and now, the 2015 list

Here are my top 10 films from 2015

1. Carol, director: Todd Haynes
2. Mad Max Fury Road, director: George Miller
3. Hateful Eight, director: Quentin Tarantino
4. Son of Saul, director: László Nemes
5. Sicario, director: Denis Villeneuve
6. Room, director: Lenny Abrahamson
7. Anomalisa, director: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
8. Bridge of Spies, director: Steve Spielberg
9. Ex Machina, director: Alex Garland
10. Heaven Knows What, director: Safdie Bros

Honorable mentions: Queen of Earth, The End of the Tour, Inside Out, Spotlight, Creed, It Follows, The Martian, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Tangerine, Eden, Mississippi Grind, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Straight Outta Compton, Crimson Peak, The Big Short

Good lord this year was stacked! Super, super stacked! Every movie mentioned in my honorable mentions could've had an outside shot of making a top 10 any other year. And there's movies like "Crimson Peak" and "The Big Short" which kinda left me cold when I saw it, but now I regard them much more fondly and they deserve a re-watch.

"Carol" and "Mad Max Fury Road" is essentially a tie. If I was lame and actually made it a tie between those two movies, "Queen of Earth" would be at the 11th spot, but I've always ultimately sided with "Carol" at #1. Why not give the #1 spot to the greatest blockbuster-sized action film of the 21st century (yeah, I'm going there)? Honestly, I don't know, maybe I should. "Carol" could not be a more different film than "Fury Road" and I love that they're my #1 and #2 because they represent two wildly different types of movies that I enjoy. And yet, if one were to find similarities? It'd be the way both movies give care, and attention to detail, to their characters. The films largely let the visuals do that talking and are sumptuous visually. "Fury Road" with the desert scapes and dark blue skies. "Carol" with the obsessive attention-to-detail to 1950s New York. I'm a huge fan of "Far From Heaven", Todd Haynes's 2002 melodrama, a movie that is more upfront about its Sirkian influences. What I love about "Carol" is that, while the influences are there, the movie's style feels more assured. I'm not thinking as much about the influences, the style, look, mood, and feel of "Carol" just seduces me all on its own. Does all that make sense? I hope so. These are two of my favorite movies of the decade - no question.

"Hateful Eight" was originally in the 5 spot, but the way people responded to "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" - as if "Hateful Eight" wasn't as good - made me bristle a little. Sure, "Hollywood" is more accessible, sweeter, and nostalgic. It's more of a feel-good movie. I love it. It's my #2 of 2019. Would've been an easy #1 if "Parasite" didn't rock my world. But I also love me some nihilistic, mean-spirited Question and "Hateful Eight" is all that and more. I first saw the roadshow version which had an intermission, and my god, that blew my mind. Having seen it a second time since then, I still marvel at the film. Featuring a cast of mostly QT regulars like Sam Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern and Walton Goggings. Then a newcomer to the QT-verse, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, who fits like a glove. It's three hours of people sizing each other up, then killing each other. Shot in 70mm inside a haberdashery. Honestly, just typing this out, I can't believe this movie exists and I'm thankful for it. I'm sad it wasn't as big of a hit as QT's last couple of movies, but it just makes me wanna embrace it more. One day, hopefully, others will come around.

"Son of Saul" and "Room" are two very difficult watches that I've been too much of a wuss to try and re-watch. Maybe that's why they've gotten knocked down a peg (they were originally #3 and #4 when I unveiled my 2015 in a podcast 4 years ago). They're both fantastic films and I'm sure they hold up well, but man they're also emotionally draining. It was alright in 2015 when the world and this country wasn't going through quite as much bullshit. Like, don't get me wrong, things were not peachy in 2015 either, but I think I was a lot more willing to re-watch a haunting Holocaust drama four years ago then I am now. Anyway, I'm rambling and getting off track. "Son of Saul" is a very powerful movie that's what makes it hard to revisit. The camerawork, which largely fixates on the protagonist's face, forces the viewer to imagine the horror that surrounds the man as opposed to seeing it on screen and possibly getting de-sensitized to it. Having seen quite a few movies set during the Holocaust, I was really struck by the unique approach "Son of Saul" took and the way it made me feel having to listen - but really being able to see - a concentration camp. And the story, how it's about a man's quest to bury his dead son - it's just a brutal movie to watch. But important and excellent and masterful too. The difficulty of watching "Room" has more to do with being trapped in this shack with Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay and this awful life they've had to endure together. Then, when they're finally free, watching the mother suffer from PTSD, while the son is able to finally be a kid for the first time. Yeah, I cried 20 times when I saw this movie. Goddamn.

