Honorable Mentions: Us, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Long Shot, The Biggest Little Farm, Booksmart, Rocketman
10. Knives Out: I love murder mysteries. If I can walk away saying that was very clever, then it’s a winner. And that’s exactly what Rian Johnson made me do. The script does a wonderful job of initially subverting the genre by making it less of a whodunnit and more of a how they did it. But by the end, it’s back to a long explanation of how it all happened from the lead detective. Johnson subtly drops in dialogue that seem like throwaway lines but end up helping solve the case. The cast is stacked but the least known star, Ana de Armas, is the most impressive. And it didn’t hurt that Daniel Craig’s southern accent wasn’t annoying, which was my concern. This spot on the list was the hardest for me to choose, but the best choice revealed itself in the end.
9. The Irishman: Scorsese at his most Scorseseist. This movie could have been higher on my list if it wasn’t for some de-aging issues, mostly with DeNiro. Two to three scenes come off quite silly, but the rest of it really worked for me. Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa is the best he’s been in years. Joe Pesci gives a nuanced yet menacing performance, as opposed to his usual bombastic efforts, and steals the show. It is a long movie at 3 ½ hours and the first hour is a little slow. But the next 2 hours are dynamite, ending with DeNiro doing his best work during a phone call. The last 40 minutes could have been 15, but the final shot will stick with you. Truthfully, it was enough for me to watch one of the greatest directors ever work with these legends.
8. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: You make a movie about Mr. Rogers and I’m going to love it. The documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor was one of my favorite movies last year and this is no different. I was apprehensive when I heard Tom Hanks would portray Fred Rogers only because I couldn’t imagine anyone playing him. Hanks didn’t nail the cadence of his voice, but he made up for it with the pacing of his speech. The script smartly puts him in a supporting role to Matthew Rhys’ protagonist and manages not to fall into the typical tropes of most “journalist interviewing a celebrity” films. The scene where Rhys’ character watches Rogers sing a song as the puppet Daniel transported me back to my childhood. It’s skillfully directed by Marielle Heller and kudos for the scaled down models in place of the exterior shots of cities.
7. 1917: Sam Mendes made the best war movie we’ve seen in years. This movie starts with two British privates receiving orders to warn an infantry to cancel a raid that will be ambushed. Then they’re off on a race against time. Quick and efficient. We follow them in what appears to be one continuous shot throughout, allowing the viewers to experience the aftermath of war in the most realistic way possible. The movie looks amazing with incredible cinematography from Roger Deakins, no surprise there, which will win him another Oscar. It’s the front runner for Best Picture and Best Director. I do think there are better choices in each category, but if it does win, it wouldn’t be unworthy.
6. Parasite: When we look back at the movies from 2019, this is the one everyone will remember. Like how Get Out was the movie of the year in 2017, Parasite is that in 2019. Bong Joon Ho creates a masterpiece that deals with social hierarchy and the lengths the less privileged need to go in order to survive in this world. The script has twisted fun showing a poor family of four conning and weaving their way into working for a rich family. A methodically paced scene of the working family getting drunk while the rich family is away gives an ominous sense something crazy is coming. And then boy it does. From that point on, it never lets up. It deserves a Production Design Oscar for the main house alone. The performances are brilliant and any of the actors could and should have been nominated. The direction is the best of the year, hands down. The movie is damn-near perfect and could pull off an upset to win Best Picture.
5. Marriage Story: This film gives the most authentic version of divorce I’ve ever seen. Noah Baumbach begins the film with the couple reading lists of the eccentricities they love about each other as we watch quick cuts of the happy moments in their marriage, before ending at the start of their divorce. It’s poetic. Adam Driver should be accepting the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday, but unfortunately that’s unlikely. It’s the performance of the year. And no one had a bigger 2019 than Scarlett Johansson. She could have won an Oscar for this if it wasn’t for Renee Zellweger and she starred in three of my top five movies this year. Laura Dern will win Best Supporting Actress because of a fantastic monologue about why women need to be seen as perfect in divorce proceedings while also going toe to toe with Ray Liotta in a cutthroat courtroom scene. But the best scene, and one of the scenes of the year, is the climactic argument between Driver and ScarJo. I didn’t breathe once during it.
4. Little Women: Greta Gerwig took a classic novel that already had a successful film adaptation in 1994 and made a gorgeous film that felt timelier than ever. Her brilliant choice to restructure the timeline, jumping back and forth between the past and present, allowed for the emotional beats to hit even harder. It aided beautifully in the visual aspects like cutting from a perfect, sunny day on the beach in the past to an overcast and somber day in the present. The chemistry of the cast is flawless. Saoirse Ronan is perfect as Jo and would be my choice for Best Actress. Florence Pugh has rightfully garnered a lot of attention for her performance, but everyone from Laura Dern to Chris Cooper pulls their weight. Gerwig should win Best Adapted Screenplay. But it’s a real shame she didn’t get a chance at Best Director or doesn’t have legitimate shot at Best Picture. Both would be justified.
3. Avengers: Endgame: Marvel has given us something we have never seen before. Eleven years and twenty-two movies all functioning in the same universe. The expectations for the final movie of the cycle was unlike anything we’ve seen before and they knocked it out of the park. It plays like a series finale of a TV show in all the right ways. It’s three-hour runtime flies by and structurally it’s as solid as it gets. The performances are all great, as they have done incredible job casting their heroes. And Marvel gave us its best villain yet in Josh Brolin’s Thanos, whose depth and purpose in this and Infinity War was an unexpected gift. The action, the comedy, and the heart are all there. Along with a gut-punch of an ending. I can’t even type the lines “On your left” and “You can rest now” without bursting into tears.
2. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood: A buddy movie from Quentin Tarantino that isn’t your typical Tarantino movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is pitch perfect as aging star Jake Cahill, showing a vulnerability and dwindling confidence I’ve rarely seen him produce. Brad Pitt is as cool as the other side of the pillow as his stunt double and easily earns what should be his first acting Oscar. I love the movie’s focus on smaller Hollywood victories. Cahill and Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate don’t win awards or have the number one movie in the world. Cahill nails one scene in a pilot that floors his director and his young co-star. Tate sneaks into a theater to watch a movie she has a small role in order to listen to the audience’s positive reactions. Anyone who says Robbie didn’t have enough to do in the movie needs to give that sequence another watch. That, the Spahn Ranch scene, and all of Cahill’s day on set are masterful. Throw in an incredible soundtrack plus an insane climax and you have yourself one hell of a film.
1. Jojo Rabbit: My favorite movie of the last couple years. The World War II satire about fanaticism was one of the most polarizing films of the year. Some people thought it was inappropriate for Taika Waititi, the film’s writer and director, to play a buffoonish and comedic version of Hitler as young boy’s imaginary friend. The performance is the funniest of the year and does nothing to paint Hitler in a positive light. Actually, quite the opposite. The tonal tightrope Waititi walks is a marvel. One moment you are laughing uncontrollably, the next you’re crying uncontrollably, all while remaining on the edge of your seat. It shows how propaganda can influence young minds into blindly following dictators, but then turns it into a message about peace and understanding. The performances are excellent from top to bottom. Roman Griffin Davis gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from a child actor and Scarlett Johansson deserves a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role. The scene where she plays herself and Jojo’s father crushed me.
