Hello, everyone! With the year of 2025 in full swing, it’s time to exam the “worst” and “best” movies of the year. It took me a little bit longer than expected to get this particular list done (longer than intended due to my back catalogue of 2024 movie reviews that needed to get done), but here we are and I’m happy to share it.
In truth, 2024 saw a number of pretty “bad” films. Whether by a flat story, bad acting, weak writing, or poor execution, these movies were just plan horrible with little to no interest in purchasing a ticket to see it theaters, buy / rent it for its home release a few months later, or even streaming it on the various platforms.
Naturally, I have a “Best” movies of 2024, but let’s get the bad ones out of the way first. Here’s my personal top ten worst movies of 2024. But before I begin, here are some other “horrible” (I mean dishonorable) runner-ups that almost made it on my top ten worst move list of 2024.
Runner Ups
(click on the picture for full review)
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
“An overstuffed sequel that puts the franchise on ice”
TRAP
“Another Shyamalan movie that gets caught in its own trap”
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE
“A clunky and weak last dance superhero jaunt”
And now…my top ten!!!
10 – Mean Girls
Review Score: 2.2 Out of 5
Review: Mean Girls Review
To revisit an older property, there must be a strong reason behind it. Being a reimagined remake or newer adaptation, the idea is still the same for building a good reason to reopen and update the material for a new generation. However, if there isn’t a strong reason for it or lacking creative innovation can spell disaster on the project. Such is the case with 2024’s Mean Girls. Directors Samatha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.’s latest film takes the stage musical of the movie that was based on 2004’s Mean Girls and translates it into a cinematic representation, composing the familiar story and characters of what made the original film charming and throwing into the lyrical melodies and notes from the Broadway production. While the tone of the movie was still very much the same as its predecessors, the bulk of the film feels like a recycled and watered iteration of the source material, especially considering the picture’s generic vision from the directors, mindless verbatim dialogue moments, too self-aware of its own production, shallow writing and plot pointing, awkward music interjection cues, bland characterizations, and wasted acting talent from most of the cast. Yes, the musical numbers are semi-catchy and added something a little bit different into the mix, but that’s pretty much it. Everything else about the movie is too derivative to its 2004 source material and nothing really comes out of it beyond that. The opportunity for expansion or give better context to certain scenes and character could’ve worked (and was something that I was expecting), but the movie squanders such ideas producing a new “facelift” endeavor, with plenty of craggy wrinkles within its story and now even cookie cutter characters. To me, I believe that the original Mean Girls is (by far) the superior film, regardless of the musical songs in the movie. In the end, Mean Girls tries a bit too hard to be likeable and glamorous with its visual flair and musical pieces, but merely ends falling flat on its face as a terrible verbatim knock-off that’s more of a “wannabe” than a “queen bee”.
9 – Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver
Review Score: 2.2 Out of 5
Review: Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver Review
There is no doubt that Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon franchise is derivate at best, with the first movie A Child of Fire being released in late 2023 failing to capture its own identity to that of the Star Wars saga, watering down attempts in such run-of-the-mill style. 2024 saw the return of Rebel Moon with the release of Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver and there wasn’t much changed from the cinematic status quo. Director Zack Snyder’s latest film takes what he established in the first Rebel Moon project and uses that movie to catapult this sequel feature by further exploring the narrative and characters from the previous installment. Unfortunately, the film still ultimately fails to with its audience yet again, which is mostly due to the part of the film’s derivate nature, lackluster narrative, generic dialogue lines, numerous expositional dumps, rushed story progression, spotty visual effects, and forgettable stock-like characters from a recognizable, but wasted acting talents. It’s not complete worthless or utterly deplorable as there are a few (yet small) redeeming qualities, but everything else is still just as forgettable and derivate as it was in the previous film,. I can still definitely see where Snyder was trying to go with the story and the movie in general, but such aspiration flounder in such unoriginal and uninteresting elements that make up the movie, which still truly remains a shame. This was one movie that definitely was not worth the hype….and I think many will agree with me on that. Again, I found that The Scargiver is the superior film when comparing A Child of Fire, but only by a small margin. Basically, just watch any one of the Star Wars projects or anything similar (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Stargate, etc.) over this feature. There is a glimmer of hope that Snyder can turn it all around with future installments for something really fun and creative, but maybe that’s just a fool’s hope. In the end, Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver is an improvement on its part one chapter, yet still falls prey to its own messy and derivate nature, with its further anticipation not reaching the lofty aspirations that Snyder was hoping for and just ends up being another entry in this generically bland sci-fi epic.
