Wattching Movies 2024 Reviewed: The Top 40
- Watt
- Mar 1
- 29 min read
Updated: Mar 2
40-31: A Lot Of Insides Out
40. Smile 2
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+
We were late to the Smile bandwagon and did not watch the initial installment until mere days prior to taking the sequel in. This was a misstep on our part as these rock. Series writer/director Parker Finn just goes for it. There are gruesome kills, quality jump scares, gnarly practically rendered creature designs, cool transitions, inverted shots, dutch angles, and first and foremost just a deep mean streak. The pop star protagonist element of this sequel is a great wrinkle. The pop star lifestyle is terrifying enough with unstable stalkers, domineering stage moms, grueling schedules, and substance struggles. Throw a demon that feast on trauma on top of that? Foo. Naomi Scott crushes the role with very expressive eyes that can portray unhinged and terrified in equal measure.
Tess Thought (41): I hope the 10 year old girl who sat next to us had a really great time and was successfully able to cover her eyes each time her mother continuously bellowed out for her to do so. What a wholesome mother/daughter evening and an overall great moviegoing experience for everyone involved.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
This is the superior talking ape movie released this year (see #60) even though none of the monkeys mournfully take heroin in this one. It was fitting for the series to grab Wes Ball, the director from The Maze Runner, as it pivots the series a bit from the war movie riffs of Matt Reeves’s sequels to a young protagonist who in true dystopian YA adventure fashion discovers the nature of the world and goes to free his people from a totalitarian ruler. He just happens to be an ape named Noa living in the world generations after the last Apes trilogy. This time jump allows the new team to expand out the world, teach a clan of apes falconry, and have various ape factions sprout up twisting the words of long dead previous series protagonist Caesar. The ape effects remain incredible and it also keeps much of the moral complexity of the previous series as well. The villains have some points and the “good guys” are not always what they seem. It’s not quite on the level of Dawn or War but it sets up an intriguing new saga.
Tess Thought (36): Those darn apes sure know how to make you feel something.
38. Babes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
From masters of the small screen writer/star Ilana Glazer (Broad City) and director Pamela Adlon (Better Things, voice of Bobby Hill) comes a Bridesmaid for pre and postpartum. The film follows two lifelong friends in New York City. One, comedian Michelle Buteau, has a fresh second baby. One, Glazer, is expecting her first after a random fling. It feels like a throwback to peak Apatow era R rated comedy with vulgar scatalogical humor and heart delivered in equal measure while exploring both motherhood and evolving friendships. It also sports a strong supporting cast like Oliver Platt, The Lucas Brothers, and John Carroll Lynch as an OBGYN who has a great runner sorting out his hair loss situation across the numerous checkups.
Tess Thought (11): Had such a good time I almost forgot the woman in front of me had her bare feet out!
37. We Live In Time
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max
A by the book weepy cancer romance carried by powerhouse performances from good looking and effortlessly charming leads Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. There are a lot of excellent verge of tears watery eyes from both on display here. Director John Crowley and screenwriter Nick Plan play with chronology to tell the story nonlinearly which maximizes some emotions but removes some tension from others. There is a bit of contrived drama on top of an already tear jerking story but I will give them their dramatic indulgences as there are some genuine solid laughs between the tears.
Tess Thought (15): I don’t always love so many time hops, but I don’t think this would’ve worked any other way. It also helped break up the sobs so that’s good too.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max
Trans filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun spins a trippy allegory about feeling not one with the world. A pair of teens become obsessed with intoxicating fantasy storytelling and intricate lore of a show called The Pink Opaque to escape their somehow darker and more nonsensical reality. As a kid watching TV I saw a brief glimpse of a terrifying oozing purple slime monster in a leather jacket that scared the hell out of me and produced years of recurring vivid nightmares. Over a decade later I utilized what faint details of the scene I recalled and some internet sleuthing to determine the culprit was Gooey Gus from the PBS show Ghostwriter, which I have no recollection of otherwise watching. Turns out he’s a very cheap static plastic doll. Such was the power of 480p images on a developing imagination filled young mind. So I could very much see how with enough psychological trauma sprinkled on top, the Nickelodeon teen lineup could convince a troubled youth to perceive their suburban reality as an unending Lynchian nightmare.
Tess Thought (111): Lost me immediately.
