Year In Review Year In Review At The Movies

I have been going back and forth between whether or not I would want to make some sort of worst-to-best kind of list as a wrap up for the year, and I suppose I oughta just do it. I don't like the thought of me ranking movies in that way, but I also am someone who loves to look at other people's lists (such as Brad Jones' annual Top 10 Best and Worst Movies list on Youtube, a consistent in my life for many years now, and one of those ceremonious things in which I have to order chinese food and eat it in front of the screen while I watch). So, I suppose I will.

This is going to be a wrap-up of every movie I saw in the theaters this year. Or hopefully every single one. As many readers know, I am a big fan of the Regal Unlimited Pass, and have used it to get tickets for at least 90 percent of the following movies. There have been a few I have seen at the AMC. There have been zero I have seen at Metrograph, BTW, and for the sake of my own physical comfort, it shall remain that way.

It has been one hell of a year for me in seeing movies, although far less than I originally planned to see (was estimating at least 50, but the time of this writing, it is around 35). Still, not a bad amount for the price of the Unlimited pass, especially considering the amount of times I had to get tickets for both me and my girlfriend (God bless Regal Tuesdays as well).

I officially saw 39 movies in the theater in the year of 2024, about ten less than I had hoped to see. A couple of them that I saw were technically released in 2023, but I caught the tail end. I decided to keep them in the list because I review not only the movie itself but my own anecdotal experience of seeing the thing. Nearly a third of what I saw were horror movies, which probably indicates something, I'm just not sure what. Almost none of them were reboots or remakes, which is wildly different than it was a decade ago. Looking through it, quite a lot of it is original scripts, original stories. And yet I still saw a lot of shit that really wasn't great. So maybe it's up to those dickeads at Hollywood. I assume they continue losing money on every risk they take, be it some Marvel thing or some planned trilogy or some throwaway Blumhouse flick or an A24 romp of sorts. I guess they have to try to continue playing it safe in a time that in a lot of industry everything feels fragile for some reason. And I think certain movies here that I really liked weren't playing it safe - you'll read more about that later, possibly - but the majority of stuff was low-budget, and sort of low-effort. I think the former trait is a good thing, and I feel optimistic that in the coming few years we are going to have some really good stuff come out. Or every theater will continue to go the way of the Redbox. Either way, I'm going to go down with the ship, and continue on with my subscription to Regal Unlimited. Even with all the hopeless crap that I have to sit through, it's worth it when I get to watch something that I really really like - and when it's a good theater experience, it doubles.

I am very grateful for whoever reads this. I do this for my own enjoyment. It motivates me to go out and see more movies, and that motivates me to write more, and the cycle never ends. I've wanted to do this kind of thing for a long time. I'm a huge fan of reviews, quite possibly more than I am a fan of actual movies. So really I am just writing what I would like to read, even if at least half of my reviews is just about me getting snacks beforehand... That's what I like about the whole thing. The experience! The movie experience... I have always loved it, even if I spend much of my time complaining about the shitty seating and the way the trailers push the movie start times and everything else... Anyways, again, thank you. Will continue writing through 2025, and can only hope to get even more consistent with it. I missed a lot of reviews on stuff I saw this year, which I beat myself up for, but hey! life happens. I went through a lot of large changes in the time that I've been doing these reviews. I got a GF. I randomly picked up drinking again for a month. I grew a beard. Crap like that. So I didn't get to review everything. But maybe this list can make up for it some.

I will be reviewing more in 2025, a lot more, I hope... And I hope you keep reading through it. THANK YOU



FROM WORST TO BEST: MOVIES I SAW IN THE THEATER IN 2024

39. Joker 2 - WTF?! Joker 1, it's one of my favorite movies of the last decade. And sure, if you want to be the person to say, oh it's so T.Driver/K.O. Comedy/grimy 70's/80's New York, knock yourself out. It derives, definitely... I still like it. Great pacing. Sue me. In Joker 2, we spend the whole movie either in prison, or in court, revisiting things that we already experienced, in a better way, in the first film. Bull shit! I really have to sit there for ten minutes hearing a character from the first movie tell us, the audience, how the Joker made her feel scared? WHO GIVES A RAT'S ASS? And that's a third of the movie. Another third is devoted to the music shit, which I am no fan of- no matter how subversive Todd thinks it is- and the other third is other stuff. I will be glad to continue watching the first one on a yearly basis and I'll just do what I do with the Terminator franchise, and pretend that the ones I don't like don't exist. Joker 2 is a movie that had me at first denying my feelings about it, like when I would rent Batman Forever (the game) as a kid, and I'd play it all weekend playing it, pretending that I liked it, because what else was there??? What the hell was anybody thinking with this film??? There had to be a way that you could have done this that could appease everyone, or at least someone. But there is something of a happy ending here, in that it seemed like everybody involved, including you and I! The audience! Went out of our way to say, nah this movie sucks ass. And sure as Shannon, it bombed. Hopefully Gaga's album sales did OK, though. Anyway. Due to the catastrophic nature of the whole thing, on both a PR standpoint and my own personal hopes for it, I have to put it at the motha fucking bottom.

