Books vs. Movies
In this podcast we set out to answer the age old question: is the book really always better than the movie?
Books vs. Movies
Exploring Cinematic Highs and Lows: Top 10 Films of 2024 and Their Impactful Stories
What if your favorite movie could turn into a slightly disappointing experience just because of a trailer that gave away too much? Join me, Lluvia, as I bring you on a cinematic journey through my top 10 films of 2024, kicking off with the suspense-filled "Speak No Evil." While James McAvoy’s performance was nothing short of captivating, the movie stumbled due to spoilers and frustrating character flaws. And what happens when nostalgia meets comedy? "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" races in with beloved characters like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, but the film leans heavily on Jim Carrey’s comedic antics, which at times overshadow the heart of the storyline. Yet, both films still managed to create unforgettable theatrical experiences worth discussing.
On the other side of the cinematic spectrum, some movies offer delightful surprises and heartfelt emotions. "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is a touching tale of six mischievous siblings who unexpectedly create the most memorable Christmas pageant, leaving audiences deeply moved. Then there’s "Your Monster," which weaves romance and a hint of horror with actress Laura Franco befriending a monster from her closet. This film speaks to the journey of self-discovery and confidence, resonating with personal struggles and triumphs. These films deliver profound messages and leave lasting impressions, proving that sometimes, the most unexpected stories are the ones that stay with you.
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Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set out to answer the age-old question is the book really always better than the movie? I'm Yuvia, an actress and book lover based out of New York City, and today I will be counting down my top 10 favorite films of 2024 that I saw in theaters. So again, I am focusing on films that I saw in theaters, because I can just go to my AMC app and look at everything that I watched in the past year and I really have no other way of keeping track other than, like through a spreadsheet, which is fine, but I'm not going to lie, I would forget to input every single film that I saw. So just having it digitally is just easier for me. But let's go ahead and get started.
Speaker 0:Number 10 is Speak no Evil. So this film is a horror film thriller, and it follows a family who's invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the British country British or Irish Might be, maybe it's Scottish, it's one of. It's a UK countryside but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family who invited them, and I really enjoyed this film. I think I mainly enjoyed it because of the performances, mainly of James McAvoy. James McAvoy is just a beast and, yeah, he did such a great job in this role. I think the film's biggest downfall was its trailers. Its trailers revealed so much and there was things that should have been plot twists that weren't, because the trailer gave them away. So if you've seen the trailer, you've honestly seen all the major plot twists. You're not going to be shocked or surprised by anything that gets presented, but it was still a fun time overall.
Speaker 0:So I really really hate in horror films when characters make dumb decisions. That just that I just can't like. What makes a horror film scary to me is if a character makes a smart decision. That or what they think is a smart decision or what they think is the right decision, and maybe it backfires on them, because I feel like that's what we would all try to do if we were stuck in a horror film, like we would try to get out with our lives and we would be making decisions that we think would keep us alive and we might end up making a mistake or choosing the wrong thing. But you know, so the one thing about this film that was really really annoying that was like oh my gosh, was like the, the father character, like the wife kept being like I'm getting weird vibes, we need to leave, and he kept being like no, they're our friends, they would never do that. Like he just kept making excuses and these people are acting obviously not normal and he just like keeps writing like she, like the wife wants to leave, like after a few, a few hours after they arrive, and they end up staying the whole weekend because the father is like really like no, it's fine, they're they're, they're just a little different, but it's, it's like bro, no, like can you, can you? Like not, and just listen to your wife and leave, like what is wrong with you? Then you wouldn't have you know, had the things that happened to you happen. So anyway, I think that was like the main annoyance is just like the father character was just such a man in that sense of like no, I'm right, you're wrong, you and your womanly intuition is wrong. So, yeah, so that was the only thing, but it was still a fun time.