35. Inside Out 2
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
This is a really good film that suffers from being the sequel to a phenomenal original work. This sequel is significantly more hockey heavy which does play to my sensibilities. Unfortunately it feels a bit redundant compared to not just the first installment but other recent Pixar offerings like Turning Red which tackled similar puberty related themes. Luckily the new emotions on hand are welcome additions led by Ayo Edebir’s Envy and Maya Hawke’s Anxiety who really sell their respective states of being. From a technical standpoint, Pixar remains incredible at what they can achieve in terms of simulated lighting. They even sprinkle in a fun spattering of some different animation styles including an amusing construction paper looking interlude.
Tess Thought (46): I much preferred the journey back to HQ in the original. I need Sadness at the forefront and I need Bing Bong (or SOMEONE to make me cry.)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
This now 4 film long saga has really found its rebooted groove by just embracing how ridiculous it is. This time the boys are investigating corruption in law enforcement that has been pinned on their beloved and deceased boss Joe Pantoliano but more importantly a near death experience leaves Marcus confident in his immortality. Martin Lawrence is damn near 60 years old and he has never been funnier. There are a number of stupid subplots and it entirely wastes the immense talents of Rhea Seehorn but Reggie gets his own big action moment and it rules so hard. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are doing the absolute most with the gimmicky camera shots and honestly most of them are pretty neat. Back in 2022 they filmed an entire Batgirl movie where Brendan Fraser plays the bad guy and Michael Keaton returns as Batman. Warner Bros. deleted the files during post production for a tax write off. Where is Mike Lowery to dispense justice on this corruption?
Tess Thought (43): Best/funniest of the franchise.
33. Hard Truths
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste provides a stunning portrayal of one of the most viscerally unpleasant individuals ever put to screen. Pansy, her character in acclaimed British director Mike Leigh’s latest, is the type of person that any interaction with would make you think, “What is their deal?” but it turns out that very question is crippling her as well. Jean-Baptiste just radiates this inexpressible anguish at her own anguish. It is a true powerhouse performance highlighted by an extended close up where an event takes Pansy from laughing hysterically directly into sobbing uncontrollably.
Tess Thought (42): Kind of a tough watch.
32. The Substance
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Mubi (Which has a 7 day free trial)
This goo and guts filled film is not for the squeamish. The awards hype for Demi Moore is a bit overblown, Anjelica Houston gave a more memorable performance in basically the same makeup in 1990’s The Witches, but her casting does add a meta subtext to this tale of an aging starlet put out to pasture and replaced by a younger hotter star. Which new girl on the scene do they replace her with? Why it's a toned nubile version of herself (Margaret Qualley) freshly birthed from a gaping hole in her back via the titular miracle drug. The production design elements are immaculate with slick set design and incredible makeup. They combine to create a sure to be iconic monster design and splatterfest of a finale. My favorite effect however may have been the distorted fish eye-esque close ups created with a wide lens to really capture the grotesquery of Dennis Quaid’s performance as a scuzzy producer.
Tess Thought (110): No.
31. Civil War
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max
Writer/Director Alex Garland’s latest film is set in a dystopian near future where Civil War has broken out in the United States. Rather than digging into the how or why of that scenario the story primarily examines the ethics of wartime photojournalism. “There’s no such thing as an anti-war film” is a quote often attributed to Francois Truffaut which argues it is impossible to make an anti war film because war is inherently full of visceral excitement. Capturing it in any form only glorifies combat. The journalist in the film (Kristen Dunst, Narcos standout Wagner Moura, and a green tagalong played by Cailee Spaeny) travel across a war torn nation in search of the ultimate money shot of the war’s definitive conclusion. The photographers see themselves “the objective neutral observers” but are they doing a service? Are some really just thrill seeking tourists? Is it ethical for them not to intervene in the situations they capture? For some, getting the shot is all that matters. Thematically the film would pair quite well with Jordan Peele’s Nope which examined the commodification of suffering.
Tess Thought (22): Jesse “scene-stealer” Plemons.
30-21: Pow-pow-Powell is a Powerful Star
30. Kneecap
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Belfast based rap group Kneecap play themselves in an energetic fictionalized account of their origin. A school music teacher is brought down to a police station to serve as a translator for a rowdy young man who claims to only speak Irish. The teacher happens to be a part time DJ and soon enough finds himself linked up with the arrestee and his hedonistic friend to form a hip hop troop. The group gains notoriety through the radical act of speaking their native Irish tongue and inserting pro republican lyrics into their lively rhymes. The film feels a bit chaotic at times but that matches the raucous vibe of the outfit. The performance pieces shine and the lads wear some fantastic track suits throughout.
Tess Thought (68): Often didn’t understand a word that was being said, even when they were speaking English. But still had fun!
