Here we are at the second of four days of my look back at the 20 films I reviewed during the year of 2024. I did a bunch compared to the recent past with: 2023, nine reviews; 2022, nine reviews; and 2021, five reviews.
The good news: For 2024, I’ve reviewed 20 films and brought my total of reviews to 404 since I started the blog in May 2014. The bad news: Not all the 20 films were good!
Since the total is 20 reviews, I’m spreading my year-end review out over four days. Here is the second and here are today’s six recaps of reviews from 2024:
‘Fury’ – *** – review posted June 27, 2024
(2014; 134 minutes; rated R; directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt, Shia LeBeouf and Michael Pena)
Here is a tough, gritty story out of World War II with Brad Pitt as a grizzled U.S. tank commander up against the Germans and he hates ’em! His nickname is “Wardaddy” and he has an eclectic crew of veterans and (of course) a newbie. While not the greatest of war films because of too many stereotypes, this one does have great special effects due to CGI and the work of an excellent cast.
‘Jackpot!’ – * – review posted Aug. 18, 2024
(2024; 106 minutes; rated R; directed by Paul Feig and starring Awkwafina, John Cena and Simu Liu)
Here’s a quite awful film from Amazon and it simply stinks. It has one single saving grace: Awkwafina. She’s simply terrific and I enjoy her work in just about anything. This film is about a strange future where you get six hours to kill the lottery winner to claim their prize. You have companies in business to protect winners since the technology of the future uses surveillance cameras and drones to track them and report their location to the homicidal mob. Watch this one out of sheer curiosity … or if you, like myself, enjoy Awkwafina on screen.
‘The Longest Day’ – **** – review posted June 30, 2024
(1962; 178 minutes; rated G; directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marten plus two other situational directors and starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Eddie Albert, Robert Ryan and dozens more … )
Here is arguably the most classic of all movies about World War II and it offers a huge cast of nearly every star of the early 1960s in the telling of the story of D-Day (the landings at Normandy in France in 1944). The film is made in black-and-white and therefore is visually appropriate to the era. You simply can’t go wrong with this classic.
‘Mister Roberts’ – **** – review posted July 5, 2024
(1955; 123 minutes; rated ‘Approved;’ directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy and starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney and William Powell)
Here is another film out of WWII and stars Henry Fonda. The title character is on a ship that’s way out of the action and he wants to get into the thick of it. However, the story deals mostly with the cretinous actions of the whacked-out captain of the vessel and the affect on the crew. Fonda spends as much of his time dealing with the captain as he does with the crew. There’s a major twist at the end that you don’t want to miss. All-in-all, this one, too, is a classic.
‘The Monuments Men’ – ** – review posted July 13, 2024
(2014; 118 minutes; rated PG-13; directed by George Clooney and starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett)
Here is a war movie that delves into the little-remembered group of “soldiers” who were tasked with helping save artwork during WWII. It is a unique story, but one that’s not told very well. The cast, headlined by George Clooney and Matt Damon, is solid throughout, but the film never finds the traction that it needed to be a great movie. The problem is the screenplay is poor and unworthy of the actors attempting to work it in front of the camera.
‘Silver Bullet’ – *** – review posted Nov. 8, 2024
(1985; 95 minutes; rated R; directed by Daniel Attias and starring Gary Busey, Corey Haim, Megan Follows and Everett McGill)
Here is one of two horror films about a werewolf that I’ve reviewed. It isn’t the best werewolf movie, but Gary Busey and Cory Haim make sure this Stephen King story is entertaining for the audience. It is exceptionally bloody for an almost-TV-movie, but it tries to do more scaring later than the blood early in the film. You won’t want to miss this one at Halloween time!
There you have it! The second of four days of reviewing my film reviews from 2024.
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