Danganronpa is my favorite franchise of all time. I like almost everything involving it the Trilogy of Games, Danganronpa 3: The End of Hopes Peak even Despair Girls for the most part. Ever since I found out about this franchise around the start of the 2020s I couldn’t stop looking into it and thinking about it. This franchise has fantastic characters, beautiful messages and a great visual style, and when I discovered Danganronpa I also discovered they made a show based on The first game in the franchise Trigger Happy Havoc. Which sounds like a great idea. You’d this the story of Trigger Happy Havoc would translate well into a show the great writing was already made for them, however despite essentially being the same story they do so much wrong and not only do they not do Trigger Happy Havoc justice it doesn’t seem to understand Danganronpa as a whole.

For my first complaint on Danganronpa the Animation is the visuals. You’d think that it being animated instead of a visual novel means it gets a chance to be more expressive not having to be limited to sprites and some cgs however it feels very cheap and somehow less expressive. Not only does the animation get worse and worse the more the episodes go especially by the end but, you can tell this was a very limited series, instead of making the movement good they decided to add th game mechanics to the show, which is just baffling it’s very distracting and proves that this actually doesn’t translate well into a show all the life from the visuals is just gone.

Another aspect of this show that was way worse than I remembered it being is the voice acting, simply put the voice acting is absolutely terrible. I get they couldn’t bring any of the cast of the game but none of these voices fit well and it sounds like none of them are taking this seriously. They’re either underselling everything or overselling it. You can tell everyone was badly directed because even the actor who returned Bryce Papenbrook as Makoto Naegi didn’t even do too great. Despite this franchise running on emotions if the voice acting can’t even convey that emotion it’s very hard to get invested.

Since Danganronpa is a visual novel one of the things that has to carry it is it’s story and while in the game the story is beautiful the story in the anime is a rushed half assed version of its story. The character moments are cut down they removed a lot of moments that make the characters more human and now instead they’re more dull, the Trials which where an hour or more in the original game are cut down to 22 minutes and they’re paced so badly. The show is so fast and wants to get through the story as much as possible that if basically comes off as an animated highlight reel that’s not even that good of a highlight reel because it’s way more poorly done.

However what Danganronpa the Animation messed up the most is the characters, simply put they’re terrible here. They go out of there way to make characters less sympathetic like Sayaka and Leon. They make characters dumber like Mondo and Celeste a character like Kyoko who was the best in Trigger Happy Havoc is now the worst character who just comes off as really unlikeable especially with the way she treats Makoto is a lot more cold especially during the 5th trial. As for everyone else they all just come off as more irrelevant or stupid Sakura barely does anything I forget that Aoi, Taka, Yasuhiro, Chihiro and the rest are even there and Byakuya is way more toned down missing the point of him. If you can’t even get the characters right in Danganronpa it’s pointless to even watch it then.

Danganronpa: the Animation is a lackluster imitation of a very special game. The animation is ok at best the voice acting is bad, the writing is copy paste and half assed the characters are ruined and it just doesn’t feel like Danganronpa. I’ve never seen a show not want to be a show so badly, and it’s proof that Danganronpa doesn’t work as an anime at least not this way. If you’re interested in this story please just play the game instead it’s a lot more worth your time, while you should leave this one behind to be executed.

Thunderbolts was a movie from when I initially heard the concept of it I didn’t care. I still sorta keep up with the MCU just to see what’s up with it, because I still sorta care about it. Since I’d still say Overall I like the MCU and have fond memories of it. Its flaws have shown in certain films as time passed but I’ll always have fond memories of keeping up with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, The Guardians, Etc. But there’s not denying there’s been a fall off. The shows from the few I saw are mixed, and the movies, even more so. There previous film Captain America: Brave New World was the definition of ok. Like it did everything adequately. However when Thunderbolts* trailer dropped it grabbed my attention a lot more. It looked a lot more interesting than most of there recent works. I still had doubts tho, even when I look forward to a new MCU film, it lets me down. So I still wasn’t keeping my expectations too high. But what absolutely floored me was that it was getting excellent reviews. Some of the best reviews the MCU had in awhile, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I decided to go out and actually see it, and well, even though I expected it to be at least good after hearing it’s reputation. I didn’t expect it to be this spectacular it reminded me of the feelings I used to have towards these films but honestly it’s better than almost all of them, and here’s why.

Before I get into the story and characters I wanna talk about the visuals first because well, the visuals have been the worst aspect of most recent MCU films. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Black Widow, Thor: Love and Thunder. Even some I like, like Deadpool and Wolverine and Spider-Man: No Way Home, don’t look good really. Some do look good, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Eternals (even if I don’t like it) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but those are the exceptions. Which is why I’m glad to say Thunderbolts is one that looks really damn good. Theres not a lot of color in it but it definitely fits the films tone, which as we’ll see later, it’s not really a happy film. The color grading in this one is really good, the effects are really damn good, both the CG and the Practical, the action is fantastic and creative. The film just looks really well made, it’s nice to have a recent blockbuster that actually looks nice especially one from the MCU, as a matter of fact, it might be one of there best looking films with the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Docter Strange 2. I’m really proud of the work the visual department on this film and I’m glad they got this film looking as excellent as it does.

