[Graphic courtesy of Julia Weber]

By the ACRN editorial team

5. Drive-Away Dolls — Ethan Coen [Working Title]

Drive Away Dolls is an uneventful movie that doesn’t give much to work with. Events and characters come and go and motivations are stringy at best. Ethan Coen is a talented filmmaker, but is maybe best when working alongside his brother. The most devastating part of this entire film is the script. There’s nothing special about it like other Coen scripts. It seems like a movie that would have come out in the 90s and been lost in time. As it stands, this will only be lost in time. There’s not much it can do to age well. There’s a good movie in here, but Coen’s textured career makes this feel like a debut film rather than a master of the craft making a movie. He’s a talented filmmaker, but I’m curious how his solo work will reflect upon his overall career by the end of it. 

— Cody Englander, Copy Editor

4. Mean Girls (2024) — Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr. [Broadway Video]

This year, Mean Girls lovers got to see their favorite movie remade into a movie musical! However, the results were… not what was expected. From horrible sound editing to lackluster cinematography, this film lets viewers down left and right. Not only did the film quality disappoint, but so did the music. The music for Mean Girls the musical has been a staple for every theater kid since 2018 when it first hit Broadway. Except, when put on the screen, beloved music made a change for the worst. The song “Stupid With Love” is almost unrecognizable and the scene where it was included is incredibly, well, cheugy, to put it into words. Though the film was less than expected, some good things came out of this. Renee Rapp saved this film from being a total dumpster fire. Having been the original Regina, she brought a breath of fresh air to this film and saved the theater kids from ripping this film to shreds. Mean Girls let the musical theater community down after being a long-awaited project for years, making us ponder if we might have been better off without it.  

— Eileen Fortner, Contributor 

3. Kung Fu Panda 4 — Mike Mitchell [DreamWorks]

This is a large dropoff from the trilogy and should have been a direct-to-streaming movie based on its quality. The voice acting isn’t complimented by the script in any way. It avoids the previous movies in the series, and seems to want to avoid anything special about it. It’s a depressing reality that this has had universal financial success, because it comes off as a cheap sequel that little work was put into. They avoided paying previous voice actors for budget reasons, and made well over $500 million. I hope artistry hasn’t left this series, and the inevitable sequel gives it heart once more. 

— Cody Englander, Copy Editor

2. The Fall Guy — David Leitch [87North / Entertainment 360]

Coming off a big year in 2023 with his performance as Ken in Barbie, Ryan Gosling stars as the lead in this reboot of the 80s television show of the same title. The film is one of this year’s biggest box office flops, and for good reason.

The Fall Guy tells the story of Colt Seavers (Gosling). Seavers is a stuntman who, following a traumatic injury, quits his job before being drawn back into the industry by the disappearance of the lead actor from the set of his love interest’s directorial debut. 

Perhaps the most lacking part of the film is Ryan Gosling’s performance, which feels like a rehash of his performance as Ken. It certainly doesn’t help that the rest of the movie is tedious and trite. While watching The Fall Guy, it feels like the film is never going to end. The film’s attempt at a plot twist feels pointless and anticlimactic, and its humor and romance are uninspired. Overall, The Fall Guy isn’t nearly as charming as it needs to be to succeed.  

— Kate Wiselogel, Contributor

1. Joker: Folie à Deux — Todd Phillips [DC / Domain]

The original Joker movie was never a milestone by any means. It’s a movie that relies on genre predecessors to achieve any sort of goal. Joker Folie à Deux manages to be a step down from this. It’s a mess of story, character and music. There’s so much going on that it’s difficult to grapple with anything the story leaves. It wants to be taken seriously, but there are too many comedic moments. There’s something interesting subtextually, and it’s by far the best part of the movie. Director Todd Phillips wants to distance himself from the internet persona his Joker has taken on, and in doing so, he alienated some fans of the original. That’s not a flaw, but it comes with the territory when making a divisive blockbuster. The issue with this movie comes with the failure of competence on nearly every level of film and musical. Joker: Folie à Deux is a movie that leaves fans of the original sour, musical fans disappointed and film fans angry. 

— Cody Englander, Copy Editor