What Am I Thankful For in the World of Movies in 2024?

2024 has been a difficult year. Nobody would disagree with that. As we stare down the barrel of another year finished, it's hard to scream with joy over the last 12 months. Yet, if you're reading this, then like me, you've made it. And that's worth celebrating. We've all gotten through an incredibly arduous year and we should relish that. We're all here for each other and, while that's not enough to erase the pain of the modern world, it doesn't hurt either. As a movie geek, I'm also incredibly thankful for how cinema has once again been a balm for the soul in another challenging year.

Since it's Thanksgiving week, how about we do eschew a typical review and look at things from 2024's world of cinema that we should all be grateful for? I think Film Critic Hulk used to do Thanksgiving-oriented "giving thanks" pop culture pieces for Birth Movies Death back in the day. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading my 2024 cinematic "thankfulness" as much as I enjoyed reading his words.

What am I thankful for in movies in 2024? Let's begin with...

THE TEXAS THEATER

The Texas Theater is an absolute gift of a cinematic exhibition space. I don't think there's a better theater in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in terms of the picture quality they provide. Even digitally projected features just look so darn crisp through whatever projection technology they use here. Getting to attend the Dallas International Film Festival at this location (among other nearby exhibition spaces) was a joy, ditto seeing titles like The People's Joker in this domain. They also added a video rental store into the Texas Theatre that's such a hoot to walk through, I especially love all the old posters and standees populating the floor space. They make every inch of space in that Dallas landmark (don't forget they recently added an upstairs screening room!) and it's a joy to witness that ingenuity.

Oh, and I got to know some of the folks connected to the Texas Theatre and its programming thanks to me doing interviews for Dallas Observer and IndieWire pieces. That was also a joy, they're such amazing people!

QUEER-FRIENDLY POETRY READING

Deviating from film for one entry, I do want to shout out The Wild Detectives, a bookstore in Bishop Arts that hosted a live poetry reading event on November 13, 2024. Caroline Earleywine was in attendance and gosh, what a wonderful writer! She's a great public speaker and her words really helped me unlock emotions I didn't feel like I had the space to truly explore in the previous eight days. After she read a slew of amazing poems from her various poem collections, local poets (many of them queer!) got up to read striking collections of words (several of which were written by the readers themselves!) that truly touched my soul. It was a glorious space to be in, especially so soon after the presidential election. Here was a little isolated pocket from the rest of the world where we had each other's backs. That's the power of communal art experiences!

MOVIES THAT DIDN'T PLAY BY THE RULES

Thank God for Hundreds of Beavers, Anora, The People's Joker, Nickel Boys, and other exceptional 2024 movies that dared to subvert various cinematic hallmarks. Whether it was what angles cameras are supposed to capture movies through, the kinds of people motion pictures focus on, or even the idea that modern films need to rely on dialogue, these movies followed their own artistic spirits, not conventional norms. We need that kind of art now more than ever!

BIG DANCE SEQUENCES

Watching Wicked and Better Man within a few days of each other reminded me that I just love big song-and-dance numbers in movies! That's why titles like Singin' in the Rain or The Music Man were some of my favorite movies growing up, I love when people are doing incredible dance choreography in addition to belting out amazing tunes. So many modern movie musicals eschew dancing in favor of just focusing on the singing. Not Wicked and Better Man! Thanks to these titles for reminding me of one of my favorite cinematic sights and providing the kind of grand spectacle I once worried would never come back to movie theaters after COVID-19 shut down multiplexes. I can't wait for people to discover the bouncy and visually audacious "Rock DJ" in Better Man, it's such a treat.

TRANS CINEMA IS NOT DEAD, IT'S SURELY ALIVE

Thank you to trans directors like Vera Drew, Theda Hammel, and Jane Schoenbrun for continuing to make new exciting movies in 2024, a year where politicians based entire campaigns around dehumanizing trans folks. Corporations like Disney have responded to these political developments by, naturally, removing trans-centric episodes of children's television from circulation. Like D. Smith's incredible Kokomo City from last year, Drew, Hammel and Schoenbrun gave a big middle finger to America's default tendency towards trans erasure in exciting ways. 

BONDING WITH OTHERS THROUGH MOVIES

I love how often movies bring me closer to other people. When I'm waiting in line for a motion picture screening at a film festival, I can chat and make friends with people also patiently yearning for our show to start. Showing my friends Hundreds of Beavers and Mad Max: Fury Road, meanwhile, was an amazing experience, it was so unspeakably thrilling to see them get immersed in these movies I know like the back of my hand. Motion pictures are a rich artform on their own merits. However, I especially adore the way they can turn strangers into friends and strengthen bonds between people. That's been the impetus behind art since its creation. It was always such a privilege to bear witness to and participate in that phenomenon this year.

I'm grateful for movies. I'm grateful for friends. I'm grateful that none of us are alone in this wild world. I'm grateful for YOU, dear reader. Enjoy your Thanksgiving week, gobble up lots of rolls for me, and hey, maybe check out your local independent theater if you have time. You never know what kind of magic the silver screen will provide.

Good One/The Grand Budapest Hotel Reviews

Writer/director India Donaldson makes a quiet but impactful feature-length directorial debut with Good One. This 2024 Sundance and Cannes darling dares to take a sympathetic gaze towards a type of person cinema usually villainizes....teenage girls. This demographic is usually rendered on-screen with mockery not humanity. In Good One, though, Sam (Lily Collias) is the story's anchor. Her perspective, constant use of a cell phone, and dubious attitude toward adult men around her are treated with empathy. Her point-of-view is explored in a story concerning Sam going on a multi-day hike with her father Chris (James Le Gros) and his long-time best friend Matt (Danny McCarthy). 

