The Best Movies of 2019
This year there were a lot of movies I just didn't get to, so if you ask me in a year this list may be a lot longer. But I still saw a lot of good ones, and these were the best. There's no Hall of Shame this year because the last thing we need right now is negativity. Here's to a fantastic 2020!
Climax (Gaspar Noe)
The best time I had at the movies all year without a doubt. If Climax isn't Gaspar Noe's best film, it's absolutely his most pleasurable. It's a love letter to dancers that salutes their passion and physical abilities, then gives a crew of them free rein to improvise their way into psychological darkness. Climax captures the feeling of being at a great party just a little bit too long, the joy turning sour as you look desperately for an exit. But Noe never stops throwing color, excitement and great music at the audience, so that no matter how horrifying the the drama gets it's impossible to look away. I left the movie still bouncing from that relentless back beat.
Lords of Chaos (Jonas Akerlund)
There aren't many good movies about metal music, but Lords of Chaos might be the best. It's an uncomfortable meditation on how some of the most revolutionary metal ever made could have come from a bunch of sheltered edgelords who couldn't separate fantasy from reality. Akerlund brings 1990's Norway to vivid life using the real locations and a perfectly curated soundtrack. But Rory Culkin’s phenomenal performance as Euronymous gives the movie its heart, making a rather toxic human into a surprisingly sympathetic and tragic figure.
Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria)
Hustlers is the kind of great movie that’s easy to overlook. It may not be flashy enough to dominate Oscar conversations, but it’s pretty much perfect. The friendship between Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and Destiny (Constance Wu) is the heart of the movie. No matter how ethically dicey their criminal enterprise is (very) it’s hard not to root for them... to a point. It’s a thrilling story with a great sense of humor, and also a surprising amount of empathy for both the criminal protagonists and their victims. Thinking about this movie still makes me happy.
Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
This was one of those movies where you can just feel the presence of the director next to you grinning with joy in every scene. Knives Out is a spectacle of a different kind, a flick with a great story told rapid fire, keeping the audience rapt with attention. It jumps genres a few times (mystery, thriller, comedy, social commentary), but does an able job in each of them. Meanwhile, a cast of screen legends meets their match in Ana de Armas as the surprise heroine with an inability to tell a lie, and the wits to nevertheless keep her enemies guessing. You don't need a billion dollars to thrill a crowd, and Knives Out is the best argument for that all year.
The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
The Farewell is worth seeing for two fantastic performances: Zhao Shuzhen plays one of the most loveable grandmothers I've ever seen in a film. She's a source of such joy and life that I wish I could call her "nai nai". And Awkwafina is extremely relatable as the granddaughter trapped in an impossible ethical dilemma. If you've ever felt like the odd one out at a family gathering, loving your relatives deeply while navigating those tricky areas where you know you'll never see eye to eye, this will ring true. Considering that the premise sounds so depressing, I was shocked at what a happy and life-affirming story The Farewell turned out to be.
Pokemon Detective Pikachu (Rob Letterman)
If there was any justice, Pokemon Detective Pikachu would take home the Best Visual Effects oscar. Rob Letterman proved with the underrated Goosebumps that he's a master at integrating fantastic CGI effects into realistic worlds. This movie's Pokemon are integrated so believably into Rime City that you can practically feel the fur on each sleeping Snorlax. How do you make an impossibly cute anime mascot even cuter? By giving him the voice of Ryan Reynolds it turns out. In the year of the Sonic the Hedgehog trailer, let's take a minute to applaud a special effects team going above and beyond to bring this adorable floof to life.
Hellboy (Neil Marshall)
I confess I’m not part of the cult for Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy” movies. They were fine, but just not entirely my bag. Neil Marshall’s “Hellboy”, on the other hand is a movie made just for me. Yes, it’s all a bit slapdash. But sometimes I just want a movie to crank the heavy metal riffs and throw monsters at the screen, and dammit I got that here. David Harbour is strangely magnetic as a less soulful, more agitated Hellboy, and he leads a trio of unique heroes that I can't wait to see in more adventures. Shame there won't be any. Let's pour one out for Hellboy 2019, the right movie at the wrong time.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (James Bobin)
Of course the Dora the Explorer movie wouldn't take itself seriously. Far more people watched it in their childhoods or were forced to endure it by young relatives than actively watch it today. Thankfully, Dora 2019 gets to have its cake and eat it, delivering a rollicking adventure comedy for kids with an open acknowledgement that this is all based on a premise that’s fundamentally insane. Isabela Merced proves herself to be a natural star as Dora, but Benicio del Toro's Swiper is the special sauce. If you are in any way curious about this movie, take a chance and you will have a good time.
Cats (Tom Hooper)
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” is fucking weird. Tom Hooper’s “Cats” is a midnight movie for the ages. It’s everything you’ve heard: nonsensical, pointless and above all else uncomfortably sexual. Essays will be written about it for years. The top-notch cast gives it their honest best while performing against a green screen, having no idea of the gruesome horror that Hooper (and some kinky CGI fur suits) would turn their misguided work into. I had a blast. “Cats” will ascend into Z-movie cinema legend.
