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Films Watched in 2024 - (50/???)

Jackpot! (2024) Paul Feig – (2/5)

Just goes to show how important a decent script is, regardless of the director (when they're not an auteur). Now the man who made Bridesmaids (which seems odd, but it's true) is also responsible for a movie that probably won't make you laugh out loud until the credits roll, just about the time one of its leads leans so hard on the fourth wall they abruptly tumble out of the screen.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (49/???)

Longlegs (2024) Osgood Perkins – (3/5)

Price of admission is worth it for Nicolas Cage's performance alone, but the film is a little overlong and waits until nearly the last possible moments for the many questions raised by the plot to get remotely answered.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (48/???)

Babes (2024) Pamela Adlon – (3.5/5)

There are worse things than a 105-minute comedy that acknowledges the bad side of things that most people will never stop talking about, and most films are definitely improved by Hasan Minhaj (however briefly). Unfortunately, the script makes it clear that Glazer still yearns for the days of Broad City (to the point of making of us all think she and Buteau could be the same age) and she doesn't ultimately have a character arc. Enjoy the laughs!

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Films Watched in 2024 - (47/???)

The Bikeriders (2024) Jeff Nichols – (4/5)

The cast is full of chameleons (though like most Nichols films, it could use more Michael Shannon); if nothing else, it's great to hear Butler has finally shaken the Elvis voice. There's some funny stuff going on with the timeline (Comer tells most of the story to someone interviewing her that was also there for the bulk of the events) and I think we should be able to get motorcycle content without bringing in Norman Reedus, but I was never not along for the ride.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (46/???)

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) Rose Glass – (2/5)

I don't know what Glass and Tofilska were thinking with this script, but A24 marketed a lesbian romance in the world of bodybuilding and instead we got a crime drama with a soupçon of body horror. Some wild stuff going on in the background of this plot that could have made a much better story; luckily, Stewart's still giving her all and O'Brian shows that she deserves a fast track to play a superheroine that actually looks ready to physically tumble with a villain (as long as she doesn't take any roles reminiscent of the ridiculous finale we got with this).

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Films Watched in 2024 - (45/???)

Abigail (2024) Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett -- (3.5/5)

Would have loved if the trailers didn't seem to come from the back half of this exclusively, and Cloud wasn't great (much as I hate to speak ill of the prematurely passed), but Alisha Weir absolutely wipes the floor with her acting seniors. Totally forgot she was British Matilda and can't wait to see what she has coming down the road.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (44/???)

The Fall Guy (2024) David Leitch -- (4/5)

It was only a matter of time before a stuntman-turned-director turned a forgotten property from four decades ago into the paean to the stunt industry (including a well-deserved knock on the Academy's lack of recognition). The trailers were a little deceptive in terms of plot, but the final product is fun as hell, the leads have great chemistry, and getting peeks into the movie-within-a-movie was the icing on the cake.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (43/???)

Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024) Rachel Lambert -- (2.5/5)

It's not exactly the examination of mental health issues that Turtles All the Way Down was, focusing on mood over plot...but Ridley's doing a good job biding her time between Star Wars entries, so there's that.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (42/???)

A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened (2023) Jeremy Coon & Steve Kozak -- (4/5)

The special is a wild piece of media in terms of place in the canon (Lucas wanted it erased from existence, but it's now acknowledged in the parks and merchadise has been made) and I can't imagine a more thorough breakdown of something long forgotten by those who were there at the time and love it in spite of all its flaws. Some of it was even filmed at this legally-distinct-cantina, so how can you not love that?

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Films Watched in 2024 - (41/???)

The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024) Kobi Libii -- (3.5/5)

The title is definitely more daring than I expected (Spike's speech hasn't gotten all the traction you'd expect in the past two decades), so it's no wonder the film didn't do wonders at the box office. However, Justice Smith never disappoints, and it's nice to see David Alan Grier in something where he doesn't look like a total fool. Could have done without the explicit shout-outs to the recent films that use the trope and the tone is maybe not as serious as you'd want it would be (since things get really real near the end), but there's a real chef's kiss moment at the end that does a lot of heavy lifting .

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Films Watched in 2024 - (40/???)

