I’ll say it. Today is the last day of 2019, and the end of the best year in movies that we have had in a while. It very well might be the best movie year this decade! Sure, that might be the recency bias talking a bit, but this year really has been something special. I had such a hard time knowing what to put on this list and I’ve spent the entire year putting together these rankings. But after seeing over 65 new releases in 2019, these are the top movies that I really loved this year.
2019 saw a great mix of franchise and original filmmaking with some incredibly talented directors and actors. We saw the Avengers Assemble, Adolf Hitler as a young boy’s imaginary friend, white-knuckle thrillers, the end of the Skywalker Saga, more live-action Disney remakes than should exist in a lifetime, live-action Pokemon and Netflix films knock it out of the park. But with all that happened in the world of movies in 2019, here are the best of the best (for my money at least). Love them or hate them, here are the 17 best movies of the year.
So let’s get started:
17. LONG SHOT
Long Shot was easily the biggest surprise of the year for me. The romantic comedy is about crusading journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), who is brought on as a speechwriter for his childhood crush and current Secretary of State, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron). I seriously cannot stand romantic comedies, but Long Shot shakes a lot of the cliches that make the genre so stale. The connection between Flarsky and Field seems ridiculous on the surface, but it actually feels natural as the film goes on. Its message of staying true to your convictions lands well for the most part, but Theron gets to flex her comedic chops alongside Rogen, which is a delight, and the chemistry between the two leads is far better than I expected it to be. If you missed it, it is definitely worth a watch.
16. JOJO RABBIT
Leave it to Taika Waititi to give us a story about a little Nazi boy in World War II Germany with Adolf Hitler as an imaginary friend… in 2019. Jojo Rabbit, out of context, might be something that the average moviegoer would turn their nose up at, but Waititi’s anti-hate satire is so charming and funny, it demands attention. The movie is hysterical and Waititi really shines as (I can’t believe I’m writing this) the completely idiotic Hitler. It’s a movie about understanding and confronting our blind nationalism to love and accept those that appear different from us on the outside, but really aren’t that different at all.
15. US
How do you follow up Get Out–one of the best movies of the decade? Leave it to Jordan Peele to avoid the sophomore slump with clever, biting commentary on social inequality and class warfare all wrapped up in horror genre wrapping paper. In a year full of amazing films about social class disparity and “eating the rich”, Us, the story of a family taken hostage during a weekend getaway by evil versions of themselves, is an absolute knockout. Peele’s direction is great, the film’s twisted use of Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It” is dark and foreboding yet extremely catchy, and Lupita N’yongo is so incredibly good in this film that even when I’m anticipating Red’s voice, it sends shivers down my spine.
14. THE IRISHMAN
It’s not his best film, but it doesn’t have to be–The Irishman is a downright fantastic film from Martin Scorsese. It’s crazy to think how long Scorsese has been working on this film and that care and love are apparent in every moment of the film’s epic 3 and a half hour runtime. On one hand, The Irishman is the story of Jimmy Hoffa and his fate. But what makes The Irishman truly incredible in my mind is that it is the antithesis of one of the most popular lines from Goodfellas. Henry Hill says in Goodfellas “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” But The Irishman shows what those dreams look like at the end of that life. It’s dark and cold, and a life full of sadness, misery, and regret. The Irishman truly is an astounding achievement and one worthy of Scorsese’s legacy of filmmaking.
13. HUSTLERS
Like I said: 2019 was the year of class warfare on film, and what better film to exemplify class warfare in America than ex-strippers taking down Wall Street swindlers during the Great Recession of the late-2000s? Hustlers is a delight. It’s funny, witty, full of great performances (namely Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez) and just an overall entertaining and well-crafted crime film. Is what these women are doing–tricking sexist Wall Street guys into overspending at their club where they get a cut–a crime? I mean, sure, but they have so much fun doing it and director Lorene Scafaria makes it so much fun to watch them. So cheers, ladies! …although I don’t think I trust this drink…
12. 1917
1917, the story of two young men in a race against time to stop a doomed charge during World War I might be the best World War I movie of all time. Its story is simple and the film itself is exhausting, but that’s all part of the experience. Director Sam Mendes and Director of Photography Roger Deakins crafted 1917 to feel as if it were done in one single take, but it never comes off as gimicky. In fact, the way the film is shot makes the combat and frenetic action of the battlefield feel even more real while giving the audience a real sense of the ticking time bomb that is time itself. 1917 is intense and powerful and a masterpiece of technical filmmaking that will we watched and studied for years to come.
