Dude Rates Movies

2024 facts

In 2024, I watched 96 movies, including 73 movies I never saw before and 36 movies at the theater.

My longest streak of movie-watching days was from 1 May to 7 May, with 9 movies watched.

My longest pause without any movie-watching was from 4 January to 20 January.

The oldest movie I saw was Peeping Tom, from 1960.

2024 Premiere League

A-rated movies I saw in 2024 which were released in 2024.

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Speak No Evil
A
James Watkins — 2024
James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy
Wednesday 25 September 2024 📽️

I know this is an audacious comparison, but the level of tension in this movie is comparable to the one I felt while watching Portrait of a Lady in Fire, except trading seduction with... something else. The directing and acting deliver such a strong intensity out of scenes that would superficially appear mundane. It's all in the eyes, reactions, hesitations, and, ultimately, outbursts. With a touch of madness. A work of art, in my humble opinion.

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The Count of Monte-Cristo
A
Le comte de Monte-Cristo
Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte — 2024
Pierre Niney, Bastien Bouillon, Anaïs Demoustier
Saturday 6 July 2024 📽️

One of the few French high-budget movie that uses the money for good cinema rather than celebrities cameos. It is sufficiently faithful to the novel, keeping the most precious parts as-is, at least to my taste. I was apprehensive of Pierre Niney, but it turns out that he's very good for the cast.

Good movie.

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The Fall Guy
A
David Leitch — 2024
Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Saturday 18 May 2024 📽️

It's hard to find anything bad to say about a movie that is well-made yet doesn't take itself seriously.

The movie opens with Kiss' I was made for loving you to a long-shot of Ryan Gosling getting prepared for a stunt which the character effectively does, and therefore makes you wonder whether this was actually Gosling that did it (since the shot is uninterrupted). I was made for loving you eventually comes back multiple times in the movie in various forms (orchestral, trailer-like cover, etc), and is just one example of the many fun artistic ideas that The Fall Guy has in store, including, for example, a meta-commentary on the usage of split screens, or how psychedelic a fight under influence looks like.

It is quite fun, and hinges on a solid story and solid performances from its leads, including what might surprisingly be the best role of Ryan Gosling, who succeeds in playing a quantum superposition of complete chill attitude and emotional vulnerability (culminating to a remarkably and bizarrely intense scene).

There is of course no lacking of action, with a complete stunt fest. The small bits of making-of shown during the credits offer a glimpse of the logistical challenge that the movie must have been, and proves the grand mastery of the art of crafting stunts from the Fall Guy crew. Bravo!

2024 Classics League

A-rated movies I saw in 2024 which were released before 2024.

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Yannick
A
Quentin Dupieux — 2023
Raphaël Quenard, Pio Marmaï, Blanche Gardin
Tuesday 16 July 2024

I found it to be simply brilliant. Casting and dialogues are fire.

Released in 2023
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The Bikeriders
A
Jeff Nichols — 2023
Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy
Thursday 11 July 2024

The rise and fall of a bikeriders gang in the 60s, under the talented eye of Jeff Nichols, with a banger soundtrack, and pretty solid cast. Not far away from a Scorcese saga, but with a raw aspect to it. Oddly captivating.

Released in 2023
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The Zone of Interest
A
Jonathan Glazer — 2023
Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Freya Kreutzkam
Saturday 3 February 2024 📽️

This movie has extraordinary qualities that definitely make up for the lack of plot: The sound design, which is basically a second movie inside the movie, and which sets up the terribly heavy atmosphere of the movie. The exploration of the psychology of the main characters, and especially Höss' wife, whose attachment to the home seems insane from an external point of view. The amount of research done by the crew ahead of filming.

Among the movies about the Holocaust I've seen so far (although I've not yet seen Claude Lanzmann' Shoah), it is the one that makes me wonder the most about the sheer magnitude and nonsensicality of the final solution. The constant low background noise constitutes the clearest signal of industrialization of death as anything I've seen in cinema before, while the mundanity of unbothered family affairs contrasting with the distant sounds of violence conveys how numb Nazis had became to their own disgusting enterprise.

A haunting piece of cinema that needs to be seen, once.

Released in 2023