So 2019 was a mixed bag. A lot has happened good and bad. 2019 had terrible things happen like our president even being worse, several people would pass away in the world of Monster Crap and even worse, my other grandfather passed away due to cancer. Now the good part is that after years of having to deal with my sports teams choking, both the Toronto Raptors and Washington Nationals won titles
But this is a time to talk about movies and like the year, they were a mixed bag. Although most were bad, the good stood out that much more so let's start with the best as always.
First, I won't be telling people what I watched, but didn't make on the list (gotta keep suspense and confusion). However, I will tell you what critics' favorites I didn't see to explain why those weren't in the list.
* A Hidden Life
* An Elephant Sitting Still
* Ash Is The Purest White
* Atlantics
* Beanpole
* Diane
* Give Me Liberty
* Honey Boy
* Honeyland
* Hustlers
* Jojo Rabbit
* La Flor
* Little Women
* Long Day's Journey Into Night
* Marriage Story
* Monos
* Pain & Glory
* Parasite
* Peterloo
* Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
* Synonyms
* The Image Book
* The Last Man In San Francisco
* The Nightingale
* The Souvenir
* Transit
* Waves
Now here are the 5 honorable mentions in alphabetical form.
Extreme Job
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Godzilla: King of The Monsters
Haunt
The Irishman
The Lighthouse
Now here are my Top 25 films.
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25 Midsommar
From the director of Hereditary is a film that takes us to a small town festival in Sweden that is definitely not as advertised to outsiders. Lots of moments where you cannot believe what you just saw and brutality that is hard to fathom is shown. The ending may become predictable as you get further into the film, but you definitely can't take your eyes off of the journey because of the insane stuff that happens. While not as good as Hereditary in my mind, this is definitely a film that is different from the rest as most of the horrible stuff happens in the daytime, which will make it become even more uncomfortable because in horror, we are used to nighttime being where bad stuff happens thanks to darkness being fearful.
24. Shazam
DC's comic properties continue to the steak of good films after the bomb that was Justice League. Family values are very high in this film and Hollywood Reporter's Frank Shrek is right that it is "'Big' on Steroids". A complete wish fulfillment where a small kid becomes a man thanks to magic powers and has to learn to think about others besides himself thanks to his adopted family. While the villain may not be the best for Shazam, he is okay and still a threat. I hope we get to see more of Shazam in the future.
23. Ready Or Not
Be careful what family you marry into because sometimes, they might have to kill you if you are unlucky to draw one card. Hugo Weaving's daughter gets the role of the lovely Grace who is about to marry the love of her life when the night after she is married, she has to play a game to join the family and the game she draws is Hide & Seek, which means the family has to either kill you before dawn or their family curse says bad things will happen to them. Because this family is so ill-equipped mentally to do the deed, there are a lot of humorous moments in a film that is very serious and does not skip out on the gorey details of what must be done. Have fun....
22. Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Folks, I have seen a lot of these direct to DVD animated DC comics films and as of the last few years, many of them have completely missed the mark. In fact, I think two times, those movies have made my worst of lists. So let me tell how thankful it is I can report this film which combines the universes of Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is done by someone who obviously loves both franchises. This is the most bloody cartoon affair for the Ninja Turtles and you get to see a lot of moments of asking "what would it be like if this happened" and then telling you what would happen. Want to see Batman villains become mutated due to ooze, you get that. Want to see both Batman and the Ninja Turtles make each other better fighters and people, you get that. Also, you may want to stay till after the credits because you will be a moment that you may be like "Pants To Be Darkened".
21. Klaus
When you think of a Christmas film on Netflix (there's plenty and they are almost all bad), this should not be this good. However, thanks to a good cast and carefully hand-drawn animation, this film that creates a origin to a lot of the Santa Claus mythos has so much heart and so much goodwill that you can't help, but love what they did. Honestly, I would love to see what this director does in the future despite being mostly a producer for films like the Despicable Me franchise. This should become an annual airing for networks who want good Christmas movies to show during the holidays, but that might also might require Netflix to let them have it and I'm not sure that is going to happen. If you have a Netflix account, watch this film next December and you will have a hell of a good time and a huge case of the feels afterwards.