The actors in Thunderbolts* have amazing chemistry. I’ll get to the characters themselves in a bit but the actors are so damn good. Florence Pugh gives one of my favorite performances of the year so far, the amount of effort she puts into the emotional moments is genuinely incredible she sells every moment she’s in. It was an absolute transcendent performance it was a perfect performance. David Harbour, also does really well with the emotional scenes too, I didn’t expect it but on top of delivering a lot of funny jokes, he can actually do the emotional scenes really well. Everyone else, like Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis Dreyfus & Hannah John-Kamen also give really damn good performances and all of them have really good chemistry. But if there’s one more performance I wanna put on the spot for how well they do is Lewis Pullman gives an incredible emotional performance that I was not expecting he really tried to give his best performance possible and it payed off he did excellent. What a cast.

A Recent problem I’ve had with current films is when a film has a decent amount of characters is that the characters don’t have a connection that well. The characters don’t feel like they have history with each other or when they meet up they don’t feel natural with each other. The best thing about my favorite characters usually is when they feel like they can be real, even if they’re not. Fortunately Thunderbolts* Has an excellent cast of characters on top of the acting the characters themselves that they play are well written and have fantastic arcs. Yelena Belova, might be the best MCU protagonist and definitely the most well written. As someone who has lost everything, her sister, hasn’t talked to her father in a year. Her life is a mess and doesn’t even see the point in continuing and regrets the many bad things she’s done in her life. It’s very heavily implied at least in my perspective she’s had thoughts of suicide or at least she’s in a very deep depression and it really hits hard, the MCU hasn’t really had a protagonist that’s felt this real. The way her character was done is beautiful I couldn’t believe how well done she was, one of my favorite characters of all time. While I wanted to dedicate most of this part to her, every other character is great too, Bucky is as great as usual. Alexei is really damn funny and again his moments with Yelena are great, John Walker and Ava Starr are great additions and work great of the rest of the cast. Robert Reynolds is a fantastic character and the stuff he goes through also hits home like the main character is in a deep depression is having suicidal thoughts. His emotion struggle feels so realistic and I’m glad they protrayed his issues as great as they did, and I’m glad Marvel let these characters actually be characters and not joke machines and handled its themes beautifully.

Thunderbolts* is something that doesn’t even feel like the MCU. It feels so genuine, the comedy is really funny, the themes are very well handled, the acting is spectacular, especially on Florence Pugh, it looks fantastic and the writing is really well done. This is one of my favorite films of the year so far and I absolutely recommend you check it out just a really well done film that I really connected with. I’m really glad I saw this.

Miles Morales is a character that has caused discourse. Not whether or not he’s a good character but whether or not he’s Spider-Man. Unfortunately from what I can tell a lot of said beliefs on why he isn’t spider-man seem to be in bigotry. I wanna do an analysis on Miles Morales to proof that he’s not only Spider-Man but one of the best hero’s and role models in any film. (This part will be dedicated to Into the Spider-Verse and the second part will Be dedicated to Across the Spider-Verse)

Where he starts:

His journey began from Into the Spider-Verse. Miles Morales is essentially just a normal kid. He likes music, has difficulties with his family but still loves them dearly, has a hard time at school and fitting in. He loves to hang out with his uncle Aaron and feels like his uncle understands him way more than his parents do. He loves to do graffiti with him and talk to him about his issues. This is where like with most Spider-Man stories he gets bitten by the spider. I like how this one takes its time with Miles getting bit by the spider, while Sam Raimis just does it immediately and in the MCU trilogy he just already has the powers. This gives us more time to see how Miles was just as a normal kid and the struggles he goes through.

What he goes through to become Spider-Man

After being embarrassed at school, his senses start kicking in and he slowly starts realizing what happened to him. Miles then comes across Peter fighting to stop the collider, after finally meeting up with Peter he offers to help miles and show him the ropes, unfortunately this never gets to happen. As the building collapses and Kingpin kills Peter. Leaving Miles to save everyone. The guilt of what happened here sticks with Miles throughout the whole film, he constantly feels guilty for what happened feeling like he let Peter die. The entire film he’s scared that he’s gonna let everyone down like he feels like he did with Peter. This especially showing with how much he doesn’t want Peter B Parker (the Spider-Man from another dimension) to die.

Uncle Aaron

Unfortunately that’s not the only guilt he ends up feeling, after finding out his uncle is the Prowler, gets followed by him but ultimately after finding out it was Miles ends up sparing him which unfortunately costs him his life, dying right in front of his nephew. Miles is completely torn up feeling like he let everyone down again. His uncle was someone he saw as a role model, the person he confided in and looked up too. The only person he could trust with his true feelings and the only person who can look too when he needs help. Ended up trying to unknowingly kill him and when he was spared his uncle got killed. After having a breakdown in his room the other Spider-Men come in to comfort him telling him that he can’t always save everyone. After this Peter puts Miles through one final test to see if should be the one to turn off the collider. And… he fails he couldn’t turn invisible or strike him. Miles asks Peter when will he know he’s ready and Peter says “that’s all it is miles a leap of faith”

When Miles becomes Spider-Man

While it’s usually considered the What’s Up Danger scene that has miles become Spider-Man I think it’s this scene. Miles Dad, Jeff, comes in to tell his son what happened to his uncle. Jeff starts breaking down telling miles how much he believes in him, and how he will support miles no matter what because he knows no matter what he does he will be great at it. “I love you miles you don’t have to say it back tho” everytime I see this scene I cry. It’s beautiful from Brian Tyree Henry’s performance, to the music, to what it does for Miles as a character. After this moment Miles breaks out and even tho he’s still scared he’s still determined to save the day and everyone he loves because that’s what Spider-Man does.

