Films 2024

[ManPerson]

We should wait for Paul before we compromise but fwiw here is a breakdown of how many lists a film has appeared on so far.

Films on all 3 lists
Dune: Part Two
Anora
Wicked
The Substance
Inside Out 2
Challengers
The WIld Robot
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
The Brutalist
Conclave
I'm Still Here
Nickel Boys
Nosferatu
Deadpool & Wolverine
All We Imagine As Light
Flow
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Films on 2 lists
Civil War (MP, Tim)
Emilia Perez (Dubrow, Tim)
Films on 1 list
No Other Land (Man)
A Complete Unknown (Man)
Memoir of a Snail (Dubrow)
Look Back (Dubrow)
Gladiator II (Tim)

[ManPerson]

I'm pretty against having Emilia Perez in the top 20. The most widely derided oscar nominee by audiences in a long time (possibly ever). Good critical acclaim, but even then its reception is pretty mixed, and fairly unexceptional popularity.

Here's how I'd compare it to A Complete Unknown, for example.
Popularity: A Complete Unknown
Industry Acclaim: Close, leaning towards Emilia Perez
Audience Acclaim: A Complete Unknown by a landslide
Critical Acclaim: Emilia Perez close

Comparing it to Civil War as well
Popularity: Civil War fairly easily
Industry Acclaim: Emilia Perez easily
Audience Acclaim: Civil War by a landslide
Critical Acclaim: Emilia Perez close

Comparing it to Gladiator II
Popularity: Gladiator fairly easily
Industry Acclaim: Emilia Perez fairly easily
Audience Acclaim: Gladiator easily
Critical Acclaim: Emilia Perez easily

Comparing it to Alien: Romulus, a film none of us had in our top 20s
Popularity: Alien fairly easily
Industry Acclaim: Emilia Perez easily
Audience Acclaim: Alien by a landslide
Critical Acclaim: Emilia Perez fairly easily

[Fido]

I was actually going to say you guys might be underrating Emilia Perez, in one of those cases of internet discourse being greatly exaggerated. Sure, the hate is huge, and as a Spaniard you can believe I've seen the accents mocked like crazy, but most of that discourse comes from people who haven't seen the movie (this is something people blatantly admit, like with Morbius). I haven't seen the film, but outside of the internet, everybody I know who has watched it, all of them Spanish speakers, say it is actually really good. Then you have all the acclaim from people like James Cameron, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo del Toro, etc etc and good placements on TSPDT and Films101. Still, not saying it should be high or anything, but I feel the hate and memes are being taken way too seriously.

[Dubrow555]

This is really sad to me. I'm disappointed that this forum wants to punish EP for essentially being "review-bombed" by loads of people who hate trans people. Yes, the audience scores (surprisingly) are low, but there is a reason for it - it is a controversial movie with controversial themes. Just like Barbie - there are people that go on the internet to hate on/downvote a movie purely because they hate what is included in the film. Now I'm not saying that secretly everyone loves this movie and we should pay no attention to its' audience scores - but I will say that this film DID NOT have this low reception from it's release at Cannes until roughly December 2024 or so. I know we have to be objective - but we can also be adults and use logic to factor in outside parameters that effect the "reputation" of a film. In my eyes, it got 13 Oscar noms, 10 Golden Globe noms (and won Comedy Musical), is very high on FIlms101, did very well on critics top tens + TSPDT. If anything...it is certainly one of the most talked about and discussed film of the year for sure, so I certainly think it belongs in the top 20 (maybe not top ten at this point).

I once again am very, very annoyed that a film like Inside Out 2 which is nothing more than a generic Pixar sequel with the same themes/tropes/characters/animation style as the previous entry gets a free pass because it made a lot of money and has DECENT audience scores (despite having a clear advantage being a legacy sequel) - yet we continue to punish controversial films like EP because of their subject matter.

[ManPerson]

This is really sad to me. I'm disappointed that this forum wants to punish EP for essentially being "review-bombed" by loads of people who hate trans people.

While I think some of the negative reviews are definitely from transphobes, on places like Letterboxd at least, many of the very negative reviews seem from the perspective of trans allies or trans people and there's a whole section in its wikipedia page about criticism from the LGBT community.