With "Sicario", Denis Villeneuve showed he was a director we all had to pay serious attention to, and we have ever since. I think of all the movies he's made during this amazing 2010s run, "Sicario" might be my favorite still. I love the way this movie unfolds. I love its cynicism. And my goodness, it's a gorgeous movie to look at, thanks to Roger Deakins. I love the way it slowly transitions from being Emily Blunt's movie to becoming the Benicio Del Toro show. It's so seamless. And yet, the fact that the movie kinda sorta leaves Blunt's character in the dust - that's exactly the point! She's in over her head because the war she's stepping into is complex and there is no clean way out, no matter what.

What I love about 2015 is how disparate all these movies are. The last four on my list "Anomalisa", "Bridge of Spies", "Ex Machina", and "Heaven Knows What" couldn't be more different than each other. Charlie Kaufman only made one movie in the 2010s and it's kinda been forgotten a little. Undeservedly so! "Anomalisa" is such a beautiful, unique, introspective film about a man grappling with the mundanity and boredom of his life. Everyone around him looks and talks exactly the same except for this one woman, Lisa. Could she be the one for him? Are they made for each other. The way the movie unfolds and where it leaves us is so profound and says a lot about our modern society and how we interact with each other. A truly remarkable film, made from stop-motion animation (in case someone reading this didn't know - and yes, I know, nobody reads this!)

"Bridge of Spies" is the closest thing to what I would call a mainstream, awardsy film on this list. Obviously, "Room" had a lot of awards attention, but "Bridge of Spies" is more the classic definition of that kind of movie. And you know what, I loved this movie. Steven Spielberg simply knows how to make these dramas. In fact, I prefer Spielberg dramas over his blockbusters these days. "The Post" panders a tad too much, "War Horse" is way too cloying and saccharine. But "Lincoln" and "Bridge of Spies" are just brilliant. The acting, the production design, the cinematography are all top notch. But "Bridge of Spies" is particularly special in the way it marries the Coen Brothers' writing with Spielberg's technical wizardry. Is it the most groundbreaking film in the world" No. But I wish more movies like this existed these days. I wish more movies were made this well.

"Ex Machina" is the assured, confident directorial debut from Alex Garland lead by three fantastic actors. Alicia Vikander became a star with this movie. We already knew Oscar Isaac was great by the time this movie came out. He kinda got sucked in to the Star Wars machine after "Ex Machina" - as did Domhnall Gleeson, but man I love the way they play off each other in this movie. Yes, Oscar Isaac overpowers Gleeson. Vikander overpowers Gleeson too! That's the point! He's in way over his head! Ok, I'm starting to repeat myself (see Sicario blurb up above). It's funny because, when talking about these movies, it's almost impossible not to talk about the conversations that surrounded those movies. It's almost as if those types of conversations where what made writing about movies less fun. Huh. Anyway, I'm getting tired. I started this at 11pm and it's 11:45pm and I'm fucking tired. "Ex Machina" is awesome and I haven't seen it in 5 years. I still love it very much and I think back on it fondly. I love the way it unfolds, I love the performances, I love the sleek production design. I just love it, alright?

