My 25 Favorite Films of 2019
Now that 2019 is coming to an end, here’s my 25 favorite films of the year!
25. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is full of surprises. A love letter to the film industry in the 60s, Quentin Tarantino’s latest takes creative liberties on the Charles Manson saga and uses it as a backdrop while telling the story of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his loyal stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). While Margot Robbie was criminally underutilized as Sharon Tate, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood has the classic, violent action and the wicked humor Tarantino built a career on.
Writer/director Robert Eggers, the mastermind behind 2015′s horror flick The Witch, is back with another WTF of a movie. The Lighthouse is stylized like a 1920s relic found in a time capsule and follows the deteriorating relationship of two lighthouse keepers who struggle to keep their sanity while isolated on a New England island. Robert Pattinson yet again shows his acting abilities have evolved greatly from his Twilight days and Willem Dafoe gives yet another beautifully deranged performance as the seasoned lighthouse keeper who perhaps takes his role a bit too seriously. This suspenseful thriller will make you squirm and ask “what is going on,” but in a good way.
One of the year’s best scenes belongs to Jennifer Lopez’s entrance onto the stage as Ramona, giving a seductive, commanding dance to a fitting song, “Criminal” by Fiona Apple. Hustlers follows the real-life story of a group of strip club employees who form a mini criminal enterprise that involves drugging gullible men and maxing out their credit cards. Constance Wu continues to display her chops as a lead, playing Ramona’s protege Destiney. And while there’s plenty of fun performances from others including Keke Palmer, Lizzo and Cardi B, this movie belongs to Lopez.
Having similar themes to A Star is Born, Wild Rose is a superior film starring up-and-comer Jessie Buckley (best known in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl) as Rose-Lynn a Scottish mother just released from jail who revives her far-fetched dream of becoming a country singer in Nashville. Grounded, gritty, and raw, Wild Rose was one of the strongest indie films of the year featuring a heart-wrenching performance by Julie Walters, who plays Rose-Lynn’s mother and caretaker of her grandchildren who struggles to knock some sense into her daughter, as well as one of the year’s best original songs,“Glasgow (No Place Like Home).”
Spanish writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film is largely inspired by his own life. Antonio Banderas stars as a film director who reflects on his upbringing, career, and relationships while facing a mid-life crisis of sorts. What is clearly a personal film for Almodóvar, Pain and Glory is a touching drama about life choices that anyone can identify with. And despite playing someone who’s past their prime, Banderas knocks this role out of the park.
Talk about a comeback. Eddie Murphy makes his big return to the big screen “or small screen if you watch on Netflix” as Rudy Ray Moore, an aging entertainer who, like Murphy, seeks to revive his career. Dolemite is My Name is a charming biopic that has plenty of laughs and plenty of heart. Joining Murphy in a strong supporting cast includes Craig Robinson, Keegan Michael-Key, Mike Epps, Tituss Burgess, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who gives a breakthrough performance.
Marking its eighth adaptation of the classic novel, Greta Gerwig gave Little Women a modern feel with its non-linear storytelling. While her second solo outing falls short of her splendid Lady Bird, everything about Little Women was top-notch including the production design, the sharp writing, and a stellar cast that includes Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, and Florence Pugh, who gives the most memorable performance as the youngest March sister, the naive and mischievous Amy.
18. The Art of Self-Defense
There are dark comedies that go dark… and then there are those that get really dark. Riley Stearns’s breakout film The Art of Self-Defense is the perfect combination of uncomfortably funny and shockingly suspenseful. It follows a defenseless loner who takes on karate after being assaulted on the street, but it’s what goes on after karate class snowballs into a deadly situation. Jesse Eisenberg gives his strongest performance since The Social Network as a timid individual desperate to become more tough and masculine and Alessandro Nivola is wonderfully twisted as the sociopathic karate sensei with a grim sense of humor that’s worthy of an Oscar trophy.
Ari Aster set the bar extremely high with his 2018 debut film Hereditary. And his followup definitely stands on its own shoulders. Midsommar follows a group of young Americans who journey to a rural town in Sweden where they are holding an ancient festival, but was supposed to be a vacation quickly becomes a bizarre nightmare. Florence Pugh gives a terrifying performance as the emotionally-broken Dani, who is the only one who raises legitimate concerns about the peculiar townspeople that welcomed her and her friends. Midsommar is the perfect combination of disturbing and artistic If his third film is just as fantastic as his first two, Aster may be earning the title of the contemporary master of horror.
