2024: MY YEAR AT THE METROGRAPH
Please... no shaming me on the movies I saw for the first time!
Besides the hundreds and hundreds of new movie releases I watched and reviewed in 2024 — my top 25 can be read here — I also spent a lot of time at my local repertory arthouse, the Metrograph, which quite conveniently in 2016 opened just one block away from where I’ve lived for 30 years.
I love this place so much, because the programming is second to none in a city where repertory (and especially 35mm) absolutely RULES! That said, I’m honestly not sure how and why I ended up seeing so many movies while still trying to work (and find a job) but I guess being unemployed for most of 2024 helped give me more time to prioritize keeping myself entertained with both old and newer movies.
As always, anything denoted with a * is a movie I saw for the first time, though there were a few movies that I could not remember if I’d ever seen them before.
I should also mention that I personally paid to see almost every single one of these movies using my $10 movie membership perk, only asking to be comped ONCE, despite struggling financially. For all the coverage I give Metrograph every year, I’ve never been offered more than a free popcorn or soda every once a while from the theater’s wonderful theater staff, who I thoroughly enjoy talking to. In fact, I do talk to many of them more than even some of my closest friends!
Before getting to this annual list, I want to thank each and every one of them by name right now, so thanks to Javi, Justice, Azaria, Khandis, Kate, Jeremy, Harry, Christine, and Bryce — absolute superstars, every single one of them! Also thanks to Lauren and Roger in member services for making being a member so worthwhile, and Ian and Dewitt in programming for giving me so many hours of pleasurable entertainment.
I’ve had an absolutely terrible shit year, but you all made it so much better.
Anyway, here is this year’s Metrograph rundown….
20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
*4 Little Girls (1997)
*Afterschool (2008)
*All About Eve (1950)
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
*All The President’s Men (1976)
American Beauty (1999)
Anaconda (1997)
*Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut (2019)
*Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
*Auntie Mame (1958)
Basic Instinct (1992)
The Beach (2000)
*The Beach Bum (2019)
The Big Picture (1989)
*Blank Generation (1980)
The Blob (1988)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Bound (1996)
*Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
*Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Children of Men (2006)
Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
*The Conversation (1974)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
*Deep Cover (1992)
The Departed (2006)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
*Diva (1981)
Dogville (2003)
*Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Elle (2016)
*The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
A Fantastic Woman (2017)
*Farewell My Concubine (1993)
*Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)
*Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
*Fritz the Cat (1972)
*Gattaca (1997)
*Glory (1989)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
*Ghost (1990)
Good One (2024)
*The Graduates (2023)
*Green Fish (1997)
*The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Hero (2002)
Hester Street (1975)
*High and Low (1963)
*Holiday (1938)
Hugo (2011)
The Ice Storm (1997)
In America (2002)
*The Italian Connection (1971)
*I Hired a Contract Killer (1990)
I Lost My Body
*I’m A Cyborg But That’s Okay (2006)
*The Italian Job (1969)
*Kaili Blues (2015)
Kim’s Video (2023)
King Kong (1933)
*King of Hearts (1996)
*La Haine (1995)
*The Ladykillers (1955)
Lair of the White Worm (1988)
The Last Detail (1973)
*The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Loneliest Planet (2011)
*The Mafu Cage (1978)
Making Mr. Right (1987)
Man on Wire (2008)
*The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
*Meanwhile on Earth (2024)
Memories of Murder (2003)
*Messiah Of Evil (1973)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
*The Mole People (1956)
Mon Oncle (1958)
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Moon (2009)
*Moonstruck
Murder by Death (1976)
*My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989)
National Treasure (2004)
Night on Earth (1991)
*Nina Wu (2019)
Old Stone (2016)
*Once a Moth (1976)
Onlookers (2023)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
*Only the River Flows (2023)
The Orphanage (2007)
Paprika (2007)
*The Parallax View (1974)
Pauline at the Beach (1983)
The Piano Teacher (2001)
*Point Break (1991)
*Poison Ivy (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
*Practical Magic (1998)
The Prestige (2006)
Pusher (1996)
*Ran (1985)
Raising Arizona (1987)
*Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
The Red Turtle (2016)
*Reds (1981)
*Report from Hollywood
The Rider (2017)
*Rififi (1955)
River’s Edge (1986)
*Road House (1989)
Ronin (1998)
*Rumble Fish (1983)
*Santosh (2024)
Scavenger Hunt (1979)
Sexy Beast (2000)
*Shadow of a Doubt
*Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)
Short Cuts (1993)
*Silent Running (1972)
Slap Shot (1977)
*Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Snakes on a Plane (2008)
Something Wild (1986)
Soylent Green (1973)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003)
Spring Breakers (2012)
*Stamped from the Beginning (2023)
*The State of Things
Stoker (2013)
*Stray Dog (1949)
*Suture (1993)
*Swept Away (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Tears of the Black Tiger (2000)
A Terra Cotta Warrior (1989)
THX-1138 (1971)
*Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Thunderball (1965)
*Topkapi (1964)
Total Recall (1990)
The Truman Show (1998)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)
Uncle Buck (1989)
*Unforgiven (1991)
Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
The Wailing (2016)
WALL*E (2008)
What About Bob? (1991)
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Willow (1988)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Working Girl (1988)
*Venom (1971)
Vertigo (1958)
*A View to a Kill (1985)
I highly doubt I’ll be able to afford to see so many movies in 2025, because I really do need to find a job very soon, and if I do, that’ll cut into my time watching movies, but hey, that’s just the way of the world, and I do hope that anyone who hasn’t made their way down to the Lower East Side to see a movie or two at Metrograph will do so in the coming year. As always, I’ll continue to cover the theater’s great repertory programming every week in the Weekend Warrior Repertory Round-Up.
Happy New Year!