Top Ten Movies I Watched in '24

[coolhandgopher]

So, as you'll see quickly, these are not necessarily movies that were released in 2024; in fact, only one movie makes the top 10 with two on the honorable mention list. But all of the movies on the list were seen by me for the first time in the last year, due to a variety of reasons (access, discovery, finally getting around to it).

Honorable Mention: Rebel Ridge; Dune, Part 2; Prisoners; Loving Vincent; Thief; Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978); The early Bond trilogy (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger); Coffy/Foxy Brown; Cash on Demand*

#10: The Bridge at Remagen (1969)-a WWII movie that I was unaware of until it popped up on my Prime streaming feed. My expectations were moderate and they were far exceeded by a storyline that spoke to the futility of war and strong performances by George Segal, Ben Gazzara, and former U student Robert Vaughn.

#9: Cast Away-yep, took me awhile, avoided for so long because of its length, but I was surprised how compelling the movie was given the solo acting job that encompasses so much of the movie.

#8: The Parallax View (1974)-a conspiracy laden movie from the '70s? Why yes, thank you. Propulsive story and great cinematography in this one with all sorts of paranoia layered in.

#7: Ex-Machina-if there's a movie on the list that keeps popping up randomly in my mind when I read about the advancing state of AI and what the future holds, well, it's this one. Just hoping my boys don't fall for a robot in the future.

#6: Blow Out (1981)-this was definitely enhanced by listening to The Rewatchables podcast immediately after, pretty incredible to realize this was the movie that stopped John Travolta's hot streak as it bombed in the theatres when released. A fascinating frame by frame exploration of a murder and the subsequent uncovering of that murder.

#5: Zone of Interest-When I think there's no new way to cover WWII and atrocities of Hitler/the concentration camps, this movie jolted me out of that thinking. Haunting in its casual portrayal of the mundane family life on the other side of the wall.

#4: Sing Sing-Hey, a movie from 2024! Really looking forward to giving this one another viewing.

#3: The Holdovers-Prep school setting, the '70s, Paul Giamatti, a deep delve into human emotions and frailty, Alexander Payne directing. . .yes, my wheelhouse has been found and wonderfully rewarded.

#2: Lawrence of Arabia-A very good chance that this would have been #1 if a) I hadn't watched it over three days, b) I wasn't watching it from my couch, and c) the last hour wasn't spent explaining much of it to my 7 year old son (which, truth be told, was a highlight of the year--just was hard to fully focus on the movie). To quote Frank Caliendo mock quoting Jim Rome, "what an epic epic".

#1: Being There-And I shouldn't take anything away from this movie--what an absolute delight it was to watch, it was just a wonderful way to spend a sick day watching Sellers transform into Chauncey Gardner, future presidential hopeful. And what a way to wrap the decade for Hal Ashby.

* Regarding the asterisk--I came across Cash on Demand just a few days ago, a crisp 80 minute movie from 1950 with an updated version of A Christmas Carol, through the perspective of a bank heist. It was delightful. Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkan from Star Wars) is tormented throughout the movie by a wonderfully devilish performance from Andre Morrell. If you're looking to add something fresh, but in B&W to your Christmas movie rotation, I'd recommend this. It’s on YouTube for free.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.... good list

 

[Frink]

So, as you'll see quickly, these are not necessarily movies that were released in 2024; in fact, only one movie makes the top 10 with two on the honorable mention list. But all of the movies on the list were seen by me for the first time in the last year, due to a variety of reasons (access, discovery, finally getting around to it).

Honorable Mention: Rebel Ridge; Dune, Part 2; Prisoners; Loving Vincent; Thief; Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978); The early Bond trilogy (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger); Coffy/Foxy Brown; Cash on Demand*

#10: The Bridge at Remagen (1969)-a WWII movie that I was unaware of until it popped up on my Prime streaming feed. My expectations were moderate and they were far exceeded by a storyline that spoke to the futility of war and strong performances by George Segal, Ben Gazzara, and former U student Robert Vaughn.

#9: Cast Away-yep, took me awhile, avoided for so long because of its length, but I was surprised how compelling the movie was given the solo acting job that encompasses so much of the movie.

#8: The Parallax View (1974)-a conspiracy laden movie from the '70s? Why yes, thank you. Propulsive story and great cinematography in this one with all sorts of paranoia layered in.

#7: Ex-Machina-if there's a movie on the list that keeps popping up randomly in my mind when I read about the advancing state of AI and what the future holds, well, it's this one. Just hoping my boys don't fall for a robot in the future.

#6: Blow Out (1981)-this was definitely enhanced by listening to The Rewatchables podcast immediately after, pretty incredible to realize this was the movie that stopped John Travolta's hot streak as it bombed in the theatres when released. A fascinating frame by frame exploration of a murder and the subsequent uncovering of that murder.

#5: Zone of Interest-When I think there's no new way to cover WWII and atrocities of Hitler/the concentration camps, this movie jolted me out of that thinking. Haunting in its casual portrayal of the mundane family life on the other side of the wall.

#4: Sing Sing-Hey, a movie from 2024! Really looking forward to giving this one another viewing.

#3: The Holdovers-Prep school setting, the '70s, Paul Giamatti, a deep delve into human emotions and frailty, Alexander Payne directing. . .yes, my wheelhouse has been found and wonderfully rewarded.

#2: Lawrence of Arabia-A very good chance that this would have been #1 if a) I hadn't watched it over three days, b) I wasn't watching it from my couch, and c) the last hour wasn't spent explaining much of it to my 7 year old son (which, truth be told, was a highlight of the year--just was hard to fully focus on the movie). To quote Frank Caliendo mock quoting Jim Rome, "what an epic epic".

#1: Being There-And I shouldn't take anything away from this movie--what an absolute delight it was to watch, it was just a wonderful way to spend a sick day watching Sellers transform into Chauncey Gardner, future presidential hopeful. And what a way to wrap the decade for Hal Ashby.

* Regarding the asterisk--I came across Cash on Demand just a few days ago, a crisp 80 minute movie from 1950 with an updated version of A Christmas Carol, through the perspective of a bank heist. It was delightful. Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkan from Star Wars) is tormented throughout the movie by a wonderfully devilish performance from Andre Morrell. If you're looking to add something fresh, but in B&W to your Christmas movie rotation, I'd recommend this. It’s on YouTube for free.

Just got around to watching The Parallax View this year as well. Great that you mentioned the cinematography because one of the things I mentioned to the people I watched it with that a number of shots were done to make it feel like you were spying on the cast. The long shot the boat before Beatty meets the guy is a great example.

I'm glad you like ex machina. Saw that in the theater. In addition to just being a great movie it was interesting to watch Oscar Isaac and Domnhall Gleason move from the Star Wars movies together and just absolutely nail it in ex machina.

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

My favorite documentary film of the year is unfortunately going to be hard for a lot of folks to see - "Ancient Beacons Long for Notice,” by Dario Robleto. But, at least you can read a bit about it here (enter any made up email address), and watch a brief clip from the Director as to what the film is all about via YouTube