My Favourite TV & Film in 2024
TV and Film took a backseat to music this year, but I still managed to see a fair bit - so here is a journey through my year on screens
I’ve mentioned this before, but I used to write about television and film: one of my earliest reviewing jobs was 150 words each about new DVDs for a local weekly in Whangārei, and my first regular paid job was writing about and reviewing a lot television for On The Box, a blog at Stuff. A lot.
In recent years, I decided to keep track of everything I watch, meaning I have notes on every film and television episode I’ve seen since the start of 2018. Even the repeats - and with three kids, its mostly repeats of Bluey.
Anyway, it means we can take a month by month journey through what I loved this year - even if some of it wasn’t from this year.
January
The year started off kind of slowly. As we do most years, we re-watched The Lord Of The Rings trilogy - extended editions, of course - and for a bit of a change, we included The Hobbit trilogy as well. Except instead of the three movies, we found a version called the M4 Edit online, which cuts the three extended Hobbit movies into one lengthy film that hews closer to the book. It was a lot better than Jackson’s overlong trilogy.
I also finished off a couple of late-2023 shows that I enjoyed a lot. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S1 (Apple+) was a fun little jaunt into the history of the organisation at the centre of the movie series featuring Godzilla and Kong, but it had no tangible effect on the movie series. Percy Jackson & The Olympians S1 (Disney+) finished up too; it was a pretty well made series that was much better than the attempts to make a film of the Rick Riordan books.
February
February was quiet. I really enjoyed American Nightmares (Netflix), a three part documentary series about the kidnapping of Denise Huskins; the police initially wrote it off as a hoax and it got labelled ‘the real life Gone Girl’ but that wasn’t the whole story. I also caught up on Marvel’s What If…? S2 (Disney+), which was an improvement on S1, and the first of three really good Marvel Studios series in 2024; it might be my favourite show of the year. The Wallabies: Inside Rugby World Cup 2023 (Apple TV) was a fascinating look behind the scenes of their disastrous World Cup campaign.
Lastly, I was sceptical of the idea of a Mean Girls musical, but holy hell, I was way wrong. Led by Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp (who starred in the musical on Broadway) and Auli’i ‘Moana’ Cravalho, Mean Girls: The Musical (NEON) is a hoot, full of great songs and self-aware lyricism. Highly recommend.
March
One of my favourite shows returned: Game Changer S6 (Dropout) started, dropping new episodes every fortnight. For those unfamiliar, Game Changer is a game show where the game changes every episode, and the players don’t know what the game is when the episode starts; one episode found the players actively trying to come second, another was a drawing challenge, another involved players riotously searching the studio for the buzzer to answer a trivia question.
Two amazing sci-fi titles for the year dropped in March. Dune: Part Two landed in cinemas, the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s brilliant adaptation of the Frank Herbert books. And the English language adaptation of Cixin Liu’s book, produced by Game Of Thrones’ David Benioff and DB Weiss, 3 Body Problem S1 (Netflix) was brilliant, though I feel like I enjoyed it more than most people; in fact, it might be my favourite show of the year.
Lastly, I watched Argylle, the twisty spy movie directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and Henry Cavill. It reviewed terribly. People I know told me it was bad. And yet I thoroughly enjoyed it.
April
A bunch of great stuff in April: I wondered if The Jinx S2 (NEON) would be a waste of time but it turned out as good as the first season. Extraordinary S2 (Disney+) was brilliant as it further explored the superpowers of its comedy cast. Marvel’s X-Men ‘97 (Disney+) was a fantastic return to the X-Men series, and a great addition to the MCU. And I thought Theo James was fantastic in the surprisingly entertaining The Gentlemen S1 (Netflix).
Two things stood out this month though. Fallout S1 (Amazon) might go down as the best video game adaptation ever made - and in stark contrast to the movie Uncharted, which came out a few weeks earlier, and it might be my favourite show of the year; I wrote a bit more about it here. And Alex Garland’s movie Civil War was a misunderstood look at what a civil war in the USA might look like; I reviewed that here.
Lastly, I have to give a shout to the brilliant Bluey S3 (TVNZ+) episode “The Sign”, which I first watched in April, and have seen probably a dozen times since. It is amazing to me how Bluey strikes the balance between made for children and made for adults, and nowhere is that more on display than in this episode.
May
I’ve written before about Dark Matter S1 (Apple+), which I think might be my favourite show of the year; you can read that here. Also, May delivered my favourite episode of Game Changer S6 (Dropout): titled “Bingo”, the episode features three contestants doing tasks determined by a trio of other contestants upstairs who are trying to get them to perform specific actions - but of course there is another even more insane twist. Its a perfect episode of television.
Also, can I make the case for The Fall Guy? Ryan Gosling stars as a stunt man and Emily Blunt as a film director who have a romantic past but get caught up in a crime ring when their lead actor goes missing. The Fall Guy reviewed poorly and ended up being a box office bomb. But its actually a really fun movie, lots of great action sequences, a handful of belly laughs, and a typically charming performance from Gosling. I’m shocked it didn’t do better.
June
Another show that deserved better: Star Wars: The Acolyte S1 (Disney+). I wrote about it twice, here and here. And I hate that it got cancelled because of - what I would describe as - a sabotage campaign by certain corners of the Star Wars fandom who are scared of anything female led and outside of the main timeline.
House Of The Dragon S2 (NEON) returned and got better as it went along. The Boys S4 (Amazon) delivered a brilliantly unhinged penultimate season; it might be my favourite show of the year. And the end of Game Changer S6 meant the start of Make Some Noise S3 (Dropout), a show spun off from Game Changer “unchanged” in which contestants fulfil improv comedy prompts. It is hilarious every single episode. It might be my favourite show of the year.