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20. Blinded By The Light
Here is a little bit of info about myself, I am not a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. "Born To Run", "Born In The USA" and "Streets of Philadelphia" are the only songs of his that I like. However, I will admit that his lyrics are really damn good and this movie about a Pakistani teen (about to grow up in England during the 80s) getting influenced by Springsteen songs really does tear at the heart-strings. The guy we follow is not perfect (in fact, he makes several moves that make me pissed off at him, but realizes his mistakes), but his arc is uplifting and considering the challenges of being of a different race in a time where racism was sadly making a comeback in England, you all the more want to see him be the best version of himself and succeed in what he wants to do. Of the several films that based their entire movie around songs from a famous artist (and not be a biopic of said artist), this was easily the best one.
19. Dolemite Is My Name
Another thing that happened in 2019 was the comeback of one Eddie Murphy. Like a great appearance at the end of the year as host of SNL (the first time he had appeared on the show since 1986), Dolemite Is My Name reminds everyone why Eddie Murphy was the biggest name in comedy at one point and did seriously very well in dramatic roles. Based on the actual making of Dolemite by the late Rudy Ray Moore, Eddie Murphy shines as the comedian who decides that if Hollywood isnt going to make the movie he wants to see, then he will do that with his own money and loans from some disreputable people. While the only criticism you can say is that Eddie Murphy doesnt 100% play Rudy Ray Moore as if he was Rudy Ray Moore, a great script, great cast, and great effort makes us love him making this movie about a guy making a movie that while it is objectively bad, you can see the love made by the people making the film so you can't help enjoy it despite his flaws.
18. The Perfection
As has been obvious, Netflix had a good year with movies. The Perfection takes us into the world of people wanting to be the best at their craft and the manipulative people who will try to get away with evil things in the name of making them better. This movie succeeds in making you uncomfortable a lot and a movie I was expecting to hate (based on the trailer) turns into a movie that makes the people who dealt with trauma that they blocked out for their sanity get their revenge and make sure the people who did the bad deeds got what they deserved. Although honestly if you have dealt with that real trauma from someone you were supposed to trust, please do not do what this movie does as what works in a movie does not work the same in real life.
17. The Farewell
With the union that allows America and China to work together on films, Chinese films have made somewhat of a comeback with Crazy Rich Asians last year and The Farewell this year. While I will admit that Crazy Rich Asians is in a genre that mostly is not for me, The Farewell is. Based on a true reality that when older Chinese people are dying, their family members feel obligated to hide that they are dying until they are at their last days under the guise of thinking that it would make the person dying not feel terrible so instead they have make up a fake wedding with the real objective being the family getting to say their last goodbyes. I hope this relationship continues to give us more films that make these lists.
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16. Ford v. Ferrari
Want some awesome racing, look no further than this film that is based on a true story of Ford needing to be Ferrari in a race Ferrari dominates called 24 Hours of La Monde, an endurance race that takes an entire day to do. You get to follow Matt Damon and Christian Bale have to work tirelessly as real life racing greats Caroll Shelby and Ken Miles to make a Ford car that can beat Ferrari in their own game. Everyone in this movie (even the smaller roles) excels to give us a film that makes us want to see the racing and has huge stakes in whether a tire blows or a door can't close all the way. Hopefully James Mangold continue to direct great movies that make the list like he has done in the past with Logan.
15. Captain Marvel
Marvel continues to give us two films on the list, starting first with the film that caused a lot of trepidation from people because of some of the trailers having moments like Her becoming Hero or stupid shit like Brie needing to smile more. Well, I am pleased to announce the movie was very good. The aging effects that made Sam Jackson look young again and while Brie Larson was great as Captain Marvel, the true scene stealer was the cat Goose. I only have two issues with the film. issue I really have is the idea of having the Skrull being ultimately good guys because if you know anything about comics (even from second hand or third hand knowledge, you know the Skrull are really bad). The other issue is the villain is just not that impressive at all. As mostly a child of the 90s, I appreciated a lot of the references.
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14. Rocketman
Last year, Bohemian Rhapsody was such a disappointment (and somehow still got plenty of awards). This year the director that replaced Bryan Singer on Bohemian Rhapsody (but was not given the director credit due to Director's Guild guidelines) was given another chance to direct a musical biopic (but finally get credit this time) and boy did he nail it with this biopic on Elton John. So much of the music is perfectly put in the film at times (even if the songs had not been released at those times). Taron Egerton (who a few years ago was great in Baby Driver) shines as Elton John and if Rami Malek can get an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody (nothing wrong with him winning that), Taron Egerton should get an Oscar for Rocketman. Also, the costuming in this film is amazing because many of the costumes this film had Elton wear was stuff Elton wore at real concerts. Also while I am not a fan of sex scenes between two men in films, this one at least had the balls to have one unlike Bohemian Rhapsody since both were about men who are/were gay.
