Flasz On Film

An end-of-year list isn’t complete without a bunch of honorable mentions, i.e. movies you felt at least a degree of pain after leaving them out of your top 10 roster. Therefore, here are some more movies I saw in 2024 that didn’t end up making the cut, most likely because of some inherent flaws I wasn’t able to look past, but which were altogether solid enough I’d have absolutely no problems recommending to anyone. Here goes!

1. Dune: Part Two

Now, I couldn’t count myself among Dune zealots having seen the first instalment of what we now know is going to be a trilogy (not without hiccups, mind you). However, having seen how this story has evolved and how Denis Villenueve seems to have been able to exert a strong enough influence over studio Wormtongues pouring poison into the ears of creatives in all corners of Hollywood, I now count Dune: Part Two as an altogether refreshing and visually resplendent piece of epic space opera the likes of which we rarely get to see. Thus, I am now keen to see how this narrative will conclude and I even hold out hope it may grow in my estimation even further upon subsequent rewatches, perhaps in a back-to-back-to-back marathon setting. (Full Review Here)

2. Hit Man

Honestly, Hit Man wasn’t a movie I’d have expected to land anywhere near the top of my most cherished movie experiences of this past year, even though I am a card-carrying Linklater groupie. However, it did just that and I don’t quite know whether the bulk of the reason why I’m putting it here has to do with Glen Powell’s charm (and Lord knows I am not a fan of Top Gun: Maverick or Twisters either) or maybe because the story itself and the way Linklater directs everything he touches are just innately likeable. It’s a fun and inoffensive reinvention of a rom-com with a solid twist on the template and it’s all underpinned by great chemistry between its leads to boot.

3. Smile 2

This is another one of those movies I had absolutely no expectations for and only shortly before venturing out to see it I caught up with its predecessor to have at least a rudimentary understanding of what this movie was going to be about. And all I can say is that for all of its conveniences and gimmicky attempts at generating scares, Smile 2 drives the viewer hard and produces a truly entertaining scarefest bonanza of the jumpy variety. Plenty of fun, loads of violence and everything is wrapped up quite neatly in a vehicle that doesn’t slow down for long enough to denude its own shortcomings or force the viewer to think about how nothing in this movie makes sense if you think about it for a second. Which is nice, I guess. (Full Review Here)

4. MaXXXine

It is frankly quite hard to produce a conclusion to a trilogy that would overshadow two predecessors that are in their own way quite magnificent and intellectually singular. Therefore, you will probably find a lot of opinions out there about Ti West’s follow-up to X and Pearl that may suggest it’s messy, convoluted and self-indulgent. Look, all three of these movies can be accused of those things and if anything, I can cede that MaXXXine falters towards the end and opts for a convenient resolution that might be at odds with what came before and might not live up to the set-up. However, it is still a lush rollercoaster ride through a multitude of references to great movies that comments on the art of filmmaking and the ever-present Hollywood rot using the visual toolbox of a mature and violent genre picture. (Full Review Here)

5. Speak No Evil

I think I’m on record as someone who’d be the first to ask if there is any reason to remake a non-English movie while the original is still nice and fresh. However, the remake of Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy (who is just phenomenal here, by the way) and Aisling Franciosi as an unassuming couple who lure well-to-do families to their countryside homestead and impose themselves on them until they take everything they own manages to offer an alternative interpretation to the original and adds quite a lot to the conversation filmmakers like Michael Haneke have been having with the audiences for a very long while. It’s a great piece of tense psychological horror and a wonderful example of pre-Halloween counterprogramming. (Full Review Here)

6. Rebel Ridge

A completely under-the-radar return from one Jeremy Saulnier is a formidable attempt at refreshing First Blood for the modern dad who seeks nothing more than familiar entertainment of solid quality with enough action and drama to keep him leaning into the screen but not too much to become redundantly bombastic. This slick nugget of stoic competence pornography is a veritable catnip for men seeking non-franchise entertainment reliant on great execution of rudimentary characterizations that do not involve anyone wearing a spandex suit or working for a fictitious organizations and where action is down-to-earth and skewed towards competent realism as opposed to elevated heroic bloodshed. (Full Review Here)

7. Challengers

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers features on literally every single best-of list this year I have seen, and probably for a good reason because it is a veritable crack cocaine for a twenty-something critic. This lush and dynamic story of love, betrayal and friendship wrapped around a tennis-themed narrative and seasoned with a good pinch of latent homoeroticism is a rather Fincher-esque spectacle of directorial control. In fact, it is my wife’s favourite movie of the year, so you can rest assured you are going to like it if you haven’t seen it already. However, it is occasionally undercut by what I see as unnecessary elements of notice-me-senpai flashiness. But it is nonetheless a movie I ended up thinking about a lot, despite the fact for some reason I didn’t get to writing anything substantial about it. Who knows, maybe I will. But no promises.

8. Love Lies Bleeding

Finally, I wouldn’t be able to leave without mentioning the Rose Glass-directed neo-noir with muscles, sweat and guns titled Love Lies Bleeding. In a way, if there is a movie that deserved to be in my top 10 list of the year, but honestly didn’t make the cut because I couldn’t grow a pair to take out Inside Out 2 and just overlook the fact a movie I rated higher would this way end up sidelined, it’s this one. This is a fabulously moody and intellectually charming piece of noir storytelling that places itself somewhere between Blood Simple, an arthouse attempt at a superhero movie and a genre piece Darren Aronofsky didn’t get to direct. A great example of directorial restraint and acting bravado from Kristen Stewart (who is one of my personal favourites at this point), Katy O’Brian and others. A movie that is as vivid and resplendent as it is dark and as cutting as it is preposterous. (Full Review Here)