Favorite Movies of 2019

[grudlian. 4725]

19 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

First of all I forgot Shaft came out this year and yes it was truly terrible. It was that weird thing of "Is it a joke that he's saying these things or are the things he's saying the joke?" Either case also the idea of "A real man acts this way" on top of the homophobia a misogynistic stuff makes it a hard pass.

As far as Us goes...

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I think tonal issues aside, which I think he fixed in Us with the right blend of comedy at appropriate times, I think the problem of Get Out is the straight forwardness and simplicity of the metaphor. I mean it is what you see is what you get and the best horror is all about levels of metaphor. However people also loved The Babadook and It Follows which both had good metaphors that lacked depth. It Follows at least tried to deepen it a bit with the victim of incest thing at the end. However, all three of these movies I got on initial viewing and weren't things I thought about afterwards. I got it and I enjoyed. Us while maybe more muddled I think it was also swinging a bit higher and I give it more credit for that. You have the tethered/untethered and the metaphor for socio-econimic levels and rasism and all that. However you have smaller things throughout which give you a bit more to think about. Like with Tim Heidecker you also got a bit more into the race issue as well. Him and Winston Duke are supposedly the same socio-economic level yet he treats him as lower. There is the one issue of race and bias but also Tim's character is the classic "keeping up with the Jone's" metaphor as well which can apply throughout the movie as well. He's not just content to be at his level but he has to have the best things. You can also argue how his relationship with his wife and children versus Winston Duke's family relations shows the flaws with this mindset and lifestyle as well. Not to mention that in itself has things to say as Lupita Nyong'o's came from a poorer broken home while Winston's was a more fortunate upbringing. Then the final twist of the movie of of her character actually being the untethered version all along I think says a lot as well. First, the whole thing of not knowing people's backgrounds and making assumptions. Then with her "below" version given the chance did achieve great success and prosperity you can read things into that as well. Did she succeed because she was finally given a chance? Was she driven to succeed? Or more sinisterly, if we give those below us a chance will they replace us? I think there is the main message but a lot more little things planted throughout which in the end gave me more to think about and digest than Get Out even if it wasn't as clear or well executed.

 

 

Spoiler

I don't disagree with anything you said here. I think the movie is much more nuanced. I think only have a problem that the main metaphor doesn't quite work for me or, more correctly, can easily work against itself. It's frustrating for me but I get why people would like it more than Get Out

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

3 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

I’m still hoping to get through Us and High Live today, but this is my list. They are ranked on my personal enjoyment and not necessarily by quality.

Booksmart 

Last Black Man in San Francisco 

Shazam 

Spider-Man

Avengers Endgame

Captain Marvel

John Wick 3

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 

Midsommar

Long Shot

Always Be My Maybe

LEGO Movie 2

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

The Kid Who Would Be Kid

Klaus 

Detective Pikachu

The Dirt

Glass

Hobbs and Shaw
Child’s Play
Brightburn

Dumbo

How to Train Your Dragon 3

Pet Semetary

Hellboy

Serenity

Just finished Us. I would probably put it just above Midsommar.

[RyanSz 3140]

Two I forgot to add to my best list was Dolemite Is My Name, which is kind of like The Disaster Artist for Blaxploitation movies. Eddie Murphy is fantastic in it and shows he still has incredible comedic timing but can play dramatic when needed to. The other is The Irishman which as a mob film lover, easily gets into my top ten mob movies of all time, even if the de-aging tech doesn't work when they still have De Niro's 80+ year old body doing the action.

[GrahamS. 803]

9 hours ago, RyanSz said:

Two I forgot to add to my best list was Dolemite Is My Name, which is kind of like The Disaster Artist for Blaxploitation movies. Eddie Murphy is fantastic in it and shows he still has incredible comedic timing but can play dramatic when needed to. The other is The Irishman which as a mob film lover, easily gets into my top ten mob movies of all time, even if the de-aging tech doesn't work when they still have De Niro's 80+ year old body doing the action.

