January 3, 2025 • 26 mins
Join me, Lluvia, as I navigate the tangled web of movie critiques and reviews, tackling these questions and more in my latest episode of Books vs Movies. I'll share my journey through 2024's theatrical releases, uncovering the top 10 films that left me less than impressed. From the unnecessary continuation of beloved series like "Kung Fu Panda 4" to the pitfalls of sequels over saturating the cinematic landscape, there’s plenty to unpack. I'm also on a quest to find the best platform for tracking my movie experiences, weighing the pros and cons of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Letterboxd.
This episode isn't just about my least favorite films; it’s a mix of candid observations and personal reflections. Discover my musings on "Problemista," and why Julio Torres’ signature humor struck a different chord than expected. I’ll reveal why "It Ends With Us" surprised me compared to its literary counterpart, and how "Saturday Night" and "Nosferatu" fell short of my expectations. And just when you think we’re done, I’ll share my thoughts on "Gladiator 2". Whether you're a movie buff or a casual viewer, this episode promises an engaging glimpse into the triumphs and tribulations of film watching.
All episodes of the podcast can be found on our website: https://booksvsmovies.buzzsprout.com/share
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be countingdown my top 10 least favorite
films of 2024.
Now I do want to say that thislist and the list that makes up
(00:21):
my top 10 best films of 2024 arestuck to just what I saw in
theaters.
Reason being I mainly use IMDband Rotten Tomatoes to rate the
films that I watch and, as faras I know, they're not like
Goodreads in that, you know, onGoodreads or the Storygraph,
after you rate and review a book, you can put the date that you
(00:44):
read it and you can filter booksor filter your profile by year
and then see just the books thatyou read that year.
You can't do that on IMDb orRotten Tomatoes.
You just rate it and it goesout into existence.
So there were a lot more filmsthat I saw that were not in
theaters, but I have to focus onjust the ones that are in
(01:08):
theaters because I can just gointo my AMC app and see
everything that I watched intheaters.
It's right there and, yeah,unfortunately, like if I were to
go to IMDb they do have like arecently searched area, but it's
going to list every singlething that I've looked up on
that website, whether it be anactor or a director or a writer
(01:29):
or a film that I was justlooking up because I remembered
there was an actor in it but Icouldn't remember who they
played, whether or not I ratedor reviewed it.
It's going to be on that list.
So that is just too long of alist for me to work my way
through.
So we are sticking to justfilms that I saw in theater.
So just want to make that veryclear.
(01:50):
I am not sure if I will expandto Letterboxd, I believe through
that.
So Letterboxd is a social mediaapp similar to Goodreads,
except for films.
So you rate and review filmsand you can add your friends to
it and your friends can see howyou rated and reviewed a certain
film.
I believe, if I'm not mistaken,through that app you can filter
(02:12):
through the year, so I canliterally rate and review and
just like Goodreads, like if Iwatched it in 2024, I can put
that I watched it in 2024 or in2025 in this case, and filter it
out and I can see everythingand make a mass list of
everything that I watched in2024 or in 2025 in this case and
filtered out, and I can seeeverything and make a mass list
of everything that I saw,because I watch a lot of films
(02:32):
and 2024, I feel like, was theyear of the TV show for me.
I saw a lot of miniseries andTV shows in general, so that's
good, expanding my horizons.
I've always, always, always,been such a film lover.
I've always loved film, so thatis like my favorite medium to
consume stories and thenfollowed by theater and then
(02:55):
I've never been big intotelevision shows, but I'm
working on it because I do needto be more familiar with shows.
But anyway, just wanted to makethat clear.
And I'm a little hesitant toget the letterboxd app because,
unlike Goodreads, where I have areally nice supportive group of
book club friends and justbookish friends in general, I
(03:15):
can have a controversial bookopinion and because I have such
a supportive community like, Iam not scared of expressing that
opinion, like my bookishfriends may disagree with me,
but we can have a healthyconversation and discussion on
why we disagree with each other.
I'm not sure that I'll havethat.
So like film buffs are just somean and like conceited and I'm
(03:39):
blanking out on the word butjust like film snobs, they are
just such film snobs on the word, but just like film snobs.
They are just such film snobsLike, if you like something that
they like, the film communityas a whole thinks is awful,
you're like a horrible person.
Or, if you like or if youdislike something that the film
community as a whole says isgreat, you're also a horrible
(04:00):
person for that having thatopinion.
So I'm just trying to protectmyself here.
I again, I don't mind havingdiscussions, I don't mind if you
disagree with me, but there's adifference between like
disagreeing and just being meanabout it.
And I feel like, unfortunately,like a lot of the film
community, hardcore film snobsare like that, like they are
(04:21):
just so mean and rude.
So anyway, moving on, I'malready scared about one of the
films I have on my leastfavorite list of 2024 because I
just I'm already, I already know, I already know that it's gonna
be a very controversial pick,especially for how high up I put
(04:42):
it.
Everything else, I think peopleare not going to care, but that
one, ooh okay.
So, starting off with number 10,we have Kung Fu Panda 4.
So I love the original Kung FuPanda trilogy.
This was obviously just ahandoff for Poe, to transition
from Poe who was the maincharacter of the Kung Fu 3, well
(05:04):
, I guess of this one too, butthe main focus of the first
three Kung Fu Panda films tohand it off to the new, the
character who's going to takeover for Poe I don't remember
her name off the top of my head,but she's a little fox voiced
by Awkwafina.
But yeah, I mean, it wasn't ahorrible sequel.
All things considered, 2024 wasthe year of the sequels.
(05:26):
I want to say the majority ofthe films that were released
were a sequel in some shape, wayor form.
We had very few original films,I feel like.
But that's okay.
I mean, it's okay, but yeah.
So Kung Fu Panda 4 wasn't badby any means, but just
unnecessary, and I wish they hadjust left it at the original
(05:47):
trilogy.
