2024 Year in Review: Movies, Music, and More!

I managed to see 153 movies in theaters in the year 2024. From Founders Day to A Complete Unknown, it has been a year. I absolutely smashed my all-time record of 127 movies in theaters from last year. While it was difficult to pare down my picks to just ten films, the rest of the honors were relatively easy, outside of maybe song. If the list had gone further, We Live in Time would have been #11. Other honorable mentions include: Juror #2, Nosferatu, A Complete Unknown, September 5, A Real Pain, The Fall Guy, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

10

At the time this movie came out, it was approximately number 3 on my list for the year. That says something about the quality of films that came out after it. Boy Kills World was one of the best action movies this year. Only one action film beat it, but what movie that is should not be all that surprising. The action was strong, and the lore was good. Couldn’t really ask for more. One of three movies on this list that I wrote a standalone review for.

9

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story was just wonderful. One of the better documentaries I have seen in awhile. I knew about Christopher Reeve and his injury, but I didn’t know all that much. Informative documentaries with heart really hit home. A biopic about him could be very interesting. What years one would cover outside of the accident and its aftermath, I’m not sure.

8

The second-best animated movie this year was The Wild Robot. The one that takes the crown should be obvious to regular readers, but we’ll get to that in due time. A heartfelt film with stunning visuals. I had a general impression that this movie was going to be special from the trailers, but it exceeded my expectations.

7

The Substance was my fiancée’s favorite movie this year, but only managed the seven spot in my opinion. The special effects, much of which were practical, were stunning, especially in that one scene near the end. The amount of fake blood used must have measured in the hundreds of gallons if not at least several dozen gallons. I was reading about the behind the scenes, and the first location where they wanted to film that scene ended up bowing out after they informed them of the likely damage from the deluge of fake blood.

6

Not a lot of people are talking about this movie, to my surprise. Strange Darling was excellent. It used a non-linear plot structure to great effect. Effective tension and mystery for a thriller that isn’t quite a horror movie. Looking at its box office, it grossing under four million dollars might be why virtually no one is talking about it. Still, a great film that I highly recommend. I do not want to spoil any details about it. Go in blind.

5

First of the top five is Thelma, a movie that works so much more than it has any right to. Hundreds of Beavers has been getting a lot of attention, but I believe this movie was far superior. And good on the lead actress getting her first leading role in her nineties. This is classified as both a comedy/drama and a comedy/action for some reason. I don’t really understand the action part of that, but fair enough.

4

Spy x Family Code: White was absolutely brilliant. While I had seen some of Spy x Family before seeing this as a mystery movie (the last of three Monday mystery preview screenings that made this list,) I enjoyed this so much that I binged the two currently available seasons of the show. The action, humor, pacing, and visuals were all spectacular. Probably the best anime movie I have ever seen, although the first Demon Slayer movie is some of its only competition.

3

What can I say? Deadpool & Wolverine greatly tickled my fancy. A massive payoff for the hardcore superhero movie fan. Nostalgia done right. As I described it in my standalone review, it is a nerd buffet. Some of those cameos were just inspired. The only superhero movie from 2024 worth talking about.

2

Drama of the year goes to Dìdi, a movie I keep having to copy and paste off Google because of that special character in the title. This movie hit me where I live. Growing up in the early days of YouTube is something I experienced first-hand. This movie did an excellent job spotlighting the growing pains of that era.

1

To the surprise of no one, Late Night with the Devil takes the number one spot. Nothing got particularly close this year. Truly a standout film of the first order. It is getting no awards buzz, unfortunately, although that is to be expected. David Dastmalchian absolutely crushed it in his first leading role. I hope he gets plenty more work due to this.

WORST

There are three movies that could take this crown of bovine feces. The Crow remake was terrible, just godawful. Possibly the worst remake I have ever seen in totality, although I never finished the shot for shot remake of Psycho. I thought Madame Web had this one in the bag, but thinking about it, The Firing Squad was just that much worse. The editing was awful, the continuity was all over the place, and the acting was next level bad. I knew the movie was going to be awful, but I saw it anyway. I have no one to blame but myself for that.

EVERYTHING ELSE

I didn’t play many 2024 video games. While I did start and finish Super Mario Wonder, that came out in 2023. Vampire Survivors had some DLC this year, the latest of which I am still getting through. That’s mostly my fault as I didn’t start it until the last Friday of the year. But… Peglin left early access this year. The full version was released in 2024, which allows me to name it my game of the year. I have put over 200 hours into the game. So much fun, even though the RNG can be frustrating at times.

Although The Penguin was incredibly well done as was The Sympathizer, new show of the year goes to Shōgun in my book. While I do not believe it needs a second season, we’re getting one anyway because of how massively popular it was. The set design, acting, and pacing were all standout.

Album of the year conclusively goes to These Nuts by Ninja Sex Party. Another banger of an album by my favorite band. Starbomb released an album this year which is easily their weakest yet. I think I only liked two songs off it. That’s not good. Maybe I need to listen to it again… Oliver Anthony also released an album, which was very good, but it wasn’t gonna beat out Dan Avidan.

Song of the year was harder to figure, but I eventually went with “Death Metal” by Ninja Sex Party. It’s basically a Jimmy Buffett style song. It’s very funny. Most of the album is excellent, so this was very difficult to figure.

And that’s a wrap on 2024. Sorry I am getting this to you after the start of 2025, but life has a habit of messing with our best laid plans.