Movies In 2024

Last year, my boyfriend and I subscribed to our local theater’s monthly movie program where you can get discounted tickets and rollover free movie vouchers and stuff like that. We knew that there were a handful of movies coming out in 2023 that we wanted to see, so as long as we were seeing at least one movie together every other month, we’d be getting our money’s worth. And we did and it was all good.

Cut to now, 2024, and our subscription has been sadly canceled. We simply don’t feel like we’ll get good use out of it this year at all. Maybe you also saw this image floating around social media recently.

Obviously there are more than 30 movies coming out this year, but these are supposedly the big ones with franchise power and dates already attached. Of these movies, there are maybe only 5 that I’m fairly certain I’ll be in a theater to consume. And if I’m being honest, I’m fully expecting 3 or 4 of those to be mediocre at best, so I’m not even that excited for them.

Theaters and the state of movies are big talking points these days, and I am interested in the conversation for sure. The movie landscape has changed a lot in the past few decades with streaming taking to the point where some movies don’t even get a theatrical run. In terms of genres, we’ve seen the fall of romcoms and the rise of huge franchises in ways that have made people uneasy and tired. If you never had or no longer have an interest in superhero movies and the like, I can understand why you’re not thrilled with the way things have been. I see a lot of complaints online about how we need to give money to smaller, more creative movies instead of giving several billion to Disney for yet another superhero flick. And while I do fully understand that sentiment, I do like the superhero movies, and do want to still see them. Lately they’ve been kind of bad, but my boyfriend and I will still go.

Because honestly, I enjoy even a mediocre superhero movie more than I do some of the artsy Oscar movies I’ve seen in the last few years. I do make an effort to watch a few awards movies every year, and very few enthrall me. Most of them are just too weird and edgy for my taste. I respect creativity and telling stories that haven’t been done over and over again, but some of those movies are really just not for me. But they clean up at the awards circuit, so I guess they’re someone’s cup of tea. It’s weird that the movies that do the best at the box office often don’t get any recognition at the awards shows. Is the system broken? Maybe.

Superhero movies and musicals are all I go see in theaters because I at least more or less know what I’m going to get. I’m totally willing to see other movies that I know less about or could surprise me, but not at the current price of tickets. I’ll do it for free at my house. Between opening weekend upcharges to online booking fees to the deliberate lack of cheaper morning movies, it costs over $30 for two people to see a movie nowadays here in Canada, and that is simply disgusting to me. Don’t even get me started on the price of concessions at theaters.

Besides, movies don’t last long in theaters anyway these days. They hit streaming platforms within a few months, so view them for cheaper that way. Or find them online illegally (I’m not sorry) or borrow the DVD from the library.

Whether it’s price or the lack of urgency or the comfort of seeing movies at home (like with subtitles) or simply a mediocre selection of movies out, I’m not surprised that there are reports of theaters struggling. I’m not surprised that my boyfriend and I canceled our movie subscription. I’m not surprised that the movie landscape has changed. Barbenheimer (Barbie/Oppenheimer) was a fun event that proved that a) people are willing to go to theaters if they want to, and b) non-superhero/non-franchise movies still have a chance, but I think that social media had fun with this particular release pairing, and I don’t think we’ll see the same passion and hype ever again in the same way.

What 2024 movie are you most looking forward to? How often do you go to the movies?

 

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‘Flora And Son’: John Carney Has Done It Again

I walked into Flora And Son knowing I would enjoy it. Writer/Director John Carney wouldn’t let me down. And he didn’t. What did let me down was everyone in my city, because apparently no one has taste. My boyfriend and I were the only ones in the theater on a Saturday night.

Following the success of Once, Begin Again, Sing Street, and the TV show Modern Love comes his next music-centric project, Flora And Son. I expected and received a quaint movie full of heart, good music, and clever laughs.

Flora And Son tells the story of a single mother, Flora (Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson), struggling to make a life for herself while raising a deviant teenage son. She finds an old guitar and signs up to take online lessons from a musician in LA, Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). As they flirt and develop a relationship, Flora is also able to bond with her son over music.

The power of music is a core theme in most of Carney’s movies, and seeing it bring together Flora and her son Max in a way that’s so pure and fun was a delight to watch. Both characters were clearly so lost and angry but came together to create magic.

That being said, while a lot of the music Carney’s projects feature are of the pop and indie singer-songwriter vibes, Flora And Son went in a bit of a different direction. It’s a modern movie, and both Max and Flora were interested in dance music, hip-hop/rap music, and electronic music. That came through in some of the songs in this movie, and I personally didn’t love that. It of course made sense in the movie and still worked well, but there are some songs that’ll get skipped when I listen to the soundtrack.

Of course, I have to mention the big climax song ‘High Life’. I had it stuck in my head for the rest of the night. While not the best song in the world, it perfectly brought the movie to a close. I found myself literally beaming through the song because it was such a wholesome scene, and that feel-good feeling of happiness is something John Carney movies do so well. Rumour has it it may be up for Best Original Song at the Oscars. ‘Falling Slowly’ from Once was the last time one of John Carney’s songs got the respect it deserves as ‘Drive It Like You Stole It’ got snubbed and ‘Lost Stars’ lost.