I am not as salty about this asI was with Toy Story.
Toy Story, just Toy Story, likethe fact that Toy Story 3 ended
and it was just like theperfect ending and they continue
it on.
I'm still so angry about thatand so pissed off, but I don't
feel that way about Kung FuPanda 4.
Maybe it's because I don't knowif it was ever said to be a
(06:07):
trilogy, like Toy Story 4 wassaid like this is going to be a
trilogy Just kidding Psych.
I don't think that like thatannouncement was ever made about
Kung Fu Panda 4, but it feltcomplete after the third film.
So I kind of wish they had justleft it at three.
But it is what it is.
It's but it, like I said, notterrible, but definitely just an
obvious handoff to transitionfrom Poe to Poe's replacement
(06:30):
Number nine.
And this one hurts me that it'son here and that is Moana 2.
I love, absolutely love thefirst Moana film.
I love Moana.
Moana is my favorite princess.
I saw the original Moana threetimes in theaters because I
absolutely just loved that movieand I was perfectly, totally
(06:54):
fine with it being a standalonefilm.
And it was supposed to be astandalone film, especially
because, all things considered,it was considered kind of a box
office flop.
But turns out that Moana is themost animated, is the most
streamed animated film of likethe past four years.
So I think Disney really wantedto capitalize that on that and
(07:18):
released Moana 2.
This, or what was the premiseof this film?
Or this started off as a TVseries that was supposed to be
made for Disney+, but with thesuccess of the streaming numbers
of Moana, they put it togetherinto a film and released it as
Moana 2, the sequel.
And you can tell, becauseeverything that they did with
(07:39):
Moana just unraveled.
They just unraveled everythingthat they built with Moana and
it's uh.
No, it pains me so much to haveMoana 2 on this list because I
love her, but she, she had to beon this list.
I'm sorry, moana.
Number eight is Bob Marley OneLove Again.
Not a terrible film, by allmeans, it was just.
(08:02):
There was a lot of other strongcontenders and this one I felt
to be just okay in terms of itbeing.
Did I really, as someone whoonly knows Bob Marley by name
and knows like his big, big hits, did I really learn anything
new about Bob Marley?
Not really, and I think whenyou're putting out a biopic, I
(08:23):
understand that you want toappeal to the fans, but as a
non-fan who was interested inlearning more about Bob Marley,
I didn't really learn anythingabout him and overall I thought
it was just an okay biopic.
Definitely better biopics outthere and I think I'm just gonna
(08:44):
have to read about Bob Marley,which is not a bad thing, but,
yeah, not necessarily a greatbiopic.
There's definitely better.
Number seven Blink Twice, sothis one.
It follows tech billionaireSlater King, who's played by
Channing Tatum.
He meets a cocktail waitressnamed Frida at a fundraising
(09:08):
gala.
He invites her to join him andhis friends on a dream vacation
on his private island and asstrange things start to happen,
frida starts to question herreality.
So I was not really toofamiliar with this with the plot
, other than this was originallycalled Pussy Island and this
was the film where Zoe Kravitzthis is her directorial debut
(09:32):
and this is where she andChanning Tatum ended up falling
in love and dating, eventuallyengaged, and now they they broke
off their engagement just lastyear, but this was the start of
that relationship.
I think it wasn't bad and Iappreciate what they were going
for.
I just don't think it wasexecuted as well as I would have
(09:54):
liked to have it be executed,especially considering the
message that they were trying toput out.
I just think I don't know.
I think, like I said, I didappreciate the message, the
commentary that it was making orthat it was trying to make.
I just don't think thatcommentary came off as strongly
as I would have liked,considering the subject matter.
I don't want to spoil this oneif I can avoid it.
(10:17):
But to be fair, the originaltitle, pussy Island, kind of
gives you an idea of what itcould be about, and before the
film started there was a triggerwarning.
I'm still on the fence oftrigger warnings.
I'm not sure how I know there'ssome people that are very, very
passionate about this and ifyou say you're against trigger
(10:38):
warnings, again you're seen aslike this horrible, awful person
and like potentiallyproblematic.
I am not against triggerwarnings, like if someone wants
to include them, by all meansinclude them.
I've looked.
There was another podcastcalled that I listened to.
That kind of went into why theydidn't support trigger warnings
(11:00):
and I think they're still doingstudies.
This is from what I've seen.
Nothing is conclusive just yetand I don't know if anything has
been updated.
These studies that I'm familiarwith and that the podcast also
talked about are about two yearsold at this point.
A lot can happen in two years,so I do need to look into this.
(11:21):
But the studies from two yearsago were saying that trigger
warnings might not be as helpfulas people think they are.
They might actually be doingmore harm than good, and I
understand completely whytrigger warnings exist, which is
why I'm not 100% against them.
But I don't know.
I also want to help people heal, and if they're doing more,
(11:44):
that's a whole otherconversation.
But that's kind of why I'm onthe fence of like trigger
warnings.
I appreciate that this filmincluded the trigger warnings
again considering the subjectmatter.
That being said, having thattrigger warning before that film
kind of gave away a major,major, major plot point.
So when the plot twist happenedit was like it's not much of a
(12:08):
plot twist because he gave usthe trigger warning.
There have been some theaterproductions that I've been to
recently that have QR codes thatyou can scan and it'll say like
scan here for trigger warnings.
Trigger warnings can containspoilers and then you can opt in
or out of scanning the triggerwarning if you want to.
(12:30):
I think that might be a goodway to go forward, but then I
understand some mediums don'tallow for it.
There's really no.
I mean you can have like a QRcode before the start of the
film, but you're encouragingpeople to turn off their phones
so you don't really want them.
Scanning the QR code, you canhave it on the movie poster, but
not everyone's going to see iton the movie poster.
(12:50):
You can't really have triggerwarnings.
