Wednesday, December 25, 2019

10 Best of 2019


2019’s 10 Best Films

As always, this list is isolated to the films I’ve seen released in this calendar year.

10.  The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story:  An in depth and very telling account of a man who had it all, because he manipulated it from those who deserved the riches for their work.  Great story. 

9.  Hotel Mumbai:  Well done slightly fictionalized account of the 11/26/08 terror attacks around Mumbai, India.  Keeping its focus on the Taj Mahal attack, it creates a gripping narrative without having to resort to overdramatization.

8.  Avengers: Endgame:  It all led to this, and what a great ending it was.  Sure it had more than its share of pandering and skewed narrative to fit the plot, but when you’re that enthralled, who cares. 

7.  Jay and Silent Bob Reboot:  Underneath the weed jokes, the dick and fart jokes, lies a film born of pure heart and love.  Not only for the characters and the lives they’ve created, but for those of us who have faithfully watched and supported.

6.  The Best of Enemies:  A KKK leader, a black civil rights activist who also happens to be a woman….in the summer of 1971.  How could these two become lifelong friends?  Even with the factual inaccuracies, a brilliant and much needed watch, especially in our current climate.

5.  The Art of Self Defense:  A meek man’s response to a mugging…a dojo master with a twisted sense of how to pay the bills…these two collide with deadly results in this spiritual cousin to films like Fight Club. 

4.  Booksmart:  This film about two overachievers realizing they’d studied their high school years away and decide to break out for one crazy night has been called the female Superbad, but this brilliant and funny tale of self-discovery is far superior to its alleged equal. 

3.  A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood:  Not a bio of the late Fred Rogers, this lovely film is about the lives he touched, focusing on a jaded Esquire reporter who started writing a fluff piece, and ended up growing as a man. 

2.  Parasite:  A gem from Korea, about a family who rises to riches on the basis of schemes and scams.  When the truth comes out, it destroys everyone involved.

1.  Joker:  A devastating look at how easily one hopeless man can snap and wreak havoc on the society he feels wronged him. 


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