Anime steampunk spin-off Arcane just wrapped up its second and final season on Netflix. While the League of Legends show cost $250 million to produce and didn’t make that money back, Riot Games cofounder Marc Merrill now says the company still considers the show a success because of how much fans loved it.
Anime steampunk spin-off Arcane just wrapped up its second and final season on Netflix. While the League of Legends show cost $250 million to produce and didn’t make that money back, Riot Games cofounder Marc Merrill now says the company still considers the show a success because of how much fans loved it.
With 2024 in the books, the time has come to deliver our annual ten best-of-the-year list. So, how did 2024 stack up in the end? Fairly weakly, I’d say, with the year a bit of a casualty of the dual WGA/SAG strikes, which compromised the supply chain of movies opening in theaters – for evidence of that, one need only look at how modest of a selection of movies are open this holiday season. Yet, there were still plenty of good films, so let’s dig into the best movies of 2024.
First, a few honourable mentions. While it didn’t make the Academy Award shortlist for documentary features, I thought Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story was one of the best big-screen biographies in some time, with it painting an honest, nuanced portrayal of the former Superman’s legacy. I also really enjoyed the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, which replaced the singer with a CGI chimpanzee – to brilliant effect, and Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, even if it wasn’t quite the masterpiece I feel it could have been. Finally, Longlegs was without a doubt the scariest film of the year, while George Miller’s Furiosa, despite being one of the year’s biggest flops, was a damn good addition to the franchise that should have done better at the box office and with fans.
Now, here’s the top 10 best movies of 2024:
While superhero movies have seemed to be on their way out, Marvel made a solid comeback by embracing an R-rating and giving us a superhero team-up for the ages. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s chemistry gave the film some much-needed heart, and the cameos were the icing on the cake – and it could be argued that Wesley Snipes’s re-emergence as Blade might be the comeback of the year. Give him his own movie! 2025 is shaping up to be an important year for Marvel, with Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four all due in theaters. Hopefully, they’ve learned the lesson taught by Deadpool & Wolverine that, above all, the element of fun (which was forgotten by movies like Eternals) is the most important thing.
Believe it or not, many people thought this movie would tank, with WB initially wanting it to be an HBO Max original. Instead, it became one of the year’s biggest hits and one of the best movies of 2024, with Michael Keaton again showing us he still had what it takes to play the Ghost with the Most. It was also Tim Burton’s best movie in years, and hopefully revitalizes his career, with him seemingly having a solid thing going with new muse Jenna Ortega. Like Deadpool & Wolverine – this was just a whole lot of fun. Hopefully, Burton and Keaton cave and give us a third movie. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice?
A24’s biggest movie was one that sparked a lot of debate this spring, and given the doom and gloom of the news cycle, it seemed ripped from the headlines, even if the idea of an alliance between California and Texas seemed a tad fanciful. Kirsten Dunst delivers the performance of her career in Alex Garland’s film, but it can’t be denied the movie is all but stolen by Jesse Plemons in one unforgettable scene. It just goes to show you there are no small parts.
Who would have thought a movie about a bunch of priests arguing in rooms could be so damn exciting – and, yes, one of the best movies of 2024. Sporting the year’s best cast, Edward Berger’s Vatican drama (based on the Robert Harris novel) is a nail-biter, with Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow delivering explosive performances. It just goes to show you that if you make interesting adult fare, they will support it in theatres, with it one of the biggest indie hits of the year. If you haven’t seen this one yet, it’s out on Peacock and PVOD, and is well worth a watch.
This Bob Dylan biopic wisely narrows the focus to a pivotal four-year period in the singer’s career, from his discovery through his eventual decision to go “electric.” It almost feels like a companion piece to director James Mangold’s Walk the Line, with Timothee Chalamet delivering a magnificent performance as Dylan and Edward Norton being terrific as Pete Seeger. Hopefully people check it out over the holiday season.
This was a good year for Timothee Chalamet, with hits like Wonka, Dune 2, and A Complete Unknown. Dune: Part II is a superb continuation of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert classic, and in terms of spectacle, no other film this year holds a candle to it. Co-star Josh Brolin was so enamoured with it that he swears he’ll quit Hollywood if Villeneuve doesn’t get an Oscar nomination. Dune: Messiah is set to close out Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy, and given the jump in quality from Part I to Part II, I expect it to be masterful.
