Top 20 Best Films Of 2019

I’ve gotten into some of the prevailing themes that tie a lot of 2019’s cinematic releases together over the course of these lists. The overwhelming sense of disappointment, the harbingers of what could be even worse movies to come out in the new decade, the inevitable efforts that manage to defy just how much of a letdown the year turned out; that kind of thing. But the main thing I got out of 2019 was that it was the end of the decade that made me the critic I am today.

It has been a wild ride these last ten years, and not only has this blog gone through some major changes in that time in regards to format and length (why I ever thought a 1000-word minimum for my reviews was a good idea is beyond me; I blame Principal Vernon), it has exposed me to films that have helped to shape and give form to my perspective of the entire world. And man, did 2019 give me a lot to think about in that regard, to the point where it might hold some of the most personally formative features of my entire ‘career’. So let’s close out our look at this bizarre year with a countdown of my top 20 favourite films of 2019.

Top 10 Most Surprising Films Of 2019

With how low 2019 set expectations not just for its art but for its world at large, it’s a matter of basic probability that there were going to be a few pleasant surprises to make it to theatres and home streaming. Not only that, but what made for pleasant surprises were quite varied, from films that I had given hope on being any good to films that had potential value that very few other contemporary releases could ever hope to carry, right down to a couple that pretty much defy description. So, as we ease ourselves out of the thick haze of frustration of the last couple lists, let’s take a look at the top 10 most surprising films of 2019.

Top 20 Worst Films Of 2019

Where 2018 as a year was characterised by filmmakers looking back on the past and seeing where they could improve, 2019 was characterised by filmmakers looking back and seeing how much worse they could do. The main theme with the worst of 2019 was films that made me look at films I had written off years ago as bad ideas, and making me realise I didn’t know how good I had it because the new take is that much worse. These are the films that defied the prevailing sense of disappointment that populated the rest of the year, but only because the main response was “how did you screw up this badly?!” Strap in for some raw anguish fuel as I count down the top 20 worst films of 2019.

Top 10 Most Disappointing Films Of 2019

The 2010s, the decade that made me into the critic I am today, has officially concluded. And man, did it conclude on a whopper because 2019 was not a good year for movies. It certainly had its highlights, and we’ll definitely be getting into those later on this week, but for the most part, it was one marked by near-consistent disappointment. Middling features, underperforming productions that should’ve done better than they ultimately did, and Disney dominating the box office even more than any year previously; it’s been getting worrisome. So, to kick off our look at one of the bleaker years in recent cinema history, let’s count the top 10 films that, for one reason or another, didn’t match up with my expectations.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese (2019) - Movie Review

After looking at the Beyonce concert documentary, and thinking on and off this month about The Irishman, I feel like I need to give Martin Scorsese another look-over. With how much he’s dominated the larger conversation about where the cinema industry is going, and how vindicated his statements have grown in such a short time (the artistic quality of the MCU is still arguable, but its effect on the industry isn't), I don’t want my last thoughts about the man this decade to be filled with disappointment and a want to highlight what has made the man so enduringly fascinating as a storyteller. So let’s look at the other movie he made this year, a documentary about Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder Revue.

Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019) - Movie Review

With how many new and returning faces have dotted the cinematic landscape over the past decade, pinning down any singular filmmaker as being the definitive artist of the 2010’s sounds like a headache and a half. In the realm of popular music, however, that question is far simpler. Sure, there are a few contenders for that crown on the pop stage like Taylor Swift, but none of them can hold a candle to the breadth of musical talent and utter ubiquity than one Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

Her paradigm shift into becoming an album artist in 2013 somehow managed to upgrade her already-enviable place in the spotlight, pushing her beyond her girl group/showbiz upbringing origins and revealing her as one of pop’s most singular artists. But the moment that truly confirmed her place in pop history was her performance at Coachella 2018, the setting for Beyoncé’s step into the director’s chair to capture this truly important moment. And man, does she bring a whole new shine to the event.

Sorry We Missed You (2019) - Movie Review

The latest release from British working-class hero Ken Loach is a bleak offering. It’s a portrait of a family in the midst of financial and personal crisis, primarily through Kris Hitchen’s humbling turn as a father who has just started a job as a white van man delivering packages. It carries next-to-no flash and about as humdrum as a release can get these days, and yet it carries an emotional intensity that makes for one of the most crushing films of the year.

