The Best Films of 2019

Goodbye, 2019! Hello, 2020! This year was a busy one full of change and reinvention, so while I regularly attended screenings, not every film that I saw received a full review. Also, since there is only so much time in a day and other things to be done, there are still plenty of more films to catch up with into the new year that I sorely missed (sorry, "The Farewell," "High Life," "Ad Astra," and so many more, I will get to you all eventually). This Top 10 of 2019 could retroactively change as more 2019 releases are seen, but as of now, I am quite satisfied with these picks.

Honorable Mention: Annabelle Comes Home; Blinded by the Light; Bombshell; Booksmart; Brittany Runs a Marathon; Diane; Doctor Sleep; Fighting with My Family; Giant Little Ones; Gloria Bell; Greener Grass; Happy Death Day 2U; Haunt; Hustlers; It: Chapter Two; Jojo Rabbit; Judy; Knife + Heart; Little Women; Lords of Chaos; Midsommar; One Cut of the Dead; The Perfection; Ready or Not; Shazam!; Under the Silver Lake

10) Knives Out - Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” is a delicious Agatha Christie-style whodunit entertainment. An exceptional embarrassment-of-riches ensemble plays the members of the Thrombley family, who come together to the New England homestead after 85-year-old patriarch Harlan (Christopher Plummer), a crime novelist, is found with his throat slit. His death is ruled a suicide, but that will be up to detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, wonderfully tearing up the scenery as a “CSI: KFC” gumshoe), who suspects foul play. Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, Michael Shannon, and Chris Evans all get a taste of the cracklingly written and whip-smart dialogue and are clearly having a blast as suspects, but it is Ana de Armas, as Harlan’s immigrant nurse Marta, who is the heart and soul of the film. Johnson tightly constructs his mystery and shows his cards at the right moment, while commenting upon wealth disparity and immigration as part of the twisty, crafty package.

9) Marriage Story - Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson deliver note-perfect performances in “Marriage Story,” writer-director Noah Baumbach’s compassionate yet aching look at the end of a marriage. Refusing to take sides, the film spends equal time with Driver’s Charlie and Johansson’s Nicole in New York and Los Angeles and their ongoing custody battle with their son. Baumbach is at the top of his game with a beautifully written script that breaks your heart and then puts it back together. Spot-on support comes from Laura Dern, as Nicole’s divorce attorney; Julie Haggerty and Merritt Wever, as Nicole’s mother and sister; and Alan Alda, as Charlie’s first attorney. Even for those who haven’t experienced divorce, “Marriage Story” is painfully authentic, deeply moving, and even funny.

8) Avengers: Endgame - If “Avengers: Infinity War” rocked the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a daringly bleak outcome, then “Avengers: Endgame” is the hugely ambitious cinematic event that pays off the previous 21 films over the course of 11 years. Reflecting on the devastation before getting to the resolution of reversing Thano’s snap, this is a 3-hour culmination that combines wonderful character work and exhilarating, crowd-pleasing spectacle. Every Avenger shows his and her truest humanity more than they ever have, Robert Downey Jr. in particular giving Tony Stark a fully complete arc and a different, more world-weary performance. With the Russo brothers back at the helm, “Avengers: Endgame” never feels bloated or busy, instead heading toward a rewarding, emotionally resonant conclusion with drive and purpose.

7) Toy Story 4 - It’s a miracle that the “Toy Story” films made a perfect trilogy and now make a perfect quadrilogy with the long-gestating sequel “Toy Story 4.” Though Buzz Lightyear and all of his friends return, this story centers mostly on Woody, now owned by young Bonnie, and how he must adjust being second-banana to Bonnie’s makeshift toy “Forky,” made from a spork, pipe cleaners, and a popsicle stick. This could have been a rehash of the previous films, but the new characters are fresh and funny (Keanu Reeves’ daredevil rider Duke Caboom) and even creepy (like Christina Hendricks’ doll Gabby Gabby). “Toy Story 4” might be the funniest of the four films, and if this is actually the real conclusion, there is also a graceful poignancy that sticks with you.

