Best and Worst in Entertainment 2024

[ravenus]

It's nearly the end of the year and that means it's list making time. Talk about the best and worst entertainment experiences for you this year. Films / Series - any nationality, any language, any medium (theatrical, OTT, home video) - the only criterion here is that it be released in 2024 (or at the most in Dec 2023).

I personally thought 2024 was a great year for movie buffs and I'll be posting my expectedly massive list here soon, but if anyone wants to start off, the ball is in your court.

[The hitcher]

That movie where Nicolas Cage was in people's dreams. The credits rolled and I was like "WHAT?! WHY THE F4ZX DID I WATCH THIS?"

And then I realized that Hollywood has the capability to make bad movies that seem to be well made until it's too late.

I was reminded of my experience watching Birdman. Cool cinematography, great performance by Keaton, but then it ended and I was like, wait... no...

[ravenus]

So, stuff I watched in the cinemas.

The Yays

UI - Upendra (Kannada)
It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if S. Shankar and Alejandro Jodorowsky got together and made a movie, UI would be what emerged. In this day when everyone's making super-safe 'movies for dummies', this is an absolute triumph of audacity and divine madness from the maverick Upendra. Even seeing it in Kannada without any subtitles, this was probably the most awed I've been this year. Sadly though not surprisingly, it also seems to have bombed, going out of most cinemas in just a week.

Jagte Raho - Sombhu Mitra & Amit Maitra (Hindi)
OK, this is a cheat, since this movie originally came out in 1956. But the restored version was screened in cinemas this year. Raj Kapoor as an unknown struggler comes to a city and, in his quest for a drink of water, enters a resident colony where he gets taken for a thief and all manner of chaos results. Set in the course of a single night, the film is a satire on urban capitalist society and its sordid underbelly. Remarkably, Kapoor took a part where he is mute through most of the film. It's not perfect, and gets a little preachy towards the end (and the famous Nargis cameo, even though it looks gorgeous, feels like it came from another film altogether. But it's very interesting all the same, and I had a good time on the whole. The resto looks pretty good too in most part.

All We Imagine as Light - Payal Kapadia (Malayalam+Hindi)
My detailed take HERE

Kill - Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (Hindi)
Kill is probably the most fun I've had watching a Hindi movie in a long time. Up to half-way I was wondering if the reviews weren't exaggerating a little about the violence in this movie. But post-interval they crank it up to Holy Shit! levels. One scene with a fire extinguisher is bruisingly memorable. Compared to the bloated ass-fests that most new movies are, it's just a 106 min long and packed with badass action.

Furiosa: Mad Max - George Miller (English)
At nearly 2.5 hours, this film is significantly longer than Fury Road, with a lot of time spent on identifying different factions and their politics. It's not Shakespearean drama, some of it more in the vein of video game cut-scenes, but it's sufficiently punctuated with brilliant action to make the whole dish palatable, and Chris Hemsworth's Dementus is a pleasure.

Manjummel Boys - Chidambaram (Malayalam)
My detailed take HERE


The Meh's

Aavesham - Jithu Madhavan (Malayalam)
My detailed take HERE

Aadujevitham - Blessy (Malayalam)
My detailed take HERE

Merry Christmas - Shriram Raghavan (Hindi)
Mixed feelings. There's a neat little drama here, and a number of trademark Raghavan moments, but it's also significantly hobbled by a musical romance the director seems to believe in, but which did nothing for me. Still, you should watch it and make your own opinion. It should be at least better than the bigger movies on account of which it missed the Xmas release date it had been aiming for.

[ravenus]

What I watched on OTT (I only had Prime and Hotstar most of this year, so the selections are limited to these networks)

The Yays

Alien Romulus - Fede Alvarez (English, Hotstar)
I probably won't watch it a second time, but Alien: Romulus was decent popcorn fun. Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, It's mostly a re-tread of the first film (with some elements from the sequel). A small group of people escaping slavery go into the deserted Nostromo and find themselves up against the titular creature(s). One of them is an android with a child-like personality, till he gets a chip upgrade, which also gives him an ambivalent personality. It's a simple story, but Alvarez keeps the momentum going and has some cool action scenes including one set in an elevator shaft. At a little less than 2h, the film ends before it becomes a chore.

Exhuma - Jang Jae-hyun (Korean, Prime)
Pretty damn good Korean horror thriller about evil spirits and exorcism rituals.The story is a little convoluted, but the movie is directed extremely well, and the confrontation scenes pack a good punch, mainly because the film makes you care for its characters.

Bharathanatyam - Krishnadas Murali (Malayalam, Prime)
This was a very breezy family dramedy. Most of the film's humor arises organically from the situations, and there is very little by way of slapstick / buffoonery.The repartee between the characters is sharp, and Sai Kumar, and Saiju Kurup do an excellent job with solid support from the ensemble cast. It also helps that the film at 120 min does not significantly outstay its welcome.