DeNiro isn’t QUITE 80+, (he was born in 1941), but close enough. I love the movie but agree with what you mean. It felt really weird whenever Joe Pesci called him “kid.”

Also, Dolemite Is My Name was very enjoyable.

[GrahamS. 803]

By the way, for film lovers, my favorite doc was Horror Noire, which examines how black people are represented in horror films. It has great interviews with a ton of people, including Jordan Peele and Keith David, among others. It was so good, I wish it were a series. The only downside is that it’s only available on Shudder, but it is worth a month’s subscription to watch that and other offerings (like Joe Bob Briggs) if you’re interested.

[RyanSz 3140]

58 minutes ago, GrahamS. said:

DeNiro isn’t QUITE 80+, (he was born in 1941), but close enough. I love the movie but agree with what you mean. It felt really weird whenever Joe Pesci called him “kid.”

Also, Dolemite Is My Name was very enjoyable.

Yeah the scene that kept popping in my head was when De Niro beat up the store owner who pushed his daughter. It's clearly a young De Niro's face in the fight scene but his body is hunched and stilted when he's kicking and punching the guy because he can't do those moves as fluidly anymore.

And Shudder is worth the subscription for all it has to offer, more so for how cheap it is especially compared to other channels on Prime that offer way less.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

On 12/30/2019 at 7:04 PM, grudlian. said:

I like most of the movies you picked. I agree there were a ton of great movies directed by women this year. I think Greta Gerwig has a chance to be nominated but I don't really follow that kind of buzz. So, maybe I'm just being hopeful.

Typically the Golden Globe nominations are our glimpse into the future and it is.... bleak...

[grudlian. 4725]

3 hours ago, taylor anne photo said:

Typically the Golden Globe nominations are our glimpse into the future and it is.... bleak...

It's kind of hard to argue with who the Golden Globes nominated this year (I haven't seen 1917 so I'm just assuming) but I'd certainly be fine getting Tarantino off the list for Greta Gerwig no question.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

11 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

It's kind of hard to argue with who the Golden Globes nominated this year (I haven't seen 1917 so I'm just assuming) but I'd certainly be fine getting Tarantino off the list for Greta Gerwig no question.

And that is how women constantly get left out of the running

[GrahamS. 803]

It seems like any “official” awards should be judged by a group of men, women, non-binary (apologies for groups I’m leaving out), ,etc. ..., to TRY to even things out.

it would also be nice to have a system that accurately included all groups when voting for the president of the United States (and I think president should be in caps, but since Trump’s in there, I don’t want to boost his ego.

 

And I’m sure he browses this forum ALL THE TIME.).

[grudlian. 4725]

7 hours ago, taylor anne photo said:

And that is how women constantly get left out of the running

Yeah, if I were in charge of nominating, I'd certainly have put Gerwig on my list and potentially Marielle Heller. Scorsese probably wouldn't make my top 5 (but maybe). Tarantino wouldn't have gotten close.

I also think the problem is, as Graham says, it's still men in the academy. The by product of that is they simply aren't seeing or appreciating the movies on the same level. I think they aren't seeing Little Women as the same caliber movie as Joker (or whatever) and it's not part of the conversation on any level for them (Not that movies directed by women are inherently for women and not men. Or movies from men are inherently for men, not women. That's obviously dumb).