29. Hit Man
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) loosely adapts the true story of a mild mannered college professor that moonlighted as a fake hitman to assist in police sting operations. The story is spun into a sexy dark romantic comedy with big Out of Sight energy. Above all else, the film is a showcase for star and co-writer Glen Powell who gets to play a wide variety of personas as part of the stings. He also has great steamy chemistry with co-star Adria Arjona who plays a woman looking to kill her abusive husband. Fellow Everybody Wants Some!! alum Austin Amelio plays a great scuzzball who threatens their unlikely romance.
Tess Thought (29): Sydney Sweeney could never.
28. Twisters
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
The original Twister is a high point in the leading man phase for one of my favorite actors Bill Paxton and holds up fairly well. This remake/sequel from Minari director Lee Isaac Chung, is a coronation for should be Hollywood superstar Glen Powell. The man oozes movie star charm as a Youtube stormchaser known as the “Tornado Wrangler” complete with catchphrases and t-shirts. His character and rowdy team provide a nice twist on the science vs money dynamic of the first. It doesn’t have quite the roster depth of weirdo character actors the original was sporting but Brandon Perea’s hootin’ and hollerin’ tornado enthusiast Boone rules. Sadly there are not as many staggering practical effects as the original. No one drives through a rotating house, but the massive night time tornado is terrifying against a pitch black sky and an exploding fire tornado is very cleanly rendered. This probably ranks even higher if I didn't have such a disdain for the country music that litters its soundtrack.
Tess Thought (21): Sydney Sweeney could quite literally never.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Three daughters, a Type A (Carrie Coon), a stoner/degenerate gambler (Natasha Lyonne), and a sweet summer child yoga practicing deadhead (Emily Olsen) gather in the apartment of their father for his final days of hospice care. The three actresses create a series of very lived in squabbles that reveal the distinct family dynamics. Set almost exclusively in the dying dad’s apartment and a park bench outside the film has a stage play feel. Director Azazel Jacobs adds to this effect with a lot of sustained shots of a single character in frame. It can often feel like the actors are trading off monologues but the writing’s observations about death, life, and grieving are sharp enough they get away with it.
Tess Thought (51): I wasn’t in the mood for a play on this day.
26. A Different Man
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max
This film starts out as a depressing Elephant Man style tragedy starring Sebastian Stan as a man living a miserable existence in a rundown apartment struggling with facial deformity. It quickly becomes a unique dark comedy full of Charlie Kaufman-esque surreal twists once Stan’s Edward is cured of his affliction by an experimental procedure. Edward promptly starts an entirely different life with his new handsome face. He stumbles upon his playwright former neighbor (The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve) adapting his previous life into an off broadway show. During production the pair end up encountering Gus (Adam Pearson, egregious Oscar snub), an impossibly charming and infectiously upbeat man with Edward’s very same facial affliction. Edward’s life hilariously spirals out of control faced with the possibility his abject misery was of his own creation.
Tess Thought (28): What a year Bucky Barnes is having.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
This is just a draining watch about the Magdalene Laundries made all the more powerful by a haunting Cillian Murphy lead performance conveying the weight of the world’s innumerable horrors crushing down upon him. Institutions of power stack the shit so high one can barely lift their head out of it let alone try to remove any of it. It often feels like the only options are to go numb to the indignities, falling into complacency to stay afloat, or be driven mad, wallowing in melancholy racked with survivor’s guilt. If enough reach down to lift those buried in the muck however minutely that they can, there is still hope to collectively disrupt and collapse the mound.
Tess Thought (25): All of the scenes you see through a frosty window chef’s kiss
24. The Fall Guy
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
Former stuntman turned director David Leitch crafts a cinematic love letter to stunt work. The film also serves as a charisma showcase for one of the few remaining bonafide A list leading men Ryan Gosling. He plays stuntman Colt Seavers, called back into duty after a terrible accident on his last job. He quickly becomes tied up in a loopy mystery when the movie star he’s doubling (a perfectly douchey Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing from the set of Colt’s former fling (Emily Blunt)’s big budget directorial debut. Gosling is hilarious with his physicality on point as he’s battered and thrown around in his quest. I love movies about making a movie and multiple well executed set pieces take advantage of the setting like an apartment brawl with prop weapons and a meta climax during the filming of Blunt’s movie’s climax. The film features a very good dog and more sick jackets on Gosling I need to purchase. Be sure to stay for the behind the scenes stunt reel during the credits.