11. BOOKSMART
It’s easy and foolish to brush Booksmart aside as simply a Gen Z version of Superbad. Yes, the films are very similar in structure and premise, but Booksmart is more than just its plot of “one last party before graduation.” Booksmart is a testament that maybe comedy can exist in the PC era. It never disparages any of its characters because of their background and never gives us a single stereotype. Each character in Booksmart feels unique and completely realized. It really is so rare to see a high school buddy comedy that doesn’t fall back on the same tropes and stereotypes because it is a very easy pit to fall into, but director Olivia Wilde navigates all of this to make a high school comedy that feels relevant and fresh. And that’s what makes Booksmart so good. Not to mention, it gave us Billie Lourd’s Gigi, the best character of 2019.
10. LITTLE WOMEN
I have never seen any previous iterations of Little Women and I have never read the book. But I can’t even fathom any other film version even coming close to what director Greta Gerwig put on display this year with her adaptation of Little Women. The way that the film takes the non-linear narrative approach to layer scenes over each other in order to punctuate their significance is masterful and a testament to Gerwig’s skill as a writer and director. Are the actresses believable as 13 and 14-year-olds? Probably not, but they don’t have to be. Gerwig’s direction makes it clear what time part of the timeline we are in and the performances make it work. Saoirse Ronan in incredible as Jo, Florence Pugh is fantastic and Amy, and Timothee Chalamet brings it as Laurie (although I hear that he’s supposed to look much older). Little Women is SO not my type of movie, but I loved every minute.
9. THE LIGHTHOUSE
Two men in a New England lighthouse in the late 1800s slowly descending into madness as their solitude begins to wear on them. The Lighthouse‘s premise is so simple but the film itself is anything but. Robert Eggers, coming off his breakout film, The Witch, delivers another New England folktale that will have you scratching your head and wondering what is real, what isn’t, and what happens when you look into the light? Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are stellar. The film is full of weirdness, kerosene, mermaids, seagulls, farts and lots and lots of stories. It’s an excellent film and makes me even more excited about what Eggers has in store for us throughout his career.
8. THE FAREWELL
Who would’ve thought that rapper Awkwafina would give one of the best performances of the year? Writer/Director Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful and one of the films that climbed on my list just from how much I thought about it. It’s a film where I wish that I had more proximity to Chinese family culture so that I could more fully grasp and relate to the dynamics at play here. When Billi learns that her grandmother Nai Nai doesn’t have long left to live, she travels to China to join the rest of her family in spending time with her grandmother before she passes. The only catch is that the family has decided to keep Nai Nai’s illness a secret and protect her from the pain of knowing she is dying and disguising the family gathering behind a sham wedding. It’s funny, touching, and a story of family that crosses cultural barriers. It’s a story about how we express love and the things we do for the people that we love, and it’s also the tenderest film of the year.
7. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Few movie experiences that I had in 2019 compared to The Last Black Man in San Francisco, the story of Jimmie Fails (played by Jimmie Fails) who finds himself caught between two groups increasingly closing in on him–wealthy whites gentrifying his neighborhood and inhabiting the house his grandfather built, and former friends wrapped up in San Francisco gang culture and toxic masculinity. Fails delivers an incredibly earnest performance rooted in the fact that much of the film draws from his own experiences. For me, the movie felt particularly real as I knew about a dozen Jimmies growing up in Northern California–too black to gain respect from older whites and too “white” (due to his clothes and love of skateboarding) to gain respect from black men his age. It’s a beautiful movie about family, heritage, and home.
