The Best Movies I saw in 2024
I wish I was a cinephile, one of those guys who watches tons of great movies every year and reviews each one. That's not me though, and maybe that's ok. Everything we do doesn't have to be our passion. Some movies though leave an impression.
The First Slam Dunk has some of the cleanest animations I have ever seen. The story is tender and you can feel the love poured into this movie in every frame. Even as a fan of sports movies I didn't expect to get so invested going in, but The First Slam Dunk is a perfect example of a film where beautiful execution and genuine passion can make a story told many times new again.
A movie built around two children are always risky, but when they act this well it's a blessing. Monster is achingly beautiful. It explodes and it's soft and it captures all that is magical and scary about childhood like a bottled rocket.
The Zone of Interest is the most harrowing film I've ever seen. From the first scene it slams you with unsentimental brutality and scope of the horror at it's backdrop. There is this sense of unease throughout the film as if you're watching something unhuman. It's sobering, soul crushing and incredible filmmaking.
My favorite movie genre is one where the place feels like a living, breathing character. In Midnight Cowboy New York City is grimy, rough, unforgiving, lonely and brimming with life. Somehow it made me nostalgic for a time and place I never lived. The way Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight clutch onto their friendship as their one desperate grasp at human connection in a city of loneliness, it's heartbreaking and honest. One of the best movies I've ever seen.