Tess Thought (10): This is my most favorite Gosling era. Keep ‘em comin.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime and Paramount+
Writer/director Michael Sarnoski follows up his masterpiece Pig with an emotionally resonant prequel to the A Quiet Place franchise. Lupita Nyong’o is characteristically excellent in the lead role as a hospice patient on a day trip to Manhattan when the alien invasion hits. By nature of the premise of monsters that hunt based on sound, the script is dialogue light, but Sarnoski gets a ton of nuance from her Nyong’o impressively expressive eyes. Making her way through the initial chaos, she eventually links up with a shellshocked Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson on Stranger Things). The pair goes on a perilous quest across the ravaged city to visit her favorite pizzeria one last time. I really loved the concept of a horror protagonist that has no long term survival concerns but who very much wants to live.
Tess Thought (38): I was uninterested until Lupita and Joseph teamed up. What a lovely duo and a touching testament to the power of pizza.
22. My Old Ass
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
I am a sucker for a good coming of age movie and this quickly charmed its way into being one of my recent favorites. The film follows Maisy Stella’s Canadian slacker stoner teen Elliot’s last month at home at her family’s cranberry farm. Elliot is a little shit but likable and funny so you root for her to figure it all out. On a camping trip with her friends she has a shroom induced vision of her future self played by the always delightfully sassy Aubrey Plaza who offers her wisdom and life advice. The pair magically continue to correspond via phone calls and text messages as the previously thought to be lesbian Elliot falls into a budding romance with the farm’s summer worker Chad. The film is hilarious and heartfelt with a show stopping Justin Bieber cover but the real star is the stunning scenery of Muskoka Lake, Ontario.
Tess Thought (9): Try not to fall in love with Chad, ya CAN’T.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental, Still in Some Theaters
James Mangold’s returns to the Walk The Line well for another musical biopic based on the folk centric early career of Bob Dylan. You typically don't learn much about an artist from the standard wikipedia regurgitation drama but that weirdly works when the subject covered is an enigma with an often fabricated background like Dylan. Timothee Chalamet absolutely cooks, performing guitar, harmonica ,and vocals that closely approximate Dylan’s unique voice in dozens of performances of some of the greatest songs ever written captured live on set. His Dylan remains a cypher, but what does come through in the portrayal is a lot of that mystique is a put on act because deep down he’s simply just a charming asshole, a magnetic little stinker if you will. Chalamet captures and channels the innate humor of this songwriting scamp and nails a few of his signature looks. Boyd Holbrook is electric as Johnny Cash who pops in from time to time to egg on Bob’s mischievous rebel instincts.
Tess Thought (49): Through no fault of Timothee I was a touch bored.
20-11: Uh Oh, I Think He’s On The Wikipedia Page
20. The Brutalist
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Director and co-writer Brady Corbet is certainly ambitious. This tale of the trials and tribulations of a holocaust surviving Hungarian immigrant architect (Adrian Brody) is clearly inspired by and aspiring to be a Grand American Epic in the vein of Once Upon a Time in America, There Will be Blood, or Killers of the Flower Moon. It largely hits the mark artistically with the incredible score of Daniel Blumburg and the fantastic cinematography of Lol Crawley whose grandeur creates some truly striking images. The first half is outstanding but unfortunately the post intermission second half hits some storytelling snags as Brody’s Laszlo Toth wallows in indentured servitude to his increasingly malevolent WASP benefactors led by a menacing Guy Pearce. There is a particular issue with turning metaphors literal instead of letting the messaging speak so ultimately the film falls just a bit short of Corbet’s ambition. It remains a hell of an endeavor to shoot for and a true triumph of scale if its reported miniscule $9 million budget is even close to accurate.
Tess Thought (54): Certainly doesn’t have my vote for best picture but it’s good enough to beat Emilia Perez and that’s all that matters.
19. Conclave
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Director Edward Berger follows up his Best International Feature win for All Quiet On The Western Front with a twisty tale of intrigue as cardinals from around the globe gather to select their next pope. Peter Straughan, writer of the criminally underseen Frank, adapts a pulpy airport novel by Robert Harris. Cinematographer Stephane Fontaine stages the hell out of it with some of the most striking frames of the year. The film is largely a series of conversations but all the scheming, scandals, and backdoor shenanigans are deliciously entertaining. The cast is loaded with Stanley Tucci, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Isabella Rosalenni, and a scene stealing Italian cardinal who rips a vape. They’re all absolutely cooking. It’s all soundtracked with a tense string heavy score from Academy Award winner Volker Bertelmann.
Tess Thought (20): All it takes is a real good score to make you care about a group of gossipy priests.
