By Elazar Abrahams
Way back in January, we went out on a limb to predict what our favorite films of the year would be and listed the five most anticipated movies of 2024. Well, twelve months later, how did our picks pan out? A few lived up to the hype and dominated cultural conversation, some were absolute flops, and one never even saw the light of day. Let’s take a closer look at the list with 20/20 hindsight.
Mickey 17
In the last weekend of March, Director Bong Joon-ho wowed audiences with his first release since his 2019 masterpiece Parasite. Robert Pattinson gave one of the best performances of his career, and the puzzle box mystery of the sci-fi plot had us sitting with Mickey 17 for months.
If only! In actuality, the movie was removed from Warner Brothers’ release schedule pretty early into the year. Soon after, the studio announced Mickey 17 would be dumped into theaters unceremoniously in January 2025, which does not inspire confidence in the film’s quality. Just a few weeks ago, WB shifted Mickey’s premiere date again to mid-April. I have faith in the cast and the talent behind the camera on this, and still believe it might end up being something great. We just need to wait a bit longer to find out…
Challengers
Barring some last minute shake ups, Challengers may be the best movie of 2024. Out of all the titles on our list, it is the project that most lived up to the anticipation. Seeing the drama in a packed room on a Sunday afternoon was one of my favorite theater experiences ever, as the spicy and electric script provides plenty of moments for gasps and laughs, and keeps a crowd on the edge of their seats. Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist actually outshine their co-star Zendaya in this one, and one can only hope every casting director in Hollywood is booking them busy. Pure cinema.
Civil War
April brought an absolute banger with Alex Garland’s Civil War. Now, not everyone liked this movie, and reviews from both critics and audiences were rather mixed. Hate to say it, but there’s a lot of losers out there who didn’t understand the vision. A major gripe folks had with the movie was that it shied away from being explicitly political, which was a fundamental misunderstanding of the picture. It seemed like people were really bummed the script didn’t explicitly tell them “conservatives are bad! These are Republicans doing the killing!”
Instead, Civil War gives us a look at a decapitated, mid-apocalyptic United States and showcases the breakdown of civilization through the eyes of a team of photojournalists covering the conflict. They are a complex and amoral bunch, caring less about debating the specifics of how the country got into this mess and more focused on capturing the perfect shot on the battlefield. I don’t think this is a film that has nothing to say; it gives you lots to unpack, even if it isn’t what many expected it to be.
Joker: Folie à Deux
At the onset of 2024 I wrote, “For the most part, I actually despise the first Joker… And I don’t want to get my hopes up for its sequel, but Lady Gaga is playing Harley Quinn. And supposedly it’s also, kind of, sort of, a musical? I’m intrigued, and it’s okay to admit you are too… This is a blockbuster no one will want to miss.”
I could not have been more wrong about Joker 2, which had a record-breaking 81% drop in box office in its second weekend in theaters as bad word of mouth spread like wildfire about this disaster. Truly the only possible explanation for a mishap of this level is that Todd Phillips, the director, was engaging in the highest level of trolling and burned through a $200 million dollar budget purposely crafting a sequel so uninterested in being well-received. The runtime of over two hours is mostly spent as a courtroom drama that feels like a pointless epilogue to the titular criminal’s exploits from the first film. All the while, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga whisper their way through odd musical interludes that don’t blend into the feature at all. A flop of the highest order.
Wicked: Part One
Firstly, it turns out the powers that be decided to drop “Part One” from this epic’s title, perhaps hoping that the masses wouldn’t realize this adaptation of the smash hit musical would only cover the Broadway show’s first act with the latter half to come next Thanksgiving. And while a bloated runtime of nearly three hours drags down the overall rating here, Wicked is still a big crowd pleaser, as was promised. Bright colors, exciting set pieces, and powerhouse vocals from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo all coalesce and made something special. In AMC’s pre-showtime ads, Nicole Kidman famously says, “We come to this place for magic.” This is very much that kind of movie. Fans of Oz have been waiting to see this movie for over a decade. Thank goodness the wait paid off.
TV and City 