My Favourite Films 2019 – Top 10

Alita: Battle Angel
I surprisingly didn’t know a whole lot about this film prior to watching it. I was aware that it was a manga, that James Cameron was producing and that people were weirded out by the eyes. I literally watched the trailer once and thought “That looks fun” and by gosh was it. I’m not here to pretend the criticisms aren’t valid, many people complain that the plot is too crowded, which it is, it definitely feels like they shoved 3-4 arcs in the manga into one film but that never bothered me when each one comes together to help tell a greater story. Alita as a character acts as the audience pov, the more of the world she explores, the better understanding she has, of the culture, of the law, of the people. The stories are segmented, but all fill in different aspects of our protagonist, she learns of these new elements and throws herself in 100%.

Look, the bar for western adaptations of manga is very low, so this film didn’t exactly have much competition in claiming the title of “best manga adaptation” but that doesn’t mean it came easy. As soon as the credits hit and I saw the name “Robert Rodriguez” all of a sudden everything made sense. Over the top segmented plot with heavy focus on entertaining characters, action and original spectacle?  Yep, that sounds like him. Then just after that you include “Bill Pope” my personal favourite DoP who has shot some of the most beautiful & lively action films of the 21st century. This film was made for me. There’s such talent and passion put behind this film, it was definitely a risk amongst blockbuster audiences and depending on who you ask people might debate if it was a success or not (I certainly know which side the producers would take). In terms of pure adrenaline filled, creative & entertaining blockbusters, Alita takes home the prize as the best of the year.

Booksmart
This happens every time. Every couple of years a new coming of age film will come out and I’ll see the marketing and think “I can’t tell if that looks great or garbage” and they end up being on my favourites list (Previous examples include: Edge of Seventeen, Perks of Being A Wallflower, etc). Booksmart gets to take home two prizes today, one for being the best coming of age film of the year, certainly the most insightful and modern, it does a great job of capturing the attitudes and relationships of today’s youth…I assume, I started this decade being the perfect demographic and now I guess I’m old enough to be nostalgic for my high school years. Whether it’s accurate or not, for nothing else the characters are still fleshed out enough to appear realistic, that mostly comes down to an incredibly talented cast, Beanie Feldstein & Kaitlyn Dever in particular have great chemistry, I believe these two have been friends for most of their lives and develop corny inside jokes.

Then there is the second award which is this being the funniest film of the year, which there isn’t as much to analyse there, it’s a very well put together script that I can only fault for a forced 2nd act emotional break, but apart from that it made me laugh a fair amount and it’s as solid as can be. Along with – again – an incredibly talented cast to pull this off. If I took one lesson away from this movie it’s this: Put Billie Lourd in everything.

Cats
No. I’m not kidding. I’m not even sure if I’m putting this on here ironically or not. Most of the discourse surrounding this film is people debating if it’s simply one of the worst movies of the year or even one of the worst movies of the decade, and this is easily the most contrarian I’m going to get on this list. At the time of writing I have seen Cats a total of 4 times and will see it as many times with as many people as I possibly can. I have seen well over a thousand movies in my lifetime of a variety of genres, time periods and filmmakers, and I have never seen a movie like Cats, it’s incomparable, hell I don’t even think you could compare it to the stage show, that’s how alternate this movie is. I’m at a point in my film loving career where the main thing I seek out is simply something different, just any movie that can offer me something I haven’t already seen, and I don’t think anyone can argue against that for Cats. This movie haunts me, it confuses me, it entertains me, and I am obsessed with it.

Let’s try and discuss some of the more acceptable qualities of the film, for one thing the CG is very impressive, minus the odd…cockroach here or there, but the blending of character faces with *sigh* Cats it impressive technology. The cast are incredibly talented, they’re all wonderful singers & dancers, and even those that aren’t great singers definitely commit to behaving like a *sigh* Cat. The music is really nice, that’s not so much an achievement in the film seeing as it was all written for the stage 30 years ago. That is except for Beautiful Ghosts, which is a genuinely good song and while most musical adaptations half-arse the original song just so they can score an easy Oscar Nom this song does actually hold weight as a good listen and the only development Victoria gets.

Apart from that I got nothing. Look, Cats wasn’t meant to be analysed, it wasn’t meant to be reviewed or critiqued, or even witnessed, because the terms “good” and “bad” do not apply to this film. Cats lives in its own universe by it’s own rules, it is that separated from everything we know as film viewers on how a film should function. It is baffling, it is intimidating, it is uncomfortable, it’s definitely the horniest movie to be rated U I’ve ever seen. Cats is going to become the next Rocky Horror I assure you, I can see people going to midnight screenings, dressing up, singing along and having the time of their lives during this film. I have not stopped thinking about it, it is haunting me like the addiction it is.

