2024 movies (with bonus 2023 movies!)

[ebaths]

2023 Movies

Christmas at the Ranch (2022)

This is a low-budget Christmas Lesbian romance movie in the style of Hallmark/Lifetime. I think I liked it, overall, although I didn’t think it was very good. But these types of movies are usually a little more fun if they’re kinda bad. If you like Hallmark/Lifetime movies and you’re itching for a lesbian one, you won’t be disappointed.

Bound (1996)

Finally watched this! I can’t recommend it enough. Watch now!

Just, Melvin: Just Evil (2000)

This is a “disturbing documentary” about this awful guy who assaulted his step daughters. It was filmed by the son of one of the step daughters, so it’s a very low-budget and personal piece. It’s obviously terrible to watch, but it’s unflinching and the lack of “studio” interference means it’s very real, which makes it harder to watch but maybe more easy to swallow (it doesn’t movie-ify the story).

Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

I must have been on a documentary kick. This one is about the story of a family that is torn apart when the father is accused of abusing local children. The interesting aspect of this is that they used a lot of documentary footage that was filmed by one of the sons during the immediate aftermath of this accusation, which is really unusual. Also, the film attempts to leave it up to the viewer to decide if he is guilty or not, which I don’t generally mind, but he seems SO GUILTY it made me wonder if the filmmaker had purposefully left out some evidence/interviews that would have made it more clear. I half recommend this.

Tootsie (1982)

I really liked this!

Willow (1988)

I watched this for a vidding exchange (though I didn’t end up vidding it). I really enjoyed it. It’s an unusual movie, definitely recommended if you like fantasy/sci-fi films.

Yes Madam (1985)

This was good. I don’t watch a ton of Hong Kong martial arts movies so I don’t have much to compare this to. This film stands out because the two leads are women—it stars Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock. The B plot (which is actually more of an A plot??) is about these three brothers who do crimes. I think it’s because I’m unfamiliar with the genre, because almost every Hong Kong film has me feeling this way, but I’m left just confused at the plot and have no idea what happened.

I Can’t Think Straight (2008)

I remember liking this quite a bit…I feel like there was nothing in particular that jumped out at me though.

The Quick and the Dead (1995)

I really liked this! I’m a big Sam Raimi-head so I was going to enjoy this no matter what. I would watch this movie a million times.

Furie (2019)

Here’s another martial arts movie—this one Vietnamese. My understanding is that it is pretty unusual for being a filmed-in Vietnam, starring Vietnamese actors, directed by a Vietnamese person movie. I really liked it, it’s oddly dark.

The Kids are All Right (2010)

I liked this more than I expected I would. I actually think about it pretty often.

Dhoom: 3 (2013)

I liked this, it was a rec from hosekisama. There’s no other movie like it!

Nitrate Kisses (1993)

Unusual movie, which I enjoyed. I remember almost nothing about it now though.

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

This was such a fun watch! I had obviously heard a lot about it but hadn’t watched it at all.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Another movie I knew a lot about but hadn’t watched. I liked it, it’s so old school it’s hard to imagine movies being made like this.

Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse (2023)

This was basically good...I think this is an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t like this movie very much. Besides it being a two-parter (I don’t love this, especially because there are such long wait times in between movies!) I thought it was oddly plotted, like some of the scenes felt like they were out of order. It really didn’t live up to the first one for me.

The Jinx (2015) (limited series)

This was directed by the same man who did Capturing the Friedmans. I had wanted to watch this for a long time…it’s about Robert Durst and the murders that happened in his life (some he admitted to, others not). It’s a really unusual one, this time because Durst participated in lengthy interviews for the series. It’s a very luscious doc also due to the extensive reenactments. I recommend this. Apparently there was a season two that came out in 2024, but I haven’t watched it/heard anything about it.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

This is the documentary about the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood TV show. I liked it! I watched it in the theater with my mom when it came out.

The Year Between (2022)

Watched this with silenthilltwo. I liked it :)

Airplane! (1980)

I think I watched this as a child but it had been a really long time. I watched it with blueshiftofdeath which made it way funnier.

Polite Society (2023)

Really fun movie, I loved it.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2023)

I basically liked this! I think it’s interesting how popular these movies are.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

I first watched this movie in high school. It’s a very sweet film, but I think it has an edge to it that stops it from being saccharine. I like it.

Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

This is a really strange documentary about twin brothers, one of whom gets into a horrible accident and loses his memory. The only thing he remembers is his brother. The twist is very shocking and sad. It’s such a weird story, I hardly know what to think about it. I feel like the doc doesn’t manage to make it seem real—part of the problem being that there’s no one to interview about what happened except the brothers themselves.

The Half of It (2020)

I really liked this! From the director of Saving Face.

Ikiru (1952)

I like this movie—it’s sort of a more depressing It’s A Wonderful Life. I really, really like it.

Sister Act (1992)

This was fun! Exactly what it says on the tin.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

I thought I had watched this before but maybe I had only seen clips. I love Rattigan.

2024 Movies

Island in Between (2023)

This short film is about Taiwan. I found it really interesting.

Taxi Driver (1976)

I did a reflection on this after watching! This is maybe the best movie I’ve ever watched.

Rope (1948)

I watched this a couple years ago, this was a rewatch with blueshiftofdeath. This is one of those movies that’s not really a work of art, and I have a lot of complaints, but there’s something about it that I just love.

Maurice (1987)

I liked this a lot. I had read the book a while back and also enjoyed. It’s an unusual story about coming to terms with sexuality and the life of a gay man in the pre-war period.

Pygmalion (1938)

I actually really didn’t like this (haha).

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

I’ve seen this before! I love this movie.

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

This is my first Bergman film—I have to watch more. I liked this, and it stuck with me. I’m curious to see what else is on the table in his filmography.

Lez Bomb (2018)

This is a really terrible lesbian, uh, rom-com? It’s not a rom-com. I don’t know how to describe it. You just have to watch it for yourself.

I think this movie is where blueshiftofdeath and I started using the term “Boga-verse” (derived from “Kitboga”, the scambaiting Twitch streamer). The “Boga-verse” refers to how, when Kitboga pretends to be an old person on the phone with a scammer, he pretends to be senile and not understand what the scammer is saying, leading to frustration. Lez Bomb is filled with “Boga-verse” moments where characters just refuse to understand simple sentences. It’s a really odd movie. Check it out.

Imagine Me & You (2006)

This was good!

Better Than Chocolate (1999)

I only vaguely remember this movie. I liked it.

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

Another lesbian flick. This is not the kind of movie I tend to love, but I enjoyed it. I liked the lesbian…softball team? scenes especially.

Drive My Car (2021)

I made blueshiftofdeath watch this with me on my birthday. It’s a really long movie. I liked it! I feel like it probably deserves a second watch. I liked the female lead character. There’s a character in the movie who is mute and only speaks via Korean sign language. This is an interesting angle, because much of the movie is about language, translation, communication, etc, so it fits thematically. She clearly doesn’t speak KSL natively (which makes sense in-universe too, since she wasn’t mute from birth) but it was super distracting to me because she looked so stiff and unnatural. It really stood out in what is otherwise a very subtle and realistic film.

Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)

This was fun! Monsieur Hulot is a character sort of along the lines of Mr. Bean (I believe Mr. Bean was influenced by Monsieur Hulot). It made me want to watch other Jacques Tati movies.

Moonlit Winter (2019)

A Korean lesbian drama. I really liked it! Definitely would recommend.

Manhunter (1986)

This is the first (?) adaptation of the so-called “Hannibal Lector” series of books, specifically Red Dragon. This is the story of Will that has been immortalized in the Hannibal show (which I never watched!) I liked this movie—it was very stylish, which I could imagine turning some people off (like 80’s synth music playing in every scene, for example). I really liked it!

Hear Me (2009)

This is a Taiwanese movie about a boy and a girl who are involved in the Deaf community, but not Deaf themselves. They meet and both think that the other is Deaf, so they speak only in TSL to each other. The Deaflympics is a major plot point, as the female lead’s older sister competes in swimming and hopes to qualify. I thought it was sweet and a good watch. I was actually really impressed with the sign language, given that the two leads (and even the Deaf sister, which I thought was odd?) are played by hearing actors. There are a few tiny parts which are clearly actually played by Deaf actors, so you can definitely tell the difference though.

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Wow, this movie is intense. I really liked it.