I saw "Heaven Knows What" at the Arclight Hollywood in the summer of 2015. It was my rude introduction to the Safdie brothers and they now rule my life. I love their movies. They made some films before "Heaven Knows What", but for me, this is the movie where it all starts. The movie that made me fall in love with them. And while I'll probably return to "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems" more often than "Heaven Knows What" because HKW is a hard, hard watch about a woman battling a heroin addiction, it's also a great representation - stylistically of what was to come with these filmmakers. The brilliant use of no-name actors. The way a somewhat famous actor, Caleb Landry Jones, completely and utterly throws himself into his role. The way the music brings the whole film to a different level. It's such an immersive experience, which is exactly what makes HKW so difficult. This is not a world I wanna be immersed in! And yet HKW does it to me anyway and when it's all over, I feel like I need to take a shower. I love that about this movie.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I hope I made my cases clear. I'm rusty, guys. It's been years since I've written about movies in this manner. I should write a review of a recent movie just to see if I still got it (or maybe I never had it to begin with, we'll see).

Here's the movies from 2015 I never got around to seeing.

Green Room

The Invitation

Bone Tomahawk

Dope

Mustang

Sunset Song

Beasts of No Nation

Youth

Knight of Cups

A Bigger Splash

45 Years

Krisha

The Fits

Our Little Sister

Cemetery of Splendour

Right Now Wrong Then

Chi-Raq

Dheepan

So yes, I still have my work cut out for me, but good lord, I don't know how I'll be able to move the movies already on my list. Guess we'll see how it shakes out.

my 2016 list, a bit more locked in.

so here's my 2016 top 10:

1. Moonlight (director: Barry Jenkins)
2. Silence (director: Martin Scorsese)
3. 20th Century Women (director: Mike Mills)
4. Manchester-by-the-Sea (director: Kenneth Lonergan)
5. The Lobster (director: Yorgos Lanthimos)
6. The Neon Demon (director: Nicolas Winding Refn)
7. Arrival (director: Denis Villenueve)
8. Don't Think Twice (director: Mike Birbiglia)
9. Jackie (director: Pablo Larrain)
10. Hell or High Water (director: David Mackenzie)

This is a good batch of movies here. I feel like 2013-2016 was a loaded period for film. Some movies that came close to making the list are Jeff Nichols's "Loving" - a beautiful, understated drama, "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" - Taika Waititi's New Zealand adventure dramedy, and "La La Land" from Damien Chazelle. Yes, I liked "La La Land" just fine and that's ok! Or at least that's what I tell myself.

None of those movies are a match for the ones on my list though. "Moonlight" is one of my favorites of the decade and the last half hour is cinematic perfection to me. I mentioned it when talking about "If Beale Street Could Talk" but Barry Jenkins just has such a knack for blending mood, tone, cinematography, performances, and music in such a way where it's all working in perfect harmony. Truly transcendent stuff.

"Silence" is really an astounding work. Is it a great hang? Maybe not. Of his last three movies, "Silence" is the Scorsese movie you know that's best for you, but you're gonna return to "Irishman" and "Wolf of Wall Street" more often. But man, what a run of epics this man has churned out these last 7 years. "Silence" is a beautifully rendered work, rich with meaning.... I haven't seen it in three years, I'm sorry for speaking in broad terms. It's a movie that's begging to be re-watched by me because when I think back on it, I hold it with such high regard. The only thing I hold against it is that there's an alternate universe where Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro, and Javier Bardem played the leads. Neeson/Adam Driver/Andrew Garfield is a wonderful consolation prize... but it is a consolation prize.

Rounding out my top five are two beautifully made dramas, one a bit lighter than the other. "20th Century Women" is a deeply personal film laced with emotion and nostalgia. Mike Mills just pouring his heart and soul into that thing. By that token, Kenneth Lonergan was no slouch with "Manchester-by-the-Sea". It definitely deals with some heavy stuff,  but it's so neatly-layered and textured and features fantastic performances all around. "The Lobster" comes from the demented mind of Yorgos Lanthimos. Very funny, very bizarre, but also thematically rich and the story unfolds in such a skillful manner.

