2019 was a weird year for movies. The final third or so brought us a lot of great films, but I found little to love for most of the calendar year. There were bright spots to be sure—Uswas wonderfully complex and refreshing;Midsommarwas a darkly comic delight;Avengers: Endgamenailed the landing. But by and large the studio offerings this spring and summer and even fall were supremely disappointing. There was nothing as artfully thrilling asMission: Impossible – Falloutor as smart asSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseor as soaring asA Star Is Born. Instead we got a bunch of rehashes and half-assed reboot attempts.
All of this to say, if my Top 10 list looks bottom-heavy to you, that’s because it wasn’t until the latter portion of this year that I fell in love with a lot of movies. And thankfully there was a lot to love! So peruse my personal list below of my Top 10 movies of 2019, and check outMatt,Vinnie, andTom’spersonal lists while you’re at it.
For all of Collider’s Best of 2019 content thus far,click here.
10. Avengers: Endgame
I’m as surprised as anyone thatAvengers: Endgamemade my Top 10 list. The MCU is hit or miss for me, and the Marvel movies I tend to love are often the divisive ones (helloIron Man 3!). But I loved the hell out ofEndgame. It’s three hours of payoff that really only works if you’re familiar with the previous 20-odd movies, and in that way it’s a completely unique experience. This is a series finale more than a feature film, and yet it totally, absolutely works. Its three-act structure also divides it into three disparate tones: the first hour is basically an episode ofThe Leftovers, the second hour is a time-travel romp, and the third hour is a climactic battle that somehow avoids becoming repetitive and/or boring.Avengers: Endgameis a highly rewatchable miracle, so kudos toJoeandAnthony Russo,Christopher Markus,Stephen McFeely, andKevin Feigefor pulling it off.
9. American Factory
I was late in catching up to the Netflix documentaryAmerican Factory, but I’m glad I did. The film takes place in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, where a GM plant recently closed leaving a vast number of people without jobs. A Chinese company called Fuyao then buys the plant and opens a glass manufacturing company, affording many of those laid-off workers the opportunity to work again—this time alongside workers from China. Culture clashes ensue, but what’s most interesting aboutAmerican Factoryis how the film examines labor. What is the purpose of working in America vs. what is the purpose of working in China, and how do those two philosophies clash when a Chinese company is forced to defer to American regulations? We all spend so much of our lives working for a living, butAmerican Factoryshows how differently the idea of “labor” is tackled in different countries, sometimes to unsettling results. It’s a fascinating, deeply involving film and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days after I watched it.
8. Ford v Ferrari
Ford v Ferrariis my favorite blockbuster of the year. Leave it toJames Mangoldto craft an “old-fashioned” studio movie like they used to make way back in the… 1990s? It’s got movie stars, fast cars, a rockin’ soundtrack, three-dimensional characters, and a thematic thrust that speaks to the world we live in today. How about that? You really don’t have to know anything about cars to get wrapped up in the story of two creative underdogs with a passion for racing who are tasked with the impossible by their corporate overlords, and do their best despite being undercut at every turn (there’s a metaphor in here somewhere…).Christian BaleandMatt Damonare terrific, and the film justmovesin a way that a lot of modern blockbusters have somehow forgotten. This is honest-to-goodness handmade studio filmmaking at its finest, and I love every minute of it.
7. Just Mercy
It’s hard to put into words how impactful I foundJust Mercy. The film tells the story of real-life superheroBryan Stevenson, who dedicated his life to providing legal assistance to those on death row, particularly those who had been wrongfully convicted. DirectorDestin Daniel Crettondoesn’t turn this into a flashy story, nor does he offer some radical resolution or surprising answers. He merely depicts a man who cares so deeply about his fellow man that he’s spent his life trying to make the lives of the underserved, underrepresented, and underprivileged better—in some cases literally saving their lives.Michael B. Jordanbrings a quiet intensity to the role of Stevenson, andJamie FoxxandRob Morganbring deep humanity to the roles of two men on death row.
We live in a world where wedge issues and political sides are taken in the abstract. We vote, we live our lives, and if we’re lucky we rarely have to physically confront any of the issues we claim to care about so deeply.Just Mercymakes the abstract reality. If you’re going to vote for or against the death penalty, bear witness to what it’sactuallylike on death row. What it’sactuallylike for a government to take the life of one of its citizens. Voting (or not voting) has consequences, andJust Mercymakes those consequences clear in stark, heartbreaking fashion.
6. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis just a delight of a movie.Quentin Tarantino’s love of Hollywood and moviemaking drips off the screen, and even goes a bittoofar in places (I don’t think we needed to seethatmuch ofLancer), and while that aspect of the film is tons of fun, it’s the relationship between Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) that really makes this one of my favorite films of the year. This is the story of two incredibly lonely guys, each with their own levels of success, who were brought together by circumstance but stay together out of a genuine love for one another. One of my favorite scenes of the film—and of the year—is when Rick and Cliff watch Rick’s episode ofFBItogether. Years and years of friendship, shared hardship, and love depicted in a single scene.
