Before I unveil the 2024 Sticky List, here’s a list of 19 favorite films from this year that you can stream right now as you ring in the new year. A mix of home release editions and streaming options, you’ll find romance, action, comedy, drama, and horror – sometimes overlapping – that should provide you all the entertainment you need whether riding solo or with a group into 2025.
The 4:30 Movie
Fans of Smith’s work understand that there’s typically a mix of the sweet with the raunchy, but often there’s a pearl of wisdom. Within The 4:30 Movie, it’s the notion that we go to the movies in order to make sense of the world, to find ideas that speak to us, whether it’s by being challenged or soothed. With his latest film, for all it seeks to do, it reminds us that movies are a special thing that connects individuals across generations, that the reason we go to the movies with friends or on dates is so that we might share something of ourselves with others in a way in which we cannot do on our own. That’s the magic of movies. So, while 4:30 treads familiar ground both in genre and narrative voice, it’s still a great time for those newly exploring their romantic era or for those feeling nostalgic.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Alienoid: Return to the Future
August 2022, U.S. audiences were introduced to co-writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s brand-new sci-fi action comedy Alienoid (외계+인 1부), a world in which an order of intergalactic peacekeepers house alien prisoners within the bodies of humans in order to keep them docile. Jumping between present-day 2022 Korea and the Goryeo Dynasty (1300s), Dong-hoon and co-writer Lee Ki-cheol took us on an adventure wherein Taoist dosas and a girl with a modern era firearm vie for possession of an ancient artifact with mysterious properties while, in a separate time, a futuristic sentient guard seeks to stop the Controller from breaking free from his human prison and restarting the war that got him locked up in the first place. Filled with charm and excitement, Alienoid’s most frustrating aspect was the way it ended — on the kind of cliffhanger that leaves you gasping, while also telling us, via title card, we’d have to wait until 2023 for the conclusion. Excited audiences ended up having to wait even longer as Alienoid returns with Return to the Future (외계+인 2부) in 2024, bringing with it all the action, hilarity, and drama of the first film, as well as a few of the same drawbacks. However, despite the flaws, it’s still a rousing good time that delivers on all it promises and more.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Actor Eddie Murphy’s been experiencing a wonderful resurgence lately between exploring new stories (Dolemite Is My Name (2019)) and revisiting old ones (Coming 2 America (2021)), each time reminding audiences why we’ve loved being entertained by him for ages. Now, nearly four decades since introducing audiences to Detroit-based detective Axel Foley, Murphy redons the Detroit Lions jacket, blue jeans, and smart mouth that makes up the uniform of the persistent officer for a brand-new adventure in a fourth outing subtitled Axel F. Bringing together the best parts of the first two Beverly Hills Cop films, Axel F is a return to form that reminds audiences that sometimes “the vibe” is as important to the story as the story itself. To that end, Axel F is not so much a new attitude, but a well-worn one that can still bust the bad guys, even if a few steps slower than it used to.
Available on Netflix.
Cuckoo
In 2019, writer/director Tilman Singer made an enormous splash with his possession thriller Luz. It’s as much an homage to the horror films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, evoking the look via cinematography and art direction, while telling a unique story that — pun intended — gets under your skin. Since then, Singer’s follow-up tale shot quickly up the personal anticipated list, so much so that this reviewer included what became known as the horror/thriller Cuckoo in a 2023 episode of Meet Me at the Movies discussion on most anticipated films, only to be sorely disappointed when the film would be delayed until the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival where it held its world premiere. Now, after a series of screenings at other North American festivals, Singer’s Cuckoo joins the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival as it has its Montreal premiere. The question is: was it worth the wait? With all the hype of a sophomore outing, Singer’s Cuckoo doesn’t contain the dread or the mystery of his prior work, but that’s because the film is largely predictable given that it tells you the central concept via the title. This might seem like a letdown, but there are enough secrets within, executed through unnerving sequences, performances, and cinematography, that tension rises nonetheless.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Damsel
Period/fantasy films offer opportunities to view the current world through a different lens. If you lived in a world of orcs, goblins, and magic, what role would you play in the greater hierarchy? If you existed at a time of dragons and unicorns, how would you view the roles of life and death in everyday existence? In the new project from writer Dan Mazeau (Fast X) and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), the dramatic actioner Damsel, the proposed set and setting are used as the backdrop for an exploration of class, ethical leadership, and the value of a curious mind over avarice. When Damsel is as smart as it thinks it is, audiences are in for a treat; however, the predictability that courses through it and a strange inconsistency with certain elements reduce what should be a thrilling adventure into something more expected.