For things like television Imean you can, but again you
might be going into spoilerterritory.
I'm totally fine with spoilers.
You might be going into spoilerterritory, I'm totally fine
with spoilers.
So I don't mind.
That plot twist was kind ofruined by the trigger warnings.
But I know there's like thereare some people who like hate
spoilers and if you even breathethe tiniest hint of a spoiler
(13:13):
when and you're actually not,but they think you are like they
get so pissed off at you.
So I think there might be ahappy meeting.
If we're heading towards aworld where we have, where we
have, trigger warnings foreverything, I think maybe
finding a way to include themwithout spoiling it would be
like a nice happy medium.
But I, like I said, I dounderstand that scanning the in
(13:36):
in theater you have time to lookover the program and you have
time to scan before the showstarts.
You have that technically intheater, like in the movie
theater too, if you show upearly enough.
But, like I said, it's a littlebit more tricky right now in
film, since you don't have aprogram.
But anyway, just all of that tosay.
I appreciate the commentary itwas trying to make, but I don't
(13:59):
think it was as effective as itcould have been.
Number six is Problemista, andProblemista follows a man named
Alejandro who is an aspiring toydesigner from El Salvador.
He's struggling to bring hisunusual ideas to New York and as
time runs out on his work visa,he gets a job assisting an art
(14:21):
world outcast artist person andshe becomes his only hope to
stay in the country.
I absolutely adore Julio Torres.
I absolutely love Los Espookys,which was a show that was on
Max a few years ago.
It got canceled after twoseasons but it was hilarious.
I love that it was in Spanish.
(14:43):
And this Julio Torres has a veryunique sense of humor and I
absolutely adore him.
But his humor does not alwaysmatch my humor.
I think I can handle his humorin like small doses and then it
kind of becomes old.
For me His humor is very like,metaphysical, very, uh like.
(15:05):
All I can do is describe it aslike metaphysical, think like
astrology and like astrophysicsand I don't know.
It's very metaphysical, that'sjust the best way to describe it
.
I really wanted to like thisfilm because I think Julio is a
very unique comedy, has a veryunique perspective on comedy
(15:26):
that we don't have anywhere else.
But it is a very, very, veryniche brand of comedy and it
doesn't always work for me.
And it worked for me in LosSpookys, it didn't necessarily
work for me in this film.
Number five is it Ends With Us.
Are we really surprised thatthis is on here?
No, I don't think so.
But the main issue that I hadwith the film is I did like it
(15:51):
better than the book, but themain issue with the film is just
that it was so boring.
It was just so, so boring.
Number four is Saturday Night,and so this takes place on
October 11th 1975, which is whenthe very first episode of
Saturday Night Live, back thenjust called Saturday Night,
premiered, and it follows agroup of young comedians and
(16:16):
writers that changed televisionforever.
So this follows, follows, orthis happens in the 90 minutes
leading up to the firstbroadcast of Saturday Night Live
, again at the time just calledSaturday Night.
It just wasn't for me.
I know that one of my book clubfriends really enjoyed it Hi,
raven, hope you're listening andI know that one of my other
(16:39):
friends really, really enjoyedit as well, but she went to go
watch it with her friend.
She is a producer and herfriend that she went to go watch
it with is a stage manager.
So they were really, reallytense watching this film because
they know the stress of timerunning out.
But the show has to go on, butnot everything has fallen into
place even though you're aboutto go on, but not everything has
(16:59):
fallen into place even thoughyou're about to go on.
So they really related to thataspect.
It just wasn't for me.
It was.
It just wasn't my kind of humor.
I am not a, I don't watchSaturday Night Live, so I don't
know if that was something thathad to do with it, like if you
would appreciate it a lot more,being a fan of the show.
I'm not.
I don't hate it, but I don'twatch it.
(17:20):
I'm not a fan.
So it just it just wasn't forme.
Oh boy, number three, this isthe one that I'm worried about
and I know I'm going to get alot of hate for including it on
this list and especially forincluding it as high on this
list as I am, and that isNosferatu.
I know I know Everyone is goingcrazy for this film.
(17:43):
Everyone loves the director.
He previously directed theWitch, the Lighthouse, the
Northmen I think those are likethe main ones but people
absolutely love his films.
I haven't seen it.
This is the first film of histhat I've seen.
Orlando has seen the Witch andthe Lighthouse, but people
absolutely love him.
(18:03):
I'm still willing to give hisother films a shot.
This one was just not for me andI'm already so scared for the
reaction I'm going to get forincluding it.
But yeah, it's a very, very,very, very slow burn, which
seems to be his MO, like all ofhis films are kind of slow burns
(18:27):
and which is fine.
I don't mind slow burnsnecessarily.
I think that they worksometimes and then sometimes
they're just a little too slowand for me this was just a
little bit too slow and some ofthe choices I'm not as into
vampires as like Orlando is.
(18:47):
So he was very, verydisappointed by this film.
He really wanted to like it.
He loves the original Nosferatu.
He like he was telling me allabout like the changes they made
to this one that he disagreedwith.
That he thought didn't addanything to the storyline.
Again, he liked the Witch andhe liked the Lighthouse and he's
aware that this filmmaker isknown for like his slow burns
(19:10):
and he felt like that slow burnworked for the Witch and the
Lighthouse because they'reoriginal stories and so you
don't really know where thestory is going.
You're kind of just along onthis ride and you're intrigued
by what's going on.
So as a strong follower ofNosferatu, that came out weird.
But as someone who lovesNosferatu, he was a little
disappointed by this one andfelt like the slow burn actually
(19:33):
worked to the detriment of thefilm instead of aiding it and,
especially since this is awell-known story, it just worked
in its detriment.
For me personally, I just foundit to be a little bit too slow.
It took a while for me to beengaged and there was just
aspects of it like the endingjust was kind of silly to me.
(19:55):
In my opinion.
