Must-see Hollywood hits in 2024 and a few lesser-known gems

Transcript

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William Brangham: The holidays are a great time to catch up on the year’s best films, whether streaming at home or heading to the theater.

So, to highlight some of the best movies of the year, Jeffrey Brown sat down with two film critics, who shared their top picks.

It’s part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Jeffrey Brown: And, once again, it’s time to spotlight some of the year’s best work, along with a few hidden gems you might have missed.

Here to tell us their favorites, I’m joined by Mike Sargent, host of the podcast “Brown & Black” and co-president of the Black Film Critics Circle, and Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour.”

It’s nice to see both of you again.

Mike, let me start with you. Why don’t we start with a couple of big films, big-budget films?

Mike Sargent, Co-President, Black Film Critics Circle: Well, I guess the biggest budget film I will start with is “Wicked.”

I have to say, that was a film that I was not necessarily looking forward to, but I was very impressed. I didn’t — I didn’t understand why they were splitting it into two films. I didn’t — I never saw the play, so I didn’t really — I love “Wizard of Oz,” but I will say that it is absolutely a film you should see in theaters with an audience, as big a theater as you can and with as big an audience as you can.

It was absolutely something — it’s an event and there’s a reason why it’s doing so well.

The other film I’d pick is a film that I’d heard a lot about and then I didn’t get to see right away. And that’s a film called “Conclave.” And that’s a mystery thriller. It’s directed by Edward Berger, and it’s based on a 2016 novel by Robert Harris. And it’s essentially about finding the next pope and what that whole process is.

And it is quite a ride. And it brings you inside how all of that goes on. But there are so many twists and turns and such great performances from literally three Oscar nominees, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow. I absolutely recommend “Conclave.”

Jeffrey Brown: Linda Holmes, two big-budget films.

Linda Holmes, Pop Culture Correspondent, NPR: By the way, “Conclave” loved “Conclave.”

My action movie heart this year went out to “The Fall Guy,” which has Ryan Gosling as a stuntman who is working on a movie being made by his ex, who is played by Emily Blunt. It is an action comedy, little bit of rom-com. I found it so kind of big-hearted. It’s also got a lot of great stunts.

The director used to be a stuntman. I found this to be my favorite kind of blockbuster-ish type movie of the year. I had a great time at that film.

Another one, to go to the completely opposite end of higher-profile stuff, “The Brutalist,” which stars Adrien Brody, is a big, long, heavy, three-and-a-half-hour film. I love the fact that they have incorporated a 15-minute intermission, which I want more movies to do if they are that long.

It’s a beautiful story about an artist post-Holocaust kind of making his way trying to realize his art. It’s a great film about art and artists.

Jeffrey Brown:How about, Mike Sargent, start us with a couple of lower-budget or smaller films?

Mike Sargent: Well, a smaller film I have to mention is a film called “Nickel Boys.” And that’s a film that was directed by RaMell Ross. And it’s based on a novel by Colson Whitehead from 2019. It’s based on a school that actually existed for over 100 years.

And it really centers on two boys who go through, let’s just say, all the cruel things that they were doing at this school. It’s really an interesting way of storytelling in terms of what the director does. Everything you see is from the point of view of the two young boys. And it’s a very, very powerful story. I absolutely recommend it. I don’t want to tell you more about it because I think it’s best to go into it having no idea where you’re going with this story.

Jeffrey Brown: I saw that.

(CROSSTALK)

Jeffrey Brown: It’s quite unusual the way he shoots it.

Mike Sargent: Absolutely. And it’s compelling. It draws you right in because you get a perspective that you wouldn’t have, which is what I think films should do.

The second film is a film, a new film from Sean Baker. And Sean Baker is a director who always does interesting works. He focuses on the people who often get ignored in our society. And “Anora” is about a sex worker from Brooklyn who gets a chance at what she thinks is essentially a Cinderella story.

And this is sort of “Pretty Woman” for adults, where this is a lot more based in reality. And, again, this is a film that takes many twists and many turns. And it’s been described as entertaining. And, yes, it is. It’s engrossing. But entertaining isn’t the word I’d use. I would just say it’s very, very compelling. You won’t be bored for a minute.

Jeffrey Brown: Linda Holmes, two more for you.

Linda Holmes: One that I really love this year is “Sing Sing,” which is a story about the theater program for incarcerated people at Sing Sing prison.

And it’s based on true story. Not only that, but a lot of the people who are in the film are formerly incarcerated people from Sing Sing who were in this program. It’s who naturally are trained in theater and have some background. They also worked on developing the script. It stars Colman Domingo, who I think is honestly one of our best and most reliable actors. I will watch him in anything. He’s fabulous in this. And it touched me so much. And it’s a great filmmaking story as well.

Another one that you can find on Netflix, and it’s a terrific family drama, is called “His Three Daughters.” This one was sold to me on the cast, which is Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen, who, again, three just enormously different, but enormously reliable actors.

And it’s about these three sisters who come together at their father’s apartment because he’s at the end of his life. And it’s a wonderful story about how the aging of parents complicates sibling relationships, can bring people closer, but also can really bring up a lot of family stuff.

It’s one of several kind of good pieces of media I saw this year about people aging and kids of aging parents. And so I very, very much loved that film, “His Three Daughters.”

Jeffrey Brown: So, in our time left, maybe we should give a little love to documentaries.

Mike, you want to tell us, what was your favorite documentary of the year?

Mike Sargent: This is the golden age of documentaries.

And what’s great, the film I’m going to mention is a film called “Piece by Piece.” And it’s documentary about Pharrell Williams. And it’s done animated, but not just animated. It’s done in LEGOs. And that’s such an interesting and original way of approaching a documentary. And it works perfectly.

There are a lot of aspects of his life that are fantastical, but also you need to visualize, what he visualizes. He has a condition where he sees music in colors. And telling it in this way, it disarms you and it makes you pay attention to all the things that happen in life in a very different way. I think it’s really great piece of filmmaking and a great documentary as well.

Jeffrey Brown: Linda, favorite documentary?

Linda Holmes: I think Mike’s right that it’s a golden age for the filmmaking. It’s also a golden age, fortunately, for the availability of documentaries because of the rise of streaming services.

So one of the ones I wanted to highlight is called “Girls State.”

And there was a film a couple years ago called “Boys State,” which is about the Boys State program, where high school boys are brought together and they sort of create a mock government and they have elections. So, this year, they did “Girls State.”

“Girls State” is very different. This was filmed just as the Supreme Court was considering reproductive rights and the girls are very focused on that. How different it is for girls to be in a program like that, at least for these girls, is explored. And you can find that on Apple TV.

A lot of these documentaries, it’s exactly the kind of film that years ago everybody would have said how good it was, but it would have been super difficult to find it unless you had a really good blockbuster. This, a lot of these, you can find on streaming.

Jeffrey Brown: All right, some of the years best from Linda Holmes and Mike Sargent.

Thank you both very much.

Linda Holmes: Thank you.

Mike Sargent: Thank you.