Sean Baker’s racy movie about a stripper, played by a terrific Mikey Madison, falling in with the son of a Russian oligarch, is one of the only films I saw this year that legitimately made me laugh. While the premise makes it sound like a drama, it’s often sidesplittingly funny, with Madison delivering perhaps the performance of the year in the title role. This feels like Baker’s most crowd-pleasing movie to date and further establishes him as one of the most talented helmers of his generation.
Robert Eggers brilliantly builds on the success of The Northman with another epic period film, with his vampire film impeccably mounted. The casting is pitch-perfect, but the show’s real star is Eggers, who, along with Villeneuve and Conclave’s Edward Berger, seems to be on the verge of being considered one of the new masters. And it’s also scary! If you can, try to see this one on 35mm or an IMAX screen, as it’s designed to be a gran theatrical experience. Who would have thought that a remake of a horror classic that has already been remade before could be one of the best movies of 2024?
Brady Corbett’s 3.5-hour 70mm epic is a stunning achievement, with him somehow making one of the year’s most lavish epics for only $6 million. Adrien Brody gets his best role since The Pianist, while Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones have never been better than in this post-war tale of an immigrant’s attempt to capture the American dream turning into a nightmare. See it on 70mm film if you can, which should be easier to achieve once it expands to more theaters in January.
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance proved to be the most electrifying film of the year, featuring gruesome imagery you won’t soon forget. But, who knew a 2.5 hour body horror film could be so much fun? Effortlessly working as both satire and horror, it offers Demi Moore a career-redefining role. At the same time, Margaret Qualley again shows us why she’s one of the brightest rising stars of her generation. This one is now available on PVOD, and is also streaming on MUBI.
What do you think the best movies of the year were? Let us know in the comments!
The post The Best Movies of 2024: From The Substance to Deadpool & Wolverine! appeared first on JoBlo.
With 2024 in the books, the time has come to deliver our annual ten best-of-the-year list. So, how did 2024 stack up in the end? Fairly weakly, I’d say, with the year a bit of a casualty of the dual WGA/SAG strikes, which compromised the supply chain of movies opening in theaters – for evidence of that, one need only look at how modest of a selection of movies are open this holiday season. Yet, there were still plenty of good films, so let’s dig into them.
First, a few honourable mentions. While it didn’t make the Academy Award shortlist for documentary features, I thought Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story was one of the best big-screen biographies in some time, with it painting an honest, nuanced portrayal of the former Superman’s legacy. I also really enjoyed the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, which replaced the singer with a CGI chimpanzee – to brilliant effect, and Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, even if it wasn’t quite the masterpiece I feel it could have been. Finally, Longlegs was without a doubt the scariest film of the year, while George Miller’s Furiosa, despite being one of the year’s biggest flops, was a damn good addition to the franchise that should have done better at the box office and fans.
Now, here’s the top 10:
While superhero movies have seemed to be on their way out, Marvel made a solid comeback by embracing an R-rating and giving us a superhero team-up for the ages. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s chemistry gave the film some much-needed heart, and the cameos were the icing on the cake – and it could be argued that Wesley Snipes’s re-emergence as Blade might be the comeback of the year. Give him his own movie!
Believe it or not, many people thought this movie would tank, with WB initially wanting it to be an HBO Max original. Instead, it became one of the year’s biggest hits, with Michael Keaton again showing us he still had what it takes to play the Ghost with the Most. It was also Tim Burton’s best movie in years, and hopefully revitalizes his career, with him seemingly having a solid thing going with new muse Jenna Ortega. Like Deadpool & Wolverine – this was just a whole lot of fun.
A24’s biggest movie was one that sparked a lot of debate this spring, and given the doom and gloom of the news cycle, it seemed ripped from the headlines, even if the idea of an alliance between California and Texas seemed a tad fanciful. Kirsten Dunst delivers the performance of her career in Alex Garland’s film, but it can’t be denied the movie is all but stolen by Jesse Plemons in one unforgettable scene. It just goes to show you there are no small parts.
Who would have thought a movie about a bunch of priests arguing in rooms could be so damn exciting. Sporting the year’s best cast, Edward Berger’s Vatican drama (based on the Robert Harris novel) is a nail-biter, with Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow delivering explosive performances. It just goes to show you that if you make interesting adult fare, they will support it in theatres, with it one of the bigger indie hits of the year.