I just I wasn't here for thatending.
So I will, and I will also saythat this was my last film of
2024.
I literally just watched it onNew Year's Eve, so it's very,
very fresh in my mind.
So had I had time to sit withthis film, would it be number
three?
Maybe not.
Maybe not, but because I think,because it's so fresh in my
(20:18):
mind, it's like, yeah, I reallydidn't like that and I'm going
to put it at number three.
I will say, as I listen to thislater on, after I've had time
to sit with Nosferatu, I'mprobably going to be like why
the heck would I put this filmafter Saturday night?
And it ends with us of allthings.
But it is what it is, I'm sorry.
Like I said, it's fresh in mymind.
That's why it's so high up onthe list.
(20:39):
Number two is Gladiator 2.
I really did not like this one.
I did not like it at all, andthe reason I didn't like it was
because I really liked the firstGladiator film.
It's been a while since I'veseen it, but I remember really,
really liking it.
And as I'm watching Gladiator 2, I'm like it's been a while
since I've seen the firstGladiator, but this happened in
(20:59):
the first Gladiator and thathappened in the first Gladiator.
Like I'm watching this and it'slike I'm watching Gladiator,
like it's like it should be thatas the sequel, like if they
mentioned something thathappened in the first Gladiator
and I don't remember.
It's like all right, I mean,it's fine.
I watched Gladiator a long timeago and it makes sense that I
(21:19):
don't remember every singledetail of the first Gladiator
film.
But I shouldn't get flashbacksof like this is this is the
first Gladiator, and it was.
This was literally the firstGladiator film, just with a new
Maximus, who's Russell Crowe'scharacter, and some minor
changes.
There's two emperors instead ofone, but they looked and acted
just like Joaquin Phoenix did inthe first Gladiator film.
(21:41):
We have Denzel Washington,who's completely new from the
original, like there's nothing.
There's no remnant of him fromthe first Gladiator.
So he's about the only originalthing.
And Pedro Pascal is also aboutthe only original thing, but
everything else it's it'sGladiator.
It's the first Gladiator.
It's literally the firstGladiator, just some, just with
Denzel Washington and PedroPascal.
(22:03):
So you can't say that it's thefirst Gladiator, but it's the
first Gladiator.
If you're going to watchGladiator 2, just don't and just
watch the first Gladiator.
That's what I have to say.
Wow, I got really heated.
All right, and maybe I shouldhave made that my number one,
(22:24):
because I feel like I'm notgoing to get a seated with my
number one pick.
But objectively, my number onepick is the worst, is my least
favorite film of 2024.
And that is Godzilla X Kong theNew Empire.
I am not a fan of these films.
I don't, I don't mind.
Like the original Godzilla, Idon't.
I didn't mind the Godzilla withAaron Taylor Johnson and
Elizabeth Olsen that came out inlike 2012, 2013, around that
time but like this new iterationwith Vera Farmiga and although
(22:47):
she wasn't in this one, but shewas in like the first ones.
But anyway, yeah, I watchedthis purely because of Orlando.
He absolutely loves these filmsand I love going to the movies.
Absolutely, absolutely lovesthese films and I love going to
the movies.
Absolutely love, love, lovegoing to the movies.
And it had been a really like atthis point, I feel like we
hadn't been to the movies inabout a month or two.
(23:09):
So I was like desperate to goto the movies and I was like I
don't want to watch that, but Iknow you want to watch that and
I just want to go to the movies.
So let's just go to the moviesand watch that.
And we did, and I kind of wishI hadn't.
I kind of wish I had justwaited three months until the
next movie that I really wantedto watch came out, because this
was just so terrible, and so Ithink I can turn my brain off
(23:30):
when something is like soridiculously over the top, like
I can turn my brain off, butthere's just so some things that
are so silly and dumb that Icannot turn my brain off because
I'm just thinking about howdumb that was.
So this was one of those filmsthat I was like why, why, why,
why, why, why.
And here's the thing I knowOrlando was really excited for
(23:52):
this film because Godzilla andKing Kong team up to take down
the baddie of this, this movie,and that was like what everyone
was excited for was like KingKong and Godzilla to take down
the baddie of this, this moon,and that that was like what
everyone was excited for waslike King Kong and Godzilla
teaming up and having like thisepic battle, and so, like the
first half of the film is likespent on building up this baddie
, like this baddie is just sopowerful that Godzilla has to
(24:16):
like go all over the world anddefeat some of the other
monsters, to like soak up theirenergy and get as powerful as
they can by so as she can bysoaking up all this energy,
because there's no way she candefeat this baddie without doing
this.
And then King Kong doesn't needto level up, but he needs to be
(24:39):
there to help Godzilla, becauseGodzilla, even though she's
powering up, she cannot defeatthis baddie on her own.
So, like Kong and Godzilla needto team up because if they
don't, this baddie is going torule the world.
And then we get to the otherdimension where this baddie is,
and it was the mostdisappointing reveal.
(25:01):
This is the scrawniest gorillaI've ever seen in my life.
You cannot convince me thatKong or Godzilla would have been
able to do this Like there's,that they would have been unable
to do this on their like onecould have.
Like Kong could have easily.
Like there was no need forGodzilla to like Godzilla could
(25:21):
have kept chilling and Kongcould have taken this guy out.
Like Kong is like 300 pounds ofmuscle more than this scrawny
gorilla.
Like this is like a human with ahuman battleship or like just a
human fishing ship with areally long and sharp harpoon
could have killed this gorilla.
(25:43):
The only reason they struggledwas because this gorilla had uh
was like torturing this othermonster and he was using that
other monster to like fightGodzilla and Kong.
And it was that other monsterthat was powerful, because as
soon as they got like they gotrid of the mind control and this
monster was like no longerunder the control of this
(26:04):
gorilla.
Like I said, battle over in twoseconds flat, that's not even
an exaggeration.
