00:002024 is almost a wrap, so here are Man O' Many's picks for the top 5 best and worst
00:04movies of the year.
00:05This isn't a definitive list, there's just no way to see every new release, but these
00:09are our most memorable and regrettable cinematic experiences from the last 12 months.
00:14Madam Web.
00:15Without this movie, we wouldn't have a mortal dialogue like…
00:18He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.
00:23So we're kind of glad that it exists, but it really is awful.
00:26Plus, it's hard to imagine stars like Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott and Sydney Sweeney knew
00:30they were signing up to be part of Sony's Marvel-adjacent offering rather than the main
00:34event MCU.
00:35Dune Part 2.
00:36After Denny Villeneuve knocked his first Dune installment out of the park, we were praying
00:40he wouldn't drop the ball with his second outing.
00:42We needn't have worried.
00:43Further exploring one of the richest science fiction universes ever created, Dune Part 2
00:47has the spice and the substance needed to ensure we're more than on the hook for the third
00:52installment, Dune Messiah, now in the works.
00:56Joker.
00:56Folie Adieu.
00:57Look, the first Joker movie was self-important rubbish, so watching fans of that film have
01:01a fit over this sequel's musical approach has been fun to watch.
01:05Saying that, Joker Folie Adieu bombed at the box office in such a deservedly spectacular
01:09style that at least we don't have to worry about a third serving of this franchise's
01:13completely hollow allusions to prestige cinema.
01:16The Wild Robot.
01:17The movie that finally saw Dreamworks overtake a seemingly stagnating Pixar, The Wild Robot
01:22is one of the most spectacular animated films we've ever seen.
01:25A mix of gorgeous visuals, stellar voice acting, and some surprisingly dark humour that balances
01:30the usual sentimentality, The Wild Robot is our pick for animated movie of the year.
01:34The Crow.
01:35A movie that really didn't need to be made, this attempt to rescue the Crow franchise from
01:39its status as a once straight-to-DVD, now straight-to-streaming affair, has instead all
01:44but cemented its fate.
01:46This kind of vengeance-seeking power fantasy has been executed so much better by the likes
01:51of John Wick, that we're hoping the titular Crow will now just fly off into the sunset.
01:55The Zone of Interest.
01:56This flick landed in Australian cinemas in February, but we're still thinking about it.
02:01Juxtaposing the petty domestic concerns of a Nazi officer's family life with the unseen
02:05horrors we know he's overseeing on the other side of that barbed wire fence, The Zone of
02:08Interest is a masterful illustration of the mundanity of evil.
02:12Rebel Moon Part 2.
02:14The Scargiver.
02:15Zack Snyder originally pitched the Rebel Moon script to Lucasfilm as a more adult take on
02:19Star Wars, but they turned it down.
02:20You know it's bad when the people who okayed The Rise of Skywalkers say your script sucks.
02:25So the second part of this not-quite-Star Wars battle between Rebels and Space Nazis continues,
02:29with the painfully self-serious tone and endlessly unnecessary slow motion.
02:34It just left us exhausted and bored.
02:36Rebel Ridge.
02:37When one man's effort to post bail for his cousin goes wrong, he's forced to enter a game
02:41of escalation with the local police chief and his heavily armed officers.
02:45This flick will have you firmly in its grasp from start to finish, and while it caught us
02:48off guard, seeing as the director also made 2015's outstanding green room, maybe it shouldn't
02:53have.
02:54Unfrosted.
02:55Rather than the big comeback he'd hoped for, Jerry Seinfeld's take on the Pop-Tarts origin
03:00story turned out to be as soggy as his tired stand-up routines.
03:03Further cementing already widespread suspicions that Larry David was the real genius behind
03:07the Seinfeld sitcom's magic, Unfrosted's only laughs come from the cameos that Jerry's
03:12friends probably agreed to film out of pity.
03:14Better luck next year, Jerry.
03:17We have a great horror flick for our last inclusion, but this was hotly contested by
03:21Terrify 3's Art the Clown and his Gallery of Gore, as well as James McAvoy's mesmerisingly
03:26menacing appearance in Speak No Evil.
03:28Both deserve an honourable mention, but instead we're going with The Substance and its acutely
03:33effective and timely take on body horror.
03:35Director Coralie Fajar's flair for the gloriously grotesque remains front and centre, while Demi
03:40Moore and Margaret Qualley are both outstanding in a film that's every bit as clever as it is
03:44Stomach Churning.
03:45Give it a watch, and in 2024 with a bang.
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