This Bob Dylan biopic wisely narrows the focus to a pivotal four-year period in the singer’s career, from his discovery through his eventual decision to go “electric.” It almost feels like a companion piece to director James Mangold’s Walk the Line, with Timothee Chalamet delivering a magnificent performance as Dylan and Edward Norton being terrific as Pete Seeger.
This was a good year for Timothee Chalamet, with hits like Wonka, Dune 2, and A Complete Unknown. Dune: Part II is a superb continuation of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert classic, and in terms of spectacle, no other film this year holds a candle to it. Co-star Josh Brolin was so enamoured with it that he swears he’ll quit Hollywood if Villeneuve doesn’t get an Oscar nomination.
Sean Baker’s racy movie about a stripper, played by a terrific Mikey Madison, falling in with the son of a Russian oligarch, is one of the only films I saw this year that legitimately made me laugh. While the premise makes it sound like a drama, it’s often sidesplittingly funny, with Madison delivering perhaps the performance of the year in the title role.
Robert Eggers brilliantly builds on the success of The Northman with another epic period film, with his vampire film impeccably mounted. The casting is pitch-perfect, but the show’s real star is Eggers, who, along with Villeneuve and Conclave’s Edward Berger, seems to be on the verge of being considered one of the new masters. And it’s also scary!
Brady Corbett’s 3.5-hour 70mm epic is a stunning achievement, with him somehow making one of the year’s most lavish epics for only $6 million. Adrien Brody gets his best role since The Pianist, while Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones have never been better than in this post-war tale of an immigrant’s attempt to capture the American dream turning into a nightmare. See it on 70mm film if you can.
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance proved to be the most electrifying film of the year, featuring gruesome imagery you won’t soon forget. But, who knew a 2.5 hour body horror film could be so much fun? Effortlessly working as both satire and horror, it offers Demi Moore a career-redefining role. At the same time, Margaret Qualley again shows us why she’s one of the brightest rising stars of her generation.
What do you think the best movies of the year were? Let us know in the comments!
The post The Best Movies of 2024: From The Substance to Deadpool & Wolverine! appeared first on JoBlo.
Action, horror, killer Santa movies, Gremlins, deep cut horror, The Silent Partner, Trancers, Anna and the Apocalypse, The Ref, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the first Black Christmas remake – we shared a lot of Christmas movie recommendations over the holidays… and now Arrow in the Head founder John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek are here to talk about another unconventional holiday pick: the 1984 sci-fi horror comedy Night of the Comet, which begins with the Earth passing through the tail of a comet eleven days before Christmas. You can find out what The Arrow and Lance have to say about the movie by checking out the video embedded above.
Here’s what Lance and Arrow at the Movies is all about: Join hosts The Arrow and Lance as they engage in colorful debates about old and recent genre films. With a vibe that’s both groovy and a little rough around the edges, we’re here to talk shop with a whole lot of passion.
Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt, Night of the Comet has the following synopsis: After a rare comet sighting, teen sisters Regina and Samantha find that they’re among the only survivors of a zombie attack. The girls partner with another survivor, Hector, but as they try to avoid the zombies, they’re sought by scientists who want to experiment on their bodies in the hope of finding an antidote. Dodging both the doctors and the undead, they keep moving in the hope that they can continue to stay alive.
The film stars Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Peter Fox, John Achorn, Michael Bowen, Devon Ericson, Lissa Layng, Janice Kawaye, Chance Boyer, Ivan E. Roth, Dick Rude, Chris Pedersen, Marc Poppel, and Stanley Brock.
Are you a fan of Night of the Comet? Check out this episode of Lance and Arrow at the Movies, then let us know what you think of the movie by leaving a comment below.
The post The Arrow and Lance celebrate the holidays with Night of the Comet appeared first on JoBlo.
