Yep, most of the studios peaced out on 2024. These last 3 months are the big charge into the finale of the year, and I only really am excited for 4 of these Top 10, a real failing of both the filmmakers (a lot of swings and misses, right Mr. Coppola?) and especially the studios (trying to cash grab and save face by simply “rethinking” for the year).
Don’t take my word for it: here are 3 big releases on the calendar this year that, um, red flags are given to whomever attends the movie:
Kraven the Hunter: You loved Madame Web…so why wouldn’t you love another long delayed Sony movie about a Spider Man villain that isn’t Venom? Hopefully this goes so badly Aaron Taylor-Johnson finally becomes James Bond like everyone wants him to.
Mufasa: I dislike the live action Lion King more and more as time goes on. The Oscar Winning Barry Jenkins (um, why Barry? WHY?!??!) can’t even likely save what will essentially be a simple tale of lion brothers torn apart by pride (man, I’m on one today).
Here: Hey everyone, let’s get the Forrest Gump gang back together. We’ve got Hanks, Wright, AND Robert Zemeckis. Let’s forget that that was Zemeckis’s last great film, 30 YEARS ago. And the fact that he’s made some of the worst films of the last 10 years. This has disaster written all over it.
Sorry to have doused everyone in hopelessness so far. That’s pretty cruel to do to moviegoers during the season of joy.
On the bright side, that season is going to be bountiful again it looks like! For the Christmas movie crowd, here’s my breakdown of the 5 nonsense films that you could maybe enjoy with the family this year that might be slightly better than the Hallmark smalltown Christmas by way of Vancouver Canada fare:
| 1. | Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point | I would have probably missed this one…if the reviews weren’t already pretty strong. Seems like the one to beat right now for best Christmas option. |
| 2. | The Best Christmas Pageant Ever | One of my favorite Christmas stories growing up. The trailer looks a little too polished for the story it’s trying to tell, but the message is sweet. Don’t believe me? Watch the sneaky decent 1980s TV adaptation on YouTube and you’ll see this is the best family movie on the list. |
| 3. | That Christmas | Richard Curtis already made an Xmas classic with Love Actually. He takes the same general concept (intertwined stories around the holiday), and just gives us an animated version here. He’s cheesy, but Christmas is cheesy, and Netflix distribution means this will be a cozy holiday winner probably this year. |
| 4. | Athena Saves Christmas | Christmas gets even more adorable…with a dog! Cuba Gooding Jr. going on adventures with Athena the dog to save Christmas for his town. Sounds like a holiday winner to me. |
| 5. | Red One | The supposed big hitter is last on my list. Like the last few films with The Rock and Chris Evans, I expect this one to have a bunch of people say things like they are jokes but they are not funny. I hope the action is wonderfully silly at least. |
Ok, Christmas wrapped up (your welcome, ahem). I hope your spirits are a little lighter.
And we’re lucky: other countries besides the United States actually make films too. Really good ones! Their presence will be felt early and often on the 2024 most anticipated list, some really cool stories to help broaden horizons and maybe get some good holiday ideas for next year.
Here are some Honorable Mentions that just missed the Top 10 Cut:
The Piano Lesson: August Wilson’s plays have been adapted greatly before, and this Netflix one has Oscar buzz and Denzel’s kids all over it.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig: The director had to leave Iran to make this film, giving the already great film a more epic meaning to its existence.
Piece By Piece: Music documentaries have become pretty boring, especially when the star is an executive producer. So leave it to the Mr. Rogers doc guy Morgan Neville to make Pharrell Williams’s story into a Lego movie, which seems like it fits perfectly.
Union: For anyone who doesn’t know who Christian Smalls is, here’s hoping this doc will give him the overdue big platform he deserves, for all his fighting as a labor organizer against Amazon and it’s endless money to fight against him, and still succeeding!
The Shadow Strays: This is the second collab between Netflix and Timo Tjahjanto. Their last was The Night Comes for Us, one of the best originals the streamer ever made. Here’s hoping this female centric follow up is just as violent and martial arts tastic as the 2018 film.