The last five films on my list features the very divisive, not-for-the-faint-of-heart "Neon Demon", one of my favorite sci-fi films of the decade in "Arrival", the very underrated "Don't Think Twice" which makes me thirst for more Mike Birbiglia movies. I love your stand-up but you got some screenwriting skills and we need more down-to-earth, grounded comedies like this. One that's actually funny, like "Don't Think Twice" is. "Jackie" is a nearly claustrophobic day-in-the-life biopic from Pablo Larrain and Natalie Portman fits like a glove as the title character. Lastly, "Hell or High Water" is a wonderfully made neo-western that moves at its own pace but delivers the goods and is tense throughout its runtime. It also has Jeff Bridges sporting a thick Texas accent. The thicker the accent Jeff Bridges throws out there, the more I like it - that's my general rule for any movie with Jeff Bridges.

So yeah, while I haven't seen most of these more than once, this feels like a much more solid list than 2017's. Here's a list of movies from 2016 that I never got around to...

Handmaiden

Paterson

Personal Shopper

Fences

Elle

Free Fire

Toni Erdmann

Love Witch

The Salesman

The Light Between Oceans

Christine

Julieta

Birth of a Nation

A Quiet Passion

Graduation

The Wailing

Kate Plays Christine

I definitely slacked on foreign films from this year. I gotta fix that. Anyway it's late. Time for bed.

2017, another work-in-progress (a top 10 of the year list)

2017

1. Lady Bird, director: Greta Gerwig
2. Phantom Thread, director: Paul Thomas Anderson
3. Dunkirk, director: Christopher Nolan
4. Get Out, director: Jordan Peele
5. Detroit, director: Kathryn Bigelow
6. The Shape of Water, director: Guillermo del Toro
7. Okja, director: Bong Joon-Ho
8. The Lost City of Z, director: James Gray
9. Good Time, directors: Safdie Brothers
10. The Big Sick, director: Michael Showalter

I feel less strongly about this year than 2018. Much less strongly. What makes matters worse is that there's an embarrassing amount of films I still haven't seen from this year! Including:

Call Me By Your Name

The Florida Project

Killing of a Sacred Deer

You Were Never Really Here

First Reformed

A Ghost Story

The Beguiled

The Square

Death of Stalin

Song to Song

All the Money in the World

Hostiles

Lean on Pete

Wonderstruck

Happy End

Let the Sunshine In

Yeah. Yikes. I'm positive, after seeing some of those movies on the unwatched list that my top 10 would likely be altered. In fact, consider every movie after "Shape of Water" to be placeholders. 2017 was a busy year for me. I graduated grad school and started a new job. Maybe that's what kept me from being up-to-date

But let's briefly go over what's currently on my list. "Lady Bird" is one of my favorite movies of the decade and a second viewing made me love and appreciate it more. It's gonna be hard for any of the unwatched movies to top it. I'm an unabashed fan of Greta Gerwig, I'll follow her wherever she goes. That's also true for Saoirse Ronan. It's just such an accomplished, sure-handed, confident film that expertly darts back and forth between drama and comedy without screwing up its tone. It's also very well-crafted and gets all the little details right. Plus, Laurie Metcalf. She's so authentic as Lady Bird's mom, it doesn't even feel like a performance, it feels life-like. I love "Lady Bird". It's #1 with a bullet.

Paul Thomas Anderson is a filmmaker I have so much invested in, someone whose career I've been following for over 15 years now. He played a big part in me wanting to talk about movies and dissect them. So I can't help but feel biased when I do a list anytime he had a movie coming out in a given year. But "Phantom Thread", I can say without a doubt, deserves its #2 placement. There's another movie that'll be hard to bump. Lead by the remarkable Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Kreips, who I wish would've had more notable roles since this film came out, "Phantom Thread" simply feels like a filmmaker at the peak of his powers, continuing to make glorious work. This is such a delicate, beautiful, oddly sinister film. Shades of "Punch Drunk Love", shades of "The Master". But, I'm always impressed with how PTA is able to adapt his style to different eras and weave it into the inner-workings of whatever story he's trying to tell. Every movie he's made after "Magnolia" feel like distinct different pieces and yet they're undeniably from one filmmaker. With "Phantom Thread", PTA continues to elevate himself.

