Half Year Best of 2024
I try to catalogue my life through experiences like we all do. I do it with every movie, show, album, book, or place I experience. I have lists going back to 2009 that show what I thought about things I consumed at the time and how I’ve changed over time. One of my favorite parts of doing this is looking back at what younger me thought, revisiting the thing, and finding out I disagree with my younger self or agree even more. Maybe even landing somewhere in between. This year I have seen less new movies than I have in roughly 17 years. I will try to rectify that in the second half of the year. But luckily I’ve seen very little I didn’t like. Same with music. I try to make sure I’m trying new things but never straying too far from what I love. This short rambling intro is enough. Now to my lists.
MOVIES
Civil War - When I heard writer/director Alex Garland, of films such as Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men, was going to make a movie called Civil War I was a little dubious. It made me worry he let the recent years get to him too much. He let the divisive reaction to Men get to him. Now he’s taking on America and it could go poorly. But then I saw Kirsten Dunst signed on with Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Wagner Moura, and Nick Offerman. Then I felt better. This has been called a love letter to war photographers. But, it’s more thorny then that. I think this is a movie about breaching the thin line of journalism and humanity. It’s about the person who watches the world through a screen and compartmentalizes themselves in these events. How that shatters, morphs, and begins again. All Garland’s movies are about cycles. Ex Machina is about the cycle of life and how we are destroying ourselves by trying to be god. Then Annihilation, loosely based on the novel, is about how humans have this self destructive part of our DNA that can’t be stopped. Clearly building off the previous thought exercise in a stranger way. Then Men deals with the obvious toxic masculinity, and the way women are trapped in this world of attackers, manipulators, nice guys who want something from her, and how tiring that is among other things. There’s a literal transformation in that movie too. I won’t spoil it, but all three have a character becoming more aware, more what they are on the inside, escaping their mask they put on, or literally physically becoming something new. He is so interested in how humans are russian nesting dolls of ideas, beliefs, grief, trauma, and pain. Now with this new one he gets more real. He doesn’t get detailed, but he does deal with the way humans react in a politically hazardous environment. A real one. Not like saying Let’s Go Brandon on Facebook. When small towns become their own militias. Either choosing to hang those they find wrong, or to ignore all the problems completely, albeit with snipers awaiting anyone stepping out of line. The lead characters are war photographers who are so addicted to telling the story, not even necessarily the truth, but getting the most evocative picture to tell a story. The image that captures the tone, mood, and emotions of the time. How they are both brave, history’s storytellers, but also lose themselves in the action and forget their own humanity. They are narcissists, heroes, assholes, the best of us, and quick to move on while never really forgetting all at once. It’s only a love letter if the love letter contained every aspect of love. The nit picks, fights, shitty things we do to each other that ultimately paints a whole picture of a person the way a photo never could. Even if we want it to. —- VOD
Yannick - This will be the least known on this list because it was only at festivals then put on Mubi, an art house streaming service for lack of a better term, that has some of the best movies ever made. It also has new releases or director retrospectives when they have a new one coming out. Quentin Dupieux, the french writer/director also known as Mr. Oizo the EDM DJ, makes short (sometimes 70 minutes) surreal dark comedies that usually deal with the contradictions and absurdness of everyday life but with a twist of some kind. He also makes very dumb movies that if you tweaked them just a little would be Dumb and Dumber like movies but with french sensibilities. He has made movies like Rubber (2008) where a tire is following people around and seemingly murdering them like it’s a slasher movie but the tire is just there. Is it causing it? Who knows. Or movies like Mandibles where two doofus’s find a huge fly, like one that takes up an entire backseat of a car, and keep it as a pet like it’s a new Bill & Ted movie mixed with a Cronenberg nightmare. But what Yannick does is simpler and has more on it’s mind. It’s about a man with the titular name who goes to see a play and doesn’t like it. What happens next I will leave open. But just know I found this movie to be funnier, smarter, and well balanced than any satire I’ve seen in quite some time. All his movies are so well acted and this is no different. I wish I had an outlet to show his movies on the big screen to people who have never even heard of him. Some would leave and want their money back and others would never be able to forget them. ——— VOD & Mubi
