2024 Movies Ranked: Part 2
40. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: A Ghostbusters movie that doesn’t like other Ghostbusters movies, because it’s the only Ghostbusters movie where the Ghostbusters are formed from beginning to end. It’s fun to spend time with these characters doing their thing from beginning to end. It’s also just a lot of fun to have the new cast and the old cast together. There’s a lot of fun moments that come with that because everybody in here is fun and charming. The problem with this movie is there’s way too much going on. They give every character in the movie a plot line and I felt like they needed several months to iron out the script and focus on the best ideas. They didn’t really do that here, so none of the plot lines feel as developed as they should be.
39. The Instigators: A totally generic streaming movie to hit the services this year. This is one that I really wanted to be better than it actually was. It’s directed by Doug Liman who’s a great director. He’s reteaming with Matt Damon who did The Bourne Identity together. This movie had a fun premise but the execution wasn’t great. This movie has all of the same problems that so many streaming service movies had which is recruiting a lot of talent and putting them in a fun genre film but doing the most generic version of that. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck do have fun chemistry with one another and there’s moments that are fun. It’s the type of movie that you have fun watching, but don’t remember anything about a week later. I was never bored watching this movie but it’s not memorable.
38. Emilia Pérez: One of the early front runners for Best Picture. This is the type of movie that I can greatly respect what the director was going for. There’s a lot of interesting ideas here. But as a whole, I don’t think the movie fully works and comes together. This is a musical gender swapping mob movie that stars an American actress playing a Hispanic character that’s a French movie. There’s a lot of layers of complexity in this movie. The performances across the board are fantastic at the very least, all of them should get awards recognition. The movie as a whole was a bit of a mess, it felt like it wanted to be a few too many things. Some of the screenwriting nominations it’s been getting don’t fully make sense. As a musical, none of the songs here are memorable. This is a movie that I find more interesting than entertaining.
37. Wolfs: Another totally generic Apple TV+ streaming movie, this one directed by Jon Watts who did Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy and is currently doing Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. This movie stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt who once again have great chemistry, there’s a fun set up in here. I rank this movie above The Instigators because I feel like Clooney and Pitt bring a certain gravatose to the movie. Their chemistry is better and it’s a movie that had more elements here that I enjoyed. But considering the talen, the genre, and the cast there’s no excuse for this movie to be as generic and simplistic as it was. It’s so frustrating, because I was never bored watching this movie. There’s plenty of entertainment to be had, but there’s a story that never fully came together for me.
36. Moana 2: A movie that was supposed to be a tv show on Disney+. But after the box office bomb of Wish they converted it into a movie. On a financial side that was a great idea this movie is printing money for Disney. On a story level was this a good idea, no. You can tell that this was converted. You can see where the episode breaks would have been and it didn’t make for a super interesting movie. It is a Disney movie so it has that Disney charm and magic to it. It’s entirely watchable. You still enjoy the characters and getting more with them is a lot of fun. The songs in the movie aren’t as good as they should have been. The absence of Lin-Manuel Miranda is present in this movie. Overall, it’s solid family entertainment but a movie that’s never as good as it should have been.
35. Trap: Like all of M. Night’s movies there’s an intriguing premise. This one explores what if a serial killer was trying not to get caught while attending a concert with his daughter. There’s an intriguing premise about that, but it’s a movie that I don’t think fully delivers on that idea. There’s lapses in the logic of the way things play out. In order for the plot to happen characters have to act stupid. That’s lazy writing and it’s easy to be pulled out of the situation when that happens. It does go in some interesting directions in the third act. Josh Hartnett is great in the movie; he's having to play multiple different characters and he’s able to pull it over. This is good enough M. Night film, it’s none one of his best movies and it’s not one of his worst movies.
34. Speak No Evil: This movie was anchored by a fantastic performance by James McAvoy. But a movie that isn’t as good as his performance. Without him, I don’t think this movie would have been as celebrated as it was. Between this movie and Split, he’s one of our great actors that can be versatile and bring a lot to this movie. Mackenzie Davis as the protagonist mom character is very solid, she’s able to be the voice of reason. The problem with this movie is that it felt very one note. Maybe that’s because the trailer played so many times in theaters that by the time I watched it. I felt like I knew where this movie was going. The husband wasn’t written very well. He was the stupidest character in the movie. This is a very frustrating movie that I wish I liked more.