Available on Netflix.
The Fall Guy
If The Fall Guy had ended with a shot of Colt getting a cup of coffee (something he keeps getting interrupted from doing throughout) and throwing it over his shoulder, this film would automatically be my number 1 film of 2024 for having the gumption to reference Hudson Hawk, one of this reviewer’s favorite films, all the way to the end, but it doesn’t and that’s not something I’ll ding it for, especially when the film surprises on near every level. The romance angle is as integral a motivation for Colt as the action is to the spectacle of both this film and the production Jody’s trying to finish. Not only is it integral, but it’s believable and grounded, which is important as the film gets weirder and weirder. By not losing its core emotion, The Fall Guy is able to fall from great heights, survive massive explosions, and utilize a gun gag nearly better than any John Wick series stunt and we just buy right in. As someone who has been excited to see The Fall Guy since well before its 2024 SXSW premiere, it’s fantastic that the film not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds it. With luck, this prequel-like tale is only the first of a few cinematic iterations, because this cast rules and the possibilities of where they can go with this are endless.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, VOD, and Peacock.
Fresh Kills
If you come to Fresh Kills expecting the same mafia story, you will be disappointed. By eschewing the rote, Esposito creates an opportunity to explore the well-worn crime subgenre from a perspective often left to the sidelines. Where Paquin’s Peggy as a silent character was misunderstood in its reading, Esposito makes sure to dig into characters like Peggy, to bring them forward so that they stop being set dressing, stop being servants to their male counterparts, and dive into the repercussions of actions that cannot be justified no matter how many times “family” is mentioned. For this, one is willing to forgive things like perfectly used songs by artists not of the period or mentions of time having passed that don’t add up, when everything else (from the script to the production and costuming to the performances) is so specifically dialed in. Esposito gives a voice to the voiceless or quieted characters with the kind of rapturous bombast that will knock you on your ass.
Available on VOD and digital.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Filmmaker Dr. George Miller’s been entertaining audiences for nearly 40 years, either with tales of desperation (Mad Max (1979)), tales of greed (The Witches of Eastwick (1987)), or tales of hope (Happy Feet Two (2011)), to name a few. In 2015, Miller returned to the wasteland with Mad Max: Fury Road, a story featuring a brand-new Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) in a supporting role for the indomitable Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). This near-two hour car chase broke minds and won six Oscars, rejuvenating audiences’ excitement through visionary storytelling and mind-blowing practical effects. Some nine years later, Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris (Fury Road) unveiled unto audiences a high-octane tale of resolve, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a prequel story centered on the journey of a younger Furiosa, to mixed results (a shame if there ever was one). Part origin story, part mythology, Furiosa is an epic poem as trial upon trial tests the resolve of a young survivor across time in a quest to go home. If Miller’s Furiosa spoke to you, rejoice as the 4K UHD edition includes roughly 103 minutes of bonus materials to explore every aspect of the making of the film.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, VOD, and Max.
The Greatest Hits
The whole of The Greatest Hits is surprisingly thematically rich wherein someone could write an essay just about Harriet’s survivor’s guilt, Morris’s active choices and the reverberations through his own life, and the way in which people treat individuals with mental disorders or extensive trauma. The Greatest Hits even exists as an allegory for the way that individuals with severe illness are often ostracized and alienated by their support systems, something even more noticeable since the pandemic began. So many essays could be written and should be written by those with the space/opportunity to do so. All that said, though it may not sound like it, Benson’s The Greatest Hits is a rom-com — it’s just told through a less upbeat or light lens. There’s a delightful double meet-cute, a charming exploration of a budding romance that acknowledges the complications of love after loss, and a conflict resolution that not only pulls off the very high wire act the narrative requires but does so without undermining the work leading toward it. Because we’re dealing with time travel and romance, especially using the vehicle of grief as the catalyst and continued pressure point for Harriet, one may presume that there’s no levity or sense of hope, yet that’s what courses through The Greatest Hits from start to finish: hope. Hope for a new day, for release from the past, and for a fresh tomorrow, all to the rhythm of the songs that make up our everyday lives through the choices we make.
