I certainly watched more movies than read books in 2024, to the point where my local AMC Theatres had become my second home and I forged a first name basis friendship with the woman behind the snack counter. Hi, Kathy! 😃 (Her name being Kathy is even more significant once you keep reading. lol)
I would even sometimes go weekly, but also depending on if they are showing movies I am interested in, of course. For awhile my interests laid dormant, but then Wicked, Gladiator II, A Complete Unknown, and Nosferatu all opened during the holiday season and with other things going on, so I have been unable to get there. But they (for the most part) remain on my list of movies to see in the New Year. I'm also even considering seeing Mufasa: The Lion King. :)
But for now, let's talk about my movie theater ventures and new film genre explorations of 2024. :) Some of these movies I wrote too much about so I needed to create a separate blog post just for them. You'll see what they are in a sec. lol
Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.
Mean Girls is a film adaptation that had plenty of people talking but now it's like it never happened. There is criticism that they don't want to accept that it is a musical because I guess they made the musical too pop and before it even came out for some reason the marketing refused to acknowledge that it is a film adapation of the musical and not a remake of the 2004 original movie.
I've seen the 2004 film plenty of times and even though I have not seen the musical adapation live yet, I do enjoy the music from it. I liked this movie enough and even the new arrangements of the songs. It was a nice way to start off my year in movies and it's something you would expect I would watch. No new genres here yet..
I can see how some changes they made aren't very necessary though. A huge one is that Gretchen and Karen don't sing their verses in "Meet the Plastics" in this. The verses are cut entirely. But overall, it's enjoyable and no harm done really. I even had fun talking to people about its history when they came in for the showing following mine. lol
I even was going to write a blog post about how this film was better than the 2004 one, but I never got around to actually writing it nor do I really remember why I felt that way.
The cast is great but the main standouts for me are Jaquel Spivey as Damian Hubbard and Reneé Rapp as Regina George. I also really liked seeing Auliʻi Cravalho cast in a movie musical again as Janis ʻImiʻike. Damian is always a great character, but Spivey somehow makes him even better. His delivery is fantastic. I also found out that Spivey graduated from Montclair High School. Not only does this bring out the Jersey Pride in me, Montclair High was also a filming location for the 2004 movie, so this is a nice callback. Not only that, the 2024 movie followed this tradition by filming in a New Jersey high school as well. The fact that A Complete Unknown was filmed all over New Jersey is the main reason why I want to see that one, so there is something that movies released at the beginning and end of 2024 have in common.
This musical film adaption is a grool 20 Year Anniversary celebration of the original film, in my opinion. I love that it came out exactly 20 years later and that Tina Fey and Tim Meadows returned to reprise their roles. Ashley Park, the original Gretchen in the Broadway production, came back as well, but now playing a different character. Rapp, also from the Broadway production, reprises her role as Regina George. I was happy when they cast her in the Broadway production (replacing Taylor Louderman) because she was 19 at the time, so it was nice to see an actual teenager play a teenager. After I saw this movie, it made me want to check out her debut album Snow Angel. Not bad. I think her focus is more music than acting, so it will be interesting to see where her career goes from here.
Regina's scenes are some of the best in the movie and Rapp has a powerful voice and a witty presence both on and off screen and stage. Her rendition of Regina also seems a bit friendlier than Rachel McAdams's version and perhaps even others. I felt that her introduction in the movie is one of the best villain/antagonist introduction scenes that I have seen.
That is, until I saw this next movie...
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
March 2024 was a huge movie theater going month for me, finding myself in an AMC Theatre once every week, and it all started here.
Hands down, the best movie I have seen in 2024. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen in in my entire lifetime too. I saw this twice in theaters, both in IMAX.
SNUBBED! But we'll talk about that another time...
Austin Butler is also in this one. He's kind of a minor character, so I forgot he was involved, you know? Almost like an afterthought.
...
YEAH OKAY. As if he wasn't the reason why I went to see this film in the first place!
It was interesting to see two main antagonist characters, Reneé Rapp's Regina George and Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, have epic introduction scenes back to back in totally different styles of film, one a teen comedy musical, the other a science fiction action flick, but yet somewhat similar too because they both wear black leather. But while I favored Regina's at first, as soon as I saw Dune: Part Two, Feyd's Harkonnen Arena scene blew it out of the water! lol
It turned out that I had a lot to say about this one, so I am saving it for another blog post, Part Three.