Speaker 0:Number nine is Sonic the Hedgehog 3. So in this third installment of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, sonic, knuckles and Tails reunite again to fight a new adversary named Shadow, who is a mysterious villain, with powers unlike anything they've faced before and with their abilities outmatched, team Sonic has to seek out an unlikely alliance. So I will say the first two Sonic films held a lot of nostalgia for me. I remember playing Sonic with my brother growing up. I was always Tails, because Tails was player two and of course he's the older brother so he got to always be player one, but it's fine. So he was always Sonic and I was always Tails. And then my mom gifted him the Knuckles video game for Christmas one year so we got to play as Knuckles as well. That one was a one person game, so by we I mean him and I just had to sit back and watch. But it was. I had a lot of fun playing those games and I have a lot of good memories playing those games.
Speaker 0:But I don't know much of the Sonic lore outside of the Sonic the Hedgehog and the Knuckles video game. Like I don't know any other Sonic video games beyond that. I didn't watch the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series so I'm not like too familiar. This is this third film we got into the lore that I'm not familiar with. Like I don't know who Shadow is. I've seen him but I don't know who he is, but that being said, it was still a fun time. I really really enjoyed it.
Speaker 0:I think the Sonic films are a great example of how to make a film that's aimed for kids but can still appeal to people of all ages, and how to do that well. I really really enjoyed it. I had a fun time watching it and, in my opinion, the film's the biggest downfall for this film was just the amount of Jim Carrey. I don't hate Jim Carrey by any means, but he was playing Dr Robotnik and a different character in this film, so we had Jim Carrey playing two characters and they like he was really really really having it up more than usual and I feel like that detract. Like the, the filmmakers relied so much on Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey and his Jim Carrey comedy that it kind of detracted from the main storyline of Sonic Tails Knuckles going up against Shadow, which was that, because when the four of them were fighting that was really cool and exciting. So I kind of wish it had been more about Sonic and company and less about Dr Robotnik and Jim Carrey in general.
Speaker 0:Number eight and I know I'm gonna get crap about this one for Moshi because I put it so low on the list, but number eight for me is Wicked. I really really did like this film. I thought Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were wonderful as Glinda and Elphaba respectively. The world building of the film was gorgeous. It was stunning the little Easter eggs that they incorporated, the way they expanded the story of Wicked to make some moments longer and clearer. Obviously, with a musical, you're stuck to the constraints of the musical, the runtime of the musical, so some events happen really, really fast. So there have been some parts of the musical where people are like that was a really sudden change. So John Chu really took the opportunity to flesh out those moments so that when a change happened, it happened organically as opposed to oh, it was supposed to happen because we reached this part of the show. So I really really do appreciate everything that he did Just for me.
Speaker 0:I did start to feel the length of this film. Towards the end of it I just I really started getting antsy and I was like we're still sitting here and we still have Defying Gravity to go, plus other songs before then. So I really really did start to feel really, really antsy and anxious and, yeah, I think that's kind of what slowed it down for me. But I understand why it was expanded upon. I understand why the second, why it was split into two parts and why each part is going to be like three hours long. So in total it's going to be like a six hour long musical, which is like wild to think about. But it makes sense. I completely understand why they did it. Just, I did start feeling the runtime in a way that I don't feel it when I'm watching the actual theater production.
Speaker 0:Number seven is Transformers 1. And again, this is a great example of a film that's aimed for kids, that's actually really well done and can appeal to a wide variety of audiences. And I will say this one might have a special place in my heart because we saw this one in El Paso when we went during one of our visits to visit family, and so we watched it with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend and her best friend, and then we watched it with my brother-in-law and our goddaughter Emma. She's our oldest niece and she's the only one old enough to go to the movies. So she was like really excited to go and it was so cute. Like it was my brother-in-law and then Emma, then Orlando and then me. So it was just like so cute getting to hear her giggle throughout the film. That was just adorable and she really loved that acetone. So, yeah, just some good memories watching this film.
