From Opus
Unranked, in more or less the order I saw them. If reviewed, I linked. If not, trust me. Happy New Year!
Origin
(Du Vernay)
Richard Brody is right on about this one.
About Dry Grasses
(Ceylan)
(Sen)
(Filho)
(Sora)
(Bonello)
Last Summer
(Breillat)
All You Need Is Death
(Duane)
Kidnapped
(Bellochio)
(Hong)
(Tomnay)
(Hustwit)
(Pasolini)
(Wilcha)
(Miller)
(Holland)
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg
(Bllom & Zill)
Hit Man
(Linklater)
Good One
(Donaldson)
The Bikeriders
(Nichols)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
(Hinton)
(Kurzel)
(Salles)
(Akin)
(Schrader)
Longlegs
(Perkins)
Megalopolis
(Coppola)
Rumours
(Maddin, Johnson, Johnson)
Anora
(Baker)
The Apprentice
(Abassi)
Juror No. 2
(Eastwood)
(Leigh)
(Huston)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Dune Part 2
(VIlleneuve)
Drive Away Dolls
(Coen)
Club Zero
(Hausner)
Wicked Little Letters
(Sharrock)
Last Stop in Yuma County
(Galluppi)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(Ball)
The Brutalist
(Corbet)
The Room Next Door
(Almodóvar)
Will & Harper
(Greenbaum)
Nosferatu
(Eggers)
NO CIGAR
Civil War
(Garland)
I Saw the TV Glow
(Schoenbrun)
That’s a good list. Megalopolis was certainly notable. From the ridiculous title, to the terrible script, the dated VFX, the overwhelming production design, to the appalling acting. I clenched my teeth through it and sat out the hours it lasted, until the terrible end credits song by The The.
Could you find it in your heart to post a handful of the worst films you saw in 2024? I got up and left the cinema during The Color Purple musical, as well as during The Fall Guy.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of these titles I missed. “The World Is Yours” is fun and thoughtful. I hope you have time to share notable books and records you experienced this year as well.
This year I avoided sequels (with one exception) and saw 10 movies in theaters. They were:
Poor Things (2023 release, but I didn’t see it until January ’24)
Civil War
I Saw the TV Glow
The Bikeriders
Longlegs
Trap
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Megalopolis
Heretic
Nosferatu
Aside from Trap (a good movie until its third-act collapse), I was pretty satisfied with all of them. Megalopolis was certainly flawed but it never bored me.
I hope to see Babygirl and A Complete Unknown while they’re still in theaters here.
Glenn wrote on Bluesky: “One salient fact about Emilia Perez that is insufficiently remarked upon is that it is a bonafide Bad Movie.”
NPR is treating it as the year’s best movie – or maybe tied with Wicked, which also went over big with NPR’s staff of former theater kids.