Furiosa - I left off A Mad Max Saga because you don’t need that. I think just enjoying this movie on it’s own could be very fun. I will have no idea what that’s like unless I experience amnesia since Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is seared into my brain like a tattoo showing where the green place is located. But this prequel is fantastic. It can’t quite hold up to that 2015 masterpiece, but it’s doing it’s own thing. Anya-Taylor Joy steps in as young Charlize Theron, there’s no Tom Hardy, and war boys aren’t as big of a part either. This one gives most of the interesting plot and most of the lines to Dementus played by Chris Hemsworth. He isn’t the perfect guy for this but he’s still great. He is wearing prosthetics, speaking in an annoying version of his natural Australian accent, and contains all the nuances of being alive in the wasteland. What becomes of Dementus I won’t spoil but must be seen. I loved this movie, and even though I have plenty of reasons why it isn’t my favorite movie of the year, it’s the most fun I’ve had this year and I hope you’ll see it if you haven’t as loud as you can. ——-VOD
Challengers - Making a good sexy & romantic movie is hard. Everyone is different and has different things that will turn them on to varying degrees. One thing that helps is what if you didn’t focus on the romance and you focused on competition, desire, lust, and my frequent theme of self destruction. Zendaya may be the center of attention, both in media and this movie, but the real standout is Josh O’Connor. The movie is much more about his & the great Mike Faist’s characters. Both clearly have something for each other that isn’t named but also are drawn to her. Best friends who have shared intimate moments but never treated as anything more, as far as we know, and their lives are now defined by their chase for something they will never be satisfied with. When life is a competition you will always end in failure. No one actually goes out on top. Even if you win your final match, whatever it is, you still aren’t at your best physically and have to go home and never defend it again. Life will go on without you. You are left with the highs of what you get out of the physical activity and competing at your highest level. Even attempting to get there, much less do it, is so hard. The hardest part in fact. The process and practice is the mundane difficulty that defines us. The actual big moment is the joy. That’s the treasure at the end of the search. This movie, while sexy, loud, sweaty, fun, funny, and dramatically compelling is mainly about the quiet moments in your mind that are all to yourself. They feel so charged and overwhelming and have the volume turned up to 11 in your brain. But it’s just you and what you make and choose. Hope you choose what makes you feel alive. ———VOD & probably Prime soon
Dune Part II - Javier Bardem plays Stilgar. A skeptic of Paul’s bonafides as their messiah, but ultimately a true believer in the prophecy and future of his people. He gives tests and looks for signs of the prophecy. He both gets what he wants and sees what he wants to see. Even when things start getting a little dark, unpleasant, deadly, he will be there convincing himself he is seeing what he’s always wanted to see. Our brains are hard to get off track once they buy into something. If we want something bad enough it doesn’t take much to get us to go towards it. Even if it’s hurting ourselves and others. Staying vigilant and remembering that beliefs don’t make us do what we do, our actions create or beliefs. If beliefs actually made us do things our world would look a whole lot different. What happens is the world is filled with some choosing to act on the masses desire for a leader. Stilgar made me laugh quite a bit in this movie. It reminded me of my family, and others I’ve met with the desire for belief dictated by their actions of not challenging those beliefs. Dune Part II also has a cool ass sequence in an all white roman gladiator like colosseum where Austin Butler goes full Joker and has fun. It’s a movie that contains multitudes to think on and get excited about just like the best blockbusters. —— MAX