Available on Hulu.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Suicidal Person
Rules most certainly exist in storytelling, but when it comes to vampires, who cares as long as they’re consistent and compelling. For the most part, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person meets both of these criteria, making rules without overly explaining them, thereby creating wiggle room for a shift in interpretation or adaptation. Within this space exists opportunity that Ariane Louis-Seize takes full advantage of, offering a tale that’s light on the bloodletting (as far as vampire films go) but heavy on weight, empowering any flow of crimson to matter. Complete with a quiet-yet-disarming performance from Montpetit, Humanist Vampire is a surprise horror tale that delights far more than it terrifies, and that’s a rule within the genre worth adapting when the story warrants it.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Hundreds of Beavers
Look — put simply, Hundreds of Beavers goes from having a slight downhome charm to completely ludicrous piece by piece, gag by gag, and it does so without losing its audience in the process. Sure, some of the gags reach a point in their repetition of “we got it,” but the way in which they get introduced, experimented with, and utilized throughout the course of Jean Kayak’s quest for love and success, one tends to forgive it and quickly. When people describe a film as something you have to see to believe, this is the type of film they mean. It’s unique, hilarious, sweet, zany, and undeniably memorable. More than that, it’s the kind of film you want to share as wide as possible so that others can get in on the jokes.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and Tubi.
Kill
There’re a lot of things within Kill that are familiar — the highly-trained operative in the wrong place at the right time, the love interest in danger, villains with zero accountability by their own interests, and bloody mayhem — all of which should feel overdone, overwrought, or otherwise all-to-familiar to be interesting. But through a willingness to craft a script that upends convention, that asks its audience as to whether the hero is equal to the villain, Kill transforms into the kind of film you immediately want to share with others if only to have more people to discuss it with. There’s a reason people have been talking about it across TIFF 2023 and through Tribeca 2024, and it’s not just because it delivers on everything you expect or could want out of a single-location action thriller. It’s because it delivers even more.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Orion and the Dark
Much like we do with what goes on in the dark, one is going to come to Orion and the Dark with a certain expectation of contrived silliness as it inserts some comedy and weirdness as it translates abstract concepts into physical beings. One will even expect and be unsurprised by the general catalyst by which the adventure begins. But that’s not all from Orion as it possesses the kinds of surprises that reveal powerful messages of acceptance, creativity, friendship, and love. On top of it all, it communicates that which empowers children to take control of their fear by doing the thing despite the way it makes our palms sweat, our hearts race, and our skin grow cold. Being afraid is a part of being alive.
Be afraid, but do it anyway.
Available on Netflix.
The People’s Joker
Look, The People’s Joker is not going to be for everyone, just like any other comic book-related work. Maybe their media literacy is on the weaker side and they can’t recognize the parody, only seeing endorsement. Maybe they miss the wholesome nature of the film, the quest for self-love, self-acceptance, and building a family of support among others who are similarly rejected by others as they go on their own journey. Maybe they can’t handle Drew’s maximalist vision and ideas, spouting concepts of acceptance and rejecting lies, deceit, and systems of control that benefit the true villains of the world. Maybe they only see the heavy green screen, the odd use of mix-media, and other idiosyncrasies and presume low class, low rent, and low ideas rather than something punk rock and establishment-challenging whose ideas may just have you reconsidering your favs.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, VHS, digital, and VOD.
