Odds & Ends
2024 overflowed in terrific performances, incredible music, and indelible moments. It was also a year of new priceless new discoveries from years gone by. So much to love. So much to cherish. Here are some of the highlights:
FIFTY GREAT PERFORMANCES
1. Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
2. Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
3. Jodie Comer – The Bikeriders
4. Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer – Ghostlight
5. Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
6. Aaron Pierre – Rebel Ridge
7. Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian – Love Lies Bleeding
8. Willa Fitzgerald – Strange Darling
9. Hitoshi Omika, Ayaka Shibutani, Ryûji Kosak – Evil Does Not Exist
10. Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley – The Substance
11. Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine – I Saw the TV Glow
12. Zendaya. Josh O’Connor – Challengers
13. Pamela Anderson – The Last Showgirl
14. Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette – Juror #2
15. Chris Hemsworth – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
16. Juliette Gariépy – Red Rooms
17. Aubrey Plaza – My Old Ass
18. Pierre Niney – The Count of Monte Cristo
19. Julianne Moore – The Room Next Door
20. Glen Powell – Hit Man
21. Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
22. Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
23. Vera Drew – The People’s Joker
24. Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
25. Mzia Arabuli, Deniz Dumanlı – Crossing
26. Mikey Madison – Anora
27. Nell Tiger Free – The First Omen
28. Daniel Craig – Queer
29. June Squib, Richard Roundtree – Thelma
30. Nicole Kidman – Babygirl
31. Daisy Ridley – Young Woman and the Sea
32. Izaac Wang, Joan Chen – Didi (弟弟)
33. Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt – Longlegs
34. Léa Seydoux – The Beast
35. David Jonsson – Alien: Romulus
36. Geraldine Viswanathan – Drive-Away Dolls
37. Sydney Sweeney – Immaculate
38. Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
39. Ariana Grande – Wicked: Part One
40. Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir – Abigail
41. Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
42. Ingrid Torelli – Late Night with the Devil
43. Jessie Buckley – Wicked Little Letters
44. Josh Hartnett – Trap
45. Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Tuesday
46. Kirsten Dunst – Civil War
47. Lupita Nyong’o – A Quiet Place: Day One
48. Jason Bateman – Carry-On
49. Dakota Johnson, Sean Penn – Daddio
50. Jeremy Moineau – Carnage for Christmas
TEN FAVORITE SCORES
1. Alex G – I Saw the TV Glow
2. Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – Challengers
3. Eiko Ishibashi – Evil Does Not Exist
4. Amelia Warner – Young Woman and the Sea
5. Volker Bertelmann – Conclave
6. Jérôme Rebotier – The Count of Monte Cristo
7. Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
8. Clint Mansell – Love Lies Bleeding
9. Raffertie (aka Benjamin Stefanski) – The Substance
10. John Debney – Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One
TEN FAVORITE SONGS
1. “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” – I Saw the TV Glow
2. “Compress / Repress” – Challengers
3. “Like a Bird” – Sing Sing
4. “Harper and Will Go West” – Will & Harper
5. “Kiss the Sky” – The Wild Robot
6. “Another Season” – I Saw the TV Glow
7. “Better the Devil” – Strange Darling
8. “Beautiful That Way” – The Last Showgirl
9. “Death of Me” – Smile 2
10. “Jean Kayak and His Acme Applejack” – Hundreds of Beavers
TEN FAVORITE ACTION FILMS
1. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2. Rebel Ridge
3. The Count of Monte Cristo
4. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
5. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One
6. Thelma
7. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
8. The Silent Hour
9. The Killer
10. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
TEN FAVORITE COMEDIES
1. The People’s Joker
2. My Old Ass
3. A Real Pain
4. Hit Man
5. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
6. Hundreds of Beavers
7. Drive-Away Dolls [Interview with Tricia Cooke]
8. Anora
9. Inside Out 2
10. Babes
TEN FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. The Substance
3. Red Rooms
4. Strange Darling
5. Immaculate
6. Infested
7. Longlegs
8. The Vourdalak
9. Lovely, Dark, and Deep
10. A Quiet Place: Day One
TEN FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY FILMS
1. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2. The Substance
3. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
4. The Wild Robot
5. A Quiet Place: Day One
6. The Beast
7. Monolith
8. It’s What’s Inside
9. I.S.S. [Interview with Ariana DeBose and Gabriela Cowperthwaite]
10. Out of Darkness
TEN FAVORITE THRILLERS / NEO NOIRS
1. Love Lies Bleeding
2. Conclave
3. The Brutalist
4. Strange Darling
5. Hit Man
6. Juror #2
7. Drive-Away Dolls
8. The Last Stop in Yuma County
9. Heretic
10. Force of Nature: The Dry 2
FIFTY FAVORITE PRE-2023 DISCOVERIES (because digging into the cinematic vault is fun!)
