Cinemagoers found themselves this year being transported back to the world of big hair, lycra and VHS as several thrillers affectionately paid tribute to the 1980s.
Music biopics were also in abundance as audiences lapped up cinematic depictions of the careers of Bob Marley, Robbie Williams and Amy Winehouse.
Icons of the music industry were also not averse to the odd rockumentary, whilst indie films pushed the boundaries of the realist and film noir genres.
With Pomona continuing to rank 60 movies that we watched during 2024, what made the top of the bottom half of our movie choices this year?
40. GOOD GRIEF (Daniel Levy)
Following up the huge success of a TV sitcom like 'Schitt's Creek' cannot be easy.
However Shawn Levy chose to write, direct and star in his own Netflix movie, a London set comedy drama in the mould of Woody Allen.
It's less funny and more wistful with Levy playing Marc, an illustrator who is plunged into mourning when his successful author husband, Luke Evans' larger than life author of a 'Harry Potter' style franchise is killed in a car crash after leaving their Christmas party for Paris.
Luckily he has two good friends to help him navigate his grief - Ruth Negga's movie industry costume designer Sophie and Himesh Patel's art gallery worker Thomas.
However an unopened Christmas card reveals a hidden secret about Evans' Oliver that leads Marc to Paris.
All of this is low key stuff is beautifully packaged, with gorgeously lit shots by cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland.
And while some critics rushed to compare it to the work of Richard Curtis, it's more like an intense Susanne Bier drama or one of the better films from the latter part of Woody Allen's career.
It's a solid but not earth shattering debut feature with decent performances.
As a calling card, though, for Levy as a director, it makes a pretty decent case for him to build that side to his career.
39. BACK TO BLACK (Sam Taylor Johnson)
Sam Taylor Johnson's Amy Winehouse biopic was always going to attract considerable interest from cinemagoers and music fans.
Not surprisingly, it was more sympathetic to her father Mitch's view of what happened than Asif Kapadia's Oscar winning documentary 'Amy' which painted him as a manipulative figure.
Handsomely made, like a lot of biopics, Taylor Johnson's film relied heavily on its cast - with Marisa Abela seizing the opportunity presented by the lead role with a vivacious performance.
Jack O'Connell was strong as Blake Fielder-Civil, her husband whose propensity for drugs would set Amy down the wrong path.
Eddie Marsan and Lesley Manville were as reliable as ever as Amy's father Mitch and influential grandmother, Cynthia Levy.
However ultimately like the Bob Marley tale 'One Love:' Taylor-Wood's film was another music biopic that felt a bit too timid, showing a reluctance to dive too deeply into the exploitation of a talented singer songwriter who did not want the level of stardom she achieved.
38. SCOOP (Philip Martin)
Disgraced British Royal Prince Andrew's calamitous 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC2's current affairs show 'Newsnight' has gone down in the annals of broadcasting history as one of the most delusional ever witnessed on the small screen.
But it also inspired Amazon Prime's TV series 'A Very Royal Scandal' and this Netflix movie with Gillian Anderson as Maitlis, Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew and Billie Piper as the producer Sam McAlister who secured the infamous interview about the Royal's links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Working from a script by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil, director Philip Martin delivers a polished and very entertaining account of how the interview came about.
Fusing the gladiatorial dynamics of Ron Howard's 'Frost/Nixon' with the feminist empowerment of Jay Roach's Fox News sexual harassment tale 'Bombshell', Martin secures an assured central performance from Piper as a single mum struggling to keep her job in the bearpit of the BBC's flagship current affairs show.
Brilliantly capturing Emily Maitlis's physicality, Anderson impresses as the dogged TV presenter while Sewell is terrific as the cocky Royal.
However it is arguably Keeley Hawes who steals the show as the Prince's chief of staff who is so enamoured with her boss that she simply cannot grasp how foolish it is to expose him to the withering glare of a Maitlis interview.
While the film feels very much like a TV movie, it is so well written and performed you are very quickly drawn in to its recreation of events that you soon forget its limitations.
