Movies I Watched in January 2024

These are the movies that I watched in January. Some of them are movies that I’ve seen before and some of these I watched for the first time. There are some really good flicks on this list and only a few that are not worth your time. Keep in mind I’m a moron and I don’t really know what I’m talking about. Also they’re not ranked, this is just the order that I watched them in. I don't know why the 1 is indented back off me

1. Gone Girl:

Rosamund Pike is absolutely electric in this. A decade later this is still her best performance I think. I don’t care for Ben Affleck much but he’s fine in this I guess. I am a little biased there so others may enjoy his performance more than me. I thought the girl who plays his sister did a good job and added a lot of value to the film too. This is probably a top 5 Fincher film on most people’s lists. This is only my 2nd time seeing this but I think I enjoyed it more the first time. When she comes back to the house it loses me a little. If for some reason you haven’t seen this then it's a good one to watch asap. A great mystery thriller with some cool twists. Wife goes missing and the husband becomes the main suspect, don’t want to say too much more about the plot in an effort to not give anything away

2. Pain Hustlers:

I think I love Emily Blunt. Seriously she is amazing in this, her character is a badass. She is a single mom and she ends up getting a job at a pharmaceutical start up. They are drug reps selling this drug that helps with cancer to doctors. They start getting some traction and the drug works so they’re making a shit ton of money. After that things start to get a little slimy but I don’t want to spew out the whole plot here. From what I understand, it is true but Emily Blunt's character is a fictional character based on multiple people. If you want a better explanation I’ll give you my buddy Andy's contact info since he also watched it. Chris Evans was dynamite as the support I thought and there are great performances all around really. I believe it is a Netflix Original

3. Foe:

Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal are a deadly duo man, they could do anything they wanted together. 2 of the best young actors in the game right now. Crazy good acting regardless of whether you dig the story or not. I thought this was a cool idea for a movie. I think it was set in the 2060s if I remember right. Anyways, this couple is living in the middle of nowhere and then this dude comes in and says that the husband is being recruited to go to space. The main point is that in the past husbands would leave a picture of him or something for the wife to hang on to while they’re gone. But in this movie they’re going to leave a clone of the husband. There’s a huge twist at the end also which I loved. It’s not the best scifi movie you’ll ever see but I think its pretty cool

4. A Simple Favor:

This movie is fairly similar to Gone Girl. I could easily be convinced that this may even be better and I can’t understand why this gets no recognition anywhere. Anna Kendrick plays kind of a dorky single mom and she becomes friends with Blake Lively who is very successful and rich. Along the same lines as Gone Girl, Blake Lively’s character goes missing and we spend the majority of the movie trying to figure out what the hell happened to her. Actually I’m not afraid to say it, I do think this is better than Gone Girl. I think the story is way more fun. The Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick combo is frickin lethal. There is also a comedic aspect to this one that Gone Girl does not have. Both are great movies but I think this has a slight edge. Incredible film

5. Office Christmas Party:

Sam Richardson as DJ Calvis makes me laugh out loud and that's my favorite part. Another great comedy carried by Jason Bateman. Basically these employees are trying to save their branch from being shut down by throwing this awesome Christmas party. There are multiple little side stories going on but it is not confusing or hard to follow. There are probably 15 great performances here and I’m not going to name them all. This is a great comedy and a good one to watch around Christmas hence the title

6. Past Lives:

A girl and a boy are probably like 8 or 9 ish and living in Korea. They are best friends but the girl’s family ends up moving to the US. The 2 of them end up reconnecting years later and then he eventually comes to New York where she is living. This is the first movie I’ve seen Greta Lee in and I thought she killed it. The 2 main guys were good also. This movie is great but I think it is a little overhyped on the movie psycho tik toks. The story is very real and probably happens a lot in real life. The ending was very emotional but I’ve seen so many people saying they were sobbing over it which I think is an overreaction

7. The Nice Guys:

This is a perfect movie. I’m so high on Gosling because of his versatility and he shows it here. How he can do roles like this and roles like he does in Drive is incredible. This is a cool story about a private investigator (Gosling) and a guy who gets paid to beat people up (Russel Crowe) trying to find a girl that disappeared. There are a ton of lines that are laugh out loud funny for sure. It’s very witty and sarcastic humor but not to the point where it is obnoxious. I think it is the perfect amount of sarcasm and didn’t seem like they were trying too hard. Everyone should watch this, it's on Netflix. Easy watch and under 2 hours

8. Last Flag Flying:

I watched this because I saw a clip of it on tik tok and had nothing to watch. In a nutshell, Steve Carrells son died at war and him and two of his former marine buddies go to get the body. Idk nothing crazy here, it's a good story but I wouldn’t go around campaigning for people to watch it. Bryan Cranston is really funny and sort of provides some comedic relief to a sad situation. I thought this was a good trio with these 2 above ^ and Laurence Fishburn. No ones gonna watch this, to the next we go

9. Lizzie McGuire:

I like the Lizzie McGuire movie and I don’t care what anyone thinks. This is essentially just a story about how loyal Gordo is. Ungermeyer is hilarious I think and the thing with her and the bodyguard at the end is awesome. Idk it's a fun movie sue me