They should have just made thebaddie the, the mind control
monster as opposed to thegorilla.
I could have beaten thatgorilla and that thing could
have stepped on, but you knowwhat I still I I could have like
climbed up it never would havesensed me coming and I could
have like planted a bomb on itsomewhere and killed it Like
(26:24):
this is the most patheticlooking baddie I've ever seen in
my life.
Anyway, that is it for thisepisode of Books vs Movies.
I hope you enjoyed.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand tune in next time when I
count down my top 10 favoritefilms of 2024 that I saw in
theaters.
Bye.
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be countingdown my top 10 least favorite
films of 2024.
Now I do want to say that thislist and the list that makes up
(00:21):
my top 10 best films of 2024 arestuck to just what I saw in
theaters.
Reason being I mainly use IMDband Rotten Tomatoes to rate the
films that I watch and, as faras I know, they're not like
Goodreads in that, you know, onGoodreads or the Storygraph,
after you rate and review a book, you can put the date that you
(00:44):
read it and you can filter booksor filter your profile by year
and then see just the books thatyou read that year.
You can't do that on IMDb orRotten Tomatoes.
You just rate it and it goesout into existence.
So there were a lot more filmsthat I saw that were not in
theaters, but I have to focus onjust the ones that are in
(01:08):
theaters because I can just gointo my AMC app and see
everything that I watched intheaters.
It's right there and, yeah,unfortunately, like if I were to
go to IMDb they do have like arecently searched area, but it's
going to list every singlething that I've looked up on
that website, whether it be anactor or a director or a writer
(01:29):
or a film that I was justlooking up because I remembered
there was an actor in it but Icouldn't remember who they
played, whether or not I ratedor reviewed it.
It's going to be on that list.
So that is just too long of alist for me to work my way
through.
So we are sticking to justfilms that I saw in theater.
So just want to make that veryclear.
(01:50):
I am not sure if I will expandto Letterboxd, I believe through
that.
So Letterboxd is a social mediaapp similar to Goodreads,
except for films.
So you rate and review filmsand you can add your friends to
it and your friends can see howyou rated and reviewed a certain
film.
I believe, if I'm not mistaken,through that app you can filter
(02:12):
through the year, so I canliterally rate and review and
just like Goodreads, like if Iwatched it in 2024, I can put
that I watched it in 2024 or in2025 in this case, and filter it
out and I can see everythingand make a mass list of
everything that I watched in2024 or in 2025 in this case and
filtered out, and I can seeeverything and make a mass list
of everything that I saw,because I watch a lot of films
(02:32):
and 2024, I feel like, was theyear of the TV show for me.
I saw a lot of miniseries andTV shows in general, so that's
good, expanding my horizons.
I've always, always, always,been such a film lover.
I've always loved film, so thatis like my favorite medium to
consume stories and thenfollowed by theater and then
(02:55):
I've never been big intotelevision shows, but I'm
working on it because I do needto be more familiar with shows.
But anyway, just wanted to makethat clear.
And I'm a little hesitant toget the letterboxd app because,
unlike Goodreads, where I have areally nice supportive group of
book club friends and justbookish friends in general, I
(03:15):
can have a controversial bookopinion and because I have such
a supportive community like, Iam not scared of expressing that
opinion, like my bookishfriends may disagree with me,
but we can have a healthyconversation and discussion on
why we disagree with each other.
I'm not sure that I'll havethat.
So like film buffs are just somean and like conceited and I'm
(03:39):
blanking out on the word butjust like film snobs, they are
just such film snobs on the word, but just like film snobs.
They are just such film snobsLike, if you like something that
they like, the film communityas a whole thinks is awful,
you're like a horrible person.
Or, if you like or if youdislike something that the film
community as a whole says isgreat, you're also a horrible
(04:00):
person for that having thatopinion.
So I'm just trying to protectmyself here.
I again, I don't mind havingdiscussions, I don't mind if you
disagree with me, but there's adifference between like
disagreeing and just being meanabout it.
And I feel like, unfortunately,like a lot of the film
community, hardcore film snobsare like that, like they are
(04:21):
just so mean and rude.
So anyway, moving on, I'malready scared about one of the
films I have on my leastfavorite list of 2024 because I
just I'm already, I already know, I already know that it's gonna
be a very controversial pick,especially for how high up I put
(04:42):
it.
Everything else, I think peopleare not going to care, but that
one, ooh okay.
So, starting off with number 10,we have Kung Fu Panda 4.
So I love the original Kung FuPanda trilogy.
This was obviously just ahandoff for Poe, to transition
from Poe who was the maincharacter of the Kung Fu 3, well
(05:04):
, I guess of this one too, butthe main focus of the first
three Kung Fu Panda films tohand it off to the new, the
character who's going to takeover for Poe I don't remember
her name off the top of my head,but she's a little fox voiced
by Awkwafina.
But yeah, I mean, it wasn't ahorrible sequel.
All things considered, 2024 wasthe year of the sequels.
(05:26):
I want to say the majority ofthe films that were released
were a sequel in some shape, wayor form.
We had very few original films,I feel like.
But that's okay.
I mean, it's okay, but yeah.
So Kung Fu Panda 4 wasn't badby any means, but just
unnecessary, and I wish they hadjust left it at the original
(05:47):
trilogy.
I am not as salty about this asI was with Toy Story.
Toy Story, just Toy Story, likethe fact that Toy Story 3 ended
and it was just like theperfect ending and they continue
it on.
I'm still so angry about thatand so pissed off, but I don't
feel that way about Kung FuPanda 4.
Maybe it's because I don't knowif it was ever said to be a
(06:07):
trilogy, like Toy Story 4 wassaid like this is going to be a
trilogy Just kidding Psych.
I don't think that like thatannouncement was ever made about
Kung Fu Panda 4, but it feltcomplete after the third film.