A Taxing Woman (1987)

I’ve watched this movie in the past, this time I showed it to blueshiftofdeath. I liked it more the second time, and I felt like I understood the themes more.

Love, Spells and All That (2019)

A Turkish lesbian drama. It was good…hmm. I basically liked it. It felt a bit too fraught for me, maybe.

Our Town (1940)

I watched this when I was reading Tom Lake, in which Our Town (the play) features prominently. The movie is not that interesting (LOL) but I liked it. The part that really sticks with me is that there are several time skips in the beginning of the film. They show the milkman coming around, and in the early scene, he has a big tankard of milk which he scoops from into a personal canister that each family keeps. Later, they start to exchange bottles, which is what I would think of when I think of a milk delivery. I loved that little detail!

Top Secret! (1984)

The spiritual sequel to Airplane!. I watched this with blueshiftofdeath. I remember our smoke alarms started going crazy right in the middle of the movie which really irritated me. I think I might like it even more than Airplane!, although I can see why it wasn’t as popular.

The Eiffel Tower Mystery (2016)

A French lesbian TV movie that I had seen a lot of on Tumblr. It was basically fine, but SO MUCH of the movie was about hypnotism? And it was also really tragic in a weird tonally-off way.

The 355 (2022)

This movie is hilarious.

M3GAN (2022)

I basically liked this movie, although I spent the first 30 minutes just waiting for M3GAN to show up. Any scene that didn’t have M3GAN in it was boring.

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Wow, this was great! It’s a really unusual movie, very memorable.

Rebecca (1940)

I didn’t really like this adaptation very much, to be honest. I think it defanged a lot of the most interesting parts of the book. Not a bad movie though!

Megalopolis (2024)

I should do a whole write-up on this movie. It was really weird! It was giving Neil Breen but with a few million dollar budget. I liked it though—it has a certain charm despite the fact that I don’t think it was very good. Adam Driver is a consummate professional. In fact, I think the fact that he plays this role so intently and totally is kind of distracting in and of itself. But it made the movie better.

Chess of the Wind (1976)

WOW! SO GOOD! I liked this movie a lot. It’s very visual and unusual. I might look up a summary before watching it, because was not following the (rather simple) plot while watching (once the movie is over it becomes more clear).

Look Back (2024)

This was fabulous. Highly recommend, even for people who have already read the comic.

The Lady Hermit (1971)

This was fun! I loved all the effects. There was a scene where they drop “dummies” off a cliff but the dummies were just miniature plastic figurines.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

I adored this movie. It was so funny—I can see why everyone in 1984 loved it too.

The Masque of the Red Death (1971)

Another hit!! This was sooo entertaining and fun. Highly recommend.

Conclave (2024)

I was watching so many good movies during these months, wow. This was great.

Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

This was…not…bad? I’m a big fan of the Tom Hardy as Venom franchise. This was very different from the first two. It was so sad?? There’s a scene in the middle where the characters whole heartedly sing “Space Oddity” in a van going to Las Vegas. I was laughing in the theater because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. So many plot holes. I don’t know about this one folks. And the ending is so sad???? Okay.

Re-Animator (1985)

I liked this! Not my favorite type of movie in general. It’s very grotesque.

Psycho (1960)

I’ve seen Psycho before—this time with other friends. It’s a great movie!

Bread and Roses (2001)

This was interesting. I was expecting more romantic comedy because of the cover (and several scenes at the beginning). It is a lot heavier than that. There is a scene near the end which was really great and heart-wrenching, but that I felt was a complete tonal 180 from the rest of the movie and left me wondering what I was supposed to be feeling.

A Real Pain (2024)

I liked this! It’s so hard to watch (because of the “cringey” awkward moments) but once I got into it I really liked it. The movie is not simple and I think really challenges the viewer to try to understand these characters beyond archetypes. Definitely recommend.

Comments

[blueshiftofdeath]

SO MANY MOVIES!!!

I enjoyed your fondness for "Lez Bomb" in your review despite how terrible it was. I think you're right about it starting our usage of the term "Bogaverse"... history was made!!!

Surprised you called Taxi Driver maybe the best movie you ever watched since I always heard you say that about Parasyte-- has Taxi Driver taken the lead, or is there some distinctive category you have for each of them, or something else?