13 Movies Like Land of Bad (2024)

Coming of age films are a staple in cinema, but rare is a great depiction of growing up on the internet, chatting with friends, and learning about the world through just a small screen. Dìdi is one of those rare films that remembers that pivotal era, which is why it’s often likened to Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, but Sean Wang depicts a more angsty than anxious Asian American kid with a mother and a grandmother less able to relate to the wider Western town they live in, and with nothing he wants to do but to skate, shoot skating, and try to fit in with people he thinks are cool. It’s both funny and self-critical, as if Wang was looking back to remember the times he screwed up, but it’s also just comforting to watch him own up to who he really is, even if it doesn’t garner the exact response he’s been hoping for. It’s also precisely why Dìdi found its audience.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Cameron Foxly, Chang Li Hua, Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Joziah Lagonoy, Macaela Parker, Shirley Chen, Spike Jonze, Stephanie Hsu

Director: Sean Wang

Rating: R

The Euro 2020 finals was a cultural event, a celebration, a riot. This documentary perfectly captures the weight of the attack on Wembley, which it takes the time to characterize as like a holy ground being desecrated. But for the most part, the story spotlights the thousands of destructive drunks that needed to make it inside Wembley because of the magic in the air that day that you felt from every car on the road, every passenger on the train, every exploding glass bottle, and every bleeding individual. It’s got accounts from diehard English and Italian fans, Wembley security, and media personnel, which when put together, creates a fascinating stampede control documentary that also takes a sad turn post-game.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Bobby Moore, Boris Johnson, Bukayo Saka, Catherine, David Beckham, Diego Maradona, Emma Saunders, Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson, Leonardo Bonucci, Luciano Spalletti, Marcus Rashford, Paul Gascoigne, Prince Louis of Wales, Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Tom Cruise, Ugo Monye, Wayne Rooney, William

Director: Kwabena Oppong, Robert Miller

Rating: R

Despite what its title suggests, the real thrill of this documentary isn’t the mysterious 1998 robbery of a royal Austrian jewel, but the many other criminal escapades of Gerald Blanchard’s that are chronicled here. Blanchard, who appears on camera for much of the doc, remains cagey (for legal reasons) about how exactly he orchestrated the titular crime, but even if he divulged his secrets, the jewel theft pales in comparison to his earlier exploits: his ballsy teenage shoplifting, slippery escapes from police custody, and subsequent spree of audacious bank heists.

The Jewel Thief benefits from a wealth of remarkable footage thanks to Blanchard's penchant for videotaping his criminal antics. This exhibitionist tendency is corroborated by testimonies from the many other interviewees featured here, including the two policemen who received taunting photos of Blanchard’s loot during their years-long cat-and-mouse chase. As indicated by the opening titles — “This is a true story… Mostly” — Blanchard also has a tendency to embellish his stories, which makes the fact-checking provided by these other participants a wise inclusion by the filmmakers. Ultimately, though, having such an unreliable subject isn’t a handicap — it’s a blessing, giving the documentary a winkingly ludicrous edge that helps it stand out in an overstuffed genre.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Director: Landon Van Soest

Rating: R

This is Me…Now is more than just a glorified music video. It’s a personal confessional for one, and a surprisingly effective comedy for another. In parts, Jennifer Lopez speaks to her therapist (Fat Joe) about the dreams she’s been having, which then give way to surreal sequences of Lopez singing songs off her latest album, all about love and personal growth. You’d have to be a fan of Lopez’s pop style to appreciate the music, but the choreography is mesmerizing and, dare I say, Lopez’s true strength. When she’s not regaling us with her thoughts on love, we have the Council of Zodiac Signs, played by a stacked cast that includes Jane Fonda, Sofia Vergara, and Trevor Noah, to humor us with their genuinely funny observations. Lopez obviously has a vision, and it’s admirably big and earnest, but the technical side of the film fails her. Except for the ornate storybook opener, most of the dream sequences are gray and sludgy, and they rarely reflect Lopez’s rose-tinted view of life. I wish the film had more light, but instead, we get melty, inferior CGI work that is just painful to look at. Some people might be able to forgive this, but because film is largely a visual medium, I find that it ultimately detracts from the experience.

