In-Review: November 2024
Down to the wire
I’ve been busy since the last newsletter. Busy watching movies. This is the season that all the studios send the FYC screeners to film critic inboxes and 2024 seems more packed than any other year before. I’ve received over 140 movies to consider for awards purposes this year and most of them don’t even start to come in until November begins. Let it be known that I’m not complaining about this privilege, it’s just a lot.
Now it’s getting down to the wire. I’ve submitted my ballot to RogerEbert.com for the best films of 2024 (you can see the results in the links section below). The critics’ group I’m a part of, the Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA), submits our votes on Friday. At this point, it might be easier to list the big movies I haven’t seen yet.
As for the movie pictured above, Wicked, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I’m a big fan of musicals, but Wicked never really did another for me as a stage musical (I’ve seen it twice). I was never all that interested in the soundtrack and even though I saw those multiple times, I couldn’t begin to tell you what happens in the musical. After seeing this new theatrical version, I had to look up what happens in the second act, despite having seen it.
Both actresses, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, are rightfully getting their dues. They are terrific in the roles and add a lot of gravity (sorry) to the characters. The other thing that works in the movie’s favor is the production design and the musical numbers. Everything is, unsurprisingly, much more vivid and spectacular, with one of the numbers featuring costar Jonathan Bailey in a library with rotating ladders. I even thought that the movie would be far too long considering that Wicked: Part 1 is as long as the entire musical. I was wrong again! There’s more than enough material here to justify the runtime. Perhaps the only problem that arises from the split is that Act 1 had more and significantly better songs (apparently the songwriter is adding songs to Part 2.)
Wicked is worth seeing in theaters and while it might not crack my top list this year, it’s an adaptation that musical fans should love.
Here are the movies I caught up with in November:
As always, if you’d like to follow along on Letterboxd, my account can be found here.
Home Video Releases
Criterion has released the Oscar-winning film, No Country for Old Men, on 4K UHD. While I’ll always remember the Oscars night when this fine film won over There Will Be Blood, thankfully No Country for Old Men continues to be great all these years later. As is the case with most Criterion Collection releases, this new 4K transfer is approved by director of photography Roger Deakins. It features many conversations about the film and archival interviews with many members of the cast.
My fondness for Galaxy Quest is far beyond the merits of the movie (it was among the first few movies I ever watched with my wife), but this Star Trek homage truly caught lightning in a bottle. Even though Tim Allen is obnoxious in this movie— it’s an accurate portrayal of William Shatner. The other members of the cast like the late Alan Rickman or Sigourney Weaver only add to the fun. It’s a movie that absolutely shouldn’t work, but it’s one of the best spoofs on Star Trek on the planet. The new 4K release brings the classic movie to ultra-resolution for the first time and is a must-own for fans of the film.
While also playing at select IMAX theaters across the country, this 10th-anniversary release of Interstellar is kind of superfluous for those who already own it. It’s packaged with the same terrific 4K UHD disc that’s been available for some time and I can only recommend it for those who love the movie but don’t own it yet. Included in the box is one new featurette included that’s an appreciation of the movie, some badges, replica film posters, a note from Christopher Nolan, a digital copy, and a storyboard of one of the sequences in the film. I managed to catch Interstellar during its current 10th anniversary IMAX run and it certainly seems like there are a lot of fans for Nolan’s Sci-fi epic. If you’ve never seen it or know a Sci-fi fan who’d enjoy it, you’re still probably better off buying the standalone 4K instead of this anniversary release.
Podcast
Ahead of Babygirl, my cohost Evan Crean and I discussed Nicole Kidman's filmography.
Links
The end of the year means the end of the year lists. (Above the new trailer for The Brutalist, a movie that has been doing quite well on these lists.)
Movies
RogerEbert.com Top Ten (I contributed to this selection)
The trailer for 28 Years Later is terrific. I wasn’t super excited about the sequel, but the group that worked on the trailer should be applauded.
Polygon has a list of the best video games of 2024 on their site. I don’t play as much as I used to, but I can recommend the top three for sure.
NPR does a list of the best books of the year that I use for Christmas gifts all the time. Check it out.