all fours: 2024

I'm looking at movie years with 4's (2024, 2014, 2004, 1994, 1984, 1974, 1964, 1954, 1944, and 1934). I am skipping movies that don't appeal to me for the sake of time and sanity. I'm going to rank them even though I'll likely change my mind minutes after posting. I'm using this as an impetus to watch and write. 

Coralie Fargeat didn't direct her first feature film until she was 41. She directed her first short when she was 27, and seems to have spent a lot of time on sets within that time between. It shows! Her debut goes by Revenge, and it's true to the title. Her sophomore, The Substance was a massive hit, spinning 18 mil into 82 and winning her best screenplay at Cannes and five Oscar nominations including Best Pic and Best Director. Fargeat builds her picture on nauseating beauty standards and sexual objectification within the visual art industry and does so without any true nuance that anyone other than manosphere minions could disagree with. That's fine, broad/dumb cultural critiques thrive in horror, but 140 minutes? Inject that art Ozempic, less elephant more termite! I did have a very fun second viewing with my friend Justin, where the cartoonish caricatures scored a few laughs and the finale went over like gangbusters. I'm on the fence, but I think Fargeat has the style. I'm also queasy with needles, and especially with needles going into infected holes (didn't this happen in Requiem for a Dream, that movie sucks!). Within a year Demi Moore's ex starred in The Beauty from Ryan Murphy, a true fart in the wind hoping to cash in on The Substance's success. I've read a few passionate pans that I strongly agreed with.   

David Cronenberg's commercial viability has always been up and down. He had a recent hot streak with History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method before hitting a recent three movie skid. I only bring this up because I keep reading about a supposed "late style." I'd wager that despite his reputation and respect that he won't be trusted with a $30 million investment anytime soon. I'd be happily proven wrong, but in our IP age of scooped up n fed back content, this 80 year old provocateur hasn't compelled a larger audience since 2011. I imagine that this perceived late style also has a little something to do with the loss of two key collaborators; cinematographer Peter Suschitsky and editor Ronald Sanders. Suschitsky took over for Mark Irwin, who since The Fly worked repeatedly with the Farrelly brothers and Wes Craven, while Sanders worked almost exclusively with Cronenberg since the start. I bring this up because I too lean on habitual collaborators. It's a trust thing, a communication thing, a friendship thing. Losing a trusted companion can have an effect on the final product. Hell, it can have am effect on mental health. The Shrouds deals explicitly with the death of his wife, and specifically the loss of her physical body and the void therein, as well as our troubling sense of ownership over each other's flesh, and also the maddening process of decay that we all eventually must face. It's a great concept, but I think Cronenberg deserves a better group of collaborators. 

The tyranny of maps and blueprints rules Athina Rachel Tsangari's Harvest. Set in a nameless village during an undisclosed time in Scotland, it chronicles the madness that consumes a bucolic native community as they face forced removal. Profit always drives displacement, and if we are learning anything in our current malaise it's that shit happens gradually; a lie here, a policy there, until it doesn't. It's not quite as drastic as waking up in a nightmare (the frog in boiling water) but it certainly feels that way at times. If we humans are learning anything it's that we are truly expendable, and while a good deal of our neighbors fall into tribalistic ideologies when it comes to borders and territory, it's clear that these synthetic lines have done nothing to unite us or enrich our way of life. Maybe Cronenberg should hit up Sean Price Williams, the cinematographer behind this and Nathan Silver's superlative Between the Temples. Silver's film also features a widower, this time a cantor played by Jason Schwartzman who falls hard for Carol Kane, his former elementary school music teacher who wants him to fast track her bat mitzvah. It's funny, propulsive, and features two of the best lead performances of the year. In a just world they'd be showered with accolades, but I get it, that's like complaining that Beton Arme didn't snag Best Rock or Chip Tha Ripper didn't win Best Rap. Can't a guy complain? This movie might have been 2024's biggest surprise for me, and I should note that it's edited by John THE MEND Magary. Get these dudes on the phone, David!

Best Picture went to Sean Baker's Anora, this one let me down but I say this as someone who has often disliked the director's work. John Magary should have written and directed it. I hate the way people have compared it to classic slapstick, I'm still rooting for Baker but I'm not holding my breath. I've also been cold on Luca Guadagnino, but Challengers put his talent to good use and the leads are all solid. I keep seeing it referred to as "horny," I didn't get that vibe. It was shot by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom who also shot Miguel Gomes' Grand Tour (the best looking movie of the year), as well as Blissfully Yours, Syndromes and a Century, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and Trap. He's the real deal. Cronenberg should also hit him up. Speaking of Trap, I'm liking a lot of what I'm seeing from M. Night, specifically Old. Critical failure birthed a new and better artist. 

