Best of 2024 - End of Year Report

Ho ho, yo yos. Here's my rundown of films in 2024. By my best count I saw 124 films last year, 115 of them new watches (though not necessarily made or released in 2024), and 61 of them at the cinema. Of those cinema trips, 28 were at Luna Leederville, 14 at Palace Raine Square and 10 at the Backlot Perth, with 6 other cinemas making up the numbers. So here are my 10 favourite films from 2024, with a top 5 pod down the bottom...

[Click on the titles for links to full reviews]

10. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

George Miller's follow-up to Fury Road tells us the story of how Furiosa got to where that film started. I reckon this was the best blockbuster of the year, certainly the most entertaining, with one epic action sequence and a couple of fine performances from Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. Great fun.

9. The Taste of Things (2023)

Don't go in hungry! This is a foodie's shan-grill-ah, the high culinary masterwork of the last decade or more. Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel are saucy together but it wasn't their relationship that was causing all the moaning in the cinema. Director Tran Ahn Hung knows how to do lush and he pulls it off here with aplomb.

8. There's Still Tomorrow (2023)

The only Italian film in the list, this strong debut from Paola Cortellesi (who also wrote and stars) is about women's rights in post-war Rome and is brilliantly genre-defying. Shot in black and white, it has hints of neo-realism but is also absurdly comic, all the while making weighty statements about patriarchy and domestic violence. The fact that it succeeds in being a fantastic watch is surely its greatest achievement.

7. Nosferatu (2024)

Ok, so technically this open in 2025 in Australia but I saw it late 2024 so let's not squabble when such a stunning looking film is on the table. Robert Eggers' take on the Count Orlok story, first adapted from Stoker's Dracula in 1922. I wasn't taken with his previous film, and so wasn't ready for this beautiful gem (admittedly, his last one also LOOKED very good). Lily-Rose Depp is superb as the object of 'the insufferable one's' desire, as is Bill Skarsgård as the titular old gent. But it's cinematographer Jarin Blaschke who stands supreme here.

6. The Beast (2023)

Another odd combination of genres in Betrand Bonello's AI/time travel/reincarnation/romance, starring the luminous Léa Seydoux and George McKay as her cross-timeline would-be suitor. There's a lot to get into with this film, where personal disasters are juxtaposed with actual events across time. The strangeness, almost inaccessibility is maybe one reason it took me so long to rate this as highly as I now do. A proper sleeper this.

5. Bird (2024)

Andrea Arnold's magic-realism meets the grime of Gravesend on the Thames. It's a story of an angry, disaffected young teenager trying to come to grips with relationships around her. Her chance meeting with an unusual newcomer who's looking for his family, slowly brings her to a sort of equanimity. Barry Keoghan as the young father and Franz Rogowski as the interloper are excellent, but it's Nykiya Adams' debut and she's a brilliant find.

4. Kneecap (2024)

What a blast this is. The Northern Irish hip-hop band of the title have put together an origin story with the help of co-writer/director, Rich Peppiat. The trio of Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara and CJ Próvai play themselves with gusto, more than ably supported by Jessica Reynolds and Michael Fassbender. It's vibrant, dynamic and fucking funny, with a suitably high energy score. Top drawer fun.

3. Birdeater (2023)

A young bloke convinces his fiancé to come away with him for his buck's weekend in the Aussie bush. This is clearly a questionable decision and though not exactly a horror film, it certainly plays out like one. It's another debut feature on the list, this time from a pair of writer/directors in Jack Clark and Jim Weir, and a shout out to Revelation Film Festival for screening this belter. Best Aussie film of the year for me.

2. The Teachers' Lounge (2023)

It was very hard to put this in second place - the level of film-making in Ilker Çatak's fourth feature is remarkable. This German drama/thriller is about a high school teacher who makes a decision that threatens her career and well-being. Leonie Benesch is phenomenal as the idealistic young teacher and there are moments of score-enhanced claustrophobia throughout that make this a must watch. An incredible film.

1. The Zone of Interest (2023)

An equally excellent film as the one above, Jonathan Glazer has made an uncomfortable classic with this WW2 suburban family drama. The wrinkle is that the suburb is Auschwitz and the father of the family is the concentration camp commander. Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel play the parents so matter-of-factly that you'd be forgiven for not registering the severity of the situation. Glazer stays resolutely outside the camp but the sounds and sights above the wall are a constant reminder of the horrors occurring. This is essential cinema.

Here are some more thoughts on films I saw in 2024.

Best kids' films: The Goonies, The Croods, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Ghost Cat Anzu.

Feelgood films: The Fall Guy, One for the Road, Power Alley, The Holdovers, Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself, Merchant Ivory.

Feelbad films (but still good): Killers of the Flower Moon, The Promised Land, 20 Days in Mariupol, Hesitation Wound, Assassins, We Were Children, Memories of Murder.

Weirdest films: Poor Things, The Animal Kingdom, Kinds of Kindness, The Substance.

Best shits and giggles: Speak No Evil, Anora.