Speaker 0:But overall, apart from that, this story, this tells the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron. They were originally friends and then at some point during the course of this film it's revealed how they became enemies, and this is an origin story that I was not familiar with. I enjoy some of the Transformers films not everything, but they're fun and I really enjoyed this origin story. And I agree with Orlando in terms of like, because we were talking about how there are, like, other films that tell origin stories and it's just like we know the story and they still manage to screw it up somehow or make it really boring or make it really basic. And this film really kept it really exciting, just visually exciting, and it was genuinely funny. And I mean my niece enjoyed it. She was the only one there that was a child. Everyone else that watched it was an adult and it was really, really, really all the adults enjoyed it as well. So that was a really, really great origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Speaker 0:Number six is Abigail. So this story follows a group of criminals who kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure. They retreat to an isolated mansion unaware that they're locked up with a little girl who is actually not a normal little girl. Locked up with a little girl who is actually not a normal little girl. So this was done by the same team who did Ready or Not, which came out, I want to say, in 2019, and it stars Samara Weaving and it's her character marries into a family, and anyone who marries into this family they have to have a game night and if a particular game is selected, then everyone in that family has to sacrifice the new bride or groom, depending on who got married, and it was a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 0:This one continues to add on. It's not a sequel, but you can see the similarities, like you can tell that this was made by the same team and, honestly, it was a lot of fun. I don't like gory films and this was gory, but I think it helps that, like the blood and the gore was cartoony, it wasn't realistic, so I was able to handle it just fine, but it was a lot of fun. It was genuinely funny Like there were so many good one-liners in this film and it's a good time. It's a chillingly good time, so I had a fun. This is not usually a genre that I go for, but I had a lot of fun watching this and I yeah, I recommend it.
Speaker 0:Number five is A Quiet Place Day One, and so this is technically the. It's the third film in the Quiet Place series, but it's technically a prequel. It's, I mean, it's called Quiet Place Day One. This tells us what happened the day that the aliens took over, and it follows specifically a young woman named Sam, played by Lupita Nyong'o, who finds herself trapped in New York City during the early stages of the alien invasion. And again, this is just a great example of keeping that tension. We know like the first Quiet Place film takes place about a year, a year and a half, before the after sorry, after the events of this one. So we know what the monsters are. We were that's not going to be a plot twist, if you've seen it it's. We know how they work. We know the gist of the film, like what you need to do in order to survive, but this film is such a great example of knowing all that and expanding on the story and finding ways to keep it exciting and and tense, like this was.
Speaker 0:This is such a great film, like the performances by Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn were fantastic, but I really, really, really have to applaud the filmmakers who found a way to keep this, this idea that can easily go stale, if I'm being honest, and keeping it fresh and, like I said it's even though I know the story, we know what's going to happen. Eventually, it was still a. It still kept me on my toes. It still kept me very tense. I was still not sure the main characters were going to make it out of this. It really really finds a way to keep you excited and engaged and I just I have nothing but good things. I think this might be my favorite entry in the in the Quiet Place series, which is asking a lot considering, like I said, we already. We have the premise, we know the premise there's, we know what's going to happen, like there's really no way to shock us. So they did it. They just focused on the atmosphere and they did a very, very good job of it and I really do appreciate the message that it sent. It found a way to send a really good message despite this really tense, thrilling film, so highly recommend it.
Speaker 0:Number four is the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. So in this film nobody is ready for the mayhem and surprises that ensue when six of the worst youngsters disrupt the town's yearly Christmas performance. So this film follows a group of six siblings. They are awful. Like no one in this town can stand them. They are bullies, they are troublemakers, they are just the worst children you could ever imagine. But they really want to be a part of the Christmas pageant and they force themselves into this pageant. They forced themselves into the lead roles and out of that comes a very unexpected or, as the title tells you, the best Christmas pageant ever.
