Is it just me, or did 2019 seem like the year that was never going to end? As if the decade didn’t want to come to a close without kicking and screaming on its way out. Everyday there were a million things going on, each trying to get our attention. Not just with movies, of course. Like all the horrific absurdity that is the Trump presidency, several high profile mass shootings, that whole Fyre Festival fiasco, the fire at Notre-Dame, etc. In the world of entertainment, we’ve experienced some big losses like Danny Aiello, Caroll Spinney, Luke Perry, John Witherspoon, Valerie Harper, Toni Morrison, Rip Torn, Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Peggy Lipton, Peter Mayhew, Sid Haig, Agnès Varda, Rip Taylor, Carol Channing, John Singleton, Peter Fonda, and Robert Forster. But hey, we got a picture of a black hole, so that’s pretty cool.
The one thing that at least felt consistently great were the movies. I saw a grand total of 275 films last year, and there were so many wonderful films, many of which didn’t even make my honorable mentions, much less the top 50. Looking back at the films assembled here, there are some patterns. Many of the films that resonated with me the most this year dealt with ugliness, ugliness with society, ugliness in the systems we’re born into, and also the ugliness we find within ourselves. Some of these films revel in that ugliness, others seek to grow from it. That push-and-pull between bleak and hope defines so much of what made the films of 2019 so deeply felt and of the moment.
Like with last year’s list, I am presenting my 50 favorite films in alphabetical order. I’m gonna do my best in providing the most up-to-date info about where you can watch these movies, but you know, streaming rights, licenses are a complicated business, so you can use JustWatch.com to find out where these films are available to stream or watch on demand. It’s a great resource, and it works for numerous countries.
With the Oscars are just around the corner, and some big movies coming up, 2020 is hitting the ground running, but before we leave 2019 behind us, it’s time for me to list my honorable mentions real quick before getting into my 50 favorites. In no particular order the honorable mentions are: The Forest Of Love, The Farewell, War, Avengement, Crawl, Buñuel In The Labyrinth Of The Turtles, Blinded By The Light, Under The Silver Lake, Fighting With My Family, Pain And Glory, Midnight Family, Native Son, For Sama, Kumbalangi Nights, Hala, Weathering With You, Horror Noire: A History Of Black Horror, Loro, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, Super Deluxe, Chained For Life, The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open, Glass, Little Monsters, The Mustang, and Togo. I guess I’ll also throw a special shoutout to Cats because…I mean, come on.
And without further ado, here are my 50 films that I loved in 2019!
Review: N/A Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix
Please don’t click away! I know what you’re thinking, just hold up, give me a second, I know having the Michael Bay Netflix movie be the first thing you see doesn’t seem like the best start to this list, but just stick with me for a minute. Yes, the plot incomprehensible. Yes, the characters are basically morally reprehensible sociopaths. Yes, the politics are…questionable at best and deeply troublesome at worst. However, it’s also one of the most exhilarating and exhausting cinematic experiences I’ve had all year. That opening car chase alone is one of the wildest pieces of big budget filmmaking I saw last year. It’s Michael Bay unleashed in a way he hasn’t been since Bad Boys II, which I love. Every problem and criticism you can throw at this movie will – in all likelihood – apply, but there were probably more moments in this film than any other I’ve seen this year where I would see something big happen, and I would think to myself, “how the hell did the crew pull that off?” And that’s not nothing.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Still in theaters, check your local listings.
I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting from a movie revolving around Fred Rogers, but I doubt anyone could’ve guessed that Marielle Heller would deliver something this unique in terms of structure and presentation. The film perfectly captures the essence of Mr. Rogers and his philosophy regarding kindness, empathy, understanding, and forgiveness without feeling the need to touch on standard biopic tropes, and without the need for even having him as the main character. The moment of silence – if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about – in this film is one of the most daring and ingenious decisions I’ve seen in a film in a long time. I mentioned in my review that it’s probably hyperbolic, but if everyone watched this film, the world might be a better place, and you know what? I still believe that.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Still in theaters, check your local listings.