Back to the movie. I will say that I personally liked both Begin Again and Sing Street better than Flora And Son. I think things felt a bit more innocent and bright in both of those two. Compare leads Greta and Conor, who you really liked and believed in, to Flora, who was messy and problematic. I didn’t root for her or her long-distance romance as much as I should have.

But I’m so glad I saw it. If you want an enjoyable, feel-good movie that’s sweet and funny and musically sound, go watch Flora And Son. It’s streaming on Apple TV+, if you have it, and in some movie theaters. And then go watch John Carney’s other movies because I will not shut up about them. But watch them with subtitles if you can. Irish accents sometimes are hard to understand!

And now I wait for whatever project John Carney does next.

That’s all for now!

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Ranking The Versions Of Groot

It’s sad to think that Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 was likely the last time we’ll ever see most of those characters. I really enjoyed the trilogy and will miss them. Especially Groot.

I’m not a comic reader, so I didn’t know anything about Groot before seeing the first Guardians movie. But he made a quick impression on me and the rest of the world. Simple. Funny. Loyal. and once reborn, cute as hell.

To celebrate the legend that is Groot, I’m going to rank all the versions of him we’ve seen, in order from least favourite to most favourite.

6. Kid Groot (seen in a Vol 2 credit scene, Infinity War, and Endgame)

We didn’t see a lot of this version, but I don’t think he really stood out. In the Vol 2 credit scene, he was moody and sarcastic as he gamed, and his contribution to the final Thanos fight was minor.

5. Big Groot (seen in a Vol 3 credit scene)

What a big man. Some are calling him King Groot, but Groot was already a king to me. We only see this version for a few seconds, but I love the look and love that he and Rocket are still working together and saving the world.

4. Stick Groot (seen in Vol 1)

Seeing this little guy dancing after the sacrifice at the end of the first movie was so nice. What a precious, pure scene and a great way to end the movie as well as hint at what’s to come.

3. Swole Groot (seen in the Holiday Special and Vol 3)

Built like a football player, this version of Groot was so fun: not a baby that needed protection and attention, but still innocent and loyal. Watching him dance in the Holiday Special was sweet, and I liked that he played a large role in the missions in Vol 3.

2. OG Groot (seen in Vol 1)

The original Groot was immediately wonderful. Even with a very small vocabulary, we still got character development and laughs without it being overdone. His partnership with Rocket was perfect, and it was great to see him adapt to the others in the eventual team too.

1. Baby Groot (seen in Vol 2 and the miniseries)

Of course, this iconic little guy is my number one. He was so cute, and it was so funny to see him run around and dance while everyone else fought aliens. I also liked how he brought out the parental sides of the rest of the team, as it really highlighted just how much they’ve grown since the first movie. 10/10 would love to see again.

 

Groot is the best, and if we’re being honest, there is no bad version. I’m glad we got to enjoy that character as long as we did and see so many cool versions.

I remember watching the trailer for the first movie way back when and thinking it all looked a little silly. From a raccoon to a talking tree, I didn’t have faith in what Marvel was trying to serve us. It took a few friends convincing me to give it a go, and I walked away from the theater very impressed, and excited to see the Guardians again. Now, nearly a decade later, the movies have come to a satisfying end, and Groot is an icon. As he should be.

How would you rank the versions of Groot we’ve seen throughout the years?

I am Groot!

 

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Don’t Make Director’s Cuts A Thing

I was very surprised when a Synder cut of the 2018 DC movie Justice League was announced. While I didn’t hate the first version, I knew it could have been better, and this Snyder cut promised to do it all and more. But then I watched all four hours of it, and while it was more, I don’t think I can say it was all that. Between the weird colouring, the 20 minute dream sequence, the dumb timeline-messing save, and the random villagers singing, this version of the movie really made some wild choices that I’m glad the studio or apparent trash human Joss Whedon decided to remove years ago.

Me watching that dream sequence

The Snyder cut obviously took advantage of the at-home delivery by making it six parts over four hours, which is fine, but I think that a) you therefore can’t compare it to other movies because you got two more hours to tell a more fleshed out story and b) even if you edited it down to a reasonable movie length, this version wasn’t that much better. Parts of it sure were, like the explanation of the cubes or Cyborg’s story, but as a whole, I was disappointed. I kind of expected this to be like The Best Movie because it was hyped up to be Authenticly Snyder’s Untold Story and Undoing How Awful Joss Was, but I guess that’s on me for having a high standard. It was better, but it wasn’t worth the years of campaigning.

And that’s why I’m very wary of this new hype train of other directors cuts that may or may not exist. I know some of it is just memeing like this TikTok, but still. I’ve seen far too many headlines saying that there are hours more footage of some movie no one wants to see more of or that studios are considering doing more director’s cuts of other things or that fans are campaigning for other ones. It’s probably not true, but just in case, here’s my official statement: no thanks.