Doctor Sleep

*Spoilers Ahead*
Mike Flanagan is the best contemporary Horror filmmaker out there, with every production he continues to improve his craft and this is his best film to date. I don’t consider myself to be a fan of The Shining, mostly because prior to watching it I had already consumed the entire film through cultural osmosis that by the time I watched the film, I had already seen it, it’s no one’s fault, but it means that movie never had a chance to leave an impact on me, certainly not the way Doctor Sleep did. If The Shining is a film about a man giving into temptation, Doctor Sleep is a film about recovery. There’s a seen early on in the film where Dan Torrence (Players brilliantly by Ewan McGregor) gives a speech about his alcohol addiction, and how he fights to get over it not just for himself but for his father-a fellow addict-and how he believes his dad was a good man corrupted by an addiction. Contrast that with Rose the Hat (Also brilliantly played by Rebecca Ferguson) and her crew who are so addicted to the Shine that they kill even children for a hit. Come the climax where the film only truly indulges itself in heavy Shinning references and repetition, Dan is finally tested on his own addiction by overcoming the powers of the Overlook Hotel and is able to win, meanwhile Rose who has always embraced her addiction is consumed by the Hotel with ease.

Despite not expecting anything from a sequel to a film I didn’t care for, Doctor Sleep was the most powerful horror film of 2019 for me. It told a story that was fragile, emotional and uplifting, with a stellar cast and a director who continues to impress me more and more.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly
Now we go straight back to the fanboy in me. Yes, Dragon Ball as a series I have discussed many times for its highs and its lows, and yes, this film does equate to one glorified action scene, and yet somehow this film proved to be some of the best character work the franchise has seen in a long time. Action for the sake of action is not interesting, the best fight scenes more often than not are explorations of characters, of personal conflicts, of flaws, of progression, take your pick. Goku is a protagonist who treats everything like a fight because that’s where he best understands people, it’s where he sees his own limits and where he learns about his opponent. Dragon Ball is also a franchise about redemption, often the villains will be shown mercy and it’ll be the start to their conversion to heroism, and it does it in such a variety of ways that no two villains have the same arc, it’s arguably Akira Toriyama’s greatest strength as a writer.

Broly is no exception, throughout the elongated fight there is a constant shift in power and motivation and leads to Goku understanding Broly as a character better than ever before. A character who infamously has a fantastic design but terrible character & backstory is given the complexity to match his popularity. Then there is also the work of the director’s Tatsuya Nagamine and Naohiro Shintani who have created inarguably the best looking Dragon Ball film ever with the most fluid, fast, expressive fighting animation the series has ever seen and it’s what holds this giant fight together. Like with all Dragon Ball movies, if you’re not a fan of the franchise, don’t even bother watching this film, it’s not meant for you, it’s meant for the fans and I for one am happy to indulge.

I Lost My Body
There’s not much to be said for this film, in a lot of ways, it’s a very simple story told in a fantastical way. A young man who has suffered nothing but tragedies and let downs his entire life loses his hand in an accident, we then see that hand travel all the way across town to try and reach its original owner. The film is gorgeous, the use of perspective to turn a regular city into a seemingly endless array of terrors and nightmares, taking you in from the view and size of a hand; a rat has never seemed scarier, a flickering fire from a lighter has never exploded with more power before, a pigeon pecking at you will be one of the most brutal life or death situations you’ll see.

That’s all part of the spectacle, the core of the film is Naoufel, the protagonist/original hand owner. Throughout the film we explore his tragic life and how everything goes from bad to worse, but what makes it truly depressing is the seemingly no escape for him. Naoufel is not special, he doesn’t have a secret talent or promising future, he is so incredibly ordinary as a person yet has experienced such disaster and that might honestly be the most depressing aspect of the film and is what gripped me, that fear of being normal yet a failure is a horrifying combination. The supernatural element of a living hand trying to reunite with its owner is the one saving grace, hoping they’ll be reunited and it’ll somehow be a sign of things to get better from here on out. Okay so there might have been more to say about this film than expected.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
I’m assuming I don’t need to sell anyone on this, it’s John Wick, the most consistently entertaining, well produced, stylish, engaging action franchise of the past decade (Okay, tied with Mission: Impossible). Keanu Reeves works his ass off to keep this a quality series and hires the best talent out there to make it happen. The fight scenes are well choreographed, the stunts are super impressive, the sets/lighting are elegant, and this is all stuff you already know. I’m not sure what there is to be said, if somehow you haven’t jumped on the Keanu hype train and fallen in love with this series then there’s not much that can be said to convince you, as for those of you who have already experienced John Wick, you know exactly why it’s fantastic. Easily the most fun time I had in a theatre warmly chuckling at a dude getting 7000 knives thrown into his back. Never let it be unspoken that John Wick is the perfect franchise to balance class, world-building, tension & distinct characterisation, while also killing a dude by getting kicked in the head by a fucking horse.

