2024 has been a wild year for me in many ways, and the cinema has played a big part in that. It felt like a Big Deal for the first time in a long while (perhaps even before the pandemic) to go watch something - hurrah! So much so that I felt compelled to explore this through my top 5 films I saw this year. And some films I saw that didn't come out in 2024.
Like with my reviews, I will give them
ratings out of 5 over how much I enjoyed them; if you follow my monthly posts,
two of them will come as no surprise!
So, then,
without further ado, we start with Number 5…
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Poster Description: Mahito wears a baggy vest in a
grassy field. He has one side of his head shaved, with a little cut above his
ear. Wind pushes his hair back, and he looks indignant at a large blue feather
blowing past him. Little, pudgy soul floats through the air ahead of him. The
sky is blue, moving towards a storm.
5) The Boy and the Heron
After last year’s countdown of my Top 10 Studio Ghibli films, it makes sense to find this here. Since writing that post, I watched The Wind Rises (2013) in preparation for Miyazaki’s last film and found with every film he makes, Hayao Miyazaki gets more and more abstract with metaphors for death. Well, with The Boy and the Heron, he reaches something of a peak because it gets weird quickly. Words cannot describe the visceral horror I felt when the aforementioned heron’s beak flipped back to reveal the creepy little man who embodied it.
Nope. No, thank
you.
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Image
Description: Green
trees border a choppy lake with fish jumping from the surface. The heron is
blue and white with a long, thin beak tipped with red. The beak is open,
revealing a prominent pink nose with huge nostrils and pores, big human teeth
and a tongue. |
Young Mahito
struggles to come to terms with his mother’s death, especially as his father
swiftly marries her sister. Upon meeting the strange heron, Mahito enters an
equally peculiar world between the living and the dead.
My boyfriend
and I saw the English subtitle version of the film back in January, and I
assumed Willem Dafoe would voice the Heron in the English Dub with a voice that
gruff – nope. It’s actually Robert Pattinson. You know, the obvious choice!
Almost a year
on, I still don’t know what to make of this film. There is very little whimsy
to be had here because of the heavy topics of war and its aftermath, and Mahito
is a sad, depressing result of that. I wrote a brief review on Letterboxd that simply says, “Miyazaki has a
thing about birds, huh,” because, at one point, there are so many bird faeces
in the frame that you have to pity the animators.
Nevertheless,
you understand this could be the last Miyazaki film, perhaps for Studio
Ghibli as a whole because no one seems to be able to make ’em like he does.
Admittedly, Miyazaki said Princess Mononoke would be his final film in 1997,
but with all the bizarre bird metaphors and old man allegory, I might be
inclined to believe him this time. While The Boy and the Heron isn’t my first
recommendation for a Studio Ghibli film, it’s a brilliant way to tie up
Miyazaki’s fantastic career.
Rating: 3.5/5 STARS
Poster Description: The tagline reads, “A LITTLE BEAR
GOES A LONG WAY.” In his signature red hat and blue duffle coat, Paddington
rides an unturned umbrella down some wild rapids with a branch. The mountains
of Peru are behind him, with an aeroplane flying towards him, lit by the sun.
PADDINGTON IN PERU is written in yellow with a pawprint dotting the “I.”
4) Paddington in Peru
Paddington (2014) was an unexpected success, and Paddington 2 (2017) grew that with resounding applause. Wholesome doesn’t even begin to cover the joy it brings anyone who has ever seen it.
While
Paddington in Peru might not be as entertaining (I blame Hugh Grant – though he
does return as Phoenix Buchanan in a brilliant post-credit scene), it’s still
great fun. As the title suggests, Paddington (Ben Whishaw) returns to Peru with
the Brown family to visit his Great-Aunt Lucy. However, when he arrives,
Paddington learns from the nuns and the definitely not-suspicious Mother
Superior (played by the glorious Olivia Colman) that his aunt is missing in the
jungle.
It’s somewhat
surreal that most of the original cast returns here (It’s a shame Sally Hawkins
couldn’t return as Mrs Brown, though Emily Mortimer does her best to fill those
shoes), most notably Samuel Joslin and Madeline Harris as Jonathan and Judy. To
think they were barely teens in the first film. I’m with Mrs Brown on this one,
they grow up so fast, waa!
I always
enjoy how the Paddington films pick such well-known actors for significant
roles, and Peru continues this trend. Antonio Banderas also pops up as a
roguish sailor and his multiple ancestors. All in all, Paddington in Peru is a
charming, family-friendly adventure with an adorable twist at the end!
RATING: 3.5/5 STARS
Poster
Description: The
colour scheme is orange and brown. The title hovers over a large sandworm which
is pursuing a helicopter. A crowd of warriors are fighting below them. Framed
by an enormous sun, Paul and Chani are side by side at the top of the head
salad. On the left are the bald and pasty Harkonnens; Feyd-Rautha and Rabba
(Dave Bautista) have their swords drawn. Jessica wears an elaborate headdress
of chains under her hood; her cheeks are tattooed. Gurney Hallek (Josh Brolin),
Stilgar, and Chani’s friend are on the right. Princess Irulan is with them,
wearing a silver cowl with long spikes around her face. Paul, Jessica, and the
Fremen all have bright blue eyes.
3) Dune Part 2
(Original)
RATING: 4/5 STARS
I reviewed Dune Part 2 in March and was surprised I didn’t rate it higher than 4 stars. Sure, it
dragged a bit in places, but that’s not surprising at nearly three hours long!
Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) joins the Fremen to get his revenge on the Harkonnens, who conspired to kill his father. Paul must choose between a happy life with Chani (Zendaya) or the terrible future that awaits the world.
