In a year filled with as much Interesting as there was Dreadful, Adam makes up a list of twenty of his favorite films that is sure to baffle some and upset others.
So, here’s how it’s going to go. There are twenty films. A Top Five Ranking. The rest are in alphabetical order. I do this because realistically 5 – 20 could be reranked any way as I mostly feel about them. Hell, this year it could probably be all but my top three could be mixed around. I should make a special mention to films that I liked a lot but didn’t make my list;
Always be My Maybe
Apollo 11
High Flying Bird
High Life
Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood
Stuber
All were great and highly entertaining but lacked something to push them up into my greater list. Yes, you can be mad at my list but it’s my list. It’s what I feel best represents my experience and the best of what 2019 had to offer.
The Rest (in alphabetical order)
1917 (Sam Mendes)
The amazing filmmaking on display far outweights the clichés of the storytelling. Sam Mendes’ war film takes everything we love about the “single take” and makes it into an entire film that artfully creates a sense of dread like nothing before it. FULL REVIEW HERE.
Crawl (Alexandre Aja)
Some films are built perfectly and are from the opening moment to the closing credits purely an animal of cinema. Alexandre Aja’s Crawl is that kind of film. Regardless if you love horror or not this is such a brilliantly executed piece of pop cinema it’s hard to refuse what it’s dishing.
Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler)
This one is thorny as fuck any way you cut it. That doesn’t take away from the fact it’s a brilliant dissection of the crime genre. Running close to 3-hours S. Craig Zahler’s third film is as dangerous as dangerous cinema gets. Using the images of both Mel Gibson and Vince Vaugh to great effect, the film is a slow burn descent into an existential hellscape of criminals and corrupt cops. Though it’s Tory Kittles as a Criminal recently released from prison trying to survive a job gone very wrong that owns the screen.
Deerskin (Quentin Dupiex)
This is all about what a flex can do for someone. If you’ve never had a flex change your life… well, this may not be the film for you. As a flex changed my life in 2019. This one spoke to me hard. Seeing it at the perfect time in my life helped. Not that I want to be a serial killing accidental filmmaker. FULL REVIEW HERE.
The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
I stand by what I said when I first saw this lovely beautiful ode to family and the power grandparents have over us. FULL REVIEW HERE.
Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria)
Lorene Scafaria is a badass boss lady. She has been since her first film. She will continue to be after Hustlers. Hustlers shows why so many film critics love her work. This is a film that can play at the game that similar male-centric films aim at. The only thing is… Hustlers does it better. So, much fucking better than any of the wannabe Scorsese disciples films. Why? Scafaria is a better filmmaker than all of them. Yes. I said it. All. Of. Them.
The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
This isn’t a gangster film. This is about meeting the loneliness of aging and death. Martin Scorsese has made a film that’s more Bergman than Scorsese. Those that call this one slow or boring or any of the nomenclature that we’ve used for ADHD attention spans are not ready for what Scorsese is dishing up. B-MOVIE PODCAST EPISODE 1 AND EPISODE 2 ABOUT THE IRISHMAN.
Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
Sometimes you need a shot of fun on a list. Knives Out is as clever as anything you’ll see. It knows how clever and smart (ass) it is but never makes you feel dumb for not figuring everything out right away. Instead, it makes you want to laugh… a lot (that’s that smart ass thing). It also makes you want to play a good game of Go. Rian Johnson may never make a Star Wars film again, and Knives Out proves that if that’s the case it’s not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.
Long Shot (Jonathon Levine)
I cannot stand Romantic Comedies. Then Long Shot comes along and proves that there are modern Rom-Coms I can love. The magic trick is no magic trick at all. The film understands we need to spend time a lot of time with Fred (Rogen) and Charlotte (Theron). So, when “the” moment does come and this turns from just a Comedy to a Romantic Comedy; it’s both earned and hilarious. The chemistry is palpable between Rogen and Theron. Long Shot works overtime to not only entertain you but make you fall in love and care for Fred and Charlotte’s relationship. Something most Rom-Coms think can be done with a Pop Song.
Les Misérables (Ladj Vy)
Damn. This one came out of nowhere. I have a full review coming soon. I will say this much; co-writer/director Ladj Vy’s film grabs you by the throat and never lets you go until its bold “smash cut to black” ending.
Ready or Not (Radio Silence)
Like Knives Out, Ready or Not has one design; to entertain the fuck out of you. It does so with geysers of blood, gore, and a plucky Heroine that ends up being some sort of demented Disney Princess. Much of the delight in this film is the star-making performance by Samara Weaving as Grace, the put-upon Bride. The film understands that it needs to, and quickly, get to the games. It does so with a bit of brilliant storytelling and humor that never lets up the entire 95-minutes.
