I’ve seen 73 movies from 2019.
Honorable mentions (My 11-20 alphabetically):
APOLLO 11 - A you-are-there documentary that really makes you feel like you’re watching the moon landing as it happens. Brilliant blending of old footage.
EL CAMINO - A Breaking Bad epilogue. Better Call Saul is still in prequel territory, but here we get closure to Jesse’s story. After Walt dies, Jesse has to figure out how to survive. It’s the usual brilliance from Vince Gilligan, and while it’s nice to see Aaron Paul shine again, it’s another chance for Jesse Plemons to return as the polite sociopath Todd.
HONEYLAND - A documentary from Macedonia so good it was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Foreign Film. I was pulling for it to win Best Documentary. It’s the story of an extremely poor beekeeper whose life gets upended by a family who moves in next door and keeps bees of their own.
THE IRISHMAN - Leisurely paced, which is fine with me, as this’ll probably the last Martin Scorsese movie that’ll be like this. Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci are all in top form, and the de-aging CGI is done better here than any previous attempt I’ve seen. Nice to also see Scorsese alum like Harvey Keitel and Bobby Cannavale stop by.
MARRIAGE STORY - A very well done but bruuuuutal drama about a couple getting divorced. Should come with a warning label for anyone who’s in an insecure relationship or is a child of divorce. But the acting is terrific, and it effectively packs its emotional wallop with some unexpected humor. I also would have preferred Scarlett Johansson beating Renee Zellweger for Best Actress for this.
MIDSOMMAR - The slow build is very effective. And while most horror movies take advantage of night and shadow, this is almost all in the bright sunny day in a happy, ominous commune where things start to go bad pretty quickly once our heroes arrive.
PAIN & GLORY - Colorful semi-autobiographical tale from Pedro Almodovar, about an aging director (Antonio Banderas) reconciling with his past while having several flashbacks to his childhood with his determined mother (Penelope Cruz).
TOY STORY 4 - Pixar sequels are hit-and-miss, but not the Toy Story sequels. Woody and co. return for another adventure we didn’t know we wanted. It caps off the series beautifully.
THE TWO POPES - The set design alone is amazing, but this generous story of two men (Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins) who both happen to occupy the most powerful religious position in the world is great acting and great character work.
YESTERDAY - A high-concept “what if” comedy where a global blackout causes everyone on Earth - except one struggling musician - to forget all about the Beatles. He releases their songs as his own and becomes a global sensation.
I also really liked Alita: Battle Angel, For Sama, Good Boys, Harriet, Hustlers, Jumanji: The Next Level, Little Women, Shazam!, and Us.
I haven’t seen The Lighthouse, The Farewell, Waves, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Richard Jewell, Uncut Gems, and some of these other movies making top-ten lists everywhere,
but of what I saw,
... these were my top ten.
10. AVENGERS: ENDGAME - The season finale to the past ten years of Marvel movies. Everything comes together in the grandest possible way, and most of the core Avengers are at the center. Several surprise appearances from characters we didn’t think we’d see again, and the time-travel aspect allows for some inserting into previous scenes from different angles. (Captain America facing his old self is particularly fun.)
9. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD - Liked it better the second time. The assuredness, the tension at the ranch, the amazing suspense of the final ten minutes. Plus the balancing act of Leonardo DiCaprio’s insecure Nick Dalton bouncing off of Brad Pitt’s cool-as-ice Cliff Booth.
8. FORD V. FERRARI - Name a better car-racing movie. I don’t think there is one.
7. 1917 - It’s a simple story, shot as if in one take, but more importantly it’s a remarkable technical achievement where we’re treated to two hours of cinematographer Roger Deakins being on top of his game.
6. ROCKETMAN - Dexter Fletcher, who cleaned up Bohemian Rhapsody after its director Bryan Singer was dropped before post-production, gets to direct this Elton John musical biopic from the beginning, and it’s great. Taron Egerton (Kingman: The Secret Service) has never been better.
5. KNIVES OUT - Rian Johnson’s gigantically clever murder mystery is brimming with sparkling characters, and actors who seem delighted to embody them. I loved Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, and I hope he become the new Hercule Poirot, but this movie belonged to Ana de Arnas, the maid to this eccentric, rich family where everyone else is a suspect.
4. BOOKSMART - Smart, funny teen comedy about two brainiac girls who decide they want to party on their last night in high school. John Hughes would be proud of what Olivia Wilde’s done here.
3. JOJO RABBIT - Hilarious, yet poignant satire of Hitler’s youth, through the eyes of a naive German boy named Jojo in 1945 who discovers his mother’s been hiding a Jewish girl in their house. Writer/director Taika Waititi also co-stars as Jojo’s imaginary friend Adolf Hitler, and he walks the tightrope just right.
2. JOKER - If Martin Scorsese directed a comic book movie, it wouldn’t be much different than this, and to hit the point how much this story owes to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Robert DeNiro himself co-stars. Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix owns this character with every inch of his body. Truly exceptional work.
1. PARASITE - Bong Joon Ho’s made his masterpiece, a comedy-drama about the class divide in South Korea, where a poor family ingratiates itself into a rich family’s home. There are unexpected twists and major tonal shifts, and it all works.
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