2019 Year End Wrap Up - Sounds of Cinema

Top 10 Films of 2019

What follows are Nathan’s picks of the best films of 2019.

1. Midsommar

Directed by: Ari Aster

Premise: A couple whose relationship is on the rocks (Jack Reynor and Florence Pugh) travel with a group of friends to an isolated Swedish village. As the villagers celebrate their summer festival, strange events drive the couple apart.

Why It Made the List: The horror genre has experienced a boom in recent years and 2019 saw the release of movies like The Lighthouse and Doctor Sleep and Us. Those were all impressive titles but filmmaker Ari Aster, in his sophomore effort, created a new horror classic with Midsommar. It is boldly produced and takes the genre and the viewer to unexpected places. Mainstream horror is presently dominated by supernatural tales set in dark hallways. Midsommar takes place in open fields in almost perpetual sunlight, the pacing is slow, and the terror is both sociological and psychological. And yet, Midsommar is one of the most frightening and unsettling films in recent years and it’s deserving of comparison to The Wicker Man and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is the kind of horror film that takes on the quality of a nightmare. It is artfully made and manipulates the aspects of cinema—the imagery, the movement, the sound—to immerse the viewer in a disorienting experience. Midsommar follows a group of young travelers who journey to an isolated Scandinavian village where they encounter sights and sounds that defy rational explanation. But Midsommar goes beyond mere travel horror. It takes these characters and the viewer from profane contemporary society to a place where sacred traditions dominate people’s lives and the movie exposes the inadequacies of secular culture to cope with the emotional and traumatic parts of our lives. And in the midst of all this, Midsommar is also a breakup story. The couple, played by Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, ignore the obvious problems of their relationship until they are forced to confront them in the midst of the village ritual. Midsommar is itself a sort of ritual, dredging up the irrational and the repressed, and it takes us to places that many filmmakers would never dare. It’s that willingness to go to the forbidden places and to do so with such filmmaking skill and empathy for its characters that makes Midsommar the best movie of 2019.

2. Little Women

Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Premise: Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Set in the Civil War era, four sisters grow up together and try to make their way in life, each of them aware of the constraints of being a woman in the nineteenth century.

Why It Made the List: There have been many film adaptations of Little Women but Greta Gerwig’s 2019 version stands apart. Gerwig brings a fresh approach to Louisa May Alcott’s novel that reveals new ways of thinking about a classic story and she uses Little Women to comment upon the narratives we tell about women and how we tell them. Alcott’s novel is about female characters falling in love but this adaptation reframes our romantic notions about period love stories. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women makes explicit the way marriage and economics were inextricably intertwined in the nineteenth century but the film is also about how the commercial expectations of women’s stories are still boxed into a restrictive framework. When Jo, played by Saoirse Ronan, haggles with her publisher, the film becomes self-reflexive as it dramatizes the very limitations imposed on women’s stories by Hollywood. In addition to its meta-commentary, Little Women is an extraordinary work of filmmaking. Movies like this don’t draw attention to their cinematic craft, but Gerwig’s Little Women is thoughtfully staged and shot. The action is directed to deliberately draw our eyes to the details Gerwig wants us to notice. The actors are perfectly cast and their performances blend with the film’s style and themes. The actors and the dialogue as well as the art direction and costumes come across contemporary but without dispelling the illusion of the time period. It’s a delicate mix of old and modern qualities that brings the film to life. Everything about Little Women works together to make this one of cinema’s most ambitious and well executed film adaptations.

3. Ad Astra

Directed by: James Gray

Premise: A power surge emanating from the edge of the solar system threatens life on Earth. An astronaut (Brad Pitt) learns that the surges may be coming from a ship captained by his father (Tommy Lee Jones). He is sent on a secret mission to investigate and stop the surges.

Why It Made the List: 2019 was the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first man on the moon. That moment represented a pinnacle of human achievement and the optimism associated with the Apollo program shaped cinematic stories of space travel from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Armageddon to The Martian which spun tales of heroic characters using science and ingenuity to conquer the elements, spread humanity’s reach to distant planets, and achieve new understandings of our place in the universe. Ad Astra is something different. It looks to our past and present in order to predict our future and in doing so Ad Astra undercuts the optimism associated with the space exploration genre. The film defies the progressive assumption that technological advancement will inherently make us more enlightened or that acquiring advanced knowledge will mediate our irrational and destructive tendencies. This macro view of humanity is complemented by an intimate story of an astronaut searching for his father. Brad Pitt’s character is the son of a legendary space explorer who disappeared decades ago on a mission to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The son’s mission dovetails with his personal need to sort out his relationship with his father and so the movie takes on yet another layer as an exploration of manhood and masculinity. The interweaving of these narratives and themes takes us not only to the edge of the solar system but also to the limits of reason and technology to give our lives meaning and purpose.

