My Top Ten Movies of 2019

Some surprises for me this year.

10. Booksmart

Puts the lie to the notion that political correctness is ruining comedy. This movie is woke as hell and funny as hell. All at the same time. Also, outstanding direction by Olivia Wilde.

9. Marriage Story

Well-observed and unflinching, this story of a marriage falling apart boasts career best performances by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. And Noah Baumbach’s camera has never been better. A modern-day Kramer vs. Kramer (which is weird for me to say because I was a kid when that movie came out).

8. Rocketman

Rocketman gets right everything that Bohemian Rhapsody got wrong. You really get to care about Taron Egerton’s impeccable Elton John. We really get to see him in his darkest hour not as a plot point but as an overarching theme. And what most biopics fail to take advantage of is understanding the nature of the artist they’re covering and using that to tell their story in an original way. But here you really feel like this is how Elton would tell his story.

7. The Report

Adam Driver shines in this meticulous and often disturbing portrayal of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program during the early days of the war on terror. Not unlike Spotlight and JFK before it, each scene unfolds with greater and more troubling revelations about how far down the rabbit hole things went, and how tragically short-sighted and ego-driven so many key decisions were. Essential viewing for a day and age where facts are avoided like the plague.

6. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

This is not the type of movie that I expected to like. But, largely because it’s a unique story told in a unique way, I loved it. The gorgeous cinematography, singular production design, and poetic storytelling undergirds tremendous performances, especially from an underheralded Jonathan Majors, who turns in an astonishingly versatile performance.

5. Hustlers

So, when I think about The Irishman (stay with me here), I think, “Here’s a story well told, but a story I’ve seen before from a perspective I’ve seen before. Men engage in a criminal enterprise and inevitably turn on each other.” That’s why it’s not on this list. I see Hustlers and I think “Here’s a criminal enterprise story told from a unique point of view that takes those same tropes and turns then on their head. Yay!”

Jennifer Lopez turns in a masterpiece of a performance as the ringleader of a deliciously subversive scam to cheat the 1% of the 1% out of their ill-gotten gains. Constance Wu shows her increasing range from Fresh Off the Boat to Crazy Rich Asians. And Lorene Scafaria’s kinetic direction will make you pissed that more female directors aren’t being recognized for their craft.

4. The Farewell

I resisted this film for a while because, you know, drama. But once I sat down with it, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Awkwafina’s revelatory turn and Shuzhen Zhao’s exquisite performance as a grandmother whose terminal cancer diagnosis is being kept from her by her entire family. It’s funny, by the way. Really, really funny. And moving. And specific. And it poses some pretty interesting ethical questions on top of all that. Honestly this is the film I’m most disappointed is being ignored by the Academy.

3. Knives Out

While there wasn’t a ton of genre films I loved this year, there was one that really delivered on the potential of a form I hadn’t thought about in years. The murder mystery. Rian Johnsons’ clever, riotous, winding path delivers on all the elements of an Agatha Christie puzzler but adds an element of class commentary lacking from most American genre fare (more on that when we get to number one). And while the cast is overpowered, especially Chris Evans taking a douchey break from his good guy Captain America persona, it’s the far less known Ana de Armas who steals the show.

2. Knock Down the House

A lesson in how modern politics works and how the real conflict isn’t necessarily democrat versus republican but old school political machine versus everyday citizen running for office. There is just something fundamentally American about the notions of common democracy on display here—when it works, and doesn’t—that is deeply moving. And, yes, watching AOC at work will inspire the hell out of you.

1. Parasite

Remember what I said about genre takes on class? This is that. Bong Joon-Ho’s Korean satire turned Hitchcockian thriller about a family without means that one by one infiltrates another family of means has tons to say about class and inequality and says it in a way more moving and unforgettable than most of our debates can muster.

Honorable mentions: Us, John Wick 3, Ready or Not, Jojo Rabbit, Avengers: Endgame