The House That Jack Built (2019) - Movie Review

I feel like a john when discussing movies like this. Movies where the main intent at its core is to shock people by any means necessary, in this case made by a man who has basically built an entire career out of playing edgelord for the arthouse crowd. While that methodology has at least brought Lars Von Trier to some actual dramatic engagement on occasion, and even his worst films show a level of effort that is the least I ask for from edgelords (nothing worse than someone trying to shock you while putting in zero effort whatsoever), the man’s status as provocateur makes watching his movies, particularly his most recent ones, feel like I’m just playing into his hand. And unfortunately, the same applies for this one.

The Report (2019) - Movie Review

Much like how Steven Soderbergh couldn’t restrain himself to a single film this year, his frequent collaborator Scott Z. Burns appears to be in the same mode as, along with writing Soderbergh’s The Laundromat, he has stepped back into the director’s chair to do some even more scouring of conspiratorial secrets, this time involving the United States government and their involvement in torturing suspected terrorists in the wake of 9/11. Strap yourself in for some pretty ugly ruminations because, much like the film itself, I’m not going to be holding anything back.

Her Smell (2019) - Movie Review

After how dirty Elisabeth Moss was done with The Kitchen, I was honestly wanting to check this film out mainly because she deserves better than having just that movie as her impact for 2019. And it seems that writer/producer/director Alex Ross Perry has given her a role she can really sink her teeth into, playing a riot grrrl punk rocker who, in expected rock star cinema fashion, crashes and burns under the weight of her shot at fame. Going from a role that outright wasted her talents to something that lets the entire production spin on the axis of her performance is very gratifying to see, and the film as a whole ain’t half bad either.

Extra Ordinary (2019) - Movie Review

Well, this is an odd one. Not just because this is an Irish horror-comedy that makes for one of the weirder entries in that genre hybrid I’ve seen in years, but because of the reception this film has already garnered. It is one of the many films of 2019 that has managed to snag a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a notion only made weirder when it sets in that there have been zero 0% ratings this year.

As someone who in the last couple years has actually started being listed on the website proper (not for these reviews, but for the ones on FilmInk… for now, at least), and who occasionally wonders if I like too many movies to be considered a credible critic (feel free to decide amongst yourselves which part of that statement is the most ridiculous), this seems off for one of the bigger touchstones of the industry I work in, not to mention intimidating to be looking at a movie that everyone else seems to like without caveat. Thankfully, while I don’t think it’s out-and-out brilliant, I can at least get how it would garner that much positive buzz.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019) - Movie Review

Sometimes, the best pieces of art are the ones that keep things simple. Sure, I take great pleasure in watching and analysing films that have a lot going on, giving me ample opportunities to look at all the little pieces of the production and story and seeing how they all fit together. However, what can easily result from trying to aim for many things at once is missing all of them. Keeping a story’s scope narrower means that the filmmakers are able to focus on a singular notion, building on it so that it supports the entire production all on its own without the added garnish. I don’t usually vibe with films that are this low-key, but then again, not every low-key film I’ve reviewed is as stone-cold brilliant as this little number is.

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) - Movie Review

The formula that made Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle work is so brain-crappingly simple, it’s still bizarre to think that the numerous video game-centric films to come before it hadn’t cracked it. It took one of the most common and innocuous aspects of video gaming, the act of playing as a pre-designed character, and used to deliver some of the best body-swap comedy I’ve ever seen. I still can’t get over that it featured Jack Black acting like a Valley Girl, a combination that should’ve soured me from the guy’s work forevermore, and still managed to bring out the belly laughs. And with its sequel, it doubles down on that same formula and manages to do even better.

Jojo Rabbit (2019) - Movie Review

In June of 2017, in-between being named New Zealander Of The Year and making Thor: Ragnarok, filmmaker Taika Waititi made this video in collaboration with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Waititi making something like this. A video so bursting with ironic social cringe, made by a creative who has built an entire career out of weaponising it, that its discomfort can make it difficult to watch. Being able to sell the message that even the smallest act of racism adds to the larger picture (basically the concept of micro-aggressions in a nutshell) is what immediately won me over that this is the guy who should make a fascist satire in a “you couldn’t make a Mel Brooks movie today” cultural climate. And thankfully, the man does not disappoint.