Directed by Alejandro Gómez Monteverde
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This is a movie I saw with my family and it tells the true story of Catholic missionary Mother Francesca Xavier Cabrini, played by Cristiana Dell'Anna, and her accomplishments, particularly starting orphanages for children. A priest family friend of ours also served as a spiritual consultant for the film. :)
It's a very inspirational story, but it was more so marketed as a girl power film and not as much a Catholic one, which it very well is. The movie was released on International Women's Day and does show how Mother Cabrini was a determined and courageous woman figure in history, and I appreciate that, but some of the marketing material for this movie actually used Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" I feel like this song doesn't match the tone and theme of the movie lol. She does befriend a prostitute named Vittoria (Romana Maggiora Vergano), who remains by her side throughout the entire film. I liked how this woman turns her whole life around thanks to Mother's Cabrini's influence and I liked watching their sweet friendship unfold.
I didn't really take notice of this at first, but my family, and other reviewers (there are plenty of articles about this), pointed out how there is not much prayer in the film. There are scenes in a church and details like that, but not once do they show Mother Cabrini praying and relying on God's help to achieve her tasks. Instead, the focus is on her strength alone. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if the lead character wasn't also a Catholic saint. It would have been more appropos to include more God influence and them not doing so makes it seem like they were afraid to or just didn't want to. Instead, they just decided to appeal to the whole "strong powerful woman" angle. But we've seen the "strong powerful woman" trope time and time again. Because she is also an iconic Catholic figure, the film could have used more Catholicism to tell her story.
One thing I really do appreciate about this movie is the acknowledgement of the discrimination against Italian immigrants. It's on full display in this film, happening often and brutally. Other types of discrimination is often at the forefront of media, but it feels like the discrimination towards Italians back then often gets disregarded. As an Italian American whose ancestors endured this and whose culture in film showcasing our origins in the United States is often just minimalized to the mob, I'm glad to see a movie actually show this part of the culture that we don't often see as well. It's nice to see Italians from Italy actually play Italians too. I rarely get to see Italian actors at work.
What I always remember from this film is how former immigrants discriminate against new immigrants, and the same thing is happening today with people having different views about immigration in this country. It's a good film to watch to reflect on this subject.
Directed by Christopher Nolan
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Even though this is a 2023 film, AMC Theatres showed Oppenheimer again during Oscar season for $5 Fan Faves, so I took the opportunity to finally see this. I was so proud, because this meant that I had finally completed Barbenheimer! YAY! LOL!
Barbenheimer to this day is still one of the best film marketing strategies ever. Other duo movie openings try to repeat this phenomenon, but nothing comes close. What's great about it is that I would have never even considered seeing this movie if it was not a part of Barbenheimer. I didn't even know about it until Barbenheimer. Again, excellent marketing.
Also, by doing this, I ended up watching Best Picture of the Year and seeing Best Actor Cillian Murphy in action! :D
I didn't notice this until now, but with Cabrini and Oppenheimer, I watched back-to-back biopics in a theater back in March. What's interesting is that my experiences with both were different even though they are the same genre and not a new one for me. Cabrini I could relate to and understand, whereas this one...
Good movie. It goes back and forth between present time at Oppenheimer's hearing in like black and white sepia tones and Oppenheimer's past background in color, all about what lead to him and his team building the first atomic bomb. It is interesting and very well done, but I am mature and adult enough to admit to something that I kept thinking about throughout my viewing: This movie is too smart for me. LOL They're mentioning hydrogen bombs, isotopes, and the like, and it just kept giving me flashbacks of how awful chemistry was for me in high school, and I didn't even take physics. LOL These departments of science (and history too I guess) are not my forte at all and I just followed along as much as I could.
I'm glad that I finally saw this movie. It felt like a miracle to finally see it. But it's one of those movies that might be a one time viewing only for me. Maybe down the line I'll revisit it again. :)
One thing I want to address before I move on is Florence Pugh's character Jean Tatlock. As I was sitting there watching this, this was all going through my head. First of all, Dune: Part Two was also still playing at the time so I thought it was pretty cool that I was watching Pugh in one theater playing this character while in another theater she was playing Princess Irulan. Second, before I watched this movie, I was under the impression that Jean was Oppenheimer's mistress and he cheats on his wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) with her. I think he does eventually, but, Jean was actually his first love. They're both single when meets her way before he meets Kitty and they bond over mutual interests right away. They had smooth sailing, but Jean doesn't want a relationship with him...? But then when he has an affair with married woman Kitty, he gets her pregnant and has to marry her, and so therefore he can't see Jean anymore (until their affair), Jean is all upset about it. So basically Jean came before Kitty and their relationship was the moral one while Kitty was the mistress all along and her relationship with Oppenheimer was the immoral one. So why is Oppenheimer's relationship with Jean labeled as the foul one? Am I missing something? Did I misread this the whole time?
