mediocre baseball manager, and was in way over his head in the world of politics. And yet, he served as president for eight years. All this from a guy who lost sight of the ball.

Talk Radio (1988) Universal Pictures A stunning character piece, "Talk Radio" is about a left-wing shock jock named Barry (Eric Bogosian) who hosts a late-night call-in radio show. Barry has trained himself to openly express his most controversial political opinions on the air, leaving him with little more than an army of angry fans and even angrier enemies. He is estranged from his wife, and receives a bomb threat in the mail. Taking place over a single night, "Talk Radio" sees Barry finally breaking down when he reaches the end of his tether. He finally snaps and admits on the air that "shock" radio is nothing more than a commercial enterprise; long ago, he became more interested in the money than the politics. 

What he has to face is the fact that other people are listening and are taking him seriously. Although "Talk Radio" was made in 1988, it still feels timely, especially in the age of crazed media-suckling wonks like Alex Jones, Joe Rogan, or Tucker Carlson. Many of these podcasters and radio hosts blither complete nonsense, and they'd be easy to ignore if they didn't have so many people actually taking them seriously. "Talk Radio" is a dark analysis of political media, and how it is all a game … one that some people will kill for.

JFK (1991) Warner Bros. I wasn't alive when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, but I grew up hearing all the conspiracy theories about it. I heard all about the suspicious photos, the theories about secondary gunmen, the suspicions attached to multiple suspects. A lot of these theories were dredged up by Stone's 1991 film "JFK," a film that isn't so much trying to solve the Kennedy assassination as capture the tumult of the time. The nation was wounded by the murder of JFK, and chose to mourn his death by picking about the details of it. As long as we were lost in the emotional miasma, Stone figured he could look closely at some facts about the case, arguing that there must have been at least six bullets fired from three different assassins. Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't working alone.

The director's cut of "JFK" is a whopping 205 minutes, so Stone is going to leave no … well, leave no stone unturned. "JFK" does come to a definite conclusion about the Kennedy assassination, but it's not a conclusion one might find in history books. The film is speculative, but feels vital, panicked, and eager to unpack something that had more details than the public realized. 

"JFK" also features one of the most impressive ensembles of any film. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two.

Platoon (1986) Orion Pictures Stone served in the army in the late 1960s, touring in Vietnam during the height of military operations there. "Platoon" is a semi-autobiographic depiction of his time there, and the horrors he witnessed. Stone seems to value the camaraderie that soldiers can develop, but notes that the death, mayhem, and terror that war begets is certainly not worth the trade. "Platoon" certainly wasn't the first film about the Vietnam War, but it's notable in that it's the first major Hollywood release about the conflict to have been directed by a Vietnam veteran. 

"Platoon" not only announced Stone as a major Hollywood player, but set the tone for the cinema of the late 1980s. "Platoon" was released during the horrid corporate glut of the Reagan administration, and well-moneyed, commercial entertainments were ruling the landscape. "Platoon" aimed to deconstruct the retro-war-loving cinema of previous generations, showing that great war epics were, henceforth, going to be less like "The Green Berets" and more like horror movies. 

Wall Street (1987) 20th Century Fox Speaking of the horrors of the Reagan administration… 

In the 1980s, Reagan oversaw massive deregulation across most industries, and his policies gave rise to a powerfully rich subculture of yuppies who got rich gutting businesses, embraced greed, and produced nothing more for the world than the carbon dioxide they breathed out. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who won an Oscar for the role), the central demon of Stone's "Wall Street," is the ultimate semi-deity for that yuppie class, representing the slick anti-cool of stock traders and empty wealth. The young Bud (Charlie Sheen) is seduced by Gordon's smooth talk and moneyed-up lifestyle, but soon learns how his business is useless and unethical. 

Eventually, Bud asks Gordon how much money is enough. "It's never enough," he says. Accruing wealth is a game, and the more money you get, the more money you get, period. "Wall Street" not only points out the deep corruption in stock-based systems, but how extreme wealth is bad for the brain. Rich people, Stone implies, are isolated, weird, and terrible, convinced that their bad ideas are good and that their personal intestinal gases smell rosy. (If you want a good interrogation of the Reagan era, watch "Wall Street" and "RoboCop" back-to-back.)

Natural Born Killers (1994) Warner Bros. "Natural Born Killers" is presented as a twisted love story about Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis), a pair of abused, damaged lovebirds who freely commit murder whenever the whim strikes. Their love is presented in weird, swirling, MTV-ready montages, and Stone makes extensive use of various film stocks, animation, and weird editing techniques to depict the chaos they live in. Visually speaking, "Natural Born Killers" is Stone's most ambitious and interesting film. It's also one of the most violent films one might see, featuring human splatter in volumes unseen this side of an early Peter Jackson movie. 

Beyond the strange, violent, romance tale, though, Stone was interrogating the media of the 1990s, pointing out that — like in "Talk Radio" — shock sells. If there were a pair of charismatic serial killers on the loose, would the public want to see them captured and jailed, or merely venerated for how cool they were? When Mickey admits to a reporter (Robert Downey, Jr.) that he's a natural-born killer, Downey only thrills at the sellability of the line, and not the fact that Mickey has killed so many people.