4. Waves

Directed by: Trey Edward Shults

Premise: A family story in two acts. In the first act, the teenage son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) of a well off African American family strives for excellence in academics and athletics but his life goes off the rails. In the second act, the daughter (Taylor Russell) discovers love.

Why It Made the List: A number of movies of 2019 explored themes of family and identity and among the most interesting and complex of these was Waves. This film is highly polished and slickly produced while also gritty and visceral. The high school wrestling sequences communicate the rough-and-tumble physicality of the sport and later scenes capture the tenderness and awkwardness of first love. The electronic music score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross matches the visual style in both its soft fluidity as well as in its pulsing beats. Just as impressive is the use of digetic audio. The sounds of the story world are weaved into the soundtrack to create musicality in otherwise plain sequences. The cast is tremendous. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays a teenager whose plans for the future come unraveled by a mix of bad choices and unfortunate circumstances. Taylor Russell plays his sister. She is more withdrawn than her brother but the sister’s intelligence and sensitivity come through in the subtle details of Russell’s performance. Sterling K. Brown and Renée Elise Goldsberry are cast as the parents and their performances are the glue that holds the two halves of the story together. Waves has an unusual narrative structure that combines two stories into one to form a whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts. This is a nuanced and beautifully crafted piece of work that captures the interior lives of this family as well as a broader story of race, tragedy, and healing and it does so without becoming schmaltzy or pandering.

5. The Farewell

Directed by: Lulu Wang

Premise: A Chinese-American woman (Awkwafina) travels to her homeland after discovering that her grandmother is dying of cancer. The extended family members are keeping the diagnosis a secret from the matriarch.

Why It Made the List: The Farewell is a deceptively simple story that reveals the complex relationship between family and identity. The premise at first seems like cruel condescension for the elderly but the story is more nuanced. The Farewell is about the lies we tell to ourselves and to those closest to us in order to live happily. From the opening scene, the filmmakers recognize that some level of dishonesty is inherent to all relationships but they also question how we decide which deceptions are acceptable or not. The virtue of the lie at the center of The Farewell is never certain and the weight of the secret hangs over everyone involved. The rightness or wrongness of the lie is tied to traditions and values which are inevitably rooted in culture and Awkwafina’s character is split between her western upbringing and her eastern roots. The film does not romanticize eastern ways nor does it portray the Chinese family as backwards. Each culture comes with its own baggage and The Farewell is as funny as it is dramatic, finding humor and conflict in the idiosyncrasies of each culture. This Chinese-American woman’s negotiation between different cultural norms is really about defining who she is. That cross-cultural negotiation is the backdrop to the wedding and The Farewell becomes a microcosm of the world as people of different nationalities and languages gather together. But The Farewell is also about all the things that transcend culture—life and death and family and youth and old age—and the film is a remarkable kaleidoscope of human experiences.

6. Parasite

Directed by: Bong Joon-ho

Premise: An impoverished family manipulates a wealthy couple into hiring all of them as drivers, housekeepers, and tutors for their children without letting on that they are related.

Why It Made the List: Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho is known for embedding socio-political commentary into his films. He’s never been terribly coy about that but he’s also never been as thoughtful or as skillful as he is in Parasite. This tale of two families—the impoverished Kims and the affluent Parks—is a social satire that embeds its political point within complex characters and engaging drama. Bong manages our feelings and expectations in a way that is absolutely deliberate and yet never feels contrived or obviously manipulative. He also manages the tone. Parasite is very funny until it isn’t and the tone shifts radically while still feeling like a cohesive whole. The characters are terrible and ridiculous but they are also sympathetic. The Kim family is in desperate financial straits and they devise a scam to put themselves in the employ of the Parks. The lie is innocent enough at first but it puts the Kims in an ethical conundrum that they don’t know how to resolve. That’s where the movie’s politics are admirably complex. Parasite isn’t simply a portrait of populist rage against the wealthy. The movie is instead a sophisticated portrait of greed and what people will do to hold onto what they have even if it isn’t really theirs. Stories are generally about protagonists pursuing a desire and successful stories generally make the audience want to see the characters succeed. Instead of taking those desires for granted, Parasite questions what the characters want and when the family finally faces the consequences of what they’ve done the movie is devastating.

