Let us revamp your film radar with a comprehensive list of all the underappreciated movies you
may have missed in 2019, and are bound to rave about to everyone you know as soon as
you finally see them.
Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh is three for three of late in the "making movies that
go underappreciated by most people" game.
He delivered the grossly underrated heist comedy Logan Lucky in 2017, then dished up
his psychological horror flick Unsane in 2018.
And now, in 2019, Soderbergh has kept up the streak with High Flying Bird, a subversion
of the sports movie genre that's ceaselessly stylish and respectably risky.
High Flying Bird details the plan sports agent Ray Burke carries out after he stumbles upon
a loophole during a professional basketball league lockdown.
Shot entirely on an iPhone, High Flying Bird has the kind of sleek aesthetic and structure
that will grab you by the wrist and send you down the rabbit hole.
The lovechild of Moneyball and Jerry Maguire, Bird hit Netflix's enormous content catalogue
in early February, around the same time as some of the streamer's more highly publicized
projects.
Having too many options to choose from is likely why viewers missed out on the film.
The good news is that the fix to this is as simple as booting it up on Netflix.
One of the greatest superhero films of 2019 was one the vast majority of moviegoers completely
missed out on.
Fast Color, directed and co-written by Miss Stevens filmmaker Julia Hart, stars The Cloverfield
Paradox actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ruth, whose seizures cause massive earthquakes, and Orange
Is the New Black alum Lorraine Toussaint as Bo, Ruth's mother who has the ability to disintegrate
and reassemble objects with her mind and to see "the colors" — vivid flashes of light.
"After you put together whatever it is you took apart, everyone sees this object, but
you see the colors."
Critics agree that Fast Color is a movie in a league of its own.
The Movie Critic's Sean P. Means said of the underappreciated pic:
"In a movie world overrun with superheroes, director Julia Hart's independent gem Fast
Color delivers something even more fascinating: Characters for whom special powers are both
a curse and a valuable tool."
In a cinema landscape littered with space movies, High Life takes a giant leap ahead
of the others in its genre.
Robert Pattinson leads the film as Monte, a man who is on death row for killing his
friend when he was a child.
Monte, his fellow inmates, and their criminal supervisor, Dr. Dibs, are carrying out a dangerous
mission in space, hurtling toward a black hole for reasons not initially explicitly
known.
The journey doesn't end well, and the path that the prisoners walk along is just as devastating.
High Life isn't a film for everyone there's a big divide between the critical rating and
audience score on Rotten Tomatoes but it's perfect for those wanting to experience something
completely new.
As The New Republic's Josephine Livingstone wrote:
"High Life will send you back out into the world with a totally new idea of what black
holes symbolize.
It is an elliptical film, yes, because it will answer only the questions that you did
not think to ask."
Director Zhang Yimou redeemed himself for the truly terrible 2017 film The Great Wall
with Shadow, the Chinese epic that critics say you have to see to believe.
There's so much more to Shadow than meets the eye, like court intrigue, hopeless romance,
fight sequences that captivate, and weapons that would make comic book villains drool
with envy, but it's the exploration of yin and yang that makes the film unforgettable.
MovieFreak.com said of it:
"Shadow is a masterful spectacle of human frailty and intellectual dishonesty that only
grows in resonance as it goes along."
Exalted by Rolling Stone as, quote, "one of the best movies of 2019 by a long shot," The
Last Black Man in San Francisco may just be the top film of the year.
It's a rousing, soul-stirring, haunting effort from Joe Talbot, who makes his directorial
debut with a film that explores identity, truth, and belonging in a city where a pair
of best friends no longer feel there's any space for them.
The film which also stars powerhouse talents Danny Glover, Mike Epps, Tichina Arnold, and
Rob Morgan left critics moved when A24 released it in a limited launch on June 7th.
Beautifully constructed, The Last Black Man in San Francisco bursts with emotion, grapples
with life truths that will resonate with audiences of all sorts, and has the makings of an unforgettable
classic.
Step aside, Jaws.
The best new disaster-film-slash-creature-feature on the block is Crawl.