Directed by David Leitch
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Barbenheimer's so-called rivalry is what lead me to see this next film. When two members of these opposing films, Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), get together to ride the coattails of Barbenheimer to promote their next movie they are starring in together at the Oscars where Oppenehimer actually eventually wins Best Picture, it's actually pretty brilliant and goes to show just how powerful Barbenheimer was.
I never would have known that they had a movie coming out if they didn't do this. lol They don't even mention their movie. They go on to pay tribute to stunt performers and then thereafter their movie about stunt performers got more talked about.
So Gosling plays a stunt performer named Colt Seavers who gets injured on the job and, humiliated, goes into recovery and semi-retirement. Blunt plays his estranged ex-girlfriend Jody who is now directing her first movie. He is called back to find their lead action star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who has gone missing, and this is supposed to be Colt's redemption arc. But, more sinister schemes are afoot.
This movie is basically a love letter to stunt performers and loosely based on the 1980s TV show of the same name. I like this because stunt people almost never get the recognition they deserve.
Every so often I think about this movie, but for the most part, I find it kinda forgettable. It is okay and it was nice to see Ryan Gosling in something else again right after Barbie. I feel like people hardly talk about it now and they only time they did was when Gosling and Blunt were promoting it of course and then when the extended cut came out. I saw this one in IMAX too but I just kept remembering seeing Dune: Part Two in the same theater and finding it strange that I was actually watching another movie in there. lol
Directed by Tim Moriarty
Another movie I saw with my family, this is a nice documentary that focuses on the importance and story behind the Holy Communion of the Catholic faith. It brings out the different aspects of the impact the Eucharist has. One scene that stands out to me takes place in a prison and how the inmates when receiving Communion feel like it gives them hope to better their lives once they ultimately get out of prison and that their lives are worthwhile. Another part that I always remember is the scene showing the process of nuns actually making the hosts, the wafers, before Consecration. lol This is something we don't really think about and is interesting to see.
Throughout the documentary there are street interviews with various people and the ones with people my age say things that resonate with me. What some of them express is that growing up they are taught to make their First Communion (usually in second grade) and then thereafter they receive Holy Communion at each Mass they attend, but it was just something that they are supposed to do because it's their religion and they don't fully grasp the significance of it. I've always kinda had this conflict of doing things because it is what I know, how I was brought up, and what my religion expected versus doing it because deep down I truly knew it was right and believed in it. The older I get, especially now in my adulthood, I am always trying to form my own understanding of my faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. This is a movie that has helped me in that journey and made me embrace and understand the Holy Eucharist in a new, different way.
I need to give it another watch.
Directed by Kelsey Mann
One of the better Disney animated films as of late and one of the highest grossing movies of the year, this movie is one that I would often bring up whenever anyone asks what is everyone's top movies of the year 2024. Also, not really a new genre for me here since I have a lifetime of viewing Disney and Disney PIXAR films under my belt, although I never saw the first one in full but am aware of what happens in it. This film has one of the best portrayals of Anxiety that I have ever seen, manifested as a new emotion in Riley's brain voiced by Maya Hawke, who is perfect in this role. Her performance and voice is condescending at times when Anxiety tries to run the show and great for moments when Anxiety has to freak out over something.
This movie has perfect timing too because anxiety is a hot topic that everyone, especially younger people, can relate to right now.
Riley is now a teen getting ready to go to high school and the summer beforehand she and her friends attend ice hockey camp, which will determine if they will make the ice hockey team for the school year. Her friends reveal to her that they will be going to a different school than her, so then throughout her entire time at camp Riley experiences increasing levels of panic regarding her future high school status of making the team and having friends, thanks to Anxiety now existing in her mind.