6. MARRIAGE STORY
A film about a brutal divorce, Marriage Story is the most gut-wrenching movie I watched this year. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson both deliver incredible performances with precision direction from Noah Baumbach. There’s an incredible raw energy in Marriage Story that makes certain scenes so uncomfortable. The big fight in Charlie and Nicole in Charlie’s apartment is so real and so intense in how well it is written and acted, that it feels invasive to be watching it. You feel like an unwanted guest watching two people that you’ve grown to care for colliding into this twisted metal maelstrom of anger and sadness, hatred and fury. It’s a story where there are no winners and there are only losers, but the film itself truly is an achievement.
5. UNCUT GEMS
Name a bigger white-knuckler in 2019. Uncut Gems is 135 minutes of movie, but 125 minutes of anxiety and wanting to yell at the screen, “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?!” It’s a perfect example of why characters making bad decisions isn’t bad writing, it’s great writing of characters who think too much of themselves and think they are untouchable. Uncut Gems is the story of a jewelry store owner with a serious gambling problem, but his biggest addiction is betting on himself. With debts to pay in a million directions and an Ethiopian opal worth millions, Howard (Adam Sandler) wheels and deals throughout Gems and every single time he does something, I was just waiting for it to go bad. Adam Sandler is jaw-droppingly good and the Safdie Brothers are on a tear with Uncut Gems and Good Time under their belts. Uncut Gems didn’t make my Top 26 of the Decade list, but it honestly probably could have.
4. KNIVES OUT
I haven’t had a single conversation with someone that saw Knives Out this year that didn’t love it. It’s the kind of movie that people go to the movies to see! Knives Out has some of my absolute favorite shots of the year along with some of my favorite performances, particularly Daniel Craig. About 30 minutes into Knives Out I thought to myself, “where in the world is this movie going to go now??” but Johnson keeps the pieces moving and keeps the wheels turning. Rian Johnson truly is a stellar genre director that knows exactly how to subvert your expectations and keep you guessing right up until the very end. It’s tough to take a genre like a whodunnit and make it feel fresh, but guess what? Johnson nailed it.
3. MIDSOMMAR
One of my favorite things in the entire world is when I see a film and I cannot for the life of me stop thinking about it. Good or bad, I love it when a movie makes such an impression on me that I can’t get it off my mind. After Cinemast’s own John Pugh and I left our screening of Midsommar back in July, I knew I had just witnessed something that was going to stay with me for a long time…and it did. I spent nearly the entire summer thinking about Midsommar and reflecting on what I had just seen. Florence Pugh is captivating in every single second of the film and I was locked in from her very first scene (her single take phone call with her boyfriend). I can’t believe Midsommar exists, but I love that it does. It’s a film where we already have a good idea of where it is going, but Ari Aster makes the film all about the journey to that end and making it one of increasing dread, nearly all of which happens in broad daylight. I am ferociously looking forward to seeing what Aster does next.
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the movie that saw the biggest jump throughout the year for me. When I saw it in the theater the first time I enjoyed it but it was strange watching a Tarantino film where the characters weren’t looking for revenge or a big score and I kept waiting for one of those things to pop up, but it never did. And so I left Once Upon A Time in kind of a weird place. But after about 10 minutes of my second viewing of the film, I knew that I was watching something special. Every moment of Once Upon A Time is a treasure. The relationship and love that Rick and Cliff share for each other is so pure and seen in the littlest of moments. The way the two of them watch FBI together, or the way that Cliff is so willing to help Rick out when his antenna is busted. I love the Bruce Lee stuff (who cares about the controversy–it’s a comedic daydream) and I love just being in the world that this film inhabits. Well done, Quentin. Well done…
1. PARASITE
There wasn’t a single moment of Parasite when I didn’t have my jaw open, I don’t think. Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite is the story of two families–the rich Park family and the poor Kim family. The two families collide when a family friend asks Ki-taek Kim to take over his tutoring of the Park family’s daughter while he is gone for the foreseeable future. As Ki-taek visits with the Parks, he sees opportunities to work his family into the lives of the Kims. It’s the year’s best film about social class and climbing the social ladder. Not a moment in the film is wasted and Bong jam packs this thing full of great moments. Every time I thought Parasite was going to zig, it zagged. And every time I thought it was going to zag it zigged. The film is expertly directed and acted and is a masterclass in filmmaking precision. It simply should not be missed and I only hope that Bong’s next film is half as good as Parasite.
So what were your favorite films of 2019? Let us know!