Set in Florida during a Category 5 hurricane, Crawl follows aspiring college swimmer Haley
as she and her father fend off a horde of alligators who are out for blood.
As time runs out to flee from Florida, the threat of drowning and/or being eaten alive
by the hungry gators grows with each passing minute.
"Pete, do you hear that?"
Crawl actually scored a wide release through Paramount Pictures, but that didn't help the
film rope in a huge audience.
It went mostly unnoticed at the box office, raking in only $55 million worldwide.
It did, however, kick up a ton of talk among critics, who have praised it as, quote, "a
lean-and-mean thriller."
Willamette Week said of the film:
"Who knew this ridiculous premise could be so beautifully crafted, immaculately paced
and genuinely shocking?"
A gripping mystery-drama from director Julius Onah, Luce picks up ten years after the adoption
of Luce Edgar, a bright boy born in war-torn Eritrea who has become a respected debater
at his high school, an all-star athlete, and a beloved member of his Arlington, Virginia
community.
Luce's dazzling reputation takes an unexpected hit after he submits an essay that causes
immediate concern, one that points to something far worse than words on a page.
The Detroit News said of the film:
"This is a powerful film that shows how far some will go to protect the reality they choose
to believe.
It gets into your head and stays there."
Luce debuted in theaters in early August 2019, remaining under the radar for the entirety
of its run.
With powerful performances from its cast and a story that will undoubtedly provoke discussion,
this film is one to dissect and analyze.
Elements of Madness writer Douglas Davidson said:
"In a tight 109 minutes, Onah puts into motion a film which examines ideas of racial coding,
classism, parenting, academic excellence, nature vs. nurture, and more, all without
losing an ounce of power or sincerity."
Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe play against type a bit in the Dan Berk and Robert Olsen-directed
comedy-thriller Villains.
Skarsgård — who played Pennywise in the It movies — and burgeoning scream queen
Monroe portray Mickey and Jules, a pair of amateur criminals whose dreamily-discussed
gas station robbery goes less like a scene from Pulp Fiction and more like the sinking
of the Titanic.
The couple end up on the run, but when their car breaks down and they seek refuge at the
home of a seemingly normal couple, a horrifying discovery in the basement turns their home
invasion into a whole other crime entirely.
"Come on baby, there's nothing down here."
If this sounds like your cup of tea, and you're now kicking yourself for not having heard
of Villains while it was out in theaters, we don't blame you.
Villains, a film that Cinemacy calls a, quote, "stylish and savage battle of the bad guys,"
is undoubtedly one of the most fun movies of 2019.
It's been a hot minute since Eddie Murphy put out a film worth watching.
Critics put his two most recent films through the shredder, and it seemed that the actor
would never have a hit again — destined to be remembered as a talented comedian who
lost his way, or that dude who voiced Donkey in the Shrek franchise.
"This is gonna be fun, we can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning,
I'm making waffles."
That changed with the launch of Dolemite Is My Name.
This biographical comedy stars Murphy as real-life actor and singer Rudy Ray Moore, who gained
fame for his over-the-top character Dolemite in the blaxploitation films Dolemite, The
Human Tornado, and The Dolemite Explosion.
The flick follows Murphy's Moore as he discovers the key to success after a string of failures.
Unlike the film within the film, Dolemite Is My Name is a bona fide smash with critics.
But also unlike 1975's Dolemite, the 2019 movie that tells of its creation wasn't a
box office hit in its limited theatrical release.
It sadly went unseen by the masses, but those who did catch it had amazing things to say.
The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday wrote:
"[Eddie Murphy] is back, baby, in a performance so big and so generous that it virtually busts
through the screen."
Hopefully, the Netflix-produced biopic will find more fans on the streaming service.
Contrary to what its name suggests, Billy Senese's mystery-suspense film The Dead Center
didn't end up in the dead center of moviegoers' radars.
Where it did end up, however, was on the coveted list of perfectly rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes
and for good reason.
The film stars Primer and Upstream Color director Shane Carruth as Daniel Forrester, a psychiatrist
who takes on a catatonic patient who's unable to recall how he landed in the hospital at
all.