13. Dragon Ball Super: Broly
You want to know how good the films on the good side of the mixed bag were, this film was the original #1 film on my list back in January and now it sits at 13. Many of the movies based on the Dragon Ball regular/Z/GT/Super series have mostly been on the forgettable side. Heck, the original Dragonball Z: Broly film was good, but the two films with that character again kinda sucked. And despite Broly being decently done in the seventh Dragon Ball Z film, he has been done better in this film. Goku is less of the insufferable "I want to have a good fight no matter what handicap I put on myself" that made him suffer at the end of the Dragon Ball Super. Add to that several great characters including the green skinned girl who stole several people's hearts in Cheelai. All the fight scenes are great and the decision to only kill one character (the asshole father Paragus) was an okay sight to see. Definitely was deserving of getting one of the highest grossing animes of all time.
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12. Booksmart
Olivia Wilde knocks it out of the park with her first directorial effort with the film that kind of apes The Hangover, but does a really huge unique spin on it with two girls who were basically bookworms. Their entire life has been in pursuit of education and when they learn that several of their peers (who they looked down on because they see them as taking their education seriously) also get good school and business offers after graduation, they decide to finally get laid on the last party of the year. The two main characters are great and likable and plenty of the other characters around them are likable. There is no real villain in the film and most of the bad stuff that happens to them is due to misunderstandings of intentions. Oh and the character that Billie Lourd plays.....steals every scene she is in that anytime she shows up, I am like "Hey, it is you again! Ha Ha!"
11. I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
I want to say first that despite the title, this has NOTHING to do with cannibalism. This is also the first film that unseated Dragon Ball Super: Broly as #1 so the fact that it is 11 should tell you about the Top 10. This is a very heartfelt friendship that turns into a romance with sadly an unhappy ending (although if you watch the film, you would already have guessed that since the girl in the film has a terminal pancreatic tumor and the first scene is a funeral). I really loved these two leads and despite knowing one of their tragic fates (not knowing how yet), you really wanted the two to have a happy ending because it was just so sweet. Anime really had a great 2019 that whenever a Fathom Event for an anime was announced, I would look forward to it because it rarely disappointed. And yet....this is not the #1 anime on this list, but we will get to that later. Still an enjoyable film and one that you may want to get your tissues out for.
10. John Wick 3: Parabellum
It is the third time John Wick is in the Top 10 and despite it barely being on, that does not mean the film was terrible because in fact it was great as usual. I kind of wish this would have become the final entry based on how the second film ended, but I am okay with it continuing if we get more awesome John Wick kills. Even with Halle Berry being in this sequel (normally something that makes a sequel bad), this film was intense and you still want him to live, despite knowing that in a sensical world, John Wick needs to die, although John Wick's universe is not one that is hampered by making sense.
9. Toy Story 4
You know, when Toy Story 3 ended, I had hoped there would not be a Toy Story 4 because the film perfectly ended. But now having seen Toy Story 4, I hope this is the end of the series as this ended perfectly. The way they brought in Forky and brought back Bo Peep were done great and even the new smaller characters were great. Even the villain (unlike in previous incarnations) gets a well-deserved happy ending since she is more misguided than truly evil. Can we finally end the Toy Story films because I can't see the separation of our two main characters continuing.
8. Jay & Silent Bob Reboot
As a Jay and Silent Bob fan, this is what I was exactly looking forward in this film. The complete road trip story to stop a movie being made may have been the same as the first film, but we get actual moments where the characters have grown. Even Kevin Smith's daughter being in the film doesn't feel as forced as past films of his (Tusk and Yoga Hosers) as her character is Jay's daughter from Shannon Elizabeth's character from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. But there are also other characters who get a "Happily Ever After" too. Thank god this was a good film.
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7. Us
Jordan Peele has gotten better as Us was better than Get Out and considering how good Get Out was, that is surprising. A film that deals with two versions of the same people in life fighting each other is horrifying. The only issue is the ending is kind of a predictable twist, but everything else was great. You truly are scared for these characters and I would truly hate for this world to ever be real. This definitely is deserving of being the best horror movie I saw this year. And the way they use "I've Got Five On It" in a both awesome and creepy way is very telling of the artistry of the director. If I say more, I might actually spoil things so I'll leave it that.
