Back to basics: The crew from Disney’s ‘Inside Out 2’.

In keeping with tradition, here’s a survey of some of the films that defined the year at the movies – the Good, the Bad and the Australian.

Inside Out 2 – Disney’s back, baby! Along with Moana 2 and Mufasa, the studio is studiously flushing the bad vibes of woke out of its family fare and getting back to basics. Thank you, Movie God. All Disney has to do now is ride out the rough waters of Snow White and we’re home free.

Audrey – The competition was tough, but this unholy mess ranks as the worst Australian film of the year, breaking the tape ahead of such clueless jewels as Birdeater, The Moogai, He Ain’t Heavy, The Emu War (urgh!) and Kid Snow. Such audience-averse films should be impossible in 2024. What is going on?

The Way, My Way – It wasn’t a total washout, though. This lovely, local comedy-drama about an aging man seeking spiritual renewal was a modest word-of-mouth hit.

Also big were crime-drama Force of Nature: The Dry 2 and the hit kids’ movie Runt, both of which actually had some idea of who their audience was.

Late Night With the Devil – An ingenious reminder of the affinity Oz filmmakers have for the scary stuff.

Joker: Folie à Deux – It truly felt as though the filmmakers were delivering a huge “F- You” to Joker fans, who collectively responded with a resounding: “No. F- You!”

Taking all that was great about the 2019 film and reprocessing it as an atonal musical, Joker 2 paired Joaquin Phoenix with Lady Gaga, then wantonly broke the promise it made.

We’ve long suspected how some movie sequels reek of thinly veiled contempt for audiences. Well, here there was no veil – the outcome being a commercial and critical catastrophe of historic proportions.

Migration (And Kung Fu Panda 4. And Despicable Me 4. And The Wild Robot. And The Garfield Movie. And The Boy and the Heron.) – Animation is still the hottest genre at the multiplex. But we knew that already, what?

Anatomy of a Fall – A solid, by-the-numbers crime thriller with plenty of mystery and brutal courtroom cross examination. Proof that some ancient conventions never lose their appeal.

The Zone of Interest – The horrors of the Holocaust, as barely heard by the family of the commandant living in the tranquil home located inside a Nazi death camp. Showed how whispers can be louder than screams.

Dune: Part Two – A grand, old-fashioned space opera with a great story and stunning visuals. Remember when Star Wars used to do this?

The Fall Guy – The year’s biggest flopbuster and another case of Australia being used as a Hollywood backlot. (See also: Anyone But You.)

Bad Boys: Ride or Die – Yes, Will. You still have fans.

Deadpool & Wolverine – Seems there’s still some life left in the Marvel franchise after the wreckage of Madame Web and The Marvels. Having fun seems to be the road ahead.

Transformers One – Nobody knew they cared about ever seeing an Optimus Prime/Megatron origin story until they saw this fabulously conceived animated comedy. Came complete with the century-old concept about robots having souls.

The Apprentice – Lead by Sebastian Stan’s top-tier impersonation, this portrait of young Trump wanted so dearly to be an excoriating critique that would feed into the media campaign against him in the lead up to the election. No sale, but at least the jaunt was entertaining.

The Substance – Blistering, brave, brilliantly conceived, aggressively feminist horror/satire dissecting what women will do to themselves to satisfy the gaze of men. The film of the year.

It Ends With Us – The best film yet about DV.

Longlegs – It was a great year for horror movies. This wasn’t one of them.

Twisters – Ain’t nobody thought this sequel-of-sorts to the 1996 film was going to be much chop, yet amidst all the marvellous VFX mayhem was a terrific story and some precisely engineered twists. The year’s most pleasant surprise.

Alien: Romulus – Damn the naysayers. This Alien movie with the Gen-Z cast rang the bell, faithfully recreating the look and feel of the first two films, right down to the cigarette smoking. The most underrated big film of the year.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – Should have been called Ghostbusters: The Death of Screenwriting.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Brilliant though the film was, its box-office failure confirmed what the thin audience for Fury Road had presaged – that the Mad Max fanbase was too small to justify a $160 million production.

So, what to do to secure the survival of the franchise?

Have director George Miller make good on the oft-cited claim he is a “mastermind” by ordering four interlocking Mad Max films to be made in two years. Budget: $80m – for the lot.

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