7. Hotel Mumbai

Directed by: Anthony Maras

Premise: Based on true events. In 2008, a group of Muslim gunman besieged Mumbai, India in a series of coordinated attacks. Several terrorists converged on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and preyed upon guests and staff.

Why It Made the List: Real life terrorist attacks have inspired a whole genre of movies and Hotel Mumbai is among the best of them. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was a destination for international travelers and the hotel’s guests and employees traversed all levels of society. The filmmakers seize upon that detail and the hotel becomes a microcosm of a pluralistic culture but not one without flaws. The hotel is supported by the labor of the poor who cater to wealthy guests and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is also a capitalist metaphor. The capitalist order is smashed by the terrorist siege which flings people of different backgrounds and social strata together. The members of this micro-society lean on each other for survival and one of the most exceptional qualities of Hotel Mumbai is the way it avoids macho heroics. There is heroism, especially among the hotel staff who do what they can to get their guests to safety, but the heroism is also small and sometimes futile. No one gets a big dramatic acting moment and the humility of the actors to play their roles as traumatized and frightened gives the movie a vivid reality. That quality is shared by the gunman. The actors playing terrorists avoid the caricature of hysterical religious fanatics; it’s made clear that at least some of the gunmen had economic motives. It’s a subtle but powerful detail that ties the film together and Hotel Mumbai dramatizes not only a terrorist attack but also an attack on a pluralistic society and an economic system.

8. Uncut Jems

Directed by: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie

Premise: Set in 2012, a New York City jeweler (Adam Sandler) prepares a rare black opal for auction while evading loan sharks, charming a professional basketball player (Kevin Garnett), and angling for a big score on a series of sports bets.

Why It Made theList: Uncut Jems literalizes the gambler’s fallacy in a film that is designed to put the audience through a stressful wringer. Filmmaking siblings Benny and Josh Safdie accomplish that through precise control of the filmmaking. Uncut Jems moves forward at a breathless pace and it drops the viewer inside the subcultures of sports betting and jewelry dealing without the benefit of exposition. The dialogue exchanges overlap with the characters speaking over each other and the action is frequently shot in close ups or with the characters crowded together and the framing gets progressively tighter as Adam Sandler’s jeweler keeps leveraging himself. The Safdies use the elements of cinema as precise instruments, knowing just how to get under the viewer’s skin and craft the equivalent of a stress nightmare. The intensity is bearable because of Adam Sandler’s performance. He’s the smooth operator at the center of this cinematic maelstrom and Sandler is nothing less than mesmerizing. Whenever the chaos of the movie becomes too much or the character becomes off-putting Sandler turns up the charm, smoothing everything out and drawing us back. Uncut Jems exhilaratingly captures the thrill of the bet. The excitement of gambling is in its uncertainty and Sandler’s character believes that chance can be controlled or outsmarted. His self-confidence is contagious and Sandler almost convinces us that this man can outwit the unpredictable forces of nature. And when Sandler’s character finally faces his reckoning, it is a shocking conclusion even through it was so obvious from the very beginning.

9. Avengers: Endgame

Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Premise: Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, the surviving superheroes reassemble in an effort to undo the destruction wrought by Thanos.

Why It Made the List: Science fiction and fantasy franchises are seemingly a dime a dozen but other attempts to launch an Avengers-style cinematic universe have stalled where Marvel has succeeded. Endgame is the crowning achievement of this series. The end of Infinity War suggested an obvious path forward but the filmmakers throw their characters narrative curve balls that send the story in unexpected directions. Superheroes represent idealization. They are stronger, smarter, braver, and more ethical than the rest of us. But Endgame picks up with the surviving Avengers wallowing in failure. In order to move forward, our heroes have to go backward—literally—and face their pasts. That allows for a victory lap on Marvel’s part but the fan service is never an end in itself. The callbacks allow the characters and viewers to reconsider the journey that has taken them to this point. This is also a well told story in its own right and therein Endgame threads a tricky needle. As viewers, we invest in empathetic characters with tangible goals. Broad scenarios—like the end of the world—are too vague for audiences to grasp. The stakes of Endgame could hardly be bigger but the legacies of these characters and their shared narratives make the final battle a personal affair. It’s the payoff to twenty-two films and the eleven years Marvel took to get to this point and the climax is at once spectacular and emotionally impactful. The result is as extraordinary of a conclusion to a popcorn franchise as Hollywood has ever produced.