37. WICKED LITTLE LETTERS (Thea Sharrock)
It's easy to see why some people might view a foul mouthed period drama comedy as a bit puerile.
However Sharrock's comedy, penned by Jonny Sweet, is an amusing film with laugh out loud moments based on the real-life Littlehampton Libels scandal between 1920-23.
Olivia Colman is perfectly cast as a devout Christian and spinster Edith Swan who falls out with Jessie Buckley's Irish neighbour Rose Gooding and accuses her of sending dozens of letters containing shocking obscenities.
With Paul Chahidi's Chief Constable eager to swallow the accusations that Rose is the culprit because of her proclivity for swearing, he tries to suppress Anjana Vassan's WPC Gladys Moss's efforts to explore if the Irishwoman is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
A modest indie hit, Sharrock delivers a mischievous crowd pleaser powered by the tongue in cheek performances of Colman, Buckley, Vassan, Chahidi and Timothy Spall as Edith's stern and manipulative father Edward.
Eileen Atkins, Lolly Adefope, Joanna Scanlan, Tim Key and Jason Watkins also enter into the spirit of the film with well judged supporting performances.
Tapping into the same vein of humour as Alan Bennett, Sharrock delivers an enjoyable comedy that hits all its targets while also making a decent point about male chauvinism.
36. HOARD (Luna Carmoon)
Never mind who's going to take the place of Ken Loach, now that he's retired.
Has Luna Carmoon staked her claim to be the next Andrea Arnold?
The feature debut of the London director is one of the most original and narratively challenging films of this year.
A movie in two parts, it initially focuses on Lily-Beau Leach's young girl Maria and her rather unconventional upbringing in a London housing estate in the 1980s with her single mum, Hayley Squires' hoarder Cynthia.
Cynthia's devotion to her daughter is such that the rubbish she collects and stores in their home is used to create their own magical kingdom, even if it is a bit of a bit of a health hazard.
An expression of Cynthia's love for her daughter, it is their escape from the harsh realities of the world around them where they can fantasise and play.
However when tragedy strikes, Maria finds herself going to the home of a foster parent, Samantha Spiro's Michelle.
In the second half of the film we see Saura Lightfoot Leon's late teenage Maria still in the care of Michelle as she encounters a former foster child, Joseph Quinn's dustman Michael.
The two of them immediately bond and an unusual relationship develops, unearthing the same sense of unconventional playfulness that she had with Cynthia and the same attitude to waste.
A highly stylised realist psychodrama, some audiences will find Carmoon's movie a bit preposterous and the notion of hoarding rubbish as an expression of love definitely odd.
However Carmoon uses the story to examine how childhood trauma informs dysfunctional adult behaviour, with Maria also struggling with loneliness and her own sexual awakening.
With overt references to Volker Schlondorf's 1979 magical realist tale 'The Tin Drum' - a film about a German boy who refuses a conventional upbringing - it's a striking debut, with Carmoon coaxing terrific performances from Lightfoot Leon, Quinn, Squires, Leach, Spiro and Cathy Tyson as a friend of Michelle's.
Coming across at times as a bit feral, it's a film that demands a second viewing and will have you mulling over its themes for a days.
35. MAXXXINE (Ti West)
Delaware born director Ti West's sleazy horror franchise, comprising of 'X' and 'Pearl,' was meant to reach its climax with this 1980s story about fame and murder in Hollywood.
However it now appears West is keeping the door open to a fourth instalment on the back of this third film's box office success.
Mia Goth reprises her role as the Texan porn star Maxine Minx from 'X' who appears to be on the verge of a big break in the mainstream movie industry in the controversial horror sequel 'The Puritan II' from Elizabeth Debicki's provocative English film director Elizabeth Bender.
However with Kevin Bacon's oily Louisiana private eye John Labat knocking about, threatening to expose Maxine's involvement in the murderous events of the first film, it seems like her past could catch up with her and derail her dreams.
It doesn't help that friends and associates of Maxine are also being picked off by an LA serial killer who brands his victims with occult symbols, bringing her to the attention of Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale's Detectives Williams and Torres.