I'm writing too much. I have to go to bed. Dammit, it's hard to do this blog now. I can't emphasize enough how little extra time I have for it, but I wanna get this out. So, let me give out blurbs on these next three movies. "Dunkirk", "Get Out", and "Detroit" are all fantastic films that have really stayed with me since they came out. "Get Out" was a landmark film from Peele that gets better with repeated viewings. "Dunkirk" is Nolan at his leanest, but also technically impressive with a story that actually delivers emotionally. "Detroit" was forgotten days after it was released, which still blows my mind. It's riveting and gripping, not an easy film to watch but important and vital. I'll follow Bigelow to the ends of the earth.

The last five on the list, though, while I enjoy them greatly, they're not immovable. So, I gotta catch up on all those other 2017 releases I haven't seen and we'll see what stands after that. I don't even think I've re-watched any of those films in the bottom 5 of my list. So, yeah, even more work to be done for me.

So, there's work to be done (my top 10 list from 2018)

The only thing I like thinking about more than year-end movies lists are decade-end movies lists. Yet, here we are, in the middle of FEBRUARY OF 2020 and I'm still in the "thinking about it" process. It's about time I said to myself, "get off your ass!" Right? Right? Hello?

But as the headline says, there's work to be done. Looking back at the years before 2019, I realized I haven't seen most of these movies since they came out and there's still other movies from those years I need to see. So until I revisit those films, it'll be tough to do an end-of-decade list. Nevertheless, in this blog post, I'm gonna post my year-end list for 2018 below, then comment on it, while also pointing out movies I never got around to.

2018

1. The Favourite, director: Yorgos Lanthimos
2. Roma, director: Alfonso Cuaron
3. If Beale Street Could Talk, director: Barry Jenkins
4. Vice, director: Adam McKay
5. First Man, director: Damien Chazelle
6. Suspiria, director: Luca Guadagnino
7. Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse

Directed by	Bob Persichetti Peter Ramsey Rodney Rothman

8. Eighth Grade, director: Bo Burnham
9. Widows, director: Steve McQueen
10. Mission Impossible: Fallout, director: Christopher McQuarrie

Honorable mentions: Paddington 2, Annihilation, Black Panther, Blackkklansman, A Star is Born, Isle of Dogs

This was kind of a weird year. Best exemplified by the fact that "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Green Book" ended winning the top awards at the Oscars. Youch. I really didn't like those movies. 2018 didn't really have one, unifying "best movie" though. "Roma" was the prohibitive favorite going into the awards season, but that movie didn't immediately grip me despite my appreciation of its technical mastery. It has grown on me over time and I really want to re-watch it, but what hurt it for me was never being able to see it on the big screen. Netflix was the talk of the town for this awards season. And for "Roma", Netflix was a double-edged sword. Netflix helped "Roma" get national attention, which lead to the film getting a bunch of nominations in the first place, but Netflix was also what kept the movie from winning. The fact that a foreign-language movie was considered the "best" movie of the year was also... interesting, to say the least. That meant the field was pretty damn open for all the other movies, and that's what probably lead to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Green Book" getting so much love.

Like, ultimately, I loved "The Favourite" the most. But that's a period piece,  costume comedy from the lovably weird Greek filmmaker, Yorgos Lanthimos. I thought The Favourite was masterfully made and loved its unique cinematography and the top notch performances from Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. I call it a costume comedy even though those two words sound more awkward together than "costume drama", but from what I can remember, this movie is goddamn hilarious. Twisted, absurd, ridiculous... and hilarious. It also unfolds like a great drama, but it never takes itself seriously. So, "The Favourite" is my favorite movie of the year, but I can understand why it wasn't the runaway favorite for the Academy. At the end of the day, it's a twisted Yorgos Lanthimos film. It's Yorgos at his most accessible, but unlike Bong Joon-Ho and "Parasite", this movie was simply too weird to be universally embraced. I understand just fine. It's just a shame there wasn't a respectable movie to take its place as a Best Picture winner.

