First Movies Watched in 2024
A list of films that I watched for the first time in 2024
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- DirectorBradley CooperStarsCarey MulliganBradley CooperMatt BomerThis love story chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.It was well-made, visually pretty, and the actors all did a fine job, but I nevertheless found myself bored out of my mind and constantly wondering why anyone would think this story would make an entertaining movie. I realize that Bernstein is a rather legendary figure in the world of film and music, but that alone isn't enough to make for a good story. Which this, I feel, wasn't.
- DirectorJ.A. BayonaStarsEnzo VogrincicAgustín PardellaMatías RecaltThe flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world's toughest environments to survive.It was very good but I feel like I've seen this story before. Because, of course, I have, with the 1993 film, Alive. Due to this, the movie didn't hit me quite as hard as it possibly could have and I constantly felt myself comparing it to that aforementioned classic. And, as far as that comparison goes, while this movie (courtesy of the luxury of having been released later) had better effects and got some technical aspects of the true story done better, I felt that it lacked in the character department.
- DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsAdam DriverGreta GerwigDon CheadleDramatizes a contemporary American family's attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.I don't even know what this was. It felt almost like an Alexander Payne film, only much weirder. It seemed as if there was likely an overall message(es) that it was probably trying to convey but, whatever that message was, I missed it. All that I was left with was a quirky movie with a weird story that left me more confused than entertained.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsBenedict CumberbatchKirsten DunstJesse PlemonsCharismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.Honestly, I found the story to be pretty boring. Not just slow (that's fine) but just generally very aimless-feeling and, for the most part, uneventful. I kept waiting for it to get to a plot that never seemed to arrive. At least, not until the last handful of minutes.
As far as the messages about homosexuality and "toxic masculinity" go, I didn't find myself getting much out of that either. Especially compared to how many other films and TV shows out there that have commented on these topics (ad nausium) in so much better, more entertaining and thought-provoking ways. Brokeback Mountain is the obvious example, but for mere "toxic masculinity" alone, we've got shows such as The Sopranos that actually had me thinking deeply about the issue without having me feeling preached at about it like I'm watching an after school special on the topic.
While it's well-made, I suppose, in the end, I just felt like I got nothing worthwhile from this story. It didn't stimulate my mind, heart, or desire for a good story. And, at times, I couldn't help but chuckle at how perfectly it came across as one of those types of Oscar bait movies that you'd see parodied at the beginning of Tropic Thunder.
If only it had had MTV's Best Kiss Winner, Toby Maguire in it. - DirectorRobert SiegelStarsPatton OswaltKevin CorriganMichael RapaportA hard-core New York Giants fan struggles to deal with the consequences when he is beaten up by his favorite player.I remember hearing rave reviews about this thing YEARS ago and being completely incapable of finding it anywhere. Recently, though, I have found it. And I'd really like to remember where I was hearing those rave reviews from so I can make note to never listened to their opinion again.
- DirectorJustine TrietStarsSandra HüllerSwann ArlaudMilo Machado-GranerA woman is suspected of murder after her husband's death; their half-blind son faces a moral dilemma as the main witness.Out of the few films I've seen this year, this has immediately skyrocketed to the top. I very much enjoyed not only watching this, but thinking about it after. While it's pure fiction, I found myself thinking about the murder afterward, trying to figure it out as if it were a real true crime story. This really stuck with me.
- DirectorCeline SongStarsGreta LeeTeo YooJohn MagaroNora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.It was a small movie that, technically, was pretty uneventful. But it hit very strong on an emotional level and had me thinking a lot about the connections we make in life and the people we've once known and become estranged from over time. I kind of want to take a point off from this, though, because I'm so angry that it's Korean and not Japanese. I really wanted to make a What Harakiri Me Sally pun.
- DirectorEmerald FennellStarsBarry KeoghanJacob ElordiRosamund PikeA student at Oxford University finds himself drawn into the world of a charming and aristocratic classmate, who invites him to his eccentric family's sprawling estate for a summer never to be forgotten.I liked it. In a lot of ways, it felt like a pop song version of The Talented Mr. Ripley (a film that I adore). The general plot idea was cool, Oliver was a really interesting character, and I loved the use of music and the overall vibe.
However, there were a lot of details that came close to ruining it for me. When the sister, the father, and Farleigh each had such a strong revulsion towards Oliver near the end, I just found myself confused. I wasn't sure at what point in the plot they became so utterly against the guy. Tension arose with the sister, of course, when Oliver stopped giving her attention, but why did she go on that long monologue against him while in the bathtub, saying things about him destroying the family? He was doing that, obviously, but when was it established that she knew that? Ditto with the father who, the last I saw, seemed to actually like having Oliver around (despite one equally outta nowhere comment we heard about him referring to Oliver as a spider). Seeing the father speak to Oliver at that desk, bribing him to leave, you'd have gotten the impression that Oliver had been getting under his skin and raising his suspicions throughout this entire movie. However, I don't recall seeing anything like that. And what about how all of the hired help reacted when Oliver was made to leave? They were crowded outside, looking smug and pleased about it (one of them even giving him a snarky wave goodbye). Yet again, I didn't understand why they hated him. Because he broke a mirror once? These types of behaviors need to be properly led up to, in my opinion, otherwise they feel not only random but unearned.
And then there were these kind of over-the-top moments in the film that, to me, came acress very silly in an otherwise pretty grounded film. And no, I don't mean him licking the bathtub or humping the grave (as creepy and bizarre as those were, I actually felt they realistically fit the character). I'm referring more to the cartoonish way the parents behaved at times; the abrupt, soap opera villain lecture Farleigh randomly gives Oliver at the party; the goofy ways the family (and Farleigh) were all acting after Felix's death; the wildy animated way in which Oliver explains his machiavellian plans to the dying mother before ripping her breathing tube out of her throat (with such flair!); and just, well... a lot of little stuff like that. Little blips of oddball things like this happened from time to time, disrupting the more serious tone of the movie that I was enjoying.
