Movies! Movies! Movies! Favorite Movies Watched in 2024
I got a flash of deja vu today when I went to imdb to start looking through movies made in 2024 and learned that there are 2,282,356 of them. Nuh uh not doing that. I went to my library borrow list and scanned through all borrows from 2024 that were 2024 made, as well as remembered which ones that were seen at the theater. There were some missing/forgotten details after typing it up so I went to imdb.com. To my disappointment most of my choices were not made in 2024 per them. So… this post covers my favorite movies watched in 2024. I heartily recommend each film on the list. I won’t embed trailers but following the links will take you to trailers at YouTube.
Rooftop Christmas Tree (2016) – watched this the other night. Has the feel of a movie of the week. Tim Reid from Barney Miller is in it. Nice Christmas romance with heart. link full movie!
The Convert (2023) – set in 1830’s where a priest is sent to a British outpost in Maori Land, with a mission to “convert” the indigenous people to Christianity and tells how that goes. Guy Pearce is excellent as the priest. link
American Fiction (2023) stars Jeffrey Wright, black author who is an excellent writer but can’t get people to look beyond the color of his skin, so he flips the script. Wright is excellent in it and anyone who is a writer and wants to get published should watch it. link
Late Night With the Devil (2024) is about a late night talk show host, played by David Dastmalchian, whose ratings are falling and decides to take a gamble with having the devil as a guest on his show. link
The Bikeriders (2023) is a movie based ‘The Bikeriders’ was the name of the 1967 photo-book by Danny Lyon about a midwestern motorcycle gang. Stars Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, and Austin Butler. Not perfect but pretty danged good. link
The Zone of Interest (2023) a disturbing in content but brilliantly articulated film about the commander of one of the Nazi death camps during WWII. He and his family literally live next door to the camp yet seem unfazed by what happens there – or are they? Filmed in Poland. link
The Long Game (2023). Set in 1955, an exceptional film about Latino high schoolers, how the Principal, played to perfection by Jay Hernandez, becomes their coach, and how they were able to transcend toxic bigotry of country club exclusion based upon their color. Based on true story. This one got me in the feels. link
The Taste of Things (2023) is about the love of cooking, eating, tasting, and about the love of two people who do these things. Filmed in France link
Anatomy of a Fall (2023) is about a woman whose husband dies, where the film takes a microscope to investigate whether or not the woman killed him. The tension ratchets slowly to unbearable. Filmed in France. link
Lakota Girls (2017) is a small indie movie about Indigenous peoples, where two girls, one Indigenous and one not (?), become friends. link
Dune Part II (2024) Denis does it again. I’ve seen it a few times now and love the epic narrative of it.
A Complete Unknown (2024) Saw this on Christmas Day in a packed theater. For fans of Bob Dylan, it’s a must see. If it doesn’t win Best Picture or Best Actor I’ll be shocked.
The Promised Land (2023) Set in mid-18th Century, Mads Mikkelsen’s character is trying to farm “unfarmable heath” land in Denmark. It’s a nasty war of wills between he and the land baron neighbor. POWERFUL movie. link
The Color Purple (2023) is based on an Alice Walker novel about female oppression – and female empowerment. It meticulously and beautifully walks us through the story. Another one that got me in the feels. link
The Holdovers (2023) about a has-been teacher and a difficult young man student who get stuck on campus for the holidays with a grieving mother. It feels real. Paul Giamatti stuns me in it. link
Tao Talk 
Nice post🌅🌅
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great list, Lisa. Thanks for the tips! 🎥
LikeLike
Let’s see if I can comment here because I couldn’t comment on your post. Hmm.
LikeLike
I’ve just watched Dune 2 out of your list.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What did you think of it, Sadje?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was good but I felt they dragged it out a bit. I haven’t read the books so I have no idea if the story is finished or they’ll continue making more movies!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They probably could have broken part 2 into 2 parts as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that would be better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another attempt to comment here.
LikeLike
What an enticing list, seen a couple of them, but not most. Night With the Devil sounds like an interesting riff on Faust.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every one on this list is a gem. Making a deal with the devil always seems to be on the menu doesn’t it. If you get a chance to see The Taste of Things, it’s one you won’t soon forget.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll take that as a good recommendation to do just that – many thanks Li
LikeLiked by 1 person
Please let me know your thoughts if you get a chance to see it. One of my favorite movies in a long time.
LikeLike
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve not seen any of those 2024 movies but I have watched two of the older one’s :(
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which ones did you see, Glyn, and what did you think of them?