Drive-Away Dolls (2024) Ethan Coen -- (2.5/5)

This article sheds a lot of light on how this movie came to be, but as always, beware of spoilers. The script (written by Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke) may not have been ready for the world when it was written, but the presumed changes required make it feel like the audience can't stop being reminded we're in Clinton's second term. The opening scene is also very tonally different from the rest of the film, to the point that it seems like a movie being watched in-universe; Qualley's character spends the entire movie acting like a Raising Arizona reject dropped into the real world, which is really hard to shake. There's also psychedelic scenes interspersed throughout that don't make any sense until the third act climax, but even then, they're wholly unnecessary and contain a casting choice that brings the movie down drastically.

Also, if someone only appears in one scene, don't announce their casting during production (especially when they apparently only exist to homage another project of theirs); Marvel keeps cameos secret for a reason.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (39/???)

Monkey Man (2024) Dev Patel -- (3.5/5)

In his directorial debut, Patel proves he can direct action with the best of them, and the screenplay he cowrote not only takes a great turn from revenge to avenging but makes a solid stab at addressing societal issues in India. It gets a little tropey, the overall metaphor is very surface-level, and casting could have been better in a certain regard, but I can't wait to see how he hones his craft after this solid start.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (38/???)

Problemista (2024) Julio Torres -- (3.5/5)

By this point, you probably know Torres (at least by reputation) thanks to his SNL writing and his subsequent pseudo-surrealist projects now that he's been off on his own. No one but A24 would support a surrealist take on the US immigration system, and I'm definitely glad it's out there; however, the bulk of this revolves around Swinton being almost consistently horrible to everyone she encounters (no redeeming character arc to speak of) and the plot resolves in an emulation thereof, which I didn't personally love (though I did finally understand the title once the credits rolled). If you're a Torres completionist over the years, you'll probably like it--just be sure to have subtitles for as much of this as you can if you're not bilingual.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (37/???)

Elemental (2023) Peter Sohn -- (4/5)

I was totally ready for a middle-of-the-road Pixar film (which it kind of is, as the metaphor is less nuanced than you'd hope); there's tons of great designs, but none of the relatively-unknown talent really brings it home like the usual big name Pixar cast can, and a good chunk of the film is basically Chinatown without an antagonist. However, there are two undeniable heavy-hitting moments at the end, and emotional catharsis always bumps a film up an extra point in my book.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (36/???)

Madame Web (2024) S.J. Clarkson -- (1/5)

Despite directing four episodes of MCU Netflix back in the day, Clarkson made a huge mistake signing on for this one...as it's clear no one could have saved whatever happened to this in the script stages, including the editor that ADR'd basically every line our antagonist has (significantly less painful when you can't see his face anymore). This (and the massively altered-origin Kraven film coming down the pike) clearly only exist to keep the Spidey spinoffs in the hands of Sony, to the point where we're throwing characters at the wall without giving them powers and/or costumes in the proper context of the film. At least Merced will get a proper shot at playing superhero with her Hawkgirl appearance(s).

IT ALSO TAKES PLACE IN 2003 FOR NO REAL REASON EXCEPT TO SHOEHORN IN THE PARKER FAMILY.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (35/???)

Am I OK? (2024) Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne -- (3/5)

There are definitely worse ways to spend 90 minutes (and Johnson alone is definitely worth the cost of admission, as she can elevate even something like Madame Web). Maybe if I had been clear about whose true story it is (both the writer and one of the directors have stories like this, and the co-director's seems like it would have made a better film) I'd have enjoyed it more, and as much as Tig milks her cameo for all it's worth, the wig made it pretty distracting. At the end of the day, it's good to have a different kind of coming out story like this in the world. Happy Pride, everybody.

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Films Watched in 2024 - (34/???)

Butterfly in the Sky (2024) Bradford Thomason & Brett Whitcomb -- (4.5/5)

The show was on for 26 years; if you're reading this, you probably watched it, which means you will undoubtedly love this history that goes back to the pre-Roots days. My only note: it's sub-90 minutes, and I would have happily indulged in the LeVar mythos for at least another 30 minutes.

This is on Netflix now; hopefully you've already had it promoted on your main screen.