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.
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