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"A Man Apart" sets chunks of nonsense floating down in a river of action. The elements are all here--the growling macho dialogue, the gunplay, the drugs, the cops, the revenge--but what do they add up to? Some sequences make no sense at all, except as kinetic energy.

The movie stars Vin Diesel and Larenz Tate as drug cops named Vetter and Hicks. They're partners in the DEA, attempting to slam shut the Colombia-Mexico-California cocaine corridor. When they capture a cartel kingpin named Memo Lucero ( Geno Silva ), the cartel has its revenge by attacking Vetter's home and killing his beloved wife, Stacy ( Jacqueline Obradors ).

I have not given anything away by revealing her death; the movie's trailer shows her dying. Besides, she has to die. That's why she's in the movie. My colleague Richard Roeper has a new book titled Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character Is Doomed . One of the surest signs is when a wife or girlfriend appears in a cop-buddy action picture, in gentle scenes showing them dining by candlelight, backlit by the sunset on the beach, dancing in the dawn, etc. Action movies are not about dialogue or relationships, and women characters are a major Dialogue and Relationship Hazard. The function of the woman is therefore inevitably to die, inspiring Revenge. This time, as they say, it's personal.

Diesel inhabits "A Man Apart" easily and continues to establish himself as a big action star. Tate gets good mileage from the thankless sidekick role. Silva, as the drug kingpin, gives us glimpses of a character who was probably more fully developed in the earlier drafts: There is very little of Memo, but what there is suggests much more.

The plot is routine. Cops capture kingpin. Kingpin is replaced by shadowy successor named El Diablo. Successor sends hit men to shoot at Vetter and wife. Vetter loses his cool during a drug bust when a guy disses dead wife. As a result, three cops are killed. The chief takes away Vetter's badge. Then the rogue ex-cop goes on a personal mission of revenge against El Diablo, with ex-partner obligingly helping. We have seen this plot before. But Diesel has an undeniable screen charisma. And the movie is good-looking, thanks to cinematographer Jack N. Green , who gives scenes a texture the writing lacks. So everything is in place, and then we find ourselves confused about the basic purpose of whole sequences.

Example: Early in the movie, the DEA raids a club where Memo is partying. "You expect us to go into a building full of drunken cartel gunmen unarmed?" asks Vetter, who conceals a gun. So does everyone else, I guess, since the subsequent gun battle is loud and long and includes automatic weapons. While I was trying to find the logic of the "unarmed" comment, Memo flees from the club through an underground tunnel and emerges on the street to grab a getaway cab.

OK. Later in the film, Vetter and Hicks return to the same club, enter through the getaway hatch, wade through waist-high water in the tunnels, emerge in the original room, and find a man sitting all by himself, who they think is El Diablo. "You think ... I am El Diablo?" the man asks, all but cackling. As an action sequence unfolds and the guys retrace their steps through the flooded tunnel, etc., I'm asking what the purpose of this scene was. To provide mindless action, obviously. But was it also a strategy to use the same set twice, as an economy move? The closing scene is even more illogical. I will give away no details except to say that, from the moment you see Vetter in the funny sun hat, smoking the cigarette and walking in the dusty village street, the entire scene depends on Backward Choreography: The omnipotent filmmakers know what is going to happen at the end of the scene and rewind it to the beginning. (Even so, the specific logistics of the payoff shot are muddled.) Faithful readers will know I am often willing to forgive enormous gaps of logic in a movie that otherwise amuses me. But here the Vin Diesel character often seems involved in actions that are entirely without logical purpose. The movie's director is F. Gary Gray, whose " Set It Off " (1996) and " The Negotiator " (1998) were notable for strong characters and stories. This time, the screenplay tries to paper over too many story elements that needed a lot more thought. This movie has been filmed and released, but it has not been finished.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

A Man Apart (2003)

Rated R For Strong Graphic Violence, Language, Drug Content and Sexuality

114 minutes

Timothy Olyphant as Jack Slayton

Jacqueline Obradors as Stacy Vetter

Larenz Tate as Demetrius Hicks

Geno Silva as Memo Lucero

Vin Diesel as Sean Vetter

Steve Eastin as Ty Frost

Directed by

• F. Gary Gray
• Paul Scheuring
• Christian Gudegast

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A Man Apart Reviews

Films like A Man Apart pretend to deal with social issues. That is their cover story. But in fact, they themselves are the Hollywood equivalent of the coke trade. They corrupt the entertainment industry.