Shadow (Yimou Zhang)
Yimou Zhang’s brilliant political action thriller is a film like no other. Zhang’s and cinematographer Xiaolin Zhou create a visual world of grays without resorting to Black & White photography. What they produced is one of the most visually arresting and cleverly plotted films of the year.
Six Underground (Michael Bay)
Welcome back Michael Bay! The visual sledgehammer was off making Transformer Films and serious action films (see: 13 Hours) for so long we didn’t know if he knew how to have fun (yes, the Transformers movies are NOT FUN). The answer is a huge “yes, motherfucker, yes!” as Bay has teamed with Netflix and Ryan Reynolds to create the dirtiest most violent riff on Mission: Impossible ever. Grenades blow people’s bodies in half, Cars defy gravity, people parkour the fuck out of Italy, Dave Franco drives a lime green Maserati like he was Baby Driver… and that’s in the first thirty minutes. Unrelenting giant ass action. Best of all; no need to buy a ticket because it’s playing on Netflix right now! B-MOVIE PODCAST EPISODE ON THE FILM HERE!
The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio)
This is the gangster film that everyone should be seeing and no one will. I can only hope this film joins Gammorah and A Prophet as crime films that people find and are blown away by. FULL REVIEW HERE.
Us (Jordan Peele)
Us is further affirmation that Jordan Peele is a filmmaker that will be with us for a very long time. Zigging instead of Zagging with his sophomore effort, Us shows another side of the director. Peele’s film is a visionary nightmare that only unfolds its real aim in the last few minutes. Though this ending is not some gimmick or storytelling twist, rather a real swing for the fences ending that Peele for the most part lands.
Uncut Gems (Josh and Bennie Safdie)
This one. This one. It kept on moving around on my list. Ultimately, I know that audiences are going to fall in love with this movie. It’s a thrill ride, unlike anything anyone has made. The film is solely the Safdie Brothers and their’s alone. The Brothers have made something of a soon to be classic and have produced what amounts to an actual miracle and the biggest special effect of 2019; an Awards-worthy performance by one Adam Sandler. FULL REVIEW HERE.
Top Five
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
I’m still trying to sort through my thoughts on Céline Sciamma’s beautifully ravishing fourth film Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Stunningly directed, shot, and written this feels like a level up for Sciamma. Needless to say, people are in for a real treat when the film opens in February 2020 (it did a one-week Oscar-qualifying run this month). The quiet love story is more than what it seems. It is only upon reflection one realizes how special the film the writer/director has created. One that speaks to the heart and not some demographic.
4. Queen and Slim (Melina Matsoukas)
This is a film of choices and agency. Melina Matsoukas’ film is not a crime film or a crime thriller. Rather a film about the choices one makes and the agency one has within those choices. When Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) makes the decision she does, she does so of her own agency. That affects everything that happens to both she and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) for the rest of the film. Even when those that attempt to help them try to give their advice it is Queen and Slim that ultimately side by their own counsel. Matsoukas’ film could be the most thoughtful meditation on America’s treatment of the Black Community in the last twenty years. Only time will tell but this reviewer’s thought is that age is going to be very very very kind to this staggering piece of art.
3. Climax (Gaspar Noé)
This is probably the most divisive film on my list. A warning. Like all Gaspar Noé films, this one is designed to terrorize you at every step. It’s not left my brain since watching it. The dancing, the dialog, the nightmare… all of its unrelenting horrifying runtime is a marvel of cinema. Noé gives you both the dream and the nightmare and doesn’t release you from either but rather takes you as far as you can go into Dante’s rings of hell. As a cinematic experience, this is the type of E-Ticket ride we rarely if ever get. One that is designed artfully in its beauty as it is in its ugliness.
2. Little Women (Greta Gerwig)
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation is a notice to critics and viewers alike. This is “THE” adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel. Gerwig brings a sense of urgency, humanity and most of all humor to a novel (and films) that have taken many a young person’s hearts. Armed with a brilliant cast headlined by Saorise Ronan, Laura Dern, Emma Watson, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk but it’s the chemistry between Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet that wins through. This is a family blockbuster designed to please anyone and everyone. Gerwig with her sophomore effect has made a Classic that will be relished for years to come. FULL REVIEW HERE.
1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
I almost feel like a broken record contributing to the mass effect of critics saying the same thing; Parasite is the best film of the year. The problem is this; IT FUCKING IS. Bong Joon-ho’s film of families and how capitalism is all of our masters no matter your language, class, sex, or creed is perfect in its execution. It is one of the few films that evolves in front of your eyes into something wholly original and unpredictable. It would be enough for the film to be just that but Bong Joon-ho has ensured that this is also one of the most entertaining, emotional, thrilling, and funny films of the year. FULL REVIEW HERE.