38. Argyle - Stupid stupid. Stupid as SHIT. Went in thinking it would be at least fun, but was so agonizing and stupid. Feels like something that got written in 2011 and got shelved until post-pandemic. Far less John Cena than was advertised, and that I told myself when I saw it that it would probably be the worst film I saw this year. In February. Just a specific brand of movie, like Kingsmen's whatever. Not sure who they're made for, but I know now that it isn't me. And the cat is barely even in it! Easy skip for anybody. Not even worth much of a background-noise stream.

37. Lisa Frankenstein - Fell the hell asleep several times out of spite. I like Diablo Cody, I like Juno and Jennifer's Body, but I think she's run out of 80's references. She needs to get the hell off of pinterest or whatever it is quirky 40-something ladies do in their free time. She lost whatever edge she had that helped propel her other films a long time ago. Painful in a numb way. I even like the Cure and the Smiths and all that. Didn't like this in the slightest.

36. Problemista - A24-ass fairy tale you-can-be-whatever-you-want-to-be-ass movie. Pointless-to-unlikeable main character running around Bushwick doing errands for Tilda Swinton, who I could live without seeing in one of these indie movies ever again (and at one point did I turn on Tilda? Not sure but every fake indie movie like this propels my reasoning, some. It's like when Bill Murray started appearing in stuff as a referential cameo type thing in 2010 era, got old fast). And all so he can get a job at a toy factory. It's the film-equivalent of "The intersection of art and capitalism" as a Scott Rudin production. Sleepy bull crap. I was excited to see it, for some reason, is the stupid part.

35. Dune 2 - Fell asleep. I tried so hard to not sleep, but I slept, nonetheless. I woke up about an hour into it and left the theater. I still gotta put it in the list, but how can I be any nicer? I didn't see the first one, which was stupid of me, I'll admit. I probably saw fifteen percent of it, and I still rank it above Problemista, so that was nice of me. I only really like the Jodorowsky documentary. Again, sue me.

34. Sting - One of what feels like a hundred crappy Blumhouse (or Blumhouse-style) movies that I saw this year. I get it though, they have a certain formula and it seems, at least to me, that it works enough to continue making movies. And a lot more of these to show up on this list, I assure you. Horror movie about a killer spider in an apartent. Whole movie takes place in apartment building. Feels like a movie made during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Would have been excusable but I saw this in 2024. I felt nothing about this movie so much so that it resonated with me. That's kind of the Blumhouse vibe though. Come up with a horror premise (what if the ghost... was also a PILGRIM?), execute it on a relatively low budget, either with a hard PG-13 or a very soft R rating, and do average-to-OK box office numbers. Spider horror movie, nothing happens. Worst horror I saw this year; left the movie at least knowing I'd forget about it entirely, until I'd have to make a year-in-review eight months down the line.

33. Founder's Day - Another crappy horror movie, but I am a sucker for slashers, so it sits slightly above Sting. It's like Eli Roth's Thanksgiving but re-written by theater students. The ending is so rivetingly stupid it makes the whole thing worth the watch. Not very cohesive even for a slasher. It's like theater kids wrote a script with only the knowledge of like Scream 1 and a random slasher from the 80's like Happy Birthday To Me. I saw this alone and enjoyed it, because that's how I am. but realistically it's barely worth a watch on streaming.

32. AfrAId - ANOTHER crap Blumhouse movie! This one has Harold from Harold & Kumar at least. Blumhouse What-If-Alexa-Was-Evil shit. House has AI and kills people. Even the script feels made with AI. It's OK for a shitty Blumhouse horror, although it's soft even for a PG-13. You could probably take your six-year-old to see this and I don't think he or she would be hesitant to play on their iPads after. I got to see this in Missouri with the lady, and it was only us in the entire theater, on a Saturday night, at 7 PM. One of the more fun movie experiences of the year, in spite of everything. Don't bother.

