Only six movies that came out this year made it to my watch list:
- Oppenheimer: three movies in one, and only one of them was good.
- Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken: forgettable.
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: easily the best of the lot.
- Elemental: initially a disappointment, but has more depth the more I think about it.
- Barbie: better than Oppenheimer but also too long and not very good by the end.
- The Family Plan: a fun throwback to the 1990s, but also forgettable.
I did not see Killers of the Flower Moon yet, but I hope to do so soon. I did watch a bunch of older movies, some of which were quite good, but naming them all here would not mean much (and you can always go to the movies tag). Let me instead list the movies I rewatched this year, in the order in which they came out:
- The Godfather (1972)
- Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, extended ed. (2001), and notice the 1980s and ’90s-sized gap there.
- The Ring (2002), the rare horror movie that is actually scary.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), which is the parents' best friend when in need of a teachable moment.
- Gone Girl (2014), in which Ben Affleck is watchable (a rarity).
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), and I still won’t forgive myself for watching this movie on the plane the first time around.
Every year I time myself that I should watch more movies, and every year television wins out. May 2024 be the same.