This was the one movie in 2024 that made me cry multiple times because I could relate so much to what Riley is going through. There is this one scene where after Anxiety and the other new emotions kick Joy (Amy Poehler) and the original emotions out of their main headquarters, deeming them unnecessary emotions now that they have taken over, Joy stumbles upon this location that controls Riley's thoughts while Riley is trying to go to sleep. She sends positive thoughts to relax Riley while Anxiety sends thoughts to Riley to make her alert and worry. I forgot what special name they give it, but it's the scene where Anxiety realizes Joy is having an influence on Riley again and she goes, "Joooooy. I know you're in there." lol
What results is such a normal way for an anxious person to think, going back and forth thinking about what could go wrong and what could go right. It made me so emotional to watch this play out because my brain has experienced this on several occasions.
Then there is a scene later that is a spoiler, but I have to talk about it.
With everything coming to a head, Riley has a panic attack, and it is such an accurate portrayal from the animation of this to the symbolic illustration of what occurs in our minds when this takes place. Anxiety is running around so much trying to control the console in Riley's brain that she ultimately is frozen in place with Riley hyperventilating, sweating, and turning red in the outside world. It isn't until Joy comes back and realizes that Riley still needs her that Riley and Anxiety start to calm down. This was another tearjerker scene for me. A following scene at the end had me cracking up when they reveal that they have a special chair for Anxiety whenever she starts to panic again. They even give her tea. LOL
The important thing to note about Anxiety in this is that though she may be an antagonist, she is not a villain. There is nothing "evil" about her, except for our everyday perspectives towards the concept of anxiety being a nuisance. The movie points out how sometimes anxiety is necessary to keep one cautious and aware, but it follows the message of the first movie that not one emotion has to be in charge at all times. Anxiety is not there for personal gain but is rather doing what she genuinely feels would help Riley. She just is. She is what she represents. And I love her design.
Just look at her. The other emotions may not do this as well for them, but this character design truly captures exactly what anxiety feels like. The huge eyes, wide mouth, big teeth, I think she is supposed to look like a frayed nerve. She just looks like she is in a constant state of panic at all times and it is the perfect visual for what she is personifying. Also, someone said that she looks like Pepe The Prawn from The Muppets and now I can't unsee it. LOL
I'm interested in seeing where this series goes from here and if they will introduce even more emotions in the future. Will they have Riley age into adulthood and have to face more adult situations?
One thing I don't understand about this particular movie though is the girls Riley tries to fit in with at camp. They are upperclassmen and already on the team, and I appreciate that they are overall friendly and not your typical potential older mean girls, but why don't they have Riley try to befriend kids her own age just entering the school and team like she is?
Another thing that I now remember about Inside Out 2 is that it opened in theaters exactly one week before the next film on my list, thus making this next movie's release countdown that much much more real to me...
Directed by Jeff Nichols
Clearly my least favorite movie of the year. This movie can go screw itself.
NOT.
I wrote a whole essay about ONE SCENE in this movie. Imagine what I can do with the whole movie???
By the way, the significance of my friend Kathy's name is that Jodie Comer's character in this is also named Kathy too. When Kathy asked me what movie I was seeing that visit, as she often does, I told her about this movie and the fact that one of the characters shares a name with her. Kathy responded by saying that she hoped that she was a good, nice character, and I responded that she is. lol
This is a movie that didn't make as much noise as some of the other films on this list, finding more success streaming than while in theatres, but it will always be my favorite of the year 2024. :)
Again, I will talk about this one more thoroughly in my next blog post. :)
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
It felt like this movie was everywhere this past summer, along with that Luke Combs song "Ain't No Love In Oklahoma."
I often say that 2024 was a great year for Austin Butler, but the same can be said about Glen Powell. Anyone But You was released right before 2024 began, then Hit Man and Twisters came out in the same year. I've liked Powell ever since his "Scream Queens" days, and evidently I have known him since Spy Kids 3D as well, so it is really cool to see him become this big movie star in demand now.
So what did I think of this movie? It is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen.
Now I'm not much of a horror buff to truly make this claim, and this isn't a horror movie obviously, but this is something that can actually happen. For me, it is so disturbing and terrifying. There are multiple scenes of people just flying away to their doom when the tornados hit and it just really upsets me because these are people who try their hardest to survive, think they can, but their efforts aren't enough. Then you have to wonder, what happens to their bodies while in the twister? Where do they land? etc. I'm a sensitive person, so seeing people scared just makes me emotional too. It's very depressing, but also very educational. It's a guidebook, or rather guide movie, of what to do in these situations.
