The Best Movies of 2024:
Other movies I didn’t dislike in 2024:
The Worst Movies of 2024:
Other movies I disliked in 2024:
TV shows/specials I disliked in 2024:
Other superlatives:
Commentary: Another year. Some movies were good, many just okay, many sucked (which often seems to be the case). I’ve seen many more than listed, many just okay (as mentioned), meaning they didn’t make it to either list; some I didn’t like, but didn’t necessarily dislike enough to dishonor them by mentioning them (my archives are always available); and some I didn’t get to see before finalizing this list, i.e. Heretic, Rippy, Ghost Game, Anora, Monster Summer, etc. (I always wait until at least February). If I like a movie just a little bit more than okay, I give it credit since the majority of movies suck anymore. There were a couple goodies this year…I really liked The Coffee Table, Terrifier 3 was definitely a worthy addition to that franchise and might even be my favorite one so far, I was more in favor of the divisive Longlegs, and it’s a shame New Life was so underseen, because it’s as topical as it gets and one that stayed with me a while afterwards. The worst of the worst got that dishonor if I disliked them a little more than the rest. If I had to choose, The Front Room might be the worst film of 2024; I detested that quite a bit. It appears as if I liked more TV shows than not this year, but, again, I gave them credit if I liked them even a bit more than okay. Many shows I thought were just okay, i.e. True Detective: Night Country (none will ever top the first season), Sweetpea (got weaker towards the end), Under the Bridge, Wreck (Season Two; surprisingly better than the first season), Dead Hot, Ted, Before, etc.; some I didn’t care for, but didn’t loathe, i.e. Grotesquerie and The Creep Tapes; and some I didn’t even finish, i.e. Black Doves and Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld. (I’ve definitely gotten better at stopping shows I have no interest in continuing). I haven’t watched Family Guy or The Simpsons in years and the specials they had this year certainly didn’t make me miss them. [I stopped liking Family Guy around season four or five, and I can’t believe there’s more than 20 seasons! And I liked The Simpsons more when I was younger, like before high school]. And what about that SpongeBob Squarepants special?! I’ll admit to liking SpongeBob for a little bit when it first came out, and I’ll still watch any movies released, but, if that Kreepaway Kamp special is any indication (which I was only interested in due to being a Halloween special), the show either isn’t as good as I remembered, or it completely changed, because that special irritated the hell out of me! There seemed to be some acceptable sequels this year, in both film (Terrifier 3, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, V/H/S/Beyond, Twisters, Inside Out 2) and TV (The Bear, Squid Game, AlRawabi School for Girls); remakes, not so much, but I never expect them to be worthy (less so than sequels). As always, as long as movies/shows are going to be made, I’m going to watch them, and hopefully like at least some of them. I am picky, more so than others it seems, but you can’t help what you like though, right? Sometimes I need to give titles another shot, yes, and sometimes they are better the second time (Infested and In a Violent Nature are two examples from last year that I sort of liked the first time, but were better the second time). One movie that got a lot of praise was I Saw the TV Glow; I watched it twice and still think it was just okay; I don’t necessarily think it was overrated, but I feel it’s too much a case of style over substance (and I wanted to like it more than I did). I put Smile 2 on the ‘Unnecessary Sequel’ category, but I wasn’t even much a fan of the first one! I don’t understand the praise both films received, hence why they both made it to my ‘Overrated’ category both years! (Whatever…I’m picky, right?). There are some titles I’m curious about in 2025, not necessarily anticipating, just curious, many being sequels, i.e. The Black Phone 2, 28 Years Later, Jurassic World: Rebirth (that franchise needs a comeback after the disappointing Dominion), Saw XI, Thanksgiving 2 (that could be your comeback, Eli; seriously, what were you thinking with Borderlands?!), Final Destination: Bloodlines, Megan 2.0; a few being remakes/reimaginings/reboots, i.e. the Return of the Living Dead Christmas movie, (sigh) the second (!) Silent Night, Deadly Night remake, that Anaconda movie, The Running Man, and, yes, even I Know What You Did Last Summer (again, more curious than anxious); and Stephen King adaptations, i.e. The Monkey and The Life of Chuck (both of which I have read the stories for). The movies I am anticipating, Clown in a Cornfield and Fear Street: The Prom Queen, are largely because I read the books (the latter actually based on one as opposed to the three Netflix films that weren’t). If the King of the Hill reboot is coming out this year (as I heard it was supposed to), I’ll be watching that, but I hope Dale’s character isn’t written off (he literally was the best thing about that show; R.I.P. Johnny Hardwick). Allegedly, season 27 of South Park is coming out this year too; I’m always up for some more of that. The next season of The Bear, the final season of Squid Game, season 17 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and that Crystal Lake series (if it actually comes out this year) are other shows I plan on tuning into. The floor is yours, 2025…2/19/2025
Reviews of titles mentioned above (in commentary):