Speaker 0:This one we kind of watched on a whim. Again, it was. It was. We watched this one in November, so a little bit before the Christmas season. But I love Christmas, orlando loves Christmas. So we start celebrating Christmas Like we. We start getting everything ready Like as soon as Halloween is over. We don't care. But this one was again. It's been a while since we'd been to the movies. There wasn't really anything we wanted to watch. I saw this one and I was like I mean, it's Christmas, let's just check it out. We really didn't know if we had never heard about it. So we were going in blind, we didn't know if it was going to be good or bad. We had no expectations and we were, honestly, very pleasantly surprised by the outcome of it.
Speaker 0:Now I will say there are a lot of religious undertones in this film and that is enough to turn some people off to it. I completely understand that, and if this isn't for you, it's not for you. But if you can overlook the religious messaging of it, I think you'll be happily surprised to discover a beautiful, heartwarming film that I know who the target audience is. It's again the target audience is people that fall for any Christian message out there, and the ultimate message of the film, unfortunately, I think, will go completely over their heads, which is very sad for me to say, but I think it will. But, that being said, it didn't go over mine or Orlando's head, and we were pleasantly surprised at how beautifully told the story was, the message, and both of us were not expecting to be choked up at the climax of the film or I guess that's the falling action or the resolution at this point. But yeah, we were watching it, we were really into it and then, as we were discussing it. After we watched it, we were like I got really choked up at that part. I wasn't expecting to, and I was like me too. So it is an absolute beautiful film. Again, I completely understand if the religious messaging is enough for you to not want to watch this, but if you don't mind it or you can overlook it, I would say try giving it a shot, because it is a beautiful film with a beautiful message and it's unexpectedly heartwarming.
Speaker 0:Number three is your Monster. I had never heard of this film, ever Never heard of it. My roommate was the one that was like I want to go watch it. Do you want to go watch it with me? And I was like I love going to the movies. So yes and yeah. So I ended up watching this with her and we both really really enjoyed it.
Speaker 0:And this story focuses on Laura Franco, who is an actress. Her life falls apart, but she's able to find her voice when she meets a terrifying yet weirdly charming monster living in her closet. This is a romantic comedy with a little bit of horror, about falling in love with your inner rage, and that's the tagline for the film about falling in love with your inner rage, and that's the tagline for the film, about falling in love with your inner rage, and that's exactly what she learns to do. She learns to find her voice, she learns to not be a doormat. And I had a really, really, really good time with this film and there was a lot that I could relate to as an actress. Laura Franco is an actress. She's struggling to make it and she's going on auditions and she sees who gets the lead role and you can't help feeling you. Yeah, just I could relate to it as an actress, and laura is a lot like me personality way. She's very soft-spoken, she keeps things to herself, she doesn't want to want to fight battles, whether they need, whether they should be fought or not, and by the end, she finds that voice and she's able to express herself.
Speaker 0:This film is just so much fun and it's so like the concept of the monster and what it stands for. But yeah, it's fun. It's just so much fun and I really, really enjoyed it and I, you know, I have noticed that after watching this film. I'm not keeping things to myself. I keep some things to myself, but now I'm like I think people are starting to see another side of me, because I'm just like. This is how I feel and I'm not going to hide it and I don't care if it pisses you off. So you know, the message of this film really did get to me. So good job. It's just so much fun and if you are a theater nerd, I think you'll like it because there's like this again, as an actress, I really related to certain aspects of it.
Speaker 0:You know, she goes to this audition and she sees like this beautiful actress walk up to the casting director and she just is like so natural at like the schmoozing and she's just so beautiful and I get it. I get it. Sometimes it feels like that's who always beats me out for the role and there's a lot that goes into casting. Yes, but sometimes that's what your mind tells you. Oh, she got it because she's so much better at schmoozing with casting directors than I am. Oh, she got it because look at how gorgeous she is and I'm not as gorgeous as she is. So there's things like that that I really related to and broke my heart. But then Laura finds her inner voice and she comes out fighting, and that's what I started to do after this film came out.
