2019 was a great year for movies.
Whether you bought tickets to see a raunchy tween-starring comedy or a nuanced familial
dramedy, it felt like there was a movie for everyone.
Here are the very best films of 2019.
Rocketman is not a traditional biopic.
It instead aims to capture the life of the legendary Elton John through a deft blending
of fact and fantasy.
It's a bold gambit that somehow works swimmingly, thanks in large part to a brilliant lead performance
from Taron Egerton.
Chicago Reader's Leah Pickett opined that the fantasy conceit is part of what made the
film work so well.
She wrote:
"This fantastical take...is undoubtedly how the unconventional artist at its center wanted
it to be.
The story reshuffles reality, especially time and facts, and the film is more enjoyable
for it."
Many critics were complimentary of Egerton's performance, but Quad City Times' Linda Cook
summed it up best with a sweet line:
"I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is when Elton John's
music, and this movie, are in the world."
"Never told you how much I need you."
"No, no, I love you mate."
Fans waited four long years for the ninth film from Quentin Tarantino, and as usual,
the master delivered a singular and amazing piece of cinema.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino's portrait of the swinging '60s in Los Angeles,
and how they came to an abrupt end the night of August 8, 1969.
The night that followers of the infamous Charles Manson visited the house of pregnant actress
Sharon Tate, leaving the town changed forever in their bloody wake.
Tarantino's story is told through the lens of fictional washed-up actor Rick Dalton and
his best buddy and stunt double Cliff Booth, as they find themselves in the middle of the
seismic events of that night.
Praise was effusive for Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio's "amazing" onscreen chemistry, and
while not every critic was convinced, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was generally found
to stand with Tarantino's best work.
As Lou Thomas of Den of Geek wrote:
"Tarantino has created a storming hangout movie for the ages: changing times captured
remarkably by a film in love with cinema itself."
"I'm Rick Dalton's stunt double."
"Stuntman."
"Yeah."
"You know, you're kind of pretty for a stuntman."
"That's what they tell me."
Writer/director Ari Aster made a huge noise in 2018 with his terrifying debut Hereditary,
but in 2019, we discovered that he had just been warming up.
Midsommar finds troubled couple Dani and Christian going on a trek through the Swedish countryside
to a remote village.
The bizarre happenings there unfold not in the dead of night, but in broad, sunny daylight,
one of many unusual aspects of the film which critics singled out for praise.
Midsommar's underlying themes also packed a punch, as Dani's grief over a family tragedy
opens the door to a harrowing examination of our ability to deal with internal struggles.
Salon's Matthew Rosza wrote:
"Midsommar isn't just a great horror movie, or proof that director Ari Aster is a budding
auteur who likely has a bright future ahead of him.
It is also one of the best movies ever made about living with mental illness."
From producer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal comes the big-screen adaptation
of the beloved childrens' book series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
The film weaves the series' different stories together into its spooky tale of a group of
teenagers who discover the lost writings of a very troubled little girl.
Said writings have a way of leaping right off the page...literally, as the book's spooky
contents start coming menacingly to life.
Øvredal is no slouch when it comes to bringing the scares, although, in keeping with its
target audience, the flick was found to be more spooky than grisly.
But most critics agreed that the director had notched an admirable achievement.
Chicago Reader's Andrea Gronvall wrote:
"If there ever was a case of a film adaptation improving on the original source material,
this is it."
In Ready or Not, a new bride is treated to a murderous game of hide-and-seek at the estate
of her allegedly loving husband's family.
The flick earned stellar reviews, most of which praised its underlying themes of tension
between the rich and poor, as well as its deft mix of comedy and jaw-dropping gore.
Said Rolling Stone's Peter Travers:
"What a decadent blast to watch a comic takedown of the rich done with the rude energy of a
horror thriller and the courage of its own manic anti-marriage convictions."
Lead actress Samara Weaving's performance was also singled out for praise early and
often, but the definitive assessment of the flick was handed down by Allen Adams of The
Maine Edge:
"In Ready or Not, you get a brutal and darkly funny twist on horror movie tropes.
You'll laugh, you'll cringe...and you'll probably do both at the same time."