(Will continue in Part 2)

So for a very long time I didn’t really have a favorite film of all time, for years I wanna say it was Princess and the Frog, and while that’s still up there for me it did change to another film, The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines while that film is also still up there for awhile I realized it wasn’t my absolute favorite only staying as number 1 cuz I didn’t know what else to put there. And especially around December of 2023 to the the summer of 2024 it kept changing to a new film. I really didn’t know what to call my favorite film. You may be asking how this is relevant to the topic of this Substack, well it’s because on June 25th I watched a film my friend recommended me a film called Castle in the Sky a film a didn’t know much about, other than the fact that Ghibli made it and it was directed by the acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki. I knew going in that the film would probably be good. It’s made by the guy who made Spirited Away, Ponyo & How Do You Live and despite my lack of watching Ghibli at the time I saw those and think they’re masterpieces. So I turned the film on after a few days of my friend recommending it to me, and while I expected to like it a lot, I didn’t know I was about to watch my favorite film of all time. I experienced something I never felt for with another film. Something magical that even when I did watch the other Ghibli films they just couldn’t top this, at least in my opinion. But why? Why is it this film that I say is not only Ghiblis best but my favorite film of all time? It’s a film that’s loved for sure but favorite film of all time is definitely a big claim. I’m here to just say the feelings this film invoke in me, something that makes me emotional just thinking about it, why it’s such a beautiful film, that changed the way I look at movies forever.

The premise of Castle in the Sky is about a boy named Pazu who discovers this girl falling out of the sky, this girl’s name is Sheeta a girl whose being chased down by pirates, military and a guy named to Muska to steal her necklace The Laputa Stone. As Sheeta is the Princess of Laputa. Now on the surface this may seem like a typical adventure film. But there’s so much more to it.

First and foremost the animation, is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know how they do it. But even almost 40 years later it hasn’t aged a day, this is why 2D animation in my opinion is the best form of animation. Everything about it feels so personal and that includes this. This look incredible man. The character designs are really good and distinct. Sheeta and Pazu’s design are really well done. The environments make me cry just looking at them, they’re so beautiful. Especially Laputa itself its amazing. But the one shot of Sheeta, falling into Pazu’s arms is incredible, it’s my favorite shot in all of cinema, it represents everything I love about art and as for things I love about this film, we’re just getting started.

The Writing and characters are what really make this film. Right away the story is engaging and sets up the story really well. With an amazing escape scene as we hope Sheeta escapes. Her immediate bond with Pazu is so adorable and sweet. Sheeta is my favorite character of all time, I do like how she can be badass when she needs to be but is also just a really sweet girl that cares about others. It may seem simple but that along with her Bond with Pazu makes her an absolutely incredible protagonist she’s an absolutely fantastic character. Pazu is also an incredible character, it shows how nice he is just helping Sheeta just because he wants to and his constant attempts to go back and help her and it shows how much he cares about Sheeta. As there bond grows, the more invested I get in this they’re really fantastic. What’s really great about the story is how tight the script is. It’s almost a perfect script. Every time I watch this film I’m on the edge of my seat. When Sheeta and Pazu had to split up I genuinely didn’t want them too I liked them so much.

They aren’t the only good characters, Muska is a great hatable villain, he’s such a terrible guy and you hate anytime he hurts Sheeta and Pazu. Not the mention that in the dub he has a fantastic performance by Mark Hamil. Then there’s Dola who’s also a really fun character, who as the film goes on she goes from a villain to wanting to help Sheeta and Pazu even growing a bond with them. She seems to really grow to love and care about them and wants to protect them. Whether it be the main characters or side characters Castle in the Sky has a cast of characters that I will never forget.

“No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love." This is an incredible line, Miyazaki is known for his love of technology but also Nature, it’s shown throughout a lot of his films. Especially Nausicaä: Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. He clearly cares a lot about Nature. Throughout this film it’s shown the most and the best. In times we’re in right now there’s so much wrong in just the world that no one seems to care about. Unfortunately nature is one of them, a lot people treat the world we live on as trash and even worse prioritizing weapons. That while maybe not all the time, most of the time are used just to hurt or feel powerful. But as Sheeta says no matter how great our technology is no matter how many weapons we can make. It can’t really overshadow love, which is something the world really needs right now. This is why Castle in the Sky is my favorite film of all time, not just because it’s a fun adventure with great characters. But it reminds me, even if times are gonna be tough but if you can just spread some love in the world do it, especially now, the world is a better place with you in it, and if you spread even the smallest amount of love like Miyazaki did for this movie the world can be a better place. I love this film so much, I’m tearing up typing this, but what I want to be taken away is not only spread love but also love yourself appreciate yourself you can make something amazing. The world is better with you in it, thanks for reading this Substack and hearing what I have to say. Whether you liked this or not thanks for just listening to me sometimes a good thing can just fall from the sky.

Modern Disney Musicals recently haven’t been working specifically post 2016, with the exception of Encanto there songs just aren’t as good as they used to be, now ranging from mediocre to just awful. But why? why don’t they sound good? Shouldn’t they be getting better than how they used to be and improving and not getting worse? Here, I’m gonna highlight the problems of the recent Disney musicals and why they’re nowhere near as good as they used to be.