Speaker 0:Number two goes to American fiction. So I did talk about this on the podcast with book club friends Raymond and Chantel. Chantel did prefer Erasure and Raymond and I preferred American Fiction. But honestly, check out American Fiction. Whether or not you decide to read Erasure although you should American Fiction is just it's just so good and so funny. Absolutely loved it. I didn't know this was based on a book. I just saw the trailer and I saw Jeffrey. This was actually the first film I saw in 2024, but I saw Jeffrey Wright and I saw that it was funny. Like the trailer immediately sold me and as soon as I saw the trailer I was like I want to watch that film. So bad. And I was not disappointed. It is so good. So check it out for yourself.
Speaker 0:And my number one pick it's going to come as a big surprise to people, probably, and a lot of people. I think it's going to be a controversial pick for number one, but I do want to preface this by saying that this film is number one because of the subject matter and how much that subject matter meant to me, or meant to me as a kid and continues to mean to me now, and that is Butterfly in the Sky. Butterfly in the Sky is a documentary about reading Rainbow. Reading Rainbow was my everything as a kid growing up. That show is what got me to love reading.
Speaker 0:Lavar Burt to this day, I think, is the only celebrity I can think of. There's so many celebrities that I love and admire and I'm going to be like starstruck when I meet them, but LeVar Burton, that's going to be starstruck Like, whenever I meet that man. That is going to be the most starstruck I'm ever going to be, because there's no one who has impacted my life. There's no other celebrity that has impacted my life as much as LeVar Burton did and I like, when I meet him, I think I'm going to cry, like I'm not going to know what to say to him. Like that, like I'm going to be star strong, like everyone else that I'm excited to meet. I feel like I'll be able like especially if I meet them on film sets and stuff like if I'm cast in something, I'll be able to keep it professional. Not gonna lie, I don't know that I'll be able to keep it professional with LeVar Burton. I'm gonna freak out so much, but anyway, yes, butterfly in the Sky is a documentary that tells the story of Breeding Rainbow.
Speaker 0:It tells the story of the broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believe enough in this show and believe that they could inspire a love of reading in kids to bring this show to life. And the same old story that we're still getting today. There was people that wanted the show canceled because the books they were picking were just giving kids unrealistic expectations. And there's a really funny moment in the film in which one of the women that was in charge of bringing Reading Rainbow to life as they're getting complaints from parents of like you can't pick these books. Like these, you're getting kids. Well, it wasn't just parents, it was like parents and the station PBS of all places were like you can't be choosing these books. Like kids are going to start believing that these things are are real in terms of like, if it was like a story of, like a kid that turned into a dragon or something. And so she she holds a focus group with kids and she reads the book and she's having a focus group and then she asks the kids do any of you think that you could actually turn into a fish like the main character in the? And there's just complete silence from the kids and then one little girl raises her hand and just says it's a story. It's like, yeah, we like kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for, and so this details a story of like making this show entertaining for kids, keeping like making it engaging for them, but also not like talking down to them, because kids are so much smarter than we think they are.
Speaker 0:And you know, it also talks about LeVar Burton and how hard he had to fight to just be him authentically. This was at a time in which there were not a lot of Black men hosting especially kids shows, so it was really important for him, like if he wanted to have an Afro, that they let him have an Afro when he pierced his ears. It was really important for him, like if he wanted to have an afro, that they let him have an afro when he pierced his ears. It was really important that he let them, that they let him keep his earrings in, that they request not to take them out, and how he was so willing as much as he loved being the host of Reading Rainbow, he was so willing to walk away from it if they were not willing to let him be an authentic representation of the Black man that he is. So, yeah, that is why that's my number one pick and again, I know it might be controversial, but it just reading Rainbow just meant so much to me growing up, and LaFar Burton means so much to me and that's why there could not have been any other pick for number one for me.
Speaker 0:So that is it for this episode of books versus movies. I don't know what's coming at you, but keep tuning in. I have I'm currently reading several books that I need to finish before I can let you know what I'm bringing to the podcast next time. But keep tuning in and I'm looking forward to a really exciting 2025. See you next time.