Full Review | Jan 10, 2018

If I hadn't seen Traffic, this would still stink, but I wouldn't know how badly. Diesel runs on fumes in this one.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Jan 3, 2018

Pretentious, incompetent, dumb explosion movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 21, 2010

You know what you're getting: it's a Vin Vin situation.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2008

The script for this action vehicle is like something you'd find under the cushions of Steven Seagal's couch, but Diesel, to his credit, digs into his role as if it were Hamlet.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2007

Go see The French Connection instead.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

This is disappointingly routine stuff from Gray, but the movie does boast one disaster area of a shoot-out and a nifty denouement.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 5, 2005

It's as if this is a rough cut and [Vin] Diesel didn't show up for the reshoots.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 5, 2004

Vin Diesel has to make a choice whether he's going to be an actor or a cookie cutter action star.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jan 4, 2004

A Man Apart is grim, lifeless and, worst of all, as boring as Steven Seagal talking about Buddhism.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 6, 2003

O roteiro cheio de furos e a fraca atuao de Vin Diesel so apenas alguns dos defeitos deste filme montono e repleto de clichs.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 22, 2003

This is a revenge thriller that for long stretches forgets about the revenge and, more importantly, the thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 26, 2003

Oh, the mediocrity.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 17, 2003

A Man Apart crumbles too easily and all that remains is emptiness.

Full Review | May 30, 2003

It's really, really awful old rubbish.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

This film brings nothing new to the table, but rather just regurgitates every formulaic driven cop-against-the evil drug empire clich that has come before.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 30, 2003

Despite an interesting take on the role of a tough guy, [A Man Apart] is a boring and visually annoying rouge cop story.

Full Review | Apr 24, 2003

[Director] Gray's straight-faced approach to his revenge fantasy is as unsettling as his material is absurd.

The film would be totally unwatchable without the very real charisma of Diesel.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 22, 2003

Suggestions

Review: a man apart.

Note to cocky drug enforcement officers: Don’t try to be a superman.

Note to cocky drug enforcement officers: Don’t try to be a superman. Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) nabs a big-time Mexican drug czar after seven years on the hunt and sees his world fall apart when his girlfriend is killed in what looks like an act of retaliation. Before getting down to bizness, Sean must endure a hospital-bed breakdown sequence and an obligatory moment of woe-is-me observation on his beachside property. Sean can’t squeeze imprisoned drug overlord Memo (Geno Silva) for information—that is, not until the Mexican baddie loses his familia to an ironic car explosion. A Man Apart wants to be numinous (how else do you explain why the film’s title changed from its original video game moniker El Diablo ?) but the material is unadulterated make-out session: Diesel provides let’s-get-it-on narration; angry Latinas pack heat (not least of which in their oft-massaged posteriors); Larenz Tate keeps rambling on about wanting “to get his fuck on”; and scantily-clad white girls walk around in their jammies (soundtrack courtesy of Aaliyah). Timothy Olyphant’s Hollywood Jack asks at one point: “There’s a human being called Overdose?” Yes there is and, surprisingly, the film itself isn’t as lethal as you might expect. Acclaimed music video director F. Gary Gray inexplicably observes the sleaze with utter disinterest, but A Man Apart is still too witless to be taken as existential crisis. Amid the film’s incessant gunfire, Diesel pauses frequently to contemplate the carnage as if he were lost in an urban version of A Thin Red Line .

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Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine . A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice , The Los Angeles Times , and other publications.

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A Man Apart

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A Man Apart

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

It’s a little early for self-parody in the career of Vin Diesel. But he’s a calamitous cliché in A Man Apart playing Sean Vetter, an L.A. cop on a crusade against a Mexican drug cartel for killing (in one thug’s words) his “stupid bitch wife.” The thugs aren’t the only ones saddled with duh dialogue. Get this line from Sean — for full effect, imagine the rolling thunder of Diesel’s voice: “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

With more movies like A Man Apart , it’ll be kaput to Diesel’s acting future. The former bouncer showed promise with supporting roles in Saving Private Ryan and, especially, Boiler Room . And the star spot felt comfortable in The Fast and the Furious , in which he did a cool-jerk version of Lee Marvin with more muscle and less hair. It was last year’s hit xXx that overplayed Diesel’s hand. Was he real or digital? To the press he was cocky about his appeal and coy about his ethnic origins (Italian? black? both?) and sexual orientation. In A Man Apart — filmed before xXx — he pulls a lap dancer off his crotch. “Learn to respect yourself,” he says, earning a snigger. “You calling me a faggot?” he shouts without an ounce of irony. At least he could’ve joked, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” What’s wrong with Diesel is that he’s letting his talent atrophy into caricature. Nothing kills a career quicker.