31. Trap - MORE PG-13 Horror. Not Blumhouse, but M. Knight. I'm a fan of his, and even of the first hour of this movie, but something happens half-way through that's unexplainable. It's inane the whole runtime, but the last hour is so bad and it trips over itself every few minutes, and it gets stupider with each scene. But it is hilariously bad, and I have to kind of recommend it. I can only assume directors get paid one million dollars per minute of movie, and he was like, fuck it, 2-plus hours. It's painfully long for that time. Happy for his family.

30. Night Swim - ANOTHER Blumhouse joint. This one has the worst premise of all of them (Haunted backyard swimming pool) but I kind of enjoyed it. The family was likable, so I can't be mad at them mothafuckas, really. Very very not scary and very very not tense and the climax I think kind of just happens or maybe it never happens. It belongs at the bottom of lists, you would think, but I feel cool to have it be only the fifth worst horror of the year. What kind of person would green light this script in the first place is a damn fool, I can't imagine having to pitch this.

29. Mean Girls The Musical - Not for me, but not exactly not for me. I love the original- I've learned one of the big reasons I like it is because it is not a musical. That's why I like most of the movies I like. It isn't so punishing in this movie. It's kind of a remake and kind of a sequel- mostly just fanservice for I guess people who like the 2004 one. Wouldn't watch this again unless I had too, and I'd be miffed at the person forcing me to watch it again. I liked the cast, at least. That's my only note I have, here.

28. Y2K - Reference heavy comedy-horror-ish. Fun in the first forty minutes and then falls apart pretty much the moment we enter the actual conflict of the film. I laughed a good amount, but if this is the best we can get for comedy within the span of an entire year... I don't know what that means really. It's funny, at least.

27. Furiosa - Fan of all the previous ones, do not get how people were pleased with this one. It feels more like The Dune movie I slept through than Fury Road (Becase I slept through this some, too). There's even a scene towards the end where instead of showing us a battle, have a voiceover describing to us how devastating the battle was. Some of the world-building is cool, again I like the other ones and I think if nothing else it's cool to see a director get to stick to his vision for this many decades; the entire behind the scenes stuff with Fury Road is to me as cool as the movie. But this was so average to me, which was sad. May have to watch again because so many people made me feel bad for not caring for it. You are a crazy person if you think it's better than Fury Road though.

26. Boy And The Heroin Ask ChatGPT to write you a script for a Studio Ghibli film and it would probably look something like this. They do always look pretty great, I think... But the charm is lost when it seems like there's a new one of these every year. It didn't feel like anything special, at least compared to other Ghibli stuff, maybe it was, at this point they all feel the same to me. But it may have been the only animated thing I saw in theaters (besides the Joker 2 intro), so it's first place for that (and last, too, IG).

25. In A Violent Nature - One of the more brutal movies I've seen in recent years, which is something. Cool premise; "What if we followed the killer the entire movie," cute. Kind of fun, filmed pretty, and some gory ass kills! Some of it stuck with me for a few days, like I said, just brutal... But I can't see myself revisiting. When you follow the killer in a third-person perspective, it gives you little reason to care about the would-be survivors, and here they aren't really likeable anyways. It's like Friday the 13th parts 2-4 but it doesn't even take the time to give you a reason to like or dislike the characters. Ambitious, low-budget, and a little silly but I'm glad to see something bolder than Sting. Fanatics of gore shoulld see it, but don't believe the people trying to compare it to a Malick film, are you fucking kidding me?

24. Skincare - Saw no trailers or promotional stuff before walking into this, at least it's an original IP. Love love Elizabeth Banks but forgot she was in this until just now. Feels kind of miscast, but I get it. Was excited during the beginning but it lost a lot of its monentum early. Aging woman losing relevance, etc. The Substance handled these themes in a more interesting way, and I didn't even like it that much. Didn't dislike this, but really don't remember much about it, just that I felt ready to forget about it on my way out of Regal.

23. MaXXXine - I haven't seen the other movies in the trilogy, so I may not be the right person to be reviewing this. But I didn't dislike it, so what are you gonna say, even??? I know they're all very quasi-referential, like the first one is more like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and this one is more some 80's crap. I guess it's supposed to be some sleazy early-80's thing like Angel? I don't think movies can be authentically sleazy if it relies entirely on being referential... But it was fun anyways. Not enough for me to go out of my way to see the first two, though. (I don't really like Angel, really, btw, but it's definitely authentic sleazehouse crap.)