Before we get into why they’re not good anymore we should probably highlight what made them good before. These four films that you see here, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, are basically made there musicals popular. These aren’t their first musicals but they’re the most popular, and in this case they’re more popular for a good reason. For one the films themselves are genuinely just spectacular on their own, but they also all have incredible songs. They all clearly have this broadway inspiration throughout them and they work really well. The singers do incredible even actors who aren’t really professional singers do well, these movies are so incredible and especially amazing musicals.

First problem these movies have with there songs is repetition, what do I mean by this? Well I’m not specifically talking about the lyrics (at least not yet) what I mean is the feel of these songs. They all sound like they’re trying to imitate there predecessor’s, whether it be Beauty and the Beast (2017), Lion King (2019) and to a lesser extent Aladdin (2019) and The Little Mermaid (2023) trying to copy there 90s counterparts, Moana 2 Mary Poppins Returns and to a smaller extent Frozen II, trying so hard to recreate the songs from the first films or Wish and Mufasa: the Lion King just trying to hard to have clever lyrics like other films instead of just being there own songs. They all lack identity I do like some of the film soundtracks I named here, like Aladdin (2019) and Frozen II but there’s no denying they’re trying to recreate there first films soundtracks.

Unfortunately now for Disney musicals it doesn’t feel like it’s to get songs that mean much or say a lot but instead to just make the catchiest number possible. It feels like the intent is to just get the song trending and to have the kids sing these songs over and over when they get home. Which while that is a cool thing when it does happen to a song it shouldn’t be the priority. It should be what those songs can mean or just it being a well made song. Sure the kids may be singing it to themselves now but will they 10 years from now? still sing songs like Friends on the Other Side and yes Let It Go to myself even after years. These will just be forgotten.

This reason may sound weird but another reason these songs don’t work as well as they used to are the visuals. This may not seem as important but in a musical the visuals are everything. It’s what helps keep the songs alive. But these visuals are so bland even if the songs sounded good the visual are so bland now. The new Lion King films are very guilty of this, especially the 2019 film. All with these ugly colors and expressionless characters. Mufasa does have more expression so I’ll give it that and the colors are better but it still doesn’t look interesting enough. It doesn’t have as much life as these lions had in the 1994 film. With the main studio Walt Disney Animation Studios with Wish and Moana 2, the choreography is so boring. The characters movements don’t feel exciting enough the colors aren’t as vibrant as they used to be even in the 2010s, it makes it feel like nothing is going on in the songs. I’ll give credit where it’s due for some of them. Mary Poppins Returns and Frozen II have good enough visuals and energy for these songs, and occasionally the Aladdin Remake does too, but overall most of these films lack life visually.

Let’s just get to the biggest and obvious problem now, the singing and or the lyrics in these films just aren’t good. In the remakes it’s the singing, they all sound uninterested or bored not without the exceptions, Halle Bailey as Ariel for one and weirdly enough, Will Smith as the genie he’s pretty good when he sings, and besides a few more exceptions the rest just feel so uninterested. As for bad lyrics they can be found in the fully animated films from 2023 to 2024 all three are trying way too hard to have tongue twisting lyrics like Moana back in 2016 did. But all just feel like imitation at best, unfortunate because in all three there’s clearly talent but they all come off as forced and really cringy at worst.

Overall sucks to see that there musicals have fallen this hard but there priorities just clearly aren’t in place at the moment focusing on just making catchy songs and half baked visuals and not good lyrics. I just wish they could do better. I wish there songs could stick with me again, I’m hoping they can again.

Illumination is just, not a good animation studio, mildly overhated but still a really bad studio. Most of there films just feel so uninspired, there animation style is basic, there writing is so by the numbers and they’re not really funny. Sucks since I know they’re apparently really nice to work with, but the films just never feel like anything. I do have some I enjoy like the first two despicable me films, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Migration but even so none of the films I just named are really incredible just enjoyable at most. Unfortunately the Grinch is another example of them just kinda playing it safe but what sucks about this one is that it could’ve been way more. The original grinch story is probably my favorite Seuss book so it sucks ti see how much they get wrong here. Let me explain.

The Grinch immediately shows its problems as soon as it starts with narration from Pharrell Williams. He doesn’t do good as the narrator and that could be said about the rest of the cast too. Benedict Cumberbatch Is doing like 3 different voices for the grinch and none of them work. Sometimes he’s trying to sound like Jim Carrey’s grinch, other times he’s just doing an accent and sometimes he’s just using his own voice, it’s never consistent you’re always aware it’s a performance. That goes for the rest of the cast, like Kenan Thompson. The voice acting was really bad.

The animation is admittedly the best thing about this film, it looks pretty enough. The backgrounds especially at night look really good but, not a fan of the character designs. They don’t look like Dr Seuss, they feel so basic, I don’t think that film is good but The Lorax captures the look way better than this. They all still have the typical illumination designs that only really worked for despicable me because that’s, that franchise style. But yeah it does look overall nice but still could look better.

As for the characters they mess that up too, for one there shouldn’t be more than 3 characters in the grinch. Why are there so many here. Cindy Lou Who gets her own subplot, shocker, it’s not that interesting. The Grinch isn’t the grinch, he’s Squidward a grumpy neighbor who’s annoyed with his town. Only difference is Squidward is funny. The Grinch doesn’t even like really start to hate Christmas until the middle which is weird. They give him this backstory which is just Carreys back story form his film but makes even less sense. Like I don’t know I get it some what but this doesn’t really seem like something he’d hate Christmas over. It’s even shown throughout the film that he secretly likes Christmas. I don’t get it, if he wanted to celebrate with someone in this case it feels like he can just celebrate with max or his neighbor I don’t know, this just feels so forced. There’s a whole other cast of characters in this that really aren’t worth mentioning, Cindy Lou’s Mom, a Reindeer, Cindy’s Friend’s, The Grinch’s neighbor, all to just pad out the cast.