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A Man Apart Review

04 Apr 2003

110 minutes

A Man Apart

Although it wrapped in March 2001, Vin Diesel's undercover narcotics cop movie only now sees light of day. First came a lawsuit from the makers of videogame Diablo, who nixed first choice title El Diablo (the name of the Mexican drug cartel boss Diesel is tracking down). More troubling in terms of the finished item, though, are rumours of a reshot ending, as what we've got here is most definitely tacked on in a desperate attempt to rescue a plot that lost its sense of logic long ago.

Diesel does his best to add some acting muscle to his physique, and proves that he can be just as convincing with emotional pain as with the psycho bursts of violence that follow when his character's wife bites the bullet. But in amongst the cop bonding and 'You're too close to the case' clichés, he's fighting a losing battle.

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Movies | 25 04 2021

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A man apart, common sense media reviewers.

Pretentious, incompetent, dumb explosion movie.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Intense violence and peril, a lot of shooting, man

Strippers, lap dance.

Very strong language.

Drinking, smoking, drug dealing.

Parents need to know that this movie is very, very violent, with a lot of firepower and many characters killed, including a woman and child. Policemen violate the civil rights of suspects, including beating them. Characters drink, smoke, and deal in drugs. They use very strong language, and a child's use of a…

Violence & Scariness

Intense violence and peril, a lot of shooting, many deaths, grisly injuries.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie is very, very violent, with a lot of firepower and many characters killed, including a woman and child. Policemen violate the civil rights of suspects, including beating them. Characters drink, smoke, and deal in drugs. They use very strong language, and a child's use of a swear word is supposed to be humorous. When a character tries to insult Sean by suggesting he is gay for turning down a lap dance, Sean gets infuriated. Black and white characters are deeply loyal to each other. Most of the drug dealers and criminals are black or Latino. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

When DEA agents Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) and Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) bust a major drug lord, 'Memo' Lucero (Geno Silva), a more dangerous kingpin comes to power -- Diablo (Timothy Olyphant). On the orders of Diablo, Vetter is attacked, and his wife is killed. Vettner is desperate for revenge and will do anything – even teaming up with Lucero.

Is It Any Good?

A MAN APART is a dumb-guy-with-nothing-to-lose explosion movie, which is forgiveable, but it is a pretentious, manipulative, incompetent, and dumb explosion movie, which is not. The usual conventions are in place -- the strip club scene, the "you need some time off, give me your badge" scene, the humorous interlude with the small-time drug dealer, the partner who first says he won't go along on a boneheadly rogue mission but then shows up at the crucial moment, and of course the many, many, many moments of hitting, shooting, and blowing things up. But none of the scenes have any life, originality, or conviction. And there is this irritating effort at making it all seem more meaningful, with voiceovers that just sound silly, even with Diesel's gravelly voice.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the dilemma posed to Demetrius. He must do what he thinks is right or what Sean wants him to do. Sean says at one point that "that's not my fault if somebody gets out of line." Families can discuss his failure to accept responsibility for his actions (and the police department's casual attitude toward his many violations of law and procedure).

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 4, 2003
• On DVD or streaming : September 2, 2003
• Cast : Larenz Tate , Timothy Olyphant , Vin Diesel
• Director : F. Gary Gray
• Inclusion Information : Black directors, Black actors, Multiracial actors
• Studio : New Line
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 109 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong graphic violence, language, drug content and sexuality
• Last updated : December 14, 2023

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Movie Review: “A Man Apart”

Naturally, Sean wants revenge as he takes aim at bringing down Diablo. Sean and his partner came from the streets and they use all their resources to track him down. There’s some great action and the story takes some interesting turns as they begin to uncover Diablo’s true identity.

The character development is strong in this film, and Vin Diesel and the rest of the cast deliver solid acting performances. Director F. Gary Gray tries to deliver more than a mindless action flick but unfortunately, the script has a couple of holes, so the twists in the story aren’t as effective as he intended.