10. The Irishman

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Premise: Based on the nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) rises from a delivery truck driver to a mob hitman and finds himself the middle man between the mafia and the Teamsters.

Why It Made the List: Martin Scorsese has made many kinds of movies from music documentaries to religious dramas but it is Scorsese’s crime films that defined his career. The filmmaker returned to the genre with 2019’s The Irishman. The movie reunites Scorsese with his Goodfellas and Casino collaborators Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci and it revisits the themes and narratives of those other pictures but it’s superficial to dismiss this film as just another gangster picture. The Irishman’s nuance and ambition distinguish this movie. The Irishman takes place over several decades and it tracks not only the lives of these characters but also the rise and fall of organized labor and the shifts in American culture from the post-war period to the Reagan era. It is also about getting old and facing mortality. In most gangster pictures, the characters get into organized crime, live high and fast, and are eventually destroyed. The Irishman doesn’t let its criminals off that easily. De Niro’s character spends the last portion of the story contemplating his legacy and watching his companions die while the world he killed for withers away from the erosion of time. It’s this final stretch of the narrative that makes The Irishman a deeper and more thoughtful movie than similar stories. Coming at this late point is Scorsese’s career, The Irishman is a requiem for a lifestyle and a cultural era and even for a certain kind of movie. It’s that pensiveness that makes The Irishman one of the best movies of 2019.

Honorable Mentions

What follows are films that were either runners up to the Top 10 list or other pictures that came out in 2019 that are worth mentioning.

1917 – This World War I movie was a technical showcase. It wasn’t much more than that but 1917 was an impressive exercise in filmmaking craft.

The Art of Self Defense – A terrifically crafted black comedy from writer and director Riley Stearns that is worthy of comparison to Fight Club and American Psycho.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – A satisfying albeit heavily fictionalized story of a man finding grace in the saintliness of Fred Rogers.

Blinded By the Light – A surprisingly layered and complex immigrant story and a tribute to the music of Bruce Springsteen that finds contemporary relevance in this story and in The Boss’ music.

Bombshell – This dramatization of the Fox News sexual harassment scandal was a smart and complex portrait of a poisonous workplace.

Booksmart – Every generation gets its one-crazy-night-in-high-school comedy and Booksmart is Generation Z’s version. The story is familiar and its credibility is strained but the movie is also very funny and populated with likable and interesting characters.

Chernobyl– This HBO miniseries is a tough watch but it’s also a story of extraordinary heroism and ingenuity by people working in nearly impossible circumstances.

Child’s Play – The 2019 version of Child’s Play is an example of a remake done right.

Climax – Gaspar Noé’s movie about a dance troupe suffering through a hellish acid trip is a wild viewing experience.

Doctor Sleep – One of the best films adapted from the work of Stephen King. Doctor Sleep is a nearly perfect reconciliation of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s literary work as well as an excellent film in its own right.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile– This biopic of Ted Bundywas one of the better serial killer movies in part because it focused on the life of Bundy’s longtime girlfriend Liz Kendall.

Fighting with My Family – A successful sports story and an engaging family drama told with intelligence, humor, and depth of character. This movie will appeal to wrestling fans as well as viewers who’ve never considered watching WrestleMania.

Good Boys – One of the best comedies of recent years. Good Boys is consistently funny but it also manages to say something sensitive and nuanced about growing up.

Hustlers– A skillfully made picture that presents an outrageous story with engaging characters. Hustlers is also a piece of recession cinema that dramatizes the excesses of capitalism and corporate power into a concise microcosm.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – The third John Wick adventure continues the series’ outrageous stunt work.

Jojo Rabbit– This satire was one of the most unusual World War II films ever made and managed to be funny in the right way.

Joker – Filmmaker Todd Philips borrowed too heavily from his inspirations for this title to make the top ten list but Joker was a well-crafted and tense psychological thriller that pointed a new way forward for comic book movies.

Knives Out – A fun murder mystery that satisfied the expectations of its genre while also creating depth and texture with its colorful characters and subtle political themes.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Mixes intellectual questions about race and gentrification with engaging human drama.