1. Phantom Lady (1944) (Robert Siodmak)
2. Ennio (2021) (Giuseppe Tornatore)
3. The Outriders (1950) (Roy Rowland)
4. The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928) (Slavko Vorkapich, Robert Florey)
5. The Professional (1981) (Georges Lautner)
6. Iron Monkey (1993) (Yuen Wo-Ping)
7. Overlord (1975) (Stuart Cooper)
8. The Set-Up (1949) (Robert Wise)
9. The Goodbye Girl (1977) (Herbert Ross)
10. Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) (William Dieterle)
11. Gentleman Jim (1942) (Raoul Walsh)
12. China Seas (1935) (Tay Garnett)
13. The More the Merrier (1943) (George Stevens)
14. Rhapsody in Blue (1945) (Irving Rapper)
15. The Whistler (1944) (William Castle)
16. Topper Returns (1941) (Roy Del Ruth)
17. The Velvet Touch (1948) (Jack Gage)
18. Super Fly (1972) (Gordon Parks Jr.)
19. That Night in Rio (1941) (Irving Cummings)
20. Nightfall (1956) (Jacques Tourneur)
21. Three Strangers (1946) (Jean Negulesco)
22. The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) (Charles Brabin)
23. The Unseen (1945) (Lewis Allen)
24. Nickelodeon (1976) (Peter Bogdanovich)
25. Dressed to Kill (1941) (Eugene Forde)
26. The Saint in London (1939) (John Paddy Carstairs)
27. The Red Ball Express (1952) (Budd Boetticher)
28. Triple Cross (1966) (Terence Young)
29. Stop, You’re Killing Me (1952) (Roy Del Ruth)
30. The Death Kiss (1932) (Edwin L. Marin)
31. City of Fear (1959) (Irving Lerner)
32. Curse of the Undead (1959) (Edward Dein)
33. Appointment with Danger (1950) (Lewis Allen)
34. Destination Gobi (1953) (Robert Wise)
35. Sapphire (1959) (Basil Dearden)
36. The Thirteenth Hour (1947) (William Clemens)
37. Hell to Eternity (1960) (Phil Karlson)
38. The Search (1948) (Fred Zinnemann)
39. Blue, White, and Perfect (1942) (Herbert I. Leeds)
40. Sheba, Baby (1975) (William Girdler)
41. The Saint Takes Over (1940) (Jack Hively)
42. Mysterious Intruder (1946) (William Castle)
43. The Feminine Touch (1941) (W.S. Van Dyke)
44. Smart Girls Don’t Talk (1948) (Richard L. Bare)
45. Split Second (1953) (Dick Powell)
46. Barricade (1950) (Peter Godfrey)
47. Confess, Fletch (2022) (Greg Mottola)
48. Out of the Blue (1947) (Leigh Jason)
49. Dive Bomber (1941) (Michael Curtiz)
50. The Power of the Whistler (1945) (Lew Landers)
