It was a fantastic year for Australian and New Zealand Cinema, with each film I saw knocking it out of the park. Some works held up a mirror to society, those that explored Indigenous voices, and those that brought the action to a new level.
This list will look more at the locally made Australian and New Zealand productions/co-productions and not just films filmed in those countries.
One of the benefits of film is that it is a visual medium, which means that it can do in a frame what it might take a book several pages of description to pull off. We see this the most in its ability to build worlds in front of our eyes.
These worlds could be great space operas exploring galaxies, a small period piece that looks back in time, or anything. But when every part of the film is used to tell a story, you know it is good.
One factor that I will always look out for in a film is the musical score. I can get caught in the world of music as it sits in my head in the days, weeks, months, and even the years that come. There is immense artistry in weaving emotions from music, having us slip into the world that is created, fear the oncoming dread even if we do not know why, or rejoice in the triumph of that final victory.
Music charts the cinematic world as it guides us, lifts us up, and yet it can also crush our souls with a couple of notes on a piano. This is its power.
Also, a reminder that this award is for Musical Scores and Original Songs only, so no needle drops or non-original songs, so prepping you for Wicked not being on this list right from the start. However, it would be remiss of me not to at least mention the cultural relevance of Deadpool & Wolverine using a choral version of Madonna’s Like a Prayer.
Cinematography is an art form that can be as bold as a gong crashing after a moment of silence or as subtle as the tide coming in. It elevates a film to the heights of accolades or becomes frustrating when it misfires.
While at the heart of cinematography is the Director of Photography or Cinematographer, to get something from the script to the final shot takes a whole team of professionals, and it is their talent that we champion today.
You can use many techniques to help build your world, ground your setting, or give dimensions to your characters. You can use music and create elaborate sets, but one of the best ways is through the costumes you make.
People instantly judge a character within moments on the screen, and the outfits are essential to that first impression. More than this, you can also use costumes as a way of storytelling. What do they say about this world? What do they say about how a character is progressing?
Costumes can build worlds and tell us details we can only see, but also, they can make us say, ‘Hot Damn’, look at that beading on that dress. That must have taken hours to do!
Well, we have looked at Action, then Emotion and swung wildly across the spectrum to Fun, and now we are completing that trifecta by looking at Tension. Tension is one of the most challenging facets of filmmaking because it requires the script, direction, acting, and editing to all work in tandem to evoke the perfect pace. If just one part of that group misses, then an essential part of the film falls apart.
In 2024, we continued to see some excellent use of tension to build mystery, to be the harbinger of the coming dread, or even to tick the clock of inevitability.
We looked at the films that hit us in the feels with emotions in our last awards. Now it is time to pivot hard to the other side of the spectrum and look at the films that were a riot of fun. So today, I take a moment to champion those works that brought joy, whether through upbeat action, one laugh after another, or that silliness that brings a smile to your face.
However, I note that this might be the most subjective of all the lists because what people think is funny can vary drastically.
As I have gotten older, I am not afraid of having a good old-fashioned ugly cry in the cinemas when the time calls for it, and hell, I probably got emotional just writing this list (Spoiler: I did). Sometimes, they are tears of grief or tears of joy, and even still, sometimes, they are tears of anger.
Emotion is a core part of the cinema experience. If you can’t get us to respond emotionally to your characters and/or the situation, I am sorry you failed to make a great film.
A good action sequence is genuinely impressive to watch, as it can be as expansive as explosions crashing across the screen or more intimate, like a duel between two people. This gives the best action scenes such a range, and in 2024, we were given some unique spectacles.
For me, the best action scenes excel in every element, whether that be live actions, special effects, digital effects, or animation, and bring every facet to shine. It is also the category that looks at some of the department’s people don’t often fully understand, like stunt coordination or the 2nd unit.
2024 was the year that action dominated both the big and small screen, so much so it was hard to get this category down to a shortlist, given how many good examples we got. However, power through I must, and here we go with the rich and varied world of action.
TL;DR – A fascinating look into the Dune world when it was just starting, but it felt more like half a season than a full one.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Bing service that viewed this series.
Dune Prophecy Review –
Before we dive into our best of 2024, there is one final review we have to finish, and that is for a TV version of one of my favourite novels and movie series: Dune. I have always loved diving into this world, even if I would never want to live there. Today, we have had the chance to catch up with the entire first season of Dune Prophecy, so it is time to see if it all worked.
So, to set the scene, in the years after the Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines, humanity had to find a new way forward. There were many competing forces during that time, one of which was the witches of the Bene Gesserit. On Wallach IX, those same sisters are grieving the death of their first Reverend Mother. The sisterhood is at a future point. Which way forward would they proceed? Shall they point people in the right direction, or should they be the ones controlling things from the shadows? Thirty years after, blood was shed in the Bene Gesserit cloister, 116 years after the end of the Great Machine Wars, and 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. It will be time to see which direction the sisterhood takes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