33. Argylle: I know a lot of people crapped on this movie. My mom was not a fan of this movie. I can understand that with this movie, it’s not as good as it could have been. Does it go a bit too goofy at points? Yes. But did I have fun with the movie? Yes. This is a totally watchable movie with fun charismatic movie stars doing their thing. It’s a lot of fun to see Henry Cavill play a spy, he has that movie star charm to make it work. But everybody in this movie is good and having a lot of fun. This movie probably is 10-15 minutes too long. Considering this movie had a $200 million budget, some of the CGI is not good. I think it’s a shame this movie bombed at the box office because I want to see more movies in this world.
32. IF: The latest film from John Krasinski. This time being his first family movie. This is one that I really enjoyed in the theater and it would rank much higher. But with six months passing, this movie didn’t stick with me as much as I would have liked it to. The movie is called “IF” which stands for Imaginary Friends. I didn’t feel like this movie had as much imagination as it probably could have had. I wish it was a movie that stuck with me more and I could rank it higher. There’s still a lot of positive elements in this movie. It is a great piece of family entertainment. There’s a character arc for the lead that you care about. Ryan Reynolds is able to bring some comedy into the movie. While the lead actress is able to provide the emotional moments. I do think this is a good movie but I wish it was a great movie.
31. Sonic the Hedgehog 3: I did enjoy this movie. I think it’s the best of the trilogy. I still had issues with the movie that held it back. Sonic does have this infectious charm about him. But I feel like he’s too jokey, he gets too many jokes that extend the movie’s run time. Structurally I found it weird how it felt like it could have been the close out of the trilogy but wasn’t. On the positive, Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves are the standouts. Both of them are given a lot to do in this movie, whether that’s comedy or the emotional core of the movie. I think the movie is able to balance having the best story of the movie. There’s not as much of a focus on the human characters. When it is focused on them, it ties back into the plot of the movie. I thought this movie was good, but it wasn’t great.
30. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The second Henry Cavill led movie on this list. I thought this was very fun with a fun cast that took out Nazis. It’s one of the movies where clearly everybody watching this movie had a lot of fun making it. Once again, Henry Cavill is giving it his all; this might be his best performance. Alan Ritchson is also a lot of fun and has some funny moments. Guy Ritchie is a director that knows how to bring a certain style to the action. So all of the action set pieces are a lot of fun and you can clearly see what’s happening. If you want a bloody action movie set during WWII with Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson taking out Nazis. This is the movie for you.
29. Kung Fu Panda 4: Kung Fu Panda is one of those franchises that I grew up watching. I was very excited to see a fourth movie and this was another solid movie. After eight years away, it was fun getting to spend more time in this world with these characters. It is weird that The Furious Five aren’t in the movie, they are so fundamental to this world. But, there’s still fun to be had. There’s plenty of humor and cool action set pieces for Po to do his Kung fu skills. This movie wasn’t fantastic, it wasn’t bad. It’s ranked in the middle of this list as a solid Kung Fu Panda adventure with characters that you care about.
28. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Tim Burton’s return to one of his most iconic movies. I’d only seen the original movie three weeks before seeing this movie. I thought this was a solid sequel; that was on right on a par with the original. It has the same magic and charm as the original movie. I appreciate that Burton kept to the practical effects of the original. He didn’t try to modernize the look of it with CGI. Michael Keaton hasn’t skipped a beat as Beetlejuice. He’s just as fun and crazy as he was in the original. Similar to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I think this movie has too much going on. Every character has their own subplot when I don’t think they need it. If they were able to focus the story a bit more. This probably could have been higher.
27. Origin: This was the first movie I watched in 2024. I debated even including it on this list. It got a limited release in 2023 but a wide release in 2024. I saw the movie in 2024 so I decided to include it on this list. This is a movie that I can absolutely respect what they were going for. It’s a movie that talks about the history of racial segregation through this one person's family. It has a documentary feel to it without it’s structured and put together. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor was great, she gave a fantastic performance. But it’s a very slow paced movie that’s almost 2 ½ hours long. It’s great at what it’s going for and I can understand why some people would love this movie. It’s very well done, but I don’t know if it’s a movie that’s fully for me.