There isn’t a genre that writer/director Rian Johnson can’t handle. Knives Out is the best whodunnits in recent memory featuring one of the greatest casts in recent memory, including Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, and Daniel Craig, who plays the murder mystery’s esteemed detective Benoit Blanc (although the MVP goes to newcomer Ana de Armas). What’s brilliant about Knives Out are the unexpected twists and turns the plot makes as it unravels as well as the laughs along the way. With sharp writing and an A+ cast of characters, Knives Out is a movie to die for.
15. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Perhaps the best movie almost nobody saw, The Last Black Man in San Francisco tells the heartbreaking story of Jimmie Fails (played coincidentally by Jimmie Fails, making his feature debut) and his never-ending dream of restoring and residing in his childhood home, which no longer belongs to him. Both he and up-and-comer Jonathan Majors, who plays Jimmie’s best friend Montgomery, give passionate performances. The Last Black Man in San Franciso is an artistic love letter to the Golden Gate City and of this year’s most beautifully-shot films.
One of the most fun movies of the year, Ready or Not is an outrageously funny horror flick that surrounds a newlywed wife who must win a game of Hide and Go Seek in order to officially be accepted into her husband’s family, but little does she know that she married into a family full of satanic nutjobs who are out to kill her. If you’re looking for dark humor, well-choreographed fight scenes, and Samara Weaving kicking a lot of butt in a wedding dress, look no further than Ready or Not.
A modern-day Kramer vs. Kramer, Marriage Story depicts both sides of a painful divorce. Indie favorite Noah Baumbach wrote and directed his finest film yet starring Adam Driver, who plays an off-Broadway theater director, and Scarlett Johannson, an actress seeking to define her own career in Los Angeles beyond her husband’s shadow. Both give superb performances (Driver’s best performance ever) and are accompanied by a stellar cast including Laura Dern, who plays a feisty, cutthroat divorce attorney for Johannson’s Nicole and Julie Hagerty as Nicole’s overbearing mother who continues to comedically express devotion for her soon-to-be ex-son-in-law.
Waves is one of the most surprising films of the year… and quite the emotional rollercoaster. What on the outset looks like a picture-perfect, upper-middle-class family is actually a household with growing cracks in its foundation. Kelvin Harrison Jr. landed two breakout roles in 2019 (the other being Luce) but shows so much range in this film as a star athlete whose life spirals out of control with pressure from his demanding father (played by Sterling K. Brown of This is Us fame), substance abuse, and a turbulent romance. Taylor Russell also shines as the loving daughter who desperately tries to be the glue that keeps the family together amid chaos. Sharply written and beautifully shot, Waves is one of the strongest family dramas to hit the big screen in some time.
11. The Peanut Butter Falcon
No film may tug at the heartstrings more this year than the road trip comedy The Peanut Butter Falcon. Newcomer Zack Gottsagen stars as “Zak,” a man with Downs Syndrome who escapes a nursing home so that he can attend a wrestling camp and fulfill is lifelong dream of going professional in the sport. Gottsagen, who himself has Downs Syndrome, is one of this year’s biggest breakout performers and is joined by Shia LaBeouf, who plays a man on the run who reluctantly helps Zak on his journey and Dakota Johnson, who plays Zak’s caretaker and attempts to do her job by bring him back to the home. The Peanut Butter Falcon is one of those rare films that may restore your faith in humanity.
Sparking plenty of comparisons to 2018′s Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman exceeds its predecessor in virtually every category. Taron Egerton shows that he’s a multi-talented performer not just with his terrific portrayal of Elton John but with his surprising good singing (take note, Oscar winner Rami Malek). What’s really a jukebox musical, Rocketman is a fun, stylish journey of the life and career of one of music’s biggest living legends that’s aided by fantastic hit songs, flashy costumes, and a touch of fantasy.
Imagine finding out your grandmother is dying of cancer but she herself doesn’t know that she is and everyone around her pretends like everything is normal. That’s basically the plot of The Farewell. Writer/Director Lulu Wang carefully walks the tightrope of comedy and drama with a “What would you do?” situation storyline. Awkwafina gives a moving performance as the emotionally-conflicted Billi who struggles to say goodbye to her closest loved one and Shuzhen Zhao is brilliant her the scene-stealing, loose cannon, full-of-life grandmother.