A more starry affair than the two previous instalments of the franchise, Goth remains in total control of the story, dominating proceedings with a compelling performance as a lead character who doggedly pursues fame and fortune.
With nods to 'Psycho,' 'Chinatown,' 'The Exorcist,' 'Angel Heart,' Dario Argento's 1970 Giallo tale 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage,' Alfred Sole's 1976 cult slasher film 'Alice, Sweet Alice' and Joel Schumacher's Brat Pack classic 'St Elmo's Fire,' there's a rather gauche and grisly gag at the expense of silent movie icon Buster Keaton, a smart reference to the silent era sex symbol Theda Bara and an amusing final nod to the Hollywood icon Bette Davis.
While not quite hitting the heights of 'X' and 'Pearl,' 'Maxxxine' is still a gruesomely fascinating watch with Bacon, Debicki, Monaghan, Cannavale, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Prast and Moses Sumney all playing their part.
With clever 1980s classic needle drops from ZZ Top, Kim Carnes, Animotion, John Parr, New Order and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, you can understand why West might be tempted for one more outing.
Thanks to Goth's magnetically mischievous performance, you can also see how with there might be life in the old dog yet.
34. KNOX GOES AWAY/A KILLER'S MEMORY (Michael Keaton)
Michael Keaton stars, produces and directs this rewarding tale of an assassin, John Knox who is suffering from Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, a rapid form of dementia.
Employed as a contract killer, he is visited by his estranged son, James Marsden's Miles who tearfully asks him to help him clear up the home of a man he has murdered for raping his teenage daughter.
However with his memory issues and Suzy Nakamura's Detective Emily Akari also on his tail for a botched contract killing, Knox has to proceed carefully and enlists the help of an old friend, Al Pacino's thief Xavier Crane to keep him several steps ahead of the authorities.
A twisty thriller that went straight to Amazon Prime in the UK and Ireland after a low key theatrical run in the US, Keaton's film feels wonderfully old fashioned in its execution - taking time and care to build its characters and let the action unfold.
While mostly unfussy in its direction, Keaton deploys a few stylistic flourishes in his depiction of Knox's dementia without overdoing it.
With Polish actress Joanna Kulig on board as an escort that Knox regularly sees, Keaton elicits strong performances from his cast whilst delivering an effective thriller that easily outguns the similarly themed Liam Neeson dementia hitman movie 'Memory' from two years ago.
33. TO THE END (Toby L)
The prospect of Oasis reuniting in 2025 sent Britpop fans into a frenzy this year, only for things to quickly turn sour thanks to the ridiculous prices being charged on Ticketmaster for their gigs.
There were no such feelings of fans being exploited when the Mancunian band's big rivals Blur returned to action in 2023 with a new album 'The Ballad of Darren' and a series of superb gigs across Europe - the centrepiece of which were two nights in Wembley.
The recording of what turned out to be a wonderful album and a sublime tour is captured in Toby L's touching documentary which focuses on a a very different Blur.
The members of the band are not as brash as they once were. In fact, they're middle aged men who seem very conscious of time marching on.
Candid interviews with Damon Albarn, Graham Cox on, Alex James and Dave Rowntree find them mulling over the meaning of the band, their triumphs and mistakes and the realities of ageing.
Amid all the navel gazing, the band is able to celebrate the alchemy that led to an impressive new album and an equally wonderful tour.
Toby L captures the deep bond between them in the studio and during rehearsals for the gigs.
There are also moments of levity including a sequence where Graham Cox and Damon Alban's return to their old school in Colchester and make the headmaster squirm.
Fans of Albarn know he is a restless soul and it is his inability to stand still creatively that is the most striking thing in the documentary.
This aspect of his character is amusingly captured in an Alex James quip: "If you don't keep him focused on the job in hand, he will literally write another opera."
And while Toby L's feature follows conventional rockumentary tropes, it's still very well executed and makes a strong case, without ever really mentioning Oasis, that Blur has dwarfed them creatively even if they haven't commercially.
