My Top 10 Movies of 2019

This has been quite the week for blog posts and for all the deliberating needed to compile these Top Ten lists. My output wouldn't normally be so "prodigious", but I've had time on my hands and the itch to wrap up this year and this decade with a bang. Or a whimper, if you're not impressed.

Bad wigs aside, the Motley Crüe biopic The Dirt rocked hard

So... my Top 10 Movies of 2019. I mentioned in my Top 10 for the 2010s that I felt 2019 was a sort of weak year for films. As I went through my initial scratchings of a list for the past year, I would have to say I was dead right in that assessment. I mean, yes, there have been a number of good, even very good, movies in 2019 - but nothing really amazing. At least from my standpoint. I haven't seen every film released last year, and of the twenty-nine that I did see, almost nothing really knocked my socks off. And since there were so many at about the same level of quality, that made it really tough to rank them. I took pains to place the titles according to how much I liked them, and at the moment I'm happy with the result, though tomorrow I could change my mind about some of them. But for now... enjoy!


My Top 10 Movies of 2019

1. The Dirt - hey, I watched this raunchy and hilarious Crüe biopic twice in its opening weekend... that must mean something.

2. Dolemite is My Name - terrific fun, Eddie's apparent "comeback" as a comic actor

3. Marriage Story - not fun, but an engrossing study of a marriage falling apart. Primo acting.

4. Brittany Runs a Marathon - I hate the word "dramedy", but this is a great one... lace 'em up!

5. John Wick 3 - a jackhammer of an action killfest that somehow ups the ante on the first two Wick movies

6. Yesterday - light, funny and wonderfully nostalgic in its Beatle-ness

7. The Highwaymen - excellent casting and an effective twist on the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde

8. Long Shot - Theron gets playful with Rogen in this funny romance that rises above today's tired rom-com formula

9. In the Shadow of the Moon - a cool sci-fi spin on the murder mystery theme

10. I Am Mother - a unique sci-fi thriller that satisfies... though I felt it ended a bit weak


A few honorable mentions are:

Crawl - tidy little horror set mostly in a swamped Florida basement with gators on the prowl Midsommar - subdued and unsettling folk-horror tale that rewards more fully upon reflection
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks - a rollicking documentary about kung fu in cinema
The Wandering Earth - an imaginative Chinese sci-fi epic that needs a lot more attention
Beneath the Leaves - I'm one of few who like this, but this crime thriller works nicely for me