For six seasons, the British period drama Downton Abbey kept audiences on both sides
of the pond enthralled.
The show ended in 2015, but the feature film of the same name picked up right from where
it left off.
Make no mistake: Downton Abbey is fan service of the highest order, and while it might have
left the uninitiated puzzled, the flick was a welcome gift for longtime viewers.
As Matt Zoller-Seitz of RogerEbert.com wrote:
"The [three and a half] star rating at the top of this review is not for people who don't
like Downton Abbey, have never seen it, or grew tired of watching it.
The rating is for die-hards...the kinds of viewers who will, I suspect, turn this movie
into an unexpected smash."
Lo and behold, he was right, illustrating that Downton Abbey knew its audience better
than perhaps any film of 2019.
"This is good.
I thought something else was planned, but it is excellent.
So, a well done to old cuvay."
2019's most ambitious sci-fi drama saw an astronaut journeying to the edge of the universe
to find his missing father.
If Ad Astra had fumbled its weighty premise even the presence of Brad Pitt, one of Hollywood's
most bankable stars, might not have saved it.
Fortunately, co-writer and director James Gray largely stuck the landing, and Pitt assisted
with a performance that ranks among the best in his career.
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post praised Pitt's performance while opining that the
visually impressive film's greatest strengths lie in its themes.
She wrote:
"It's a terrific ride, yes, but also a provocative meditation on masculinity, the things we choose
to cherish or squander, and other eternal verities of life that swirl, unresolved, while
our little blue marble continues to spin."
The great Leonard Maltin had even more praise, writing:
"James Gray is one of our foremost, and most original, filmmakers.
We already knew that Brad Pitt is an exceptional leading man but this performance burnishes
that reputation.
The film is among this year's very best."
You probably knew right off the bat whether Good Boys would be your cup of tea, or, more
accurately, your can of cheap beer.
Still, for viewers who found the idea of a trio of foul-mouthed tween boys stumbling
into a series of inappropriate situations to be a formula for hilarity, the flick delivered,
big time.
Good Boys' young leads were roundly praised for their charming performances in a movie
that served up a surprising amount of warmth alongside its crass comedic sensibility.
Chicago Sun-Times critic and former Roger Ebert cohort Richard Roeper wrote:
"Even the most hardcore jokes have a good-natured and even sweet larger context...For all its
wacky, gross-out, shock-ya humor, Good Boys has a lot of heart."
"It's not a good burn!
His dad has two DUIs and has to take the train to work.
That's a good burn!"
It seems like only a matter of time before the charismatic and hilarious Jillian Bell
achieves major stardom.
If the universe is a just place, Brittany Runs a Marathon will be the final stop before
that destination.
The dramedy failed to set the box office on fire, but it has all the makings of a future
cult classic: it's a sometimes hysterical, sometimes heartfelt examination of what it
takes to achieve true self-improvement.
It's also anchored by a lead performance which suggests that this was the role Bell had been
waiting for all her life.
As Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune put it:
"The movie succeeds because Bell succeeds.
It's gratifying to see a so-called character actress with reliably deadly comic timing
loosen up, stretch out and learn what it means to carry a movie."
The cast of The Farewell won't be terribly well-known to American audiences, with one
glaring exception: Awkwafina, the rapper-turned-actress who has had perhaps a hotter two-year run
than anyone in Hollywood.
The dramedy deals with a large Chinese family who throw together a wedding as an excuse
to get together when they discover that their grandmother is dying.
Writer/director Lulu Wang puts her star through her dramatic and comedic paces in service
of a film that deftly pulls off a trick which is slowly starting to become more common in
Hollywood: telling a universally relatable story from a specific cultural point of view.
The Farewell received near-universal praise, with one common caveat: bring your tissues.
Total Film's Jamie Graham said:
"[It's] a film about family, with all of its frets and foibles, fondness and fidelity.
It is heartfelt and beautifully observed, so while everyone on screen is doing their
utmost to hold back tears, yours will come unchecked."
Hustlers stars Jennifer Lopez as a veteran stripper who trains her peers in the finer
points of her side job, drugging and ripping off wealthy clients.