18. Rebel Ridge
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
This is a really solid modernized First Blood riff where a corrupt small town police force hassles the wrong marine corp veteran. Not quite as good as Jeremy Saulnier’s revenge thriller Blue Ruin or his masterpiece Green Room but a step back in the right direction after his underwhelming previous Netflix effort Hold The Dark. There is an interesting non-lethal wrinkle to all the action as the veteran takes deliberate care to disarm and unload guns while barreling through the police force led by a slimy Kentucky fried Don Johnson. Aaron Pierre is an absolute star in the lead role commanding the screen and handling the hand to hand combat with aplomb. I need him and Alan Ritchson to team up to snap some arms expeditiously.
Tess Thought (26): Would’ve enjoyed this even more if it had been in theaters. Fell into the unfortunate trap of scrolling on my phone then hollering at Ryan to rewind or recount what was said. Plus continual pauses for Winnie to reprimand the bunnies that had the audacity to trespass in our front yard.
17. The Wild Robot
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Dreamworks builds on the work of 2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish to produce easily their best looking film and perhaps their most emotional resonant one as well. Director of Lilo and Stitch Chris Sanders deploys a painterly animation style to tell the story of a service robot who washes up on an island inhabited only by woodland creatures. The robot wonderfully brought to life by the voice of Lupita Nyong’o is programmed to assist those in need so eventually she finds herself raising an abandoned young gosling. Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’hara (her morbid possum offspring are a highlight), and What We Do In The Shadows’s Matthew Berry round out the voice cast. There is nothing groundbreaking storywise with its well trod themes of found family, parenthood, and letting go but it is all executed perfectly. Throw in a moving Kris Bowers score and you have premium family entertainment.
Tess Thought (14): Best animated movie of the year.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime and For Free on Freevee
Filmmaker Mike Cheslik takes a $150k budget and produces a Buster Keaton by way of Looney Tunes jokes delivery machine that operates on video game logic. An applejack salesman vengefully turns to the fur trade after beavers destroy his liquor operation. The entire enterprise is a miracle of creativity that overflows with do it yourself charm. Mascot costumes, puppets, greenscreen, and the cheapest of animation bring an endless array of clever bits to life as the pelts are collected. Non-stop gags are leveled up by escalations, callbacks, and side splitting swerves culminating in a dizzying climactic spectacle complete with a massive final boss.
Tess Thought (52): When it first started I was like absolutely not. No way. But it ended up being kinda funny.
15. Sing Sing
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
This is a deeply moving little film about the restorative powers of artistic expression. The film centers on the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program offered to inmates at the titular maximum security prison. Colman Domingo is more than worthy of the Best Actor nomination he scored but the entire ensemble composed largely of former program participants is just fantastic. Paul Raci is just as good in his therapeutic mentor role as he was in Sound of Metal. The criminal justice system chews people up. The arts program enables inmates to act in and even write their own plays. More importantly it opens an avenue to explore their emotions, to be vulnerable, and work through their experiences. The prison hardened men get to laugh, cry, and regain a bit of their humanity as they remember the outside world and the dreams it held.
Tess Thought (7): Give Colman the Oscar pretty please.
14. Thelma
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
93 year old June Squibb’s first ever lead theatrical role is a doozy as she goes on a Tom Cruise inspired quest to retrieve funds stolen from her in a phone scam. The late Richard Roundtree is positively delightful as her begrudging equally elderly accomplice Ben, roped in for access to his fancy mobility scooter. Their exploits are accompanied by a great jazzy score by Nick Chuba. Fred Hechinger is impeccably cast as her loving doofus grandson. The whole operation is just a masterclass in tone keeping things silly and fun without robbing them of stakes or pathos. Between the “action” exploits the film takes a genuine look at some of the trials and tribulations of advanced aging. Writer/director Josh Margolin displays the fundamental respect and knowledge of the beats of caper films necessary to walk the tightrope of lighthearted homage rather than the broad slapstick parody this easily could have been in lesser hands.
Tess Thought (6): Stubborn 90-somethings who are fiercely independent and a little wobbly are so dear to me.