Robert Eggers' attention to historical detail stifles Nosferatu, a stagey vampyre bore where the titular villain has a mustache. I don't give a shit how historically accurate you think you are, it's a poor decision as is half of the dialogue because even the best performers here trip over it. It's a movie with such attention to detail in which the actors, all doing their best, can't rise above its languid pace and turgid dialogue. There are times when it feels somewhat true to a lucid nightmare, a societal rot and that horrible feeling of being sick and unable to fulfill your daily duties be it anxiety or a terrible flu. I know he doesn't lack humor, but he's stiff as a corpse. Similarly, I don't get Osgood Perkins. Unlike Fargeat, Eggers and Perkins dress up their nightmares in mood but both seem unable to close the deal. I'm not asking for some neatly resolved story, but his films feel half-developed and it's no surprise he's so prolific. Longlegs didn't need to be a procedural, it didn't need the T-Rex ties, and Cage sucks here yet again. Perkins apparently doesn't like modern horror, that's fine, but damn he's not adding much to it. Heretic was about how annoying atheists are, by the directors of 65 (a movie about Adam Driver going back in time to fight dinosaurs). The performances are good here, especially the Mormon girls (Sophia Thatcher), and it has a bit of a Martyrs for normies flare (there is a scene towards the end that gave me the heebie jeebies). It builds and pays off similar to the far superior Barbarian, in which women are often forced into situations where instinctual leaps of faith lead to their survival. I appreciate that Grant's character is essentially the diametrically opposed but somehow kindred version of a violent QuAnon incel who thinks they are important and that they have cracked some code that ultimately doesn't matter. Lefty pricks are pricks too.

Alex Garland takes on our current American nightmare in Civil War, and it's befitting to see it so non-committal in an age in which Hollywood elites can't bring themselves to condemn genocide, or frankly speak openly about any atrocity while we boil.--- Did any of you see Channing Tatum's dipshit facial expression when asked about Palestine?--- It's empty and pointless, another self-congratulatory notch in Garland's belt. Fede Alvarez's Alien Romulus managed to make face-huggers not scary. I think I need to admit that I wrong about this guy. I have a few friends who really went for I Saw the TV Glow, saying it spoke to their experience in ways that they didn't know they needed. I love that. It grapples with the notion that many of us surrender, accepting a life that doesn't represent us at our core, and speaks to the power (often numbing power) of television. It looks great, that purple parachute was rad, but it fell way short for me. Maybe it made too much sense? Ti West tries a little New York Ripper in LA with MaXXXine, and it has its moments but I'm gonna go the Alvarez route and apologize about being wrong about this guy. I also don't like Mia Goth, why do people like her so much?

I took my kids to see Furiosa and set it up as their first R-rated theater going experience. Well, I spent $60 and we made it 40 minutes until my daughter ran out of the theater screaming because someone barfed blood. Flora has Emetophobia and she has it bad, so seeing a guy with his throat slit spewing blood was the end of that experience, and a dramatic one at that. I was speechless; kind of mad but not at her, curious to see how it was all going finish, and bummed that the theater experience costs so much fucking money. We finished it at home together, and I love the first hour but can't get behind it as it goes along. Fury Road benefited a ton by simply leaning into its chase movie candor, stripping away much else. Miller gets lost in his own sauce, and I'm frankly pissed at the guy for dick-riding the AI apocalypse, burning it all down on your way out... shitty move! 

I don't think people smiling is creepy. I don't care if they're jabbing themselves in the neck with a chard of glass, still not creepy. I'm also not going to join the cacophony of hate towards horror movies that are "about" trauma. The bigger problem, to me, is that genre movies feel the need to be "about" anything in the first place. Smile 2 has a lot of smart cool fans, but again I don't find smiling creepy, in fact I find it cringey. And these movies function on repeating the same beats, and it's not necessarily a movie that thrives on misdirection so I knew when every jump was coming. What am I missing? I'm as happy as the next guy that Jaume Collet-Serra has been released from Mickey Mouse prison. There is no use in overselling Carry-On, but I had a great time watching it. He's one of our better journeymen, he gets the job done and this plot has plenty of opportunities for him to show off his considerable strengths. Welcome back, buddy! 