Fwiw, here's one of the top reviews of the film on Letterboxd with 23k.

so alienated from the experience of lived trans identity that it gets many basic facts wrong, stuff that any trans person could tell you about (for one thing, emilia pérez wouldn't 'smell like a man' if she was on HRT, as hormones have a massive effect on body odor). but even disregarding that, this is yet another crash-esque panorama of trying to tackle every societal problem and then acting as if the mere effort of that attempt, rather than the actual result, is profound. liberal-centrists can seemingly only understand queerness as 'the exceptional' to their 'normality', so they make a hyperbolic spectacle out of us and then go on to say that it's good optics, that it's 'representation', when in fact it is abstraction and dehumanization -- emilia pérez is made to represent so many contradictory things that in the end the film situates her as an icon rather than a real person, it is a crude mystification of everything the film claims to care about. and none of this is to mention the fact that director audiard films his musical in the most patronizing academicist way, an empty grab-bag of techniques with no decisive point-of-view (the split-screen sequence near the climax is particularly punishing).

what emilia pérez offers is not meaning, but the sensation of supposedly meaningful things moving in rapid succession, and it hopes the resulting blur will pass by quick enough that we do not notice the superficiality of its style -- in other words, a perfect film for awards season.

A look at the most popular reviews on Letterboxd will show you other reviews in a similar vain (along with the one-liners you'll find on every other film, obviously). If anything most of the film's criticism is due to people considering it transphobic and/or xenophobic.

That's not to say that I might not have underestimated its audience reception a little bit, but it's something to keep in mind.

[pauldrach]

I quickly threw one together but it's not as well researched as my usual lists. Especially towards the bottom I was very much at a loss at which films would best be added. Anyway:

1. Anora - Sean Baker
2. Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve
3. The Brutalist - Brady Corbet
4. The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
5. Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard
6. Conclave - Edward Berger
7. I'm Still Here - Walter Salles
8. Wicked - Jon M. Chu
9. Flow - Gints Zilbalodis​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
10. Nickel Boys - RaMell Ross

11. Challengers - Luca Guadagnino
12. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - George Miller
13. The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders
14. A Complete Unknown - James Mangold
15. The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Mohammad Rasoulof
16. Inside Out 2 - Kelsey Mann
17. Deadpool & Wolverine - Shawn Levy
18. Nosferatu - Robert Eggers
19. A Real Pain - Jesse Eisenberg
20. Civil War - Alex Garland

[pauldrach]

I may have Emilia Pérez too high but it would feel weird to have it outside the top 20. Probably one of the most controversially discussed films of the year. I wouldn't punish it for being divisive, which can easily happen if you only go by average scores from rating or critics consensus sites. It's clearly more critically acclaimed than Civil War or A Complete Unknown.

[Tim]

Discuss:

1. Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve
2. Anora - Sean Baker
3. Wicked - Jon M. Chu
4. The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
5. The Brutalist - Brady Corbet
6. Challengers - Luca Guadagnino
7. The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders
8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - George Miller
9. Inside Out 2 - Kelsey Mann
10. Conclave - Edward Berger

11. I'm Still Here - Walter Salles
12. Nickel Boys - RaMell Ross
13. Nosferatu - Robert Eggers
14. Deadpool & Wolverine - Shawn Levy
15. All We Imagine As Light - Payal Kapadia
16. Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard
17. Flow - Gints Zilbalodis
18. A Complete Unknown - James Mangold
19. Civil War - Alex Garland
20. The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Mohammad Rasoulof

[ManPerson]

I'd say Challengers takes popularity more easily than The Brutalist takes acclaim.

Other than that I'm fine with the list.

[Dubrow555]

I'd say Challengers takes popularity more easily than The Brutalist takes acclaim.

Other than that I'm fine with the list.

I would be okay with that change as well. List looks really good Tim - my one comment would be considering moving "Seed of the Sacred Fig" up 2 slots as it pretty easily wins critical acclaim (and probably audience acclaim) plus won a special award at Cannes. Other than that I like the list a lot - seems like we all agree on 17-18 of the films present, which is pretty rare!

[Tim]

So:

1. Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve
2. Anora - Sean Baker
3. Wicked - Jon M. Chu
4. The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
5. Challengers - Luca Guadagnino
6. The Brutalist - Brady Corbet
7. The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders
8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - George Miller
9. Inside Out 2 - Kelsey Mann
10. Conclave - Edward Berger

11. I'm Still Here - Walter Salles
12. Nickel Boys - RaMell Ross
13. Nosferatu - Robert Eggers
14. Deadpool & Wolverine - Shawn Levy
15. All We Imagine As Light - Payal Kapadia
16. Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard
17. Flow - Gints Zilbalodis
18. The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Mohammad Rasoulof
19. A Complete Unknown - James Mangold
20. Civil War - Alex Garland

[Dubrow555]

Well done, I like it.

[pauldrach]

Fine by me.

[ManPerson]

Fine by me.