As the 2024 movie season comes to an end, here’s a look back at some of the films featured this year, including a few titles that have made best-of lists!

The following article was previously posted online at CHIRPRadio.org

In its eleventh year, the Chicago Critics Film Festival continues to outdo itself. Last year gave us the critically-acclaimed Oscar contender Past Lives (not to mention our first glimpse of Lily Gladstone, before becoming an Oscar-nominated household name), so my expectations were high. So far, the festival has managed to fulfill them with a slot of fun horror flicks making big splashes while the more dramatic fare wades in between.

To kick off the festivities, CCFF smartly chose Sing Sing, a crowd-pleasing drama set in the infamous prison, where prisoners find purpose through performance.

Fresh off his Oscar-nominated turn in Rustin, Colman Domingo stars as Divine G, one of the founding members of RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts). It’s time to put on a new staged production, and Divine G and company decide to shake things up with a comedic original, where each prisoner auditions for roles, rehearses lines, and develops the truths of their character while confronting the truths of their incriminating pasts.

More than just “Shakespeare with shanks,” Sing Sing is a triumph thanks to its charming ensemble–mostly made up of formerly incarcerated actors (Release Date: July 12th). 

In Cuckoo, Euphoria‘s Hunter Schaeffer plays Gretchen, a seventeen-year-old who moves to the Bavarian Alps with her father and step-family. Already in the throes of teen angst, Gretchen feels even more alienated at her new home–a secluded resort managed by the discomforting Mr. Konig (played with discomforting delight by Dan Stevens with a whimsical euro accent).

It isn’t long before Gretchen notices bizarre behavior from the resort’s inhabitants, as well as strange noises and a mysterious figure cloaked in a beige trench coat. Cuckoo is more than just a title–it’s also a great description for its kooky finale! (Release Date: August 9th)

The filmmakers behind In a Violent Nature finally answer the age-old question in all slasher horror films: What is the killer up to before dispatching all of the dumb, horny teenagers who are off drinking, drugging, and having sex?

Killing time, of course (did I just make a Dad Joke?). Director Chris Nash strategically films this clever horror film from the point-of-view of the ambiguous killer: an undead monster unknowingly resurrected who kills with unflinchingly violent–yet deliciously inventive–vigor. For any fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, you won’t want to miss this! (Release Date: May 31st)

Riding on the coattails of In a Violent Nature, comes Oddity. This film seems to have been crafted from a collection of oddities of the cinematic variety: borrowing from the haunted house archives of The Conjuring and Stir of Echoes, as well as the paranormal thriller files of The Dead Zone and Don’t Look Now.

After the brutal murder of his wife Dani in the country home they were renovating, Dr. Ted Timmis gets an unexpected visit from Dani’s blind clairvoyant sister Darcy. Darcy believes there’s more to Dani’s murder than what was initially reported, and to help her find answers, she brings along a disturbing artifact from her antique store of supposedly cursed items.

How this “oddity” will help her is gradually revealed in this scary, well-crafted horror film. (Release Date: July 19th)

After surviving three horror films back-to-back, I was in need of a good palate cleanser. I found my answer in the refreshing western The Dead Don’t Hurt. Directed and co-starring Viggo Mortensen, the film really belongs to Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Corsage).

As the headstrong Vivienne Le Coudy, Krieps portrays a French woman determined to clear her own path in the world. She meets her match (both in gumption and romance) with Danish Holger Olsen (Mortensen).

When the call of duty persuades Holger to join up with the Union during the Civil War, Vivienne is left to fend for herself in a community built on corruption and brutality. With The Dead Don’t Hurt, Mortensen contributes a callback to gritty classics from John Ford and Clint Eastwood, while also carving out a space for a western about two immigrants building a life for themselves in the wild American frontier. (Release Date: May 31st)

When Mats Steen was born, his parents had such dreams and hopes for their son, but upon his devastating diagnosis with a severe form of muscular dystrophy known as Duchenne, those dreams seemed to be over.

But after his death at age twenty-five, his parents learned that what they assumed to be a lonely and isolated life, turned out to be something more profound and impactful in the online gaming world. In The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, we watch as Mats’ parents learn about his friendships and connections through World of Warcraft, where he existed in avatar form as Ibelin, a charismatic persona who provided Mats with boundless opportunities not afforded to him in the real world.

A documentary that’ll leave you a sniffling, emotionally-wrecked mess, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin serves as an uplifting reminder that one’s existence in the world matters and can impact others in ways never imagined. (Release Date: October 25th) 

Based on the sold out screening, I Saw the TV Glow was perhaps the festival’s most buzzworthy–and most attended–event. I admit, it’s probably the only title I was remotely aware of thanks to the film’s day-glo splattered trailer playing at most movie theaters I’ve been frequenting.

The film itself is like an homage to David Lynch with a script inspired by John Hughes: an awkward teenager surviving the soul-sucking suburbs meets the archetypal high school “goth chick” who introduces him to a late-night kids TV show called The Pink Opaque.

In what becomes a shared obsession for a pop cultural peculiarity, manifests into something far more sinister beneath the gleam of its cheap mid-nineties production values. The film itself is beautifully shot in a mix of neon blues, pinks, and purples, but tonally, is more arthouse than horror. (Release Date: May 17th)

Technically, Thelma screened last Saturday afternoon, but due to scheduling conflicts I managed to check out a screener from the convenience of my home. I’m glad I did, because this film about a 93-year-old telephone scam victim who sets out to reclaim the money taken from her was worth it!