"Roma" is a movie I simply need to watch again. This is a big reason why there's "work to be done". I have a feeling once I get around to watching it a second time, I'm gonna feel dumb for putting it second. As it is, this movie is master Alfonso Cuaron at work. The way he was able to transform Mexico City in this way, to be able to make it look like an authentic period piece is just awe-inspiring. Add that to the moving performances from mostly unknown actors and the stark black-and-white cinematography, there's no denying that this movie is special. I just got a give it another viewing to confirm as much (and hopefully that'll give me chance to talk about it in less generic terms).

"If Beale Street Could Talk" feels like another movie that'd only get better with a second viewing, but man, I really loved it the first time around. Barry Jenkins confirms he's the master of mood in cinema. I love the way he's able to make dramas feel so damn cinematic. I just feel so absorbed into the story and the characters. It's intoxicating.

"Vice" is a bit more controversial. There are many people who flat out hate this movie, and yet it's that extreme feeling that made me embrace it. I just love Adam McKay going down this confrontational, loud, blunt Oliver Stone route. I love it. Why beat around the bush? (No pun intended). How do you make a subtle movie about Dick Cheney when the things he did were so obviously abhorrent? This movie was 100% my jam, from beginning to end.

After those four movies though, I'm not as confident in the rest of the list. Those four movies are A-level to me. The following six are mostly in B+/A- territory though they're each exceptional works in their own right. "First Man" feels underrated as hell at this point. I can't believe the movie was so ignored when it came out! What the hell??? Now, is the movie perfect? I suppose not. I don't love it as much as my top four, but it is still a beautiful, emotional experience. I personally think it's Chazelle's best movie. The launch sequences are claustrophobic and intense. And once we get on the Moon, I feel like I'm floating with Neil Armstrong.

As for "Suspiria", "Into the Spider-Verse", "Eighth Grade", "Widows", and "Mission Impossible: Fallout" - each of these movies are fantastic works. I love the way "Suspiria" feels cut from the cloth of its period. It's the slowest of slow burns, but man, when shit gets real, it's jaw-dropping. "Into the Spider-Verse" is the one movie in this list that I've seen the most. It's incredibly re-watchable. My son loves it too, so that helps. And the animation is really creative. "Eighth Grade" and "Widows" - I feel less confident in their placement on this list. Even less than "Fallout", which is one of the best action movies since "Fury Road". I guess I put "Eighth Grade" and "Widows" above it because I think the highs of both movies, and the themes of each movies, feel more vital than "Fallout". Is "Fallout" really about much more than itself? I guess not. But damn, it's fun. "Eighth Grade" was a fantastic debut from Bo Burnham, who really nailed what the middle school experience is for kids these days. "Widows" was Steve McQueen's long-awaited follow-up to "12 Years a Slave", but it's less ambitious in scope. It's simply a tout heist movie with fantastic performances and some typically excellent camerawork, and a compelling lead performance from Viola Davis.

"Paddington 2" probably belongs on this list, and it's a lovely movie, but the fact that it's a real candidate isn't a great endorsement for 2018. "Paddington 2" would be in the top 15-20 of 2019. If I watched it again, I'd probably feel more confident in it being in the top 8 of 2018. But... really?? "Paddington 2"? Why am I disrespecting a movie I so thoroughly enjoyed? What's wrong with me?

Below, are the 2018 movies I haven't seen:

Hereditary

A Quiet Place

Game Night

Crazy Rich Asians

Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Mandy

Shoplifters

Burning

Climax

Cold War

High Life

Under the Silver Lake

Can You Ever Forgive Me

Free Solo

Blindspotting

Overlord

Leave No Trace

Insane

Sisters Brothers

Vox Lux

At Eternity's Gate

A Boy Erased

The Mule

The Old Man and the Gun

The Tale

Her Smell

Gloria Bell

Transit

Madeline's Madeline

Private Life

Wildlife

Yeah, that's an embarrassing amount of movies. Also, some of those might technically be considered 2019 movies. Like, they had festival releases in 2018, but weren't theatrically released until 2019. So, whatever. The point is, there's more work to be done!