8 – Joker: Folie à Deux
Review Score: 2.2 Out of 5
Review: Joker: Folie à Deux Review
The definition of a “bad joke” is an event or situation that is absurd, nonsensical, or a complete failure. It can also refer to a situation that is badly planned or illogical. In the case of 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux, the follow-up sequel to 2019’s Joker, both definitions perfectly encapsulate this movie in its entirety. Director Todd Phillips latest film sees the return of his more “grounded” vision of the classic Batman villain with this sequel acting more like psychology / crime drama than a superhero film endeavor, which seeks to pose fundamental questions about reality and fantasy as well as further continuing the awareness of mental instability and how society falters within that regard. Unfortunately, the film seems at odds with its own cinematic self, especially with Philips’s direction, numerous retreads / redundant scenes, semi-boring at times, pointless musical interludes, unmemorable songs, and quite the missed opportunity in a lot of meaningful areas of both story and characters. There’s a boldness to “break from the mold” felt in the movie, especially in the musical number sequences, but it all felt superfluous and distracted more from the picture than enriching it. Phoenix and Gaga were great, but their characters were bland, weak, and sometimes clunky handled. Plus, the ending left a sour taste in my mouth. Basically, it wasn’t worth the hype and somewhat tarnishes the first film, which is never a good thing and I have very little reason to revisit this film again. Just watch the first Joker film again instead of watching this continuation…. you’ll thank me. In conclusion, Joker: Folie à Deux, while being one of the biggest and most anticipated films of 2024, was quite the letdown in its promised follow-up to its 2019 predecessor, producing a sequel that feels confusing, tiresome, and undirected in a way that comes off as a bloated cinematic mess. It’s biggest failure is the “unfilled potential” that the movie had and squandered it utterly and completely. A bad and disappointing joke indeed.
7 – Red One
Review Score: 2.1 Out of 5
Review: Red One Review
Christmas themed movies have always been a “time honored” tradition during the festive holiday season. With the masses celebrating Christmas spirit, seasonal feature films get their chance to shine, dazzling viewers with their yuletide cheer and overly sentimental narratives of love, family, and holiday struggles and tribulations. Unfortunately, Red One, a 2024 released film that blends Christmas nuances with action blockbuster flair, strikes out to be a timeless classic within this subgenre. Director Jake Kasdan’s latest film takes fun approach to a simple tale of a kidnapped Santa and turns it into a holiday summer movie tentpole-esque picture that’s filled with comedy, action, and some deep digging into world building / mythmaking of such mystical beings. While the movie finds a little bit of merit within its premise, it can’t help from being a rather drool and bore of a picture, which is mostly due to the film’s direction, a one note script, formulaic tropes, bloated runtime, unfocused narrative, sloppy CGI effects, a forgetful villain, bland characters, and a cast, while stacked, doesn’t know how to be managed the correct way. The overall film within its shaping, undertaking, and execution feels rather bloated and half-baked. It’s definitely a blockbuster that’s mixes the holiday Christmas theme, yet the two aspects are always at odds with each other, which gives the movie are rather noisy and lopsided feeling that never resonate nor delivers satisfaction. Despite the likeability of main cast and some of the flash visual moments, it’s best to stick to some of the holiday classics / fan-favorite ones instead of watching this bloated mess. You’ll thank me for it. In the end, Red One, despite its attempts of finding Christmas spirt within its action and adventure aesthetics, is ultimately a cynical and lazy cash-grab that aims for large commercial success yet settles for a yuletide blockbuster dud.
6 – Megalopolis
Review Score: 2.0 Out of 5
Review: Megalopolis Review
Director Francis Ford Coppola has certainly cemented his name in the world of filmmaking, releasing several theatrical motion pictures, including The Godfather trilogy, The Outsiders, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, that have been memorable within their own right. In 2024, Coppola released Megalopolis and proved to be a major misstep from the acclaim director. His latest film turns a four-decade filmmaking vision into a reality, delving into its Roman-esque alternative reality that displays a power struggle amongst ambitious idealism of men and how society (those in the upper echelon) wield their control amongst the populace for both good and evil intent. Unfortunately, despite the ambitious attempts and aims, the movie itself falters greatly underneath Coppola’s high aspirations, especially when examining the film’s poor direction, fragmented pacing, choppy narrative, several confusing side stories, weird creative decisions, unclear plot devices, and rather flat and thinly sketched characters. I give credit where credit is due, especially for Coppola’s ambition and wanting to get his “passion project” to become a fully realized feature film. That being said, the final result is a bewildering “vanity project” that’s too convoluted and too confusing to make sense of it all. For me, it had the scope and interesting thematic elements, but had too much excessiveness throughout and was much in love with its own story and ideas. The cast is stacked in the feature, but their characters (and the direction given to them) were bad, while story’s Roman aesthetics kept me visually intrigued, yet still fell flat within its very choppy allegory mythmaking. Basically, if you were expecting something grand, mind-blowing, or even something of an immersive experience like Dunkirk, 1917, Inception, or Dune, you’ll be disappointed. Even those expecting something fantastic from the illustrious director will find this movie’s standards rather lacking and weak. In short, Megalopolis has its visions soaring quite high yet fails to deliver on that cinematic promise. To quote Gladiator “There was a dream that was Rome. It shall be realized.” Sadly, Coppola’s Megalopolis isn’t that dream.
