Wednesday 1 January 2020

The best and worst films of 2019

It's that time of the year again - a time when critics dig through their pile of reviews and compile a best 'of' list. So let's do it.

Firstly though I just want to point out I've been somewhat limited in what I've been able to watch this year, so forgive me if I haven't seen your fave. And release dates are based on Australian release dates.

Dig in.

1. Joker


The Taxi Driver of comic book movies. It's political, provocative, extremely violent, defiantly adult, and dares to make us empathise with a one of literature's greatest psychopaths. Its antecedents are not the latest slick blockbusters from DC or Marvel, but rather the work of Martin Scorsese. Joker poses the question of how society makes villains, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

2. Avengers: Endgame


The Return Of The King of comic book movies. It's the epic finale that closes a mighty legacy in the best way possible. With all the anticipation, promise, and baggage, it's actually remarkable how fulfilling and enjoyable it is. Endgame lives up to the lofty heights of expectation, and does justice to the great film-making that has gone before in the MCU's past 11 years.

3. Toy Story 4


As much as this feels like an unnecessary sequel, Pixar has done the impossible. They've turned the perfect trilogy into the perfect quadrilogy. The storytelling and directorial powers behind the first three films are again brought to bear here. The main characters are given strong arcs, key among them being Woody, who has always been a wonderfully written and often beautifully flawed protagonist.

4. Rocketman


Forget Bohemian Rhapsody - this is how it's done. Rocketman doesn't hold back in its quest to tell an inventive, garish and decadent story about a man who was inventive, garish and decadent himself. There couldn't possibly be a more fitting way to sum up the career of Elton John.

5. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood


Tarantino's weirdest film yet, his most mystifying work since Pulp Fiction, his least accessible piece to date, and the most self-indulgent movie of his career. It's long - too long - but it's surprising, hilarious, and unlike anything else in his catalogue. But it's also definitely, distinctively, decidedly Tarantino, and will give his fans something to savour for days.

6. Little Women


Greta Gerwig pours heart and energy into Louisa May Alcott's American classic, honing in on the relationship between the March sisters, but also pulling out the strands of feminism and gender inequality that simmered amid the musings of love and loss in the novel. It makes for vital viewing, aided by immaculate performances from a top notch cast.

7. Spider-Man: Far From Home


Even here in Far From Home, where the webslinger faces a threat well above his pay-grade, the fact that Peter Parker is just "a kid from Queens" stands out more than ever. This pimples-and-all humanity is part of what made Homecoming great, and it's a key factor in Far From Home's brilliance: it's Peter's human flaws that drive yet another great entry into the near-impeccable MCU catalogue. PS. Tom Holland is the greatest Spider-man ever.

8. Dolemite Is My Name


To say this is Eddie Murphy's best live-action turn in 20 years is meaningless - outside of his Oscar nom for Dreamgirls, his post-1999 career is a wasteland that includes five Razzie nominations for worst actor (including one win). But his headlining turn here as Rudy Ray Moore in this funky Netflix biopic is quality stuff from someone whose acting talents are too often in inverse proportion to his ability to pick good roles. As Moore, Murphy gets to flex a lot of different muscles, including his rarely used dramatic chops and his natural showmanship, as well as his ability to swear like a motherfucker and make it funny as fuck.

9. Ford V Ferrari


I have zero fucks to give about motorsport, but I'll be damned if Ford V Ferrari isn't a great watch. This is because it has strong characters and solid drama; simple as that. Oh, and Christian Bale and Matt Damon.

10. The Irishman


There are a lot of reasons to recommend this film, but the main ones can be summarised in surnames - Scorsese. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci. This uber-talented quadruple-threat works wonders, wringing every ounce of drama and quiet menace from the material.

11. Abominable


If you took Steven Spielberg's E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, mixed it with some healthy dollops of Hayao Miyazaki, ran it through some impressive CG animation, and set it in China, you might end up with something close to Abominable. This "help the creature get home" family adventure is filled with so much fun and wonder that you just want to give the whole damned movie a big hug.


And the worst...


1. Cats


To paraphrase Jurassic Park's Ian Malcolm, the filmmakers behind Cats were so preoccupied with whether or not they could make a heavily CG adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, they didn’t stop to think if they should. I'm glad to have seen Cats only because it made choosing a worst film of the year all the easier.

2. The Hustle


While flicking through my Rotten Tomato scores for the year, I saw I had given The Hustle one and a half stars and I stopped and thought, "The Hustle? What the fuck was The Hustle?". I then had to click through to my own review to see what the hell The Hustle was. Apparently I had blocked everything about this unfunny film from my mind.

3. X-Men: Dark Phoenix

https://movies8mylife.blogspot.com/2019/06/x-men-dark-phoenix.html

A bland and emotionless farewell to the XCU, which takes one of comicdom's most fascinating storylines and manages to fuck it up for a second time. I felt nothing but annoyance.

And for no real reason here are my most read blogs of 2019:

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Ad Astra
3. The story of XTC, as told in 50 songs
4. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
5. Did Green Book deserve the best film Oscar?
6. Joker
7. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
8. Captain Marvel Easter eggs
9. Doctor Sleep
10. Roma

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