22. A Real Pain - Happy to not have put this at the bottom of the list. Planned on hating this, and ended up being meh-to-OK about it. Not the best movie about the Holocaust that I saw this year. I like the Caulkin brother in this one. Low-stakes movie that moves from point A to point B painlessly. It probably got so far up the list for it's length, barely cracking 90 minutes. Thank you for the runtime, Mr. Eisenberg.

21. The Order - Gritty action/truecrime drama about Nazi a-holes running around the northwest, robbing banks and all that. Jude Law kicks ass in this. Not as tense as I had hoped, but was OK. Moves a little slow in some of the drama department, but was OK. This part of the list is where I start actually liking the movies.

20. Late Night With The Devil - Pretty fun. I love found-footage gimmick movies, gives the cast & crew a reason to work within a limited thing. This one is like Evilspeak meets Johnny Carson. Not entirely authentic though, a huge misstep being using VHS-like filters for things. Couldn't you have just... Used old cameras??? And not settled for CGI shit??? But it was a fun horror thing. I'd probably watch it again in some capacity, if somebody wanted me to watch it with them or something. Main guy is good, the occult-y themed ending is fun. Glad I saw it in theaters.

19. Blink Twice - Average-good! Would have had different things to say about it if the Diddy stuff never came out, but it seemed like that all happened only a couple weeks after this movie released. But now that's about all there is to say about it. The atmosphere of this movie reminds me of Don't Look Up and Triangle of Sadness, movies for neoliberal types to go, "See? rich people is bad." It's alright though. I like C. Tatum and the gang, but it gets a little heavy handed with the modernspeak. The twist of the whole thing is good, but the ending makes no sense, and it's pretty much there to give people a reason to applause during the movie. Which, there is probably nothing worse to happen in a theater.

18. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die - Pretty awesome. They reference the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap, which is pretty bad ass. These are great movies for what they are. And they always actually hit the R-rating, which is surprisingly not that common anymore for action flicks like this. Happy for everyone getting their check, and for Smith to take a second away from the weird Scientology sci-fi movie stuff he seemed to be featured in a lot more during the Obama admin.

17. Twisters - Pretty awesome, too. This shit is kind of brutal! Towns get decimated all to fucking hell! The rodeo scene alone is worth it for the 50-cent ticket price. Runs a little longer than it needs to, especially in the romantic-side-plot department. But there are enough tornados happening to keep you invested. It's pretty funny at times, both intentional and not. The Missouri in me can't help but like it; as a kid we watched the original Twister in the school library as a warning about severe weather in the spring time.

16. Cuckoo - Fun romp, a little heavy in references, like if you read any reviews on this thing they're probably citing the same movies that it is obviously "inspired" by. Was enjoyable in theaters. Cool music, good atmosphere, good cast. Not my favorite horror movie with a cast member from Euphoria to star in it this year, though, to be honest. Keep reading to find out!

15. Heretic - Loved the tense first hour, thought the setting was cool, petered out a little near the end, but overall I did like it. Kind of like a movie about an Athiest neckbeard guy who annoys you really bad at a bar, but it's Hugh Grant, which is brilliant casting. It's like how I felt about Steve Carell in Foxcatcher, you would never expect it. He has all the charm from any movie he stars in from like 1999-2003 but is just this pretty annoying Athiest guy, basically. And the chicks are these Dimes-Square lookalike types, they're cool too. Fun horror movie, although not exactly horror. Didn't know what to expect from the trailers, but was pleased enough.

14. The Apprentice - Fun movie about Trump that kind of tows the line between celebration and slam, taking place mostly in the 70's and 80's. The grimy New York tone that is lost in Joker 2 is found here, much to my delight. It's kind of a hit piece, but kind of not? But mostly is. I thought it was cool. Sebastian is great as the former and future prez. I'm not a huge Trump historian; before he had that TV show I really only knew him from appearing on WWE events a coulple times. This covers a lot I didn't know.

13. The Substance - Would have been higher on the list if it wasn't so long and wasn't so heavy-handed, but it was still something this year I enjoyed. Demi Moore is obv great in this, and Marg too. There has been plenty of discussion about this film and there isn't really too much to say that hasn't been said. The ending reminds me of a Mr. Show sketch. I wouldn't call this body horror, because that implies scary, and nothing in this film seems to be played to scare the viewer... but I digress! I always digress. Saw this at an AMC in Connecticut, and it was a nice time. People in LA need to get their priorities straight though if this relates to them on any field.