The most pleasant surprise of the film was seeing Bullz-Eye’s own Rachel Sterling make an appearance as an exotic dancer. That alone is worth the price of admission.

3/5 Stars Starring: Vin Diesel, Larenz Tate, Timothy Olyphant Director: F. Gary Gray

Tags: A Man Apart , action films , F. Gary Gray , Larenz Tate , movie reviews , Rachel Sterling , Timothy Olyphant , Vin Diesel

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A Man Apart Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Nov. 9, 2008

A Man Apart

Release Date: Friday, April 4, 2003

Vin Diesel, Emilio Rivera, F. Gary Gray, Timothy Olyphant, Larenz Tate, Geno Silva, George Sharperson, Steve Eastin, Jeff Kober, Jacqueline Obradors, Juan Fernadez, Marco Rodriguez, Mike Moroff

R Action N/A

43% WILL SEE

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A Man Apart (2003)

Rating: 2/10

Painfully bad showcase for Diesel’s distinctly limited talents.

Running Time: 109 minutes

UK Certificate: 18

Sean Vetter, just like seemingly everyone these days, “grew up on the streets”. That's why, we're told, he's apparently so good at his job as an undercover DEA agent. The only thing is, not too far into A Man Apart you'll soon realise that he's not actually very good at his job at all. A potty-mouthed hot-head with all the stealth of a poorly-trained gorilla, Sherlock Holmes this guy ain't.

Still, Vin Diesel fits the part of Sean like a glove. All he's got to do is lumber around screen making witless remarks and occasionally beating the living snot out of some poor goon, and that's his job more or less done. But it hardly makes for the most riveting of cinema.

The film kicks-off with a notorious drug-trafficker being thrown behind bars and Sean celebrating the arrest he's spent the last seven years working towards. Our muscle-bound hero thinks that that's the issue over and done with, but it's not – otherwise the end credits would be rolling after just five minutes (and life just isn't that kind).

Before long, Sean's wife has been murdered and he's off in search of the man responsible, an infamous drug baron somewhat self-indulgently named “Diablo”. Despite clearly being far too emotionally attached to the situation, his boss allows him to drag his knuckles around town beating up and swearing at pretty much everyone in sight – and, by the time he's been warned off the case, he's already been responsible for the deaths of three of his workmates. Charming fellow.

And what's the point of all this? Beats me, but I'm hoping it's not to convince us all to take Diesel even remotely seriously. Still, at least in the final scenes he gets to wear an outfit that makes him look a bit like the man from Del Monte. So it can't be all bad then.

It's Got: Vin Diesel making Arnold Schwarzenegger look charismatic.

It Needs: For Sean’s buddy Hicks (Laurenz Tate) to stop using the word "dawg" at the end of EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE. Sure, you "grew up in the streets" too – we get it, okay?!

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Daniel Robbins’ ensemble piece, about a shabbat dinner that flies seriously off the rails, premiered at Tribeca.

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As if their weekly shabbat gathering wasn’t already a reason for them to all start kvetching, imagine what happens when a Jewish family from Manhattan’s Upper West Side accidentally murders one of their dinner guests. Or when their future and very goy-ish in-laws try to pronounce the word “chutzpah.” Or when the Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man shows up wearing a yarmulke.

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Directed by Daniel Robbins ( Pledge ), who co-wrote the script with Zack Weiner, the film is rather familiar in conception and execution, even if it concentrates on the very narrow community of upper-class Manhattanites that most of us know from the films of Woody Allen. Some of Allen’s humor is on display here, though Bad Shabbos is more prone to narrative hijinks and a few over-the-top plot twists.

Off the bat, you have to accept the fact that the Gelfands, as they’re called, are willing to do anything to cover up the untimely death that suddenly occurs in their apartment, whereas simply calling the police and fessing up would have been the better option. But this is not your average family.

The mother, Ellen ( Kyra Sedgwick ), is a micromanaging, passive-aggressive control freak. The father, Richard (David Paymer), is a charming if soppy patriarch, and certainly the most Allen-esque character. The eldest son, David ( Jon Bass ), is for the most part calm and clearheaded, whereas his teenage brother, Adam (Theo Taplitz), is a neurodivergent shut-in with a major Klonopin dependance. Meanwhile, their sister, Abby (Milana Vayntrub), is in the midst of a breakup with d-baggy banker Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), who shows up for shabbat with plenty of bad vibes.