13. Longlegs
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Just immaculately curated bad vibes permeate through every second of this Osgood Perkins thriller. The specificity of the decaying and cluttered mid-90s suburban homes. The cold halogen lamp lit office buildings. Boxy academy aspect ratio flashbacks on 35mm to add to the grime. Blocking shots like a nefarious Wes Anderson with extensive center framing. It all creates an atmosphere akin to classic feel bad serial killer thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, and Zodiac whose darkness gives off a tinge of the supernatural but this time the story is more openly wed to the occult. Nicolas Cage’s titular character is an incredibly creepy glam rock obsessed spin on Buffalo Bill. Never has T. Rex felt so heinous. Maika Monroe (It Follows, The Guest) is a bonafide scream queen playing the tightly wound, slightly off, and mildly psychic FBI agent hunting him down. The third act takes a bold turn and I don’t know that it pulls it off, but it's a hard plane to land and kudos to Perkins for trying.
Tess Thought (40): Danny Devito’s Penguin vibes.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max
To put it simple and plain, this twist violent darkly comedic 80’s set noir whips ass. Katy O'brien is hulked out to the max as an aspiring bodybuilder named Jackie. Kristen Stewart, gives a career best performance as Lou, the manager of Jackie’s new gym and her eventual steroid supplier and lover. Jackie is quickly addicted to both Lou and the juice in equal measure. Long haired but still incredibly bald Ed Harris is an absolute malevolent menace as Lou’s estranged crime boss father. The synths are bumping. The deaths are gruesome. Dave Franco with a mullet and stache? Obviously he is portraying an all time piece of shit. I had a big ole grin on my face the last half hour as things just kept wildly escalating.
Tess Thought (40): In a word: icky.
11. Nosferatu
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Robet Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Northman) just gets making movies. You give him $50 million and he says “All right cool, I’m remaking my favorite 100 year old silent film. We’re getting big spooky ass detailed sets that I think I’ll shoot in a weird aspect ratio. What did they use to film snow back in the 30’s? Get me some. Obviously I will need Willem Dafoe for some ranting and raving about the occult, but you know what, full send, everyone’s doing goofy voices with ridiculous facial hair. Bring me whichever actress can roll their eyes back the farthest (Lily-Rose Depp) and get me one of them tall Skarsgard boys (Bill). We’re going to slather him in scary as hell monster makeup. What’s carved out for candles? I am envisioning Barry Lydon levels, you know we’re going crazy with the imagery of shadows. Oh, we do need to save some money for the hundreds of live rats. Here, we can just take those funds out of the edit suite time if I just drop in constant perfect pan transitions between shots.” I beg Hollywood to continue to let him do whatever his leather bound books, quill pens, and 100% hand knit wool trousers deem necessary.
Tess Thought (19): Loved all the darkness and shadows and yep I’ll have nightmares.
10-1 We Come To This Place For Magic
10. Anora
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Writer/Director Sean Baker is on an absolute heater as his last three films, The Florida Project, Red Rocket, and now Anora have all been phenomenal examinations of life on the fringes of society. I really need to circle back to his earlier work. Mikey Madison has a star making turn as the titular exotic dancer/escort who has a whirlwind paid for romance with Vanya, the childish party boy son of a Russian oligarch culminating in a quickie Vegas wedding. Madison walks an emotional tightrope as her character, whose entire profession and livelihood is predicated on selling carefully calculated fantasies, gets caught up in her own. The middle hour of this is about as entertaining as anything put to screen this year as Anora, Vanya’s Armenian handlers, and their top hired goon Igor go on a deliriously funny After Hours style screwball run around Brooklyn searching for the missing man child when his parents come to put a stop to the affair. This rollicking second act makes the quietly devastating 3rd act sting all the harder. As a certified Minion guy, I most appreciated Baker’s sympathetic treatment of Igor and overall positive portrayal of the henchman profession. They are hard working guys that just want to do job, wear track suit, and eat large cheese borger while waiting for next direction from the boss. I do also need to quickly hit this with this year’s Poor Things warning label and clearly state: “Do not watch with your parents under any circumstance.”
Tess Thought (23): Love a good goon. Was not sure this was going to be for me but act 2 had me in stitches.
9. Didi
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
As someone that was 15 in 2008, this is just a pitch perfect recreation of that AIM, Myspace, and Youtube driven era. Taking place the summer before Chris “Didi” Wang starts high school, it is also painfully accurate on a universal level for its representation of that horrible time of peak puberty. Didi and his friends straddle the worlds of childhood and dangerous edgy young adulthood. Romantic interests start to enter the picture. Friendships are shifting and everyone lies about the dumbest little things to try and be cool. Writer/director Sean Wang and his impressive cast of young actors led by a phenomenal Izaac Wang cringe inducingly capture that magic period when the level of hormones and anxiety coursing through your acne stricken body render it impossible to be chill and normal for 5 minutes while also conveniently making every minor social faux pas feel like the end of the world. Even the most saintly of parents like Chris’s doting selfless mother feel unfathomably annoying and overbearing. We all make it through but seeing it played back in stunning verisimilitude to your own experience really does make you wonder how.