I also have the same problem with this movie as I did Oppenheimer: It's too scientifically smart for me, at least this department of science. The lead woman Kate, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, is trying to release these chemicals into the tornados to control them and they have their own ways of tracking these tornados, but I couldn't tell you what exactly she has planned or anything more than that. It's beyond my realm of knowledge.
What I do like about the film is the chemistry (no pun intended) between Kate and Powell's character Tyler Owens. They have a cute flirtation, particularly from his end. He likes her right away before she lets him in and I like it when the guy takes the lead. She's this serious character who thinks he is just into tornado wrangling for the glory and social media views, but it turns out that they have more in common than she originally thought. But...their romance is like a subplot really. It's not the main focus of the film and just happens to move Kate's agenda forward, so for me to say "Oh I like the love story" is kind of missing the point, you know what I mean?
They even share a kiss in the final scene but for some reason the kiss didn't make the final cut and fans of this movie are (rightfully) upset about it. This further proves how much the filmmakers didn't really want their romance to take center stage.
Not a bad movie, just not for me. Like other things I have watched this past year, it's not really something that I would watch again anytime soon.
Directed by Jason Reitman
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Now here is more my speed! Behind the scenes of show business! I love movies like this! I even love watching those cringy unauthorized story films about television shows back in the day. This is just another one of those and happens to show the origins of Lorne Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle, trying to get "Saturday Night Live" off the ground for its premiere. The whole movie details the hour and a half before airtime on October 11, 1975, and I love how that is the exact date the film opened in theaters. I like seeing reenactments of TV scenes in movies like this, and we get that here too.
So I guess I started and ended the year with genres I am more familiar with. LOL
So, plusses. I like the theater aspect. The whole thing comes across as an amateur theater troupe trying to make it on TV on their own. It is interesting to see how a show like SNL, a concept that we all understand now, was so hard to comprehend back then. Many times Michaels is asked what the show is about and he either dodges the question or can't answer it because even he doesn't know how to explain what a sketch comedy show is. They're a bunch of young theater kids who got together and things go wrong and that's just showbiz, baby.
I love this scene here. They are all wearing togas preparing for a scene rehearsal and when they are called to places, they suddenly start to randomly run around and scream. I feel like this is such a theater kid thing to do. lol
Another thing cool about this movie is that I personally don't really know these actors, which reflects how these theater kids were unknown talents back then. It was pretty cool seeing Kim Matula on the big screen. I was first introduced to her as Hope Logan on "The Bold and the Beautiful," so I go way back with her lol. I had looked up who she was playing, but by the time I saw the movie I had forgotten, so her impression really jogged my memory that she is playing Jane Curtin, so that is a testament to her acting skills. I also know Rachel Sennott, Dylan O'Brien, and Kaia Gerber, but that's pretty much where it ended for me.Now the minuses. It is very fast paced. I know this is to emphasize the pressure and chaos that they were all under that night, and it does get this across, but maybe it makes the audience feel on edge a little too much. It makes you feel dizzy. The first few minutes of the film are of only this in a one shot take non-stop and for awhile it makes you wonder if the whole movie will be like this, and a majority kinda is. It takes forever to just pause for a second to breathe. Here, see for yourself:
Other than this, it is just extremely mean-spirited. They hurl insults at each other at all times, nobody has faith that the show will be a success, and people continuously knock them while they're down. It's just very unpleasant humor. There's not a lot of warmth from this that you would usually get from theater kids or from people who want to see young actors flourish. I wouldn't mind it if they threw digs every so often, because that's just human interaction and probable in an environment like this where stress levels are high and you have co-workers fighting with each other, but it is just too constant in this.
The only shining light in this whole cast is Ella Hunt playing Gilda Radner. Again, I have no idea who this actress is, but she captures Radner so well. Radner herself is just that positive gal trying to keep everyone's spirits up and she is such a juxtaposition to every other miserable person in this.
But you know what? Corey Michael Smith as Chevy Chase is good too. He is that cooperative actor that Lorne Michaels could always rely on to take the show by the reigns when needed. Oh! And Nicholas Podany is a fabulous Billy Crystal!
Okay, maybe the movie has more better qualities than I remember or give it credit for, but the fact that its nasty tone is what I associate with it most and overshadows the rest, that's kind of a problem, unless that is what they were going for.
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Oh wow. So, I think that's it. That was my movie theater going experience of 2024! I have way too much to say about Austin Butler's 2024 projects, so stay tuned to THAT blog post coming soon! :)
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