Speaking of Padding that’s what the story does, the Grinch doesn’t actually steal Christmas until the last 25 minutes. A lot of it is just planning for it, which would maybe be fine but theirs so much filler. Again just feels like it’s here to pad out the run time. Cindy Lou wants to make her mom happy and I just don’t see why I should care. We don’t get to know her mom, we don’t even know much about Cindy other than the fact that she loves her mom. Cool but, why should I care about this plot? I don’t. I don’t even care about about the grinch plot either again I don’t believe in his motivation I don’t feel his hate for Christmas. Jim’s version reason for hating Christmas, and the original was just an asshole both work on there own, but this film wants to pick both. It doesn’t work I never believe in these motivations and if I never feel the motivations, why am I watching?

If I haven’t made it clear, this is a bad movie. Not the worst but it’s a boring film that somehow misunderstood the message of a picture book. Boring designs, bad characters and just a nothing story, it’s a boring illumination movie to throw with the other boring illumination films nothing worse than that but nothing better.

Now before anything I want to say. This isn’t a terrible game. It’s competent enough, it looks pretty and it plays well. But I found on replay Mario Wonder is a kinda boring game to play and I’m going to say why I didn’t get into this game as much as others.

First the level design is pretty boring it’s by the numbers it’s not as generic as the other recent 2D Mario fare. Once you get passed some of its nice concepts the magic gets lost really fast and it’s kind of a bore to get through I wish I had more fun with these level designs. The difficulty doesn’t help either this game is very easy. I’m so done with Mario games being easy now. I’m not the biggest fan of Mario 64 and Sunshine but I’d take their occasionally unfair moments any day over this at least it feels like something. While the level design isn’t terrible it is easily one of Mario’s weakest outings when it comes to levels

The character roster is, ok I suppose, I like having extra characters but when I look back at the character roster even that feels like a missed opportunity. Listen I love Yoshi as much as everyone here does but do we really need 4 characters that are the same concept? Same for three toads? I feel the slots could’ve been given to other Mario characters that haven’t shown up in a platformer yet. Because this just feels like padding out the roster it doesn’t feel like extra characters it just feels like reskins.

in this section I’m not gonna be nice the bosses are horrible. They’re so basic it feels like they didn’t even try. The Koopalings at the very least weren’t the same copy and pasted boss. This is basically just fighting the exact same boss until you get to the final boss. Who is admittedly pretty fun to fight. But otherwise these bosses are shit they should not be this basic.

look this isn’t the worst game ever, it’s somewhat enjoyable in a lot of parts but a lot of it is also very boring. With ok at best level design, a character that could’ve been better and awful bosses, and overall just being way to easy to get through, it leaves a lot to be desired. If you like this game fair enough I can see why, but it didn’t work for me. Oh well Mario maybe next time.

2024 was not the worst year for films I guess but it for sure was not a great sign of where film is headed. A lot of franchise films, a lot of cheap films and in general just so many lackluster films. Now, most would say Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter, The Red One, Joker: Folie à Deux and Argylle, are the worst of the year, and, while those are undeniably bad. I would argue that their are 20 movies in 2024 that are actually worse than all of those and I’m here to show what tops them for being the worst films to come out this year.

20. Night Swim

Horror is in a very rough spot right now and its all be thanks to the studio Blumhouse who made it apparent that you can just half ass everything with giving people minimal budgets and it’ll still be a success. I don’t wanna say this film is effortless the actors are ok and weirdly enough the film doesn’t look bad on a visual stand point. But the concept alone drags this one down hard. Even someone like me who has a hard time swimming it’s hard to make a killer pool scary. No matter how much the film wants to sell you on this. It’s a concept that’s so ridiculous that it can’t be overlooked. Along with Weak characters and weak writing. It’s definitely not Blumhouses worst. But it’s for sure another bad sign for Modern Horror.

19. The Crow

If you assumed that because of the lack of Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter and Joker Folie à Deux that would mean that there’s no CBMs on this list, if you expected that then you would be sorely mistaken. The Crow just fascinates me on how badly they messed this up. They threw in a bunch of montages in the film to make you think they're in love when there’s actually no chemistry. It looks really bad and that's coming from a year where most CBMs looked bad. The dialogue is worse than Madame Webs somehow and it’s just so shallow. Unless you wanna have a fun time making fun of something with your friends don't put this film on. I haven't seen the original but you should over this abomination.

18. Thelma the Unicorn

How predictable, boring and substanceless does your entire films story is spoiled in the Letterboxd description of it. This is gonna be one of the shorter entries on the list because there’s almost nothing to say about it, its your typical boring by the numbers kids film that spends its entire runtime to just beat you over the head with its obvious message. The only reason it's above some other animated films later down the line is because this one stood in its lane on Netflix and didn't either hit theaters or touch a franchise I care about. But that doesn't make this worthwhile not even for kids I think this would bore them.