Taking place against the backdrop of the 2008 financial collapse, the film was hailed for
its smart writing and directing, and the amazing chemistry of its cast.
Inkoo Kang of Slate called Hustlers:
"An immediate entrant into the pantheon of female friendship movies [and] a pretty much
perfect film."
Many critics noted that those expecting a pandering, empty exercise would be disappointed.
As FilmBunker's Ciaran Kerr wrote:
"What could have been a film weighed down by its own agenda presented its main characters
as living, breathing, complex individuals, shying away from the empty 'girl power' rhetoric
that a lot of Hollywood features try to feed the masses as feminism.
Furthermore, it was entertaining and a pleasure to watch."
The Lighthouse is a black-and-white period piece in which two lighthouse operators slowly
lose their minds while stationed on an isolated island.
The film ended up being a lot more entertaining than that sounds, thanks in large part to
the committed performances of its leads, Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.
Adam Graham of Detroit News drew an interesting comparison in his assessment of the film.
He said:
"The Lighthouse is a starkly gorgeous black-and-white head trip that is like staring into a blinding
light: you're hypnotized, you can't look away and your eyes won't be the same after."
"Let Neptune strike ye dead, Winslow!
HAAAAARK!'
Much had been written about The Irishman well before its release, because the Netflix film
carries a pedigree unlike any other.
It's a late-career work from Martin Scorsese, perhaps the greatest living film director,
which stars his longtime accomplices Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.
It's also got Al Pacino, with whom Scorsese had never worked previously.
Finally, the film is based on the biography of union leader Frank Sheeran, who is purported
to have had mob ties, and may have even killed Jimmy Hoffa.
Critics welcomed it as an absolute tour de force, one of Scorsese's best efforts in a
filmography full of masterpieces.
Rolling Stone's Peter Travers wrote:
"With The Irishman, America's greatest living director creates his late-career masterpiece,
a deeply felt addition that vibrantly sums up every landmark in his crime-cinema arsenal."
Veteran director James Mangold gave us a superhero movie unlike any other with 2017's Logan,
and for his next trick, he decided to smoothly shift gears into a period piece drama about
racecars and the men who drive them.
With Ford v Ferrari, Mangold had the added bonus of working with Matt Damon and Christian
Bale, two acting masters at imbuing their characters with layers of emotional complexity.
The resulting flick is a rousing historical crowd-pleaser, with critics mostly agreeing
that the movie is every bit the well-oiled machine that one would expect.
San Diego Reader's Matthew Lickona wrote:
"Mangold indulges himself with this tale of American manhood, but he knows he can afford
it.
He's got Bourne and Batman as brilliant, brawling best buds."
More than a few critics opined that the film is a touch too long, but that the amazing
chemistry between Damon and Bale carries it through its more draggy stretches.
Its overall reception was best summarized by Quad-City Times' Linda Cook who succinctly
wrote:
"Ford v Ferrari is a great ride."
Tom Hanks appearing as Fred Rogers is about the most spot-on piece of casting anyone could
have ever hoped for, and the biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood makes good on that
potential.
At a time when we could all use a bit more of the values that Rogers espoused, the movie
isn't content just to illustrate the late children's show host's dedication to said
values.
Instead, it shows how those values inspired everyone around him.
As RogerEbert.com's Monica Castillo, wrote:
"[The movie] isn't so much a biopic as it is a way to look at the way Mr. Rogers affected
generations of children, young and grown.
If his character seems too simple, it's likely because that's how many people saw him, uncomplicated
and confined to his on-screen persona...That's the lasting power of Mr. Rogers."
Writer/director Rian Johnson wowed fans with Knives Out, his inspired tribute to Agatha
Christie-style whodunits.
With an all-star cast including Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael
Shannon, the flick won over critics with its crackerjack writing and playfully devious
vibe.
Eugene Weekly's Molly Templeton said of the film:
"Johnson's vision translates a love for classic murder mysteries into a kaleidoscopic ensemble
piece that twists and spins, using the structure and tropes of mystery, and comedy, to expose
the endless ways humans justify being absolutely rotten to each other."
