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Song of the Day #6,074: ‘Big Chief’ – Professor Longhair

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#7. Hit Man

Richard Linklater is among my favorite filmmakers for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that — when he isn’t riffing on his central thesis about the beauty in seemingly mundane human experiences — he can deliver an effortlessly charming high-concept crowd-pleaser like this.

Loosely based on a Texas Monthly article about a college professor who impersonated a contract killer to assist the Houston police, Hit Man is part crime thriller, part romcom, and part exploration of the meaning of identity. You know Linklater isn’t going to resist the urge to insert some armchair philosophizing.

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Song of the Day #6,073: ‘Evergreen’ – Roy Orbison

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#8. The Beast

I had read that Bertrand Bonello’s romantic sci-fi epic was a tough watch — the sort of impenetrable art film that leaves you more confused than moved. So I was delighted when it turned out to be an ambitious but easily decipherable tale of a couple whose love affair spans centuries.

Based (very) loosely on the Henry James novella The Beast in the Jungle, The Beast follows Gabrielle and Louis, played by Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, through three timelines: France in 1910, Los Angeles in 2014, and 2044 in an unnamed city ruled by artificial intelligence.

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Song of the Day #6,072: ‘Breakers Roar’ – Sturgill Simpson

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#9. Civil War

I can’t recall the last time a trailer generated as much controversy as the one for Alex Garland’s Civil War.

Some people thought it was irresponsible for a film to depict a modern-day civil war, particularly at a time when our politics have the country hopelessly divided and norms have eroded to the point that citizens believe storming the Capitol to overturn an election is an example of peaceful protest.

Others laughed at the film’s teased Texas/California alliance, assuming Garland (a Brit) was so ignorant of American politics that he didn’t know how to properly draw the battle lines.

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Song of the Day #6,071: ‘Resurrection’ – Dominique Plante

Over the next two weeks, I’ll offer up my top ten movies of 2024.

If you’ve been reading my posts from the last few weeks you probably have an idea of which films will show up here. But in these entries, I’ll spend a little more space explaining why.

Best Films of 2024
#10. Red Rooms

The third film by Canadian writer/director Pascal Plante, Red Rooms is a taut psychological thriller that examines society’s fascination with true crime. It follows a woman, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), who spends her days attending the trial of a man accused of torturing and killing three teenage girls.

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Song of the Day #6,070: ‘Careless Whisper’ – Wham! featuring George Michael

The week of February 16, 1985, gave us a classic pop hit, with Wham!’s ‘Careless Whisper’ spending its first of three weeks at #1.

The song was credited in the U.S. to “Wham! featuring George Michael” and in the UK to Michael as a solo artist, but it appeared on the duo’s sophomore album, Make It Big, and was released as that record’s second single. Interestingly, it was the only song on that album co-written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, yet it was the one attributed to Michael as a solo performer.

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