Tess Thought (12): The mom 🥺
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
Jeff Nichols is one of my favorite filmmakers working today. Mud is a near perfect film. Take Shelter is a harrowing examination of progressive mental illness. In his latest film, guys bored with their mundane life start a motorcycle gang that slowly becomes infiltrated with the genuine menacing figures their media driven macho man complex forces them to cosplay as. It makes sense that the story is adapted from a photography book as striking images abound. The theater experience was electric with the engines rumbling through your chest. Just an elite collection of guys is assembled to portray the gang. Austin Butler smoldering on levels that may have contributed to the recent wildfires, Tom Hardy doing an accent no man has ever had, deaf Latvian Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus playing his ideal self, a jolly fat guy named Cockroach, and best of all greaser Conan O’Brien. The whole affair is narrated by Jodie Comer doing a sustained “Da Bears” voice in an awards worthy performance as the wife of Butler’s biker. What a picture.
Tess Thought (27): One too many “ya know”s from Kathy for me.
7. A Real Pain
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Two cousins go on a Holocaust tour of Poland to honor the recent passing of their grandmother in this hilarious and illuminating character study from writer/director Jesse Eisenberg. Kieran Culkin is an absolute master of being an impulsive little imp piece of shit but in a weirdly sympathetic way that makes you confident they are putting the whole fuckstick attitude on to mask some real deep pain. He is “ain’t I a stinker” personified. It plays well off Eisenberg’s neurotic high strung David who despises and admires his layabout cousin in equal measure. There is a certain appeal to people like Culkin’s Benji who don’t abide by the rules and regulations of societal norms. They are intelligent, witty, and charming enough to make something of themselves but seem utterly impervious to cultural pressures to have ambition of any kind. There is a twisted bravery to their existence that makes them somewhat admirable. They fascinate, frustrate, and make a lively travel companion.
Tess Thought (8): Sometimes I confuse “I don’t want this to end” with “I don’t like this ending.” I just wanted to follow these guys around a little longer.
6. Monkey Man
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
As a lifelong action fan and black belt in taekwondo, Dev Patel has been begging to get a crack at starring in a martial arts epic. He finally just went ahead and wrote and directed it himself. Driven by vengeance his character known only as Kid meticulously plots an attack on those that burned down his village and killed his mother. Action references abound alongside a strong whiff of Nicolas Winding Refn in the hued lighting and gruesomeness of the violence. Kid dons a monkey mask to take part in underground street fighting. He has a showdown in a room full of reflective surfaces. Of course Patel includes a oner where Kid fights through a stream of goons. He even gives himself a little dirtball sidekick who drives a souped up auto rickshaw. Porcelain fixtures are getting shattered left and right and of course there is a training montage set to rhythmic drums. Countless sharp objects including an axe are brandished. He stabs a guy with a knife he’s holding in his mouth. What more do you want?
Tess Thought (3): Dev is a superstar.
5. Challengers
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime
Luca Guadagnino’s tale of a decade spanning love triangle rocks so hard. Everyone is always sweaty and horny and they don’t even seem to know why. Is it for calculating and manipulative Zendaya? The spindly cartoon mouse faced tennis men (Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor)? The sensuous interplay of a volleyed fuzzy ball and exchanged grunts between balletically nimble yet powerful competitors in the world’s favorite racket sport? The only people that do know why they’re horny are Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and what they’re rock hard for is an infectious pounding synth sound that burrows in your ear and riles up a person’s very soul. I know the rule of law is truly dead and buried in this once great nation because as of yet no one has been prosecuted for their Best Score snub. Guadagnino and also preposterously snubbed cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom stage an incredible final match with inventive shots including turning the audience into the ball itself. Each member of the tennis triumvirate are pieces of shit with varying levels of self awareness. Everyone is playing mind games and again, it’s not clear that they all even know to what ends. The nonlinear storytelling of Justin Kuritzkes’s script perfectly reveals the layers of their both toxic and intoxicating dynamic. An extra fun meta aspect is that Kuritzkes is the husband of filmmaker Celine Song who just last year directed her own complicated decades spanning love triangle movie Past Lives.
Tess Thought (5): Best score hands down.