[theworstbuddhist 572]

I missed a lot of good looking movies this year for one reason or another, but I did sit down the other day and came up with this for a top 10 of what I did see from 1 to 10:

Parasite
Avengers: Endgame
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Us
Spider Man Far From Home
Midsommar
Ad Astra
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Under the Silver Lake
Knives Out

I also started a bottom 10 list but only had two films from the year that I actually hated: Serenity and MIB International. Which leaves all of the following as pictures that kind of landed in the middle:

Booksmart
Replicas
Lego Movie 2
Cold Pursuit
Isn’t It Romantic
Alita: Battle Angel
Captain Marvel
Triple Frontier
Shazam!
Shadow
The Hustle
John Wick 3
Brightburn
Godzilla: King of Monsters
Dark Phoenix
F&FP: Hobbs and Shaw
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Hustlers
Monos
Joker
Zombieland: Double Tap
Charlie’s Angels
Jumanji: The Next Level

Plus some film festival pictures that I didn't put on because they aren't in wide release. I mostly wish I had seen The Lighthouse, which I still haven't seen, and Little Women, which I think we are seeing this weekend maybe.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

My favorites so far:

1. Parasite
2. Little Women
3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
4. Knives Out
5. Uncut Gems
6. Midsommar
7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
8. Marriage Story
9. The Irishman
10. The Nightingale

Lotta competition for that #10 spot, so that could shift around. I also liked: Booksmart, Jojo Rabbit, Avengers Endgame, Us, Ford v Ferrari, Ad Astra, Good Boys, Hustlers, Toy Story 4, 1917, Always Be My Maybe, The Farewell, Dolemite Is My Name

#1 on the HDTGM scale: Cats.

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

On 12/30/2019 at 9:58 AM, Cameron H. said:

I’ve been in the process of watching Us over the past few days, but my Internet HATES it - lol. I can only go a few minutes at a time before it drops. Keep in mind, everything else works. The only thing having trouble is Us.

IDK what hardware/app you're using, but sometimes when watching a movie on my firestick, I need to go into installed apps and do a force stop, clear cache, launch application.

The main offender is usually the Shudder app, primarily with its "live" channels feature.

[TrueBreenius 38]

In no particular order:

The Farewell

Little Women

Booksmart

Rocketman

Judy

Parasite

Knives Out

[GrahamS. 803]

8 hours ago, theworstbuddhist said:

I missed a lot of good looking movies this year for one reason or another, but I did sit down the other day and came up with this for a top 10 of what I did see from 1 to 10:

Parasite
Avengers: Endgame
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Us
Spider Man Far From Home
Midsommar
Ad Astra
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Under the Silver Lake
Knives Out

I also started a bottom 10 list but only had two films from the year that I actually hated: Serenity and MIB International. Which leaves all of the following as pictures that kind of landed in the middle:

Booksmart
Replicas
Lego Movie 2
Cold Pursuit
Isn’t It Romantic
Alita: Battle Angel
Captain Marvel
Triple Frontier
Shazam!
Shadow
The Hustle
John Wick 3
Brightburn
Godzilla: King of Monsters
Dark Phoenix
F&FP: Hobbs and Shaw
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Hustlers
Monos
Joker
Zombieland: Double Tap
Charlie’s Angels
Jumanji: The Next Level

Plus some film festival pictures that I didn't put on because they aren't in wide release. I mostly wish I had seen The Lighthouse, which I still haven't seen, and Little Women, which I think we are seeing this weekend maybe.

I’m curious why Under the Silver Lake was one of your top films. I saw it as well and wanted to like it, liked what it was trying to do with deconstructing P.I. Films, liked about half of it, but ended being having too many unsatisfying tangents for me. And I’m generally OK with weird tangents if it adds up to something interesting. I didn’t hate it but it was too long and self-indulgent to work for me. But it would be an interesting film to discuss!

[theworstbuddhist 572]

1 hour ago, GrahamS. said:

I’m curious why Under the Silver Lake was one of your top films. I saw it as well and wanted to like it, liked what it was trying to do with deconstructing P.I. Films, liked about half of it, but ended being having too many unsatisfying tangents for me. And I’m generally OK with weird tangents if it adds up to something interesting. I didn’t hate it but it was too long and self-indulgent to work for me. But it would be an interesting film to discuss!