As Dr. Forrester attempts to connect with him, people all across the ward start dropping
dead and Dr. Forrester soon realizes that he may have unwittingly unleashed something
far more chilling than even the worst of his personal demons.
Luke Y. Thompson at Nerdist gave The Dead Center a near-perfect score, writing in his
review:
"Writer-director Bill Senese proves himself a masterful new voice in terror, specifically
the body horror kind previously dominated by David Cronenberg [...] You may come out
of The Dead Center rooting for a sequel.
I'm just rooting for whatever Senese's next movie is, even (especially?) if it keeps me
awake at night."
Praised nearly universally by critics for Elisabeth Moss' lead performance, Her Smell
follows has-been rock superstar Becky Something, once part of the '90s female grunge band Something
She, who now finds herself spiraling in the wake of her former success.
Written and directed by Alex Ross Perry, Her Smell is an unflinchingly de-glamorized look
at rock and roll stardom and everything that comes with it, as Becky's fame and success
is consistently undermined by her own acts of self-sabotage.
"You're a mess."
No, you're a mess..."
The film challenges audiences who are used to seeing gritty rock biopics of both real-life
and fictional stars play out a certain way.
The typical tropes of addiction and recovery, frenzied highs and dismal lows, and the often-tragic
tension between public persona and personal vulnerability are all there, but not in the
ways we necessarily expect to see them.
Despite its positive reception from critics, you wouldn't be alone if you missed Her Smell
during its limited theatrical run.
The, quote, "thrilling, funny, and heartbreaking" film failed to sell enough tickets to even
make up its modest budget, and much like Becky herself, is in danger of winding up obscure
and forgotten, despite its artistic greatness.
In an increasingly cynical cinematic landscape, it feels almost subversive that a movie as
quiet, gentle, and kindhearted as The Peanut Butter Falcon exists at all.
Starring Shia LaBeouf and newcomer Zack Gottsagen, The Peanut Butter Falcon tells the story of
an unlikely friendship forged between a young man with Down syndrome who dreams of becoming
a professional wrestler and the down-on-his-luck fisherman who agrees to accompany him on his
journey.
Written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, The Peanut Butter Falcon was conceived
specifically for Gottsagen, who wanted to be an actor but knew he'd have a hard time
getting cast in Hollywood.
Drawing from many of his own experiences and ambitions, the Huckleberry Finn-inspired narrative
places him front and center, and Gottsagen shines as a leading man.
It didn't attract large crowds during its theatrical release, but for those who did
manage to catch it on the big screen, both audiences and critics agree that The Peanut
Butter Falcon was worth the trip to the theater.
Speaking to /Film about Gottsagen, Schwartz said:
"[He's] a born entertainer [...] we just sat down and all wrote out a script, built a dance
floor, and Zack just went out and danced."
Described by writer and director Taika Waititi as a, quote, "anti-hate satire," Jojo Rabbit
takes a bold swing for the fences of good taste in its depiction of a young Nazi boy
named Jojo living through the waning days of World War II with his imaginary friend,
Adolf Hitler.
Waititi, who is himself Jewish, plays the imaginary Hitler with a hefty dose of irreverence,
mocking the infamous dictator and imbuing him with a sense of half-witted goofiness
while never shying away from the catastrophic effects of his horrifying beliefs and policies.
"People used to say a lot of nasty things about me.
'Oh, this guy's a lunatic.
Oh, look at that psycho, he's gonna get us all killed."
This is the tricky tonal tightrope Jojo Rabbit walks throughout its runtime, attempting to
perfectly balance its silly comedy with the gravity of its subject matter.
It shouldn't work.
Reservations about the film's tone divided critics, and perhaps contributed to keeping
the film's box office take surprisingly modest, despite its A-list cast.
But audiences seem to agree that filtering its discordant narrative through the innocent
if deeply misguided eyes of a child helps Jojo Rabbit find an enjoyable rhythm that,
despite its wackiness, communicates a timely and earnest message about the dangers of hate
and the power of compassion.