July
July was all about movies. First of all, it was Glen Powell movies: I finally got around to watching Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, which I thought was exceptionally well written and exceptionally funny, and only works because Powell was all in. Then I saw Twisters on opening day; I enjoyed that too. Not quite a remake, not quite a sequel, it did capture the spirit and tone of the original, even if there was no bad guy as bafflingly evil as Cary Elwes.
A pair of horrors made an impression, especially the creepy I Saw The TV Glow, which starts as a creepy teen movie and turns into - what I took to be - an allegory of gender transition. It was a really powerful and occasionally profound movie that has stayed with me. I also saw Oz Perkins’ Longlegs; I wrote about that here.
But the real star of July was Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, the geeky buddy film, and blatant exercise in fan service, that every MCU fan - myself included - has been dreaming about since Disney got back the rights to the X-Men. And it delivered. I saw it in theatres twice.
August
I finally managed to finish off Severance S1 (Apple+) and loved it; now I’m looking forward to the new season. I also took in Taskmaster NZ S5 (TVNZ+), joined by the kids - and we all loved it; its as good as the UK version these days. We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel) S2 (Amazon) was a hoot as well. And it renewed my belief that we’re living in a computer simulation.
I made a couple of trips to the movies. Evie and I went to see Ant Timpson’s Bookworm and loved it; it’s the breakout hit that Timpson has long deserved and one that only he could have made. I also saw Alien: Romulus, sans Evie. The Alien franchise is back, baby!
The best series I watched in August was an oldie but a goodie: Jury Duty S1 (Apple+) came out in 2023 but I watched it in 2024. Is it a comedy? Is it a reality show? Yes. And it’s bloody good at both, honestly. James Marsden is amazing in it. In fact, it might be my favourite show of the year.
September
September found me moving into my own flat which meant unlimited amounts of TV watching. I finally caught up with Only Murders In The Building (Disney+), binging through S1, S2 and S3. I blasted through Kaos S1 (Netflix) in three nights then found it had been cancelled; despite that, it might be my favourite show of the year, as I wrote here.
And I started Marvel’s Agatha All Along S1 (Disney+), a wonderfully witchy and campy tale that eventually featured Agatha Harkness, Wiccan and Death, set itself up for a sequel, and featured Patti Lupone in a main role. It might be my favourite show of the year. The kids and I also started on Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee S1 (ThreeNow), which is hilariously silly.
I also caught one of the most interesting sci-fi films of the year, Omni Loop, about a woman with a black hole growing in her chest that is also stuck in a time loop. Well, “stuck”. It’s essentially a two-handed starting Mary-Louise Parker and Ayo Edebiri, and they are both brilliant. I’d recommend it to all.
October
One of my favourite ‘mystery box’ shows returned in October: From S3 (TVNZ+) is as close to Lost as you can find these days. Dropout launched a new show: Gastronauts S1 (Dropout) finds three comedians giving cooking challenges to three chefs with descriptions like ‘make the horniest dish’ and ‘make an edible wearable hat’. HBO also made a pisstake of the MCU that was hilarious and packed with inside jokes and completely on point; The Franchise S1 (NEON) might be my favourite show of the year. I also watched and loved Outer Range S1/S2 (Amazon) but was annoyed to find out three episodes in that it had already been cancelled. I finished it anyway. (Stupid cliffhangers.)
October also delivered two of the movies I loved most this year. Things Will Be Different played as part of Terror-Fi 2024; its a time-travel story about a pair of criminals trying to avoid responsibility for a crime, and it was a fantastic tale.
But my favourite movie of the year, by a long gap, was The Substance. Directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in awards quality turns, The Substance is a horror about the trappings of fame and it is phenomenal - a sci-fi premise that turns into a horror as the film moves along, leading to a completely unhinged third act. Best movie of 2024. Easily.
November
Two of my favourite shows returned: Shrinking S2 (Apple+) and Silo S2 (Apple+) are another pair of reasons why Apple+ might be the most under-rated streamer, and both are having brilliant sophomore turns. And Fred and I watched Transformers: One, which was surprisingly good - like, it was legitimately a lot better than it needed to be. Maybe this is the future of Transformers movies.
Meanwhile, I finally got around to watching The Walking Dead spinoffs. The Walking Dead: Dead City S1 (TVNZ+) was decent, but The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon S1 (TVNZ+) might be the best TWD show to date, benefiting from a change in setting (France) and from its relative disconnection from the main series.
The best show of the month, though, was A Man On The Inside S1 (Netflix). Created by Mike Schur (The Good Place), Ted Danson stars as a widower looking for something to occupy his time, who ends up working for a private investigator undercover at a retirement home. It is an absolute delight. Its funny. Its charming. Its moving. It might be my favourite show of the year.
December
So what else is left? I’m planning to use some of my break to catch up on a few shows: Dune Prophecy S1 (NEON), The Agency S1 (NEON maybe; we’ll see), Black Doves S1 (Netflix) and The Day Of The Jackal S1 (TVNZ+), and I want to check out Star Wars: Skeleton Crew S1 (Disney) with my son.
On the movie front, I want to see Conclave and desperately want to see Heretic, but might have to wait for streaming to see that one now.
But over to you:
What were your favourite shows and movies of 2024?
And what do you want to catch up on over the break?
Thanks for reading everyone!
See you tomorrow for the final New Singles of the year.
Chris xo
Was there a show or film you didn't like?
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show really broke my brain. I think about that show all the time. But Industry really hit that Succession sweet spot for me. And The Substance was such a great cinema experience. Never want to see it again though!