Here are my favorite films of 2019. I thought it was a pretty weak year overall, and that’s why there are only 20 instead of my usual 25. Here we go.
20. Dragged Across Concrete – S. Craig Zahler
Zahler returns with this gritty tale of crooked cops and moral crooks. Not his best film, and a touch insensitive, but he’s making films like it was 40 years ago and that’s both a good and bad thing. The set pieces are incredible and the performances are great across the board. If not for it’s out of touch undertones it would have landed higher on the list.
19. Us – Jordan Peele
Jordan Peele makes a film that is absolutely a blast to watch with an audience and a razor sharp piece of social commentary. While the script is a little shaggier around the edges that Get Out, the craft, editing, mis-en-scene and music are superior in every way. So much fun. Peele cements himself as a master of horror.
18. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? – Richard Linklater
Minor Linklater to be sure, but when you are the filmmaker with the biggest heart around, are any of them really minor? A truly moving story about finding yourself and having your family accept who you are, especially if you need to create to be sane, is a rare concoction these days, and Linklater hits the nail on the head. Left me feeling like a million bucks.
17. Dolemite Is My Name – Craig Brewer
Craig Brewer captures the electricity that was Rudy Ray Moore. Murphy returns with his best performance in 30 years. Dolemite is My Name not only is a hilarious watch but one of the films that captures what is fun about making movies.
16. The Nightingale – Jennifer Kent
Jennifer Kent’s period masterpiece is as tough a film as one is likely to see. It deconstructs the revenge film in colonial Tasmania and features incredible performances by Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr. Not for the faint of heart.
15. They Shall Not Grow Old – Peter Jackson
If a film was a time machine it’s this film. Taking old silent black and white film from WWI and adding color, sound, dialogue (via lip readers and actors), and 3D, Peter Jackson let us look backwards through time in a way no other film ever has. A Marvel.
14. Crawl – Alexandre Aja
Every year since Jaws made us afraid to go into the water, it seems we get one great aquatic terror creature feature. This one is 2019’s.
13. Star Wars – Episode 9: Rise of Skywalker – J.J. Abrams
A return to the weird Star Wars, not to mention some fun Hellraiser influence. I dug it. I know a lot of people didn’t but I thought it was pretty rad.
12. Ad Astra – James Gray
James Gray has a mastery of craft unparalleled by most of his peers. I love stories about fathers and sons, and this is a great one. Featuring the 2nd best performance of the year by Brad Pitt who has really made his comeback. A journey I look forward to taking again.
11. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – Kevin Smith
Another incredible tale of fatherhood, though this time with a lot more dirty jokes. This film may be a cheapie, but it feels like Smith called in every favor he could to get this one made, and it is absolutely full of love. Affleck is better here than he has been in ages, and he has only one scene. I really love this movie.
10. Alita: Battle Angel – Robert Rodriguez
This film feels a bit incomplete and I don’t know if we’ll ever get a sequel, but it turns out that James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez are two great tastes that taste great together. With a real cinematographer and a big budget, Rodriguez turns in one of the most mature and FUN films of his career. An action extravaganza.
9. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark – Andre Ovredal
This film is a Stephen Gammell illustration come to life. Much scarier that Stranger Things or It, this tale of young ghostbusters is a solid creepiest that only misses perfect due to a strange ending. Fantastic.
8. Avengers: Endgame – Joe and Anthony Russo
Only kind of a movie but the finale of a 22 film series. Whatever you call it, Endgame sticks the landing. Only slightly lesser than Infinity War, Endgame makes the most out of every minute invested in the previous films. An achievement for the era. We may never see anything like this again.
7. The Irishman
The densest text on the list and the film I think will be most studied in the future. Marty opts to cease making metaphors about the government and the mob, and instead conflates the two directly. The government IS the mob. An elegiac and somber work that will reveal itself over time.
6. Climax – Gaspar Noe
Noe’s most accessible film, but by no means easy to watch, Climax is pure cinema, a dizzying descent into despair full of fluid camera work and gorgeous music. Bodies move through space while minds spin downward into madness. A masterclass in using movement and music to create an emotional response.
5. 1917 – Sam Mendes
Using many of the same techniques as “Climax” but with a massive budget, 1917 employs the cinema of immersion to startling effect. A beautifully photographed film with a sparse plot, 1917 is the theatrical experience of the year.
4. Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
A goofy satire about Nazi’s is difficult to execute, but Waititi has a mastery of tone that is impossible to match. His film alternates between hilarity and tragedy with not a step lost in-between. He is truly one of our best filmmakers.
3. Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
Quentin’s fairy tale of the west in which macho cowboys saved the modern era from dying in a brutal massacre. QT’s warmest film and an breezy pleasure to watch, Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood feels like an old friend the first time you see it.
2. The Lighthouse – Robert Eggars
I feel like this film was made just for me. It combines my love of Nautical terror, period films and Willem Dafoe in a horror film so crafted it feels like it was beamed in directly from Eggars imagination. This is what I go to the movies for.
1. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote – Terry Gilliam
A tale of the sane fighting for the rights of the insane to dream and maybe, if they believe hard enough, remembering how to dream themselves. If the Irishman distills all of spiritual and criminal themes of Scorsese’s career, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote captures the elastic nature of dream vs reality that Gilliam has flirted with through his body of work. While this may not be his masterpiece, (that honor goes to Brazil), this film is his master thesis, a work that challenges even the most pragmatic and level-headed of us to awaken to our dreams and see the value in those who would chase them into death.
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