Based on the 1999 crime novel by Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn follows Lionel
Essrog, a private investigator with Tourette syndrome, as he attempts to solve the killing
of his mentor, Frank, in 1950s New York.
But digging for the truth winds up unearthing some secrets that powerful people would rather
keep buried, placing Lionel in the crosshairs of some of New York's most dangerous players.
Motherless Brooklyn has long been a passion project for Edward Norton, who also wrote,
directed, and produced the film.
It boasts an impressive cast that also includes Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale,
Cherry Jones, and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Although the critical reception was somewhat mixed, which could have contributed to the
film's disappointing box office performance, reviews praised the film's strong performances,
atmospheric setting, and smart writing.
Writes critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas:
"Motherless Brooklyn is a love-letter to the long-held focus across film noir on masculinity
in crisis, but through Lethem's source material and Norton's deep engagement with it, something
genuinely fresh explodes out of seemingly familiar material."
On paper, Honey Boy seems like the type of film that shouldn't work at all, the type
of self-indulgent and overly personal fare that is much more therapeutic for the filmmaker
than it is entertaining for an audience.
And yet, somehow, the Shia LaBeouf-penned film, in which he also stars as his own father,
manages to defy expectations, delivering a deeply personal and introspective movie that
also works as a nuanced examination of a dysfunctional father-son relationship and a thoughtful commentary
on child actors in Hollywood.
"Dad, dad, dad.
I was getting the scene."
"Yeah, I don't care.
Come here.
Child labor laws!"
In a loose recounting of LaBeouf's own childhood, Honey Boy mostly follows 12-year-old television
star Otis, who lives his life between comedy sets and a seedy motel room, which he shares
with his father, James, a former rodeo clown who now makes his living as Otis' chaperone.
As the adult Otis reflects from rehab, the setting in which LaBeouf also wrote the screenplay,
he can't completely write his father off, much as he may want to, and still finds himself
yearning for some sense of connection.
Both critics and audiences heaped praise upon Honey Boy, hailing LaBeouf's and co-star Noah
Jupe's performances and marveling at the depth and honesty of LaBeouf's writing.
Fortunately for the majority of people who missed Honey Boy in theaters, the film will
begin streaming on Amazon Prime in February of 2020.
Adam Driver had an impressive year in 2019, dominating the holiday box office with The
Rise of Skywalker and co-starring in Marriage Story, which earned six Golden Globe nominations,
including a Best Actor nod for Driver.
However, that same year, Driver also starred in a couple other films that flew under most
people's radars, including the well-reviewed political drama The Report, which opened in
limited release in November of 2019.
The Report follows real-life U.S. Senate Investigator Daniel Jones, who led an investigation into
the CIA's use of torture following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Co-starring alongside Driver in The Report are Annette Bening as Senator Dianne Feinstein
and Jon Hamm as White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, along with a host
of other recognizable faces.
Most reviews singled out Driver's performance as exceptional, while many praised the film
for its straightforward and relentless depiction of true events.
Reviewer James Kendrick wrote:
"The Report is a particularly timely reminder about the importance of the system of inter-governmental
checks and balances within a constitutional democracy during a time when that system seems
more endangered than ever."
The Report wasn't in theaters for long, but fortunately for anyone who missed it, it's
now streaming on Amazon Prime.
In 2021, Robert Pattinson will make his hopefully triumphant return to major franchise fare
when he'll star as Bruce Wayne in The Batman.
Until then, he's keeping plenty busy with smaller, artistically ambitious films that
challenge both actors and audiences alike, such as the black and white psychological
horror film The Lighthouse.
Starring opposite Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse follows a pair of lighthouse keepers who gradually
lose their grip on sanity after a storm traps them on their remote island.
"What."
Directed by The Witch filmmaker Robert Eggers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with his
brother Max, The Lighthouse is a surreal and disturbing "descent into madness," with standout
performances from both Pattinson and Dafoe.
It may be a little too bizarre for the casual film fan one critic called it a, quote, "visceral
assault on the senses," with others warning that it is, quote, "rough going" and "the
opposite of a crowd-pleaser" but these appear to be features, not bugs, playing into the
overall effectiveness of the film.
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