6. Knives Out
This murder mystery is truly like if Agatha Christie could write a movie from beyond the grave. The twists, characters, and actions are all great. Everyone plays their roles great (even Chris Evans playing a complete entitled douchebag (Gee....after playing Captain America for so long, I wonder why he would take this role (sarcasm)). The only small criticism I can say is that Daniel Craig's fake accent for his character does weigh thin, but thankfully a great murder mystery story will trump that. With this being a lot better than Rise of Skywalker, I think Rian Johnson may ultimately have the last laugh after being killed by fanboys over The Last Jedi, a film I didnt hate as much as some people did.
Before I continue, I just want to say that 2-5 were all #1 films so yes, it truly was insane at the Top 5 by the end of things.
5. Avengers: Endgame
And now for the film that lasted the longest at #1 before falling. Avengers: Endgame was the perfect film to end years of Marvel Studios films. Both Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. were given great exits to the series. There was a surprising death and the end of Thanos was awesome and I believe has been memed plenty of times. My dad, my friend, and I saw this movie and we were all happy. For the finality of a lot of things, this Marvel movie also did not have an after credits scene. Next year may be the first year since I have done these lists that a Marvel film is not in the Top 5 so let's enjoy what we've have right now and clap our hands at what Marvel has done.
4. The Peanut Butter Falcon
You would not expect a film with Dakota Johnson or Shia LeBouf in its cast to be this great, but thankfully.....it is. A film about a Down's Syndrome adult who escapes from a home and goes on a journey with a man on the run to become a entrant at a pro wrestling school is heartfelt and at times tear-jerking and a lot of this film's good parts can go to the film's lead, an actual person with Down's Syndrome in Zack Gottsagen. Oh and to make this film more legit, we have two WWE Hall of Famers in the cast to show us the fun of wrestling, even if it is a backyard event.
3. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
First off, this is NOT a biopic about the life of Fred Rogers despite what you may think (if you want that, you have the great documentary that was robbed by the Oscars by being not nominated for Best Documentary in Won't You Be My Neighbor). This is actually about his friendship with one journalist who interviews him for a magazine. Tom Hanks (who found out he is a distant cousin of Fred Rogers while making the film) plays Fred Rogers with the earnesty and uplifting effort that is required to be the man who helped many children through the TV with his show about his neighborhood. Tears will come out and it will not be for how well Tom does the voice of Daniel Tiger. I'm glad I got to again see this film with my mom and I hope this one actually gets some Oscars too.
2. Promare
Thank god I got to see this anime when it was brought back to theaters, because I would have so beat myself up if I missed this awesome anime for my 2019 list because I wouldnt get up from a nap in time. A world in which normal people live in a world with the Burnish, a group of people with pyrokinetic powers seems to be going fine except for the Burning Rescue (the fire rescue team) having to deal with the Mad Burnish (a terrorist group), but in reality everything is not what it seems. A film that is so beautifully colored and has a great mix of 2D and 3D animation makes for a spectacular epic that I was more than happy after the film was done to give it a standing ovation (I wasnt alone doing that). The best new anime film I have seen since Your Name and I look forward to getting it on DVD when it comes out.
Now normally, Promare would be #1 because I was the most happiest leaving the theaters after seeing this film, however...#1 is the film that I will recommend the most to be seen and that is....
1. 1917
This also happened to be the last 2019 film I saw before I ended this list and what a way to end it. In a world that we don't know if a big war will happen due to tensions, you need to see this film to just understand the horrors of war and what it can do to the environment around you and the people fighting in it. A film that feels like it is one continuous shot of following two people as they have to warn a squad of an ambush that that squad is about to run into. For the cinematography that makes the film feel hellish and angelic at times, for the acting that makes us want to see our two leads make it to the end (not both of them do), for the effects that while not too gorey, show us enough of what war can do to a person, for the scenery that is terrifying at nearly every corner, and for the score that really is erratic so as not to give us any breathing room before something else happens, this is clearly and far away the best movie of 2019. I will just say though that if you suffer from PTSD due to your time as part of the military, DO NOT see this in IMAX or Dolby Digital because the sounds that will feel like they happen all around you, just may cause you to have an episode and no one wants that.
And that's it for the Favorites of 2019. Next time in a few days, I will talk about the other end of this mixed bag of a year with the Worst films I saw in 2019 and oh dear god.....those films are bad.
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