It
disappoints me that Chani and Jessica’s (Rebecca Ferguson) fascinating
chemistry feels different to Frank Herbert’s work, but there’s no denying the
cinematic shift felt upon Dune Part 2’s release. Have we returned to
something close to typical pre-pandemic experiences? Paul catching a sandworm
suggests as such. Writing about it still gives me tingles. As for his fight
with Feyd-Rautha (the unrecognisable Austin Butler), it’s wonderfully visceral.
Although we have Dune Prophecy on HBO Max now, it only answers my
questions about what the Bene Gesserit are up to. Yes, I am sad it’s on another
subscription TV channel, but no, I’m not willing to pay for another one. Sigh.
Time will tell what Dennis Villeneuve will do next on the big screen.
(New) RATING:
4.5/5 STARS
Poster
Description: “Make
room for new emotions” is the tagline at the top of the poster. (Right)
Embarrassment holds his large, pink face in his hands, his bulbous nose poking
out. Anxiety has her hands in her large mouth, looking frazzled. Ennui curves
around the corner of the image, staring at her phone. Envy looks on in awe with
enormous eyes; Joy is squashed between cowering Fear and irked Disgust. Sadness
is crying in the corner; Anger bares his teeth.
2) Inside Out 2
I couldn’t write this list without mentioning the highest-grossing animated film of all time (so far), could I?
As Riley becomes a teenager, she must deal with new emotions like Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui (my favourite character design), and Envy. Oh, and Nostalgia, bless her.
Image
Description: Nostalgia
is small and round with a white perm and rose-tinted glasses on a chain. She
carries a tiny teacup and lingers near a door in Riley’s mind, full of shelves
and what looks like a shovel and bucket.
In my review, I called Inside Out 2 “smart, funny,” with important messages. I stand by
my rating of five stars because it builds on what its predecessor established
so seamlessly.
RATING: 5/5
However, I didn’t enjoy Inside Out 2 half as much as I did my number one film. Before I reveal that, here are my honourable mentions – some of which didn’t come out this year, but I still loved them:
A beautiful
film with a darkly real sense of humour.
Rating: 4.5
STARS OUT OF 5
- Cocaine Bear (2023)
A bear
finds cocaine. Violence and hilarity ensue because, of course, it does; it’s
dumb, and it knows it.
Rating: 2
STARS OUT OF 5
- Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
(2023)
It’s a lot
of fun because I finally fell down the Dungeons and Dragons rabbit hole
this year, and I'm loving it. Also, Hugh Grant plays a charming villain again.
Rating: 3.5
STARS OUT OF 5
- Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (2023)
A bodacious
sequel to the 2018 animated film and a great birthday present. At that point, I
was experiencing multiverse fatigue, and Gwen Stacy’s universe gave me a
headache, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked on first viewing.
Nevertheless, the sheer volume of Spider-People was so fun. Shame we have to
wait for Part Two now…
Rating: 3.5
STARS OUT OF 5
Thus, here is my number one film…DRUM ROLL!
Ready?
Here we go!
1) Deadpool & Wolverine
It was the film MCU fans speculated over – personally, I never thought they’d get Hugh Jackman on board because Disney and Fox couldn’t get their act together. How wrong I was!
Wade/Deadpool
(Ryan Reynolds) is at a crossroads after his long-term partner Vanessa (Morena
Baccarin) breaks up with him. To prove he’s not a loser, Wade tries to get
recruited into the Avengers – instead, he ends up being caught by the Time
Variance Authority to save the multiverse. Meh, Loki fans will understand it.
In typically chaotic form, Wade recruits a Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, like he
never retired!) variant to help; the problem is, this Wolverine is even more
traumatised than the one we know from the X-Men films.
I had to
remind myself of the film’s plot before writing this. Why? Because Deadpool &
Wolverine bombards you with inside jokes and cameos from the first scene. We
get an ultra-violent montage where Deadpool uses the bones of Logan’s Wolverine
to effectively destroy TVA agents, all while dancing to NSync’s “Bye Bye Bye.”
Then Deadpool and Wolverine beat the s*** out of each other in a Honda, and
it’s the most heartbreaking, homoerotic thing I’ve seen all year – and I saw
Top Gun Maverick this year! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, either!
Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine is fan service at its most shameless, but Reynolds and his fellow
writers know their fanbase well and it shows. Is Channing Tatum’s Gambit a
spoiler now? I dunno, but his cameo was one of many that had me clapping like
an idiot. That, and Blake Lively as Lady Deadpool, because who else could play
her but Ryan Reynolds' wife? It was a heart-wrenching, stupid, and hilarious movie from start to
finish. And that makes me happy.
RATING: 4.5/5 OUT OF 5
That's my film of 2024. I was expecting Dune Part 2 to win, but I couldn't deny my reaction to Deadpool & Wolverine. What do you think? Did you enjoy it as much as I did? Let me know!
And finally,...Merry
Christmas – see you in 2025!
My
Sources:
The Boy
and the Heron poster
source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6587046/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4_tt_7_nm_0_in_0_q_the%2520boy
Image – WHY
DOES THE HERON LOOK LIKE THAT?: https://media.thenerdstash.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The-Heron-The-Boy-and-the-Heron.jpg
Paddington
in Peru poster: https://static.standard.co.uk/2024/06/12/12/59/paddingtoninperu_artwork_one_sheet.jpg.jpg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75
Dune Part
2 poster source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15239678/mediaviewer/rm1391346433/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Inside Out
2 poster: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22022452/mediaviewer/rm1568556801/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Image –
Nostalgia: https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/inside-out-2-nostalgia.jpg
When was Cocaine Bear released?: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14209916/
Deadpool
and Wolverine poster:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263850/mediaviewer/rm79129601/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Deadpool and
Wolverine fight in a car -
https://www.youtube.com › watch?v=Ctrxx4dTpaY
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