Back to the hate! I haven't seen Saint Maude, prolly never will. Love Lies Bleeding is an A24 nihilist noir that has a scene with a giant woman killing Ed Harris, which I suppose is a refreshing swing, if only the movie earned it. Don't do steroids. Eastwood continues to challenge moral norms by mining the exceptions to what we falsely believe to be justice in Juror #2. There are things that we collectively won't accept, like the main character being sober when he hit the girl, and coming forward and being honest is pointless. Sometimes you have to sit in it and endure it. I like this about Eastwood, he's often building his contrivances on our pack mentality when it comes to the accused, our communal bad faith judgement as a disease, and our unwillingness or inability to empathize with people who are on the ropes. I hesitate to say that he's interested in the complexities of guilt, but I think he's good at being the rock in our shoe. We are fooling ourselves if we believe that we are innocent until proven guilty. It also has lots of bad acting and I'll echo the "late style" comments about Cronenberg, but the guy is 94 and ostensibly directing until he can't walk so yk, respect. 

I don't find Tim Robinson as funny as my friends do, alas. I feel genuine guilt about this. I've had people fire up I Think You Should Leave skits, and boy that's embarrassing when you can't even muster up a chuckle. I was relieved when my friend Alex had the guts to put on Stand Up Solutions on a hungover Sunday, and I actually laughed (cuck sorry!), but I had post-Robinson fears of him getting fake angry because I didn't find it funny. Friendship benefits from some really solid gags (the wife in the tunnel, the "it's not coming back" scene, etc) and I was relieved that I liked it. I can say I like Robinson now (Rap World was better tho), which is kind of the point of this movie. Male friendships haven't been as consistently weird in my life, in fact my life is more like Neo Sora's awesome debut Happyend about a group of friends battling megalomania, xenophobia, the surveillance state, earthquakes, and the fear of growing apart in the not so distant future. As several of my friends pointed out, it felt true in its collaborative style and its depictions of high school friendship. I'll look forward to Sora's sophomore feature. 

I'm incredibly juvenile for liking Terrifier 3, especially given my reasoning. It's really gross and offensive, and I like the practical effects. I like that we have a new Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Chucky, or Michael but it's maddening to see a big truck with the hanging balls and the Punisher sticker also sporting an Art the Clown sticker. I guess I've seen plenty of Crimson Ghosts side by side with Five Finger Death Punch, and thus so it goes. I had a blast watching it with Tim and Justin, with my children upstairs bumming out because I actually have some rules when it comes to entertainment consumption. I heard Leone didn't pay some of his staff, so that knocks it down considerably for me, given part of my enjoyment is that, for all of its many unpleasantries (this is a franchise built on how EXTREME it is), it always felt like it was made by people who actually like each other. I've heard Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man described as the anti-Substance and I like that. I think the concept didn't need to be quite as high at times, but this movie rules and is one of the 2024s I don't feel any hesitation recommending to people. The performances are great, I'm happy Sebastian Stan is going to work with Radu Jude. The First Omen is not without its merits, I'll be keeping an eye on Arkasha Stevenson. 

I'm very glad I didn't pay to see Soderbergh's Presence. I would like to see Jeremy Saulnier lighten up with his style, there's a resistance to genre grime that I find off-putting (don't be above it, be about it), but Rebel Ridge is further proof of his talents and probably his best movie. ACAB. Damian McCarthy is about to break out with Hokum, and his Oddity is a nice introduction to his skill at training our eyes to the dark corners of the room, even if it didn't really add up to much. Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door looks great and moves along nicely minus everything having to do with Martha/Michelle's past, including the unfortunate flashbacks. He's loving the leads and they're loving him back. Late style? In a Violent Nature has the goods, I just wish it stuck to them. I'd like to see more walking in place of the talking, and a 70 minute runtime, but yeah the kills are fine just the way they are. That's what I want, give it to me. Justin Kurzel suffers from the same "serious" affliction that besets Eggers, Perkins, and Saulnier. Being so foreboding and serious only puts a burden on the actors, and even the good ones struggle in The Order. Still, the Pacific Northwest looks great, doesn't it?

