The Emerald Forest

If you are unfamiliar with John Boorman, he is the director of "Deliverance." If you still haven't seen that film, start there. Then check out "The Emerald Forest." This film from 1985 was a Christmas gift, a Blu Ray from my wife. A delight.  Kino Lorber (like the more famous Criterion Collection people) have reissued this with a lovely looking new cover and a new commentary track on the disc. The late great Powers Boothe stars as Bill Markham, an engineer who went down to the rain forest with his wife (Meg Foster) and young son to build a massive hydro dam. His son, Tommy, is taken by the Invisible People, a tribe on Aboriginal Amazonians. Bill spends the next ten years working on the construction of the dam and all his free time combing the jungle in search of his missing son. Apparently this is based on a true story - even if this is partly true, it's pretty wild. Boorman's son, Charley Boorman plays the older Tomme. Having recently watched "The Naked Prey," I'm sure this must have inspired Boorman to do something similar. "The Emerald Forest" - a long forgotten film you will want to make contact with (I'm cheeky, like a loincloth).   

The Best Films of 2024

Top 15 Films of 2024

2024 was the year of sequels: Beetlejuice 2, Alien 9, Despicable Me 4, The Omen 5, Ghostbusters 4, Twister 2, Rebel Moon part 2, A Quiet Place 3, Beverly Hills Cop 4, Bad Boys 4, Dune 2, Planet of the Apes 4, Kung Fu Panda 4, Gladiator 2, Joker 2, Moana 2, Smile 2, Venom 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, etc.. Thankfully there were some original films. Here are my top 15 and everything else which made the blog (it's got to be at least an A- to make it). Followed by blog-worthy films from last year I only got to watching this year. Then you get blog worthy films from further in the past. Then we have honourable mentions and guilty pleasures of 2024. Finally the worst of and most disappointing films of 2024. 

There are a lot of big movies I haven't seen yet, "The Brutalist" for example. It could very well be in my top 15, top 10 - who knows? I can only comment on what I've seen.

Letterboxd tells  me I watched 284 films this year to bring you this list. 

Enjoy!      

These are the best 15 films of 2024

1.The Substance  

2. Anora

3. Bird

4. Civil War

5. His Three Daughters

6. Red Rooms 🍁 - Released only international this year, it gets its proper place on the top 15. 

7. Caligula The Ultimate Cut

8. Kinds of Kindness

9. Saturday Night 

10. Hundreds of Beavers

11. The Promised Land

12. Strange Darling

13. Late Night with the Devil

14. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

15. Love Lies Bleeding 

And here is everything else (in no order) that made the blog for 2024 - all worthy of your time. 

16. Dogman

17. American Star

18. Land of Bad

19. Seven Veils

20. Immaculate

21. Knox Goes Away

22. Arcadian

23. Monkey Man

24. The Movie Man 🍁

25. In a Violent Nature 🍁

26. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed 

27. The King Tide 🍁

28. Trap

29. Cuckoo

30. Rebel Ridge

31. Speak No Evil

32. Mother, Couch

33. The Idea of You

34. Thelma

35. Woman of the Hour

36. The Deliverance

37. Smile 2

38. Ghostlight

39. The Bikeriders

40. Challengers  

41. Memoir of a Snail

42. Babygirl

Great Films of 2023 I only watched in 2024

1. Society of the Snow

2. Memory

3. Perfect Days

4. Red Rooms 🍁 (released only in Canada in 2023)

5. Origin

Other great films I watched this year from previous years

1. The King

2. Jojo Rabbit

3. The Empty Man

4. Fish Tank

5. Nocturama

6. Le Trou (The Hole)

7. We Need to Talk About Kevin

8. Stalker

9. The Rover

10. Cure

11. Mikey and Nicky

12. Coraline

13. A Pure Formality

14. Rat Race

Guilty Pleasures/Honourable Mentions of 2024

Dramas

The Old Oak - Ken Loach's last film about a small town coming to grips with foreigners 

Silver Haze - Another gritty British drama reminiscent of something by Andrea Arnold 

Seagrass 🍁 - A Japanese-Canadian woman and her husband go to B.C. for couples' therapy during the 1980s along with their two kids. Full of moments of honesty and sadness. 