5. The Irishman
You may be wondering howThe IrishmanandAvengers: Endgamecan end up on the same Top 10 list, and the answer is: cinema contains multitudes.The Irishmanis a masterful piece of filmmaking fromMartin Scorsese, and anyone who says he’s merely made yet another gangster movie isn’t paying close enough attention. The three-and-a-half-hour epic is a meditation on mortality and regret the likes of which we’ve rarely seen. The impact of the final hour works only because of the meticulous work Scorsese and his team have done in the first two hours to make you feel like you’ve liked Frank Sheeran’s life right alongside him.The Irishmanis proof positive that you don’t have to relate to or even like a film’s protagonist to empathize with him or her. And that Scorsese madethismovie inthisway makes me think he had his own life and career on his mind when threading the thematic needle ofThe Irishman.
4. Parasite
I was not prepared forParasiteto knock me on my ass in more ways than one.Bong Joon-ho’s twisty drama is hilarious and terrifying and heartbreaking all at once. It’s a movie that is so much fun until it becomesso much anxietyuntil it becomesso freaking sad. Joon-ho is a master of tone, and he elegantly weaves this story of two very different families in a way that feels entirely organic, and yet every single aspect of the film is in service of theme—particularly the idea of income inequality and the myth of class mobility in the 21st century. It is a striking, incisive, and poignant piece of work that is also incredibly entertaining.Parasiteis a work of art that further proves Bong Joon-ho is one of the sharpest filmmakers working today.
3. Knives Out
I didn’t have more fun watching a movie in 2019 than I did watchingKnives Out. Twice! And it was incredible both times.Rian Johnson’s whodunit is a perfectly constructed mystery that constantly surprises while still paying deep homage to the genre(s) by which it was inspired.Daniel Craigis delectable as Benoit Blanc, a character I’d watch in 15 more sequels, but the entire ensemble is a damn delight. There’s not a single wasted scene or moment. Everything set up gets paid off, and every look, flash, or noise drips with intrigue as you work to puzzle this thing out. It’s a testament to the skill with whichKnives Outwas made that it works just as well the second time around, when you know how it ends. This thing was built to last, and I have a feeling I’m going to be watching it over and over again.
2. Little Women
I have to be honest: I’ve never read the source material nor have I seen a previous version ofLittle Women. I know, I know. But even still,Greta Gerwig’s film hit me like a ton of bricks, and I swoonedhard. This is a story about growing up, and the contrast between the idealism of childhood and the harsh realities of becoming an adult. The brilliance of Gerwig’s adaptation is how she juxtaposes these two stages of being by flashing back and forth between the March sisters as children and the March sisters as young adults. It is immaculately structured, photographed, scored, and of course acted (Ronan! Chalamet! PUGH!). It’s a symphony of greatness and Gerwig is both composer and conductor.Little Womenis also, of course, a story told from a uniquely feminine point of view, but that doesn’t mean men can’t relate (of note: women have been relating to predominantly male POVs in movies, books, TV for centuries, so ya know, we can deal).
I spent the final half hour or so of this movie in tears, not quite sure why. Specific story points, sure, but the emotion just kept coming until I realized it was all due to Gerwig’s execution of the story, and how the finale pays off the build up of the first two acts in a series of beautiful, lovely, surprising, and heartbreaking sequences. Gerwig uses every tool in her box as both writer and director to drive home her point, and between this andLady Birdshe has arrived fully formed as one of the most exciting and talented filmmakers working today. Now give her an Oscar, dammit.
1. Marriage Story
Nothing moved me quite as much asMarriage Storydid this year.Noah Baumbach’s chronicle of a divorce from beginning to end is actually pretty matter-of-fact, and almost procedural-like in its depiction of the events within. It’s all the little details that add up to something cumulatively familiar, but familiar is nothing if you don’t emotionally connect with the characters, and so Baumbach goes and elegantly structures his film in a way that provides understanding and empathy for both Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). You see where they’re coming from, and most heartbreakingly you see the love that still remains. At the beginning of the film, it’s clear to Nicole why they can’t stay married, but it takes the entire movie for Charlie to fully understand that their life together is over. Driver and Johansson turn in career-best performances here, and Baumbach executes his impeccably structured narrative with a confident warmth we haven’t quite seen from him before.
ButMarriage Storyis not a “oh man that was rough I’ll never watch that again” kind of movie. What makes it a great film is that Baumbach never loses sight of the love that brought Charlie and Nicole together to begin with, and there’s a real softness to the film even when the characters (mostly Charlie) get ugly. This is a deeply human movie, and it’s my favorite of the year.
Honorable Mentions:Us,1917,The Report,Midsommar,Under the Silver Lake,Doctor Sleep,Blinded by the Light
