2024 in films - according to Film Excess

The Top 6 of the Year

 

 

1. Rom - Niclas Bendixen + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Romcom of the Year + Best Rome Movie of the Year

 

2. The Apprentice - Ali Abbasi + Best Biopic of the Year + Breakthrough of the Year: Sebastian Stan + Best New York Movie of the Year

3. Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 - Kevin Costner + Best Arizona Movie of the Year + Best Epic of the Year + Best Western of the Year

 

4. Gladiator II - Ridley Scott + Best Action Adventure of the Year 

 

5. The Beekeeper - David Ayer + Best Revenge Movie of the Year

6. Vogter - Gustav Möller + Best Prison Movie of the Year

The Bottom 3 of the Year

1. Mørkeland - Mikkel Serup

 

2. Jagtsæson 2 - I Medgang og Modgang - Peter Molde-Amelung 

 

3. Longlegs - Osgood Perkins + Most Overrated Movie of the Year

[9 titles in total]

Notes:

The first edition of the lists of 2024 in films are based on a very small batch of reviewed titles and is therefore bound to likely completely change in future updates.

The best reviewed film of the year is Niclas Bendixen's funny and wise marriage-analyzing romcom Rom. Silver goes to Ali Abbasi's unflattering Trump biopic The Apprentice; and bronze to Kevin Costner's ill-fated western epic Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1. The list goes on with Ridley Scott's tunic escapade Gladiator II; David Ayer's exploitation revenge actioner The Beekeeper; and with Gustav Möller's prison drama Vogter rounding off the list. 

The worst film of the year found so far is Mikkel Serup's nonsensical political thriller Mørkeland; with Peter Molde-Amelung's harebrained crude comedy sequel Jagtsæson 2 - I Medgang og Modgang taking silver, and Osgood Perkins' overly celebrated satanical horror Longlegs bronze.

Many more movies and TV-series will follow in future updates.

 

2024 titles currently on the watch-list:

Never Let Go, Bird, Kung Fu Panda 4, Monsters - season 2, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The End, Hard Truths, Civil War, Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2, Terrifier 3, MaXXXine, Nosferatu, Nightbitch, Queer, I'm Still Here, Beauty Is Not a Sin, The Thicket, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, The Brutalist, Saturday Night, Smile 2, We Live in Time

 

Previous annual lists: 

    
2023 in films - according to Film Excess 

2022 in films - according to Film Excess 

2021 in films - according to Film Excess 

2020 in films - according to Film Excess 

2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2019 in films - according to Film Excess 
2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess  
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2016 in films - according to Film Excess

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films - according to Film Excess

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess    
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1995 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1992 in films - according to Film Excess

1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1990 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   

 

What do you think of the 2024 lists?
What movies of the year would make it to your Top and Bottom 10 lists?
What essential title/s are missing on the watch-list?

The Apprentice (2024) - Abbasi and Co. tackle world's most debated man effectively

♥♥♥♥

 

Enlarged to the traditional size of Kaiju movie monsters, the three stars threaten to wreak havoc on New York City on this fine poster for Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice

The son of American businessman Fred Trump, Donald Jr. is hellbent on making himself stand out in a way that his perceived let-down pilot brother has neglected, and to boost himself into a New York tycoon and world-famous business leader, he enrolls under the mentorship of local ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn.

 

The Apprentice is written by Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)) and directed by Iranian-born Danish master filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Shelley (2016)), whose 4th feature it is.

A biopic about the arguably most talked-about and controversial figure worldwide in the last few decades, and then releasing it during the subject's third presidential campaign, is bound to be divisive. The filmmakers have 'attacked' their central character from a critical, leftist position to be sure but to their credit have attempted to tell the story of the 1970s and 1980s arrival of Donald Trump in business without their sentiments and politics sneaking in. Global opinion on Trump is still very much in determination, and will be for his second period as US President 2025-29. This makes for an obstacle for the film, because in essence many audiences will be still too much involved in the ongoing 'Trump reality' to have the reserve and interest to look into a fictional retelling of his past. In any case he is such a behemoth that the film is likely to keep attracting new audiences for the years to come. 

This is of course also based on the fact that The Apprentice is fueled by a strong script and great performances: Sebastian Stan (Ghosted (2023)) arrives in force and is very authentic as Trump; Jeremy Strong (Succession (2018-23)) is intense and highly persuasive as the chameleon-like, powerful Cohn, SPOILER whose AIDS disease renders him an outcast before his death; and Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)) as Donald's first wife Ivana, who is portrayed brilliantly as a flawed but mostly sympathetic woman. Martin Donovan (Tenet (2020)) is a great choice and very good as Fred Trump. The production design and locations are never lacking, but what is lacking in the life of Donald Trump, it seems, is love and sincere affection. A shark-like pursuit of money and power instead rules supreme. This makes his story a fairly dark watch, but the pacing nevertheless keeps it moving well, SPOILER and a darkly humorous, directorially rich flourish in the end is that Abbasi provides a gruelingly visual account of Donald's liposuction and bald spot plastic operations which he cross cuts with Cohn's demise. Appropriately devoid of sentimentality, The Apprentice has an admirable punk rock energy, serious performances and may very well stand the test of time.

 

Related posts:

 

Ali Abbasi: 2022 in films - according to Film Excess 

Holy Spider (2022) - Blood on the hands of Iran's Islamic system and its leaders

Border/Gräns (2018) - The second Lindqvist adaptation is another wtf-experience with muddled implications if any

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: 12.1 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[The Apprentice premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 123 minutes. Announced in 2018, the film only really came underway when the cast and Abbasi were announced in 2022 and 2023. 15 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from November 2023 - January 2024 in Ontario, including in Toronto. SPOILER The rape scene was based on Ivana Trump's divorce deposition (under oath) in which she alleged it. She backed away from the allegation 30 years later, during Trump's third presidential campaign. Trump's amphetamine use was detailed in Harry Hurt's biography. The film was attacked by Dan Snyder, one of its financial backers, who had thought it would be a positive account of its subject. His stake was then bought by James Shani and Rich Spirit, already stakeholders in the film. Trump's team unsuccessfully tried to stop it from coming out, while Abbasi invited Trump to see it for himself, getting no response. Trump called the film a "disgusting hatchet job" and the filmmakers "human scum". The film's distribution prospects were made difficult by Trump's looming power, but it was eventually released, just weeks prior to the November 2024 election. The film opened #10 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 1,740 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it has so far grossed 3.9 mil. $. The film's BoxOfficeMojo site is missing its Danish gross, where it has so far grossed at least 640k $. The film has two announced markets left to release in; Russia and Japan. It lost the Palme d'Or to Anora. Abbasi does not have his next film announced yet. Stan returns in Thunderbolts (2025); Strong in Deliver Me from Nowhere; and Bakalova in Triumph (2024). The Apprentice is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Apprentice?