Joe’s Movie Club: Best Movies I Watched in 2024

Many years ago when I was visiting the Twin Cities, I had lunch with John Hamilton who, at the time, was the Managing Editor of Photomethods when I was a Contributing Editor. He has gone on to become a successful author of fiction and non-fiction books; you can visit his website here. John and I were both what you might call cinephiles and he asked, “if I could watch any movie right now, what would it be?” He cautioned me not to pick Citizen Kane or anything like that but my spontaneous response was The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. He laughed and clapped at my selection.

Fast forward 10 years or so and my choice would have been Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons. At some point I picked up the Criterion Collection’s beautifully restored Blu-ray of the film and when I watched it I could not make it all the way through to the end. Tim Holt’s performance/character annoyed me so much that I couldn’t bear watching another minute no matter Welles’ directorial brilliance. Then, my choice changed again and For the past several years, my answer has been Frank Capra’s 1937 film Lost Horizon. I owned a DVD of a restored version of this film and later picked up a Blu-ray of a later restoration and love this film more each time that I watch it. Sony recently announced a 27-disc box set entitled Frank Capra At Columbia that includes  Blu-rays of many of his films and has a 4K version of Lost Horizon and a few others. While I would love to see that film in 4K, the $140 cost of the set stops me cold. If they release Lost Horizon as a separate 4K disc, I will get it for sure and let you know my feelings about it.

And now…

Best Classic Film Blu-Ray

The Philadelphia Story (1940) from the Criterion Collection has a cast that includes Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmie Stewart, who won an Oscar for his performance. The supporting cast is wonderful including Ruth Hussey, who portrays a magazine photographer who shoots with an Argus C3, a camera that was introduced in 1938. Since the movie’s negative was destroyed in a 1978 fire, the restoration was made from an 35mm positive copy and the result is a stunning image with pretty good monaural audio. I wished Criterion’s Anatomy of a Murder looked this good, although that film, as presented, is wonderful on so many levels.

Best Historical Film

The Mission (1086) directed by Roland Joffé with captivating performances by Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro. Topping it all off is a dramatic score by Ennio Morricone and incredible and Oscar winning location cinematography by Chris Menges, You won’t believe how they shot many of the scenes, which were made in a real jungle. especially those made in Iguazú National Park and Iguazú Waterfalls in Misiones Argentina. Thus is truly an unforgettable and thought provoking film you simply must see.

Best Mindless Action Film

Demolition Man (1993) In the future, freeze-dried Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes come out of hibernation and chew the scenery and participate in a crazy shoot out. What more to you want? It’s also one of Sandra Bullock ‘s two good movies, Speed being the other one. The Blu-ray looks fantastic and there’s even a 4K version available.

Best Drama

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is John Frankenheimer’s masterpiece political thriller that features Frank Sinatra’s riveting performance and Laurence Harvey giving an acting class with a nuanced yet powerful portrayal of a brainwashed assassin. Janet Leigh is mesmerizing  in a subtle supporting role and Angela Lansbury gives an incredible Oscar nominated (she should have won) performance as Harvey’s character’s mother, even though in reality she was only a few years older than him. The Criterion transfer is excellent and retains the gritty almost documentary look of the original film that I saw in the theater in 1962. I remember walking out of the Keith’s theater in Baltimore and being stunned by what I saw. It had the same effect on me after watching the Criterion Blu-ray.

Honorable Mention

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Criterion’s recent 4K release of Godzilla that fundamentally changes how anyone could watch this film or dismiss it as merely a “Creature feature’ or monster movie. This is a dramatic anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons film that unlike the many Godzilla films that follow show the effect of the monster’s fury on the people of Japan. The American version of the film, Godzilla, King if the Monsters, is included in Criterion’s package as a Blu-ray disc and it is a surprisingly good, if toothless, film. There’s a lot more here and you can catch it all on my video Godzilla 4K and More on my YouTube channel.