5 – Harold and the Purple Crayon
Review Score: 1.7 Out of 5
Review: Harold and the Purple Crayon Review
In the world of literary works and the realm of the written word, children’s picture books have found a special place in enjoyment and appreciation. Given such potential in such a niche area of children’s literary, Hollywood has found some attractiveness towards children’s picture books, taking the simple stories and expanding upon by fleshing out more details about the story and characters, while also interjecting new ideas and themes. When talking about 2024’s Harold and the Purple Crayon movie…. it’s a bland and lackluster experience. Director Carlos Saldanha’s film takes the simplistic narrative from Crockett Johnson’s belove children’s picture book and expands upon it, creating a quasi-sequel follow-up adventure to story that has plenty of energy and charm throughout. However, with maybe the exception of Levi’s performance, the charm stops there as the feature is plagued with numerous (and glaring) criticism, which range from Saldanha’s direction, lackluster presentation, a generic and overfamiliar plot, a stale and weak script, clunky dialogue, limited visuals, stock-like characters with bland personalities, a waste of the film’s acting talent, and lacking the potential of the plot. It definitely had a few creative moments that I liked and it’s quite lighthearted and for all viewers to watch (definitely its target demographic age range), but majority of the feature feels both unfocused and recycled from similar (and better) narratives out there. I can see the potential for the film, but it’s quite mediocre and derivate and something along the lines of a forgettable TV movie (something akin to early 2000s Disney Channel movie). Basically, everything seems to be running on autopilot throughout….and that’s never a good thing. If looking for a family friendly movie to watch…it’s here, but you’ll get more mileage from other selections out there. In the end, while Hollywood will continue to look towards popular children’s books for a source of cinematic adaptations, Harold and the Purple Crayon is a cautionary tale of sorts; providing that not all children’s picture books need to be adapted and that such endeavors need to be more than just an aggressively mediocre and woefully half-baked kid’s movie that lacks imagination.
4 – Borderlands
Review Score: 1.6 Out of 5
Review: Borderlands Review
Adaptations of popular video games continues to be a hot commodity with studios and viewers alike, but the idea of adapting such narratives (and their attempts) has been synonymous with disaster and mixed results, with very few have made found cinematic glory in box office success amongst its fanbase and causal viewer. In regard to 2024’s Borderlands film, it was a cinematic disaster. Director Eli Roth’s newest film project takes the widely popular Gearbox Software game franchise and translates it into a big screen blockbuster presentation, filled with large scale “bigness” of action, visual effects, and a star-studded cast. Unfortunately, while such attempts of trying to find proven ground to stand on with its action set pieces and comedy angst, the movie languishes greatly in its shallow attempts of filmmaking representation, especially from creative directorial differences, a bland script, goofy / clunky dialogue, generic sci-fi nuances, some shoddy visual effects, stock-like characters, and a wasted and mismanaged cast. It does a have a few moments where some type of enjoyment can be found, but it’s weighed down by many wasted potentials throughout. An assemblage of such an attempt is quite clear, but I couldn’t see it. Moreover, the film (as mentioned) is generic as they come and tries to be too many things, but cohesive isn’t one of them. It’s watchable, but not entertaining. It is just such a waste of an opportunity from its source material property, expectations, and casting choices that hardly deliver on a payoff satisfaction, which is never a good thing for a cinematic endeavor. The film’s conclusions leave a possible door open for a return to this wacky and deranged world of vault hunters and bounty hunters, but, given the bad / negative “word of mouth” from viewers and critics, an idea of a Borderlands 2 seems almost completely off the table at this point. In short, Borderlands will go down cinematic history as unbelievable failure of a video game film adaption, scrutinizing its end results in a manner that’s equally botched, boring, bland and banal all at the same time.