Again, I liked the movie quite a lot despite all of this. But I just felt like it could've been much better if it had been handled a little more seriously. - DirectorTom GormicanStarsNicolas CagePedro PascalTiffany HaddishMoviestar Nick Cage is channeling his iconic characters as he's caught between a superfan and a CIA agent.I think I liked the idea of it more than I actually liked it.
- DirectorAnthony MarasStarsDev PatelArmie HammerNazanin BoniadiThe true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsAlice LoweKenneth HadleySteve OramChris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.
- DirectorPaul BartelStarsMary WoronovPaul BartelRobert BeltranA relatively boring Los Angeles couple discovers a bizarre, if not murderous, way to get funding for opening a restaurant.Very goofy and stupid. It was like Porky's with murder.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLana TurnerJohn GarfieldCecil KellawayA married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.I really loved this quite a lot and regret having put off watching it for so long.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsSteve McQueenAli MacGrawBen JohnsonA recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.Eh. I was expecting something more akin to Sugarland Express. What I got felt very B-movie.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNicolas CageLaura DernWillem DafoeYoung lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.Like many Lynch films, I have no idea of what I just watched. Unlike many Lynch films, this confusion wasn't a good thing.
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsJennifer TillyGina GershonJoe PantolianoTough ex-con Corky and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caesar.A mediocre neo-noir. That's not an insult, however, as even mediocre neo-noirs are great. And this actually was a lot better than I'd gone in expecting. For whatever reason, I thought this was just going to be a gratuitously raunchy sex story but, really, that was only a miniscule part of the overall plot. I do, however, think the ending was a bit too perfect and cheery.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonJessica LangeJohn ColicosThe sensuous wife of a roadside diner proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordid, steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.Perhaps it's due to my constant comparisons of the 1946 film, but I just found this movie very lacking in a lot of ways. As much as I enjoy Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson, for instance, I found both characters to be incredibly unappealing most of the time. I mean, I understand that they weren't supposed to be good people, but in the original film I nevertheless felt some form of connection and understanding toward them as they did the terrible things they did. I felt their love, hurt, and guilt for the things they did. And it all came across very sincere to me. For this, they both just felt like scum and it wasn't until the very end that I actually thought they cared for each other at all. Was this by design? I honestly don't know. Also, the movie appeared to completely bypass the ending of the original story (making the title of the film make no sense as, in this version, the postman only rang once).
So why did I rate this so high, you ask? Well, like I said, my above complaints are likely largely based on just my comparisons between this and the 1946 film, which got me thinking about what aspects I'd change about this that were present in the original. That, however, doesn't necessarily make this bad for what it is. For what it is, I was never bored and remained engaged throughout. And as much as I was disgusted by these characters, I did want to see what happened next in their story. Also, I really enjoyed the 1930s atmosphere in the film and the settings. It was a good little neo-noir. - DirectorTyler MacIntyreStarsBrianna HildebrandAlexandra ShippJack QuaidA twist on the slasher genre, following two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small mid-western town into a frenzy, and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.Pointless.
- DirectorCord JeffersonStarsJeffrey WrightTracee Ellis RossJohn OrtizA novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from Black entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain.I found it enjoyable all the way up to the ending. At which point, it just turned weird (in a bad way) and it became apparent that everything I'd been watching was leading up to nothing. That last 10 or so minutes ruined this for me.
- DirectorSean DurkinStarsZac EfronJeremy Allen WhiteHarris DickinsonThe true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.I was unfamiliar with this story before watching the film. And, I gotta say, I was absolutely enthralled throughout. It's shocking that this wasn't nominated for an Oscar (in ANY category) this year. Then again, Barbie got a Best Picture nomination so I suppose they've lost their minds over there anyway.
- DirectorAlastair OrrStarsReine SwartRussell CrousLiesl AhlersNine high school friends have a five-year reunion camping in a forest. They all have secrets. An unknown person straps a time bomb to each of them. Killing another gives one their time. Last one lives.While it had an interesting premise, the actual movie was shockingly bad. The writing was hack, the jokes were corny, the tone was inconsistent like the movie didn't even know what genre it was going for (and nor do I), and the actors all felt like boring, uncharismatic amateurs. Typically, with a movie with a premise such as this (a small cast, last-one-standing type of story) I'll let it slide with quite a lot, just because I like these types of stories. But this? This one was just unbearable.
- DirectorJonathan GlazerStarsChristian FriedelSandra HüllerJohann KarthausAuschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp.For me, it was the type of film where I admired them trying something unique but, in practice, I nevertheless found the final product absolutely tedious to watch. It was slow, none of the characters were particularly interesting, and nothing happened in the narrative. It was like Boy in the Striped Pajamas without an ounce of the engaging plot, drama, or emotion. The allure of it was in the fly-on-the-wall perspective from the Nazi's outside of the gas chambers. Where the horroric reality of what was going on was all in the peripheral of what, to them, was just mundane life.
Perhaps a lot of my unenjoyment of the film had to do with the fact that I'm already on the movie's side in regards to the holocaust and have seen countless movies, TV shows, and documentaries about the subject. Due to this, I really wasn't left thinking about very much new here. The horror of what was going on in the background (in the backyard of this happy family) wasn't making me think about this subject any differently or see it from a new perspective. It was just... there. Emphasizing the same horrors I've been told about a thousand times already. And the gist of what I believe they were trying to do with the film is something that I caught onto fairly quickly. And the movie just never seemed to move on from playing that one note for the remaining hour and a half of it's runtime.