If you recall the scene in Annie Hall where the dinners between Allen’s Brooklyn family and Diane Keaton’s very WASP-ish Midwestern family are contrasted to perfect comic effect, you can imagine what happens when Meg’s family finally encounters the Gelfands. By this point in the story, Benjamin’s dead body has been lying on the bathroom floor for a few hours, with everyone freaking out and trying to find a way to get rid of it. They eventually decide to turn it into a “New York death,” whereby the banker’s corpse will be transplanted back to his apartment and hopefully discovered days later by a neighbor.

Totally unable to do this on their own, they enlist their friendly doorman Jordan (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), who claims to know how to handle any situation but seems way out of his league as well. Yet compared to the anxiety-ridden, prayer-spewing, Kosher-wine-slugging, constantly arguing Gelfands, Jordan comes across as a master of pragmatism. At one point, he even dons a kippah to pretend to Meg’s parents that he’s just another regular at this off-the-wall shabbat.

If you’ve been waiting your whole life to hear Method Man say: “It’s Shabbos, baby!” then this may be the movie for you.

The better bits tend to be Judaic-centric, such as the moment where the converting Meg refers to the Torah as a “prequel,” which is not the best thing to tell one’s future Jewish mother-in-law. Another gag involves the highly unstable Adam’s idolatry for the IDF — a joke that was clearly conceived before the current Israel-Hamas War.

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Jessica alba’s ‘trigger warning’ defies bad reviews to become netflix global top 10 hit.

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 11: Jessica Alba attends the screening of Netflix Film "Trigger ... [+] Warning" at Netflix Tudum Theater on June 11, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Netflix)

Jessica Alba’s Trigger Warning has made a big debut on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Movies chart despite bad reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes critics blasted Trigger Warning upon its release on June 21, giving the action crime thriller a 26% “rotten” rating based on 19 reviews. More RT reviews have since rolled in, dropping the rating to 20% “rotten” based on 30 reviews. The RT Audience Score has remained at 16% “rotten,” which is based on more than 250 user ratings.

The reviews didn’t detract from viewers tuning into Trigger Warning , though, as the action crime thriller debuted at No. 1 on the Netflix Global Top 10 Movies chart for the week of June 17-23. Trigger Warning had 25.7 million views in its first four days of release, which equates to 45.9 million hours viewed.

Alba stars as Parker in Trigger Warning , a Special Forces commando serving overseas who is called back home when she learns of the death of her father, Harry (Alejandro De Hoyos).

When Parker arrives in the U.S. , she suspects the death of her father wasn’t an accident and she enlists the help of one of her commando colleagues, Spider (Tone Bell), to help investigate his murder. Trigger Warning also stars Anthony Michael Hall as Sen. Ezekiel Swann, who she believes is involved in the coverup of her father’s death.

Trigger Warning marks Alba’s first movie appearance in five years , following a starring role opposite Gary Oldman in 2019’s Killers Anonymous .

‘The Acolyte’ Rotten Tomatoes Score Keeps Falling, And Maybe It Should If We Ever Hope To Find Balance In The Force

Wwe raw results, winners and grades after great wyatt sicks follow-up, china delivers another economic blow to russia, ‘hit man’ falls tumbles five spots on netflix global movies chart.

After two weeks at No. 1 on the Netflix Top 10 Global Movies chart, Glen Powell and Adria Arjona’s crime comedy Hit Man tumbled to No. 6.

During the week of June 17-23, Hit Man had 4.4 million views, which equates to 8.6 million hours viewed. The Netflix original animated movie Ultraman Rising came in a No. 2 on the streamer’s global chart with 7.9 million views, which translates into 16 million hours viewed.

Dracula Untold made its debut on the Netflix global movies chart at No. 3 (6.7 million views/10.3 million hours viewed), while Inheritance finished at No. 4 (5.1 million views/9.5 million hours viewed). Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning came in at No. 5 (4.8 million views/13.2 million hours viewed).

Following Hit Man , Tell Them You Love Me came in at No. 7 (3.7 million views/6.4 million hours viewed), followed by Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (3.4 million views/7.2 million hours viewed) and Home (3.4 million views/5.4 million hours viewed). Madame Web (3.2 million views/6.2 million hours viewed) rounds out the Top 10.