June Squibb, the Oscar-nominated character actress who’s taken over Betty White’s reign of feisty senior citizen roles, leads this quirky comedy with aplomb. An elderly widow unwilling to bend to the concerns of her domineering family, Squibb takes a page out of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise (including doing her own stunt work!) and provides plenty of action-packed moments, “geriatric style”: racing down nursing home hallways in a slicked-out scooter, bravely climbing the perilous steps of a two-story home, and navigating the treacherous paths of antique stores, just to get back what’s hers.

With a heist-themed score reminiscent of anything composed by Isaac Hayes (coincidentally, this film co-stars Richard Roundtree–the original Shaft–in his final performance), Thelma reminds us that our tenacity for thrill-seeking never gets old. (Release Date: June 21st)

Finances, road trips, heartbreak–these problems can serve as a hallmark for any singer-songwriter, including the protagonist in Dandelion. A struggling Cincinnati musician, Dandelion embarks on a last minute road trip to South Dakota to perform at a motorcycle rally.

The gig doesn’t go as she had hoped, but it leads her to a handsome guitarist, who helps provide a creative outlet (not to mention an undeniable attraction).

The story itself is rather formulaic, but the original songs are as top notch as the leading performance of Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk). Director Nicole Riegel’s fine camerawork captures the beauty of the South Dakota terrain and the electric chemistry between the two musicians.

Overall, Dandelion is a film about how creativity can come from unexpected places, and how artistry is not so much a means to make a living, but a way of living. (Release Date: July 12th)

Continuing on the theme of music comes Flipside. Documentarian Chris Wilcha sets out to revive Flipside, a New Jersey record store where he landed his first job. The store still exists, but isn’t quite the same place he fondly remembers from his youth.

In fact, the entire process of documenting Flipside’s legacy has him reflecting on his own–from shelved hard drives of long abandoned projects and the circumstances of life that got in the way.

What’s interesting about this documentary is that it allows Wilcha ability to kill several birds with one stone. With unused footage featuring poignant reflections of jazz photographer Herman Leonard as he faces mortality, to the frustrating creative struggles that have hindered writer Starlee Kine, Wilcha is able to thread the needle between a lot of the unfulfilled documentaries that have collected dust over the years (much like Flipside itself).

Flipside is not just about reflecting on the past, but the difficulties of letting it go. (Release Date: May 31st)

In What You Wish For, two old culinary school friends reunite in Latin America: Ryan, down on his luck and dealing with gambling problems, and Jack, who seemingly appears well off, having been hired to cook an elaborate meal for some rather wealthy clients.

After a shocking twist of events, Ryan takes Jack’s identity to fulfill the profitable opportunity, but soon learns that such a bountiful reward requires an equal atrocity to be committed.

To say that Ryan bites off more than he can chew is an understatement. What he blindly walks into becomes a nightmarish metaphor of classism and privilege. The tension sizzles each step of the way, from a recipe straight out of a cookbook from Alfred Hitchcock.

It’s a shame then that the conclusion is bluntly served, wrapping up what could’ve been a tasty thriller had the filmmakers let it marinate just a little longer. (Release Date: May 31st)

An interesting feature of the festival is their anniversary screenings. This year, they celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Little Women, starring Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon, the twentieth anniversary of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bringing Out the Dead, one of Martin Scorsese’s most underrated films that surprisingly made very little impact upon its release. 

Since Bringing Out the Dead was one of the few Scorsese flicks I had not seen, I made damn sure of penciling it in on my film schedule. Now having seen it–about a paramedic on the verge of a nervous breakdown (played with burnout brilliance by a never better Nicolas Cage)–I can say it’s now one of my favorite non-mob related films of Scorsese’s filmography.

The ensemble is packed with reliable performers who always give it their all. Cage’s screen time with the likes of John Goodman, Ving Rhames, ex-wife Patricia Arquette, and the late Tom Sizemore is playful yet natural, inspiring genuine moments of comedy and drama.

The camera work is dizzying as always, with fast pans and tilts tracking the frenetic routes of EMT drivers, as well as the chaos that takes place in late night emergency rooms.

And it wouldn’t be a Scorsese film without a needle-drop soundtrack, mixing in Van Morrison and Motown with tracks from early-’90s stalwarts like 10,000 Maniacs, REM, and UB40.

The film might not reek with prestige as some of Marty’s projects with De Niro and DiCaprio, but Bringing Out the Dead brings out the best in Scorsese and is worthy of being rediscovered.

As the festival winded down (and moviegoing fatigue unfortunately started setting in), it was nice to catch a film about quiet moments–particularly those that take place on backpacking hikes in the wilderness.

In Good One, India Donaldson’s feature debut, there are several quiet moments that take place between daughter Sam (Lily Collias) and her father Chris (James Le Gros). It’s only the inclusion of her dad’s oldest friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) that disrupts that quiet kinship, and the parental bond between father and daughter becomes tested.

The daughter of filmmaker Roger Donaldson, India’s Good One is intimately grounded, capturing those mundane conversations that take place while hiking, and those awe-inspiring moments of stumbling upon breathtaking views of nature.

The performances seem so organic–every eye roll and exasperated sigh feels earned, and every time a character talks over another or finishes someone’s sentence, you feel as though you’re sitting around the campfire with them–forgetting you’re actually watching a movie. (Release Date: August 9th)

Forgetting you’re watching a movie is what every filmgoer hopes to achieve in their experience. Through good storytelling, convincing performances, and sequences of visual wonder, it can be easily done. The Chicago Critics Film Festival provided me with many of those experiences this year, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!