Christ, what a year. I know I don't even have it a 10th as rough as some people do, but 2024 still seemed brutal to me in ways and 2025 isn't exactly promising a respite. Despite any turmoil I might be experiencing personally or geopolitically - I can still point to some terrific things that have happened stemming from the writing I do here.
Importantly, I was able to officially become a member of the Minnesota Film Critics' Association. This is a group of film reviewers - many written but also video creators, podcasters, and people who actually appear on television - based in Minnesota. I haven't been deeply involved just yet, but joining has given me the opportunity to attend many more press screenings, granted me access to publicity lists and screeners, and I'm able to vote in the local critics' film awards. This access played a huge role in my ability to put the Best of Hardboiled Crime - 2024 list together. I don't exactly operate like a standard film critic with my focus on older films and monthly roundups, but I'd really like to continue to stay on top of modern genre films - particularly the crime films - as it's fun and I think too many of those movies fade into obscurity on streaming services. It also afforded me the opportunity to co-host a live screening which I've always wanted to to and wrote more about below.
Zines!!! I was able to kick off the year with a contribution to the Cult Film Collective Member Zine and then republished that article on the blog. It's fun to write reviews and lists online and I love it when people reach out to me regarding posts, but this CFC zine reminded me how cool it is to have a physical object you contributed to. Not long after that, I had the good fortune to be included in a volume of Klon Waldrip's Ghastly Horror Society zine. I wrote about the not very horrific blaxploitation banger, Truck Turner, and Klon did a fantastic job formatting my unadorned word file into something cool looking. It was at some point after this that I decided I needed to work on my own zine. I wanted the satisfaction of making something and I wanted to divorce some of my writing from any corporate online platforms. It took me several months, but I eventually managed to cobble together the first issue of Apache Revolver and I have to admit that I'm very pleased with it. It's a little rough around the edges but I'm hoping it finds its way into the hands of other crime film, noir, and neo-noir fans. With any luck, I'll be able to do further issues and hopefully have some collaborators along the way.
Watching Trends - This was definitely not my heaviest viewing year but it's also fairly in-line with my 365+ films annually. "Dramas" are almost invariably my most-watched genre of film because so many subgenres are also classified as dramas on letterboxd. Crime films were (unsurprisingly) my second most watched genre and something I was able to explore in a variety of contexts. I'll definitely be piling on more semi-obscure crime films from around the world over the next year, but I'm also excited to spend some time on more recent crime releases. My most watched director in 2024 was Kinji Fukasaku as I watched quite a few of his Yakuza pictures including a full rewatch of Battles Without Honor or Humanity. Hence, my most watched actors are all the dudes that are in all of Fukasaku's films. Hideo Murota leads the pack but Fukasaku essentially worked repeatedly with the same stable over and over again (though surprisingly not as much with Bunta Sugawara as I expected). American films were far and away the bulk of my watching over the last year but I watched significant numbers of films from France and Japan as well. The US/France/Japan/Italy influence on my movie watching is unlikely to fade over the next year, but I do hope to watch more films from other areas. I was very pleased to find some great contemporary crime thrillers from Indonesia, Brazil, Taiwan, and others and I'd like to keep that trend alive. Per usual, I did a list of "Discoveries" for the year and quite a few of these ended up with reviews in the zine if you needed an additional nudge to pick up your copy.
Theatrical Experiences!
I say this every year, but I continue to believe that the Twin Cities punches way above its weight as a film metro. Even as an enthusiast, I can't attend everything I'd like to considering the variety of repertory screenings, film festivals, and special events that happen throughout the year. Still, I was able to attend quite a lot and that's reflected below. I was also able to do some traveling and managed to catch some terrific screenings during those trips as well. I think this might be my longest annual list so far for screenings and something worthy of inclusion was happening every month (frequently more than one) - which is something I have not been able to say in previous years.
Winter Kills (1979) - A supremely nutso sort-of spoof that never quite lives up to the promise of its totally bananas cast, though I have to say that I was consistently entertained throughout. It's outrageous enough and so stacked with people I love to see that it would be hard not to engage with it. This entry is less about the quality of the film and more to do with the fact that the Cult Film Collective was able to lay hands on the brand new 35mm print of this somewhat forgotten film curiosity that was commissioned by Quentin Tarantino. There's a genuinely fascinating backstory to the production of Winter Kills and we're fortunate to have programmers looking for unique opportunities to snag something so weird.
Daisies (1966) - This was a screening at the Walker Art Center that ran in conjunction with an exhibition on avant-garde art in the Eastern European Soviet Bloc countries during the 60s through the 80s. This was sold out or nearly sold out (I believe it was student night) and the crowd was exceptionally lively for an art museum showing (I go to a lot of these and it's usually the NPR tote bag set). A popping crowd and a well loved 35mm print is possibly one of the best way to experience the 76 minutes of madcap antics Daisies has to offer. The adjoining exhibition also offered some great context to the film. I'm not nearly as well-versed in Czech New Wave as I'd like to be so that might be something to work on in 2025.