So I kind of wish they had justleft it at three.
But it is what it is.
It's but it, like I said, notterrible, but definitely just an
obvious handoff to transitionfrom Poe to Poe's replacement
(06:30):
Number nine.
And this one hurts me that it'son here and that is Moana 2.
I love, absolutely love thefirst Moana film.
I love Moana.
Moana is my favorite princess.
I saw the original Moana threetimes in theaters because I
absolutely just loved that movieand I was perfectly, totally
(06:54):
fine with it being a standalonefilm.
And it was supposed to be astandalone film, especially
because, all things considered,it was considered kind of a box
office flop.
But turns out that Moana is themost animated, is the most
streamed animated film of likethe past four years.
So I think Disney really wantedto capitalize that on that and
(07:18):
released Moana 2.
This, or what was the premiseof this film?
Or this started off as a TVseries that was supposed to be
made for Disney+, but with thesuccess of the streaming numbers
of Moana, they put it togetherinto a film and released it as
Moana 2, the sequel.
And you can tell, becauseeverything that they did with
(07:39):
Moana just unraveled.
They just unraveled everythingthat they built with Moana and
it's uh.
No, it pains me so much to haveMoana 2 on this list because I
love her, but she, she had to beon this list.
I'm sorry, moana.
Number eight is Bob Marley OneLove Again.
Not a terrible film, by allmeans, it was just.
(08:02):
There was a lot of other strongcontenders and this one I felt
to be just okay in terms of itbeing.
Did I really, as someone whoonly knows Bob Marley by name
and knows like his big, big hits, did I really learn anything
new about Bob Marley?
Not really, and I think whenyou're putting out a biopic, I
(08:23):
understand that you want toappeal to the fans, but as a
non-fan who was interested inlearning more about Bob Marley,
I didn't really learn anythingabout him and overall I thought
it was just an okay biopic.
Definitely better biopics outthere and I think I'm just gonna
(08:44):
have to read about Bob Marley,which is not a bad thing, but,
yeah, not necessarily a greatbiopic.
There's definitely better.
Number seven Blink Twice, sothis one.
It follows tech billionaireSlater King, who's played by
Channing Tatum.
He meets a cocktail waitressnamed Frida at a fundraising
(09:08):
gala.
He invites her to join him andhis friends on a dream vacation
on his private island and asstrange things start to happen,
frida starts to question herreality.
So I was not really toofamiliar with this with the plot
, other than this was originallycalled Pussy Island and this
was the film where Zoe Kravitzthis is her directorial debut
(09:32):
and this is where she andChanning Tatum ended up falling
in love and dating, eventuallyengaged, and now they they broke
off their engagement just lastyear, but this was the start of
that relationship.
I think it wasn't bad and Iappreciate what they were going
for.
I just don't think it wasexecuted as well as I would have
(09:54):
liked to have it be executed,especially considering the
message that they were trying toput out.
I just think I don't know.
I think, like I said, I didappreciate the message, the
commentary that it was making orthat it was trying to make.
I just don't think thatcommentary came off as strongly
as I would have liked,considering the subject matter.
I don't want to spoil this oneif I can avoid it.
(10:17):
But to be fair, the originaltitle, pussy Island, kind of
gives you an idea of what itcould be about, and before the
film started there was a triggerwarning.
I'm still on the fence oftrigger warnings.
I'm not sure how I know there'ssome people that are very, very
passionate about this and ifyou say you're against trigger
(10:38):
warnings, again you're seen aslike this horrible, awful person
and like potentiallyproblematic.
I am not against triggerwarnings, like if someone wants
to include them, by all meansinclude them.
I've looked.
There was another podcastcalled that I listened to.
That kind of went into why theydidn't support trigger warnings
(11:00):
and I think they're still doingstudies.
This is from what I've seen.
Nothing is conclusive just yetand I don't know if anything has
been updated.
These studies that I'm familiarwith and that the podcast also
talked about are about two yearsold at this point.
A lot can happen in two years,so I do need to look into this.
(11:21):
But the studies from two yearsago were saying that trigger
warnings might not be as helpfulas people think they are.
They might actually be doingmore harm than good, and I
understand completely whytrigger warnings exist, which is
why I'm not 100% against them.
But I don't know.
I also want to help people heal, and if they're doing more,
(11:44):
that's a whole otherconversation.
But that's kind of why I'm onthe fence of like trigger
warnings.
I appreciate that this filmincluded the trigger warnings
again considering the subjectmatter.
That being said, having thattrigger warning before that film
kind of gave away a major,major, major plot point.
So when the plot twist happenedit was like it's not much of a
(12:08):
plot twist because he gave usthe trigger warning.
There have been some theaterproductions that I've been to
recently that have QR codes thatyou can scan and it'll say like
scan here for trigger warnings.
Trigger warnings can containspoilers and then you can opt in
or out of scanning the triggerwarning if you want to.
(12:30):
I think that might be a goodway to go forward, but then I
understand some mediums don'tallow for it.
There's really no.
I mean you can have like a QRcode before the start of the
film, but you're encouragingpeople to turn off their phones
so you don't really want them.
Scanning the QR code, you canhave it on the movie poster, but
not everyone's going to see iton the movie poster.
(12:50):
You can't really have triggerwarnings.
For things like television Imean you can, but again you
might be going into spoilerterritory.
I'm totally fine with spoilers.
You might be going into spoilerterritory, I'm totally fine
with spoilers.
So I don't mind.
That plot twist was kind ofruined by the trigger warnings.
But I know there's like thereare some people who like hate
spoilers and if you even breathethe tiniest hint of a spoiler
(13:13):
when and you're actually not,but they think you are like they
get so pissed off at you.
So I think there might be ahappy meeting.
If we're heading towards aworld where we have, where we
have, trigger warnings foreverything, I think maybe
finding a way to include themwithout spoiling it would be
like a nice happy medium.
