Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche are so magnetic and captivating to watch for the 10 or so minutes they share on screen that you can forgive the film’s other 100 minutes for being so inert and unengaging. It is a gorgeous looking film though.

Over complicated as hell for no reason, insanely improbable and outright dumb at every single point, but also a mostly fun watch. The final act is genuinely great, and Jason Bateman is so much fun.

A taut, riveting look at the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, told through the eyes of a sports broadcast crew completely out of their depth in reporting a shocking moment in history. The film is most compelling as a stinging indictment of the convergence of hard news reporting and entertainment, which makes it surprisingly timely given the current state of the news media. I would’ve liked a bit more introspection into the short and long term consequences of the ABC Sports crew taking charge of a story they should’ve handed over to more experienced journalists, but the film still succeeds in capturing how frantic and haphazard breaking news was back then, and likely still is.

I liked it, mostly as a vehicle for Hugh Grant to play with and subvert his decades-long persona in an interesting, captivating way. Also found the open challenges of faith and where those challenges ultimately land compelling. I think the third act kinda takes the wind out of its cerebral sails, and its ending is a tad too convenient, but I enjoyed myself.

Watched on Saturday December 14, 2024.

Watched on Friday November 29, 2024.

I appreciated The Outrun’s approach to conveying the non-linear journey of addiction and recovery through its mosaic narrative. Not sure if it’s emotionally resonant as it would like to be (feels a step or two removed), but there are some
compelling directorial choices, including the brief uses of animation. Saoirse Ronan delivers a go-for-broke performance as Rona, leaving everything on the table as she shuffles through the dredges of alcohol abuse with unguarded, raw conviction.

A soul-crushing film about a Brazilian family whose world is shattered by the army’s brutal and fascist capture of their patriarch. Fernanda Torres is titanic as Eunice, a woman who must navigate the tricky waters of brutal authoritarianism while trying to maintain a happy home. Eunice’s first interrogation by the army is one of the most terrifying scenes of the year, and casts an overwhelming pall over the rest of the film. Watching it genuinely hurts, but feels necessary, at least to see Torres at the top of her, and every other, field of performance.

Wicked is an absolutely dazzling musical, brimming with energy and life and show-stopping musical numbers. Jon M Chu’s best work is with those numbers, deftly capturing the dizzying choreography amongst some truly beautiful production design. Thematically sound as well, especially tapping into the exploitation of an individual’s differences to hide the great and powerful’s craven weaknesses. The cast is stellar. Cynthia Erivo adds quiet strength and grace to Elphaba’s conviction. Ariana Grande is comedic brilliance, punching up every scene she’s in with incredible timing; she’s Oscar worthy. Jonathan Bailey adds dimension to Fiyero’s chaotic bisexual energy, and Michelle Yeoh is a fabulous villain. One of the best films of the year.

One of the most rapturously beautiful films of the year, animated and otherwise. The watercolor and digital animation is jaw-dropping, as is the cinematography and how it adds dimension with color and lighting. It’s also one of the most profound. The film’s Jacques Cousteau adventure through the end of civilization says so much about the beauty of found family and the cruelty and meaninglessness of tribalism in 86 minutes. Grounded in the realism of climate change but also movingly spiritual and mystical.

Memoir of a Snail wrecked me. It beautifully volleys back and forth between utter devastation and pitch-black humor, sometimes carrying them in the same scene, without ever losing its soul. It’s emotional whiplash, almost to the point where I thought I was losing my mind. (But what a way to go.) The stop-motion animation is a perfect vessel for such a wholly unique and profound tale that manages to reinforce your belief in humanity, as it demonstrates that even seemingly unbearable, relentless pain and loss doesn’t mean you stop living. An extraordinary work.

Seeing this for the first time makes me realize how much Gladiator II…kinda doesn’t live up to it? A downright perfect film.

A legacy sequel that’s split between high camp hijinks and the high-minded emotional drama of the first film. It’s best leaning into the former, especially with Denzel Washington firing on all cylinders and leaving his costars in his dust (Joseph Quinn comes closest to meeting him). That’s when the film is most exciting and thrilling. The latter feels flat, leaving Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal feeling aimless. (Connie Nielsen fares best.) It does all come together in the final act, though, and Ridley Scott still knows his way around an action set piece, making it thrilling and engaging as you might expect.