12. Challengers - Pretty good. I didn't think I'd care much for it but I thought it was pretty good. It wasn't as explicit or hypersexual as the trailers led me to believe. It's just about some mahfuckas who really like tennis! Zendaya is good in this, and so are the two lad-looking gentlemen. It isn't that gay of a movie either, which seemed contrary to what people were making it seem like. But a Good movie.

11. Terrifier 3 - I didn't even finish this movie and it's still this far up the list!!! I had about 45 minutes left but I had to leave early. I probably looked to the rest of the audience that I was so disgusted I had to vacate, which is not the case... But almost! DISGUSTING MOVIE!!! Very much do not recommend. I wouldn't watch this or the previous films again, probably, but I'll watch any future installments once, for sure. Damien Leone has struck gold with this franchise, and it's really a joy to witness. I don't find Art the Clown scary, and some of the writing is a little cringe... But if nothing else, he's created a box office smash with a huge cult following with essentially no budget, no Hollywood backing... American dream type stuff. I watched the first Terrifier on streaming over the pandemic and have been a fan since, whatever that means... These movies are seriously fucking disgusting! But it's somehow a fresh take on an old staple, the slasher. I'm not even sure how, really, but something about it is fresh to me. Bare minimum, it gives the folks something to talk about. Chainsaw to the asshole!

10. Zone Of Interest - Effective. I for some reason don't feel like saying much about it. There are many scenes in this that I remember almost a year later. The effects and camera work and sound and cast is great.

9. Immaculate - Best movie with a Euphoria character of the year! And one of the best sacreligious horror movies of the year, too! Sydney Sweeney is bad ass in this. Corrupt Catholic church stuff. Fun. Didn't hear much about this movie, I feel alone in putting it up so high, but to hell with it!

8. The Bikeriders - The other day I said to Tiff, "Remember when we saw Bikeriders?" I kind of forgot about it, which may be telling to some degree... But I really liked this one. The pacing is similar to Goodfellas, but with motorcycle guys. There's even a wife narrator who's like, "I stuck with him even though he was doing crazy stuff, because I loved him" - to paraphrase. You get what I mean. Jodie Comer and especially Tom Hardy are great in this; but I may be bit of a Tom Hardy head, not gonna lie. I don't like biker stuff really but I enjoyed watching these badass guys hanging out and smoking that shit.

7. Civil War - I am conflicted on whether I really believe that this movie belongs this high up on the list, but I felt that it was up there when I first saw it. I thought the kind-of-post-apocalyptic setting felt real as could be, and I like movies that take place on the road. The journalistic viewpoint is a little funny though, the more I think about it. Like why are they so obsessed with their craft at a time like this...? K. Dunst is good. I like the ambiguous nature of the whole thing. Getting my 28-Days-Later fix until the new one comes out in 2025.

6. Strange Darling - So much better than I could have expected from something called Strange Darling. Twisty-turvy love/horror/drama kind of thing, a certain subgenre of a subgenre that feels very in right now. But it was good. I almost did not catch this one, but saw a few good reviews on it, and went to a last minute showing, and was very happy with it. It's organized neatly, the main cast is entertaining, and it takes a good turn midway through the thing. The color pallette's a little heavy on the eyes, and a little heavy handed, but I can be too cynical sometimes. Good violence. Worth a watch.

5. Poor Things - Pretty funny movie. I didn't get to say that very much about many movies this year, looking back on it now. The whole thing is kind of a comedy, one of the only ones of the year, it seems. Part of me hoped I'd never have to see get E. Stone railed in so many which ways, though, something about that has me disturbed still. But I feel like that's part of the comedy too, in meta kind of way. Wasn't planning on seeing this at all but I caught the tail end of it's theatrical run in February. I liked it and was happy to have liked it.