Cats (2019) [Yes, that one] - Movie Review

This really is the year that keeps proving me wrong in the worst possible ways, it seems. Back when I reviewed the Aladdin remake, I foolishly thought that that would be the worst it could get for instant audience scepticism that a film will be any good. And then in walks this little film, lighting the literate masses’ brains of fire with just how nightmarish it apparently is. It went beyond merely the marketing and went into the post-film conversation itself, not to mention the post-release conversation. I went into this expecting an unmitigated train wreck, the kind that makes for a delirious viewing experience… and admittedly, this is indeed a train wreck. But it’s not even the fun kind.

The Goldfinch (2019) - Movie Review

Films like this made me wish I read more books in my off-time. Not that I’m ashamed of my literary diet mainly consisting of comic books and articles written by my contemporaries, but in terms of literary adaptations, part of me thinks that I should incorporate reading the source material into my pre-viewing background routine. Admittedly, the reason why I don’t as a general rule is so I can more easily let a given film stand on its own merits, since the source material tends to be far superior than any adaptation of the work anyway. And yes, I’ve done the exact opposite for remakes and the like, but different medium, different rules, far as I’m concerned.

At any rate, in the case of this film, I started wondering about this because I genuinely don’t know how much of this film’s faults are to do with the adaptation or to do with the original book.

Brittany Runs A Marathon (2019) - Movie Review

Y’know, for someone who claims to have an entire life philosophy based on making people laugh, I am remarkably out of step with the modern comedy scene. I don’t watch a lot of TV, so I’m not seeing the sitcoms that get these actors their first major platform, and what passes for stand-up nowadays is a bit… well, try-hard. As I’ve said in the past, I’d be fine with the whole ‘safe space to decry safe spaces’ thing is people were at least a little self-aware about it, and it feels like too many are banking on outrage over actually being funny nowadays.

At any rate, between all of this, I find myself questioning why I keep seeing certain actors popping up in comedy films. Actors like Jillian Bell, a comedian I don’t have any experience with outside of the films I’ve reviewed, and someone who has never really made her case as a recurring comedic presence for me. Until now, that is.

Earthquake Bird (2019) - Movie Review

The latest feature from former gay porn director and current frontrunner for best queer filmmaker working today Wash Westmoreland certainly fits into his main oeuvre. It’s a psychosexual thriller about a Swedish expatriate in 1980’s Japan, played with simmering anguish by Alicia Vikander, one that is basically bisexual aesthetic on blast. As I got into earlier this month, we stan the Bisexual Bard in this house, and between his previous efforts Still Alice and Colette, I’ll admit to looking forward to this. Not sure if that was the best move, though.

Klaus (2019) - Movie Review

This film, an animated Netflix-exclusive release, is the product of an alternate reality. A reality as gleamed at by writer/director Sergio Pablos, an animator who assisted in some of Disney’s later Renaissance efforts and the man behind the source material for last year’s Smallfoot. It is a reality where, instead of CGI becoming the standard, traditional animation continued to be the norm. I am no nearly well-versed enough in multiverse theory to even attempt to figure out how to see this reality for myself, but if the films of that timeline looks half as good as this, then hot damn, we’ve been missing out.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019) - Movie Review

Well, so much for thinking that Joker would be the most contentious cinematic release of 2019. Sure, the reactions to this one haven’t been nearly as alarmist, but for a film at the centre of one of the largest-waged fan wars of the last decade… is it just me or is no-one vibing with this? People who saw Last Jedi as a healthy direction for the franchise aren’t happy with it, people who thought Last Jedi was a betrayal of the series aren’t happy with it, and looking at the critical response, it is currently the second-worst reviewed entry in the series, only 3% higher than The Phantom Menace.

Add to that how fucking exhausting the discourse has been around this entire series, and quite frankly, I was dreading having to watch this. And in fairness, I can definitely see where its detractors are coming from… but I can also see why there’s quite a bit to like about it as well.