2024 was almost bound to be a weird year for the movies. The disruptions from last year's strikes leaving huge gaps in the calendar (particularly during the winter/spring) along with some completed titles that were originally set to release last fall (Challengers, Drive-Away Dolls, Dune: Part Two, The Bikeriders) finally getting released led to the first six months of the year being a hodgepodge of failed presumptive awards contenders, genre movies and relatively big blockbusters designed to hold the industry over until the big guns are ready to be pulled out in July-December. While this approach certainly led to some depressing dry spells with no overly noteworthy movies being released, it did create this unique atmosphere that was kind of exciting to bask in for a bit.
Would a livelier marketplace have allowed Challengers to receive the spotlight it so richly deserves? How about for a comparatively modest blockbuster in The Fall Guy to fill the summer slate kickoff slot that has been reserved for superhero movies for 20+ years now and do a better job than nearly all of those films at delivering pure escapist fun? Or a classic mid budget January movie in The Beekeeper that saw Jason Statham step into his finest smoldering hardass role in ages all while having access to IMAX screens for multiple weeks? The answers to all of these are a resounding no. I'm not suggesting that the studio disrespect and devalue creatives to the point where they have to strike to have their completely reasonable demands met again in the near futre, but this one-off shakeup to the release calendar has been cool and is an experience that I'll reflect on fondly as we enter what at least appears to be a more traditional back half of the calendar.
Below, you'll find a ranking of every 2024 film I've seen (with grades) so far along with a whole host of midyear accolades/superlatives/awards and a little bit of looking ahead at what the final stretch of the year could bring. Hope you enjoy.
January-June Titles I've Yet to See, but Intend to Watch in the Future:
AGGRO DR1FT
Am I OK?
Arcadian
The Bricklayer
Ezra
Femme
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Ghostlight
The Greatest Hits
Hate to Love: Nickelback
Housekeeping for Beginners
Hundreds of Beavers
I Used to Be Funny
Knox Goes Away
Land of Bad
The Last Stop in Yuma County
Late Bloomers
Life After Fighting
The Listener
Mayhem!
One Life
Parachute
The People's Joker
Problemista
Red Right Hand
Sasquatch Sunset
Scrambled
Shirley
Sleeping Dogs
Spaceman
Stress Positions
Suncoast
Thelma
Trigger Warning
Tuesday
Turtles All the Way Down
The Underdoggs
Unfrosted
Wicked Little Letters
50.Bob Marley: One Love (D)
49.Miller's Girl (D)
48.Atlas (D)
47.Night Swim (D+)
46.Rebel Moon: Part Two-The Scargiver (D+)
45.Players (C-)
44.Madame Web (C-)
43.Lift (C)
42 The Book of Clarence (C)
41.The Watchers (C)
40.Lisa Frankenstein (C+)
39.Arthur the King (B-)
38.Boy Kills World (B-)
37.The Strangers: Chapter 1 (B-)
36.Mean Girls (B-)
35.I.S.S. (B-)
34.Kung Fu Panda 4 (B-)
33.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (B-)
32.The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (B-)
31.The American Society of Magical Negroes (B-)
30.Late Night with the Devil (B-)
29.The Bikeriders (B-)
28.Immaculate (B-)
27.Self Reliance (B)
26.The Idea of You (B)
25.Ricky Stanicky (B)
24.Road House (B)
23.Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (B)
22.Argylle (B)
21.Inside Out 2 (B)
20.The Beekeeper (B)
19.The First Omen (B)
18.Love Lies Bleeding (B)
17.Kinds of Kindness (B)
16.Drive-Away Dolls (B)
15.Dune: Part Two (B)
14.IF (B+)
13.Hit Man (B+)
12.Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (B+)
11.A Quiet Place: Day One (B+)
10.Daddio (B+)
9.Snack Shack (B+)
8.Bad Boys: Ride or Die (B+)
7.Babes (B+)
6.I Saw the TV Glow (B+)
5.Monkey Man (B+)
4.Civil War (B+)
3.Abigail (B+)
2.The Fall Guy (A)
