318 Best Movies & Shows Released in 2024 (Page 5)

Even before the worldwide pandemic, the field of medicine isn’t anymore the straightforward profession it used to be. It’s still a respected position, that’s attached with a certain status, but the demands have risen for those with the title. Doctors don’t only have to be good at their jobs– there’s a certain push for doctors to be also good at publication, lectures, in-office politics, the business, and for some, social media influencing and politics– it’s no wonder that medical workers today are burned out. Doctor Slump explores these themes with the usual K-drama flair, but in doing so, becomes a refreshing and cathartic romance to watch.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Kong Seong-ha, Park Hyung-sik, Park Shin-hye, Park Won-ho, Yoon Park

Dead Boy Detectives is as light fun as it sounds, but breezy it is not. Its case of the episode formula has fun, at times absurd premises that leads to satisfying conclusions, which makes it feel like a vibrant teen cartoon series. But so much of an episode is banter in the form of bloated dialogue that can go in one ear and quickly out the other. It's colorful, cute, and quirky at times, and it's easy to root for its energetic bits and seamless tying of threads; but all in all, watching one episode after another, it can feel unnecessarily dragged out for the kind of light mystery show that it is.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Briana Cuoco, George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Jenn Lyon, Kassius Nelson, Lukas Gage, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura

Rating: TV-MA

The hook of the first episode is a very effective jumping off point, placing us in the middle of the past bond between 2 sisters. Then it immediately occurs to you how wild this premise is, and that in some ways it's still ongoing. A lot of 7M/Shekinah church members and their distraught family members are interviewed to paint the clearest possible picture, and it’s clear that a lot of care and detail was put into this project to sway a viewer away from easy victim-blaming. It’s really tense and generally sad, but the pace definitely dips after episode 1, but it’s also a 3-parter, so you might as well finish the whole thing.

Genre: Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

Sports is undeniably exciting, but behind the scenes, there’s a whole world constructed just to get the players in the stadium, with sponsors funding expenses, clubs forming teams, and agents getting the players on track, whether that be through tough love or appeasement. Coppola, the Agent is centered on one such agent, the agent that handled the most famous football player in the world. Like the titular agent, the show moves at a frenetic pace, with Juan Minujín bringing to television Coppola’s fast talk and quick witted quips, and director Ariel Winograd mixing video formats and genres similar to 2022’s Winning Time. There may not be amazing goals, or outstanding plays, but Coppola, the Agent is compelling television, especially with Minujín’s fantastic depiction of the agent turned TV personality.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Adabel Guerrero, Agustín Sullivan, Alan Sabbagh, Anna Favella, Diego Pérez, Fabián Arenillas, Federico Barón, Joaquín Ferreira, Juan Minujín, María del Cerro, Mayte Rodríguez, Mónica Antonópulos

Director: Ariel Winograd

With the extra long title, 7th Time Loop (shortened for length) seemed like a generic royalty romance, with reincarnation used only as a means of skills acquisition. The story is practically that, but there’s something interesting about the way Rishe uses these skills (and the way these skills are written). While today’s women have more freedoms, there is still some discouragement towards pursuits outside of childbearing, with some hoping for a “lazy” domestic life, despite the statistics showing the home being the most dangerous place for women. 7th Time Loop acknowledges that danger– with Arnold being Rishe’s killer in her past life– while also acknowledging the importance of Rishe’s supposedly lazy domestic duties, like household administration, resource management, and education. The show values feminine skills as a means to avoid war, while also valuing women’s self-determination, and creating a tense enemies-to-lovers romance with organic stakes.

Genre: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Ikumi Hasegawa, Nobunaga Shimazaki

Rating: NR

Understandably, people get nervous when delinquent boys team up into groups and start beating the hell out of people, but in WIND BREAKER, masculine strength isn’t used for aggression– instead, the boys of Furin High use their fighting skills and penchant for violence into protecting the town. Of course, with this premise, there’s fun fight sequences and all the youthful misdemeanors that kids probably should not do in their real lives, but at the heart of all the action is the question as to how boys can positively grow into the strength they are granted. It also never forgets to show the goofy, endearing side that’s often forgotten and rarely encouraged when talking about young men of today.

Genre: Animation

Actor: Koki Uchiyama, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Ryota Suzuki, Shoya Chiba, Yuichi Nakamura, Yuma Uchida

When it comes to true crime series, it's rare to hear of teenage girls participating in murder. But it does happen, on occasion, and one instance is now portrayed in Under the Bridge, based on Rebecca Godfrey’s non-fiction account of the murder of Reena Virk. As Virk goes missing, the show alternates between different perspectives, with Archie Panjabi and Ezra Farouke as Virk’s concerned parents, Chloe Guidry as foster child queen bee Josephine Bell (name replacing that of one of the real perpetrators), and deviating from the real case, Lily Gladstone leading the case as fictional cop Cam Bentland, and Riley Keough as Godfrey herself. With the number of shifts, it does occasionally feel like it loses focus, but the deviations make the introduction feel compelling, especially with the performances of the whole ensemble.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Aiyana Goodfellow, Anoop Desai, Archie Panjabi, Chloe Guidry, Ella Dixon, Ezra Faroque Khan, Izzy G., Javon Walton, Lily Gladstone, Riley Keough, Vritika Gupta

Director: Geeta Patel

Rating: TV-MA