Real-life whistleblowers have long provided fodder for excellent cinematic dramatizations,
from All the President's Men to Michael Clayton.
The Mark Ruffalo vehicle Dark Waters falls squarely into that tradition, telling the
story of Robert Biliott, an attorney whose 20-year long pursuit of chemical corporation
DuPont upended his life in ways few could imagine.
Directed by Oscar nominee Todd Haynes, the film received critical kudos for spinning
an entertaining yarn from what could have been the ingredients for a plodding procedural.
There was also plenty of praise for Ruffalo's performance, which conclusively proves that
the actor is more than just a Hulk.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote:
"Ruffalo is a master at playing a certain type of earnest character who often wears
a quizzical expression, not because he's slow on the uptake, but because he's the smartest
person in the room and he has questions no one else has even thought to ask."
The film's true power was laid out nicely by Dominic Griffin of Spectrum Culture:
"Dark Waters is special because it's not about dramatically building to an inevitable victory,
but about the importance of fighting every day anyway, knowing such a conclusion may
never come."
With any literary work that has been adapted as many times as Louisa May Alcott's Little
Women, it's always worth asking if one more is really necessary.
As illustrated by the 2019 adaptation, the answer is yes, especially when an adaptation
is written and directed by Greta Gerwig, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated 2017
film Lady Bird.
Working with an all-star cast including the likes of Saorise Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence
Pugh, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep, Gerwig delivered a timeless, open-hearted adaptation
that delighted long-time fans of the book and new audiences alike.
Lisa Johnson Mandell of At Home in Hollywood singled out how the latest telling differs
from all the rest, writing:
"Little Women should be promoted with director Greta Gerwig's name in the title.
Her colorful, warm and creative touch is what sets it apart from so many versions of the
story, and so many other gritty, violent and tiresome films of the day.
It's simply a joy to watch."
The joy was definitely contagious; according to Cinemayward's Joel Mayward:
"It's a warm hug of a film...Gerwig clearly loves every one of these characters, and such
love flows from the screen to the audience with generosity and grace."
That brothers Josh and Benny Safdie turned in one of 2019's best isn't terribly surprising;
their previous feature was the underrated Good Time, a harrowing thriller which conclusively
proved that star Robert Pattinson is the real deal as an actor.
The surprise in Uncut Gems is Adam Sandler, who stars as the gambling-addicted jewelry
store owner Howard Ratner.
Critics were simply mesmerized by his performance, which has been greeted by nearly universal
acclaim.
The Sun-Times' Richard Roeper called the flick:
"Uncut Gems [is] one of the most authentic deep-dives into the world of the gambling
addict ever put on film.
Adam Sandler's performance as a New York jeweler with a variety of voracious appetites...ranks
right up there the work of Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid, Edward Norton and Matt
Damon in Rounders, George Segal and Elliott Gould in California Split, and James Caan
in The Gambler."
Virtually all reviewers were stunned by Sandler's work, and the supporting cast, which included
the likes of Lakeith Stanfield, Kevin Garnett, and Idina Menzel, were no slouches, either.
Rob Dean of Daily Grindhouse arguably summed it up best:
"Uncut Gems is the best panic attack you'll have all year...a brilliant character study,
an engaging story of various lowlifes, and one of the best films of 2019."
"This is me.
This is how I win."
When Joker was announced, it was easy to feel like the flick was either going to be a disaster
or a masterpiece.
Once the trailers were released, it quickly became clear that the flick would be his homage
to gritty '70s character studies in general, and to the works of Martin Scorsese in particular.
Director Todd Phillips' ace in the hole, though, was his star.
Joaquin Phoenix and Phillips diligently crafted an intense portrait of a very disturbed man,
one which challenged the notion of what a "comic book movie" could be.
Joker not only became the first R-rated film to gross over a billion dollars worldwide,
but it received 11 Academy Award nominations - more than any other 2019 movie.
It may have divided critics, but not so much audiences, who by and large saw the film for
what it was: a masterclass in film studies, with near-flawless acting, direction, and
editing, and the greatest pure character study that's been put to film in decades.
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