17. Kung Fu Panda 4

Okay, this might seem a bit harsh. But this just makes the list for more personal reasons. I really like the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The first two Kung Fu Panda films are incredible and Kung Fu Panda 3 while flawed was a solid ending but man if you thought Toy Story 4 was pointless to its franchise then I don’t know what you’ll say to this. The animation is good but weaker compared to its predecessors, the same can be said for its action. It’s very unfunny, I think I only chuckled like twice which is a huge downgrade from the previous films. The character of Po is unlikable and selfish which makes it hard to route for him doesn’t help that he’s the main character. But at the same time he’s right because why should he have to give up being the Dragon Warrior. The villain is Dreamwork worst villain she doesn’t do anything. They never give an explanation and the film seems like nostalgia bait. It’s one of the worst from Dreamworks, it’s just so nothing. If this is where mainstream animation is headed count me out.

16. Unfrosted

If you remember in 2023 there was a trend with films based on certain products like ‘Air’ for Air Jorden’s ‘Blackberry’ for the Blackberry Phone and ‘Flamin Hot’ for Hot Cheetos. Well Jerry Seinfeld thought he’d throw his hat in the Ring and make a movie about Pop Tarts and as you expect from the most washed comedian on the planet it sucks. It’s kinda hard to talk about how a bad comedy can be. All I can say it’s unfunny over and over nonstop. But yeah it’s not funny to the point where you just wanna shut it off. It’s shot really bad too, it looks like ‘Disaster Movie’ and ‘Epic Movie’ at points and that’s what the humor feels like too. Not much to say, it’s another boring comedy in the sea of unfunny comedies that’ll be forgotten if it’s not already forgotten.

15. The Exorcism

This films existence is more interesting than the film itself. Specifically for the fact that at least in its advertising it’s trying to cash in on 2023s The Popes Exorcist. A Movie that just kinda came and went. It was ok. But I’d definitely take it over this, it has a cool idea but it’s just wasted, things really only start getting going in the third act which is a little to late honestly. This film is proof that a good idea can only take you so far. Bad acting and characters you don’t care about leave this film feeling soulless.

14. Atlas

Oh of course, Netflix never fails to bring some of the worst movies of the decade. Atlas is another example of Netflix trying to be on par with something that would release in a theater but instead of that. It’s a quality film that looks like it would go direct to video in the mid 2000s. Especially with its Awful visuals that are just an eye sore to look at. Rushed character development especially from the main character. Terrible Action, and horrible acting. It may have an intriguing concept but leave it to Netflix to fumble a concept that can be good.

13. The Strangers: Chapter 1

I’m sorry I’m getting tired of multiple part movies, I know Dune just, kinda made it the trend of the decade but it’s getting tiring. But at least when it comes to Across the Spider-Verse, Dune: Part 2 and Wicked, they’re good films. This film however is a fucking bore. It really does just feel like a teaser for a later film and it’s not a good one. If you thought Across the Spider-Verse felt like half a movie, this is like ¼ of a movie. It’s paced horribly, it feels way longer than it actually is, it’s not scary it’s not invested it’s another bad horror film that makes no impact.

12. Uglies

Uglies is based on a book series and from I hear like most movies based on books it doesn’t do it justice. While I never read the books this does absolutely give me vibes of Disney Artemis Fowl. A movie that just rushes through its source material meanwhile just not getting the source right at all. On top of that it has absolutely terrible green screen and visuals, 20 year old actors trying really hard to convince that they’re 15 and a journey that’s not engaging so much to the point that it’s kinda laughable. Easily earns it reputation of one of the worst of the year.

11. Rebel Moon - Part 2: Scargiver

Zack Snyder is the most overhated yet overrated director ever. I can see why some like him and some dislike him. While I’m sure he’s a good guy I can’t get into most of his films, except for Watchmen. While Rebel Moon 1 wasn’t the worst but still pretty bad. The sequel somehow delivers less. 5 hours with these characters so far in both films yet I barely feel like I know them. The visuals aren’t the worst but they’re so bland, it feels like Zack just saw Dune and thought he could do it himself, the Villain is one of the worst this year has had and it’s just not an engaging world to be in, despite how much this movie wants me to take this story seriously I can’t because nothing from either the visuals or the characters keep me engaged with it. In my opinion it’s another fumble for Netflix and Zack.

10. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters is a franchise has been washed since the first film in my opinion. I didn’t really hate any of the Ghostbusters films post first film, even the 2016 reboot was just average to me. But with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, this one I truly hated. It’s the usual dumb modern nostalgia bait sequel only meant to make fans clap and cheer. With annoying call backs to the original, bringing back the old cast, repeating jokes it’s extremely lazy and is the opposite of the first which feels like a tribute. If you ignore those aspects of the film there’s nothing else the film has to offer. There’s so many characters in this even if you wanted to see the old cast for nostalgia they basically get sidelined. There’s no clear focus it just wants to have a bunch of characters so it can have a bunch of shit going on. They don’t even get to be ghostbusters that much in this. It doesn’t even feel like the franchise what I’m saying is even as nostalgia bait goes it’s awful at it. This movie pretty much does nothing right except that the acting is ok, but otherwise skip this fan of the franchise or not.

