EVERYONE is talking about Uncut Gems, but smiller and I are supposed to see it together and he has very specific times he will go see movies so I haven't seen it yet. I did watch an earlier film of the directors' yesterday: Daddly Longlegs. Wow, disturbing. I also saw Good Times when it came out and their junkie movie too.
Here are the movies I saw in the theater in 2019. A couple were released in December 2018:
The Souvenir 1
Once Upon a time in Hollywood 2
Pain and Glory 3
Parasite 4
Arctic 5
Destroyer 6
Hustlers 7
The lighthouse 8
Once Upon a time in Hollywood 2
Pain and Glory 3
Parasite 4
Arctic 5
Destroyer 6
Hustlers 7
The lighthouse 8
Booksmart 9
Climax 10
Greta
Climax 10
Greta
Everybody Knows
The Beach Bum
Amazing Grace
High Life
Non fiction
The last black man in san Francisco
Midsommar
The Farewell
After the wedding
Ad Astra
Honey Boy
Knives out
Bombshell
Little Women
Vice
My favorite movie of the year, or maybe the movie I was most affected by was The Souvenir. I was gratified to see it made Obama's list and also cried inside to think that he used to be our president and he liked this and Booksmart. I mean, he liked the Irishman but I won't hold that against him.
Arctic hit my personal sweetspot of realistic hardship movies and Mads Mikkelson. I am somewhat embarrassed Climax is in my top ten but I'm being honest.
The worst movie I saw was probably After the Wedding. Non Fiction was not great either. Ad Astra was also lacking. Everybody Knows had dumb plot twists. Vice was meh, I will lump it in with Bombshell as "explainer movies your mom will like because they make her feel smart". Sorry to project my mom on you.
Beach Bum was entertaining but I felt nothing for it just like most of Harmony Korine's movies. Midsommar was fine but too derivative.
Highlife was the biggest fall from a director's last film, given that Claire Denis had just come off Let the Sunshine In
Destroyer was the movie I thought I hated but can't stop thinking about. The movie that made me feel the most pure movie-going joy was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The movie that I saw on streaming that I wish I had gotten around to seeing was Serenity. That movie is fucking bonkers watch it right now. I had actually meant to get to it but it was only in theaters here like a week.
I finally finished my list and it's so different than yours, but I also only saw 3/10 of your top 10 (all of which made my top 10), which bums me out. You do a much better job of seeing "good" movies in a theater. I tend to always make sure I see horror and blockbuster-type things in a theater because I feel like they benefit most from seeing on a big screen with an audience (though I'm often proven wrong by shitty audiences). I tell myself I'll see the indie and foreign stuff when it starts streaming, partly because I think a lot of this stuff benefits from a quieter viewing, but mostly because they usually play at Tower and I have real mixed feelings when ever I go there. But of course, then I never get around to watching them at home either. Anyways, this year I'm gonna try and see more non-horror, non-blockbuster stuff during it's theatrical run.
ReplyDeleteOnce Upon a Time... was my number one, if I'm being honest and not considering all the problematic QT shit. I felt like it was undeniably fun and well-made, but I've definitely seen a few people we know absolutely hate it.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing Uncut Gems tonight, so who knows, it may end up on my 2020 list. And I didn't see your #7, 9 and 10. I want to see Dolemite and I had not heard of the others but I love horror movies so I will watch both.
ReplyDeleteLast Black Man in SF was close to making my list, I just thought it was a little fanciful in a way I wasn't down with, and also it was a great year for movies so I saw a ton of good ones. I did enjoy Midsommar, and also Us was good but I loved Get Out so much (best film of that year) that I couldn't help but judge it in comparison. So our lists are really not so different!
Yeah, it was actually really hard to make this list. If this list was for 2018 and 2019 there would probably only be 2 or 3 movies from 2019 that made the cut. I was a great year for movies but somehow 2018 was better maybe. Hereditary was better than Midsommar, and Get Out was better than US, and it was definitely hard for me not to compare them to the directors' previous movies. In Fabric is incredibly weird and One Cut of the Dead is probably the most feel-good movie of the year. I know it's a cliche by now and people always say it, but try not to read anything about One Cut of the Dead before you watch it, and then hang with it if you don't like it at first.
ReplyDeleteI try not to read anything about any movie I am going to see. Definitely bummed by how much I know about Uncut Gems, just from the relentless hype
ReplyDeleteI feel like my lists are the opposite of the best of lists this year. Feeling completely on an island. I'm completely baffled by the love for Uncut Gems. And I thought Good Time was an amazing film that built tension so deliciously.
ReplyDeleteMy LEAST favorite movies of 2019:
1.Joker
2. Uncut Gems
3. Cats
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
5. Charlie's Angels? I dunno I slept through most of it
I thought it was an excellent year for movies. I loved a lot of them. Ranking to come. maybe
I ended up seeing 48 movies in the theater in 2019 (about 40 of them from August on thanks to the Regal movie club thing). I only saw 4 of your top ten.
ReplyDeleteI put Parasite at the top of my list but i also really liked Jojo Rabbit, The Farewell, midsommar, little women and once upon a time in hollywood.
The bottom of my list has Jexi, Brian Banks and Black Christmas.
I was not a fan of uncut gems or hustlers.
-Dave Ninja
I looked at your blog this morning. You part of the re-blogolution. That is my catchy name for the wave we are going to lead to reject social media and return to blogs.
ReplyDeleteSee above for my comment on Uncut Gems. I hated it, or rather I hated how it made me feel while recognizing how brilliant it was in creating a mood of extreme tension and irritation. It made me more tense than a terrible day at work and aggravated my chronic neck pain. That movie was a real pain in the neck!
I wish you had liked The Souvenir more. I want someone (besides Obama) to share my love of it.
Ha, oops on that typo "you part of"
ReplyDeleteWow, when was the last time 2 people were working on Heckasac comments at the same time? 2011?
I was thinking Reblogaissance.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that I didn't include Dark Waters. I looked through the releases of the year and must have missed it. It would not change my top ten. It definitely fell towards the least favorites.
ReplyDeleteHow about retroblogging? Is retro "cool"?
ReplyDeleteIt's like the Secret Blog in here
ReplyDeleteNot until Al weighs in
ReplyDeleteDark Water was okay. I'm as likely to watch it again as I am likely to buy a tephlon pan. We did see it opening weekend and were surrounded by annoying oldsters. They were talking an normal, non-whispering voices, eating loudly and checking cellphones at full brightness. Halfway through the movie, the lady two over from me loudly said "the water is poisonous!"
ReplyDelete-Dave ninja
Spoiler alert!
ReplyDelete