Taika Waititi has quickly emerged as one of the best up-and-coming filmmakers (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows), this time with his World War II satire Jojo Rabbit, which follows a young German boy who aspires to become a brave Nazi soldier, but whose world turns upside down when he discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his house. Waititi himself earns some of the films biggest laughs playing the boy’s imaginary friend and personal hero, a flamboyant Adolf Hitler. But he also recruited a group of fantastic young actors; Roman Griffin Davis, who plays a self-confident but growingly insecure Jojo, Archie Yates, who plays his adorable best pal Yorki, and Leave No Trace’s Thomasin McKenzie, who plays the witty and combative Elsa who helps Jojo open his eyes and his heart. Jojo Rabbit is not only humorous, it packs a thought-provoking and emotional punch and it’s one of this year’s standout films.
Perhaps the most emotionally distressing film of the year, Hotel Mumbai depicts the real-life events of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that left over 160 dead including at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Dev Patel leads a strong ensemble cast of hotel staff and guests who fight for survival as evil attempts to gun down every innocent soul. What could be compared to United 93, Hotel Mumbai is a gut-punch of a film that makes you feel like you’re truly experiencing the attack. Those who cannot stomach brutal violence may have to sit this one out, but for those who can, Hotel Mumbai is an unforgettable film.
There may not be a more relevant film to come out this year than Richard Jewell. Inspired by the true story, a security guard becomes a national hero after discovering a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but is quickly demonized as the potential terrorist after a local paper reported that the FBI had been targeting him as a suspect. Paul Walter Hauser, a 2018 breakout from I, Tonya and BlacKkKlansman, gives an outstanding lead performance as a good-natured, socially-awkward man caught in an untenable situation and is joined by a terrific Sam Rockwell, who plays his no-nonsense defense attorney. Clint Eastwood proves that at 89 years old, he’s still a Grade-A filmmaker presenting his best film since American Sniper. In an era where distrust in the media and law enforcement are part of the national discussion, Richard Jewell is a reminder that these problems have existed for decades and they’ll likely not be solved anytime soon.
There was lots of skepticism when Warner Bros. announced that comedic director Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover films) was helming a standalone film about Batman’s arch-nemesis, but Joker emerged as a comic book movie like no other. Joaquin Phoenix deserves the Oscars as a damaged, mentally-ill loner who slowly transforms into the Clown Prince of Crime. Sparking many comparisons to Taxi Driver, Joker is proof that in the era of superhero blockbusters, there’s still room for a refreshing spin on a beloved comic book genre.
Adam Sandler scored the role of a lifetime as a jeweler with spiraling debts in the intense thrill ride, Uncut Gems. What could be considered a modern noir, every single minute of this film ups the ante as Sander’s Howard Ratner struggles to fend off hungry collectors, usually resorting to gambling. Featuring a solid cast including Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, and Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett in his debut role (as himself), this adrenaline rush of a movie will certainly put the newcomer director team the Safdie Brothers on the map.
1917 is not just a movie; it’s a cinematic achievement. Using the “single-shot” style storytelling brings a sense of realness we haven’t seen since 2014′s Birdman. Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall), crafted his best film yet, aided with incredible cinematography from living legend Roger Deakins, a beautiful score from Thomas Newman, a heart-pounding story, and powerful performances from up-and-comers Joe MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman. 1917 is the greatest war film since Saving Private Ryan, possibly ever.
Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort did not disappoint following his Oscar-winning debut feature Get Out. Us feels like an incredible two-hour episode of The Twilight Zone (coincidently Peele has produced a TV reboot) that has the Wilson family in a fight for survival from their evil counterparts. Lupita Nyong’o gives the (dual) performance of her career as both the film’s matriarch hero and villain. With an incredible score from Michael Abels and the return of Peele’s social commentary, Us will have your heart pounding from beginning to end.
There was truly no other film this year like Parasite. From South Korean writer/director Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, Okja), it follows a struggling, poor family that entangles itself with the lives of a wealthy family in a dynamic that begins with uncertainty and erupts into chaos. Part comedy, part drama, and part thriller, Parasite is a stylish, one-of-a-kind film that takes so many unexpected turns that will leave you on the edge of your seat. In short, it’s a masterpiece.
