Best Movies/Series – 2024

In no particular order:

1. Challengers
   Zendaya’s energy sizzles throughout in this ménage à trois story

2. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny:
   I’ve been watching all the Indiana Jones’ movies with the kids. The time travel scene to the Battle of Syracuse and the appearance of Archimedes in the scene was spellbinding.

3. Conclave
   Watched this last week and the climax was totally unexpected. Fiennes at his best. I’m also eagerly waiting to watch his ‘The Return’ – in which he portrays Odysseis fighting off the suitors for his wife Penelope. The trailer is worth checking out.

4. Kishkinda Kandam –
   The setting and the Gajini/Memento styled amnesia based story made it the best Malayalam movie I watched this year.

5. Holy Spider
   Iranian thriller. Written earlier….

6. Say Nothing:
   This series, based on the Troubles of Norhtern Ireland was adapted from Patrick Radden Keefe’s work with the same name. Will be remembered for the devastating portrayal of Gerry Adams and his role in the IRA.

7. The New Look:
   Coco Chanel and Christian Dior’s life during the Nazi occupation of Paris. The series was slow but gripping. I knew nothing about their lives, so the series was a great watch

8. Cléo from 5 to 7
   Watch it for Paris

9. News from Home
   Chantal Akerman’s telefilm was a montages of different scenes from daily life in New York. The letters are laced with a mother’s anxiety, anguish, love, concern, and warmth. The universal emotion of every parent fearing for the safety and well-being of their child in a distant land was so beautifully captured. The ninety minutes spent was equivalent to time travel to New York of the ’70s – the subway, the streets, the view from cabs, the Hudson, Manhattan…

10. Les Olympiades (Paris, 13th District)
    Written earlier….

11.Band of Brothers & The Pacific
The first two of the trilogy covering the American land and naval campaigns. The third (Master of the Air) was disappointing.

12. Scenes from a Marriage:
    Bergman’s masterpiece will be remembered for Liv Ulmann’s sultry screen presence. The movie was also adapted into a series which I found utterly dull.

13. Perunthachan
    The day MT passed away, most of the Malayalam channels screened his movies. Rewatched this classic which had all the trademark features of a MT movie – sparse dialogues, stifling social norms, desire and the reimagination of historical characters.

14. Anora
    Pretty Woman in which Richard Gere treats Julia Roberts shabbily = Anora.
    I couldnt empathise with her character but the movie was technically sound.

Amongst the superhits of the year, Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine as Light’ didn’t work for me. Manjummal Boys, I found dull (The Malayali bachelor-tourist antics were spot on). Bougainvillea went wrong with casting Kunchacko. Reindeer Baby, I couldnt complete and the worst was Fahad’s Aavesham.