The Lighthouse– Robert Eggers’ follow-up to The Witch was a strange and surreal story of isolation and madness with great dialogue.

Long Shot – As a romantic comedy, Long Shot mostly remains within the predictable formula of its genre. But as a political story, Long Shot is smart and nuanced and makes its points without lecturing the audience.

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot – One of the most unusual films of 2019, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot spun a wacky conceit into something that was challenging and even moving.

Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach’s divorce drama was an exceptionally complex story of a relationship coming apart.

Motherless Brooklyn – An intelligent detective story that links race and city planning and economics in a way that illustrates social injustice as a byproduct of progress.

Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino’s latest film is a self-indulgent trifle but what a handsomely produced, funny, and well-acted trifle it is.

The Peanut Butter Falcon – The feel-good movie of 2019.

Ready or Not – A shrewd mix of horror and comedy that was a lot of fun.

Richard Jewell – Clint Eastwood’s best film in years, Richard Jewell was a startling portrait of the fickle nature of public opinion and the power of the state and the media in our lives.

Rocketman– This Elton John biopic had some extraordinary musical set pieces.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek – This low budget thriller made the most of its limitations and told an absorbing mystery.

Tigers Are Not Afraid – A mix of brutal reality and dark fantasy.

Us – Jordan Peele’s follow up to Get Out was an ambitious horror film with cerebral ideas and an elaborate concept.

Good Buzz List

These are films that were released in 2019 and have strong word of mouth, and in some cases award nominations, but Nathan was unable to see them in time for the year end summary, usually because they were not available before the program was recorded.

Clemency – Alfre Woodard has earned praise for her performance as a prison warden overseeing an execution. Clemency was named one of the top ten films of 2019 by the African-American Film Critics Association.

Fosse/Verndon – A made-for-television drama about the relationship between Broadway stars Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams have earned awards and praise for their performances in the title roles.

Give Me Liberty – This drama was nominated for several Independent Spirit Awards and was named one of the top independent films of 2019 by the National Board of Review.

A Hidden Life – Terrence Malick’s latest film was a drama about a conscientious objector in Nazi Germany and the film was recognized by several festivals and critics groups.

Honey Boy – Shia LaBeouf plays a fictionalized version of his own father in this film is based on LaBeouf’s life. The movie has earned lots of critical praise and won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Maiden – A documentary of the first ever all-female sail boating crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race. Maiden was named the best documentary of 2019 by the National Board of Review.

The Nightingale – Jennifer Kent’s latest film is a period horror picture set in nineteenth century Tasmania. The Nightingale won the Adrienne Shelly Award from the Women Film Critics Circle and was named one of the ten best independent films of 2019 by the National Board of Review.

Pain and Glory – Pedro Almodóvar’s 2019 picture was a drama about a film director facing a decline in his career. Antonio Banderas has earned praise for his performance and Pain and Glory was named the best film of the year by Time magazine.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire – This French drama was the tale of an eighteenth century love affair between an aristocrat and a painter. Portrait of a Lady on Fire was nominated for numerous film festival awards.

The Loudest Voice – This television mini-series dramatized the rise of Roger Ailes and Fox News. Russell Crowe was praised for his performance as Ailes.

The Report – A drama about the congressional investigation of torture in the CIA’s Detention and Investigation Program. Annette Bening has been recognized for her performance as Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Unbelievable – A miniseries about a string of sexual assault cases and the victim who was charged with lying to the police. Kaitlyn Dever and Toni Collette have been recognized for their performances.

Great Performances

This is a list of some of the great performances in 2019, although not all of them were in great movies.

The Art of Self Defense – Jesse Eisenberg and Alessandro Nivola are terrific as a karate teacher and his student.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Tom Hanks is well cast as Fred Rogers but the movie is really Matthew Rhys’ show as the journalist sent to profile him.

The Beach Bum – Matthew McConaughey’s performance as a ridiculous stoner poet was great but the movie wasn’t.

Blinded By the Light – Viveik Kalra is great as a Pakistani teenager who finds inspiration in the music of Bruce Springsteen. Kulvinder Ghir and Meera Ganatra are also quite good as his parents.

Bombshell – Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman are convincing as former Fox News anchors Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson as is John Lithgow as Roger Ailes. Margot Robbie is the movie’s emotional center as a fictional Fox News employee.