4. Didi - May have ranked this so highly based on the audience that this film was targeted for (me), but a lot of it reminded me of the sweeter stuff from 8th Grade (the movie), Ladybird, etc. It's like 8th Grade but infused with a crailtap.com aesthetic. Pretty accurate, if nothing else, but there is a lot else in there to enjoy; note that all the kids are calling eachother gay and stuff like that, which is very accurate to the time period, NGL. The skatebording culture in it isn't as much of a plot point as I was expecting going into it (like Mid-90's which I still haven't seen but it's one of the worst movies of all time), and there's a lot of themes about the stuff you'd expect from it. The family unit, heritage, puberty, pretty normal coming-of-age stuff but done with the proper distribution of comedy and drama. It's best when these kinds of things are mostly funny, but the funny stuff is pretty damn lighthearted - going to have to mention 8th Grade again because they remind me a lot of eachother. All the Myspace and Hellogoodbye references and shit for me are just the icing for it all. I was sitting next to a guy who must have been near my age and we were both snickering at any stupid Nokia Razor ringtone joke. Skaters from the Fully Flared era will enjoy this, positively. Kudos to when they're skating that Jerry Hsu out ledge spot that he skates in Bag of Suck (it must be in San Jose?) and the Cass McCombs song he skates to is the background music. Nice.

3. Longlegs - The best horror movie I saw this year, which is most movies I saw this year. Anyone will tell you that this movie is "_____ meets ____." And yes, it does remind me a lot of those movies, but it has it's own original thing going for it too thats stuck with me. I feel crazy that people were saying that it's the scariest movie of the year, because it isn't that scary, but compared to everything else that came out, I guess maybe it is the scariest??? It's certainly the best, regardless. Cast is awesome. I've been a fan of Maika Monroe since It Follows - a horror movie I still bring up when people want to talk about modern-ish horror movies - the thing is over a decade old at this point - and still really good - but anyways - she is amazing and yes N. Cage is hilariously awesome. There's a scene with him in a car that has been making me laugh to myself since I saw it in theaters. I like how the movie is segmented, too. Happy I got to see this in theaters because otherwise I probably wouldn't have seen it at all.

2. Iron Claw - This movie did not actually come out in 2024, but I still saw it in 2024. This was one of the first movies I saw this year and it's stayed at the top of this list for most of that time. Just great. Biopic on a story that I kind of vaguely new from that Dark Side Of The Ring series, but it's directed here so well. Just the way the era is depicted is so great... In some ways, the whole thing kind of plays like a horror movie, the way the body count rises in it. Efron is so lovely in this, he reminds me of a Clint Eastwood directed type of character in some strange way, and it has a dark tone to the whole thing, which it is dark, the whole thing, but not entirely. It's very sad, but not done in a way that feels exploitive of anything. It's shockingly sweet, somehow, too. The ending is just great... I'm not a fan much of the time of the faux-mental-health-talk-is-good themes explored in most movies now, but I like it with Effie here. GREAT MOVIE!!!! My only big complaint is the Ric Flair character, which was horribly casted and just should have been recast or cut entirely. But still GREAT MOVIE!!!!

1. Anora - It's so wild to me how many times I said I would absolutely not be seeing this movie when the trailer would come on. Something about it irked me; honestly when a movie has a red band trailer though, it often irks me. The red band trailer's only use is to say "fuck" which they cannot do in a green band trailer. The red band trailer for this said fuck so many times that it pissed me off, and it just looked stupid to me, on top of it all (even though I really liked Mikey Madison in Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood). But I did a little research, and put together that, oh, this is the Sean Baker who did Tangerine, which I somehow saw it in theaters in 2014, I think. And although I hadn't revisited the movie, the whole filmed-on-an-iPhone microbudget type thing always stayed with me. That kind of thing always resonates with me - I love an underdog. Sean Baker seems to like being that, too. He's given a much larger project here. Lots of directors seem to have trouble making a jump to a larger budget after doing something successful with a very low one, but Baker just fucking killed it here... The first thirty minutes or so is what we are shown in the trailers and then it evolves into something more of a dysfunctional romantic comedy of sorts, and it's funny as hell a lot of the time. Most of the movie is pretty light, tonally, compared to the neon-light-ridden sex-worker-stripper aesthetic we're thrown into from the title card. I guess that's kind of how Tangerine was, too. I don't know, Sean Baker is great, I guess. There's so much to like here, and there's so much that I personally liked that I was so shocked to have liked, but I liked it nonetheless. It's a really sweet movie within all the fucking and sucking you have to sit through, and there's enough of that stuff, definitely... I was so happy to have seen it in a time where I was at the very least planning on not seeing it, and at the most hating it. This is one of those movies that seemed like it was probably somewhat of a risk to produce but hopefully in the end was worth it for those dickheads in Hollywood to continue greenlighting more stuff like it.

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