I always try to do the right thing. I feel comfortable with my moral code. But what I don’t know is how that could change if I am suddenly pressured to do so by circumstances that are far beyond my control. That’s essentially what Terrence Malick is exploring in his latest – and in my opinion, one of his very best – film, A Hidden Life. This would make a harrowing double feature with Martin Scorsese’s Silence. Two masterpieces practically conversing with one another about the testing of one’s faith in the most horrifying conditions. Should Franz (played exquisitely by August Diehl) swear loyalty to Hitler, or be ripped from his family and sentenced to death? The answer might seem easy enough for most, but not for Franz, as he sticks to his beliefs, and suffers the consequences. I think the messaging of the film is incredibly powerful and timely in a way that I doubt Malick even intended it to be when he first started production in the summer of 2016. It’s wonderful as a wistful historical evocation filled with Malick’s notorious idiosyncrasies, your mileage may vary on that, but at its heart, it’s a plea for the sanctity of self and spirit that transcends any time period.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD
James Gray’s meditative space epic plays oddly enough like a riff on Terrence Malick’s sensibilities, and while they may initially be superficial, I think Gray touches on the spiritual side of Malick’s work in a compelling way here. As Astra is a story about a son desperately trying to connect to his long lost father, and the journey he takes for the mere chance of possibly finding him, even at the expense of being present with his loved one on Earth. It’s also a story that is metaphorically about man trying to find God, and reconciling with the overwhelming presence yet unnerving silence that God serves. Brad Pitt is getting some well deserved awards love for his turn in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but he is brilliant here. It’s an almost entirely internal performance, one that is informed by doubt, regret, anger, sadness, hope, resilience, longing, and the achingly primal human desire for answers to the big question – is there something out there? The film takes a rather firm philosophical stance on the position of space exploration, and it’s not one I agree with, but that isn’t ultimately what matters. What really matters is what we do now with the people we care about.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD, Hulu
One of my biggest dreams has always been to go into outer space. To see the sight only a few have seen – the cosmos in in all its bewildering, overwhelming glory. My fascination with space and interstellar exploration has been with me since I was a child, and it has seeped into creating a soft spot for any film that involves space. Because of this obsession, I always hoped for another collective push toward the knowledge of the great unknown, which has sadly not been a priority for some time. However, Todd Douglass Miller not only crafts an essential historical document, he manages to evoke the same sense of dread, excitement, curiosity, and – most importantly – the same sense of awe that millions around the world felt when they saw this happen. Even now, all these years later, after all the advancements made, I still occasionally stop, and think about the fact that in the summer of 1969, three dudes were put into a rocket, and sent to the moon…and it actually worked. How wild is that?
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix
I have a soft spot for ghost stories that aren’t rooted in the horror genre. Mati Diop’s Atlantics is a wonderful example as to why. It’s at no point intending to frighten you, or put you on edge aside from maybe one or two brief moments. Instead, she creates this gothic atmosphere that is drenched with sorrow and yearning and melancholy, each of which are tapped into the struggles that her characters face – from regressive patriarchal social structures to the cruel exploitation of the working class. It’s a film that truly takes you by surprise, not just with what it’s doing, but also by what it’s not doing, and how it deviates from the usual, easily categorizable genre conventions, blending romance, drama, tragedy, and social commentary through a visual aesthetic which is both graceful and gritty. Directorial debuts are rarely this rich and elegantly envisioned and executed, and if the level of care and craft on display here is of any indication, Diop has a very bright future ahead of her.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD
After Once Upon A Time In Hollywood came out, among the many topics of conversation that circled it, there was one that did give me food for thought that others were quick to dismiss. I won’t spoil the nitty-gritty details, but it involves the treatment of the Manson girls, and whether they deserved what happened to them. “Of course! Why should I feel bad for a bunch of murderers?” Fair. Charlie Says, which came out a few months before Quentin Tarantino’s film explores this question a bit deeper. Do these girls deserve our empathy? It doesn’t fully commit to a simple answer, instead offering a glimpse at the conditions that led these girls to commit those crimes. It’s a horror film about the overwhelming psychological turmoil of being in a cult, especially one dominated by an abusive and charismatic male figure. It doesn’t shy away from their involvement in the crimes, but the typically stellar Mary Harron brings an empathetic eye to the proceedings. It doesn’t ask us to feel bad for these women, but it asks us to reconsider the way we think about victims, perpetrators, and how, in some cases, the unfortunate truth is they can be one and the same.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD, The Criterion Channel