The house from Home Alone remains one of the most iconic in all of cinema. It’s a gorgeous Georgian colonial style home in the Chicago burbs that recently sold for $5.25 million, showing just how sought-after it is. That price tag has gone up exponentially through the years, so you’d have to have a pretty cush job to be able to swing that. But back in the early ‘90s, you really only needed to be a – wait, what did the McCallisters do for a living to be able to afford that house and five kids (and 10 large pizzas!)? Fan theories remain, but Home Alone director Chris Columbus has weighed in on what Peter and Kate’s careers were to live comfortably in that house.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Columbus remembered that the discussion did come up that it might be questioned what the McCallisters did for a living to afford the house in Home Alone. But only one of the parents was ever “officially” settled on. “Back then, John and I had a conversation about it, and we decided on what the jobs were…[Kate] “was a very successful fashion designer,” which is teased by there being numerous mannequins in the basement and a sewing station in the house. So what about Peter? “The father could have, based on John Hughes own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did.” That doesn’t help a whole lot – and there really aren’t any clues in the house to indicate exactly what he did – but Columbus was quick to rule out a life in the Chicago mob. “Not organized crime — even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”
That point, which some stand by as a way to reason how Peter and Kate could continue paying for the Home Alone house, derives from a widely circulated fan theory that further tries to link John Heard’s Home Alone character to the one he played on The Sopranos. It basically goes that, after the events of the movies, mobster Peter went into hiding in New Jersey as Detective Vin Makazian but couldn’t quite escape his old lifestyle, falling in with Tony Soprano and working as an inside guy for the crime boss. That particular element is pretty far-fetched but it might also lend to the fact that that particular house is the “silver tuna” for local cat burglars or why the Little Nero’s delivery boy never called the cops or why Kevin is a complete psychopath.
Home Alone fans may never truly know what Peter McCallister did for a living, but we do know that he and Kate were awfully wealthy to be able to afford that house. Most of us would be laughed out of the neighborhood but the house did once land on Airbnb, although we can’t confirm whether or not a bite next door was included…
What do you think Peter McCallister did for a living? Give us your best take in the comments below.
The post Chris Columbus debunks Home Alone fan theory on how the McCallisters could afford their house: “Not organized crime” appeared first on JoBlo.
The house from Home Alone remains one of the most iconic in all of cinema. It’s a gorgeous Georgian colonial style home in the Chicago burbs that recently sold for $5.25 million, showing just how sought-after it is. That price tag has gone up exponentially through the years, so you’d have to have a pretty cush job to be able to swing that. But back in the early ‘90s, you really only needed to be a – wait, what did the McCallisters do for a living to be able to afford that house and five kids (and 10 large pizzas!)? Fan theories remain, but Home Alone director Chris Columbus has weighed in on what Peter and Kate’s careers were to live comfortably in that house.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Columbus remembered that the discussion did come up that it might be questioned what the McCallisters did for a living to afford the house in Home Alone. But only one of the parents was ever “officially” settled on. “Back then, John and I had a conversation about it, and we decided on what the jobs were…[Kate] “was a very successful fashion designer,” which is teased by there being numerous mannequins in the basement and a sewing station in the house. So what about Peter? “The father could have, based on John Hughes own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did.” That doesn’t help a whole lot – and there really aren’t any clues in the house to indicate exactly what he did – but Columbus was quick to rule out a life in the Chicago mob. “Not organized crime — even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”
That point, which some stand by as a way to reason how Peter and Kate could continue paying for the Home Alone house, derives from a widely circulated fan theory that further tries to link John Heard’s Home Alone character to the one he played on The Sopranos. It basically goes that, after the events of the movies, mobster Peter went into hiding in New Jersey as Detective Vin Makazian but couldn’t quite escape his old lifestyle, falling in with Tony Soprano and working as an inside guy for the crime boss. That particular element is pretty far-fetched but it might also lend to the fact that that particular house is the “silver tuna” for local cat burglars or why the Little Nero’s delivery boy never called the cops or why Kevin is a complete psychopath.
Home Alone fans may never truly know what Peter McCallister did for a living, but we do know that he and Kate were awfully wealthy to be able to afford that house. Most of us would be laughed out of the neighborhood but the house did once land on Airbnb, although we can’t confirm whether or not a bite next door was included…
What do you think Peter McCallister did for a living? Give us your best take in the comments below.
The post Chris Columbus debunks Home Alone fan theory on how the McCallisters could afford their house: “Not organized crime” appeared first on JoBlo.
Christopher Nolan could make any movie he wants, and for his next project, he’s opted to make an adaptation of The Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic poem about the gods fucking with a war-weary guy by stranding him and his crew at sea for a decade as they fight to overcome cyclopes, sirens, and all manner of other…
Christopher Nolan could make any movie he wants, and for his next project, he’s opted to make an adaptation of The Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic poem about the gods fucking with a war-weary guy by stranding him and his crew at sea for a decade as they fight to overcome cyclopes, sirens, and all manner of other…
This was a really weird year for Xbox. You could argue that Microsoft’s gaming brand had an amazing year or that it had one of its worst, and either way I’d likely find myself nodding in agreement to most of your points.