The Roundup: Punishment
Four films deep and not only are the situations still compelling and the actors brought in to go toe-to-toe with Lee equal to the task (Kim brings an uneasy coolness with a viciousness we haven’t seen since Son Sukku’s Kang Hae-sang), but the films balance what should be an uneasiness with Ma’s casual violence and threats and turns them into comedic fodder. This is, again, mostly because of Lee’s ability to see the genuine kindness within Ma, so that when the “Room of Truth” is mentioned, a motorbike helmet is brought out, or a shakedown occurs in order to fund an upcoming operation, we, the audience, don’t cry foul because he’s the kind of cop we’d want helping us in a pinch. Think of it as watching the U.S.-based MCU films with an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. running around in the real world — would we be so comfortable with such a group if we didn’t know that the people at the top are altruistic at heart? Sure, Punishment is fantasy in a way, with us believing in the goodness of law enforcement (have you seen the news on college campuses lately?), but that’s part of the fun. We get to watch someone whose most gentle form of attack is an open palm slap take on kidnappers, thieves, and murderers, individuals who prey on others, with a closed fist whose impact makes the most satisfying squelching sound. Oh yes, the sounds of a truly despicable person (not you, Gru) getting pounded can really brighten your day.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and VOD.
Things Will Be Different
There are sci-fi films involving time which operate at the highest level of spectacle, which may lead to audiences having to just let the film wash over them rather than explore it in minute detail due to the potential of inconsistencies in the logic. Then there are those for whom the details matter more than anything, thereby almost becoming devoid of humanity. Things Will Be Different is not just a title, but a declaration that resonates through the film. It’s one which, if paid any mind, will help audiences recognize that Felker’s debut feature is neither of the aforementioned sci-fi thrillers, but something in the middle where high-concept, low-fi execution, and character work meet, resulting in a profoundly human tale that’ll have you mulling it well past time ends. As the visual language explores the spaces within spaces, so does Felker encourage us to do the same, while, perhaps, taking away a lesson that not all spaces should be explored and that we owe ourselves a little forgiveness.
Available on digital and VOD.
The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady
Bourboulon’s Milady is as equally entertaining as D’Artagnan, bearing the same strengths and weaknesses, which will hopefully give way to the same outcome: audience delight and box office success. Prognostication is not something this reviewer gets into typically, but between the way the film ends and the talk Bourboulon has made over extending his time in the world of Dumas, only a repeat success may find audiences getting their questions answered. If past is prologue, then audiences are going to show up for Part II and come away as gratified as before. This isn’t to say that Milady doesn’t offer a satisfying conclusion to what began in Part I, it’s that the way it ends begs for us to come back. Bourboulon has given audiences a gift of an exciting, dare say thrilling, adventure that adapts the familiar fiction in such a way that it could be mistaken for historical fact. While there will come a point where the mission is complete and a Musketeer will lay down their weapons, one hopes that this day is not yet here.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, digital, VOD, and Hulu.
Transformers One
Admittedly, upon learning about this origin story, there was little to excite or intrigue me. I know this story. I’ve read the comics, watched the show, and played with the toys. I’ve seen the majority of live-action films, too. Yet, even as the script dips its toes into the expected, the ways in which it dispels audience pessimism through narrative turns and execution not only makes One entertaining, but makes it something worth revisiting. Jokes land better on the rewatch, sure, but the repeated cuts that D-16 endures hurt just a little more. That inevitability can be a bore, sure, but it can also hit you like a hammer, making you wish for simpler times. To that end, while the steelbook may not be to everyone’s taste or pocket book, fans of the film and, certainly, long-time fans of Transformers, won’t regret picking this one up.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, VOD, and Paramount+.
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is everything that a Hong Kong cinema fan could ever want. It does follow a narrative path that’s tried and true, yet, the way that the film executes this, in combination with its cast and thrilling stuntwork, the narrative is elevated from the expected into the extraordinary. Whether through their words or deeds, this cast of old and new school Hong Kong cinema will move you closer to the edge of your seat with each punch and kick, but it will be their heart that will touch you in ways you couldn’t expect from the outset. Smartly crafted, brilliantly executed, and it’s only the beginning as there are potentially two more films to come: Dragon Throne and The Final Chapter, both undated.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, VOD, and Prime Video.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation
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