Wicked Little Letters - Olivia Colman is receiving nasty letters she believes is coming from her next door neighbour  

My Old Ass  🍁- A touching and comedic Canadian coming-of-age romance involving psychedelic mushrooms, sci-fi communication with a future-self, and cranberry farming. 

The Apprentice - Sebastian Stan as Trump is fabulous and this film as a portrait of a young, hungry, capitalist-monster on the rise just missed getting a full entry on the Marquee. 

A Real Pain - Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed, and stars alongside Kieran Culkin in a film about two cousins who go to Poland on a holocaust guided tour trip. It's funny, heartfelt, and I found it far more moving than "The Zone of Interest."

Small Things like These - Cillian Murphy give a great performance in a film about bad nuns running a laundry sweatshop in 1980s Ireland. 

Nightbitch - Amy Adams plays a visual artist who has given up her life and identity to raise her son. And she is also turning into a dog. This one has some funny bite to it. 

Animated

Flow - Post climate disaster, a cat finds its way with other creatures when a tsunami like flood occurs. Kind of like "The Impossible" but with animated animals. 

Thrillers

The Last Stop in Yuma County - A fun Tarantino style stop at a gas station. Try the rhubarb pie, it's to die for. 

The Order - Jude Law plays an FBI investigator hunting down white supremacists who are also bank robbers - "Skin" meets "Hell or High Water."

Sci-Fi

The End We Start From - Mass Flooding hits the U.K. and we follow a woman and her new baby through this imagined environmental disaster. A visually gorgeous film. Think "28 Days Later" but replace the zombies with water and add starvation into the mix.   

Documentaries

Enter the Clones of Bruce - about the Brue Lee exploitation craze which occurred after he tragically passed away. Staring Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Lo, The Black Dragon and many more. Over 200 Kung-Fu Bruce Lee style films were made! 

Faye - Faye Dunaway, iconic American actor is interviewed about her film roles and her challenges with mental illness. Famous for her roles in Chinatown, Network, Bonnie and Clyde, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Mommie Dearest and many more. If you are a fan, it's must viewing.

Will & Harper - Will Ferrell and his close friend of 30 years, a writer from SNL go on a cross America road trip once he transitions to become a woman. It touching, heartfelt, and worth a your time.  

Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare - Netflix doc about a woman in an online relationship for nine years with somebody who wasn't who she thought. It's completely bananas. Up there with Baby Reindeer. 

Horrors

Suitable Flesh - It's actually a 2023 film, but I didn't want it missed. From the folks who gave us "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond."

Abigail - it's a bloody good vampire movie

I Saw the TV Glow - two teenagers have an unhealthy relationship with a TV show. This small film almost got a full entry on the blog. If you are looking for something different, seek this one out. It's something right from the Twilight Zone.

Heretic - Hugh Grant gives a great performance and I LOVED the first half of this film. Unfortunately I lost my faith in the second half. Still, it gets an honourable mention here on the Marquee.   

Worst Films of 2024

1. Night Swim - as much fun as drying yourself off with your spouse's soggy towel and about as scary too. 

2. The Beekeeper - as fun as a kicking a hornet's nest naked

3. Madame Web - don't get caught in this web of boredom

4. The Watchers - Unwatchable

5. Wildcat - Ethan Hawke directed this movie and it's a boring mess

6. Janet, Planent - A pretentious and boring planet; do not visit. 

7. A Family Affair - awful, how Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron ended up in this Hallmark like puke is beyond me 

8. Humane - you will want to kill yourself

9. Mother's Instinct - A film critic's instinct - don't watch it.

10. Rumours - Guy Madden gives us a giant brain without much thought, plot, or characters. Rumoured to be awful. 

11. Emilia Pérez - A Mexican Scareface musical about a trans cartel boss is one of the most tonality bizarre things I've ever witnessed and makes awful musicals look great. 