In addition to taking the top spot on the global movies chart, Trigger Warning was the No. 1 most-viewed movie on Netflix on the U.S. Movies chart during the June 17-23 time period. In all, Trigger Warning was a Top 10 film on Netflix in 93 countries in the past week, the streamer reported.

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When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, gr... Read all When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.

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We're halfway through 2024. Here are the 10 best movies of the year (so far).

The sauciest tennis movie maybe ever. A queer bodybuilding revenge thriller. A very different Bible tale.

When it comes to the films of 2024, these are a few of our favorite things.

Last year was an amazing year for movies . This year, though, has been a little rough. People are freaking out over box-office receipts, and high-profile flicks – most recently, "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" and "The Garfield Movie" – aren't exactly raking in the cash; in fact, only five films in 2024 have cleared the $100 million bar domestically. And the movies themselves have been just OK on the whole. Usually, Hollywood backloads the really good stuff, and after " Madame Web ," "Argylle" and other rather middling fare, more quality is desperately needed.

Thankfully, there have also been some standouts. Here are 2024’s best movies so far, definitively ranked:

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10. 'The First Omen'

"The Omen" franchise receives a nice refresh with this prequel to the original 1976 movie. Nell Tiger Free stars as a young American novitiate at an Italian orphanage who becomes embroiled in a rogue Catholic Church conspiracy to birth the antichrist. There's plenty of nun horror and a jaw-droppingly gonzo finale, but feminist undertones and a timely take on religion bring depth and relevance to a demonically effective chiller.

Where to watch: Hulu , Disney+.

9. 'The Book of Clarence'

Jeymes Samuel's thoughtful and subversive take on the biblical resurrection story stars LaKeith Stanfield as Clarence, a streetwise Jerusalem man in Jesus' time. Seeing the power and swagger Jesus has, Clarence proclaims himself "the new messiah," tries his hand at miracles and runs afoul of the Romans in a spiritually touching Everyman story anyone can relate to, whether you’re a believer or not.

Where to watch: Netflix .

8. 'Late Night With the Devil'

David Dastmalchian makes everything he's in better, from the "Ant-Man" movies and "The Suicide Squad" to "Oppenheimer" and "The Boogeyman." He gets a hell of a lead role in this discomforting and mind-bending retro horror movie, starring as a 1970s late-night TV host who is tired of losing in the ratings to Johnny Carson and brings on a supposedly possessed girl in a Halloween gambit that spirals supernaturally out of control.

Where to watch: Shudder.

7. 'Drive-Away Dolls'

Director Ethan Coen's goofball crime comedy is a playfully madcap turn on the “Thelma & Louise” model, with Geraldine Viswanathan and Margaret Qualley playing lesbian friends needing to get away from their everyday lives. Driving a rental car to Florida, they find something weird in the trunk and wind up on a campy, noir-spattered road trip. (Extra cool points for including a fun bit from cameo king Matt Damon.)

Where to watch: Peacock.

6. 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'

In the prequel to "Mad Max: Fury Road," Anya Taylor-Joy takes over Charlize Theron's title role as young Furiosa embarks upon an epic revenge quest that involves vehicular mayhem, explosive action sequences, rampant road rage and the weirdest villain Chris Hemsworth will probably ever play . It's no "Fury Road" but "Mad Max" mastermind George Miller again delivers a wild and worthy dystopian thrill ride through the Wasteland.

Where to watch: In theaters.

5. 'Hit Man'

Glen Powell may be a rising star after "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Anyone But You," but the real talent scouts have been on board since his wise ballplayer in Richard Linklater's "Everybody Wants Some!!" They team again for an irresistible noir comedy and Powell's most wide-ranging role to date, a nerdy philosophy professor who moonlights as a fake assassin on cop crime stings and falls for a "client" (Adria Arjona) wanting to off her hubby.

Where to watch: In theaters and on Netflix .

4. 'Challengers'

Just when you think sports movies are all the same, director Luca Guadagnino ("Call Me By Your Name") serves up an art-house topspin with his engaging, hot-blooded tennis melodrama . Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor star as young doubles partners and Zendaya is the teen singles sensation who creates an emotionally complicated love triangle that unfolds in fierce fashion on and off the court over several tumultuous years.