I think I just have a soft spot for films that are like a fever dream   Plus I remember some really great performances.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

The Golden Globes have spoken!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and 1917. Better picks than last year at least.

[GrahamS. 803]

They were decent choices—better than what Green Book looked like (I can’t bash it because I never watched it).

i always enjoy Ricky Gervais.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I didn't hate Green Book like a lot of Twitter thought I should, but I would definitely take either of these movies over it. And the other winner was Bohemian Rhapsody, the popularity of which was a big WTF to me.

I was also totally expecting Joker to win, so I breathed a big sigh of relief when it didn't. I just don't want to keep reading Joker arguments.

[grudlian. 4725]

42 minutes ago, sycasey 2.0 said:

I didn't hate Green Book like a lot of Twitter thought I should, but I would definitely take either of these movies over it. And the other winner was Bohemian Rhapsody, the popularity of which was a big WTF to me.

I was also totally expecting Joker to win, so I breathed a big sigh of relief when it didn't. I just don't want to keep reading Joker arguments.

All of this. Green Book was at least well acted enough to kind of offset its mediocrity. So, I didn't like it but I didn't hate it.

Bohemian Rhapsody was straight trash. I especially can't believe it won an Oscar for editing and Rami Malek's performance. Both were truly awful. If that movie didn't have the Live Aid section, it would have been one of the worst movies of the year.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Sorry for being late in posting my own thoughts here, but I wrote a whole piece on 2019 in movies. I wanted to wait until I saw UNCUT GEMS and LITTLE WOMEN to write it, but I had to get it done before the New Year so that just wasn't possible. Both films prrrrrrobably would have made the list. Peruse if you feel like it

 

https://www.film89.co.uk/the-film-89-year-in-review-2019-part-6-john-arminio/

[taylor anne photo 11311]

22 hours ago, grudlian. said:

All of this. Green Book was at least well acted enough to kind of offset its mediocrity. So, I didn't like it but I didn't hate it.

Bohemian Rhapsody was straight trash. I especially can't believe it won an Oscar for editing and Rami Malek's performance. Both were truly awful. If that movie didn't have the Live Aid section, it would have been one of the worst movies of the year.

I haven't seen either yet so I can't really comment on anything, however, when they showed the clip of Rami for the Oscars during the "here are the nominees for" section. I was struck by how... not acting it seemed. They just played a clip of him lip syncing and I was like jfc this is what they are going to give the Oscar to? At least this year with Taron being a front runner alongside Joaquin you know he actually had to sing all of his own songs in Rocketman (despite me thinking the movie overall was only okay at best).

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

37 minutes ago, taylor anne photo said:

I haven't seen either yet so I can't really comment on anything, however, when they showed the clip of Rami for the Oscars during the "here are the nominees for" section. I was struck by how... not acting it seemed. They just played a clip of him lip syncing and I was like jfc this is what they are going to give the Oscar to? At least this year with Taron being a front runner alongside Joaquin you know he actually had to sing all of his own songs in Rocketman (despite me thinking the movie overall was only okay at best).

There is this weird thing where if an actor REALLY LOOKS LIKE the real-life person they're playing they seem to automatically get nominations and/or wins. That doesn't necessarily mean they're doing the best acting.

But actors also vote on the Oscars, so even they themselves fall into this trap.

[grudlian. 4725]

41 minutes ago, sycasey 2.0 said:

There is this weird thing where if an actor REALLY LOOKS LIKE the real-life person they're playing they seem to automatically get nominations and/or wins. That doesn't necessarily mean they're doing the best acting.

But actors also vote on the Oscars, so even they themselves fall into this trap.

Definitely. Actors are getting nominated for the work of costumers and makeup artists (see also:  Vice). I probably wouldn't balk is Bohemian Rhapsody got an Oscar nomination for that because, in parts, that the costuming and makeup was good. But that was mostly just Freddie Mercury in parts and the Brian May wig. For the rest, even the makeup and costumes looked kind of crappy.