2024 Faves

Every year, I watch more movies than I can possibly remember, which, maybe you can relate? 2024 was a tough year with a bit of an upswing to it for me. Overall, I don’t think it was the best year for cinema, but there were still some standouts for me.

Thelma

Give June Squib an award! Thelma is Mission Impossible if Ethan Hunt were a nonagenarian widow, holding things together, and holding space for her grandson struggling to launch in his early 20s. Thelma still proudly lives alone, and the action kicks off when she’s scammed out of some money, and her family starts thinking about curbing her independence.

She’s having none of it, and what unfolds is a charming and wonderfully-paced thriller about two people in their golden years proving they’ve still got it.

My Old Ass

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A teenager gets high with her friends in the woods, and is visited by her 40-ish-yo self, who is Aubrey Plaza.

Yes, with its concept alone, this film is silly and hilarious. What surprised me was how much heart it has, and how deeply and slyly the film turns your expectations against you to deliver a series of gut punches.

To top it off, My Old Ass features some of the most beautiful sun-kissed end-of-adolescence photography I’ve seen in a good long while.

Wild Robot

I’m a big old sucker for animation as a form of moving paintings, and whew does this movie deliver. Ostensibly a film about an abandoned android adapting to survive in the wilderness, Wild Robot gives us a much-needed story about the joys and heartbreaks and sacrifices of parenthood.

Oh, and the voice cast is stacked.