Best Films of 2024 [List] - Movies & TV - Forums : Best Ever Albums

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male

Location: LA

Hayden wrote:

CA Dreamin wrote:

I recently watched The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Go watch it. It's criminally under-ranked here (which is partly my fault for not seeing it before this poll closed).

For sure. Definitely one of the more down-to-Earth/raw/realistic 'epics' of the decade, but I just feel like not enough people care about it. Maybe it's a hard sell to western audiences? Considering the constant critical hype, not sure why it was so underwatched. It's a striking piece of cinema.

Still annoyed the Cannes jury chickened out of giving it an actual award. Rasoulof should've walked out with the Jury Prize.

I don't think it's an issue of people not caring about Sacred Fig. Those who have seen it have generally praised it. I think it's a hard sell and not enough people were exposed to it. In this day and age, when Western audiences are glued to their phones, and there are so many platforms and so much content competing for our attention, a 165-minute Iranian epic is at a disadvantage to be even seen. Nevertheless, it is a striking piece of cinema. It feels important, must-see. A reminder that harsh oppression exists in the world. It starts as a critical look at the societal level, but as the movie unfolds, and it gets down to the familial level, it weaves between genres in totally unexpected, yet brilliant ways. I can't go into spoilers, but I kept thinking after the ending, 'What is that family supposed to do now? Where are they supposed to go from there?' The film deliberately doesn't address those questions, but it's not pleasant.

Anyway, I'd like to think The Seed of Sacred Fig will gain traction over time. Again, it's off to a slower start, likely due to its long runtime, downbeat subject matter, subtitles, and failure to make huge splashes with festivals/awards circuits. But over time, it shall shine. Hayden's annoyed Cannes chickened out of giving it an award, but you know what they did give an award to...Emilia Perez. Let's see how well that ages.

Personally, I'm a little annoyed Sacred Fig ranked behind Nosferatu on this poll, one of the most over-hyped, over-bloated pieces of sub-par horror of the decade. Wow. Again, though, that's my fault. Had I seen Sacred Fig before this poll closed, the points my list would have given it would have landed it around #13 instead of #20.

BozoTyrannus

Gender: Male

Age: 33

CA Dreamin wrote:

I recently watched The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Go watch it. It's criminally under-ranked here (which is partly my fault for not seeing it before this poll closed).

I don't know why, but 2024 was full of incredible movies that are literally the types of things people have been asking for, and yet everybody I know didn't actually go see them, rather seeing all the overhyped movies (like Nosferatu, which you mentioned in your next post) and then complaining about the overall quality of the year in cinema.

I cannot express how much self-control it has taken to be around people this year when this keeps happening. The number of people asking for non-cliched dramas with middle aged female leads is overwhelming, and none of them watched I'm Still Here.

Or Flow. The number of my friends complaining about the current state of remake/sequel/prequel in animation and the domination of Disney, just enormous. And yet Flow was in theaters here for three weeks and I'm the only one of my friends who saw it. After it won an Oscar, our local theater ran it again for free and nobody watched it.

I have come to conclusion that people like complaining about movies more than they like watching them, because they keep going and seeing all the dreck that everyone know will suck, but when they have easy opportunities to see good movies that are precisely what they're after, they skip them over and over.

TL;DR I think people have decided that objecting to the state of the film industry is more fun than actually doing something about it.
Also I'm not picking on anyone here, just a specific subgenre of my IRL friends
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male

Location: LA

BozoTyrannus wrote:

I don't know why, but 2024 was full of incredible movies that are literally the types of things people have been asking for, and yet everybody I know didn't actually go see them, rather seeing all the overhyped movies (like Nosferatu, which you mentioned in your next post) and then complaining about the overall quality of the year in cinema.

I cannot express how much self-control it has taken to be around people this year when this keeps happening. The number of people asking for non-cliched dramas with middle aged female leads is overwhelming, and none of them watched I'm Still Here.

Or Flow. The number of my friends complaining about the current state of remake/sequel/prequel in animation and the domination of Disney, just enormous. And yet Flow was in theaters here for three weeks and I'm the only one of my friends who saw it. After it won an Oscar, our local theater ran it again for free and nobody watched it.

I have come to conclusion that people like complaining about movies more than they like watching them, because they keep going and seeing all the dreck that everyone know will suck, but when they have easy opportunities to see good movies that are precisely what they're after, they skip them over and over.

TL;DR I think people have decided that objecting to the state of the film industry is more fun than actually doing something about it.
Also I'm not picking on anyone here, just a specific subgenre of my IRL friends

Your IRL friends represent a broader picture. I have IRL peers guilty of the same thing. And you say you're not picking on anyone here, but come on. I'm guilty as charged, 😄 😨 . I criticize the modern state of cinema all the time here. At the same time, in the last year, I've seen the following films in theaters...Alien Romulus, Jurassic World Rebirth, Nosferatu, Beetlejuice 2, Gladiator 2, Deadpool and Wolverine, Twisters, etc. These were all between disappointing and enjoyably average. Whereas I did not see Flow or Sacred Fig in theaters. I still haven't watched I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys, among other 2024 prestige films. Why? It's complicated, but I'll try to answer. I think it comes down to marketing, collective curiosity, and the length of theatrical window. The studios pour a ton of marketing into these sequels/remakes, which also have long theatrical runs, providing plenty of time to see them. They also spark curiosity that is felt collectively due to the nostalgia and popularity of their predecessors. Every one of those sequels and remakes I mentioned, I watched with another person or a with a group. I'm not sure I would have watched them by myself. However, when you and your friends/family are brainstorming something to see at the movies, Beetlejuice 2 is an easier consensus choice than let's say The Seed of the Sacred Fig. I tend to watch prestige films in theaters either by myself, or with just one other peer. Recently I also saw these in theaters alone or with one companion...Oh Canada, The Order, Anora, Black Bag, The Shrouds, The Room Next Door, A Real Pain, Conclave, The Brutalist, Kinds of Kindness. And most of these titles only played at my local cinema for two weeks, a much smaller window than the tentpoles I mentioned. I'm a busy thirty-something guy, and I can't catch every movie in theaters. Sorry I missed Flow, I'm Still Here, Sacred Fig, Nickel Boys, etc in theaters. But this is how I differ from your conclusion. I try to balance the popcorn pictures and the prestige pictures. Even though I enjoy complaining about the current state of movies, I don't enjoy it more than actually watching them, and I'd like to think I'm trying to do something about it, by catching the smaller pictures and spreading good word. I could do more though, by not going along with the crowd and skipping the sequels/remakes. However, sometimes these are the few opportunities I get to see my friends these days with our busy lives, and I guess I cherish the friendships enough to sit through some more Hollywood bullcrap. I saw Jurassic World Rebirth with two friends I hadn't seen in over two months...and we all disliked it, but it brought us together. So there's that.