Problemista - Writer/Director Julio Torres tells a story of a young man who moved from El Salvador to be an unconventional toymaker for Hasbro but needs money and work to keep his work visa. What sounds like a coming of age story of immigration troubles in the good ol’ USofA turns out to be a Being John Malkovich level surreal character study of what inspiration & dreams make of us. Especially if they aren’t the normal type. No astronauts, scientists, lawyers, doctors, or engineers here. Just art and creativity from deep inside. How making what is purely you can fulfill you until the end of time. Maybe even the future if you get to see it. Torres has cast Tilda Swinton in one of the performances of the year as a nightmare of a person with a lot of shame, guilt, and neurotic tendencies that make her completely lonely and the center of attention all at once. It’s a very funny movie in the way that it doesn’t make you laugh as much as just smile the entire time. It’s depiction of waiting to be a citizen is so intelligent and unique. I think if he gets to make more movies he would come across his Adaptation. But if not, I’ll take this emotionally smart film that makes me want to make things. ——— MAX
The Bikeriders - Jeff Nichols has made quite a few movies now, but none as overtly indebted to other movies as this one. Trying to make a midwestern phony Goodfellas with motorcycles instead of the mafia is hard enough so he made sure to include scenes just like from the movie. But from Karen’s POV instead of Henry’s. Jodie Comer, in an over the top yet completely accurate performance (my favorite kind), plays the Karen of the movie named Kathy. She is a headstrong lady from Chicago who falls for the epitome of a bad boy in a bar one night and it changes her life. She does voiceover through most of the movie and it’s always entertaining. Tom Hardy in a great performance of a man who is always playing dress up and finds out what Kurt Vonnegut said about pretending. Austin Butler doing what is now just his thing despite him being too young to have a thing yet. He’s just cool and single minded the way old heroes were in movies. But this movie is dedicated to dispelling those myths and legends of american white men on fast vehicles finding themselves and trouble. It shows how, as Claire Foy in First Man would say, they are just a bunch of boys. The leather jackets, vroom vrooms, and tough act fall by the wayside when real trouble comes. Michael Shannon is barely in the movie but makes the most of his time, particularly in a scene where he discusses not being able to go to Vietnam. The movie is full of great actors getting to do good work. I just wish the movie knew what to do with it all. I liked it, and if I had seen it at 16 years old I would’ve said it was one of my favorite movies. There’s a huge audience for a movie like this. Too bad movie distribution is broken. vroom vroom. ——-Theaters and VOD soon
Am I OK? - Tig Notaro, or Totoro as my brain wants to say having a toddler, has made a movie that is only 85 minutes, barely has anything happen in it, and I don’t even think earns a lot of the conflict it does have. and yet! it’s here. Because of the acting. Dakota Johnson plays a woman who in her 30’s realizes she might not be who she thought she was, and her best friend played by Sinoya Mizuno (known as the doppleganger in Annihilation & other robot in Ex Machina, and I think she’s in House of the Dragon now) in what is one of the best acting jobs of the year. Her character shouldn’t be memorable or interesting and honestly probably a little annoying. Yet every scene she has where she is just saying boring or normal dialogue and reactions reminds me of real talent. Dakota Johnson is at her best when she’s being wrying funny and deadpan. Doing light comedy is her strong suit. Those two elevate this would be bad movie into something I was enjoying the entire time. If you don’t like their performances as much as I did you may be bored. But I liked it. No way it stays this high by December but I wanted to shout it out as a fine movie made good to me thanks to these great women. ——- MAX
The Ministry of Ungentlemenly Warfare - Guy Ritchie never stops making movies seemingly. After he made Aladdin in 2019 and then covid hit he must’ve seen an opportunity. He’s made 5 movies in 4 years and I believe already has his next one done on the way next year. They are smaller movies not requiring much budget but he gives his actors fun things to do and say and has lots of plot with double crosses, action, and revenge. This one stars a fun Henry Cavill, something I’ve only seen him do in Mission:Impossible - Fallout and The Man from UNCLE, as a facial haired smart soldier who is basically Rambo & John McClane mixed. Plenty of witty talk with unstoppable plans and fighting. Then you have a cast of people I don’t usually care about but Ritchie brings the best out of. And the fantastic Til Schwieger, known as Hugo Stiglitz from Inglourious Basterds, as the weasely horrible nazi villain easy to hate and enjoyable to watch. It’s a movie that both takes it’s time yet always keeps things moving. It’s dad cinema for sure and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Almost made me want to read a book! — VOD