1.Challengers (A)
Awards:
Top Movie: Challengers
Top Director: Luca Guadagnino, Challengers
Top Lead Performance (Male): Josh O'Connor, Challengers
Top Lead Performance (Female): Zendaya, Challengers
Top Supporting Performance (Male): Javier Bardem, Dune: Part Two
Top Supporting Performance (Female): Cailee Spaeny, Civil War
Top Breakthrough Performance: Katy O'Brian, Love Lies Bleeding
Top Script: Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers
Top Cinematography: Eric K. Yue, I Saw the TV Glow
Top Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers
Top Editing: Marco Costa, Challengers
Top Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two
Top Sound: Dune: Part Two
Top Villain: Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Worst Villain: Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), Madame Web
Best Performance in a Bad Movie: Dakota Johnson, Madame Web
Worst Performance in a Good Movie: Christopher Walken, Dune: Part Two
Top Piece of Overacting: Dan Stevens, Abigail
Worst Piece of Overacting: Brett Gelman, Boy Kills World
Top Action Sequence: "Alligator Park Showdown", Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Worst Action Sequence: The entire second half of Rebel Moon: Part Two-The Scargiver where at least 90% of the action sequences are overflowing with sudden, awkward cuts to hide all of the blood/gore that will be in the R-rated director's cut. Good job on mandating those PG-13 cuts to feed the algorithm Netflix!
Top Performances:
1.Zendaya, Challengers
2.Josh O'Connor, Challengers
3.Katy O'Brian, Love Lies Bleeding
4.Javier Bardem, Dune: Part Two
5.John Cena, Ricky Stanicky
6.Sean Penn, Daddio
7.Ryan Gosling, The Fall Guy
8.Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
9.Dakota Johnson, Daddio
10.Dan Stevens, Abigail
Most Underrated:
1.Abigail
2.Snack Shack
3.Daddio
Most Overrated:
1.Dune: Part Two
2.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
3.Late Night with the Devil
Biggest Surprises:
1.Monkey Man
2.The First Omen
3.The Idea of You
Biggest Letdowns:
1.The Bikeriders
2.The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
3.The Book of Clarence
Top Acting Ensembles:
1.Challengers
2.Abigail
3.The Fall Guy
4.Civil War
5.Hit Man
Top Movies I'm Most Excited to See in the Second Half of 2024:
1.MaXXXine
2.Nosferatu
3.Anora
4.Gladiator II
5.Kill
Top Miscellaneous Great Things That I Didn't Praise Above:
1.The gloriously demented, beautifully chaotic blocking, editing and camerawork of the action sequences in Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
2.The nuclear chemistry between Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in Hit Man.
3.Just how fucking cool and innovative the "Follow the Ball" scene in Challengers is.
4.Disney footing the bill for a really gnarly horror movie (The First Omen) and Yorgos Lanthimos' return to making bizarre, off-putting dark comedies (Kinds of Kindness).
5.John Cena delivering one of the greatest comedic performances in recent memory in Ricky Stanicky.
6.Civil War's ability to the make the sounds of explosions and gunfire completely horrifying.
7.Dev Patel making Monkey Man one of the most visceral, visually striking and dynamically choreographed action movies of the decade thus far despite operating on a shoestring budget ($10 mil) and enduring a slew of disruptions to the production (issues with funding, equipment, logistics due to shooting in Indonesia in the midst of the COVID lockdown in early 2021).
8.Babes being the return to elite comedic form that Ilana Glazer needed after a rough run of projects following the end of Broad City.
9.The bittersweet feeling of seeing the late Angus Cloud crush the final role of his career in Abigail.
10.The perfect final act of Immaculate that largely atones for the tonally confused mixed bag of a film it is the rest of the way.
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