I finally started keeping track of all the movies I watched! I’ve compiled a roundup of my movie recommendations as we wrap up the year. From comedies to dramas and documentaries – it’s all here!
I’m keeping it simple in my notes as I make a list of movies – was it amazing, good, OK, bad or so terrible that I couldn’t finish it? For example, Queen Bees, a movie about seniors in a retirement community, was too cheesy, whereas the movie I Care A Lot was also about seniors with way more fraud and I loved it. Rosamund Pike deserved the Golden Globe for her sinister performance as a boss bitch! Movies I couldn’t finish included: Scoop, I Give It A Year, Striptease and Mulholland Drive.
From the 2024 releases, I loved Ezra, Suncoast, Turtles All The Way Down and Scrambled. His Three Daughters was also OK and I love Elizabeth Olsen, but it could’ve been edited for time.
I just watched Ezra a few days ago and it covers a lot all at once – autism, divorce and stand-up comedy. I’ve seen most of Rose Byrne’s movies and she’s one of my favourite actresses. She stars in Ezra alongside her real life partner Bobby Cannavale and Robert De Niro with a cameo from Jimmy Kimmel!
My list includes several coming of age movies and Suncoast has an interesting intergenerational friendship between a high school student and a middle aged activist. Likewise, Turtles All The Way Down is based on a YA novel by John Green, author of The Fault In Our Stars. It explores a teenage girl’s experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder while navigating friendship, romance and high school. Finally, I liked Scrambled because the protagonist is a single woman in her thirties like me. It’s very raw and unglamorous.
My favourite Canadian movies were French Girl and Fitting In. Both underrated for different reasons. French Girl is a funny movie about Zach Braff travelling from New York to Quebec to meet his girlfriend’s family. I think the scenes with animals could’ve been shortened; otherwise, I liked how it captured her Canadian family in Quebec with a dose of conflict courtesy of Vanessa Hudgens. Fitting In helped me understand Maddie Ziegler’s appeal while she handled peer pressure and advocated for women’s reproductive health.
Moving on to documentaries, Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO/Crave) exposes the history of a popular clothing store while examining the impact of fast fashion. Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy (Netflix) also focuses on how consumerism affects the environment. As a millennial who grew up with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam was eye opening and frustrating to learn about. The Ashley Madison data breach was on my radar back in 2015 and the Netflix documentary offers a deep dive into everything that went wrong. I cringed whenever they showed Ashley Madison’s Toronto HQ as I recognized the intersection!
Finally watched Look Both Ways on Netflix with @lilireinhart – really interesting approach to parenting and careers BUT why did they have to make Canada look bad with crappy internet connections in Nova Scotia and flight delays in Toronto?
— Sarah Prince (@ThatPrince) June 11, 2024
Plus, here’s another list of movie recommendations – this marked the year I became a Dakota Johnson fan!
- I Care A Lot (Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina)
- Awakenings (Robert De Niro, Robin Williams)
- The Valet (Max Greenfield)
- Spoiler Alert (Jim Parsons)
- Private Life (Kathryn Hahn, Paul Giamatti, Molly Shannon)
- Am I OK? (Dakota Johnson)
- Jexi (Adam DeVine, Rose Byrne, Alexandra Shipp)
- Plus One (Jack Quaid, Maya Erskine – My Full Review)
- All Together Now (Auliʻi Cravalho, Justina Machado)
- Our Friend (Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, Casey Affleck)
- Look Both Ways (Lili Reinhart)
- Giant Little Ones (Kyle MacLachlan, Josh Wiggins)
- A Man Called Otto (Tom Hanks)
- Peanut Butter Falcon (Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson)
- Notes On A Scandal (Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett)
Save these movie recommendations for easy reference next time you want to watch! As of now, they’re available on Netflix, Hulu/Disney+ and Max/Crave, depending where you live.
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