Juror #2 is a tense examination of the criminal justice system and how it’s defined by the whims of personal bias, primarily through the eyes of a man who has a closer relationship to a murder case than he realizes. Nicholas Hoult is brilliant, carrying all of the fear and torment in his eyes. The film is its strongest when it lasers in on him, as it can sometimes go too broad in exploring the failings of the jury system and criminal investigations. Still, even with those detours, Clint Eastwood keeps the film engaging through his taut direction.

A powerful showcase for the subtle but impactful talents of Cillian Murphy and a bone-chilling Emily Watson on opposite sides of a reprehensible conflict where Irish Catholic convents force unwed young mothers into indentured servitude. Sometimes the story and script feel too sparse for me, but the performances leave an indelible impact.

Of all the older woman, younger man films released in 2024, this is definitely one of them. While I can give it a few points for not centering the age difference, Susannah Grant fails to offer any reason why Owen and Katherine like each other beyond convenience. Also, every single character with a major speaking part is insufferable in some way.

Seen at the 2024 New York Film Festival 

Steve McQueen offers a harrowing window into Hitler’s bombing campaign of London during WWII, trying to encapsulate the extraordinary destruction to a community and what the response to the attacks say about the people in that community. McQuuen’s depiction of the bombs are often jaw-dropping, with incredible technical skill - especially sound and color - that conveys the sheer horror of the blitz. The carnage serves as the backdrop for how racism permeates a community, and how even wholesale destruction doesn’t snuff it out. When McQueen focuses on George’s journey to understand what Blackness means to him, and how racism is especially useless during times of great suffering, the results are deeply profound and affecting. Unfortunately, he can get caught up in other story beats that aren’t as powerful. I think the film would’ve hit even harder if it narrowed its scope to that thematic and narrative point. Elliott Heffernan is startlingly gifted, with sharp instincts for his age. Saoirse Ronan is equally brilliant, referencing her work in Brooklyn to convey Rita’s loneliness. All in all, a great war film.

I hated Joker on a molecular level, so Folie á Deux is an improvement of sorts. The problem this time around is that Todd Phillips doesn’t have either the courage or the conviction to commit to staging Arthur’s existential crisis as a 1950s musical, which is actually quite interesting as a concept. Instead, he tosses some quite good musical numbers into a tedious and obnoxious courtroom drama that merely exists as a meta-commentary on the first film that has nothing interesting to say (which, well, like the first film). Ironically, I think Joaquin Phoenix gives a more interesting performance in this film, and he and Gaga are great together. Casting Gaga as a woman who literally lives for the applause is a stroke of genius, which makes her under-utilization close to unforgivable. Technically impressive but narratively and thematic bankrupt, this is a mental breakdown in cinematic form, which at least makes it more interesting than the first for me.

Watched on Friday October 4, 2024.

Seen at the 2024 New York Film Festival 

Another film that I had to settle into the rhythms before it fully clicked for me. The dialogue is very stilted and expository to the point of distraction, but once I accepted it as a feature and not a bug, the film’s intentional humor and grace about what it means to die on one's own terms hit deep. Gorgeously shot and framed, and Tilda Swinton gives one of my favorite performances of the year: heartbreaking, funny, and whimsical. Julianne Moore is a wonderful straight woman foil to Swinton’s absurdist energy.

It takes an ungodly amount of mediocrity to make a popcorn action thriller starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney so unbelievably boring and ugly looking.

Megalopolis is fascinating. I never thought the full-scale collapse and rebirth of Western civilization could be so mind-numbingly banal. I also never imagined that Francis Ford Coppola could fit a surprisingly sweet love story between an egomaniacal tortured genius and a wealthy socialite in between the hand-wringing. The film’s unbalanced, well, everything feels intentional, and while I can’t say everything worked for me thematically, narratively, or acting-wise, I came away from it surprisingly satisfied?