"Natural Born Killers" was prescient, predicting the public's capacity for bad news and its addiction to doomscrolling. It's very of its time, and yet remains relevant.

-"The Eight Best Oliver Stone Movies, Ranked," SlashFilm

[theadamantium]

Harri's Top 50 U2 Songs

“Where The Streets Have No Name” - The Joshua Tree (1987)

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” - War (1983)

“Pride (In The Name of Love)” - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” - The Joshua Tree (1987)

“With or Without You” - The Joshua Tree (1987)

“One” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“Elevation” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“All I Want Is You” - Rattle and Hum (1988)

“City of Blinding Lights” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Beautiful Day” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“Vertigo” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“New Year’s Day” - War (1983)

“I Will Follow” - Boy (1980)

“Magnificent” - No Line on the Horizon (2009)

“Walk On” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“Sweetest Thing” - single (1998)

“Desire” - Rattle and Hum (1988)

“Bad” - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” - A Very Special Christmas (1987)

“Bullet The Blue Sky” - The Joshua Tree (1987)

“Stuck In A Moment That You Can’t Get Out Of” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“Kite” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“Mysterious Ways” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“Until The End of The World” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“Acrobat” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” - No Line on the Horizon (2009)

“Even Better Than The Real Thing” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“No Line on the Horizon” - No Line on the Horizon (2009)

“Get On Your Boots” - No Line on the Horizon (2009)

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On You Own” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Angel of Harlem” - Rattle and Hum (1988)

“Song For Someone” - Songs of Innocence (2014)

“The Electrical Co.” - Boy (1980)

“Red Hill Mining Town” - The Joshua Tree (1987)

“The Fly” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“Love Is Blindness” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“All Because of You” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Every Breaking Wave” - Songs of Innocence (2014)

“In A Little While” - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

“Out of Control” - Boy (1980)

“Staring At The Sun” - Pop (1997)

“The Little Things That Give You Away” - Songs of Experience (2017)

“Yahweh” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Miracle Drug” - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“Iris (Hold Me Close)” - Songs of Innocence (2014)

“Ultra Violet” - Achtung Baby (1991)

“When Love Comes to Town” with B.B. King - Rattle and Hum (1988)

“The Unforgettable Fire” - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

“”40”” - War (1983)

[the-bitch-files]

Top Rated of 2023

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2024! It's that time of year again as we wrap up the year, look onto the next, and count down our best pieces of art (TV, film, books, music, etc.) of the year. Here, I will be counting down my best TV shows, films, and books of the year.

To preface, this is subjective, as it is based on my own opinion and what I believe to be best of the year. In the film and book category, they haven't necessarily been released this year, but were first watches/reads for me. However, for the TV category, the shows were either first released or returning in 2023.

Now, onto the lists!

Best TV Shows of 2023

The Bear S2

Poker Face

Good Omens S2

Only Murders in the Building S3

Barry S4 (although I watched all seasons of Barry in 2023 and thought it was excellent)

Best Films of 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Bottoms (2023, dir. Emma Seligman)

Past Lives (2023, dir. Celine Song)

Theater Camp (2023, dir. Molly Gordon, Nick Liberman)

Casino (1995, dir. Martin Scorsese)

John Wick Chapter 4 (2023, dir. Chad Stahelski)

Saltburn (2023, dir. Emerald Fennell)

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (2023, dir. Christopher McQuarrie)

The Nice Guys (2016, dir. Shane Black)

The Menu (2022, dir. Mark Mylod)

Dream Scenario (2023, dir. Kristoffer Borgli)

Barbie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig)

The Outsiders (1983, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

After Hours (1985, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Barbarian (2022, dir. Zach Cregger)

Best Books of 2023

Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh and L.A. - Eve Babitz

The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

All's Well - Mona Awad

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys - Viv Albertine

Sweetbitter - Stephanie Danler

[oneofusnet]

The Best Films of 2024 Part One THE BEST FILMS OF 2024 PART ONE This more accurately should be titled, the best films of 2024 that we haven’t already talked about (largely). Because we are not talking about Anora, The Brutalist, or The Substance here. We did those reviews. We’re primarily talking about the other greatest films that we didn’t get to put a review out for with the Austin crew. So listen to Chris, Wright, Ben, Frank, Jason, Marco, and Mike as they list some of the best stuff from 2024, some of which you might not even know about.   YOUR REVIEWERS   Christopher Lawrence… Read More »The Best Films of 2024 Part One read more on One of Us

[davidarc]

#SomethingDifferent #18 - Some #RandomBookishThoughts from The Chocolate Lady!

#SomethingDifferent #18 - Some #RandomBookishThoughts from The Chocolate Lady! So... about that NYT list... Today on my #bookblog I talk about what everyone is talking about, sort of! Thanks to Kay @ Whatmeread for the inspiration! #booklists #NYT

So, about that NYT list… My sister told me about this list at about the same time fellow book blogger Kay @ Whatmeread started a series of posts about what they call is the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” They say this list was compiled “As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book…