Booksmart – The whole cast is great but standouts include Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Jason Sudeikis, and Billie Lourd.

Brittany Runs a Marathon – Jillian Bell, who is best known for doing comedy, was a revelation in the title role.

Dark Waters – Mark Ruffalo was quite good in the lead role as corporate attorney Robert Bilott but just as important to the film’s success was Bill Camp’s performance as farmer Wilbur Tennant.

Doctor Sleep – This adaptation of Stephen King’s novel features great performances by Ewan McGregor and Kyliegh Curran and especially Rebecca Ferguson.

Dolemite is My Name – Eddie Murphy was (finally) back in R-rated form in this biopic as Rudy Ray Moore. Also impressive were Wesley Snipes and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile – Zac Efron played Ted Bundy in a way that captured his violence and his charm and Lily Collins made Liz Kendall’s obliviousness credible in a way that was sympathetic rather than off-putting.

Fighting with My Family – Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Nick Frost, and Lena Headey make up a colorful family.

Ford v Ferrari – Matt Damon and Christian Bale are well cast as Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, respectively.

Glass – James McAvoy continues his outstanding performance of a split personality.

Gloria Bell – Julianne Moore did a great job in the title role as a free-spirited woman looking for love and John Turturro was terrifically pathetic as her would-be love interest.

Good Boys – Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon are terrific as the trio of sixth graders.

Her Smell – Elisabeth Moss was on fire as a rocker careening toward self-destruction.

Hustlers – Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez are quite good in the lead roles.

The Irishman – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and especially Joe Pesci gave some of their best performances in years.

It Chapter Two – The ensemble cast was great but Bill Hader had many of the best moments.

Jojo Rabbit – Roman Griffin Davis was authentically innocent as a Hitler Youth in this World War II satire. Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson were also impressive.

Joker – Joaquin Phoenix gives one of the best performances of his career in the title role.

Judy – Renée Zellweger has rightly been praised for her performance as Judy Garland which was much better than the rest of the film.

Just Mercy – Jamie Foxx performance as a wrongly accused death row inmate elevated this movie as did Rob Morgan and Tim Blake Nelson in supporting roles.

Knives Out – The whole cast is great but standouts include Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, and Chris Evans.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors play young men struggling with identity and gentrification.

Late Night – Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling are funny, complex, and eminently watchable as a late night talk show host and one of her writers.

The Lighthouse – Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson were outstanding as a light keeper and his trainee.

Long Shot – Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan are a likable couple and they deliver on both the comedy and the drama.

Luce – The entire cast of Luce was exceptional even if the plot was shaky. Kelvin Harrison Jr., Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth, Naomi Watts, and Andrea Bang were outstanding.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote – Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce are excellent in the lead roles.

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot – This film’s wacky conceit succeeded in large part because of Sam Elliot’s performance.

Marriage Story – The film has extraordinary performances by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as well as Laura Dern and Alan Alda.

Motherless Brooklyn – Edward Norton is quite good in the lead role as a private detective afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome. Also impressive are Alec Baldwin as a sinister developer and Michael Kenneth Williams as a jazz musician.

The Mustang – Matthias Schoenaerts plays a violent convict and he is at turns frightening and empathetic.

Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood – Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt impress in the lead roles as a faded television star and his stuntman.

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Zack Gottsagen and Shia LaBeouf are a great pair as a young man with Down syndrome and a drifter.

Queen & Slim – Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith elevated this tragic love story.

Ready or Not – Samara Weaving is outstanding in the lead role but the supporting cast was great as well.

Richard Jewell – Paul Walter Hauser was terrific in the title role as was Kathy Bates as Jewell’s mother.

Rocketman – Taron Egerton was outstanding in this biopic of Elton John.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek – The whole cast was terrific with each militia member rendered as a distinct character.

The Two Popes – Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce play Pope Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis in a thoughtful story about faith, tradition, and leadership.

Us – Lupita Nyong’o is quite effective in dual roles.

A Vigilante – Oliva Wilde gives one of her best performances in the title role.

Bottom 10 Films of 2019

What follows are the very bottom of the cinematic heap for 2019.

1. The Goldfinch

Directed by: John Crowley

Premise: Based on the novel by Donna Tartt. A boy is taken in by an upper class New York family after his mother is killed in a terrorist attack on an art museum. Unbeknownst to anyone else, the boy is in possession of a painting believed to be destroyed in the attack.

