Ryan’s Honorable Mentions
- Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin
- Twisters
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Trap
- Challengers
- The Fall Guy
Rob’s Honorable Mentions
- Inside Out 2
- Alien: Romulus
- The Wild Robot
- The First Omen
- Deadpool vs. Wolverine
- Blink Twice
- Horizon
- Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
- Speak No Evil
- A Quiet Place: Day One
- The Watchers
- Imaginary
Top Ten Movies of 2024
Ryan's List
Rob's List
10. The Outrun
10. Fall Guy
Should have been a summer blockbuster. Gosling is a fantastic ham when he is asked to play that role.
9. Am I Racist?
9. Abigail
Teenage (kind of) ballerina vampire. A welcome mix of comedy and scares.
8. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
8. Smile 2
An improvement over the first offering in the budding franchise. An excellect exploration of the terror of psychosis and fame.
7. A Complete Unknown
7. LIsa Frankenstein
Comedy Horror and a love letter to the 80’s.
6. Juror #2
6. Nosferatu
Classic Horror. Classic Eggers aesthetic.
5. Slingshot
5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Michael Keaton is back, and it is actually fair to say that he is better than ever. The Beetlejuice character gets much more screen time in this movie, and it is to the benefit of the production. Willem Defoe steals the show (as he often does) as a dead actor who doesn’t seem to quite realize that he is not really a cop.
4. Joker: Folié a Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux was a sequel that generated a significant amount of consternation. Most fans and critics panned the movie. It’s safe to say that it didn’t land well with audiences. I think the primary reason for this was the rather bizarre choice to make this movie a full-on musical. I just don’t think there was a significant overlap between fans of the first movie and fans who appreciate musicals.
I’m not sure I liked the first movie, as it was just so dark. I also typically do not enjoy musicals. However, the music is not why this movie ranks so highly for me. The main reason for me is that I found the film an excellent exploration of how modern society views crime and criminals. Most of the main characters surrounding Joker in this movie represent how a specific segment of society views criminals. For some, Joker is merely a victim of circumstance and society. For others, he’s the leader and hero of the resistance, an opportunity to cosplay as a revolutionary, or a blight on society to be locked away. The movie deftly touches on each one of these elements and watches as Arthur (Joker) feels the pressure mount on him by everyone wanting him to be their symbol for how they see society. That level of sophisticated exploration, which seemed to largely go unnoticed, is why I like this movie.
4. A Complete Unknown
As a fan of music, I will generally give a slight advantage in my rankings to a well done biopic. This one exceeded my expectations. The amount of effort that went into learning and performing the music itself is impressive, but the entire cast seemed to display a genuine endeavor to inhabit the musicians they were portraying. Ed Norton, Timothee Chalomet, and Monica Barbaro all stand out/ in the film, and it does a wonderful job of displaying the turbulence and uncertainty of the era represented.
3. Gladiator 2
Taken on its own, Gladiator 2 is a very good period action movie. There are incredible sets and raucous action sequences. There are villains and heroes, family drama, and political intrigue. There are excellent acting performances from many of the leads. The problem for Gladiator 2 is that it does not exist on its own.
The original Gladiator, released 24 years earlier, is quite literally one of the best films ever made. It’s a masterpiece that has stood the test of time as a favorite of many and an inspiration for men everywhere. It won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2001 (back when good movies that people actually saw had a chance to win). Gladiator 2 is not what the original film was. For some, they can’t get over that fact. It leads them to inevitably paint the second installment with the brush of disappointment.
I think for me, I’m able to separate them enough to see the value and quality this film has to offer. I really enjoyed the opening battle sequence, where you got to see a walled city attacked from ships. Then, of course, there was the Colosseum naval battle. Denzel’s Machiavellian maneuvering led to the best character in the film. The movie doesn’t carry the emotional heart of the first movie, and the writing and acting for Pedro Pascal’s character were a semi-disaster. But Gladiator 2 created an enjoyable cinematic experience, and that’s why we go to the movies in the first place.
3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
This movie took me by surprise. Mad Max: Fury Road was an all out car chase across the desert for 2 hours. This movie narrows the focus, and gets personal in telling the story of Furiosa, leading all the way to the beginning of the previous film. I enjoyed the in depth exploration of characters and motivations that were more hinted at in the first movie than truly uncovered.
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
To say this movie was surprising is an understatement. 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road was an audacious cinematic explosion of in-your-face color and action. It was ostensibly a two-hour high-octane car chase movie. While Furiosa occupies the same universe of color and sound (it’s a prequel to Fury Road), the tone of the two movies could not be more different. Furiosa is a character drama. It focuses its attention on a young Furiosa, her kidnapping from “The Green Place,” and her subsequent struggle to survive and thrive in the cutthroat post-apocalyptic hellscape she finds herself in.
Though a prequel in context, this movie follows the pattern of most sequels in that it takes the world you already know and expands it outward, giving you a greater sense of the world the characters inhabit. This, of course, is all done with the requisite intense and imaginative action sequences that George Miller has become known for. This was a really excellent movie, and it’s a shame more audiences didn’t give it a chance.
2. Dune Part 2
What more can be said about Denis Villenueve? The ability he possesses to create worlds, often from source material that is challenging and steeped in lore, is unparallelled. Once again, he manages to use light and shadow to create an evocative, harsh, and stunning world. It could be argued that this is the best pure movie of the last year (that I have seen).
1.Dune 2
Next to Christopher Nolan, there is no other director currently operating in whom I trust more to deliver amazing movies than Denis Villeneuve. His follow-up to Dune: Part 1 (2021) is no exception. Simply put, this is an incredible work of science fiction—a rare follow-up that is better than the original. Dune 2 takes us deeper into the complex story of the world created in Frank Herbert’s novels. As the story complexity increases, so does the work of the entire cast and crew.
Villeneuve is a master of big, epic movies, and it shows in how he matches big, open-air sets with quiet, intimate moments of reflection. A movie largely shot in a barren desert should not have the color range that Villeneuve is able to bring forth, yet he gives you every shade of yellow, red, orange, and brown. Timothée Chalamet delivers a compelling performance as a young man who’s trying to run away from his fate but is losing the battle. Austin Butler is delightfully savage as Feyd-Rautha. Almost every actor in the film, even in smaller roles, manages to improve the movie in the time they have. The colors, the lights, the sound design, the score—everything about this film screams excellence. In a world where the Oscars actually cared about picking the best movie of the year, Dune 2 would be a standout winner.
1. Wicked
Fronted by amazing performances by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Eviro, Wicked is about as close to the Broadway production (at least the first act) that a musical could get. The choreography, arrangement, cinemetography, and performances are all above average. On its own, it is not an all time great movie. However, personal bias does play into my ranking. Seeing my children engage and enjoy this film, particularly seeing them smile and sing for the sing-along version, are memories I will treasure.