26. Red One: It seems weird to rank Red One above a movie like Origin. Sometimes these rankings can get very weird and I don’t always agree with them. This is the internet punching bag movie of the year. A lot of people were trashing this movie and calling it one of the worst of the year. If you go in expecting a fun Christmas action movie with The Rock and Chris Evans. This movie will deliver that. I went into this movie with those expectations and I got exactly what I wanted. It’s a new take on the Christmas mythology that I thought was a lot of fun. This movie isn’t trying to break new ground. It’s not trying to be one of the year’s best movies. It’s just trying to deliver a solid piece of entertainment around the Christmas season and it does that.
25. Carry On: A surprise hit Netflix movie that feels above average for Netflix original movie. This is a movie that’s very easy for me to enjoy. It’s taking a genre that I enjoy putting it in an interesting setting. Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman are solid stars. Overall, this movie wasn’t fantastic. I think it does strain credibility at points. I feel if the script was as good as the ingredients then the movie would be better and higher up on this list. I had a fun two hours watching this movie as Egerton is trying to stop this bombing attack that happened on Christmas Eve in an airport. Bateman is a fun antagonist and is appropriate creepy and threatening while having this charm about him. It’s not a great movie, but it’s a solid enough Netflix thriller.
24. A Quiet Place: Day One: A solid summer horror movie that made for a great theatrical experience. Seeing this movie on the big screen was cool and it’s the type of movie that wouldn’t play the same at home. The sound design for the movie is fantastic. You know that these creatures are attracted to sound, so the characters are trying to be as quiet as possible. You’re just constantly on the edge of your seat waiting for something to happen. With no distractions from phones or family, this movie played great in the theaters. Also, the movie is able to have heart and give Lupita Nyong’o’s character a character arc. Where the journey and adventure of this movie is the arc that she needed to go. There’s something so human about that surrounded by all of the horrific stuff taking place.
23. The Substance: I went into this movie hearing a lot of chatter about it. I haven’t gotten into body horror. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m glad I watched it. I can see why all of the conversations were happening. I don’t think this movie is for me. I can appreciate what the director was going for here. There’s a lot of creativity with the direction and how it portrays its message of unrealistic beauty standards. There’s some pretty bonkers and crazy sequences in here that are bloody. Even on the body horror side of things it is pretty gnarly and crazy with where it goes. Demi Moore and Margaret Quallaey are fantastic. The movie have to rest on their shoulders and if they weren’t great, the movie wouldn’t work. I’m glad that I watched it. I don’t think I’ll go back and rewatch it a lot.
22. Hit Man: The first Glen Powell summer movie to have been released. I thought this movie was a lot of fun. Maybe not as good as some of the early buzz made it out to be. But it’s still a movie that is very entertaining. It’s based on a true story and it’s hard to imagine this actually happening. This movie shows that Glen Powell can lead a big fun summer blockbuster. He can be fun and charming and this is the year of Glen Powell. Him and Adria Arjona have great chemistry with one another that is fun and believable. If they weren’t believable then the movie wouldn’t work. They found the perfect people for this role. I do think the first half is stronger than the back half. I don’t think the final reveals fully worked for me. But it’s still a very fun movie that is worth watching.
21. Alien: Romulus: The best sequel since Aliens. Fede Alvarez was the perfect person to direct this movie. He’s so good at creating closed environment haunted house movies. When applied to Alien you get something that feels different but fits nicely into this franchise. This movie uses practical effects, the Xenomorph is one big practical effect. It just looks really cool and it feels terrifying when you know that something was actually on set. The ensemble of characters were handled very nicely. Some of the character dynamics are interesting, especially between Rain and Andy. Some of the fan service moments in the third act I don’t think fully worked. I think they hurt the movie actually by some of those moments. The CGI for one character didn’t look great. They tried something interesting that I don’t think fully paid off. Overall, a rock solid addition to the franchise.
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