Why It Made the List: The Goldfinch is the kind of prestige picture conceived and executed to angle for Hollywood awards gold. It was adapted from a prestigious novel, cast with respectable actors, and helmed by a decorated filmmaker. But The Goldfinch is a disaster, a film that quite literally does nothing right. The story is a jumble of scenes showcasing terrible performances. The actors are sabotaged by a nonsensical script full of stupid dialogue and whenever the filmmakers try to be edgy the movie comes across awkward instead. The Goldfinch oozes self-importance as though the movie is going to bestow some grand revelation about art or terrorism or the human spirit, and it carries on that way for two and a half hours. It’s all a façade to make us think we’ve seen something important. This film has nothing to say except maybe how not to adapt a book. The Goldfinch ranks alongside The Bonfire of the Vanities and 1995’s The Scarlet Letter among the worst adaptations of an esteemed literary work and it is the worst movie of 2019.

2. Rambo: Last Blood

Directed by: Adrian Grunberg

Premise: The fifth installment in the Rambo series. John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has returned home and lives on a ranch near the US-Mexico border where he is a father to his niece (Yvette Monreal). When the young woman is kidnapped by human traffickers, Rambo must rescue her.

Why It Made the List: Recent years have seen classic 1980s franchises resurrected for highly successful sequels and Sylvester Stallone led the way with Rocky Balboa and Creed. It’s perhaps inevitable that one of these sequels would fail but that’s no excuse for Rambo: Last Blood. It’s a sloppy and cynical film that bears no resemblance to the rest of this franchise. Instead of drawing upon the legacy of Rambo and the themes of this series, Last Blood brings one of cinema’s most iconic heroes to an embarrassing end.

3. The Haunting of Sharon Tate

Directed by: Daniel Farrands

Premise: In 1969, actress Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff) resides at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles and experiences visions of her murder.

Why It Made the List: Few real life crimes have been recreated as often, or more exploitatively, than the murder of Sharon Tate and her companions at the hands of Manson Family. But even fewer takes of this tragedy have been as dumb or as tasteless as The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Unlike Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood which manipulated history into melancholic irony, The Haunting of Sharon Tate dramatizes rumor and urban myth to justify cashing in on the anniversary of Tate’s murder.

4. 6 Underground

Directed by: Michael Bay

Premise: A billionaire (Ryan Reynolds) fakes his death and assembles a team of mercenaries who travel the globe killing terrorists and foiling their plans. He plans to incite a revolution in a Middle Eastern country.

Why It Made the List: Michael Bay is not renowned for nuance or coherence. His movies are intentional sensory overloads but as Bay’s career has progressed his filmmaking has become increasingly erratic. 6 Underground is barely a movie. It’s just a bunch of violent images flung together. This is one of Bay’s stupidest films—and that is saying something—but it is also one of his most callous. 6 Underground exploits the humanitarian catastrophes in Syria, Yemen, and Libya as an excuse to indulge his pornographic love of car chases and gunfire.

5. The Dirt

Directed by: Jeff Tremaine

Premise: A biopic of 1980s rock band Mötley Crüe.

Why It Made the List: The Dirt almost plays like a parody of a show business biopic. It suggests that Mötley Crüe was an important musical act while telling the band’s story with the production values of a Saturday Night Live skit. But it’s not a parody and The Dirt feels like it was made by filmmakers who didn’t realize This is Spinal Tap was a joke. The Dirt finally goes off the rails when its upbeat tone collides with the realities of addiction and domestic abuse.

6. Dark Phoenix

Directed by: Simon Kinberg

Premise: Follows 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Powerful mutant Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is infected by an extra-terrestrial force that gives her extraordinary power and shifts her personality toward evil. Her companions are split as to whether to kill Jean or try and save her.

Why It Made the List: The Singer-verse X-Men series reached its organic conclusion with Days of Future Past and Logan. But 20th Century Fox couldn’t leave well enough alone and managed to botch an adaptation of the Dark Phoenix saga for the second time. This film was made only for the purpose of exploiting an intellectual property and the plot and the characters are divorced from everything that has come before. It’s a sloppy waste of a good cast that brings the X-Men franchise to an ignominious conclusion.

7. Serenity

Directed by: Steven Knight

Premise: A charter boat captain (Matthew McConaughey) living on an isolated island community is contacted by his ex-wife (Anne Hathaway). She offers to pay him millions of dollars to murder her abusive new husband (Jason Clarke).