But I, like I said, I dounderstand that scanning the in
(13:36):
in theater you have time to lookover the program and you have
time to scan before the showstarts.
You have that technically intheater, like in the movie
theater too, if you show upearly enough.
But, like I said, it's a littlebit more tricky right now in
film, since you don't have aprogram.
But anyway, just all of that tosay.
I appreciate the commentary itwas trying to make, but I don't
(13:59):
think it was as effective as itcould have been.
Number six is Problemista, andProblemista follows a man named
Alejandro who is an aspiring toydesigner from El Salvador.
He's struggling to bring hisunusual ideas to New York and as
time runs out on his work visa,he gets a job assisting an art
(14:21):
world outcast artist person andshe becomes his only hope to
stay in the country.
I absolutely adore Julio Torres.
I absolutely love Los Espookys,which was a show that was on
Max a few years ago.
It got canceled after twoseasons but it was hilarious.
I love that it was in Spanish.
(14:43):
And this Julio Torres has a veryunique sense of humor and I
absolutely adore him.
But his humor does not alwaysmatch my humor.
I think I can handle his humorin like small doses and then it
kind of becomes old.
For me His humor is very like,metaphysical, very, uh like.
(15:05):
All I can do is describe it aslike metaphysical, think like
astrology and like astrophysicsand I don't know.
It's very metaphysical, that'sjust the best way to describe it
.
I really wanted to like thisfilm because I think Julio is a
very unique comedy, has a veryunique perspective on comedy
(15:26):
that we don't have anywhere else.
But it is a very, very, veryniche brand of comedy and it
doesn't always work for me.
And it worked for me in LosSpookys, it didn't necessarily
work for me in this film.
Number five is it Ends With Us.
Are we really surprised thatthis is on here?
No, I don't think so.
But the main issue that I hadwith the film is I did like it
(15:51):
better than the book, but themain issue with the film is just
that it was so boring.
It was just so, so boring.
Number four is Saturday Night,and so this takes place on
October 11th 1975, which is whenthe very first episode of
Saturday Night Live, back thenjust called Saturday Night,
premiered, and it follows agroup of young comedians and
(16:16):
writers that changed televisionforever.
So this follows, follows, orthis happens in the 90 minutes
leading up to the firstbroadcast of Saturday Night Live
, again at the time just calledSaturday Night.
It just wasn't for me.
I know that one of my book clubfriends really enjoyed it Hi,
raven, hope you're listening andI know that one of my other
(16:39):
friends really, really enjoyedit as well, but she went to go
watch it with her friend.
She is a producer and herfriend that she went to go watch
it with is a stage manager.
So they were really, reallytense watching this film because
they know the stress of timerunning out.
But the show has to go on, butnot everything has fallen into
place even though you're aboutto go on, but not everything has
(16:59):
fallen into place even thoughyou're about to go on.
So they really related to thataspect.
It just wasn't for me.
It was.
It just wasn't my kind of humor.
I am not a, I don't watchSaturday Night Live, so I don't
know if that was something thathad to do with it, like if you
would appreciate it a lot more,being a fan of the show.
I'm not.
I don't hate it, but I don'twatch it.
(17:20):
I'm not a fan.
So it just it just wasn't forme.
Oh boy, number three, this isthe one that I'm worried about
and I know I'm going to get alot of hate for including it on
this list and especially forincluding it as high on this
list as I am, and that isNosferatu.
I know I know Everyone is goingcrazy for this film.
(17:43):
Everyone loves the director.
He previously directed theWitch, the Lighthouse, the
Northmen I think those are likethe main ones but people
absolutely love his films.
I haven't seen it.
This is the first film of histhat I've seen.
Orlando has seen the Witch andthe Lighthouse, but people
absolutely love him.
(18:03):
I'm still willing to give hisother films a shot.
This one was just not for me andI'm already so scared for the
reaction I'm going to get forincluding it.
But yeah, it's a very, very,very, very slow burn, which
seems to be his MO, like all ofhis films are kind of slow burns
(18:27):
and which is fine.
I don't mind slow burnsnecessarily.
I think that they worksometimes and then sometimes
they're just a little too slowand for me this was just a
little bit too slow and some ofthe choices I'm not as into
vampires as like Orlando is.
(18:47):
So he was very, verydisappointed by this film.
He really wanted to like it.
He loves the original Nosferatu.
He like he was telling me allabout like the changes they made
to this one that he disagreedwith.
That he thought didn't addanything to the storyline.
Again, he liked the Witch andhe liked the Lighthouse and he's
aware that this filmmaker isknown for like his slow burns
(19:10):
and he felt like that slow burnworked for the Witch and the
Lighthouse because they'reoriginal stories and so you
don't really know where thestory is going.
You're kind of just along onthis ride and you're intrigued
by what's going on.
So as a strong follower ofNosferatu, that came out weird.
But as someone who lovesNosferatu, he was a little
disappointed by this one andfelt like the slow burn actually
(19:33):
worked to the detriment of thefilm instead of aiding it and,
especially since this is awell-known story, it just worked
in its detriment.
For me personally, I just foundit to be a little bit too slow.
It took a while for me to beengaged and there was just
aspects of it like the endingjust was kind of silly to me.
(19:55):
In my opinion.
I just I wasn't here for thatending.
So I will, and I will also saythat this was my last film of
2024.
I literally just watched it onNew Year's Eve, so it's very,
very fresh in my mind.
So had I had time to sit withthis film, would it be number
three?
Maybe not.
Maybe not, but because I think,because it's so fresh in my
(20:18):
mind, it's like, yeah, I reallydidn't like that and I'm going
to put it at number three.
I will say, as I listen to thislater on, after I've had time
to sit with Nosferatu, I'mprobably going to be like why
the heck would I put this filmafter Saturday night?
And it ends with us of allthings.