Seen at the 2024 New York Film Festival 

There’s a lot you can say technically about RaMell Ross’s use of first-person perspective to the tell the story of two Black male teenagers surviving through an abusive reform school in Florida. It’s an undeniably unique and impressive approach, affording Turner and Elwood a level of inferiority that few films even dare attempt. One such reason could be how alienating it can feel, as Ross challenges you to reconsider how we engage with protagonists. The third act, however, changes everything. The whole film is recontextualized, and some of the directorial choices that were hard to parse come into startling focus. It is a gutting, hollowing experience that beautifully, heartbreakingly highlights the power of survival and found family.

Seen at the 2024 New York Film Festival 

Pablo Larrain closes out his “20th century women” trilogy with Maria, his examination of the final days of the legendary opera singer Maria Callas. It is the best of the trilogy, where he uses Maria’s failing mental health as a framing device to explore her fraught relationship with her artistry, celebrity and, less compellingly, her romantic relationship with Aristotle Onassis. The film is beautifully shot and scored, and seeing Maria grapple with the present realities of her voice, which are often contrasted with her past glories on stage, is very moving. I would’ve liked to see more of what made her a unique vocalist of her time, as the times when we do (a spotlight handler at the concert hall listening in awe, for instance) are the film at its best. Angelina Jolie gives not only the best performance of her career, but one of the best of the year. She is a fantastically elegant grand dame, lobbing off dismissals with a deliciously caustic wit, but the level of vulnerability she carries alongside Callas’ diva aura is absolutely extraordinary. There are withering, heartbreaking expressions she makes, especially during her final rehearsals, that stop you dead in your tracks. She makes subtle callbacks to her star-making performance in 1998’s Gia that only reinforce the fact that she was born to play this role.

I don’t know what it’s like to watch this movie without weed, and I don’t wanna ever know. I will always only be stoned watching this from now on.

The first half of The Apprentice is a compelling look at how responsible Roy Cohn was for shaping Donald Trump into the man he is today from the ambitious but bumbling square that he was in the 70s. The second half is when the film loses its way, failing to thread how the student superseded the ostensible master with more cruelty and depravity. There is very little introspection from Trump about what he’s seeing Cohn do and what attracts him to it. The script leaves Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova to do the heavy lifting, which they do very very well. Stan smartly avoids caricature, finding the beats that make Trump human and thoughtfully tracking them as he becomes more reprehensible. Strong is a force from the start, fully embodying Cohn’s shamelessness and his growing discomfort with Trump. Maria Bakalova has a limited role, but her performance deserves more on the page, as she is the closest thing Trump has to a conscience, and her helplessness at seeing him slip away is very compelling.

Watched on Sunday September 22, 2024.

The Substance is definitely one of the year’s most audacious films that wears its gaudy stylishness and outrageous gore with shameless abandon. It largely works, especially when it lets Demi Moore command the camera with her ferocious intentionality and vulnerability that powered Hollywood for the first half of the 90s. Her scenes in front of the mirror are some of the best scenes of the year, and the film is frankly a bit less when she isn’t on screen. It’s still very much enjoyable as it explores how societal misogyny is deeply internalized. The last 30 minutes are where the film loses its most compelling thematic threads in favor of what ultimately feels like provocation for provocation’s sake. It’s a lot, but I appreciate and admire the audacity.

Seen at the 2024 New York Film Festival 

Arguably one of the most important watches of the year, No Other Land is a sobering and shocking recount of the years long expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank village of Masafer Yatta, which the Israeli Supreme Court ruled would be used as a training ground for the army. The footage captured of homes being bulldozed and Palestinians being assaulted (or worse) by soldiers and West Bank settlers is absolutely soul-crushing, and captures in a stunningly tight 96 minutes just how callous and depraved the exercise was and continues to be. Basel’s bravery is astounding, and his struggles with the weight of carrying the load of holding unchecked power to account is harrowing. It’s hard to watch this and not be outraged. Every single person should watch this film and demand justice. We should all be ashamed for our cluelessness about these activities and, quite frankly, atrocities. I know I am.