Best scenes: The nightclub brawl in Monkey Man; the parent/teacher meeting in The Teachers' Lounge; all the food preparation scenes in The Taste of Things; the 'Stowaway to Nowhere' sequence in Furiosa; the dinner in Birdeater; Margaret Qualley's first appearance in The Substance; another dinner scene, this time in Speak No Evil; Sebastien Stan's one-sided bar 'conversation' in A Different Man; and the stunning crossroads scene in Nosferatu.

Best performances: Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel in The Zone of Interest; Leonie Benesch in The Teachers' Lounge; Frederick Lau in One for the Road; Léa Seydoux in The Beast; Chris Hemsworth in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Ben Hunter in Birdeater; Leila George in He Ain't Heavy; Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård in Nosferatu; Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofia Gascón in Emilia Pérez.

Best songs: Emily Blunt doing a karaoke version of 'Against All Odds' (Phil Collins) in The Fall Guy; 'Dana-dan' (Bloodywood) in Monkey Man; James MacAvoy singing 'Eternal Flame' (The Bangles) to Scoot McNairy in Speak No Evil; 'To Love Somebody' (The Bee Gees) - a false dawn in Joker: Folie à Deux; 'Dreaming' (Blondie) in Anora; 'The Universal' (Blur) in Bird; 'Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying' (Belle and Sebastien) in Days of the Bagnold Summer. Oh, and absolutely fuck all in Deadpool and Wolverine.

[Like last year, I don't fancy going down the 'Worst 10' route but there are some unmentionables that I'll mention here. Megalopolis and Joker: Folie à Deux were awful but the absolute nadir was a film from 1990 that I had never seen, and now wish I'd kept it that way. This was the much-adored Christmas movie Home Alone. I can't get over how terrible this film is.]

Comments

The Long Walk

I had a bit of time to spare while the car was getting a service so I decided to visit the Greater Union Morley cinemas one last time (it closed a few days after I saw this). I think this was the first cinema I went to when I came back from Japan in 2016 and sadly, it hadn't had a touch up since then, possibly not for a long time before either. Fingers crossed for a brand spanking new cinema complex one day. Anyway, the film I saw was The Long Walk , and it's a bit of an oddity. It's based on a Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) book from 1979. King seems to have a thing for these dystopian 'last one standing' stories (see also The Running Man , an Arnie adaptation was made in 1987, and Edgar Wright has a new version up his sleeve, opening soon). Director Francis Lawrence returns to the theme of his Hunger Games films, riffing on Battle Royale , but also, many of these types of films where characters get picked off one by one, from Alien to Monty Python an...

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Tim Key adds value to every film or TV show he appears in but here he has found his perfect role. Of course, it helps if you write the thing yourself (with help from co-star, Tom Basden). Key plays Charles, a slightly buffoonish, slightly clever 'lord of the manor' type who has invited Basden's Herb to his lightly-populated island to play a gig. Herb was part of a reasonably successful folk duo in years past but is now solo, and experimenting with genres (As another character queries, "Is 'commercial' a genre?"). Charles has the means to pay handsomely for this intimate concert but Herb isn't aware just how intimate it promises to be. Nor is he aware that Charles has also invited the other half of McGwyer/Mortimer, Nell, to the island, in order to reunite after nearly 10 years. Nell is played by Carey Mulligan, another casting triumph. She's always great but is really natural and confident here, with a fine singing voice (also heard in Inside Llewy...

Caught Stealing

Darren Aronofsky seems to have been more prolific but this is just his 9th feature since his debut, Pi , in 1998, which is, coincidentally, when this new film is set. And it's a film that wears its love for New York City on its sleeve. There are shots of the Twin Towers, streets full of rubbish, dingy apartments, and even a brief pass by of the iconic Kim's Video store (now immortalised in a documentary of the same name). Austin Butler stars as Hank, a former wunderkind baseball player whose careless driving ruined his pro sports future, but also crucially took the life of a friend, a passenger in the car. Some wag on Letterboxd said this film was a great advert for seatbelts, it's a recurring Public Service Announcement. Hank is getting by in NY, thinking of getting serious with his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), and generally wallowing in his lost opportunities. Events turn when neighbour Russ (Matt Smith), an obnoxious punk geezer, pops back to Laaaahhnd'n for a ...

Splitsville

This is the second film I've seen in a row where two blokes wrote the film and also starred in it ( see previous review ). This time round the two blokes are Michael Angelo Covino (also directing) and Kyle Marvin. The coup was signing Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona to play the wives, Julie and Ashley. On the face of it, it's hard to believe that these women would be with these two spuds, but the script allows for a suspension of disbelief. Marvin plays Carey, just over a year into marriage with Ashley (Arjona). On the way to a waterfront weekend with Paul and Julie (Covino and Johnson), Ashley explains that she wants a divorce. The trigger may have had something to do with them being part of a road accident death, a darkly amusing opening scene. Carey leaves the car in a panic and eventually finds his way to the beach house. Distraught, he decides to wallow with his friends until a discretion threatens to blow apart the relationship. To be clear, Julie and Paul's open rela...