The film dangles the possibility that 'Ballad of Darren' may have been Blur's last hurrah. However I wouldn't bet on it.
32. LOVE LIES BLEEDING (Rose Glass)
Another blood soaked thriller set in the 1980s, English director Rose Glass and fellow screenwriter Weronika Tofilska's story of lesbian lovers and vicious criminals has a definite whiff of David Lynch about it.
Kristen Stewart plays Lou Langston, a loner who manages a gym in New Mexico whose estranged father, Ed Harris' Lou Sr has ties to organised crime.
Approached by FBI agents for information about her dad, she focuses on running the gym and has a fractious relationship with her brother in law, Dave Franco's JJ who maltreats her sister, Jena Malone's Beth.
Fascinated by Katy O'Brien's bisexual bodybuilder Jackie Cleaver who becomes a regular in the gym after arriving in town, they soon embark on an affair.
Jackie becomes a habitual user of steroids after Lou introduces her to them in a bid to boost her career.
She also ends up working as a waitress in Lou Sr's gun range through connections made by JJ.
However when JJ beats Beth so badly that she needs to be hospitalised, it spurs Jackie and Lou into action - bringing them on to a collision course with Lou Sr.
Glass' movie is intense, sweaty and gory in the best traditions of film noir but it also pushes the boundaries of the genre into the realm of the fantastical.
Searingly shot by cinematographer Ben Fordesman, the director coaxes strong performances out of Stewart, O'Brien, Harris, Franco and Malone.
Thanks to its setting, viewers will immediately think of 'Breaking Bad' and Lynch's 'Wild At Heart' but there are elements of the Coen Brothers and Orson Welles' contributions to the film noir genre there.
The movie makes a big ask of its audience in its denouement but if you are prepared to go along with it, you will enjoy this tale of obsessive love in the face of evil.
31. A QUIET PLACE, DAY ONE (Michael Sarnoski)
Now that audiences are very familiar with the concept of alien predators that respond to the slightest noise, the question this prequel asks is: are we capable of being scared by them anymore?
Amazingly, the answer is yes.
Having given us a brief glimpse of events on day one of the alien invasion in John Krasinski's 'A Quiet Place, Part II,' Michael Sarnoski focuses his prequel entirely on the first day as it unfolded in New York.
Moving the action from the rural community depicted in Krasinski's movies to the cacophony of a big city really pays off as Lupita N'yongo's terminally ill cancer patient, Sam finds herself having to navigate a path amid the slaughter that unfolds all around her.
Caught in the mayhem of the invasion after she and her fellow cancer patients are taken to a marionette show in Manhattan by Alex Wolff's nurse Reuben, it quickly becomes clear during the alien onslaught that panicking city dwellers are like lambs to the slaughter in a noisy place like New York.
Clutching her beloved pet cat Frodo, Sam picks her way through the city's devastated streets and stumbles across Joseph Quinn's petrified English law student Eric and Djimon Honsou's Henri who we met in 'A Quiet Place, Part II' and has a plan to evacuate New York.
As Sarnoski's film unfolds, we soon realise Sam's isn't really motivated by the same survival instinct as Henri as she guides the constantly jittery Eric on a perilous trek through the city streets and sewers.
N'yongo turns in a compelling performance as Sam and gels really well with Quinn, Wolff and Honsou.
Sarnoski conjures up some memorable moments including a thrilling pursuit of Sam and Eric in the Manhattan sewers and a touching moment where Eric repays her kindness in an abandoned Harlem bar by fulfilling her wish for the simple pleasures of a drink and a bite of pizza.
Frodo the cat is an affectionate nod to 'The Lord of the Rings' as well as 'Alien,' while specific scenes also recall 'Jurassic Park,' 'Predator' and moments in the previous two 'A Quiet Place's films.
Grossing over $260 million at the box office, Sarnoski's film proves the concept of noise sensitive aliens still works with multiplex audiences.
Against all odds, it raises the bar for Krasinski's final instalment of his trilogy, ensuring he will have to work even harder to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
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