2024

Flow (Director: Gints Zilbalodis)
Nominees: Exhuma, Kneecap, I'm Still Here, The Girl with the Needle, Bird, Juror #2, Sing Sing

Oscars pick: Anora
Nominees: The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune Part Two, Emilia Perez, I'm Still Here, Nickle Boys, The Substance, Wicked 

Not the strongest year in cinema, with major letdowns (I'm looking at you, Nosferatu) and a heavy collection of movies I found overrated and underwhelming. Hell, at times, even the ones I admired had fatal flaws (I'm looking at you, The Brutalist). Maybe 2023 spoiled me - there were 13 films I rated 4.5 to 5-stars, compared to the 4 this season. Still, I do have those, and others that moved me, so 2024 wasn't completely bereft of excellence.

The Oscar broadcast was solid - Conan's comedy was respectful, playful, with the right amount of bite, he should be the Academy's go-to host. Though they whiffed on a few nominees, and the category fraud in support was ridiculous, I had a good time at the online watch-a-long I attended.

One of the victories I celebrated the most was in the animated feature category, with a movie that was also nominated for Best International Film—which wound up my favorite of the season. It's only the 4th animated film to win the Felix, and the first since 1997.

"Flow" - simple but brilliant, the title itself covers a lot of ground, the water imagery, the courses traveled through life, the idea of transformation (how it cycles from an event at the beginning to what occurs at the end). Plus, I just love cats, and the ability to capture their personalities and movements was a win—the curiosity and caution, the playfulness—but the whole of this animal community was expertly rendered and relayed, and with not a word spoken. 

It was not a big budget film - the animation was created in Blender, which sometimes gives off a video game vibe, but there is beauty and a sense of wonder to be had. Though we're never told what happened to cause this event, what brought about the whale's mutations, or the why's behind the metaphysical, that air of mystery is a plus.

The director of this breathtaking journey was interviewed at Cartoon Brew - and that's well worth a read.

‎Top Films of 2024 - with notes and links to reviews on many of the movies mentioned here.

🎭 Acting! It was a season of first-time winners and nominees. While I'm definitely going to seek out her other pictures, to this positing, I've only caught 2 movies with Torres (the other being the Oscar nominated Four Days in September). In I'm Still Here she showed so much emotional depth, but never overplayed it, never became theatrical, she was never anything but authentic. It's overall the best performance of the year as well as her first nomination and win on the blog (I'd previously nominated her mother, Fernanda Montenegro for Central Station). Chen and Maclin, both memorable, join her as first timers. 

This is Cillian Murphy's 3rd nomination and first win - Last year I spoke of my admiration for understated performances, and this is a prime example of the "less is more" approach - his Bill Furlough is a soft-spoken man with a wounded soul - he's also an observer; while others might pass trouble by with their heads down, he sees and reacts to everything around him. An astonishing work - a career favorite from the actor.

Other performances I liked: Naomie Harris & Natalie Dormer (The Wasp), Carrie Coon & Elizabeth Olsen (His Three Daughters), Chris Hemsworth (Furiosa), Mzia Arabuli (Crossing), Margaret Qualley (The Substance), Vic Carmen Sonne (The Girl with the Needle), Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy & Austin Butler (The Bikeriders), Toni Collette (Juror No. 2), Nykiya Adams & Franz Rogowski (Bird), Mia Goth (MaXXXine), Maika Monroe (Longlegs), Pamela Anderson, (The Last Showgirl), Usha "Taew" Seamkhum (How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies), Guy Pearce & Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Emily Watson (Small Things Like These)

Best Actress: Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Honorable Mentions: 

Hunter Schafer, Cuckoo * Demi Moore, The Substance * Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths * Mikey Madison, Anora * Kate Winslet, Lee * Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters * Saoirse Ronan, The Outland * Anya Taylor-Joy, Furiosa * June Squibb, Thelma 

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy, Small Things Like These

Honorable Mentions: 

