Here's RA's Top 8 Feature Films Of 2019 To Get You Through Sportsless Days And Nights
"Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh."
---Al Swearengen, "Deadwood"
Instead of worrying about puck lines and buzzer beaters, the next few weeks are all about aspect ratios and streaming providers. So without further ado, here's my list of the Top 8 Features Of 2019. Why 8?
(NOTES: 1. This list is feature films only so there are no documentaries. 2. I haven't seen JOJO RABBIT or PAIN AND GLORY so neither appears below.)
1. PARASITE. Never mind 2019, PARASITE might be the best of the the decade. I was already a fan of Bong Joon-Ho from SNOWPIERCER and OKJA (as well as Bong regular Song Kang-Ho). But I would strongly recommend you go into this one the same way I did: completely blind. I didn't read reviews. I didn't watch trailers. I saw that it won the Palm d'Or at Cannes and that numerous critics I respect were heaping heavy praise on it. Hell, I assumed it was going to be a sci-fi/horror flick based on the title and the director's oeuvre up to that point. You can put PARASITE in whatever genre you see fit. But just call it "Must See". Simply, PARASITE was the best thrill ride the cinema has given me in ages.
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN...HOLLYWOOD. Quentin Tarantino's most human flim is less about plot machinations and more a character study of a pair of aging buddies (an actor and his stuntman) trying to find work in a late '60s Tinseltown that has less use for them just before the place undergoes seismic changes. Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio turn in some of the best work of their careers as, respectively, stuntman Cliff Booth and his best buddy Rick Dalton. But as the title suggests, the movie is a fairy tale and imagines a world in which Charles Manson is a mere footnote rather than a series of headlines. Simultaneously hopeful, wistful, and longing, ONCE UPON... is QT as we've never seen him before and sure hope to again.
3. THE IRISHMAN. I wrote more extensively about Martin Scorsese's pensive-hitman-at-the-end-of-the-road epic back when it came out. Those expecting GOODFELLAS 2.0 due to the pedigree will come away disappointed. Instead, Scorsese's coda to his Irish and Italian gangster chronicles, as told through the eyes of hitman Frank Sheeran (Bob DeNiro), examines the toll that the purported glamourous life of a mobster takes on a man and his family. Alternately sad and funny and fueled by giants of their era turning in award-worthy performances, THE IRISHMAN shows that "the life" gives its just desserts in one form or another.
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4. FORD V FERRARI. There's a lot of words you can you to describe me ending in -head. But gearhead certainly isn't one of them. But whether you know a catalytic converter from a clitoral hood is irrelevant because FORD V FERRARI is a great, old-fashioned blast of a movie. A star-laden crowd pleaser ostensibly about car racing, FvF is about money, ego, and the collision of the two as well. An insecure Henry Ford II (perfect asshole actor Tracy Letts) decides he wants to have his iconic American car company take on the Italian Ferrari company at Le Mans so he summons genius carmaker Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and ballsy, mercurial driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to do just that. The acting, writing, and directing (James Mangold) are all terrific. Jon Bernthal has become a money character actor since "The Walking Dead" and turns in excellent work as car exec Lee Iacocca.
5. UNCUT GEMS. When I saw Adam Sandler crush it for Paul Thomas Anderson in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE in 2002, I thought, "Finally, he showed us there's a bona fide actor in there". As a fan since he broke in on "SNL", it was cool to see him have some critical success after his run of hits geared toward the under 18 demo. But rather than continue in that direction, the Sandman got the bag. Then another one. Then 5 more on top of that. And hey, good for him. I never begrudge a person for getting paid but it was like PDL was more of a tease than anything (even though he did take on a few dramatic roles, none were generating anything close to Oscar buzz). But after seeing his nerve-racking turn as jeweler to the stars, Howard Ratner, that also happens to be a degenerate gambler in the Safdie brothers chaotically excellent UNCUT GEMS, I immediatly thought, "he's back!"; "he" being the Sandler that is so much more than goofy tics and sophmoric hijinx but rather very capable of depth and nuance. A celluloid Xanax this is not. It's a movie where the stakes are constantly raised, the behavior more reckless. As a lifelong gambler, I could certainly relate to the scenes of Ratner's anxiety. This is a movie that keeps you glued for 2+ hours and leaves you slack-jawed. Let's hope Sandler doesn't wait as long for his next outstanding dramatic performance.
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6. THE LIGHTHOUSE. This weird and wacky black-and-white tale of two lighthouse keepers who may or may not be losing their minds while on duty at a New England outpost practically reeks of sea-spray and fish chowder. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are lobster pot-committed as a pair of Captain McCallisters who while away their time drinking, rubbing out silkworms, being paranoid about the other guy, and possibly hallucinating. Beautifully shot and with a jet black comic appeal, THE LIGHTHOUSE isn't everyone's cup of tea. But if it's yours, you'll want a pot of the stuff.
7. BOOKSMART. I was surprised I didn't hear more about this sharp, funny, finger-on-the-pulse high school comedy through word of mouth. Olivia Wilde's directing debut is, at first glance, a smarter, distaff SUPERBAD: lifelong best friends, about to attend different colleges, are at the end of senior year (as well as their relationship as they know it) and looking to let loose at a big year-end party. But instead of a pair of middle-of-the-road, take it day-by-day class clowns like Seth and Evan, Amy and Molly are Ivy League-caliber bookworms who have their next decade or two mapped out. After they realize that peers who they perceived to be partying slackers were, in fact, also getting into top schools and companies, the young women decide to pack four years of fun into one last night before graduating. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever play the whipsmart pair of seniors and their comic chemistry is excellent. Enhanced by a hilarious supporting cast of fellow students and parents/staff, BOOKSMART is the best high school comedy in years and certainly joins the pantheon of great films of the genre. Billie Lourd and Skyler Gisondo, in particular, really stood out as a pair of hysterical, clueless-in-their-own-way 1%ers.
8. ROCKETMAN. This is the movie BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY wishes it was. Instead of a sanitized version of a brilliant, flawed rock legend, ROCKETMAN gives us the warts-and-all story and is a much better movie for it. Buoyed by an incredible performance from Taron Egerton, ROCKETMAN tells the story about how young Reginald Dwight, emotionally scarred by his loveless parents, becomes one of the biggest musical stars of the 20th century, Elton John (thanks in large part to his musical wingman Bernie Taupin). The opening scene was one of the more creatively inspired I've seen in awhile: Elton John, fully resplendent in his garish concert gear, walking down a hallway, apparently to his next sold-out gig we're led to think. Instead, he passes through a set of doors into an AA or NA meeting. It's here where Egerton takes us back to John's early beginings as an affection-hungry young boy in post-war England. The recovery meeting serves as a sort of home base for the movie where we occasionally check in for John's perspective on where he is at that particular stage of his life. One thing that caught me off guard (in a good way) is that ROCKETMAN is as much a muscial as it is a biopic; I haven't tapped my toes to a choreographed piece like that since probably GREASE. For a movie that hits some dark notes, you sure do leave the theater with a bounce in your step.
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Other 2019 flicks worth checking out: DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, 1917, MARRIAGE STORY, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, HUSTLERS, HONEY BOY, HARRIET.
Keep an eye on this space for more TV/movie Rear-commendations.