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Holding off on posting my own list until I catch up on a few flicks (Uncut Gems, The Irishman, etc), but figured I'd get the ball rolling here. Please post your very biased and subjective lists for this year. The bad ones too! Looking forward to see what made the cut.
Who You Think I Am - Juliette Binoche - lots of twists and turns. Loved it! Dragged Across Concrete - great performances, riveting viewing. Zahler impresses again. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - surprised myself liking this. Tarantino recreated the 60s perfectly. Crawl - pure unadulterated popcorn movie which ain't gonna win any awards but who cares, not moi! The Nightingale - bit of a departure from The Babadook. The King - fell a little short, but still good.
A Marriage Story gets points for writing and acting even though it was not what I'd hoped story wise.
Yet to see a few... including the much hyped Uncut Gems, Parasite, The Good Liar, Pain And Glory, The Lighthouse etc.
1. Under the Silver Lake 2. Dragged Across Concrete 3. The Beach Bum 4. Parasite 5. El Camino 6. Godzilla: King of the Monsters 7. The Death & Life of John F. Donovan 8. The King 9. Glass 10. Midsommar 11. Us 12. Paddleton 13. Velvet Buzzsaw
I had such a wonderful movie-watching year I'm doing a top fifteen (in no order):
Burning Never Goin' Back Vox Lux Monos Birds of Passage High Life Ad Astra The Souvenir A Vigilante Teen Spirit Gloria Bell The Farewell Parasite The Day Shall Come A Bread Factory Parts One and Two
And a special shout-out to an incredible year for horror:
In Fabric Harpoon Braid Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse Bliss The Lighthouse Extra Ordinary Freaks One Cut of the Dead Knuckleball Climax Girl on the Third Floor Depraved Luz Piercing
The worst things that happened this year (in no order):
Midsommar Unplanned Captain Marvel Aladdin/The Lion King Dark Phoenix
The best Nicolas Cage: Primal The worst Nicolas Cage: A Score to Settle
1. The Lighthouse 2. The Beach Bum 3. Climax 4. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie 5. High Life 6. Midsommar 7. The Nightingale 8. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 9. Parasite 10. Uncut Gems
Honorable mention: The Irishman
Worst Film: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Dishonorable Mention: Family, It: Chapter 2
Biggest Surprise: Lords of Chaos
Biggest Disappointment: The Dead Don't Die
Best TV: Mr. Robot (S4)
Worst TV: Game of Thrones (S8 )
Special Award: Too Old to Die Young - Moments of brilliance, genuine self-parody, genuine stupidity, and abject unwatchability all rolled into one, occasionally all at once. Can't believe I made it through eight whole (feature-length) episodes of this mindfuck. I have no regrets. And yet...
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Definitely not my favorite year for films. I enjoyed all the films in my top 10, but the vast majority of them contained flaws near impossible to overlook. Midsommar was among my favorites and it was easily the most flawed of the bunch. There's another universe where it would've easily taken my biggest disappointment. Even El Camino, which was solid, I couldn't help but feel it wasn't necessary and perhaps there was something about that particular loose end in Breaking Bad that had some artistic merit in and of itself. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood grew on me, though, and has ended up as one of my higher ranking picks.
Still, flaws are part of film. Sometimes they're the best part. Gotta take chances. Plenty of films don't. So always gotta tip my hat to those who aim for the stars, even if they stumble.
Fingers crossed for some proper showstoppers in 2020.
I was going to start a Golden Globes thread but figured it could be discussed here as well: - Best Motion Picture Drama: 1917 - Too soon to tell. Doesn't come out until this Friday here in the States. - Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (best screenplay too) - This was on the top of my list for both but comedy or musical? Whatever. - Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix/Joker - Never a doubt in my mind. - Best Actress: Renee Zellweger/Judy - Hmmm...didn't see it but need to. Dave said it was good!
So many friggin' categories in the GG. I was surprised that The Lighthouse wasn't anywhere to be found as the acting was stellar.
I also support Andrew with Doctor Sleep. Read the book if you get the chance. One of King's best.
I was going to start a Golden Globes thread but figured it could be discussed here as well: - Best Motion Picture Drama: 1917 - Too soon to tell. Doesn't come out until this Friday here in the States. - Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (best screenplay too) - This was on the top of my list for both but comedy or musical? Whatever. - Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix/Joker - Never a doubt in my mind. - Best Actress: Renee Zellweger/Judy - Hmmm...didn't see it but need to. Dave said it was good!
So many friggin' categories in the GG. I was surprised that The Lighthouse wasn't anywhere to be found as the acting was stellar.
I also support Andrew with Doctor Sleep. Read the book if you get the chance. One of King's best.
Midsommar was among my favorites and it was easily the most flawed of the bunch. There's another universe where it would've easily taken my biggest disappointment.
Interested to hear what would have been different in that other universe. I thought Midsommar was truly, astoundingly boring and pointless. I've always wondered since then if it might have caught me differently on a different day. But I'm not gonna watch Florence Pugh do nothing for two and a half hours again to find out.
You mean to tell me 3 From Hell was better than all three of these?
No, not even close, but 3 From Hell was a cheapass DTV release. I was merely going with big budget, or at least high profile wide screen releases...that I saw...and assumed would be at least good.
No, not even close, but 3 From Hell was a cheapass DTV release. I was merely going with big budget, or at least high profile wide screen releases...that I saw...and assumed would be at least good.
OUATIH - surely had the largest gap between the expectations from the trailer vs. what you got the final product. Couldn't wait to see it after seeing the trailer. Movie - not so much.
Interested to hear what would have been different in that other universe. I thought Midsommar was truly, astoundingly boring and pointless. I've always wondered since then if it might have caught me differently on a different day. But I'm not gonna watch Florence Pugh do nothing for two and a half hours again to find out.
I was all in for the first hour. Maybe there wasn't much distinction between the first and second half (I'm not saying that, but others might've felt that way), but it worked for me for whatever reason. And while the film was rife with issues from then on, I did leave the theater feeling like I'd watched something pretty wild and original. And for all its flaws, I ultimately found the film's ambition and attempts to be bold pretty endearing and admirable, possibly even more so for the fact that I don't believe it fully achieved what it set out to do.
Definitely too long. In fact, it's been one of the main films recently that's helped turn me off from 2+ hours films in general. My main issue, though, was the forced humor and the tendency to make the "horror" moments feel hacky and stupid. Almost as if the director's saying, "This is all bullshit. No reason to take this seriously." This is a problem I have with lots of these types of films these days. I suppose here, perhaps it didn't occur as often, wasn't quite as overt, or simply didn't irk me as much as it usually does for whatever reason. In another universe, it would've been this stuff that really tipped the scale for me -- the sense of throwing your own film under the bus so you and the audience can feel like you're all in on a joke that's not funny.
This is a problem I have with lots of these types of films these days. I suppose here, perhaps it didn't occur as often, wasn't quite as overt, or simply didn't irk me as much as it usually does for whatever reason. In another universe, it would've been this stuff that really tipped the scale for me -- the sense of throwing your own film under the bus so you and the audience can feel like you're all in on a joke that's not funny.
Yep, that's what got me. The ambition and strong first hour (which we're agreed on) just made me hate it more for this.
We're gonna have an entire generation of films that never get watched again because even talented filmmakers are more concerned with generating the proper sense of ironic detachment than doing justice to a good genre story.