Roopanthara - Mithilesh Edavalath (Kannada, Prime)
Unlike the astounding LSD-2, Roopanthara's concept of metamorphosis is one-sided, which makes for twee conclusions to some episodes, but as an idea-driven venture with some powerful emotional moments, this Kannada language anthology film stands high above pretty much anything in the cinemas now.

Ullozhuku - Christo Tony (Malayalam, Prime)
It falters towards the end in its attempt to whitewash a lead character's infidelty, but otherwise this was a strong and engaging woman-centric drama with lovely performances from Urvashi and Parvathi Thirovothu.

LSD-2 - Dibakar Banerjee (Hindi, Netflix)
My detailed take HERE

Godzilla Minus One - Takashi Yamazaki (Japanese, Netflix)
My detailed take HERE

Under Paris - Xavier Gens (French, Netflix)
Under Paris is like a French take on Deep Blue Sea. It's dumbass, but after a slow-ish start, it becomes quite fun, with some hilarious/memorable images of mass carnage. The final shot in the film is outright surreal.

Amar Singh Chamkila - Imtiaz Ali (Hindi, Netflix)
It's simplistic and not very emotionally wrenching, at least for someone who wasn't clued into the legend of Chamkila before this film came out, but it's still a very well-made film. Imtiaz Ali has fun with the technique, employing non-linear narrative, split-screen, animation. Outside of the actual Chamkila songs AR Rahman's score is also bouncy (especially the Ishq Mitaye track). I liked it on the whole.




The So-so / Mehs

Raayan - Dhanush (Tamil, Prime)
My detailed take HERE

Neru - Jeethu Joseph (Malayalam, Hotstar)
Neru didn't work for me. The premise, while somewhat cliched, promised an engaging time if the screenplay had explored it in interesting ways. Alas, that's not the case here. What we get is a disappointingly predictable courtroom melodrama that paints the characters in caricature broad strokes. They are not worth the talents of the actors playing the parts, and certainly not worth the leisurely 150min this film takes of your time.

Malaikottai Vaaliban - Lijo Jose Pelissery (Malayalam, Hotstar)
MV is to Lijo Jose Pelissery what Hugo was to Martin Scorsese. Fut for good or bad, the funding was used to give un-reined expression to the film-maker’s personal fetishes, the end result being a self-indulgent passion project (bloated as heck) that would mainly appeal to the niche core fan base. But core fans should definitely see this, it's one of the most gorgeous, visually poetic films in the LJP canon. I could have easily done without the faux-Baahubali episode featuring the BDSM Portugese couple and the chutiyaap inclusion of Sholay-homage, but otherwise it was stunning.

Road House - Doug Liman (English, Prime)
UFC fighter Conor McGregor as one of the bad guys makes a huge impression - His character is not necessarily in tone with the rest of the film, but he livens up every scene he is in. Sadly, the rest of the film is kinda limp. Director Doug Liman (who previously did Edge of Tomorrow and American Made with Tom Cruise) has a certain felicity with humor, but this remake is more passable than memorable.

Fighter - Siddharth Anand (Hindi, Netflix)
My detailed take HERE

Anweshippin Kandethum - Darwin Kuriakose (Malayalam, Netflix)
I thought this was okey-dokey. The mystery elements are nothing great. The characters are mostly stock caricatures. The film's visual style is also not particularly interesting, relying on borrowed elements, including the 2013 Hannibal series' shtick of showing the events unfolding in the investigator's imagination while he is a part of the scene. While not actively bad, it certainly does not earn its 2.5 hour runtime.

Kaathal: The Core - Jeo Baby (Malayalam, Prime)
Kaathal doesn't sensationalize the issue of closet homosexuality, it goes the other way. It is oh-so-so noble and messagey, and very Readers' Digest-like in its soft-footing of the real challenges. But like PK was the first star-powered questioning of organized religion, this one lays down the gauntlet for more mainstream inclusion of alternate sexualities. Mammootty's courage is to be commended for being probably the first old-school 'mass' superstar to portray a non-heterosexual part, even if in a super-chaste manner.

Panchayat Season 3 (Hindi, Prime)
S3 was a weird mixture of seriousness and slapstick. The arrogant MLA track was always an awkward one, bringing a scale and tone at odds with the simple, family-friendly (language excepted) nature of the series. It's made the main arc of this season. There are good things - Faisal Khan's Prahlad makes a heart-warming return to normalcy, and even the petty rivals of the Pradhan (Bhushan and his chamchas) get their moments to shine. I also like that Abhishek and Rinki are shown to be not achievers, but unambitious people who just want a little bit of happiness in life. But the last 3 episodes were ho-hum cliches with some really clumsy plot machinations.

Lupin Season 3 (French, Netflix)
I loved the first 2 seasons of this French crime caper with the gentleman thief, but Season 3 was boring and manipulative, and barely engaged me.

[ravenus]

And how did I miss putting Bramayugam? This was a definite YAY so far as cinema experiences go:

My detailed take HERE