9. Borderlands

Borderland sure had a stunning performance… in theaters! Not only did it debut with a 0% on rotten tomatoes and bomb at the box office but it’s one of the few adaptations that both fans of the game and critics agree is awful, thank you borderlands for uniting everyone. Too bad it had to be with an awful film. Instead of oh I don’t know, taking from the source material it’s based off of. It instead wants to steal from Guardians of the Galaxy trying to have this weird group of characters team up together to eventually feel like a family together. The major difference is that the characters have absolutely zero chemistry together with bad acting all across the board. First off, looking at the characters in the game and then comparing it to the movie’s characters should show why they’re badly casted. Secondly, it absolutely looks horrendous with visuals that show everything wrong with how modern cinema could look. Lastly, the film’s cinematography looks like actually piss in a lot scenes and I’m not just talking about the scene where they’re driving through piss. I’m sure the games are good but this does what an adaptation should never do which is make me not want to touch anything involved with the franchise.

8. Afraid

Look I really wish there was a lot to say about this but there isn’t. You can apply anything I’ve said about the previous horror films on this list and put them here. This film is so embarrassing. Plots that go nowhere, awful visual, no tension it’s all here man. Skip it.

7. Dear Santa

Jack Black needs a new agent, What the fuck is this, what an unpleasant film. The film is very annoying, from characters constantly arguing to unfortunately Jack Blacks awful performance. There wasn’t a single character I liked. I genuinely don’t even know who this was made for. Like with other films on this list I can at least tell who they’re trying to appeal to even if they do it badly. But this? I genuinely don’t know who the target audience was. If you wanna get in the holiday mood don’t watch this film.

6. Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate

It’s funny how this is easily considered one of the worst films of the year. You’d think it would just be ignored as this bad direct to tv movie that we’d all just forget about. But no, Dreamworks had to advertise as the Long Awaited Sequel we all wanted. To be honest I myself never wanted a Megamind sequel not because the first film is bad. In fact I love it, but it’s more of those good on its own films not really needing a continuation. But I wasn’t really apposed to the idea that until the trailer and I’ll say, it didn’t advertise it wrong. It looked absolutely terrible and that’s exactly the film we got. Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate has horrible animation even for TV CG. Fucking Fanboy and Chum Chum had better looking CG. The actors do their best I suppose but it never manages to feel like the original cast, The characters are very unlikable especially Megamind who is now just an actual idiot and a complete asshole to his best friend. Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is straight out of the 2000s. It feels like something you’d find in the bargain bin and it’s actually insane that this is even considered a follow up to a film a lot of people care about. Including me.

5. Hot Frosty

In the theme of movies feeling like they released two decades ago. Hot Frosty feels like a boring Rom Com made in the 2000s, it looks like one the acting feels like one. The characters are very unlikable there is no chemistry. Theirs no chemistry between the main couple. Theirs not a lot to say it can be funny in how bad it is sometimes but otherwise I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.

4. Founders Day

Did you like 2023’s Thanksgiving? If you did what if we just tried to be that film but worse in every way! I don’t even like Thanksgiving myself but after this I see that film way more favorably. It was at least competent. This film is horrible, the killers mask is so pathetic and not scary at all. It’s terrible at being a slasher all the kills are bad and pathetic. This film really hurts to sit through it drags, it feels like forever. I don’t know how something like this can release in 2024 it just feels so fake horror and horror fans deserve better.

3. Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

SpongeBob SquarePants means a lot to many people including me. Growing up I always loved watching SpongeBob SquarePants especially the first 4 seasons are some of the best comedy to ever be put on tv. SpongeBobs first film is also one of the best animated films of all time. But otherwise SpongeBobs history with films has been mixed Both of the sequels are mixed they both can be pretty funny or heartwarming. But they’re also messes that don’t even come close to the first film. But this film is easily not only the worst SpongeBob movie but the worst thing SpongeBob has ever been apart of. The animation is horrendous it’s trying to replicate the style of Sponge on the Run but it looks way worse it clearly doesn’t have the money for it. The voice actors are trying, but man you can hear it in there voices that they can’t do this anymore. It kinda hurts to hear. The story is such a mess, bikini bottom was taken yet the story never takes it seriously it instead wants to tell unfunny jokes over and over again. The characters are insufferable. SpongeBob in this is fucking awful, he’s so unfunny and doesn’t shut up, he’s dumber than Patrick in this and it’s never funny. It’s just weird and it hurts to watch it’s unfortunate to see this happen to characters I care about, if their wasn’t a clear sign that the show needed to end before there definitely is now.

2. The Garfield Movie

I actually hate this film so much, putting it at Number 2 may seem harsh but it has everything I hate about modern animated films. Garfield is another franchise I have a connection too. Definitely not as much as SpongeBob but I do care about the character. But man as soon as they casted Chris Pratt you know exactly what kind of film this is going to be. But even with the low expectations it turned out to be even worse. Every bad thing about modern animated films is in this movie. The animation isn’t good I don’t care how much textures it has it all looks so bland. It’s just a bunch of movement to distract your kid from the fact that nothing is happening. The Humor is horrible it’s either all slapstick or quips and they’re just never funny they’re all annoying. The story is boring you can predict everything from beginning to end and it’s never entertaining. The voice acting is shit not a single performance is good. If you hated Chris Pratt in The Super Mario Bros. Movie he tries even less in this movie. He just doesn’t care, when he tries to be funny it sucks and when he tries to be emotional it sucks. There is not a single good character, Garfield is the worst main character of the year by far. All he does is make annoying jokes while being smug and treating his dad like shit. He doesn’t stop telling jokes and they’re never funny. This movie is horrendous it’s the worst animated film of the year, I hate that this film did well man. We’re just gonna get more films like this and I hate that fact, and yet, somehow, it’s not the worst film of the year.