But as it is, that's where 2018 stands for me right now. I will post similarly-constructed lists for 2015, 2016, and 2017, and then comment on how I feel about my lists for 2010-2014. There's more to come on Kenoncinema. Stay tuned.

top 10 movies of 2019

top 10 films of 2019

I originally made this list on my instagram account (@ken_guidry), but I merely presented it as is without comment. Now that the Oscars are over, the prospect of looking back at 2019 in cinema can feel like old hat. But man, this would be a good exercise for me when it comes to writing about film. I really haven't done much in that department these last few years aside from the occasional review on letterbox'd. I'm gonna do top 10 lists for the other years too. All the years I hadn't gotten too in this blog so... 2015-2018. And I may revisit my lists from 2010 to 2014 as well. All this will maybe, finally, get me to get off my ass and do a whole, big, top 100 movies of 2010s. Why? Because lists are fun even if they're done to death on the internet.

Anyway, let's get to my top 10 films of 2019.

10. The Beach Bum

Director: Harmony Korine

Matthew McConaughey, ladies and gentlemen. What an actor, what a performance, what a soul. "The Beach Bum" features McConaughey playing up his movie persona to the extreme. A womanizer with an uber laid back attitude that ultimately comes across as nihilistic and destructive. This movie delivers a parade of "what the fuck?" performances from Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Snoop Dogg,  Isla Fisher, and Martin Lawrence. It's a movie I never really got a chance to revisit, but man, it's stuck with me.

9. Midsommar

Director: Ari Aster

A movie that completely took me by surprise when I saw it over the summer. I never got a chance to see "Hereditary" so I was new to Ari Aster and didn't know what I was in for. Billed as a horror movie, and it definitely has its "horrific" moments, but it's more of a slow-burn psychological drama that gradually gets more fucked up and weird as the story goes on. Also, it's funny. Damn funny in places. I was laughing as the movie was ending. "Midsommar" is both funny and horrifying at the same time. What an amazing feat to achieve.

8. Marriage Story

Director: Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach has been on the map for me ever since "The Squid and the Whale" - a movie that moved me deeply. Fourteen years later, Baumbach gives us another movie centered around a divorce, but this time from the perspective of the parents (and, yes, largely from the father/husband played by Adam Driver). And as it happens, I am now a married man and the father of a six-year-old child. So once again, Baumbach has made something that's pierced my soul. But beyond that, "Marriage Story" just might be the most technically accomplished film of Baumbach's career. It really is exquisitely crafted, featuring music from Randy Newman and impeccable cinematography. The prospect of watching a divorce movie - especially when you're married - it's a tall task. But that first sequence, when the main characters of the film narrate what they love about their spouses, the movie hooked me. Not just from the content itself, but the combination of cinematography, editing, music, performances, COMBINED WITH the writing. Baumbach has really upped his game with this one.

7. Knives Out

Director: Rian Johnson

Look, I'm already running out of gas and if I don't finish writing about these movies in one sitting, then this list will remain unfinished. So here goes... "Knives Out" is a wonderfully made whodunnit film from Rian Johnson, who has now firmly established himself as a genre savant. Every little touch and detail feels cut from the cloth of the best of Agatha Christie. But what really sells this movie is the flourishes Johnson adds to really make the movie his own. The way he makes you feel like the crime is being solved halfway through, only for it to be a way for him to completely throw you off the scent of what was REALLY happening. Man, this was a tough year in the screenwriting category, but it's a damn shame Rian Johnson didn't get enough accolades for this script. There's a reason why we don't get a whodunnit every year. Especially one not adapted from Agatha Christie! They're tough as hell to conceive of and pull off---well, at least it's tough for anyone not named Rian Johnson, who apparently wrote this in weeks and is already making a follow-up. Godspeed, RJ.

6. The Farewell

Director: Lulu Wang

I have been juggling 6, 5, 4 like a circus performer. So consider these next three movies to be in a three-way tie. Right now "The Farewell" feels like #6, but tomorrow I might feel different. I love this incredibly personal, delicately-made domestic drama starring Awkwafina. This movie asks a lot of tough questions, questions that are difficult - neigh, impossible - to answer. Is Billi Wang's family wrong to not tell their matriarch that she's dying? Man, it's really hard not to get emotional even thinking about this movie. It's incredible.