There’s a little something for everyone in there! Ok, 2024 might not have high profile hitters, but it might have some small sneaky gems. Here are the Top 10 most exciting films that have real shots to become Dune: Part Two’s big competition come Oscar time, and for 2024 movie supremacy:
| 10 | Emilia Perez |
| This one is Netflix’s big Oscar push. It looks like it’s gonna be a LOT of stuff: crime thriller, musical, comedy, drama all rolled into one. Early reviews seem to like it. The director Jacques Audiard makes at worst compelling stories, and the cast (Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez) seems ready to be in something big and awards worthy that says something interesting. |
| 9 | Kensuke’s Kingdom |
| Boy, European animation really caught up fast with Japan and the US! After France gave us Mars Express, the UK releases this one. Early reviews are promising enough, but more importantly, the movie looks like it’s on the short list of the most beautiful looking films of the year, true art that you’ll swoon just looking at. |
| 8 | Uprising |
| This one has a lot going for it. It’s a South Korean film, so it’s gonna probably be another great story about class warfare. It’s also a period piece, about earlier years in Korea. The main character is a servant with marital arts prowess, love it. And most importantly, the original story was written by my favorite South Korean filmmaker, Park Chan Wook, who didn’t have time to direct the film. But if it’s a Wook story, I’m already eagerly waiting to see what lurid action I’m in for. |
| 7 | The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim |
| I have no idea honestly what to expect from this one. If you don’t know, LOTR are my favorite movies of all time. So any tiptoeing into this world makes me extra nervous. But the trailer suggest something so insane I’m in: a British story filmed in New Zealand in a Japanese anime style released in America. That’s so crazy and different, I’m more excited the more I think about it. |
| 6 | Conclave |
| I’m sensing a big 2 for 2 for Edward Berger. He burst onto the scene in 2022 with the modern remake of a book and movie classic All Quiet on the Western Front. This next one he’s got a higher profile cast for a higher profile story: what happens during the election of a new Pope? Sounds like a fun, exciting thriller about something most people know very little about. |
| 5 | Joker: Folie à Deux |
| I guess this is the year of weird musicals. Todd Phillips, the guy who did the first Joker, and you know, the Hangover and Old School, continues to try new things with his 2nd outing. He brings in Lady Gaga to play Harley Quinn, a stroke of genius that I think opens this film to go in a bunch of strange, but exciting directions. And Gaga and Phoenix together? That’s a gruesome fearsome twosome for the ages. |
| 4 | Saturday Night |
| Saturday Night Live was one of the formative foundations of my personality growing up. This film is about the lead up to the first show of the first year, with Jason Reitman at the helm. I don’t particularly love Reitman’s last decade of work, but so many people will want this to work I’m hoping that belief pushes this thing into the comet I hope it becomes. |
| 3 | Blitz |
| After getting whatever he needed to for 4(!!!!) hours with Occupied City. Steve McQueen is back making narrative films, where he’s one of the best filmmakers working today. This one is gonna make a great companion piece with Dunkirk…about the lives of people in London during the WWII Blitz where Germany bombed them constantly. |
| 2 | Gladiator II |
| No I don’t care about Denzel Washington’s “accent.” It was overdue for the timeless Ridley Scott to return to Rome and gladiators. He brings with him Denzel, and the hot “it” actor of the moment Paul Mescal, ready to step into Russell Crowe’s shoes and deliver some bombastic excitement, with Pedro Pescal, Joe Quinn, and all sorts of Ridley magic in store for everyone to enjoy. |
| 1 | Anora |
| As exciting, maybe moreso, than Steve McQueen, or Ridley, or SNL, is Sean Baker. He makes films about Americans no one else sees, but are even more compelling through Baker’s electric filmmaking. This latest one won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and looks to be another fascinating, complex look into a type of worker seldom covered onscreen. If this doesn’t cause a stir at the Oscars, I’m gonna be shocked. |