Why It Made the List: It is to Serenity’s credit that its filmmakers tried to do something strange but it is to the movie’s downfall that it fails so miserably at it. Serenity is built around a stupid idea and its bad performances and pretentiousness turn it from an ill-conceived lark and into a debacle. It’s about as dumb as Plan 9 From Outer Space and as bizarre as Cats but Serenity never achieves the kind of enjoyable badness that inspires giddy hate-watching. Serenity is just a dumb idea that’s badly executed.

8. Replicas

Directed by: Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Premise: A scientist (Keanu Reeves) brings his family back from the dead following a traffic accident.

Why It Made the List: Keanu Reeves is enjoying a cultural moment due to roles in successes like John Wick 3 and Toy Story 4 as well as cameos in Always Be My Maybe and Between Two Ferns. But Reeves’ career is as distinguished by genre classics as it is by bad choices and among 2019’s worst films was Replicas. This sci-fi picture was aggressively stupid with the supposedly brilliant scientist (Reeves) making obvious mistakes and dumb choices just so that the filmmakers could artificially manufacture drama.

9. The Dead Don’t Die

Directed by: Jim Jarmusch

Premise: A small town is besieged by zombies. Local police officers struggle to help the citizens.

Why It Made the List: Jim Jarmusch is a filmmaker with a singular sensibility and his movies are not for everyone. But even Jarmusch’s fans have to acknowledge that The Dead Don’t Die is a misstep and a big one. Jarmusch flirts with meta-commentary on zombie films and political commentary on social decay but he never commits to either. The Dead Don’t Die shuffles around like a zombie and it is neither scary nor funny nor insightful. It’s a series of awkward, random scenes that don’t add up to anything.

10. What Men Want

Directed by: Adam Shankman

Premise: A gender flipped remake of Nancy Meyers’ film What Women Want. A female sports agent (Taraji P. Henson) who is frustrated with the boy’s club culture at work acquires the power to hear men’s inner thoughts.

Why It Made the List: What Men Want possesses an interesting idea but the filmmakers have no idea what to do with it and resort to romantic comedy clichés. The filmmakers suppose their movie to be a feminist spin on What Women Want and it flirts with ideas like hostile work environments and sexist double standards but the movie has nothing to say about them. The title What Men Want implies a question but the filmmakers don’t know the answer and they don’t seem at all interested in finding it.

Dishonorable Mention: The Lion King

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Premise: A remake of the 1994 animated film. Set in the plains of Africa, lion cub Simba (voice of JD McCrary) is to inherit the kingship from his father but Simba’s uncle Scar (voice of Chiwetel Ejiofor) plots to overthrow the king and take the throne.

Why It Made the List: Disney has made bank recycling its animated classics as live action features. 2019 saw no less than four such remakes, each flawed in its own way but The Lion King was the most egregious. The live action style strips away all the charm of the animated tale and what’s left is a poor imitation of the 1994 film. 2019’s The Lion King is too technically well-crafted to make my worst-of-the-year list but it robbed the soul from a work of art and turned it into an industrial product.

Trends of the Year

Great Horror Films

The horror genre is experiencing a renaissance. This continued in 2019 with an outstanding and highly varied offering of movies.

Big Budget Box Office Failures

A number of expensive movies were box office failures. Not all of them were bad (the fact that Dumbo failed while The Lion King succeeded is a little dispiriting) but nearly all of them were remakes, sequels, or based on other preexisting properties.

Music Movies

2019 saw the release of a large number of music-related films. Many of them were biographies of famous musicians presented as dramas or documentaries.

Movies About Masculinity

The phrase “toxic masculinity” has become a buzzword these past few years and a number of films dealt with manhood and male identity and offered revisionist takes on it.

Manson Films

2019 was the fiftieth anniversary of the Tate and LaBianca murders committed by the Manson Family. Several movies dramatized that event or drew from it for inspiration.

Cover Ups and Conspiracies

The culture suffers from a lack of faith in its institutions and several films of 2019 reflected that.

Nostalgia Driven Movies

The culture is enraptured by nostalgia, especially for the movies and music of the 1980s, and a number of films catered to that desire with sequels to 1980s properties or by telling stories built around media from an earlier decade.

Dog Movies

2019 saw the release of several movies about pet owners and their dogs, oftentimes anthropomorphizing the animals through voice over.

Back to Year Index