TOP 10 OF 2024

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After 2023, I wasn't sure what the future of my role in "film criticism" would be or if there would be one at all. After the dissolution of my YouTube channel in May of last year and trying to find my footing so far as how often I would go long in writing about films it has more or less organically become a pattern of logging my viewing habits on Letterboxd and if a film comes to evoke a certain type of response that either has me wanting to process my reaction further or simply discuss it at length, then it typically ends up on this site. This happened less than I would have liked this year, but to be completely frank it may happen even less in the upcoming year and not because I’m pessimistic about the new year’s slate of films (I’m actually quite hopeful for what '25 might bring) but simply because my wife and I are welcoming our fourth child in a matter of weeks and I don’t know that I’ll be able to sustain my weekly theater visits. That said, I’ll be at home and even on paternity leave for some portions of the year, so I don’t plan on seeing fewer movies just seeing fewer movies at the multiplex - potentially. Speaking of this year I watched 172 2024 releases, 93 of which were on the big screen and some of them - including Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune: Part Two, Alien: Romulus, Joker: Folie à Deux, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and The First Omen - I saw twice in theaters. I watched upwards of 250 films total over the course of the year including re-watches and older films I experienced for the first time. Essentially, I have no idea what 2025 will look like in terms of what or how often I will post here as I also plan on doing a good amount of offline writing, but one thing I can say with certainty is that if I'm still here in a year’s time you can count on me to post my favorite films of 2025. But first! My ten favorite films of 2024…

MONKEY MAN Review

Anger may not quiet the soul and an eye for an eye might eventually make the whole world blind, but corruption must be reckoned with in some fashion and Dev Patel makes it satisfying as hell in his directorial debut, Monkey Man. While the story of revenge is the most common kind of story, especially in the action/thriller genre, Patel elevates the material by making that aforementioned anger more deeply felt and the context hyper-personal as well as lathering the execution in every influence the writer/director/star has clearly made note of since directing became an ambition. 

Patel, the director, has a real penchant for framing his shots around an unexpected primary focal point that communicates plot elements visually while simultaneously building the world - not an easy task when considering you're doing so from the ground up. He does this in a somewhat brash fashion backed by either a heavy soundtrack or Jed Kurzel's Harold Faltermeyer-esque score that culminates in a style desperately trying to carve itself out of those influences. Whether it was my experience as a first time viewer or Patel actually realizing his intention through experimentation, by the end of the film the extreme from-the-hip angles coupled with the extreme close-ups of particularly gritty moments in hand-to-hand combat make for a very ecstatic and unrestrained tone that can't help but to be felt if not necessarily viewed as singular. But also, as a director, if you don’t have women cheer for you when you take off your shirt onscreen what are you even doing?

Official Trailer for David Lowery's THE GREEN KNIGHT

David Lowery is a director who, from a generational perspective, I feel is all my own. Though he made his feature debut in 2009 with St. Nick it was 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints that put him on the map and the one I remember seeking out at my small, local arthouse theater to see if this was yet another imitator of Malick or if this was someone who would be building on his aesthetic with a fresh set of sensibilities. While Ain't Them Bodies Saints didn't knock me out with the emotional gut punch I recall hoping it would, Lowery would show everyone what he was made of a few years later with 2017's A Ghost Story which he'd been afforded the opportunity to make by hitching his wagon to the Disney train and re-imaging Pete's Dragon for them the year before. Pete's Dragon was a pleasant surprise - both in that Lowery had made it and that he'd been able to turn the campy 1977 film into something of a love letter to the innocence of childhood - which is all to say that A Ghost Story absolutely felt like Lowey making the kind of movie he'd always wanted to make and that he could finally afford to take a chance on. For me, that risk paid off as I absolutely adored A Ghost Story with Lowery's follow-up, The Old Man and the Gun, surprising me even more in 2018. While Lowery is now hard at work on another Disney adaptation which is yet another take on the J.M. Barrie novel, though this time it is titled Peter Pan & Wendy, Lowery first will deliver us The Green Knight or what is his take on the Arthurian story titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Dev Patel portrays Sir Gawain while Ralph Ineson's titular charater is certain to steal the show as his presence in this trailer alone is undeniable. I love how perfectly Lowery seems to have balanced his more introspective and challenging ideals he likes to base movies around with that of large scale, almost blockbuster-like visuals that he's employed the scope of here. The tone of the trailer is downright chilling and those aforementioned visuals are not only striking, but rather provocative in many ways; certain shots bringing with them immense amounts of weight regardless of dialogue or context. With the film originally set to premiere last May this feels as if it has been a long time coming. Needless to say, July can't come soon enough. The Green Knight also stars Joel Edgerton, Alicia Vikander, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Erin Kellyman, Barry Keoghan, and opens on July 21st, 2021.  