These two are always sniping at each other while Chris never seems to be satisfied with his daughter.  The tension between the trio is realized in a nicely subdued fashion, with Donaldson often eschewing a score or grandiose editing flourishes in the most uncomfortable moments between these people. Awkward gritty reality is enough to instill unease in one's stomach. There is, however, a beautiful score from composer Celia Hollander underpinning exterior shots in Good One making use of very classical instruments like a harp or flute. These tracks sound like they could've easily been ripped from a 1960s movie, they're so soothing and gentle. 

These melodies represent a larger soothing world that Chris and Matt keep intruding on with their nonsense. Within just 89 minutes, Donaldson got me totally invested in Sam's plight, a feat that also comes down to the terrific work from Lily Collias. With her aloof line deliveries and suppressed exterior, Sam is a realistic portrait of many teenage girls. She's also (conceptually) a tough character for an actor to get a hold on. Going too big with Sam would undercut this figure tremendously. Collias maintains a subdued composure that's just as authentic as it is engaging. There's still such pain or irritation peeking out from the corners of her physicality. With this absorbing performance, it's no wonder Good One gets such remarkable cinema out of the kind of person most movies ignore outright.

Music by John Williams/ I Like Movies Reviews

2024 has seen the unveiling of many very distinctive documentaries (Black Box Diaries, Union, Daughters, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Sugarcane). Recently debuting on Disney+ courtesy of Lucasfilm, Music by John Williams is, in contrast, a very standard modern celebrity documentary. It's the kind of glossy biopic about a famous rich person who currently dominates the streaming marketplace. Everything's very tidy, nothing too scandalous or form-breaking hits the screen. In this case, director Laurent Bouzereau brings viewers down a largely chronological look at the most iconic scores Williams ever composed. Along the way, there are non-linear digressions into more personal matters tied to Williams, such as his childhood, relationship with his oldest daughter, and symphony conductor exploits,. and more.

One strange shortcoming of Music by John Williams is the disappointing lack of other major film composers interviewed in the inevitable talking-head segments. Thomas Newman and Alan Silvestri (the only two composers who've ever created scores for Spielberg movies) are the only other major film composers interviewed here. Where are the figures who can really shed light on how Williams impacted their craft? Surely Michael Giacchino, Tamar-kali, James Newton Howard, and others have thoughts on Williams. Also, the lack of non-male interview subjects is tremendously disappointing. You can call me nuts, but I'd imagine Hildur Guðnadóttir. Natalie Holt, and Kathryn Bostic might have more to say on the world of film composers than Seth MacFarlane or Chris Martin!

Those complaints (as well as the production's rigid adherence to a standard structure) aside, Music by John Williams is a genuinely pleasant experience. It helps that so much of the screentime is dedicated to the warm rapport shared between Steven Spielberg and Williams. The two have such an immediate warm affection for each other carved over 50 years of creative collaborations. It's so much fun to witness them bounce off one another. Meanwhile, hearing Williams just talk about his approach to various film scores really is transfixing. It's just fascinating to hear the level of thought he put into scores that are now part of the global musical lexicon. 

All those iconic melodies started out as notes on a sheet of paper. Letting Williams describe what inspired that process is the greatest attribute of music by John Williams. It also doesn't hurt that the film has an infectiously exciting interview with the always endearing Ke Huy Quan. How can you go wrong with him? Music by John Williams is unfortunately too derivative of the endless wave of celebrity documentaries crowding the media landscape, but it contains charms for film geeks like yours truly. Anything that gets me remembering how excellent Catch Me If You Can's score is can't be half-bad.

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Major props to writer/director Chandler Levack for committing to a deeply unlikeable character like I Like Movies protagonist Lawrence (Isaiah Lehtinen) for her first-ever feature-length movie. This is a tricky character to nail down and diving into the deep end with Lawrence shows creative chutzpah on her part. Lawrence, for the record, is a High School senior in the early 2000s obsessed with movies, himself, and getting into New York University. He's impossible to get along with, but he does have some inspired ideas for improving things at his new job at the local Sequels video store. Here, he bonds with manager Alan (Romina D'Ugo) while growing more distant from his previously tight-knit pal Matt Macarchuck (Percy Hynes White).

Levack does end up biting off a mite more than she can chew with her screenplay's protagonist. I Like Movies has a very realistic rendering of a self-absorbed film geek teenager and the unflinching nature of that is admirable. Certainly, as a lifelong film geek who saw Before Midnight in theaters as a 17-year-old, I was more like Lawrence at his age than I'd care to admit! Still, the more traditional narrative path of the third act doesn't quite fit with the rest of I Like Movies. Lawrence is such a specific, atonal character. Sending him down a standard storytelling route in the feature's home stretch feels disappointing. Compare this to Owen Kiline's Funny Pages, which also followed a deeply unlikeable teenage male artist but refused to follow tidy or cathartic narrative conventions.

For the most part, though, I Like Movies is a charming chronicle of Canadian teenage life in the early 2000s. The deeply lived-in performances are especially terrific, with D'Ugo standing out the most as the fascinatingly messy and raw Alana. Levack, meanwhile, demonstrates a solid grasp of visually executing awkward humor with her blocking and use of the film's claustrophobic aspect ratio. The messiest parts of I Like Movies also effectively tap into the ceaseless intertwining pain of growing up and existence. Life is so full of tears, uncomfortable encounters, and dashed expectations. Thank God we have movies to soften the blow.