I only know one reseller and he's a reprehensible human. I wouldn't be surprised if he wound up in a similar situation as Masaki Suda's Ratel from Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud. Fingers crossed. Daffy and Porky headline The Day the Earth Blew Up, an homage to 1950's sci-fi horror a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came From Outer Space, Invaders From Mars, etc. I would have loved to see this in the theaters and if I was a kid I would have been terrified of it, which is my way of saying that it commits to the horror and finds a way to plop these legends into it. In the same vein, Kiah Roache-Turner's Sting is about a spider from space that befriends a little girl and eats the residents of her NYC apartment complex. It opens with the song What a Way to Die by the Pleasure Seekers, and like the aforementioned movie, was born in the wrong decade. My daughter went on a tirade at the end, passionately defending the titular spider's actions and even cried at its demise. It was interesting to hear the reaction her unconventional views spurred. Roache-Turner and Peter Browngardt brought the good heat. Bring on Beast of War!

Art if often an act of hubris, if not always. It's good to be aware of your own proclivities in that regard and act accordingly. Matt Farley pokes fun at this in Local Legends: Bloodbath. This is my first exposure to his work; unfussy, loose, DIY, funny, self deprecating, and very clean. I love it! I often feel that something is lost in prolific artists, but Farley's formula rewards his diligence. And not many artists grapple with "failure" or "sucess" like he does, at least in this movie. I find a lot of people resort to idgaf posturing, which on top of presenting a bald faced lie is also a lame flex. Farley instead leans into caring too much, acknowledging the hubris of presenting "art" and fussing over its perceived reception. There are great gags involving him wanting to re-release former existing movies with deleted scenes of people gushing over his talent (though obviously reading dialogue he wrote about himself). There is something about his self sufficiency that most artists can't relate to, as many of us are ultimately looking for the type of success and recognition that comes with a boost from higher powers. Similarly Joel Potrykus deals with male existential impotence with his much belated sequel to Buzzard. I was introduced to his work via my friend John and admired his resourcefulness as well as his ability to gross me out with scenes of characters eating what some of my friends would call "ignorant food." To speak much more would spoil a movie that I found tonally jarring, and I don't say that disparaginginly. It served as a reminder to try and see beyond our circumstances, especially the self-inflicted type. I watched it on my son's birthday, which was particularly diabolical. Potrykus teaches film and makes movies when he can. I can relate to his hustle.  

It's become a cliche to shit on the holidays outright.  Christmas Eve at Miller's Point communicates the disappointment many of us feel when it comes around. We love our families (biological or friend or chosen) but certain rituals and gatherings put a pressure on us that often harms the experience, and can send some of us into a depressive rut. By pressure I don't only mean financial, but also the pressure to feel something that we might not be able to conjure up at the time.  And of course, as time passes we lose the ability to enjoy things like we used to, which often results in existential desolation. The overall vibe is dreamlike, the pop tunes washed out, the images often seeking focus. I compared it to Lynch but I'd go more with Aki Kaurismaki or Yasujiro Ozu. It was shot by Carson Lund, who made a movie about niche cultures being run out of town, and the void therein. Speaking of which, I recently read a Substack by film writer Carol Grant where she addressed what she called our liminal world, or the in-between culture that her generation inherited post-COVID and with AI and it's interpretation of reality. I can feel that encroaching reality and I mourn for the youth deprived of these communal spaces and experiences. I'm not here to rag on technology, though I am not soft enough to pretend it hasn't destroyed much of our shared existence, and I'm certainly not going to blame the youth for the bullshit they inherited, but I'm also not sold on community like I used to be and I'm not sure if this is a dark alchemy put on by the powers that be. 

Jia Zhangke's Caught By the Tides observes these liminal spaces and has the benefit of real time to show how we got where we are. It was so nice to be back in his world with his incredible muse, bleak as it may be. I'll end by quoting my friend Jackson who said of Mike Leigh's Hard Truths: "the hardest thing is admitting that you want to be healed. Maybe it's because you don't think you deserve it, or that it's too late and wouldn't fix anything, or that stasis is simply easier." Watch Leigh's movie, ofc. Congrats to Jackson and Shotwell :) let the healing begin.

1. Eephus

2. Hard Truths

3. Caught by the Tide

4. Between the Temples

5. Christmas Eve at Millers Point

6. Local Legends: Bloodbath

7. Happy End

8. Vulcanzadora

9. The Day the Earth Blew Up

10. A Different Man

Honorable Mentions: 

Challengers, Rebel Ridge, the Shrouds, The Day the Earth Blew Up, Dahomey, Sting, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Rap World, Grand Tour, Harvest, Corey's, Carry On, Stand Up Solutions

 Up next, 2014 in 7 months