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Alright, here's my list. An asterisk for things I saw at the movies. Honourable Improved Rewatches: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Departed (2006) Evil Dead II (1987) The Fog (1980) Honourable First Watches: The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) * Muriel's Wedding (1994) Clearcut (1991) Paterson (2016) The Crazies (1973) F for Fake (1973) Little Murders (1971) Dirty Dancing (1987) A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Chaos visualized in mere seconds, demonstrated by a room full of cats and several props (2023) The Real List: 10. Donnie Darko (2001, or arguably 2004 since it was the DC) Man, this would have taken over my brain for a couple years if I'd seen it as a teenager. In any case, it was excellent. The domestic drama meshed perfectly with the cosmic stakes. There's a feeling I sometimes get while dreaming, that something terrible is going to happen and I need to figure out how to stop it, and this movie just encapsulates it perfectly. 9. Her (2013) A lonely man falls in love with his talking phone. Just a very good movie. Relieving to see something set in the future and not vaguely dismal. Rides the line between allegory and straight-up sci-fi. Beautiful atmosphere. 8. Stop Making Sense (1984) * A band subconsciously realises they're at their creative peak, and manages to preserve a piece of that feeling in amber forever. A great time, and I was glad to be able to experience it, even distantly. 7. Pearl (2022) * Magnetic; one of the most sympathetic monsters I've seen in a while. The climactic scene has this funny dynamic where Pearl's pouring her heart out, and it's catharsis for her (and the audience), but slowly-unfolding horror for her friend as it all becomes clear how not right she is. Quite a few people in the horror thread mentioned how it tapped into how they felt coming out of lockdown, an angle I missed, so I'll need to give it a rewatch. 6. Across the Spider-Verse (2023) *, twice This movie suffers from uneven pacing and an unsatisfying conclusion; everyone I've ever talked to about it mentioned people in their theatre reacting with disgust at the ending. It's also better than the original in every other way, and is maybe the best super-hero movie of the century so far. Just a delight to look at, jumping effortlessly between art styles, packed with detail yet always so clear. 5. Godzilla Minus One (2023) * Kind of a soft remake of the original; the big guy shows up in a still-recovering Tokyo, and people have to figure out how to deal with him. Unusually human-focused, and I mean that as a compliment. I've noticed this weird trend where American action movies and video-games have slowly warmed up to suicide-attacks, so I really enjoyed seeing something that puts some thought into the question. Here, failed kamikaze pilot Koichi is torn between his guilt-driven urge to sacrifice himself, and his desire to live and have a family. I genuinely thought he was going to kill himself until I saw the parachute. God, I was so disappointed in the movie up until that moment. What a lovely swerve. Obvious in hindsight, like all the good ones. 2024 is the year in which I go back and actually watch some of the original Godzillas. 4. The Wicker Man (1973) A hapless cop attempts to lay down the law in a British island pagan commune. I watched this for the October marathon, and it was a highlight. It's just so bright and cheery, and he's such a grouch, unable to perceive the noose til it's pulled tight. It's a reversal of the usual formula; the final guy - who is a virgin, and pointedly refuses to have sex in an early scene - relentlessly seeks danger, certain that his job and natural authority will protect him. Just a lot of fun. 3. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) * Marty and a couple of his favourites have a story to tell and they knock it out of the park. It's tight and it's sharp and it looks good and the characters feel like people. Mostly awful people, but still. Simultaneously about a series of murders, and about the act of turning such an event into entertainment. I hope Scorsese has a few more left in him, but this would be a good capstone, a look back on his not-quite-series of movies about historical American bastards. What sticks with me the most are the quiet parts, just inhabiting this place and these people's lives - it doesn't have to be plot to be interesting, and worthwhile. 2. Tár (2022) * A conductor's life unravels. Thoughtful; spacious; relies on the performers' subtleties, and they're all up to the task. Whenever I see a movie concerned with a specific artform like this, I spend a couple weeks wondering if I could get into it. God, Paterson had me considering becoming a Poetry Guy. Tár herself is just so interesting; poised and precise, perfectly-credentialled, who has carefully built up this life where she has everything she wants, with a minimum of risk. There's something nicely old-fashioned about the flick. Like it's very much about Me Too and the present moment, but it doesn't feel like the writer mainlines Twitter 15 hours a day; it's just a regular, great movie. 1. Locke (2012) Tom Hardy in a car talking for 90 minutes. I was in the perfect mood for this movie, about a guy whose principles compel him to do something extremely stupid, and who is trying to get everyone to see it from his point of view through sheer force of will, and God, I wanted it to work out for him. Like the anti-Tár, in a way; he's deliberately allowing this scandal to screw up his life, driving towards it for hours and hours, refusing to turn back no matter how many opportunities he gets. What can I say, it spoke to me. Kazzah fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 04:46
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 00:12 |
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I usually spend the last two weeks of the year at the coast, without games and without much say in what movies get watched. These best-of threads are brutal on my to-do lists.
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Jan 1, 2024 22:31
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Bottoms up?
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Jan 2, 2024 00:23
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