Genre: Drama, Music

Actor: Alex West, Alexander Pelaez, Alix Angelis, Ashley Versher, Ben Affleck, Brandon Delsid, Carlito Olivero, Danielle Larracuente, Derek Hough, Fat Joe, Idaliz Christian, Jane Fonda, Jay Shetty, Jenifer Lewis, Jennifer Lopez, Jocelyn Marie, Keke Palmer, Kim Petras, Malcolm Kelner, Matthew Law, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Raci, Post Malone, Sadhguru, Sofia Vergara, Trevor Jackson, Trevor Noah

Director: Dave Meyers

Rating: PG-13

In depictions of organized crime, we’re used to the stone-cold crime boss, and the conflicted, unwilling crime lord, but Miss Shampoo presents a new version of the gangster– one that’s fallen head over heels in love. The film plays out in hilarious ways, with the humor expected from writer-director Giddens Ko, and Daniel Hong and Vivian Sung are able to inject some heart into their performances with surprising chemistry. That being said, the film is clearly more interested in mocking organized crime, so the film feels more skewed towards Tai rather than Fen. It’s still really entertaining, though Miss Shampoo had so much more it could have shown, had it focused equally on Fen’s perspective.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance

Actor: Bai Jing Yi, Bruce He, Chih-ju Lin, Chu Chung-heng, Duan Chun-hao, Duncan Chow, Duncan Lai, Honduras, Hong Yu Hong, Hsia Teng Hung, Hsin-Ling Chung, Kai Ko, Ke-Li Miao, Kent Tsai, Mei-Man Jin, Teng-Hung Hsia, Tsai Chang-Hsien, Tzu-Chien Kuo, Vivian Sung, Wei-min Ying

Director: Giddens Ko

With phone scams becoming more elaborate, it’s easy to understand and empathize with the wrath Jason Statham as The Beekeeper has when his elderly friend gets drained out of her entire life savings. It’s thrilling to see him punch his way into the scammers’ headquarters and burn the whole place to the ground. And when director David Ayer uses his extra hour to dial up the low stakes tech scheme into a nationwide scandal that implicates the entire U.S. government, it’s ludicrous, sure, but it’s somehow wildly entertaining. That being said, your mileage of the film highly depends on your tolerance for randomly dropped bee facts and silly bee puns, but The Beekeeper isn’t a terrible choice to watch.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Actor: Adam Basil, Arian Nik, Bharat Mistri, Bobby Naderi, Dan Li, David Witts, Derek Siow, Don Gilet, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Enzo Cilenti, Georgia Goodman, Jason Statham, Jay Rincon, Jemma Redgrave, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Cohen, Josh Hutcherson, Kevin Golding, Kojo Attah, Li Dan, Martin Gordon, Megan Le, Michael Epp, Minnie Driver, Peter Brooke, Phil Hodges, Phylicia Rashād, Rebecca Hazlewood, Reza Diako, Rocci Williams, Sophia Feliciano, Sunny Dhillon, Taylor James, Valentina Novakovic

Director: David Ayer

Rating: R

Though it borrows from some of the oldest genre tropes—stoic but kind-hearted hero finding a heart in a community that needs his help—Jigen Daisuke still manages to carve out a visual identity that has one foot rooted in its Lupin III manga origins, and another in noir fiction. The world of the film is beautifully lit and feels bustling with activity, as are the frenetic action scenes that turn gleefully silly with the sheer amount of gunfire being sprayed everywhere. That said, the movie can't handle the number of plates it tries to spin, as side characters fail to develop more meaningfully and its more exciting parts are diluted by long stretches of drama that aren't as engaging as the film thinks they are. This feels like a sampler for the kinds of stories the title character could be involved in in the future, but little else.