Visions of giant puppies, lesbian spies, a government conspiracy, evil twins, a mad scientist. This movie has just about everything, and yet, so much more. Pure farce is hard to pull off, but the writer/director duo, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, have managed to craft a story that is funny, weird, timely, and constantly outdoing itself. Just when you think things don’t get any more strange, something new is brought to the table, and it’s so satisfying to see it all come together, given the various moving pieces that are in motion. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve seen this year, hell, maybe even the past several years. But beyond the camp and the surrealism, I was most surprised by how touched I was by the characters, and how invested I was in the relationships and character dynamics that began to form through the film. For as absurd as things get, the film never loses sight of our characters. There’s an unexpected earnestness that works to bring an emotional balance to the otherwise constant sense of chaotic irreverence that is on display. It’s an acquired taste, but if it seems like it’s up your alley, you have to give it a shot.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: VOD, DVD/Blu-ray will release on February 4th
Legacy often provides a lot of unnecessary baggage that makes it hard to progress, but when you push through, the results can be something truly special. Mike Flanagan had to make a film that has to do justice to the book it’s adapting, and the legacy of the original book of The Shining as well as Stanley Kubrick’s classic. And having written this after checking out the director’s cut, I’m still in awe of what he’s accomplished. Danny also struggles with coming to terms with his legacy – his father, and his fear that the darkness in his father will somehow manifest in him too. But instead of keeping his head down, and throwing himself further into a spiral of alcoholism, he chooses to act, he chooses to change, and he chooses to help someone in need just like how he got help when he was young. The world may be a hungry place, as said in the film, but history doesn’t need to doomed to repeat itself as long as we’re willing to make the hard but necessary choices, and act with empathy and kindness, even in the face of unspeakable horror. Few films in recent years has touched me on such a deep, visceral level as much as than this one. Shine on, indeed.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix
One could say that this film covers a lot of familiar beats, especially considering it’s from Ed Wood and Big Eyes screenwriter, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. However, what makes Dolemite Is My Name such a hard hitting experience is how well it explores the inherent desire to see oneself in art, especially on the big screen, and the euphoria that can come with pushing past systemic boundaries and taking back the power to create art that reflects you and your experiences and your dreams and desires. There’s a beautiful, tender moment where Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s character, Lady Reed, confines in Eddie Murphy’s Rudy Ray Moore before attending the premiere of Dolemite. She tells him about how she’s never seen anyone that looks like her on the screen before. That sentiment separates this film from stuff like Ed Wood or even a recent film like The Disaster Artist because it fully embraces the fact that something as ridiculous as Dolemite can still mean something to a lot of people. The value of art comes not from any objective standards, but how they are able to resonate and connect with people, and Rudy Ray Moore got that.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD
Hardly anyone in genre cinema today revels in pulp in its purest form quite like S. Craig Zahler. With only three films under his belt – Bone Tomahawk, Brawl In Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete – he’s firmly established a unique voice in indie cinema that goes against everything mainstream. From his brand of pitch black humor, to his literary sensibilities, and his provocative bravado, which can be as frustrating as it is satisfying. His latest feels like his most fully formed vision to date, and understandably his most controversial. It doesn’t care what you think about it, or its characters. It just lets them be. It is focused on creating a grimy atmosphere that slowly builds tension through these quiet, slow sequences of lengthy conversations before it explodes with horrific violence that cuts through you like rusted knife. Zahler is practically daring you to look away the entire time, it’s ugly, ferocious, uncomfortable, and no matter what you think of it, there is no way you will be forgetting about it anytime soon.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix
When this film came out, it had only been a little over four months since homosexuality was decriminalized in India. It’s hard to imagine the kind of pressure to be the first major Bollywood film to be about a lesbian woman, and the expectations that might it might have to deal with, regardless of whether they are deserved or not. The film cannot be all things for everyone, but taken on its own terms and ambitions, it delivers exactly a story that is as sweet and delightful as it is urgent and of-the-moment. While it may not be the love story that some hope, it’s a perfectly realized exercise in cultural conversation and a metaphor for the need for representation. It’s a film that acts as a call to empathy that asks the world to see, acknowledge, and accept the LGBT community, and it’s mature enough to know it’s not going to be easy, and some may not be swayed, but it’s a hurdle worth crossing. And it does all that while being funny, light hearted, and deeply felt.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, Netflix
There is not really a whole lot to dig into because most of what makes Furie so damn great is the attention placed in the action choreography. Of course, the action wouldn’t mean all that much if the film did not put in the work to get you engaged with the characters. The film smartly plays into the idea of how hard it is being a woman, especially a single mother with a questionable past. Our lead, Hai, played by the wonderful Veronica Ngô, is dealing with so much even before the action kicks in. She deals with the reputation of being a debt collector, towns folk who can’t help but have an opinion about her, kids who bully her child. There’s a strong moment where a group of people accuse her child of stealing a wallet, and it even gets to a point where Hai begins to believe them. It turns out not to be true, and it’s after that the child is taken, and Hai goes on the chase. It’s a fight not only to get her child back, but a fight to justify herself and her place in the world, and the love she shares with her daughter. And it rocks.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon Prime
In many ways, Gully Boy operates on the same tools and tropes that you would see in many underdog stories. What makes it such a special, vibrant, and thrilling experience is all about the textures and broader social context that she utilizes within the story. Touching on the experiences of a Muslim working class family, dealing with social stigmas, the struggle of finding ones identity, and exploring identity through art. Director and co-writer, Zoya Akhtar, has a lot on her mind, probably more than the film has time to even explore, but touching on all these different ideas, themes, and timely topics are what makes the story feel so alive and invigorating and radical. It bursts with energy from frame one, and it never lets up until the big finale that will have you cheering. It’s biting, catchy, and packs a cathartic, emotional wallop. It’s impossible not to get swept up by it.
Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD, HBO
Who would have thunk one of the best horror sequels in recent memory would largely abandon the genre? Certainly not me. The first film was a good time that made smart use of a fun gimmick that set it apart from other slasher films. The sequel doubles down on the gimmick, and shifts into the long forgotten genre of 80s college hijinks movies, with a sci-fi twist. It’s just an endless delight from start to finish with a number of inspired gags, fun character beats, and a playful premise that builds on what the first film did. What really puts this film over the edge into something truly great all lies in the shoulders of its lead, Tree, and the work put into that character from Jessica Rothe, who is a born movie star. She not only enhances the comedy with pitch perfect timing and eccentric physicality, but she grounds the film on a touching emotional core about coming to terms with the past, and it brings personal stakes to an otherwise thoroughly silly movie. That balance of heart and humor is hard to pull off, and the film does it beautifully.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click Here!
Where You Can Watch It: DVD/Blu-ray, VOD, Kanopy, HBO
The first half of Her Smell is an absolute nightmare. A sickly, claustrophobic horrorshow of blood, sweat, and tears where the camera lingers on the self-destructive habits of its lead. Elisabeth Moss tackles the role with absolute bravery, taking enormous swings as a performer, and knocking it out of park in essentially every respect. The film is hard to watch, and yet it’s just as hard to look away. Films about real artists like to focus on their downfalls, the moments where things went bad, just look at the recent Judy. However, even when presenting the artists in their worst state, there is often a fetishizing of the suffering that occurs that brings a gloss to the downer moments. Her Smell is not only unafraid of being unpleasant, it dives in headfirst to make sure every second from the frantic camera work to Moss’ performance to its unnerving sound design keeps you on your toes. It might not be a fun watch, but stick with it, and the payoff in the second half will take you by surprise by how human and touching and empathetic it is.
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