Knives Out
Knives Out is like a warm hug. It’s comforting, pleasant & that soft sweater makes it all the better. Rian Johnson is a treasure we must appreciate while we have him, because every one of his movies are simply great and this is no exception to the rule, it also arguably has the best script of all of his films. Being a murder mystery it’s naturally a movie that expects multiple watches and it rewards you for that, not just with the main plot line but for filling itself with a variety of little details to relish over, such as Richard handing Marta his used plate like she’s “the help” or my favourite exchange over the phone “Hi Walt.” “Marta, it’s Walt”. Aesthetically it’s even more enjoyable film, capturing a warm Autumn period with a rustic colour scheme and soft sweaters to match.

The ensemble cast are all wildly entertaining in their roles, especially Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, between this and Logan Lucky I say we make it the law that Craig has to give us at least one movie every couple of years were he adopts an over the top southern accent. However what brings it all home as one of the best is Ana De Armas as Marta, the literal heart of the movie because in a family of shitty people across the spectrum, she is as Benoit puts it “A good person with a good heart” and I’m always a sucker for a film that rewards people that are simply kind and do the right thing. Paddington would be proud.

Little Women
This is my favourite film of the year. I understand the reason why I listed them all alphabetically was so I didn’t have to rank them but it can’t be disputed, Little Women is my favourite film of 2019, I love it. What Greta Gerwig showed me with this film, was an actual family, siblings who love each other and know each other back to front but at the same time annoy the living daylights out of one another, and will sometimes use that love and knowledge to hurt one another, and all of it while feeling natural, fluid and personal.

A lot of that credit also has to go to the actors, everyone here is fantastic but the two of note I have to mention is Saoirse Ronan as Jo and Florence Pugh as Amy. Pugh arguably having the tougher of the roles because she is playing both a 13 year old and a 20 year old and you can not ask for a bigger separation of identity amongst an individual than you can of those ages, especially when Pugh does not look 13 but my god does she act it. She is whiney, and hyper and obsessive and irritable, and then contrast that with her later self who is mature, proper, pilot and intelligent, and Pugh bridges these two together perfectly. Florence Pugh arguably has the best year with 2019 combining this with Midsommar and Fighting With My Family she is absolutely the actor to watch for the upcoming years. Then there is Ronan, her performance is filled with such nuance and playfulness and pain, which all definitely sounds like great fluff terms to hype her up without giving any context but quite simply Jo March might be my favourite character of 2019. She is understandable through her relationships and her pain as life tears them away and forces her to compromise on her dream because of the world she lives in, and then she inspires me at the end by all she’s able to accomplish and love, yet never losing what brought her there both the joy and the tragedy.

The final shot is filled with such finite detail in Ronan’s face that the mixed bag of emotions she feels is something that is going to stick with me. It’s so good I’m scared to watch the other adaptations or read the book because I truly don’t believe they could be as good, and certainly won’t leave the same impact on me. I know that’s not what Gerwig wanted but that’s the sacrifice you have to make when you direct a film this phenomenal.

Shazam!
Sticking with the movies that make me feel a feel, Shazam! is a film that represents a few things, most notably the idea of the found family, which is definitely a theme many superhero stories share but rarely do they make it this foundational. It is in fact surprisingly rare to see a middle-class foster family be represented in Hollywood, let alone one that is happy, but even then acknowledging that they’re a family that came together due to broken circumstances and that’s going to cause some difficulties. That in short is the key to the film’s success, it’s earnestness, it’s an emotionally honest film that embraces more of the light-hearted family spectacle side of comic books that balanced it out with complex yet overall happy characters that make them appealing to the whole family. Obviously that’s not what all comic books or even all super hero comic books are but they are where the platform originates from and will always be my favourite understandings of these characters.

Speaking of comic book origins, despite the fact we live in a golden age of superhero films there will always be certain aspects that will make me surprised and gleeful when I go “Holy crap, they put that in a movie!?” and this film certainly has that, not something I expected, in retrospect not all that implausible that they featured but still a nice surprise that made this old cynics hard grow three times its size because it’s just that pleasant, and solidified Shazam! as my favourite comic book movie of the year.

-Danny