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Actor: Akihiko Sai, Eugene Nomura, Honami Sato, Kazuki Namioka, Kotoka Maki, Masatoshi Nagase, Mitsuko Kusabue, Rina Sakuragi, Takashi Sasano, Tetsuji Tamayama, Toru Baba, Yasukaze Motomiya, Yoji Tanaka, Yôko Maki, Yuuki Tsujimoto

Director: Hajime Hashimoto

Rating: PG-13

With inconsistent pacing and a deeply unpleasant protagonist, it’s hard to recommend The Seeding to every viewer. It’s really slow-paced, deeply uncomfortable, and it starts with, of all things, a baby eating a finger. But there’s an interesting style to this arthouse horror, a marriage of desert survival thriller and folk horror that restricts all possible modes of escape through its claustrophobic canyon. As Wyndham gradually discovers a secret community driven back to primitive instincts, director Barnaby Clay inverts the idea of what it means to be one’s fundamental self. Most viewers might not appreciate the story, and the ideas aren’t as cohesive as it could be, but horror fans looking for something new in the genre might find The Seeding fairly interesting.

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Actor: Alex Montaldo, Charlie Avink, Kate Lyn Sheil, Scott Haze, SoKo, Thatcher Jacobs

Director: Barnaby Clay

Rating: R

You don't need to have watched the first Code 8 (released in 2019) to enjoy Part II, which speaks to how this sequel has improved as a piece of sci-fi entertainment—but also hasn't done anything particularly interesting with its characters or themes. At the end of the day this really isn't all that different from so many other attempts at making a "gritty" superhero property, ending up as yet another crime drama that lacks personality for its characters or imagination in the way that its thrills are executed. It certainly has its heart in the right place, gesturing towards corruption in the police force, but even these insights feel half-developed and way too easy by the end.

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller

Actor: Aaron Abrams, Akiel Julien, Albert Lapi, Alex Mallari Jr., Altair Vincent, Darrin Maharaj, Hazel Gorin, J.D. Nicholsen, Jane Moffat, Jean Yoon, Jessica Allen, Kari Matchett, Mikayla SwamiNathan, Moe Jeudy-Lamour, Natalie Liconti, Nneka Elliott, Noorin Gulamgaus, Robbie Amell, Sammy Azero, Sarena Parmar, Sirena Gulamgaus, Starr Domingue, Stephen Amell, Yatharth Bhatt

Director: Jeff Chan

Rating: R

As documentaries go, They Called Him Mostly Harmless is pretty standard, if not forgettable, fare. There isn’t a lot of information regarding the case it focuses on, so it relies heavily on interviews with related persons and “internet sleuths” who have taken it upon themselves to solve the mystery of this hiker’s identity. It moves slowly, bogged even further down by unnecessary backstories that do nothing to get us closer to cracking the case. To be sure, it’s impressive that the missing man in question was able to scrub all evidence of his existence in this digital age, but the documentary fails to build on that intrigue and instead gives us something that sputters till the end.

Genre: Crime, Documentary, Mystery

Director: Patricia E. Gillespie

In TV and cinema, meeting your partner’s parents is a tried-and-tested formula that’s bound to generate relatable laughs. Meet the Parents, The Proposal, and Happiest Season are some modern classics that come to mind. Yet, French Girl fumbles this opportunity by peddling cliche after cliche with zero charm. Braff’s character is supposed to possess at least an inkling of likeability for us to root for him, but he can’t even manage that. His rival Ruby (Vanessa Hudgens) is so much more inviting that the film has to create a whole new evil arc for her in the third act to convince us to turn on her. This is all too bad because, beneath the rubble that is the film’s characters and plot lines, there is something true and endearing in the form of Sophie’s family. I wish we had more of those scenes because their interactions feel real and intimate. Unrestricted by formula and pressures to be funny, they soar.

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Alex Woods, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Catherine De Sève, Chanelle Ouellette, Charlotte Aubin, Christian Paul, Ed Weeks, Evelyne Brochu, Georges St-Pierre, Isabelle Vincent, Jeanne Roux-Coté, Karl Farah, Luc Picard, Luc-Martial Dagenais, Marc Larrivée, Melia Charlotte Cressaty, Muriel Dutil, Olivier Gervais-Courchesne, Ralph Prosper, Rémi Goulet, Sylvie Potvin, Vanessa Hudgens, William Fichtner, Zach Braff

Director: James A. Woods, Nicolas Wright

Rating: R