David Vendrell

The fact that Spielberg only has one film on that NYT best-of list (MINORITY REPORT, my personal fave of his this century), just shows that he’s somehow still underrated.

Season 2 of THE REHEARSAL may the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.

ANDOR is an incredible feat of storytelling.

LOS FRIKIS is special. A searing indictment of Castro’s Cuba — the country it still is today — and a celebration of the resilience of the Cuban people.

Struck a deep chord. Bravo to everyone involved.

SINNERS 🙌🏼

DROP is such a tight, tense and terrific thriller. Chris Landon directs the stylish hell out of it. Fahy and Sklenar are both stars. Big congrats to my friends at Platinum Dunes!

Go see it in a theater!

It’s mind-boggling how well-written and acted and directed and edited and every other thing BLACK BAG is. Just brimming with intelligence and style.

Koepp and Soderbergh are 3/3

RIP to an undisputed legend.

COMPANION ✅
THE GORGE ✅

Great weekend of great genre movies.

KENDRICK 🫡

Man PRESENCE really sneaks up on you. Powerful, heartbreaking movie.

Lord & Miller directing, Drew Godard writing (screenwriter of The Martian) and Ryan Gosling starring!

And the movie comes out next March!

RIP David Lynch. An enigmatic, bold and sensitive storyteller. THE ELEPHANT MAN is my personal favorite of his.

SKELETON CREW was a blast. What a great adventure.

Any member of LAFD shouldn’t have to buy a drink in LA for at least the rest of the year. Heroes, all of them.

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN is less a portrait of Bob Dylan and more an examination of the inscrutability of genius. The feeling of how it can just show up out of nowhere and change everything. It’s also a masterclass in how to piss people off.

Give Timmy the Oscar.

RIP Jeff Baena. A filmmaker full of wit, ingenuity and a delightfully idiosyncratic sense of humor. THE LITTLE HOURS and LIFE AFTER BETH are particularly terrific.

Unsurprisingly, another insightful window into the nuts and bolts of a screenwriting career. Look forward to these every year!

My 12 favorite movies of 2024 (alphabetical order):

A Quiet Place: Day One
Alien: Romulus
Conclave
Heretic
Juror #2
Nosferatu
Rebel Ridge
Saturday Night
The Fall Guy
The Substance
The Wild Robot
Thelma

Floored by NOSFERATU. Transportive, haunting, unflinching. Eggers’ best yet.

CONCLAVE is powerful in so many unexpected ways.

Hell yeah! Congrats man!

I will miss WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS terribly. What an incredible show.

CARRY-ON is such a pulse-pounding ride. Almost nothing is as satisfying as a tight thriller set in an everyday world that most people know little about.

SPEAK NO EVIL is pure stress and devastating in a different way than the original. Great movie. Unhinged McAvoy is the best McAvoy.

Floored by how great THELMA is. June Squibb is a national treasure.

No one does historical epic like Ridley Scott. GLADIATOR II is huge in its scale, emotions and ideas. Would make a great double feature with MEGALOPOLIS.

JUROR #2 proves once again that Clint Eastwood is the master of dramatizing impossible ethical challenges. It’s both righteous and devastating. Great movie.