6) Us - New horror auteur Jordan Peele sidesteps the sophomore slump with “Us,” a bold, entertaining horror film that has more on its mind with so many haunting, thoughtful secrets to unpack and chew on after letting it marinate. Lupita Nyong’o is nothing short of astonishing in dual roles, playing a wife and mother who must protect her family, as well as playing the doppelgänger with some frightening motives. “Us” is like experiencing a lucid nightmare and seeing a next-level, wildly envisioned work of twisted genius unfold. Peele makes a thinking-person’s horror film that’s genuinely unsettling and creepy, while also respecting the intelligence of both his characters and the audience, but also a precise, deceptively layered puzzle that is thematically rich in what it says about humanity, the divide of America, the haves and the have-nots, and nature vs. nurture. “Us” is the kind of rewarding genre film that Peele needs to keep making. [Full Review]

5) Uncut Gems - Filmmaking brothers Josh and Benny Safdie specialize in pressure-cooker cinema, crafting chaos with a visceral yet controlled edginess and holding their audience in their thrall. With “Uncut Gems,” they also challenge Adam Sandler to prove his range as an actor and deliver the most compelling, live-wire work of his career as gambling-addicted jeweler Howard Ratner. This is not a pleasant or likable man, nor does he ever make the best choices, especially when Howard tries retrieving an Ethiopian opal he loaned to NBA star Kevin Garnett while being tailed by loan sharks, but it's endlessly riveting to watch this schmuck spinning so many plates and perpetually be in too deep. The rest of the cast—Idina Menzel, as Howard’s seething, long-suffering J.A.P. wife; breakout star Julia Fox, as Howard’s girlfriend; and LaKeith Stanfield, as Howard’s client recruiter—is excellent, too. Relentlessly mounting with a nerve-fraying, assaultive buzz on the soundtrack, “Uncut Gems” is a volatile, knots-in-your-stomach anxiety attack in cinematic form that's about as exhausting as having someone scream in your face for 135 minutes without much of a letup. Take a Xanax beforehand, but the cold sweats will be worth it.

4) 1917 - Director Sam Mendes’ out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire WWI epic “1917” is an awe-inspiring triumph in technical scope and feeling. Movies that give the illusion of being shot in a single take can sound gimmicky, but Mendes treats it as such an immersive experience that the ingenious oner-conceit only enhances the real-time urgency without distracting one to look for the seams. Every step of the way, the viewer is along with two corporals (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) making their way into enemy territory to deliver orders not to attack, which could lead to 1,600 British troops walking straight into a trap. Emotionally involving and breathlessly harrowing, “1917” puts the characters and the viewer through the pulse-quickening wringer in the best of ways, while dazzling and forcing one to marvel at the meticulously constructed camerawork by cinematography genius Roger Deakins. This is a remarkable filmmaking achievement that will be hard to equal.

3) Joker - Black as pitch and more provocative than one might assume a comic-book film to ever be, “Joker” reigns as a ballsy, psychologically piercing character study that doesn’t condone the actions of its antihero but seeks to understand him. Writer-director Todd Phillips, working at the height of his powers after R-rated comedies, has executed a bleak, uncompromising, and much more courageous vision than anything in the realm of studio blockbuster filmmaking, and it’s an unprecedented shock to the system. As one watches a committed and profoundly chilling Joaquin Phoenix playing Arthur Fleck, it is not only forgotten during the film that Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger already made the roles of the Joker iconic—and distinctly their own—but one forgets about watching an actor entirely. Rattling and unsettling but not unfeeling, the film never for one second celebrates the mayhem created by Arthur. Though it’s hard to say that this is the kind of film that many will come away enjoying, “Joker” is hard to shake, and it’s better for it. [Full Review]

2) Parasite - Writer-director Bong Joon-ho (2013’s “Snowpiercer” and 2017’s “Okja”) is a magician when it comes to storytelling and tonal acrobatics, particularly in his South Korean social-class indictment “Parasite.” The film follows the Kim family, unemployed and living in squalor until the son (Kim Ki-woo) lands a gig as a tutor for the wealthy Park family. The rest of the Kims methodically work their way into the Park’s home, giving their household help and finally feeling at home, until everything spirals out of control. Beginning as a family drama and con-job farce with satirical bite, the film seamlessly and unpredictably shifts gears into a tense thriller and finally a tragic horror film. Darkly funny, wrenching, and unflinchingly violent, “Parasite” is a knockout, a timely film that works best knowing as little about it as possible going in.

1) Waves - The best film of the year is also one that flew under the radar for most mainstream audiences. Trey Edward Shults makes another masterpiece after his unforgettable 2016 feature debut, “Krisha,” with “Waves,” a diptych-structured family drama. Unimpeachably acted by Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Reneé Elise Goldsberry, and Sterling K. Brown, the film tells an intimate yet expansive story about an affluent South Florida family and how all of their lives change after one incident. Divided into two halves that complete an emotionally cohesive whole, the film is a juxtaposition of love and forgiveness. Shults has as much control of his roving camera as he does with his characters, who always feel like fully fleshed-out human beings and not just pawns on a misery-porn chess board. Deeply felt without wallowing in just the lows, “Waves” is as tragic as it is cathartic and hopeful.