Where to watch: Apple TV , Fandango at Home , Amazon.

3. 'Love Lies Bleeding'

Eyes lock between pumped-up Midwestern bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O'Brian) and introverted gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) and a love connection sparks. Then everything falls apart, and bodies start hitting the ground, in director Rose Glass' sultry, sweaty and sufficiently bizarre neo-noir thriller . Come for the bullets and barbells, stay for O'Brian's fantastic star-making turn, deftly capturing the troubled soul underneath Jackie’s muscles.

Where to watch: Apple TV , Fandango at Home , Amazon .

2. 'Civil War'

With his riveting cautionary tale , director Alex Garland takes our current political and cultural divide to a disturbing place and makes audiences confront what an actual modern civil war would look like. The thriller doubles as a journalism movie, too, with Kirsten Dunst turning in an outstanding performance as a world-weary photographer who takes a rookie (Cailee Spaeny) under her wing on the dangerous road to a scoop for the ages.

1. 'Dune: Part Two'

For a much-anticipated epic sci-fi movie, director Denis Villeneuve's 2021 "Dune: Part One" was aggressively average. (Heck, that David Lynch "Dune" was more enjoyable.) But all is forgiven now, Denis: "Part Two" is a sprawling, sandworm-filled triumph . Timothée Chalamet finally finds his way as the messianic Paul Atreides – plus digs into the thorny issues that come with being a savior figure – in a gripping, action-packed sequel exploring power, colonialism and religion.

Where to watch: Max .

I Am: Céline Dion offers an unflinching look at the Canadian singer's life with stiff person syndrome

The final minutes of I Am: Céline Dion plunges deep into the agony of stiff person syndrome — a rare autoimmune neurological disorder that causes muscles to stiffen and spasm — as a seizure contorts the French Canadian superstar's body, leaving her twitching, moaning in pain and totally incapacitated.

"She's in a crisis," says Terrill Lobo, her sports medicine therapist, who, along with another team member, calmly and gently rides out the 40-minute spasm with Dion, monitoring vital signs and giving medication as the cameras roll.

Spasms are triggered by sensory stimuli, and an elated Dion has just spent the last two days in the studio recording new music for the first time in three years.

When I get a chance to interview director Irene Taylor, the first question I put to her is about continuing to film through the storm of that seizure.

"It was absolutely horrifying. And the filming was something that I did not think twice about, except in the very beginning, the first 30 seconds when I realised what was going on," says Taylor, a Peabody Award-winning, Emmy- and Academy award-nominated documentarian who followed Dion for a year to make I Am: Céline Dion.

"And I thought, Oh my God, this is what she's been talking to me about for eight months. This is it."

As the spasm clears, Dion comes back to herself and, seemingly within minutes, is singing and grooving to one of her favourite songs.

"Do you think it's because … I had a good time over there?" she asks, referring to her recording session.

The tragic irony of stiff person syndrome

This is the wicked irony of stiff person syndrome (SPS) for Dion, 56, who has been performing publicly since age 12, and is one of biggest-selling recording artists of all time.

Her extraordinary voice, which she describes as "the conductor" of her life, along with everything that talent has wrought — bright lights, noise and the buzz of performing — are triggers for the spasms and stiffness that have forced her from the stage.

"It is very ironic that a one-in-a-million performer would get this statistically one-in-a-million disease," Taylor says.

"But I'd say if there is one true tragedy to Céline's condition, it's that joy and elation can be what triggers this reaction. And there's something so cruel about that, because she is a person with so much joy."

If you've ever watched Céline Dion perform live, you know she is a purveyor of joy — winking, bantering and emoting her way through a set list of hits including the theme songs from Beauty and the Beast, Titanic and Deadpool 2. No one beats their chest while belting out a ballad quite like Dion.

If you've ever sung one of her hits (I recommend The Power of Love) during a karaoke session with friends, you know Céline Dion sparks joy.

If you've ever been lost in a daydream thinking about how she had a 3-kilogram headdress sewn to her hair for her 1994 wedding (broadcast live on Canadian TV), you know Céline Dion celebrates joy.

And if you've contributed to the 39 million views of Céline Dion's Carpool Karaoke segment , you know she embodies joy.

As I Am: Céline Dion takes fans behind the scenes of the superstar's life, here are some key takeaways from the film and reflections from its director.

