This is my least favorite post each year. First off, it’s impossible to watch everything, so I always feel like I’m missing something when I make my list. Second, I feel like I need to justify my list, even though hardly anyone reads it anyway. With that in mind, I decided to change things up a little this year. I’ll still have my completely subjective Top Ten, but my reasoning will be blissfully short for each film. And for the ton of other movies I want to acknowledge beyond a simple “Honorable Mention,” I have created a handful of other categories explaining what kept them from my top films this year. Some will have a little blurb added, and some will simply be listed. I’m just going with my gut this year because none of this matters, but I watched a bunch of movies in a very short time last year, and I need to document that. So here you go:
1. A Complete Unknown
I’m a Bob Dylan fan, and this captured what I love about his music. Of all the films released this year, this is the only one I can imagine rewatching and/or putting on in the background for years to come just to be in the world of the movie for a bit.
2. Nosferatu
Robert Eggers is my kind of filmmaker. The sequence at Orlock’s castle is an all-timer.
3. The Substance
Such a fun, wild ride. I thought a rewatch would diminish it, especially the ending, but I enjoyed it even more the second time around.
4. The Brutalist
I have a bad feeling that Brody is going to swoop in and steal the Oscar from Chalamet just like he did from Day-Lewis over twenty years ago. Still, I can’t deny how much this movie stuck with me. The score put it over the top for me; the reveal of the upside down Statue of Liberty coupled with the bombastic score is one of my favorite cinematic moments of the year.
5. Thelma
The surprise of the year for me. It had me crying, then laughing less than a minute later. This is one of those movies I cannot imagine anyone having a negative opinion of. Sure, some, like me, will like it more than others, but I can’t understand anyone hating it. I can’t say that about any other film in this post…
6. Civil War
…which brings me to Civil War. Yup, this one worked for me simply as a film about documenting modern warfare. Upon a rewatch, I still found many moments incredibly tense. Add some nice needle drops and beautiful destruction, and I’m all in.
7. Nickel Boys
At first glance, I thought this was just going to be one of those “serious” films about some terrible stuff that’s good, but not effective. I couldn’t be more wrong. Some dislike the POV style, but that’s precisely what made this film work for me. Because of that style, there are multiple haunting moments that have stayed with me weeks after first watching this.
8. In a Violent Nature
A few years ago, this wouldn’t have hit me all that hard. But recently I’ve embraced the slasher genre, and this felt like the perfect love letter to fans without getting gimmicky or too goofy.
9. Saturday Night
I usually hate this type of movie: a story told in hectic real time while too many impossibly chaotic and witty things happen to be believable. But, much like SNL itself, it somehow came together. And I don’t even hold those first years in high regard beyond respecting what they started. It made me laugh, and I never rolled my eyes.
10. The Bikeriders
Every year there’s a movie that is just a hang out movie for me that I want to put on to just be around the characters for a couple hours, and this it it.
Movies I need to watch again:
The Fall Guy
Longlegs
Deadpool and Wolverine
Love Lies Bleeding
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
I liked all of these movies, and there’s a good chance that if I revisited this year…uh…years from now, some or all of these could supplant other films. But something hasn’t clicked yet with these. Either I need some more time with it (Fall Guy), or I need to confirm the insanity was great (Bleeding), or I need to see if the fun survives another rewatch (Deadpool and Wolverine), or I need to feel the actual desire to watch it all the way through again (Furiosa), or maybe the greatness of it somehow missed me (Longlegs). Whatever the reason, these haven’t hit me yet.
Movies I liked, but wished I loved:
Gladiator II
Dune: Part Two
Anora
Hundreds of Beavers
Kinds of Kindness
Alien: Romulus
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Late Night with the Devil
This is the saddest category. In general, I want to love what I watch. I’ve never been someone who watches movies just to shit on them. I want my time to be enjoyable. And these films were enjoyable (some more than others), but I wanted to be consumed by them. Dune: Part Two probably came the closest, but I think I just want that to be one really long movie. Godzilla was fun, especially since my son is into it, but compared to Minus One, it just seems a little too insignificant. Horizon’s ridiculous title is everything that is wrong with that one, but I still want to see everything Costner has planned. Alien was just too into the past, though it’s still an amazing experience. You get the idea.
Movies that are great, but I don’t plan on watching ever again:
Memoir of a Snail
Aattam
Mars Express
Sing Sing
A Real Pain
Conclave
A Different Man
His Three Daughters
I Saw the TV Glow
Rebel Ridge
Inside Out 2
Challengers
Sasquatch Sunset
These are the movies that make me hate making a list. It’s hard for me to come up with anything wrong with any of them, but being able to enjoy a film over and over again is important to me, and while all of these were special in their own way, I don’t want to experience them a second time. Although not watching at least part of Inside Out 2 again in my house is probably an impossibility.
Movies that everyone seemed to hate, but I thought were okay:
Joker: Folie รก Duex
Borderlands
Here (The Zemeckis One)
Transformers One
This is my favorite category because of my aforementioned wish to love everything I watch. To be fair, I didn’t love any of these movies, but I was pleasantly surprised by all of them. With Joker, I wasn’t a big fan of the first one, so I kind of dug the direction it took; it’s still an unnecessary film, but I certainly found it more interesting than the first one. Borderlands is more of a missed opportunity choice. I enjoyed the wacky sci-fi world created for the film, but the rest of it, from the casting to the action, fell a bit flat. I think Roth might’ve had a very entertaining movie in his head at some point, but it got twisted into what it is now through studio meddling. Here is Zemeckis and Hanks trying to recreate the sappiness of Forrest Gump through de-aging and nostalgia. While the de-aging stuff bugs me, I’m a sucker for the nostalgia stuff, especially watching a family through the years as I raise my own children and watch how things change over time. It’s nothing special, but I do think people are too quick to shit on Zemeckis films these days. And finally, Transformers One. This is just here because my son liked it enough that he wanted to watch it a second time instead of seeing a new movie this past fall. As for me, it was all right, but I prefer the live action Transformers movies, even when they get all batshit crazy.
So that’s that: proof that I watched a bunch of shit last year, and I plan on doing it again this year. Thanks for reading.