With so many streaming options out there, it can be hard to keep track of what’s out, and if it’s worth your time. Luckily for you, as your local, trusted cinema buff, I’ve weeded through the garden and come up with five movies you can’t move on without seeing. The list will also get your ready for Hollywood’s biggest event in March.
Top 5 Movies of 2024
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15239678/
Honorable Mention: Dune 2
This movie not only spoke to Denis Villeneuve's masterful directing but also to the promise of this franchise. The first Dune brought new eyes to the Dune books, and with Dune Part 2 , those new eyes were ready to stay until the end. With 257 total award nominations, this movie immediately climbed the charts as it hit theaters on March 1st.
Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya both gave amazing performances as the leads. At the same time, Austin Butler brought fear and intimidation with his character, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, creating one of the most memorable antagonists of the year.
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27534307/
5. Speak No Evil
James McAvoy gives the performance of a lifetime as the cunning and deranged antagonist trying to come off as a fun-loving family man. Much like his performance in Split (2016) he portrays a man with multiple sides to him, bringing both intensity and a psychopathic calmness. Mackenzie Davis also brings a beautiful performance as a strong female lead.
The plot and score also heighten the fear factor of this movie. The score brings the viewer a constant sense of uneasiness. The twist in Speak No Evil is done very well. As in most thrillers, the build-up to the twist is more thrilling than the twist itself. Speak No Evil is able to break the mold in this sense and create an all-around great experience.
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263850/
4. Deadpool & Wolverine
The anticipation for this flick was off the charts. Marvel always does a good job with marketing and Deadpool & Wolverine was the best example yet. We saw Deadpool & Wolverine in everything including Heinz , Old Spice , and DiGorno commercials. And that build really paid off in theaters as it became one of only two films in 2024 to reach the billion-dollar mark in grossing.
The film ended up being the perfect movie to blend the Fox universe ( Fantastic 4 2005 , X-Men 2000 ) with the Marvel universe ( Iron Man 2008 , Captain America: The First Avenger 2011 ). And Ryan Reynolds delivers a perfect performance as Deadpool. He is the most comic-accurate rendition of a character since J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man movies. The way Ryan Reynolds breaks the fourth wall in this movie is genius, and he brings Deadpool to life in a way no one else could.
This brings us to the behind-the-scenes contributions. The director, Shawn Levy, and Ryan Reynolds have incredible chemistry. Every joke in this was spot on, and the serious parts felt serious. Shawn Levy hit the nail on the head with his direction. The score was one of the best things about this movie. Rob Simonsen, the musical director, made every moment feel important with his score.
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262426/
3. Wicked
Hollywood has had a history of making underwhelming movie musical adaptations, like Mean Girls (2024) which did very poorly at the box office. The expectations for Wicked were about the same until it hit theaters. It became the highest-grossing movie-musical adaptation of all time. This movie was able to make musical movies enjoyable again.
This movie also brought mass amounts of attention to the Wicked musical while also highlighting the new and wonderful performances by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The energy and feeling in the movie theater were electric, and the fact that this was only the first part and that we have the anticipation of the second part makes the electricity even bigger.
With a musical like Wicked , a show that is already very well known in the theater world, casting was one of the most important aspects of the movie. And I want to highlight Ariana Grande’s performance as Galinda, she beautifully demonstrates the character arc of an antagonist to a friend while still trying to be the good witch. The vocals of all the songs were beautiful, especially “Defying Gravity,” which was the highlight of the movie but wasn’t leagues ahead of the other songs which is what you want in a good musical.
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29623480/
2. The Wild Robot
With the number two spot I knew I had to start looking into what had me feeling real emotion, the perfect movie for this is The Wild Robot , this movie genuinely had me feeling true emotion in a movie made for kids. This movie perfectly sums up the power of kindness and unity and how in times of need sometimes that’s all you need.
This year has also been the year of Pedro Pascal with his Marvel movie announcement, and his being able to finish the year off with a movie like The Wild Robot wrapped off the year nicely. I can’t wait to see what Pedro does in the future because he has proven to be a high-level actor of many talents. And Lupita Nyong'o does a great job voicing Roz the robot along with the rest of the amazing cast creating an extremely enjoyable watch.
The Wild Robot's animation team creat ed absolutely stunning visual effects that brought this movie to life. The bright colors and use of this specific animation were perfectly done, making what could have been an average animated movie an amazing flick.
Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27131358/
1. We Live in Time
For the best movie of the year, I chose the movie that gave me literal chills. Where the feelings of love and sadness are executed to perfection. This movie is We Live in Time , directed by John Crowly. This dramatic masterpiece made me feel things almost no other movie has. The beauty of the romance between Tobias and Almut drives me to tears at certain moments.
This story itself is a beautiful one to watch play out, both of Tobias and Almut are so down on their luck, and then seeing their love blossom is so beautiful. And then watching as their lives hit the biggest bumps in the road a family can hit it's so disheartening because you genuinely love their love and it's honestly beautiful.
The acting and directing in this movie is some of the best there is. Everything feels so real and raw. The directing by John Crowly is fantastic, making every second feel important. Florence Pugh’s and Andrew Garfield’s acting is next level, their characters feel so real and full of love. Watching behind-the-scenes footage of them together we can see why their chemistry showed so well on screen because they genuinely love each other and it showed stunningly on the big screen.
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