Sicilian Letters

This Italian Film Festival offering is a post-mafia story from writer/director pair, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. Ex-school principal and local politician, Catello (Toni Servillo) is released from prison in the early 2000s, only to be co-opted by the Italian Secret Service to help apprehend the last Cosa Nostra boss still at large, Matteo Messina Denaro (Elio Germano). Catello is the perfect patsy. He was a good friend of Denaro's father, Don Gaetano, who made Catello the Godfather to young Matteo. I should mention this is based loosely on the life of Denaro, though it's at pains to acknowledge that much of this story is fabricated (a title card reads "Loosely inspired by real events, though the film's characters are the fruits of the authors' imagination.") In this chunk of Denaro's life on the run, Catello is tasked with writing letters to the fugitive, via a bespoke butcher-based post office. Initially, Denaro is moved by Catello's prose a...

The Naked Gun

This uncalled for remake of 1988's The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is not a patch on the original, nor the TV show, Police Squad! that spawned them both. Director Akiva Schaffer has plenty of pedigree with stupid comedy, having directed oodles of Saturday Night Live episodes, as well as films like Hot Rod and The Watch . I haven't seen these films but I'm not about to now. The new Naked Gun has a fairly rapid rate of jokes - many successful - in the first 30 minutes or so, but once the film had to start servicing the plot, the laughs dried up. Throughout the film, the sight gags didn't work as well as the straight-faced wordplay, à la the 'awfully big mustache' classic from The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear . This might be due to the casting. Liam Neeson is fun and tries hard, but he doesn't get anywhere near Leslie Nielsen, though I thought Pamela Anderson was an improvement on Priscilla Presley (I guess being an actual actor helps). Ab...

One Battle After Another

Before this film, Paul Thomas Anderson had at least one certifiable classic on his CV in There Will Be Blood . Now, make that two. In saying this, most of his films range from good to brilliant. This is his second adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel (after the uneven but interesting Inherent Vice ) and it looks at the lives of modern American revolutionaries, notably members of French 75. The group are apparently named after a WWI weapon, and then a cocktail, both of which have something of a kick. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob, The Rocket Man, who makes the ordnance for the group and is in a relationship with fellow revolutionary, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). A combination of a run-in with Sean Penn's Colonel Steven Lockjaw, and a rash killing of a security guard triggers more interest in the group, and so a roundup begins. Perfidia is caught, then forced to name names before doing a runner. But not before she has a daughter with Bob, whom he is left to raise on the run. After this f...

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

A few years ago, we hit the S.S.P. (Superhero Saturation Point). And the best way for studios to arrest, or even maybe reverse, the law of diminishing returns is to JUST GIVE IT A FUCKING REST. There's enough residual goodwill in the fan base to guarantee profits....for now. But, as Malcolm Gladwell said, there must be a tipping point. So into this cinematic avalanche slips The Fantastic Four: First Steps , the first film of Phase Six and the thirty seventh overall! It's quite dull for the first 30 minutes, setting up the characters, ensuring the audience understands we're on a slightly different Earth (828), and a different time as well. It only gets going when the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) appears and promises everyone death by devouring. She's not going to eat them, she works for a massive space turd called Galactus, played by Finchy himself, Ralph Ineson. He'll do the devouring. Here's the thing - this film is a perfectly serviceable entry, not brilliant,...

Revelation Film Festival 2025 - Wrap Up

That's it for Rev this year and I can't help feeling I've missed something... Eight films isn't a bad effort but there were a few that I hope I can catch somewhere later. Anyway, here are the films I saw this year, in calendar order of viewing. First up was: U are the Universe ★ ★ ★ ½ Ambitious Ukrainian film by Pavel Ostrikov about the last person in the universe after an earth-destroying disaster. Andriy (Volodymyr Kravchuk) is running nuclear waste to Callico, a moon of Jupiter, when he gets the news. His fastidious on-board robot Maxim is his only companion until he gets a message from near Saturn. There are some lovely moments - 2001 music reveals a replacement office chair floating through space, the Open Me message, the sinister link to 2001 (set up earlier by the music), the tenderness of the burgeoning audio relationship - all leading to a sweet but realistically depressing conclusion. Wonderful pared down, yet grand filmmaking. Of Caravan and the Dogs ★...

Friendship

Amazingly, this is a first feature from writer/director Andrew DeYoung, though he's had heaps of experience in TV and shorts. The pace is pretty tight, albeit it's a bit longer than the 'ideal' of 90 minutes for a comedy. This is a bittersweet story about stupid masculinity, loneliness, and performative societal posturing, but it certainly doesn't scrimp on the laughs. Friendship focusses on Craig (pronounced in that annoyingly American way to rhyme with Greg) (Tim Robinson), who sits right in the middle of the Larry David / David Brent / Alan Partridge Venn diagram. He's a totally oblivious tosser, but not in a mean way, he just doesn't know where the line is. Ultimately, he's lonely. He has succeeded in alienating his wife, who has recently beaten cancer, his son appears to tolerate him, but not in an eye-rolling way, and his work colleagues think he's a bit of a dick. Doesn't matter that they are also knobheads. His life takes a turn when a n...

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