LION Review

Lion is one of those films that is as pure in its intentions as it is obvious in them. There is no hiding the fact that this "based on a true story" Oscar-hopeful adapted from Saroo Brierley's account of his own journey in the book, "A Long Way Home" is meant to be anything less than an inspiring and uplifting experience. The good news is that those intentions are so genuine that one can't help but to be unconsciously or willfully manipulated by the emotions the film plays on. That is to say, if one is willing to submit themselves fully and without any kind of pessimism or outright cynicism then Lion is a treat that will garner your investment first in the life of its protagonist and then in their plight. There aren't many flourishes here and the storytelling is rather straightforward and predictable, but there is something to the way that director Garth Davis moves through these familiar beats that lend them such an authenticity that it never feels as if the movie is attempting to create false emotion where none exists. Rather, it is simply presenting the facts of a story that elicit such natural responses. There is nothing overly exceptional about the film and Davis doesn't exactly place a particular visual or directorial style on the piece, but rather Lion is very much a middle of the road awards contender that appears to be little more than as much based on its story and credentials. It is able to transcend such labels through the process of the otherwise humbling experience it creates. Much of the films heavy lifting is done in the first half where Saroo is portrayed as a child by the infinitely precious Sunny Pawar as opposed to the second half where face on the poster Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) searches for interesting places for the script to take him as his more matured Saroo deduces his place of origin through the help of the then just-launched Google maps. It's not so much that the second half of the film falters, but more that it is never able to keep pace with the more insightful and moving first half. Given we become so invested in Pawar's performance and Saroo's predicament though, we're naturally inclined to be interested in the details of how his story wraps up. It is in this conclusion that Lion shows its greatest strength in that all that has come before truly pays off in the most affecting and sincere of ways.     

First Trailer for LION Starring Dev Patel

The first trailer for The Weinstein Company's big Oscar hopeful this year, Lion, has premiered and only reinforces the pain of the fact that I'll be missing out on the Toronto International Film Festival this year. As with many an Oscar hopefuls, the film will premiere at the festival and hope for glowing reviews from critics to garner momentum and a strong push come awards season. Of course, this isn't always necessary, but critical reception at TIFF largely influences the buzz your film has, especially smaller releases such as this, going into the holiday movie season. As for the film itself, like I said-this only makes the fact I won't be going to TIFF this year all the more heartbreaking because this trailer hits all the right notes for the true story it's telling, looks well-acted, and is gorgeous to look at. This will be director Garth Davis' feature film debut though he's working with cinematographer Greig Fraser who has crafted some unforgettable imagery for Foxcatcher, Zero Dark Thirty and the upcoming Rogue One. While Patel has been somewhat hit or miss since his breakout in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire eight years ago (yes, Slumdog Millionaire was eight years ago) he looks to return to that arena this year as a man who was separated from his family as a child and goes looking for them with the help of Google Earth. The trailer doesn't harp on this aspect of the plot too much, but it's certainly there and beyond this somewhat kitshy aspect of the story it seems screenwriter Luke Davies (last years underrated Life) who adapted the 2014 novel A Long Way Home from the real-life Saroo Brierley and Australian author Larry Buttrose has honed in on the more human aspects of the story as the trailer specifically focuses on the relationship between Patel's Brierley and Rooney Mara's Lucy. This Oscar season feels especially crowded so it will be interesting to see if this final product can stand out. Lion also stars Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Sunny Pawar and opens November 25th, 2016. 

CHAPPIE Review

Something rather odd occurred with Chappie as I attempted to take it in unphased by the haze of bad press it had swirling around it. For a good portion of the film, the parts before it essentially devolves into something of a mindless action film, I wasn't really gelling with what director Neill Blomkamp was going for. It's not that I didn't necessarily understand where he was coming from or what he was going for, but it just wasn't vibing with this particular audience member the way I feel he intended it to. As Chappie morphed into this one, big action sequence though I began to appreciate the way in which Blomkamp integrated all the elements he's been setting up even if some of those elements were rather frustrating. What I appreciated most though was the fact the film didn't go exactly where it could have and where I expected it to easily resort to, but in fact went a completely different direction and touched on a theme I didn't foresee the writer/director including in this script. As far as themes are concerned, Blomkamp is known for crafting large metaphors and for mirroring real-world issues with his science fiction stories, but as with Elysium my main problem here is that Blomkamp is touching on issues that are relevant now and not where those issues might push society in the future which is where Chappie is set and how science fiction typically works. Granted, it is only a few years, but after touching on South Africa's apartheid era in District 9 and the satire of Elysium commenting on the current state of separation between classes I somewhat expected Chappie to push things to a different level for Blomkamp and frequent writing partner Terri Tatchell. The issue with all of the elements Blomkamp introduces and that he and Tachell expertly integrate with one another is that instead of pushing things further, they just throw more plotlines with more themes at us to crowd our minds so that we might not focus on the fact the film doesn't have much to say about any single one of them, but more acknowledges that they exist and are rather interesting. In the end, what does this accomplish though? If no one line of thinking prevails, if no one idea is clarified, what is the point of the film? Herein lies the problem as I was entertained while watching Chappie, but took away my fair share of issues with it as well as not particularly liking large chunks of it.

First Trailer for Neill Blomkamp's CHAPPIE

While I was more of a fan of Elysium than it seemed like most people were, director Neill Blomkamp's claim to fame is still going to be his directorial debut, District 9. This is clear from the way in which his third film is being touted. It doesn't seem like nineteen months is long enough to turn around a film, especially one as technically involved as this seems to be, but Blomkamp has done it and to be honest this looks much better than I would have expected given the turn around time. It seems Blomkamp had done most of the time-consuming work beforehand on this one though as Chappie is seemingly a feature version of  his own 2004 short Tetra Vaal, with elements from his 2006 short Tempbot that features a similar-looking robot protagonist. Given all of that information I looked ahead to the trailer if not for it being another Blomkamp film, but for the fact it added an element of openly admitting it was a robot movie that inherently includes the fact artificial intelligence is built into the titular robot and not saving that as the big revelation. The look of the trailer is similar to both of Blomkamp's previous features in that it was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa but also in its grungy futuristic aesthetic. The visual f/x look flawless, the tone seems to be a mix of darkly cool and broadly funny while it will also be interesting to see Hugh Jackman play against type as the seeming villain of the piece. Chappie also stars Dev Patel, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sharlto Copley, Sigourney Weaver and opens March 27, 2015.