Love Lies Bleeding - Rose Glass shot onto the scene with Saint Maud right before covid immediately announcer herself as someone to watch for. She comes back with a fully committed cast in a lesbian body building crime drama with a mix of Uncut Gems, Bound, and Killer Joe. I couldn’t get enough of the atmosphere and acting, but the story and execution left something to be desired for me. But I could totally see this being one that I revisit in a few years and love love love. Kristen Stewart has become one of the great actors at such a young age and I love how weird Ed Harris gets to be in this. Really worth your time even if it ends up not being your thing. Rose Glass is a must see whatever she chooses to do. —— VOD soon
TV
FARGO (Season 5) - This show had gotten a little worse every year since season 2. Season 4 felt like it might’ve been the last chance since it bet on Chris Rock being a good actor, and doing a story that just had too much waiting around for my taste as much as I did like Jason Schwartzman, Jessie Buckley, and Ben Whishaw in it. But this one came back to it’s Coen roots. Where every season is a verson of the movie of the same name either spiritually or in characters/plot, 1 was a mix of No Country for Old Men as well. Then season two doubled down on that and brought in Blood Simple. Season 3 continued this without much new brought to it. So season 4 added Miller’s Crossing to the mix and it didn’t quite do it for me. But surely casting Idris Elba, Bokeem Woodbine, Don Cheadle, or another charismatic actor instead of Rock would’ve helped tremendously. So I was cautious about season 5. The cast didn’t blow me away. Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and some lesser known names. The story seemed simple enough. Woman escaping a bad marriage and the husband wants her back. Then I started it and was totally wrapped in. Creator Noah Hawley did something very smart. He gave each director 2 episodes. So 5 directors for 10 episodes and each 2 are like little films. He also took the Fargo, No Country model and added A Serious Man, one of the Coen’s great films to the mix. The creation and execution of Munch in this season was fantastic. Loved this season and it is much closer to season 1&2 than 4. ——- HULU
John Mulaney’s Everybody’s in LA - An oddball fun time late night talk show with more dead air, pauses, live studio audience fun than anything I’ve seen in awhile. The unexpected nature and relaxed vibe really worked for me. Mulaney now sober holding a clip board making what is like not a Lynchian nightmare but a Mulaney nap dream of weird bits and long talks about what cars people drive and jokes about LA. I loved it and would watch every day if they made it. —— NETFLIX
Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Donald Glover can do whatever he wants and he chose to do this. Which was very odd to me when I first read about it. Then they made it. Totally got it. He and Maya Erskine have great chemistry, and the acting skills to make a lightly comedic action procedural elevated above just another streaming show. I was locked into this and binged a few episodes at a time. Can’t recommend it enough to anyone. —- PRIME
Curb Your Enthusiasm - Larry David goes out with a hilarious whimper and I loved every minute of it. I thought it was less funny and the premises weren’t as good in recent years overall but this one nailed it almost every single scene. RIP Richard Lewis. —— MAX
Ripley - Beautiful to look at and rewards the patient viewer. An adaptation of same book the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley is based on. Everyone here is less hot, less mannered, and less happens in more time spent in a vacant post war Italy. It’s gorgeous and also eerie. Well acted and makes you sit with the best parts. —-—— NETFLIX
Monsieur Spade - Clive Owen never got to do Bond but he gets to do an old detective limited series from the great writer of Queen’s Gambit & Godless. Adapting an old novel and creates a story in France about a boy who might be a messiah and a family drama mixed with crime. It’s a noir with modern tendencies that I liked quite a bit. —— AMC+
I decided not to do music because I think a lot of what I currently love will stay in my top 10 through the year so I’ll save that for end of year. Hope you all watch some things you like and tell me about them.