How did Céline Dion react to watching herself spasm in the documentary?

Taylor says Dion never put restrictions on what could be filmed.

"She basically told me … 'Do your thing. I'm inviting you into my home. Please, Irene, do not ask me if you can film something, do not ask permission. If you do that, it will ruin it for me.'

"And she never asked me to turn off the camera."

According to Taylor, Dion saw the seizure footage for the first time during a screening of the full director's cut and was emotional.

"She gently cried through the whole film. And in that part of the film, I was almost embarrassed to look at her when we were watching it together — embarrassed because I couldn't imagine what that must have been like for her, because she's not conscious sometimes when this happens," says Taylor.

"Afterward … the very first thing she said was, 'I think this film can help me.'

"And then later in our conversation, as we talked about the film … she said, 'I don't want you to change anything in that medical scene. I don't need you to change anything. Please don't cut anything out. This is what happens.'"

Dion performed through crippling symptoms for years

In December 2022, Dion went public with her SPS diagnosis. While alluding to the ongoing nature of her medical problems, she didn't give a timeline of her condition. We now know that Dion began to experience undiagnosed symptoms of SPS in 2008.

I Am: Céline Dion shares details of what it took for her to continue recording and performing until her final concert in early 2020, including taking up to 80-90 milligrams of valium a day — more than double the safe daily dosage for adults.

"I don't want to sound dramatic, but I could have died," says Dion, who describes how muscle stiffness caused by SPS has made it hard for her to breathe, sing and walk.

Considering the pace of Dion's life through this period — which included an eight-year Las Vegas residency, half-a-dozen tours, multiple album releases in French and English, the birth of twin sons Nelson and Eddy, and her husband René Angélil's illness and death from throat cancer — this was an extraordinary, almost superhuman, effort.

Dion shares that she rearranged music, mimed microphone issues and got fans to sing along to compensate for vocal issues during shows.

"I think I hid some stuff that was amazing," she says in the film.

Taylor concurs: "I was surprised that she could hold this back from people for as long as she did. I was surprised she was willing to put her body through what she did, which is taking medicine, taking pharmaceutical drugs at lethal doses, just to function.

"It was not a business decision. It was a passion decision … She wanted to keep going. So I think that's what surprised me the most — for 17 years that she could hold up that front."

This sounds tragic. But you mentioned joy earlier. Is there any in this documentary?

Come on, this is Céline "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" Dion we're talking about. Of course there is. Even in poor health, Dion still spontaneously bursts into song in conversation. This is core Dion behaviour, and we love her for that.

Then there are the shoes. On a rare trip out, Dion shows the documentary crew around a massive and meticulously catalogued warehouse "closet" that is part-Céline Dion show-business museum, part-storehouse for her children's mementos. Her shoe collection is notorious — particularly after the moment in her Carpool Karaoke video where she is forced to hand over pairs of shoes to strangers in the street.

In a pure superstar moment, Dion flips open a box, pulls out a Dior pump and delivers a spontaneous sermon on her philosophy of footwear:

"When a girl loves her shoes, she always makes them fit … I walk the shoe, the shoe don't walk me," she said.

John Farnham gets a surprising amount of airtime

I didn't expect to write that.

But both artists are beloved in their home countries and have the shared experience of contending with health issues that have affected their singing.

Dion's affection for the You're the Voice singer is well-known: They duetted during her 2018 Australian tour and she appears in Farnham's 2023 documentary, Finding the Voice.

Fans of the Aussie rock legend will be chuffed at the five whole minutes of airtime he receives in I Am: Céline Dion and how much Dion yearns to be a sweaty, raspy rock dude just like him.

There's a lot of hype and hope that Céline Dion will perform again — but temper your expectations

There's no doubt Dion wants to sing again. It's a wish she expresses throughout the documentary and its press tour, and completely characteristic of an artist who feels deep responsibility to her fans.

And while it's wonderful to think that a show-business legend like Dion could perform again, after watching that final, excruciating scene, it's hard to imagine how that would be possible without further risking her health.

When I ask Taylor whether fans need to be patient for a comeback, she's loyal and circumspect:

"I think that Céline will no doubt continue to sing. I think it might be in a different cadence. It might be in a different vocal range. She might tour but … it looks different," she says.

"But I think we have not heard the last of Céline, that is for sure."

I Am: Céline Dion is streaming on Prime Video.

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