But it is what it is, I'm sorry.
Like I said, it's fresh in mymind.
That's why it's so high up onthe list.
(20:39):
Number two is Gladiator 2.
I really did not like this one.
I did not like it at all, andthe reason I didn't like it was
because I really liked the firstGladiator film.
It's been a while since I'veseen it, but I remember really,
really liking it.
And as I'm watching Gladiator 2, I'm like it's been a while
since I've seen the firstGladiator, but this happened in
(20:59):
the first Gladiator and thathappened in the first Gladiator.
Like I'm watching this and it'slike I'm watching Gladiator,
like it's like it should be thatas the sequel, like if they
mentioned something thathappened in the first Gladiator
and I don't remember.
It's like all right, I mean,it's fine.
I watched Gladiator a long timeago and it makes sense that I
(21:19):
don't remember every singledetail of the first Gladiator
film.
But I shouldn't get flashbacksof like this is this is the
first Gladiator, and it was.
This was literally the firstGladiator film, just with a new
Maximus, who's Russell Crowe'scharacter, and some minor
changes.
There's two emperors instead ofone, but they looked and acted
just like Joaquin Phoenix did inthe first Gladiator film.
(21:41):
We have Denzel Washington,who's completely new from the
original, like there's nothing.
There's no remnant of him fromthe first Gladiator.
So he's about the only originalthing.
And Pedro Pascal is also aboutthe only original thing, but
everything else it's it'sGladiator.
It's the first Gladiator.
It's literally the firstGladiator, just some, just with
Denzel Washington and PedroPascal.
(22:03):
So you can't say that it's thefirst Gladiator, but it's the
first Gladiator.
If you're going to watchGladiator 2, just don't and just
watch the first Gladiator.
That's what I have to say.
Wow, I got really heated.
All right, and maybe I shouldhave made that my number one,
(22:24):
because I feel like I'm notgoing to get a seated with my
number one pick.
But objectively, my number onepick is the worst, is my least
favorite film of 2024.
And that is Godzilla X Kong theNew Empire.
I am not a fan of these films.
I don't, I don't mind.
Like the original Godzilla, Idon't.
I didn't mind the Godzilla withAaron Taylor Johnson and
Elizabeth Olsen that came out inlike 2012, 2013, around that
time but like this new iterationwith Vera Farmiga and although
(22:47):
she wasn't in this one, but shewas in like the first ones.
But anyway, yeah, I watchedthis purely because of Orlando.
He absolutely loves these filmsand I love going to the movies.
Absolutely, absolutely lovesthese films and I love going to
the movies.
Absolutely love, love, lovegoing to the movies.
And it had been a really like atthis point, I feel like we
hadn't been to the movies inabout a month or two.
(23:09):
So I was like desperate to goto the movies and I was like I
don't want to watch that, but Iknow you want to watch that and
I just want to go to the movies.
So let's just go to the moviesand watch that.
And we did, and I kind of wishI hadn't.
I kind of wish I had justwaited three months until the
next movie that I really wantedto watch came out, because this
was just so terrible, and so Ithink I can turn my brain off
(23:30):
when something is like soridiculously over the top, like
I can turn my brain off, butthere's just so some things that
are so silly and dumb that Icannot turn my brain off because
I'm just thinking about howdumb that was.
So this was one of those filmsthat I was like why, why, why,
why, why, why.
And here's the thing I knowOrlando was really excited for
(23:52):
this film because Godzilla andKing Kong team up to take down
the baddie of this, this movie,and that was like what everyone
was excited for was like KingKong and Godzilla to take down
the baddie of this, this moon,and that that was like what
everyone was excited for waslike King Kong and Godzilla
teaming up and having like thisepic battle, and so, like the
first half of the film is likespent on building up this baddie
, like this baddie is just sopowerful that Godzilla has to
(24:16):
like go all over the world anddefeat some of the other
monsters, to like soak up theirenergy and get as powerful as
they can by so as she can bysoaking up all this energy,
because there's no way she candefeat this baddie without doing
this.
And then King Kong doesn't needto level up, but he needs to be
(24:39):
there to help Godzilla, becauseGodzilla, even though she's
powering up, she cannot defeatthis baddie on her own.
So, like Kong and Godzilla needto team up because if they
don't, this baddie is going torule the world.
And then we get to the otherdimension where this baddie is,
and it was the mostdisappointing reveal.
(25:01):
This is the scrawniest gorillaI've ever seen in my life.
You cannot convince me thatKong or Godzilla would have been
able to do this Like there's,that they would have been unable
to do this on their like onecould have.
Like Kong could have easily.
Like there was no need forGodzilla to like Godzilla could
(25:21):
have kept chilling and Kongcould have taken this guy out.
Like Kong is like 300 pounds ofmuscle more than this scrawny
gorilla.
Like this is like a human with ahuman battleship or like just a
human fishing ship with areally long and sharp harpoon
could have killed this gorilla.
(25:43):
The only reason they struggledwas because this gorilla had uh
was like torturing this othermonster and he was using that
other monster to like fightGodzilla and Kong.
And it was that other monsterthat was powerful, because as
soon as they got like they gotrid of the mind control and this
monster was like no longerunder the control of this
(26:04):
gorilla.
Like I said, battle over in twoseconds flat, that's not even
an exaggeration.
They should have just made thebaddie the, the mind control
monster as opposed to thegorilla.
I could have beaten thatgorilla and that thing could
have stepped on, but you knowwhat I still I I could have like
climbed up it never would havesensed me coming and I could
have like planted a bomb on itsomewhere and killed it Like
(26:24):
this is the most patheticlooking baddie I've ever seen in
my life.
Anyway, that is it for thisepisode of Books vs Movies.
I hope you enjoyed.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand tune in next time when I
count down my top 10 favoritefilms of 2024 that I saw in
theaters.
Bye.
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