bit surprised we don’t have a specific thread for them, given how often their films get discussed here. Watched a little vid on their history last night - had forgotten they started purely as a distribution company, and Moonlight was the first one they actually produced. Talk about starting strong
There’s some stinkers/don’t exist films in there of course, but reading through the full list made it clear how often they were making my fav films over the last 5 years or so. Managed to see 44 so far out of the 130-140 they’ve made:
so let’s chat! which are your favs by them, the big misses, the underrated gems, the ones you haven’t seen that are on the to-watch list etc etc
Very good example of understanding how to build a brand imo. No real style or genre preference, but people will take a chance on stuff just cos they’re involved. Good for them, really.
personal top 5 is pretty unsurprising, but these really all were 9 or 10s for me:
The Florida Project - one of the best childrens-POV films ever Midsommar - perfect modern horror, love how bright and sunny it is too Moonlight - nothing new to say here, just incredibly affecting Eighth Grade - now this is how you do a coming of age film Uncut Gems - pure adrenaline fuelled tension bomb
also managed to miss The Lobster when it was released, been meaning to watch ever since but still haven’t got round to it yet. That’s also playing here on Sunday as part of an A24 season, so really gonna try to make it
seen 30 i think. there’s a few i don’t like where i can accept it’s a me thing rather than them being ‘bad films’ (the aster ones, mainly), free fire probably the only actually bad film out of the ones i’ve seen
agree, but loads of their most successful films still manage to feel like they “fit” stylistically - something about the colour palates, or being quite vivid, directorial-focused films, just slightly left-of-centre topics etc
so without knowing what it’s actually be about you’re right that I can just see “an A24 production” and have faith that it’ll click with my tastes more likely than not
seen 53 so far, quite a few that i’m surprised i haven’t got round to as well.
a couple that are really underrated are A Prayer Before Dawn and Boys Sate, not seen much chat about either but they’re up there with the best.
my top ones are all quite obvious I guess, Uncut Gems still probably number 1 but I fucking love Midsommar, Aftersun, Ex Machina and The Florida Project are pretty close behind. absolutely adore everything Lanthimos has made, very excited for Poor Things.
definitely seen some ones i disliked, Spring Breakers, Men and Free Fire come to mind, only one i actually turned off was White Noise.
Spring Breakers - good
Enemy - not good
Under the Skin - good
Locke - good
Tusk - good
A Most Violent Year - can’t remember it
Ex Machina - good
Room - good
The Witch - good
Green Room - not good
The Lobster - not good
Moonlight - good
The Monster - not good
20th Century Women - good
The Blackcoat’s Daughter - good
Free Fire - not good
It Comes At Night - not good
A Ghost Story - good
Good Time - not good
The Florida Project - good
The Killing of a Sacred Deer - good
Lady Bird - good
The Disaster Artist - good
First Reformed - good
Hereditary - not good
Eight Grade - not good
Mid90s - good
The Hole in the Ground - good
Climax - great
High Life - good
Under The Silver Lake - not good
The Souvenir - horrible
The Last Black Man In San Francisco - not good
Midsommar - not good
The Farewell - not good
The Lighthouse - good
In Fabric - good
Uncut Gems - good
First Cow - not good
Saint Maud - not good
Lamb - good
The Humans - not good
X - good
Everything Everywhere All At Once - lol
Men - awful
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - good
Pearl - good
Aftersun - not good
The Whale - not good
Sharper - good
literally hadn’t heard of either before, so will read up on them
for relatively underrated I’d pick out:
The Spectacular Now - great bittersweet coming of age/college film. Probably the best Miles Teller has been
Slow West - a short, slow, contemplative Western that explodes into violence. What’s not to like!
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - offbeat drama covering artistic expression, gentrification, familial bonds. Also looked amazing, drew me right into the city - that long , distant shot of him skating down that huge hill, woooft. Was keen to go see it again in that A24 season, but the Jonathan Majors news has taken the shine off that a bit
Looking through that list something that really jumps out is the balance between male and female directors, which looks close to 50/50 although I imagine it’s still skewed in favour of men. I doubt there’s another major studio that could match that balance over the last 10 years.
Seen about half I think, favourites are probably Obvious Child, Under the Skin, Killing of a Sacred Deer and First Reformed. The ones I didn’t like were at least bad in interesting ways, although I reckon I’d really hate The Souvenir based on the other Joanna Hogg films I’ve seen and I’ve heard Trespass Against Us is total shit.
The big 5 for me are the lighthouse, the vvitch, midsommar, moonlight, 8th grade.
But also really like st maud, ladybird,Amy, room, a ghost story, killing of a sacred deer, hereditary, mid90’s, last black man in San Francisco, uncut gems ,x, supersonic.
Didn’t like everything everywhere all at once.
Really looking forward to seeing pearl, aftersun and maXXXine.
All in all I think they produce some interesting films.