**Note: This entry has adult wording in it. Discretion is advised
The eventuality of adding more movies to the assessment/re-assessment roster before New Year’s Day 2027 has started to take shape, as eight of them have emerged. However, a lot of creative cap moves have to be made, in order for them to get a clear and fair shot at joining “Deadly Match” as movies with 30F designations in Tier 7.
Let’s begin.
First up, Trev of Trev’s Movies finally dropped his Top 20 movies of 2024 video, but I wasn’t able to finish all of it in the sitting that I saw it in. But I saw most of it in that sitting and from what I saw of it, he mentioned the inter-ethnic relationship movie “Touch” as one of his Top 20 of 2024, and also mentioned that he personally finds it better than “It Ends With Us”. So, given both that, and the Flickuum stock of the latter dropping dramatically to the point that “The Nut Job” and its usage of “Gangnam Style” will outrank it, I have decided to take a flier on the former of the two romance movies.
The more likable that an actress is, the more that I’ll gravitate to her movies. Of course, that happened with great frequency for both Nadine Velazquez and Melissa Barrera when it came to The Project. And now you can add Natalie Morales to that list, as a movie of hers that I bypassed at this time last year is one of the other eight in this entry. And as to what that movie is, well it’s “Happily”, which is a dark comedy that I initially thought would be along the lines of the garbage that is “It’s A Disaster”. But of course, the operative words here are “initially” and “thought”, which means that last year’s way of thinking about that movie could be proven wrong this year. Stay tuned.
Just when I thought that the #MeToo movement would prevent us from seeing more Bill Murray movies being released ever again, the veteran actor/comedian recovered from a sexual misconduct situation to add to his lengthy career with three movies that were probably completed after that situation occurred, assuming production of both “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” and “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” were wrapped up before then. Plus, he has five upcoming movies. But that last sentence isn’t what this paragraph is about, as it’s instead about one of those other three movies. And as to what that movie is, well it’s “The Friend”, which resonates with me because one of the central characters is a dog, thus that one will be another one of the eight.
Ever see a trailer of a movie that had/has the vibe of being an indie movie destined for select theaters and being advertised during commercials on a Friday morning? Well, I had those takeaways about the movie “Blue Bayou” yet it kept getting lost in the shuffle with all the other umpteen movies that I have up for assessment/re-assessment. But now I’m up for seeing another one of those types of movies, especially after evaluating similarly tonal movies in “Reign Over Me” and “Precious” in early-November 2023 and early/mid-June 2024, respectively. So, with that being said, the Justin Chon-led movie will no longer be lost in the shuffle, as it will be one of the other eight.
Two separate times over a span of 15 years (1998 through 2013), I was either shown or made the attempt to watch “The Outsiders” yet didn’t see the movie full-on either time. Of course, I almost completely forgot about that movie, as I didn’t find it to be all that special in those bits and pieces. But when it comes to movies that I attempt to watch/assess, I see them out, regardless if they are game-changing masterpieces like “In The Heights” or middling garbage like “Immaculate”. So, with that being said, I will start that movie again and see it all the way through, thus it is another of the eight.
The ending of “French Connection II” felt like a letdown to me, because I wanted to see the reaction of Popeye Doyle after the action that he took against Charnier. But the final shot of “Nosferatu” (before the closing credits rolled) in a small way had the same vibe as the 1975 movie, thus I will pardon both Popeye Doyle movies for re-assessment.
And finally, I saw the trailer for “Magazine Dreams” five days ago when I went to go see “My Dead Friend Zoe” theatrically and was surprised that the former was going to see the light of day after all, due to Jonathan Majors’ legal woes. And after seeing the trailer, it reminded me of both “Love Lies Bleeding”, from the standpoint of self-destruction within the body building industry, and “The Iron Claw” because it’s a movie about physicality that is tonally similar to the Sean Durkin-directed movie. And of course, I like both of those A24 movies, thus the Jonathan Majors-led movie will be the eighth of those eight movies.
Well, those are the eight movies that will be added to the roster before the New Year’s Day 2027 deadline. But their paths to The Project are daunting, as A] 500 Tiers 8 through 10 movies tentatively jam up most of those 515 open pre-Dream Scenario spots, and B] The 33 Tier 7 bubble movies up for re-assessment both negate the 15 open pre-Dream Scenario spots and eat into 18% of the Final 99 spots. So, to manipulate space for those eight movies, I’ll have to root for most (if not all) of those 33 Tier 7 movies to tank in their re-assessments, root for some Tiers 8 through 10 movies to tank in their assessments/re-assessments and option 2023 (and beyond) movies to Tier 12, especially as mere filler for that tier. Yes, I’ll have to channel my inner Howie Roseman to loosen up this latest logjam and that resumes with the next assessment/re-assessment.
Until the next time.