12. Here - Go anywhere but here. 

Biggest Disappointments of 2024

1. Dune Part 2 - It lost its way in the desert. The guy down my seat-row was snoring. 

2. Bob Marley: One Love - The Music is great, the rest is weak weed

3. The Fall Guy - a stunt gone wrong

4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - The banana has blackened and turned to a mushy Pablum not even fit for apes or banana bread. 

5. Brats - A boring self indulgent documentary about brats which isn't even worth being an extra on a blu ray of "Pretty in Pink."

6. Longlegs - I was hoping to love it and didn't. Nic Cage does give a great performance but the film is surprisingly dull.

7. MaXXXine - the end of the "X" trilogy and it was a letdown. If it were made in the 80s it would have been released directly on VHS.

8. A Quiet Place Day One - After the first two were so good, this one landed without making any noise (see what I did there)

9. Alien Romulus - In space, nobody can hear you yawn. Fan service quickly moves from fun to tedious, eventually birthing out a cobbled Alien monster composed of the better films that came before it. 

10. Joker: Folie à Deux - To quote Fleck himself at the end of a boring and pointless film, "Stop signing and just talk to me."

11. Gladiator II - CGI monkeys, rhinos, tigers, and sharks, oh my. There was no fight left in it. 

Babygirl

Who ordered hot sex for Christmas? "Body Heat," "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the 1981 one), "9 1/2 Weeks," "Fatal Attraction," Steve McQueen's "Shame," and last year's "Sanctuary" are all films relating to sexual obsession, affairs, sexual kinks, and shame. You can now add "Babygirl" to this list of films. Starring Nicole Kidman, (who has been in some dreadful stuff this year - "A Family Affair" and "A Perfect Couple") has come out with a brave and powerhouse performance, standing right next to Demi Moore from "The Substance" (both nominated for Golden Globes and I think they should both win). Kidman plays Romy, a successful, high-powered, business woman who is married with two teenaged kids. She has an affair with a young intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Romy likes to be told what to do - this is her fetish, her shame, this is what she has been hiding her whole life from her husband (Antonio Banderas). Written and directed by Halina Reijn, I felt like she has given a fresh voice to women and their sexuality - it's not just men who are weird. Like "The Substance," although not as direct, "Babygirl" also tackles what it is to be an aging woman in today's society. The film is a pretty wild and steamy ride - somewhat by the numbers if you have watched some or all of the films I mentioned at the beginning. However there is enough new and fresh material here, combined with Kidman's brave and powerful performance, and the fact that the film looks amazing - the dance club scene was a particular highlight for me - makes it worth your time. The whole movie feels like a pair of lacy undergarments and handcuffs left under the Christmas tree for viewing audiences. Catch it in theatres this holiday season. 

Memoir of a Snail

"Memoir of a Snail" is an animated stop-motion film and it's not for kids. This is about as black a comedy as you will find and I enjoyed every minute of it. I even laughed out loud - a rare thing for me. What's it all about? It's a life reflected back upon by Grace Pudel (voiced by Sarah Snook, who you might know as the spicy ginger, Shiv Roy from HBO's "Succession"). Grace has a hoarding problem, all things snails. She even wears a snail hat, with two little snail-like antennae eyeballs. Grace recounts her life, narrating from birth with her twin brother. Grace was born with a cleft lip and this film embraces all things messy and strange and in some odd ways, normalizes them, which is the charm of the film and its beauty. This is a warts-and-all story of mental illness, sexual fetishes, an unflattering look at religion, dementia, and hoarding, however done with such love and silliness, these things don't feel so heavy. Grace meets Pinky (Jacki Weaver) an exuberant and quirky older woman who reminded me of a cross between Mrs. Roper and Maude (from "Harold and Maude"). Pinky smokes Cuban cigars and loves gardening and life. Pinky is a free spirit and this is exactly what Grace needed in her life. The details in this film are simply a joy. Pay attention to all the reading material - so much fun. "Memoir of a Snail" is anything from sluggish, it's a fun and fast ride. And it's not for kids. Catch it in a rep theatre now or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff if you are in Ottawa.  