LikeLike
IMDB and Letterboxd both consider a movie to be from the year it firsts screens at a film festival not the year it’s given a general theatrical release. I think it has to do with independent movies needing a lot of time to find a distributor that we’re getting so many movies getting a widespread release a year or longer after their first shown (something that’s been exacerbated by COVID). Anyhow, I’ve just started using the theatrical release date as the date in my reviews because there are so many movies I couldn’t have possibly seen until this year that IMDB/Letterboxd classify as 2023 movies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Arg! WordPress made me anonymous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, ok, Liam. Thanks for the info on release dates.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wondered about why some places say one year and some another. Thanks for the info, “Someone”
LikeLike
Well I’ve seen two of these films! I loved Late Night With The Devil. The Zone of Interest seems interesting…I would like to see that.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Max, it’s one of those kind of movies where your mind rebels again and again. To allow oneself to accept it all really happened is traumatic. We must be ever vigilant and we must never forget.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thats why I encourage movies like this and reminders. If we don’t stay on top of history…we will forget.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ok, Lisa, here we go with comment attempt #3! Fingers triple crossed this time.
After writing to Akismet about my commenting problems, I received this response:
Hi there, Nancy.
I do see that Akismet did indeed mistakenly treat some of your comments as spam, and I’ve rectified the situation on our end so you should no longer face these types of issues.
Happy commenting, and a soon-to-be new year.
According to that answer, I should be able to comment. Let’s see; I’m clicking the button in 3…2…1…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment received! Thank You for not giving up. It’s been a long time since I checked my spam folder. Apologies if they are in there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay! Success!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
<3
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dang, Nancy, I just found 12 or so of your comments in the spam folder. SO SORRY to have missed them. There were a total of 15 spam in there: yours and 3 real spam. I appreciate your support for my writing. Just saw you had the same dream??? I always love having those kind of dreams but sorry no real man to wake me up with “hot cocoa.” ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay!! I was hoping that was the case! I heard back from Akismet that some of my comments had been mistakenly treated as spam and everything should now be back to normal. Very glad to know I can now leave comments! 😊
I was just joking about the dream, Lisa! Too subtle, I guess! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anatomy of a Fall was really good and this The Color Purple was terrific.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you saw them and liked them, Punam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy new year to you and yours, Li. ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many Thanks and To You and Yours <3
LikeLiked by 1 person
❤️❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Li, I was reading about a documentary “Sugarcane”. Have you watched it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, I haven’t. Just went to imdb to read a synopsis and it is one I definitely want/need to see. Library doesn’t have it now but I can put in a request that they buy a copy. Thanks for the heads-up, Punam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I read the review, it made my blood boil. I immediately thought of you and knew you would want to watch it. I’ll have to see where and when it will be available here. You are welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They need to do one on the US boarding schools also. Some of them are only recently closed!!!!! Shocking and shameful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Truly shocking! I am sure it will be done soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow — what a list !!!!!!!! :-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have you seen any of these?? If so which ones are your favorites?
LikeLike
:-) No, but several are now on my ‘watch’ list ! :-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Goody!
LikeLike
Thank you for reminding me of how fun American fiction is. I haven’t seen A Complete Unknown yet, but, Im sure you’re right that TC better start writing his acceptance speech if he hasn’t already.
🤓
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved both movies. Both leading actors were superb!
LikeLike
🙌🤓🙌
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Color Purple and The Bike Riders were the two I saw. Two totally different movies but both very good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you saw them and liked them. Every movie on this list is a winner imo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Bikeriders and Zone of Interest are two great movies of the year.
Dune is beyond time and space category.