4. Perfect Days
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
From legendary German filmmaker Wim Wender (Paris, Texas (which I saw for the first time in 2024 and is one of the most hauntingly beautiful films I’ve ever seen) comes a wonderful life affirming film that follows the daily routine of a taciturn public toilet cleaner. The cleaner (Koji Yakusho (Cure, another stunner I saw for the first time this past year)) treasures all the little moments in life: Looking up at an extensively branched tree, watering his plants at home, shooting carefully framed photos on film with his analog camera, and above all driving around in his cleaning van listening to his favorite cassette tapes which include some of the best music ever made (Lou Reed, The Kinks, Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Patti Smith). Between each day Wenders visualizes dreams in a brilliant way with these short layered montages of translucent black and white images that fade into the colors of the waking world. The whole film reminded me of a wonderful 2023 Interview Magazine conversation between Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger where the Twins stars reflect on life I’ve excerpted below:
SCHWARZENEGGER: I know people feel comfortable with death, but I don’t.
DEVITO: No.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Because I will fucking miss the shit out of everything. To sit with you here, that will one day be gone?
DEVITO: No!
SCHWARZENEGGER: And to have fun and to go to the gym and to pump up, to ride my bike on the beach, to travel around, to see interesting things all over the world. What the fuck?
DEVITO: Life! It’s the best!
SCHWARZENEGGER: Exactly. What’s that all about?
Tess Thought (1): So quietly beautiful. I too must purchase a coffee every morning in order to take on a work day.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix and Max
9 years after the high octane guzzolene fueled mayhem of Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller returns to his apocalyptic wasteland to deliver another feast for the eyes. With this grandiose followup Miller turns one of the most epic films of the 21st century, into a mere epilogue. He uses this prequel to expand the scale of its predecessor out to a hellish and fully realized vision of the last vestiges of humanity. This outing is a bit more narrative driven as it unfolds in chapters rather than a singular car chase. The effects are just a smidge more clearly digitally enhanced but it still features cool technical flourishes like under-cranking to juice up the speed. Chris Hemsworth is indisputably the greatest villain in the entire 5 film Mad Max saga. His massive cape adorned warlord Dementus rides a chariot pulled by motorcycles while leading a massive biker convoy. There is a lengthy sequence in the middle of this film that is one of the finest pieces of action cinema ever made as a shiny chrome war rig battles off assaults from both land and air in the form of apocalyptic parasailers. God I hope Miller gets another trip out to the wasteland.
Tess Thought (13): It is a mistake to rewatch Fury Road right before seeing this because it doesn’t quiiiite measure up. But still great!
2. Nickel Boys
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Streaming on MGM+
I have never seen anything that looks and feels like this movie. A young black teen named Elwood ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time on his way to a college prep program and is sentenced to a stint at Nickel, a juvenile reform school in the Jim Crow South. There he befriends another student named Turner. Director RaMell Ross and cinematographer Jomo Fray tell their story via unique 1st person POV camera shots that shift between these two main characters putting the audience right in their shoes. The story is told non-linear with jumps ahead in time to an older Elwood investigating the covered up atrocities of Nickel and juxtaposed with montages of space age stock footage to further contextualize the horrors still taking place during a time of supposed advancement. Ross artfully abstracts all the violence without lessening its impact. The 1st person approach is most impactful in little moments of serene peace. The fleeting images evoke a sensation of reminiscence. It creates a deep empathy for the boys and their harrowing situation culminating in an emotional gut punch of an ending.
Tess Thought (2): Felt like a memory. Absolutely love this style.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max and Netflix
Disney better lawyer up. The IRS is coming expeditiously for several intensive audits once they see what $190 million actually looks like up on the screen. Compare the transcendent imagery of the jet pack scene here to any sequence from $300 million+ Ant-Man: Greenscreenmania and Bob Iger is getting sized up for a federally issued jumpsuit. Don’t even get me started on the black and white gladiator sequence shot with infrared lenses that looks positively insane. You could have told me this cost eleventy billion dollars to make and I’d say Denis Villeneuve put every single penny up on that screen. Austin Butler’s is balder than any man has ever been and scary as hell as the psychotic villain. He is doing a Skarsgaard impression but with some tones of Elvis still intact which just makes him seem even crazier. Rebecca Ferguson was born to play a space witch. Timothee Chalamet is a certified movie star as the chosen one in a story that knows how terrifying the prospect of the alleged emergence of a prophesied messiah would truly be. Javier Bardem is hilarious as his most unwaveringly devout supporter. They ride sand worms. There was no cinematic experience who could stand against it.
Tess Thought (4): Just wish there would’ve been a smidge less footage of the unborn baby in utero but otherwise perfect.
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