5 years on, and 2019 gets better with age. This is one of the greatest movie years of the millennium so far, with the Top 8 films in the running for best movie of the year in any year. Parasite remains the best of the year…because let’s face it, it’s ALSO one of the best films of the millennium, and pretty high on my personal Subjective 100.
If there’s a theme for the year, its this is Netflix’s coming out party, creatively. They really flexed their money by throwing it at a bunch of creative people, giving us most of the honorable mentions, and two of the 5 best of the year. 7 of the top 20 movies are Netflix films, with many more very high on the list. Like 2008 did for superheroes, we might think of 2019 as the year the streaming industry forever changed Hollywood, at least creatively.
This is a lost Mark Twain novel for the big screen. Watching this feels like a fable unfolding in real time, led by two powerhouse performances. This is some of Shia Laboeuf’s best work, playing a closed off but emotionally volatile man on the fringes of society. But Zack Gottsagen breaks a bunch of barriers with how incredible he is here, proving that Down’s Syndrome doesn’t mean you can’t lead a big movie if you’re as charming as he is in this.
This is not the Anne Hathaway Russell Crowe one. No, this modernizes the essence of Victor Hugo’s novel into modern day Paris. Ladj Ly’s story is an incredible look at class structures in the poorer communes: how immigrants survive day to day, how police and local crime lords fill the power vacuum due to other “bigger” issues in the country. All because someone stole a lion’s cub.
Hands down the best love story of the year. Set in France at a point where women have little control over their lives, Celine Sciamma’s meet cute between Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel is a slow burn, but in the best way. What do I mean? Their evident attraction makes the audience LONG for them to open up to each other, putting everyone on the edge of their seat. In addition, one of the women is going to be married off to someone she doesn’t love, so their time to be together is finite and fleeting, which further complicates their feelings. Sciamma’s deft hand makes this movie beautiful, sad, fulfilling, cruel: basically a host of complex feelings. Felicitations!
Set in the Diamond District in New York City, this propuslive, hypertense thriller succeeds in large part because the Safdie Brothers mine such great energy and performances out of unexpected people and places. Oh, and Adam Sandler up and delivers the performance of his career as well…
It’s been a minute since Hollywood gave us a great World War I movie. That drought is officially over. Sam Mendes unleashes the great cinematographer Roger Deakins on us, resulting in making us feel like we’re the two corporals in the movie, working our way around German defenses to deliver a message to the front lines. Like Saving Private Ryan, 1917 puts you in the thick of it to show you how war is hell.
You’re either with The Last Jedi or you’re against it in Star Wars world; I side with Rian Johnson, king of upending and challenging expectations with whatever type of movie he’s making. Case in point: the plot of this gem of an Agatha Christie caper, which goes in directions previously never explored, and using a cast playing against type to maximum effect. Plus, the movie’s just a blast beginning to end.
How do legends become legends? Netflix had that on their mind this holiday season, giving us essentially Santa Claus’s origin story. Instead of halfheartedly giving us the movie of the week to come and go for attention, the streamer crafted in my opinion the best Christmas movie ever made, built around Christmas’s ethos: a true act of selflesness always sparks another.
A fairly sprawling look at a former GM plant that was taken over by a Chinese company. This prescient documentary takes an unflinching look at the universal struggle of working people and how the powers that be are unaware of the pain and suffering these heroes endure because of their decision making.
Greta Gerwig’s first movie was the best film of 2017, and maybe the decade. Her follow up? ONLY a runner up for 2019. Despite the many adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, Gerwig’s adaptation stands tallest, fully capturing Little Women’s essence and fully understanding all of its wonderful cast of characters.
Bong Joon Ho finally put it all together. This will be his masterpiece. Successfully merging a bunch of genres into a fascinating story about class and society, this twisty fascinating tale is a gift that keeps on giving. And could only be told by a director at the peak of his powers.