Almost time for me to wish you a happy new year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Prince, yes they are. Every movie on my list is great to me. I see your blog is in French, which I don’t speak (had 2 years in h.s. but not much is remembered of it.) I see you reviewed the Batman movie with Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny DeVito. I’ve watched that movie many times, used to have it on VHS. It’s a good’n.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not sure my english is better than your french but I know some times Google translate could be a valuable friend 😉 (but not now, I try to improve my skills 😁)
Yeah I reviewed the Burton’s Batman returns. Very nice movie indeed, with a heart of darkness hidden behind the christmas trees.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to know. Have you seen the TV series, “Gotham”?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not yet. But I read and heard lots of good things about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy new year, Li! I cannot believe I haven’t seen ANY of these except for Dune. Which hubby dragged me to, Dune I, and I went in yawning (not a Duneite like he is) and came out saying, “Oh. My. God.” I loved it! Of course, I had to hear from hubby everything that was wrong with it, because he read Dune when he was 15 and has in recent years read ALL the books. One of his complaints is that the movies “infantacize” some of the characters, like Paul, who would never run up and throw himself on Jason Momoa’s character; he’d remain restrained, acting like a noble’s son. Same with Zendaya at the end of Dune 2. Her character was more sophisticated in the ways of politics and mediation and wouldn’t have stormed off when Paul had to marry the emperor’s daughter. She understood and accepted these processes. But, you know, for those who didn’t read the books (the majority! like me!) I never would have known that and it didn’t bother me. We used to go to the movies all the time and even now, in the comfort of home, we’ve missed a lot. Thank you for the summaries–they all sound super interesting. Actually, I’ve seen other versions of The Color Purple. I don’t want to see that one again because it really brings me down. But we’ve gotta make time to see at least some of these!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year, Stacey! May it be interesting in the best of ways. So funny about hubby and his encyclopedic ken of Dune. I only read the first book, and it was so long ago, no way could I critique the films on how they compare to the books. I would have to agree on the characters of Paul and Zendaya. That grim environment and the political and otherworldly aspects (both literal and supernatural) of it wouldn’t lend itself to the childishness of either example you used.
I read The Color Purple way back when and didn’t watch the Oprah original adaptation so can’t compare it to this new one, but I like how they took their time to develop the story lines and reached a meaningful conclusion. I love the actress who played sugar. She really brought Sugar to life. The rest of the cast were no slouches.
In your line of work I know you see a LOT of movies. I’d love to hear some recommendations from you on ones to see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I remember the character of Sugar in the other version and always liked her. Not the actress per se (who was fine) but the actual character of the character. I think we had to read the book in school too. I’m glad the remake did it justice AND brought Sugar to life yet again.
You also did better than I did, Li, with reading Dune. I think I may have told you already, but I started reading it when I was 19 and halfway through I threw it across the room, lol. I couldn’t stand it! I think it’s just my impatience with so many weird names and characters and terms, etc., not being able to keep up. Very mentally lazy with that book.
I could probably toss out a few movie ideas but I bet you’ve seen them all. Some of my favorites are: 1917, 30 Days of Night, The Vitch, I liked Phantom Thread but loved the soundtrack, Bad Santa and This is the End just for crazy hilarity, Dredd, District 9. Jeez, the majority of these are pretty old, huh? lol We just went out and saw Johnny Depp’s daughter’s vampire movie, and I thought I was going to die of boredom. It was gorgeous to look at, but for me…snore! And I couldn’t connect with the characters. They just seemed like cliched cutouts, no depth. I don’t know. Just my opinion. It’s getting a lot of accolades. Maybe it just hit me the wrong way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
With Dune, it was a struggle for me at the time also, and you see I never went on to read anymore. I think my kids have read them all; they got a love of reading sci fi from their dad, and I picked up a love of it also from him, just Dune was maybe too thick with its plot? I remember reading quite a bit of Heinlein and Asimov, a few Orson Scott Cards, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber), Anne Macaffrey series on dragons.
Have seen and liked 1917, 30 Days of Night, The Phantom Thread (I bought the soundtrack by musical genius Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead!) Bad Santa, Dredd, District 9 (have watched that multiple times and think I have the DVD.) Haven’t heard of The Vitch or Depp’s daughter’s movie, but with a sleazeball like him for a dad, no surprises it is vacuous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a great list! I think I have only watched the Dune 2 film from this list so this gives me a lot of options. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Willy, they are all winners in my book. Hope you get a chance to see some of them.
LikeLike
Oh, cool! Wait till you see The Witch. Truly eerie and sporadically terrifying but mostly just so, so, so, so creepy!
Sending a personal note to you about Depp in email. :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stacey I don’t think I’ll watch The Witch. I don’t like them when they are too unnerving.
I saw your email. I think Depp and Heard are equivalently loathsome ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Writing in the library today, so of course I’m somewhat procrastinating between sentences when notifications show up, lol. Yeah, I gotcha on the Hollywood couple. A lot of people feel that way.
And you know what? About The Witch–I think that’s a good decision, Li. It is EXTREMELY unnerving, and that rightfully doesn’t count as entertainment for many folks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome that you are writing! Yes!
A friend asked me to go see Heretic earlier this year but I had no idea beyond a trailer what it would be like. Feels like a nightmare that gets so bad that you wake yourself up from it. Still freaked by it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also want to add Mr. Ripley. Damn good movie.
LikeLike
Thanks for your list, this site has now becomes my one of the favourite go to destination for movie. Would you mind checking my site OTT Release This Week, my blog focuses on latest release dates. I hope it will help you find the latest movies and TV shows, anyways, have started following your blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person