Watched on Wednesday September 18, 2024.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Jason Reitman does a really good job in recreating the “inmates are running the asylum” chaotic energy that the real first SNL taping must’ve been like. Fashioning the film into a 90-minute real-time walkthrough is a very cool premise, and definitely sets the stakes very high. The film doesn’t always keep up with the momentum, with a few low ebbs that feel disruptive. However, the jokes are strong, with some genuinely gut-busting LOL bits throughout the film. The cast is effortless, with Gabriel Labelle, Rachel Sennott, Tommy Dewey, Cory Michael Smith and Lamorne Morris standing out the most.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s play of the same name is a very solid directorial debut, hinting at where his unique strengths lie. He does well with the supernatural elements, teasing out a genuine, unsettling atmosphere. The fluid ease of his camera also benefits this embrace of music, with one impromptu musical number being the movie’s strongest moment. Outside of those, Washington struggles to generate propulsive energy from the monologue-heavy script, which can leave the film feeling distant. It’s a shame because the cast is uniformly strong, with Danielle Deadwyler and Corey Hawkins standing out the most.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Babygirl is freaking everything. Completely subverts the May-December/workplace romance archetypes with an incisive, hilarious, rich, and deeply profound look at what women’s agency looks like in and out of the boardroom and bedroom. Manages a nearly impossible balance of acknowledging the ridiculousness of Romy and Samuel’s relationship and its BDSM leanings while taking all of its characters’ needs and wants seriously. The cast is obscenely great. Nicole Kidman is downright ferocious in Romy’s carnality and vulnerability. Her Volpi Cup win was inspired. Harris Dickinson reaches new heights in conveying Samuel’s own weaknesses and needs beneath his dominant persona. Antonio Banderas exceeds what could’ve been a thankless role with disarming honesty. The greatest surprise of TIFF 2024.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

At its best, Emilia Pérez is a dazzling musical about what it means to be a woman and the right we all have to choose for ourselves who we are, regardless of our circumstances or past actions and behaviors. The musical numbers are thrilling and inventive and do a lot more to engage audiences in the story than the script itself does. It can sometimes leave the film a bit leaden when the characters aren’t singing and dancing. The three female main characters are collectively and individually excellent. Zoe Saldana turns in her best performance to date, while Selena Gomez rewrites what we thought she could achieve as an actress and singer. Karla Sofía Gascón Is a true find, imbuing Emilia with a steely grace that adds real depth to the whole film.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Better Man is almost worthy of British pop star Robbie Williams’s rambunctious swagger and blistering honesty. The film is best during its musical numbers, which lean heavily on the spirit of Williams’s charisma to revitalize his earliest catalog with exciting, even innovative interpretations. (The “Rock DJ” sequence is one of my favorite scenes of the year.) Where Gracey struggles is with aligning Williams’s life story to a Greatest Showman-style sentimentally that occasionally feels ill-fitting with his persona. That said, the self-awareness on display is appreciated and feels unique in the biopic genre. And about Williams being a CGI monkey: yes, it’s weird but it’s easy to settle into. Jonno Davis does a great job bringing that CGI monkey to life, with clear-eyed emotions that makes you kinda wish you could see how he would do without the mocap suit.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Arguably one of the most challenging films to screen at TIFF, but an engrossing, worthwhile challenge. Luca Guadagnino takes Daniel Craig on a metaphysical fever dream to help his character grapple with the crippling loneliness of being queer in a foreign land in the 1950s. Guadagnino’s blend of the real and the surreal may be alienating, perhaps for many people, but once you settle into the atmosphere, it’s genuinely quite beautiful and profound, especially the last “love scene” between Craig and Drew Starkey. Speaking of, Craig is phenomenal here, an unguarded tangle of yearning and bluster that utilizes and subverts his most iconic characters (Bond and Benoit Blanc). Starkey is an excellent foil for him, distant and removed as needed, but still beguiling and ultimately entrancing.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival

One of the best films of the year and one of the best animated films of the last decade. An innovative visual masterwork, a rapturous blend of handpaint and 3D animation that redefines what the medium is capable of. The story is nearly perfect, using the story of a lost AI-driven robot who learns how to care and love for another and subsequently transforms the ecosystem around her through her real-time lessons. Deeply heartfelt, with the migration sequence leaving me an emotional wreck. (I cried at least five times from then on.) The voice acting is incredible, especially Lupita Nyong’o. Whatever microscopic quibbles I have (it has essentially two endings, when the first one might’ve hit harder) don’t really matter given the extraordinary emotional impact the whole film offers. This should be a central part of the animation canon from henceforth.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Christopher Andrews brings the Hatfields and the McCoys to the Irish countryside in his directorial debut, where Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan face off over their linked families’ rancid animosity towards each other amidst financial strife and farm land. It’s a gnarly, brutal film that isn’t afraid to show how nasty and cruel people can be when so much (or so little, in hindsight) is on the line. However, it hits harder demonstrating how little room long-standing feuds leave for nuance, communication, and basic decency, and the tiny miracles that come from pushing past those baser instincts. The two perspective approach could be a bit clearer, but it is effective. Abbott turns in an excellent performance, and Keoghan expands on his bumbling vulnerability in The Banshees of Inishiren to turn in his best performance of the festival.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

The film basically confirms that the messiest bitch you know is a Catholic cardinal. Edward Berger turns the Papal election into a taut, 90s-style political thriller that digs into what happens to the pious when exposed to even the tiniest bit of power and influence. The script is lofty but accessible with plenty of twists, the direction is sharp with instantly iconic imagery (including sharp contrasts between the old world majesty of Catholicism and modern technology), and the performances are a broad swath of delicious scenery chewing, with a brilliant Ralph Fiennes grounding the chaos in palpable emotional and psychological turmoil. A surprisingly blend of popcorn flick and high-concept storytelling.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

All of You doesn’t exactly break the mold of the rom-dramedy weepie, borrowing from other projects that explore relationships that change over long stretches of time and friends-to-lovers. However, it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel if the wheel is crafted so well. William Bridges’ direction is fluid and warm, covering years of Simon and Laura’s relationship without ever dragging, and his script (co-written with star Brett Goldstein) is sharp and charming. Goldstein turns in his best performance to date, softening Roy Kent’s rough edges into a romantic hero that is very easy to fall for. He and Imogen Poots are a fantastic pair, feeding a thread of gentle humor into every interaction in a way that feels brilliantly authentic. It can be a bit repetitive with some of its story beats but you forgive it because of how great the central couple is. (Side note: Making Brett Goldstein cry should be a crime punishable with public stoning.)

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

I have no clue how a queer 50s drama featuring Diego Calva and Jacob Elordi could be so lifeless, but here we are. The film looks stunning thanks to Luc Montpellier’s cinematography, but the film is staggeringly dull, with virtually nothing happening for the first third until Calva injects it with a dash of energy that quickly peters out. The script leaves its cast stranded, although Calva is very charismatic, Poulter is strong throughout, and Elordi has one really strong moment in the final act. Edgar-Jones, however, doesn’t land as well as I know she can.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Marielle Heller’s film isn’t afraid to get weird and wacky as it follows a woman struggling with her sense of self amidst the demands of stay-at-home motherhood. However, it is more restrained than audiences might expect, less campy and more grounded in its themes. The film loses some of its steam in the switch from the supernatural. Amy Adams absolutely goes for broke here, hitting every comedic and dramatic beat the film throws at her; it is easily one of her best.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

A Pretty Woman meets The Hangover odyssey of absolute maniacal chaos, as an exotic dancer gets caught in the shenanigans of a wayward son of a Russian oligarch. Sean Baker crafts his nonstop comedy of errors with a raucous, wild energy that, when you dig a little deeper, shows how easy it is for women in sex work to be devalued and tossed away, and how even the ostensibly strongest are susceptible to being hurt by the callousness. Mikey Madison is absolutely extraordinary conveying Annie/Anora’s practiced artifice, bewilderment, and yearning for love and acceptance from people destined to fail her. One of the year’s best performances.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

It’s incredibly rare to see a film that centers and explores Black pain and all its forms. Mike Leigh does so with gentleness, acerbic humor, and sharp storytelling built around a misanthropic Black woman whose prickly demeanor is a shield for a deep well of sadness and depression with her life. Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s performance is so emotionally detailed and precise that will shatter you. I shed tears in one particular moment that reminds us all that we don’t know what anyone is going through on the inside. A beautiful, funny film.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