5. The Irishman

Director: Martin Scorsese

To put it simply, if not for the visual effects, this is a stone cold masterpiece. Undeniable. As it is, it's merely the 5th best movie of 2019 and one of the best films of the decade. In fact, it's probably better than number five, I just haven't had time to revisit it. I was lucky enough to see it in theaters and I'm just incredibly grateful this movie came out and that it exists. I'm even more grateful that it's actually fucking brilliant. And I applaud Scorsese for going for it with the de-aging technology even if it doesn't all work the way one would hope.

4. Little Women

Director: Greta Gerwig

"Lady Bird" instantly made Gerwig one of my favorite filmmakers and it was her first film. "Little Women" was awe-inspiring. Gerwig elevates her craft in every single possible way here. Not only that, but she pulled off an amazing adaptation. She found a creative way to breathe new life into this story that's been told several times over. And made me care about these characters in ways that I never thought I would. Saoirse Ronan plays Jo perfectly, but I expected that from her. Florence Pugh is a damn revelation as Amy. The performances were great across the board, but what really makes this an enduring film, and one that I'd be happy to revisit, is the way it blends timelines so seamlessly and expertly. That's what really puts this movie over the top for me. It's just delightful.

3. Uncut Gems

Directors: Safdie Brothers

Instantly quotable and meme-able. Has an ending that'll leave you breathless and intoxicated. I was utterly stunned by this movie. A fantastic film from filmmakers who have also stepped up their game - a recurring theme with this list. Sometimes critics will describe a movie as "a shot of adrenaline" and then I'll watch it and wonder what they're talking about. "Uncut Gems" is the exact movie where that metaphor works. It really is a shot of adrenaline. But more than that, it's got such a great cast of first-time performers. Seriously, I can't tell what the Safdies do better... have a star actor churn out the greatest performance of their career? (First Pattinson in Good Time, and Sander in this). Brilliantly incorporating the music of Oneohtrix Point Never? Or is it finding a team of unknowns to convincingly play all these different characters peppered throughout the film? I'll take all of the above. And as I say all that, I've thought of more things they do brilliantly - like how they fully develop specific worlds in New York City - but I'm trying to finish this list so I'll stop there. Also, Kevin Garnett. Goddamn. That's all. No, that's not all. Eric Bogosian. Goddamn. He should be in more things. His expressions in this movie are priceless. I wish I'd seen this movie 80 times by now. I can't get enough.

2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Regardless of whatever Quentin does with the rest of his career, what a fantastic movie to make at the twilight of his filmmaking career. I digest Tarantino interviews like it's coffee. I can't get enough of hearing QT talk. One thing I always found amusing is his adoration for Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused". And here, Quentin has found his own way to make a hangout movie, but it's with a fictional actor and his stuntman set in 1969 with the Manson Murders being the underlying tension throughout it's 160-minute runtime. This movie is Quentin at his sweetest and at his most Quentin-est. And it features Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, and Margot Robbie delivering top-notch performances. This is another movie I'll enjoy re-watching time and time again for years to come.

1. Parasite

Director: Bong Joon-ho

What's there to say about this movie at this point? It won friggin' best picture at the Oscars. First foreign-language movie to do so. "Parasite", in my eyes, is an instant classic. This movie is an utter joy to watch from start to finish, even when the content isn't always so "joyful". The joy, for me, is watching the machinations of its plot unfold, coupled with clever setups that are paid off so gloriously and important thematic details that are so rich and layered, including details that go beyond me since I'm not Korean. But as I were to understand it, this movie is fucking deep on so many levels. 2019 became a banner year for movies by November, yet as soon as I saw "Parasite", I knew it was my #1 for the year and that nothing could possibly top it. The fact that the fucking Academy felt the same way as I did kinda scares me, but mostly excites me. It's really, hugely important that movies like this get maximum attention. This movie is both the very best that cinema has to offer, but also it fucking rules! It's entertaining as hell! Why am I yelling?! Bong Joon-ho! Holy shit!




(excuse the formatting, I haven't done this in a long ass time!)