10. Greenberg:

Ben Stiller is house sitting/dog watching for his brother in LA. He is bipolar I believe they said and he just has absolutely no filter and doesn’t really understand jokes. Greta Gerwig works for the brother and she ends up having a little thing with Ben Stiller. They are kind of similar in some ways and it is a really funny relationship. I’ve mentioned before that anything Greta touches is perfect and this falls in that category as well. This Ben Stiller performance is nowhere near the level of his Walter Mitty showing but I liked it a lot. My buddy Don will like that I mentioned Walter Mitty and I also think he would like this movie. It is on Netflix and only like 100 minutes long

11. The Passenger:

This is one of the best new movies I’ve seen in a while and I haven’t seen anyone saying anything at all about it. Idk who the hell Johnny Berchtold or Kyle Gallner are but they were dominating for 93 minutes straight here. This kid Randy is working at a fast food restaurant and he is extremely quiet and gets bullied by a coworker. His other coworker Benson tries to stick up for him and then Benson just goes absolutely off the rails. We then follow Randy and Benson around for 80 more minutes as they are on the run. This is one of the most suspenseful movies I’ve seen in a while and my heart was beating like a frickin drum and my stomach hurt and I was scared and sweating. Seriously whoever this Kyle Gallner guy is that played Benson was terrifying and I am going to watch every single movie that he has ever been in/will be in. What he did to the old teacher dude scared the shit out of me. Watch this one asap 

12. The Creator:

Immediately after watching this I thought to myself “wow that was a very emotional performance from John David Washington.” Then a few days later I saw an instagram post saying there was no emotion in this film, this is where sometimes I think I do not have a single clue what I’m talking about. I thought this was a good, fun scifi movie. Idk why everyone has to be so critical of every film. That being said I am not sure if i totally understood this movie so the rest of this one could be totally off base. There is a war between humans and AI and the AI have this weapon (who is in the form of a child) that is like insanely powerful. I think John David Washington's mission was to destroy it but I'm not going to fact check that. I had a really difficult time grasping who was AI and who wasn’t AI sometimes because some of them just look exactly like humans. Some of the AI army/police dudes just look like a body with a VCR for a head kind of which I thought was cool. There are people talking through other people once they are dead which I also enjoyed. Graphics were great. I liked it 

13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

This is one of Jim Carrey’s best performances ever. Even if you don’t care for Jim Carrey you’re in luck because this is not similar to any of his other performances. This is essentially about pain and loss and break ups. Kate Winslet is Jim Carrey’s girlfriend and she has a procedure done following their break up which will erase him from her memory. Jim Carrey then goes on to get the same procedure done. This is a great movie man, I’ve never met anyone who dislikes it although I only know a couple who have seen it. Also I love Mark Ruffalo and I’ll watch anything he’s in regardless of how big or small of a role he plays. He is incredible in this as well

14. After Yang:

This one has the typical A24 vibes where it’s really strange but keeps you locked in the entire time. Colin Farrel is like a machine that just pumps out frickin perfect performances left and right. This is another one here. He’s very quiet and gentle and kind of mysterious here. So our boy Yang is an AI and he was purchased by this family to be a friend to the daughter basically. Yang ends up breaking (dying) and Colin Farrel is trying to get him repaired because the daughter is pretty torn up over it. There’s a lot of good acting here with a fun story and it only runs 96 minutes so it’s an easy watch. Family dance competition thing was hilarious

15. Honey Boy:

This is a beautiful film about a child actor who has a very abusive father. This is written and lead by Shia Lebouf. This is one of Shias best performances ever I think. There were a lot of parts where he actually scared me. I think he is really one of the best actors of our time. Him having this, Peanut Butter Falcon and Pieces of a Woman all released within 2 years of each other is insane. When he wrote this he had said it was about his life and his relationship with his father. He later came out and said that his father was never abusive in real life though and that his dad was great to him. Regardless, this is still a great story and amazing acting all around. I think this movie is awesome and everyone should watch it

16. Manchester by the Sea:

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. This is Casey Affleck's best performance and he won an Oscar for it. This is one of the saddest movies you could watch and just an awesome story about loss and pain and grief. Casey Affleck’s older brother dies and he is now the guardian of his nephew. It goes back in time in some scenes to show when the brother was alive and also some other tragic life events for Affleck’s character. Idk this explanation kind of blows but please watch it. This is an incredible movie with great performances from Affleck and Lucas Hedges. Please watch it 

17. RRR:

I promised my pal Don that I’d watch this and I’m glad I did. I Have absolutely no clue how to explain this movie. So many things happen here and it is nonstop chaos. This must have cost so much money to make. Visually this shit is frickin shocking really. There’s so much Indian music and there's tigers and snakes and people getting poisoned and killed and there is a girl who’s held hostage and a million other things. It’s so obnoxious in a really good way. This is a great movie and if you have 3 hours and 7 minutes to spare you should definitely watch it

18. Begin Again:

Like I said, I’ll watch anything with Mark Ruffalo in it. This is a pretty goofy performance from him which I enjoyed a lot. This girl is a songwriter and moves to New York with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend then leaves her and she’s thinking about moving home but then meets Mark Ruffalo who owns a record label. They then go around New York together recording a live album for her. It’s a fun one but nothing to freak out about

-Ty

:)