An effortless crowd-pleaser that succeeds by expanding beyond the “you can do it” narratives of other sports films (Rocky is a major influence, thematically and literally) by taking stock of the myriad factors that can impact an athlete’s performance. Kudos to the film for evading making Anthony Robles’ remarkable story about his disability, and looking into the roles that domestic abuse, and even predatory mortgage lending played. Jharrel Jerome is brilliant, with a steely, fierce determination that makes his emotional beats sing. Jennifer Lopez gives one of her best performances to date, as do Don Cheadle and Bobby Cannavale.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Probably one of the best rom-coms in recent memory, managing what should be an impossible balance of humor and heartbreak with aplomb. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are a perfect pair, shimmering in the awkwardness of falling in love and finding joy despite the worst of circumstances. The film never feels false or out of step, even if it doesn’t push beyond the inevitable Love Story comparisons. An absolute delight, and probably the best surprise of TIFF 2024 to date.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

The film is at its best when it allows Pamela Anderson and company to dig into all the small and large ways women are casually, cruelly cast aside when they reach a certain age by a cutthroat industry. It is much less successful in exploring Shelly’s interpersonal relationships, which feel underwritten. Coppola’s uneven approach to telling those stories can leave the film feeling remote and uninvolving. That said, I can’t think of another actress who could do what Pamela does here, which is imbue her character with a weathered innocence that feels intensely personal and compelling. Her surrounding cast is equally strong, with a gonzo turn from Jamie Lee Curtis and a deeply affecting, compassionate, awards worthy performance from Dave Bautista.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Sorry, but the hyperbole is true. The Brutalist is a monumental triumph, somehow both sprawling and intimate in how it explores the contradictions of the American immigrant experience through the eyes of a Hungarian architect. Corbet does a beautiful job showing the sacrifices immigrants make to enrich American society, and how Americans take vicious liberties against them in subtle and outrageous ways. At 3.5 hours, the film flies by, with tight, engaging direction and editing, and gorgeous score, and titanic performances. Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, and Felicity Jones are all exceptional and Oscar-worthy. This feels like it will be a pillar of this decade in film when the dust settles.

Seen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 

Bird is a singular examination of family in both its biological and found forms, and the power that one offers to preserve the other. Its magical elements are surprising, but never distract or detract from its themes. A uniformly strong cast, with Nykia Adams and Franz Rogowksi standing out especially.

It takes some time to get going, but this story about a grieving partner’s reliance on drugs to live in a past-present purgatory worked for me. Henry Golding reminds us how horribly wasted he’s been not as rom-com lead, and shows off considerable dramatic chops as well. The ending is a bit of a head scratcher, but it feels thematically true.

1. Dune: Part Two
2. The Brutalist
3. A Different Man
4. A Real Pain
5. The Wild Robot
6. I’m Still Here
7. Wicked
8. Flow
9. Hard Truths
10. Challengers

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

What it says on the tin

• Wicked
• The Wild Robot
• Hard Truths
• Flow
• Memoir of a Snail
• I’m Still Here

1. The Wild Robot
2. The Brutalist
3. Hard Truths
4. Babygirl
5. Anora
6. We Live in Time
7. Unstoppable
8. Queer
9. All of You
10. Conclave

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My watchlist for the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival

• Babygirl
• Queer
• Unstoppable
• The Last Showgirl
• We Live in Time
• Emilia Pérez
• Anora
• The Wild Robot
• Nightbitch
• The Brutalist

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The films I watched at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, ranked.

1. Exhibiting Forgiveness
2. A Real Pain
3. Seeking Mavis Beacon
4. Brief History of a Family
5. Luther: Never Too Much
6. Sebastian
7. Kneecap
8. Ponyboi
9. Rob Peace
10. Little Death

The films I saw at the 61st New York Film Festival, ranked.

1. Poor Things
2. All of Us Strangers
3. The Boy and the Heron
4. Anatomy of a Fall
5. Maestro
6. May December
7. The Taste of Things
8. Priscilla
9. Ferrari
10. Foe

• All of Us Strangers
• The Boy and the Heron
• May December

The films I watched and reviewed at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, in order of best to worst.

1. American Fiction
2. The Boy and the Heron
3. Origin
4. Hit Man
5. National Anthem
6. The Holdovers
7. Fingernails
8. The Zone of Interest
9. Evil Does Not Exist
10. Dumb Money

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.