Rat Race

 Are you kidding me? Am I kidding you? I'm not joking around here. This is a comedy from 2001 which I believe I promptly ignored upon its release. I'm not sure why I ignored it because it's directed by Jerry Zucker, who has given us, along with his brother David Zucker, such comedy classics as 'Airplane!" and "Top Secret!" - two films which I love. I was rooting around my local video store, Movies 'N Stuff and came across "Rat Race." I might have made some disparaging comment to owner and operator, Peter Thompson. He heard me and subsequently discovered I hadn't seen it. He insisted I should. I took it home and watched. I laughed out loud - a rare thing for me. It's a race for two million dollars. It stars Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, and Amy Smart. Jon Lovitz has never been funnier. This movie will be proudly displayed on the McPherson Movie Marquee Shelf at Movies 'N Stuff - just ask Peter to point you to it. And if anyone ever asks you if you want to buy a squirrel, seriously considerate it. One of the best slapstick comedies you will every see. No joke.  

Bird

Andrea Arnold ("Fish Tank" "American Honey") has crafted another brilliant film about wayward youth living below the poverty line. The story follows 12 year old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) as her young father Bug (Barry Keoghan) announces his plan to marry to his new girlfriend. Bug would like Bailey to be a bridesmaid - pink leopard-skin, tight spandex is the wardrobe choice for bridesmaids. Bailey wants nothing to do with it. Outside her flat she discovers, Bird (Franz Rogowski "Passages") a grown man looking for his parents who used to live in Bailey's neck of the woods. Bailey's mother lives with an abusive boyfriend in a dirty flat with presumably Bailey's sisters or half sisters. The world of "Bird" is graffiti soaked; hallways, alleyways, and every building seem to be awash in hastily scrolled spray-paint. Barry Keoghan's topless frame matches: he is covered in bug tattoos; a centipede crawls up his neck and pokes onto his cheek. "Bird" is a harsh world, where vigilante justice comes in the form of a swarm of young men in clown masks armed with box cutters. But like Arnold's other films, there is a beauty here too. And humour - watching Bug and his mates sing Coldplay's "Yellow" to a toad so it excretes a psychedelic slime (Bug's get-rich scheme) is highly amusing. Arnold contrasts worlds of urban grit with almost idyllic shots of birds in flight, perhaps representing freedom, elegance, and perspective. "I wanted to see where I am," explained Bird to Bailey as to why he was standing on the roof of a tall building. This is a film, a world, where you get lost in it. It will give you a new perspective on the people living in it. Catch one of the year's best films in theatres now.   

Anora

Writer, director, and editor, Sean Baker, who gave us, "The Florida Project" and "Red Rocket," has a brilliant new film out, "Anora." In the wheelhouse of films like John Cassavetes's "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," Elaine May's "Mikey & Nicky," or Benny and Josh Safdie's "Uncut Gems," "Anora" is the story of Ani, a.k.a Anora (Mikey Madison - I hope she is nominated for all the awards) who is an exotic dancer in a strip club. She meets a Russian boy, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) who has extremely wealthy parents and seems to have an endless supply of money and appetite for drugs, alcohol, and Ani. He pays her for a private week (a kind of "Pretty Woman" scenario) and ends up in Vegas. Ivan's antics are discovered by his parents' keepers and what follows is a mob like intervention to detangle the relationship between Ivan and Ani. It's a long and often hilarious journey through bars, restaurants, candy stores, and strip clubs. It's a wild and messy ride, a broken vodka bottle soaked carpet and a double kick to the face. This is one of the best films of the year and it's now playing in theatres.