I won’t pretend to know how much involvement movie studios have in final plot or editing, but based on my limited knowledge and my eyes during Snyder Cut, I can’t imagine that this is a useful direction (pun intended) for the film industry. If a studio can’t deliver me the absolute best version of a movie the first time, then they gotta live with that shame and possible financial loss. You can’t just keep pumping out different versions to appease people. As they say, that’s show biz. Justice League may have been a special case because of the crisis in Snyder’s life during original filming, forcing Whedon has to take over, but for other movies that didn’t have something similar going on, I just feel like there’s no excuse.

And who is this even for? The fans? I have trouble believing that, because I feel like if fan satisfaction were the ultimate goal, they wouldn’t have given us garbage to begin with. Is it for the directors? Giving them their moment to shine? Unlikely. So I guess this just smells like a big ol’ cash grab.

The only version of a director’s cut I’m not opposed to is what Lord Of The Rings did. They had the extra stuff as an optional bonus DVD feature that didn’t negate the regular normal-length theatrical release. If studios want to give us that (though without DVDs, it’s just bonus content on streaming services), then sure. Whatever.

Director’s cut? More like cut that nonsense out before it starts please.

Thoughts? Did you enjoy the Snyder cut of Justice League? Is there a movie you want a director’s cut of?

 

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The State Of Romcoms

Like a lot of people, I enjoy romcoms (romantic comedy movies, for anyone who lives under a rock). I think they’re great and fun and cute. Some are so iconic and everyone knows them, or parts of them at least, to the point where they’re sometimes more relevant in pop culture than big blockbuster movies that made twice as much money in theaters.

But I think romcoms and their popularity and purpose has changed a bit over the years. There certainly still are romcoms being made in recent years that are well done and overall enjoyed by their viewers, but I think that compared to the romcoms of yesteryears, they may not have that longevity and popularity years down the line.

It seems to me that romcoms really took off in the 90’s. There of course were some in the 80’s that checked the boxes of having romance and comedy, but a lot were the iconic teenage coming of age movies, and as much as they’re in many ways great in their own right, I don’t know if anyone’s calling Pretty In Pink a classic romcom, ya know? But in the late 80’s and leading right into the 90’s, that’s when romcoms really took off and made lasting marks on the genre. People like Huge Grant, Julia Roberts, and Meg Ryan became legends.

And then in the 2000s we got a wide mix of content. Romcoms may have kickstarted in the previous decade, but there were so many that were made in the 2000s, with old and new names joining in and contributing. Ones that stand out to me are Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson, and Ryan Reynolds. Not all of the movies are worth talking about today still, but they were entertaining, and it is always fun nowadays to turn on the TV to find some old forgotten mid-2000’s romcom and recognize the whole cast (this happened recently with the movie View From The Top).

Off the backend of the 2000’s and going into the early 2010’s, I noticed that the number of romcoms started to dwindle and there was a shift in the kind of comedy (more hokey and dumb) as well as in the leads for the romcoms. I feel like they went from some big-name staples in the genre to being comprised of mostly people who, for some reason, either had or later did have a deep association with an NBC show (eg. Kristin Wig, Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Steve Carell…).

Once in the 2010s, I don’t know if it was because of the 2000’s romcom overload or if the better movie technology just lead to more action movies being made instead, but there are not a lot of romcoms in this decade. There are some, and luckily for us all, some of the some are really good and favourites of mine, but I find that overall, the genre kind of died out. A lot of the ‘top romcoms’ listed in articles online are ones that I don’t find to be that memorable in terms of a movie and especially not in terms of a romance, like Easy A, Trainwreck, Silver Linings Playbook, or Sleeping With Other People. It’s too bad. The dozens of cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies made every year prove that people aren’t opposed to watching simple romance in movies still.

Me @ 2010’s “romcoms”

What will the romcom genre look like in the 2020’s? I don’t know and based on the trend, I don’t expect too much. A lot of the romcoms released in the last several years came from streaming services rather than theaters, and maybe that’s for the best as romcoms are best enjoyed at home rather than in a large theater. I also think a reason for a lack of recent romcoms is because there aren’t a lot of mid-20’s/early 30’s aged actors who are a) super popular and b) want to be the romcom legends of the era. There’s a good chunk of early 20’s people (Timothee Chalamet, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Noah Centineo, Hailee Steinfeld) who largely have already jumped into more edgy, action-packed big paycheque projects. 

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I don’t think the genre will die out at all, but I don’t know if anything made any time soon will be able to match some of the purity and quality of older romcoms and lines like “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her,” (even though I kind of find that line very cringe).

What are your thoughts on romcoms over the years? Do you enjoy modern ones just as much as 90’s classics? Do you think the genre is dead or dying?

My mom, rewatching Love Actually for the 1000th time

That’s all for now!

 

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