3 – Kraven the Hunter
Review Score: 1.5 Out of 5
Review: Kraven the Hunter Review
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to dominate the superhero film landscape, taking jostling bouts with the constant reinventing of DC Comics shared filmverse of their comic book heroes and villains, Sony Pictures seems lost and outmatch by wanting to have a seat at the cinematic table, with the mediocre (and otherwise) dismal reception of their Spider-Man universe. Kraven the Hunter is a perfect example of how the studio (and the franchise universe) shows that the idea of building up villains and side characters without the famous web slinging hero is misaligned and misguided. Director J.C. Chandor’s latest film takes the established and infamous superhero villain from Marvel comics and gives him his own origin tale, showcasing a family drama story that mixes in the superhero aesthetics intertwined with greed, power, and revenge. While the movie tries to make an admirable attempt to be elevated a bit more than its previous endeavors in the shared movie universe, the final result is woefully disappointing, which is in part to the film’s direction, fleeting and uninspiring action scenes, a jumbled and messy script, wonky dialogue choices, dated CGI visuals, and wasted potential on cast and characters. The story was weak, characters were flat, and the action, while gritty with R-rated violence, were too few and lack that extra “oomph”. With the conclusion of this film said and done, this movie marks the end of Sony’s Spider-Man universe saga project, which provided an admirable attempt into exploring a lot of villains and side characters without ever showcasing the famous web-slinging hero, but its downfall comes at the expense of flat and below average releases that could never outmatch nor outpace any of the MCU releases. In the end, Kraven the Hunter is a boring and lackluster superhero origin tale that is sloppy put together, derivate in nature, and is almost the perfect complement in being the final “nail in the coffin” for this particular failed film saga.
2 – The Crow
Review Score: 1.2 Out of 5
Review: The Crow Review
There is no denying the fact that the original 1994 film The Crow has become somewhat of a cult classic, gaining accolades and followers over the years who mesmerized by this dark superhero film. Several attempts have been made to expand upon the mythos and palpable cinematic flavoring, yet none have come close to the original. 2024’s The Crow sought to claim that prize, yet it failed miserably and never really left its mark on anything remarkable. Director Rupert Saunders’s latest film seeks to reimagine the classic narrative found from the cult favorite 1994 feature, updating the material with a few cinematic nuances and visual peripherals. Unfortunately, the movie itself is utterly deflated and devoid of excitement or intrigue, which was mostly due to Saunder’s poor direction, a generic script, flat dialogue, clunky mechanics, uneven pacing, tonal all over the place, thinly sketched characters, and wasting the acting talent involved on the picture. I did expect more from this film, which makes it that much worse. From the boring first half to the inconsistent tones and even the bland performances, everything about this 2024 remake screams mediocre level at best and just a bad film….and not in the way of “it’s so bad, it’s good” type vibe. It’s just a dull and derivate movie…plain and simple. Fans of that particular film will want to steer clear of this movie and just go back enjoy watching the 1995 movie all over again. Trust me, it’s in your best interest. In the end, The Crow will definitely go down in cinematic history, but for all the wrong reasons, with the feature being a prime (and cautionary) example to Hollywood of how not to do a terrible and flat remake that no one ask for.
1 – Madame Web
Review Score: 0.9 Out of 5
Review: Madame Web Review
So, what could beat out a flat remake of a 90s cult classic, an utterly boring video game film adaptation, a tiresome musical reimaging of Mean Girls, and a woefully disappointing follow-up to one of the biggest surprises of 2019….two words….Madame Web.
Oh, yes, as I mentioned above, Sony’s shared Spider-Man universe has indeed been an experimental of sorts, with the results not exactly sticking the correct way, especially when all the releases “dance around” the idea of Spider-Man character and not being featured in a single movie. While the likes of their previous releases of Venom (all three films), Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter had some type of redeeming qualities that I found vaguely interesting, Madame Web really didn’t offer anything and ended up being an incredibly dull and derivate project….on all fronts.
The film, which was directed by S.J. Clarkson, itself is riddled with glaring problematic areas throughout, including poor and inexperience direction from Clarkson, a bland presentation, a derivate plot, dated and stale mechanics and story points, wooden / clunky dialogue, muddy visuals, wasted acting talent (one or two miscast roles), and one-dimensional characters. Personally, I did not care for this movie at all. I was interested to see what the film was going to be about and how they would present the character of Madame Web in this live-action Spider Verse, but, suffice to say, that it’s quite a grueling and tiresome viewing experiences to sit through. Almost every aspect one can imagine how this movie failed is there and is cinematically crystal clear for everyone to see. The plot, the script, the payoffs, the comedy, the dialogue, the action, the cast, and the characters are all bland and derivate in nature to the point of being cheap imitation of a superhero movie from the early 2000s, but far weaker, watered down, and poorly executed from one of those endeavors of that era. Furthermore, it’s a shame that the movie was so bad put together as one can see very small glimpses of greatness, especially for a character like Madame Web, but never come fruition and yet another terribly bad movie from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
In the end, Madame Web is sluggish and monotonous superhero picture that gets tangled in its own sticky (and derivatively boring) cinematic web, which is why this particular movie is #1 choice for the worst movie of 2024.
There you have it…my top ten worst movies of 2024. Of course, I did skip some movies in theaters, so there some bad movies of 2024 that I didn’t see. So, what do you guys think? What was your top ten worst movies of 2024? Check back soon and I’ll be posting my personal top ten best movies of 2024…
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