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) - This is a film I had been dying to see for years and I was beyond thrilled when it was slated as part of the annual Italian Film Festival here in Minneapolis. The festival largely focuses on contemporary cinema but they also schedule at least one "classic" film and I always try to attend if I can. An expansive story of friendship between three men and one woman (who they all wind up loving in some fashion) during the thirty years following the end of WWII. We All Loved Each Other So Much is supposedly extremely influential in Italy and it truly is a brilliant marriage of structural ingenuity by way of arthouse cinema with the sensibilities of a mass market film. It's ostensibly a comedy and an extremely funny one but the overarching themes are those of loss, melancholy, and even betrayal. The friends betray each other, they betray their families, and they betray their ideals - intellectualism fails, the bravest of them becomes a corrupt capitalist, and leftist reform politics do little to change the circumstances of working people. It's also a movie obsessed with postwar film - De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, and Rosselini all get their due and there are some excellent cameos throughout the picture.
As a sidenote, I was able to attend a screening of La Chimera during the same festival (one of my favorite films this year) and they offered an aperitivo beforehand. This is something I'd love to see more of for any aspiring festival organizers out there.
1980s Action Extravaganza - Another nod to the excellent Cult Film Collective who organized their first ever 80s action mini-marathon. Four surprise films (3 of which were on 35mm) by the same folks who run the overnight Horrorthon every October. I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this but I knew I could handle four films much easier than an all-nighter and I wasn't disappointed. The film selection was not the deepest of deep cuts (I was more intrigued by some of the trailers shown between features) but how can I not celebrate a screening of The Killer (1989) on film to an absolutely ecstatic crowd of action enthusiasts. I had not seen it in ages and it still hits so hard despite having seen it dozens of times as a teenager/twentysomething. My only complaint is that practically nothing in a marathon can follow it so after checking what the next film was (Predator) we called it a night. Still, this was a really well run event and I'd be interested in attending another one in 2025.
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) - This screened at the Walker Art Center as part of a series they programmed in conjunction with their Keith Haring exhibition (essentially NYC cinema from the late 70s through the early 80s). I'd only seen Laura Mars once before and recalled it not having the strongest plot in the world - that's correct but it's nearly impossible to care with the cast, the music, the locations, and the fever pitch thriller action that plays out. The Walker is such an interesting venue for films about art or adjacent to the art scene and there was something special in watching the bath house fashion shoot with "Let's All Chant" booming through the auditorium. It's late 70s perfection pulsing with cocaine and fashion and garbage lined city streets and while it's only tangentially related to Haring - there's some kindred spirit there.
Play it as it Lays (1972) - Another 35mm screening and a return to the Trylon for Frank Perry's strange, melancholic adaptation of Joan Didion's novel. Prints of Play it as it Lays are vanishingly rare and I don't know of any current effort to restore it or revive it. I never thought I'd have a chance to see one unless I made a specific trip or managed to luck out in L.A. or NYC, so this was a real joy for me. Much like Tuesday Weld's character, it's not an easy movie to love. There's a lot of pain and grief laid bare on the screen even and Didion's caustic wit doesn't balance the experience by much. Still, seeing it with an audience and absorbing the stunned silence during the devastating penultimate scene is the reason we go to the cinema.
The Super Spook Show Spectacular! - Cinema of the Macabre did their first SSSS! in 2023 and I included it in my list that year while hoping that they would return in 2024. My wish was granted and they put on another fantastic event with a seriously cool lineup of films. I wrote a whole damn post about it, so you can check that out here.
Little Murders (1971) - My wife and I decided to take the train to Chicago for the first time and we made sure our timing intersected with a screening of Little Murders that was being hosted by Samm Dieghan and the Oscarbate Film Collective. I've been a fan of Samm's writing, audio commentaries, and podcasts for years now and though we've chatted a bit online, this was a chance to meet in person. Little Murders is a film I absolutely adore and I have long wanted to attend something at the Music Box. It was genuinely terrific - the Music Box is a gorgeous theater, the film was every bit as great as I remembered, Samm was terrific, and I also got to meet Brian from Weekend Nachos who I had previously picked up an insanely cool Cercle Rouge t-shirt from. I should mention that the screening was in support of the book Samm co-edited and contributed to: Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990 . It's a tremendous resource for anyone interested in leftist politics in cinema and I found it to be an entertainingly brisk read - not at all some dry tome or textbook.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - Last and certainly not least, I have to add the screening of The Asphalt Jungle that I got to co-host with Tim Holly as part of Emagine's Secret Movie Night. I had an absolute blast doing this. I love Asphalt Jungle and had never actually seen it on the big screen before. Tim was a terrific and generous co-host and the audience had some great questions. I did prepare for this but I was lucky in that I'm fairly well entrenched in the heist movie genre and it's research that is both a joy to do and not too hard for me to retain. This was another opportunity afforded to me through my association with MNFCA so I couldn't be happier about that. I'd love to do more of these and while I don't think they have presenters return very often for Secret Movie Night, I might have to find some other screening outlet so that I can force unsuspecting crowds to listen to me ramble about movies.
So that's 2024 in the books, movie-wise, I hope that despite what else may be happening in the world, I'll be able to attend more great events and that my film writing will keep lurching forward it its herky-jerky fashion. If you like what I do here, I'd love to hear from you. I'd also love to hear what your big film moments were in the last year. Finally, I'd love if you picked up a copy of the zine or share it with the crime film fanatics in your life. Happy New Year!
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