Nicholas Hoult, Juror #2 * Adrien Brody, The Brutalist * Sebastian Stan, A Different Man and The Apprentice * Colman Domingo, Sing Sing * Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight * Ralph Fiennes, Conclave * Peter Dinklage, The Thicket

Supporting Actress: Joan Chen, Didi

Also: Trine Dyrholm, The Girl with the Needle 

Supporting Actor: Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing

Also: Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice & Adam Peason, A Different Man

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The Host

My first from the director, and I have to admit I wasn't fully prepared. The film generated a lot of buzz, but I think I was expecting a straightforward monster movie, and not the work from a unique and unpredictable cinematic mastermind. Once I got familiar with Joon-ho and came to appreciate his skill at putting a fresh, unexpected spin on familiar genres. I gave the picture another try... and was enthralled.

It's an intelligent creature feature, that offered great scares, laughter and some genuinely tearful moments. It also bitch slaps the political landscape (and doesn't cast the US government in a good light). It packs a lot into its story but doesn't come off unwieldy or unfocused.

There's always a great sense of space and place in a Joon-ho picture, of precise movement not only on the primary action, but in the peripherals - he's a master of misdirection, world building, and creating fully fleshed out losers, who toil and fight on and maybe, just maybe manage to get it right at the end (but at a cost). In addition, within this whirlwind of bureaucratic idiocies and creature attacks and kidnappings, there's a portrait of family, illustrated so memorably in a sequence where a ghost, a memory is fed and cared for during a meal.

This was a film I liked on a first viewing, but with each watch, it grew and grew in my estimation, I now consider it one of the best of the genre, and some of the director's finest work overall. (a personal Best Picture nominee to boot).

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Murder, My Sweet

1944 offered up plenty of treasures for fans of Noir. There was Laura, Woman in the Window, Phantom Lady - and of course, everyone's favorite, Double Indemnity… though I’m more partial to Murder. “Murder, My Sweet” that is. Adapted from the Raymond Chandler novel, Farewell, My Lovely, it sees private eye Philip Marlowe embroiled in two cases; one, a missing person, the other, involving a murdered client, and both just might be the death of him.

This was part of Dick Powell’s successful image change. Known previously for light comedic musicals - and looking very much like a character out of a Dr. Seuss book, what with that button nose, thin upper lip and cartoonish smile. You wouldn’t think he could pull off the tough guy act. But he did, wonderfully. And he delivers Chandler’s colorful dialogue like it was written specifically for him. Sure, Bogart outclassed him as a hard ass, but Powell was the better smart ass.

Along with our charismatic star, the well-cast picture includes Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley, who provide the glamour, while Otto Kruger and Mike Mazurki bring the menace.

Director Edward Dmytryk helms a good-looking picture, shot by Harry J. Wild, with Toland-inspired depth of field and low angle shots, nice use of shadows too. Its most notable moment is the expressionistic ‘coked up’ nightmare sequence - though the film as a whole has an off-kilter, druggy, dreamy vibe to it, beginning with Moose Malloy’s startling first appearance. He’s seen as an oversized reflection on Marlowe’s window - where his looming figure appears and disappears like a ghost. In addition, there’s the black-out effect whenever Philip slips into unconsciousness.

Character-wise we’re offered these interesting off-handed details: Marlowe sniffs - he sniffs a drink before partaking of it, he sniffs a couple of cigs, which he tosses away, before reaching into his coat to pull out his own brand (did those other smokes have an odd smell, were they marijuana?) Marlowe striking a match on Cupid's backside, to which he gives a few quick glances. Not the whole statue, just the butt interests him, I don’t know why. Or the bit when he steals the old woman’s whisky bottle; again, why (to give her a night off the booze, or to give him something to drink later). None of this adds to the overall plot but are simply curious personality grace notes.

It should go without saying that Marlowe’s twin cases, which quickly intermingle, are a kick to follow -- so there you are, it checks off all the Noir boxes. The style, the story, and hard-boiled language, the first-person perspective, the femme fatale. You can’t go wrong with this one if you’re in the mood for a night of murder and mystery.

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