1. Imaginary

As I said earlier Blumhouse has proven that you can basically just release the most low effort movie and put it on a screen, and this is the definition of that. I wish there was a lot to say since it’s the Number 1 film on the list, but, theirs not a lot, it’s boring. It looks really bad, its attempts to be scary are more sad than anything the effects are terrible. I really wish I can say more about this film but I really can’t. It’s what horror shouldn’t be it’s what modern movies shouldn’t be. Not only is it the worst horror film of the year but it’s easily the worst film of 2024.

Thank you all for reading this far and just hearing me babble for so long about these movies I hate, I’ll eventually do a best films of the year list if you guys are interested but otherwise, that’s the end of this list once again thanks for reading. See yall.

Before ‘Earwig and the Witch’ it was pretty safe to say that Tales from Earthsea was Studio Ghibli’s worst if not their worst at the time. It was hated by pretty much most Ghibli fans, and well. I’m not saying they’re necessarily wrong. Most of the problems people point out are genuine issues with tech film. It’s not well paced at all. It doesn’t have the best world building and the characters could be better but I’m gonna come to bat for this film a bit.

Now before I continue I’m not trying to be some blind Ghibli defender. Theirs a few projects from them that I’m not really a fan of. Earwig and the Witch is terrible. Ocean Waves is pretty bad, and I’m not even a huge fan of Pom Poko or The Red Turtle. But I’m willing to say that Tales from Earthsea does have a lot of positives that I think are overlooked and I’m gonna try to go through them now.

The Animation is a huge positive for this film, now I know animation can’t really carry a film but in this films case it doesn’t redeem every problem but it makes the film look so alive. The world just looks incredible because of how well the animation is done. It kinda gets me sucked in with how beautiful it can look. I would actually probably say it’s one of their best looking films at the very least. Another positive for the animation is the design of everything. The characters have a nice look while looking sort of different from the usually Ghibli film, and the film itself has a really nice color pallet. Say what you will about the movie but I think as usual they killed it with the animation, which is expected from Ghibli.

Another aspect of Tales from Earthsea I’m willing to defend are the characters. They’re not the best characters but I do kinda feel for them. The film stars Arren a guy who killed his father and then fled the kingdom soon after, Then their is Therru, a person whose really not open to trusting others. They’re definitely not the best Ghibli characters, but I do like their bond, and I do definitely feel for them in a lot of moments. Other than those two I’ll say yeah the rest of the cast isn’t too great the villain is ok but he’s carried by his performance for sure. But even so I would actually say Tales from Earthsea at the very least has two solid main characters. Which are enough to carry me through the film, and the film itself has a really great lesson being it too.

Look I’m not gonna act like I don’t get why people don’t like Tales from Earthsea. I can’t easily see why people think it’s a bad film but I can’t lie about my opinion I thought there was more good than bad here. It looks nice, has a cool looking world, has a good set of main characters, solid performances, and just a fun fantasy vibe. I don’t know maybe I just like the fantasy setting but it was definitely something I kinda enjoyed. May not be the best but their was clear effort and despite his mess ups especially way later down the line. But I don’t think his start was too bad.

Before ‘Earwig and the Witch’ it was pretty safe to say that Tales from Earthsea was Studio Ghibli’s worst if not their worst at the time. It was hated by pretty much most Ghibli fans, and well. I’m not saying they’re necessarily wrong. Most of the problems people point out are genuine issues with tech film. It’s not well paced at all. It doesn’t have the best world building and the characters could be better but I’m gonna come to bat for this film a bit.

Now before I continue I’m not trying to be some blind Ghibli defender. Theirs a few projects from them that I’m not really a fan of. Earwig and the Witch is terrible. Ocean Waves is pretty bad, and I’m not even a huge fan of Pom Poko or The Red Turtle. But I’m willing to say that Tales from Earthsea does have a lot of positives that I think are overlooked and I’m gonna try to go through them now.

The Animation is a huge positive for this film, now I know animation can’t really carry a film but in this films case it doesn’t redeem every problem but it makes the film look so alive. The world just looks incredible because of how well the animation is done. It kinda gets me sucked in with how beautiful it can look. I would actually probably say it’s one of their best looking films at the very least. Another positive for the animation is the design of everything. The characters have a nice look while looking sort of different from the usually Ghibli film, and the film itself has a really nice color pallet. Say what you will about the movie but I think as usual they killed it with the animation, which is expected from Ghibli.

Another aspect of Tales from Earthsea I’m willing to defend are the characters. They’re not the best characters but I do kinda feel for them. The film stars Arren a guy who killed his father and then fled the kingdom soon after, Then their is Therru, a person whose really not open to trusting others. They’re definitely not the best Ghibli characters, but I do like their bond, and I do definitely feel for them in a lot of moments. Other than those two I’ll say yeah the rest of the cast isn’t too great the villain is ok but he’s carried by his performance for sure. But even so I would actually say Tales from Earthsea at the very least has two solid main characters. Which are enough to carry me through the film, and the film itself has a really great lesson being it too.

Look I’m not gonna act like I don’t get why people don’t like Tales from Earthsea. I can’t easily see why people think it’s a bad film but I can’t lie about my opinion I thought there was more good than bad here. It looks nice, has a cool looking world, has a good set of main characters, solid performances, and just a fun fantasy vibe. I don’t know maybe I just like the fantasy setting but it was definitely something I kinda enjoyed. May not be the best but their was clear effort and despite his mess ups especially way later down the line. But I don’t think his start was too bad.