| It's your lucky day! You are reading a special edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, written by me, Ale Lampietti, Bloomberg Opinion's video lead. Sign up here and follow us for more videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. As someone who went to film school and watches a lot of movies (thanks to my AMC stubs membership), my friends and family always ask me for recommendations. If you, too, want to know my favorite movies of the year, you'll have to get to the bottom of this newsletter to find out. In the meantime, I have some short-form video recommendations based on which movies you loved — or hated — this year. With an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, this was the biggest flop of the year. It was the perfect opportunity to ask: Is it time to cool it on the superhero thing? I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The superhero movie bubble will burst, and I'm here for it.
The saving grace in Marvel's latest average film was how uninvested Dakota Johnson was in her own arachnid-themed plot.
At Bloomberg Opinion, however, we love an arachnid-themed plot. Lara Williams recently visited London's Richmond Park to catch some creepy crawlers all on her own. Not spiders, but ticks. Climate change is spurring growth in tick populations across the UK and Europe, and the parks are now filled with them. Watch her brave the tick-laden fields: Meanwhile, Sarah Green Carmichael brings us on her own personal journey of getting diagnosed with Lyme Disease. For me, Megalopolis was the biggest disappointment of the year: half-baked grand ideas, an egregious script, and one of the ugliest set designs for New York — I mean, New Rome — I have seen in a film. So, I have a slew of wonderful metropolis-based original videos for you to watch to purge your memory of that monstrosity, all shot on the ground in New York City. And if you liked the film — well, maybe I need a peek into your Letterboxd (and your psyche). New York City is now one of the safest cities in America. Justin Fox dives into the data in Times Square: More NYC Content: - Those new C trains with the open gangways? They are a much safer solution to subway crime, says Jessica Karl.
- The rats have finally taken over New York City, says Stephen Mihm. Maybe that's why it's so safe...
How do you like to unwind? Go to the gym? Watch a TV show after a long day at the office? Get to "genius" on Spelling Bee? I decompress with a good old fashioned tornado video binge. Watching massive tornadoes form and whip through the air is my obsession... I could watch Reed Timmer yell at me from inside his SRV Dominator truck all day, any day.
So one of my all-time favorite movies is, of course, Twister. This year brought us the sequel: Twisters.
Unlike Glen Powell's acting chops, tornadoes are no joke. They are dangerous, unpredictable and deadly. And 17 million people in this country don't have the home insurance they need when disasters hit. That could lead to another housing crisis, according to one of the guys from the real-life Big Short. Let Mark Gongloff explain: One of the best films of the year was The Apprentice. If you missed it, the film focuses on Roy Cohn's influence on and relationship with a young Donald Trump as he attempts to become a New York real estate tycoon. The film lays a lot of groundwork for how we should see Trump today: an obsessive. Obsessed with money. Obsessed with imagery. Obsessed with gold. Obsessed with women. Obsessed with power. Obsessed with retribution. And spoiler alert: Trump finds himself more obsessed with winning (by any means necessary) than being an actual business man. No matter how you view Trump or who you voted for, as we begin White House 2: The Trump Strikes Back, it's worth remembering that the obsession worked: He won not one, but two elections. Timothy L. O'Brien wrote that "He presides over a political movement that bears as much resemblance to a religion as it does to anything else. His flock isn't going to leave their church because of a dalliance with a porn star or non-stop grifting — or even if he torches the Constitution." Now that's a true con man at work.
Watch Tim explain how Trump schooled us all:  The Dune movies are a real feat of cinema. I saw the newest one in IMAX, and it did not disappoint. The film was truly meant as an epic for the big screen. But even if you aren't as much of a film nerd, you might be a real nerd who loved Dune: Parts 1 and 2 for how they explore interplanetary politics and ecological world-building.
In that case, I promise you'll love to watch Andreas Kluth map out scenarios in which international politics and world-ending weapons could lead to World War III. Andreas writes that the US needs to pay attention to how its "adversaries think about their nuclear weapons and scenarios of atomic warfare," in order to prevent the world from, well, literally exploding: Unfortunately, I can't promise that Gen Z heartthrob Timothée Chalamet will play a central role in this potentially nuclear future. Although maybe he can sing about it. Wow — you made it all the way through! Click here to see my top movies of 2024. Notes: Please send your film reviews and feedback to Ale Lampietti at alampietti@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. |
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