As it is the end of the year it’s time for the obligatory top 10 best films of the year list. Full discourse I haven’t seen every film of 2019 and this is my personal list if you don’t like my list leave a comment telling me your personal top 10.
The criteria to be eligible for the list is: the film must of come out in uk cinemas, had an advance showing at a film festival I’ve been to or been released on dvd/blu-ray in 2019.
Before we start here are a few honourable mentions: Marriage Story, Shadow, Extreme Job, Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System, Ride Your Wave.
Now that’s all settled lets start the top 10 list with:
10: Under The Silver Lake
Under the silver lake is the weirdest film of 2019! It’s surreal story about hidden meanings, secret organisations is gripping from minute one. It’s visual interesting and is never boring. Andrew Garfield is fantastic, its such a shame that this never got a wide theatrical run or even a big push marketing wise. It was dumbed on dvd and blu-ray in mid 2019 and its a real shame as since we live in a world where Disney is dominating cinema’s it’s great to see an indie film that takes a huge risks and sticks the landing.
9: Knives Out
Rian Johnson subverted my exceptions with knives Out and did it in a way that felt genuine and made the film much more intriguing and suspenseful. This whodunit is very well done and has many great twists and turns while not treating the audience like an idiot, the soundtrack really adds to the tone and everyone does a great job acting, like Daniel Craigs. His accent might put people off but I loved it. It’s a real whodunit.
8: Avengers Endgame
I’ve been very critical of Marvel movies in the past, from praising the first Iron Man and Captain America the Winter Solider to absolutely hating Ant-man and the Wasp. I was very skeptical going into endgame and when I came out the cinema 3 hours later with a huge smile on my face I was blown away by how good this was, yes it didn’t need to be 3 hours long and yeah its got a lot of fan service but I loved this movie and even though it isn’t the best MCU film its a really great one.
7: Doctor Sleep
Doctor sleep surprised me, I was shocked by how much I loved it, I feel its the best Stephan King adaptation of the year and the second best horror film of the year (hint for the rest of the list). The fact that it respects both Stephan king’s novel and respects the Stanley Kubrick film of The Shining is a miracle. There’s effective horror scenes and the villains are great and creepy. People might not like this film as its very King and less Kubrick but I loved it.
6: Weathering with you
Makoto Shinkai has done it again, Your Name was one of the best films of 2016 and i’m happy to say that Weathering with you is one of the best films of 2019. I got the opportunity to see this film at the Scotland loves anime film festival which is a great anime film festival held every year. Weathering with you deals with how the weather affects us as people, deals with teenage love and what would you do to be with the ones you love and has an ending that’s extremely ballsy snd I think is shocking and brilliant.
5: One Cut Of The Dead
One Cut of the Dead is probably the best zombie film i’ve seen in a very long time. This film is extremely creative and engaging from beginning to end. The first 37 minutes are shot in one take and the rest isnt but i don’t want to spoil it, the best way to enjoy this film is to go in completely blind and enjoy the ride (hence why i haven’t linked the trailer). I really loved this film and i highly recommend this film to everyone (Please not this film is subtitled).
4: Midsommar
Midsommar is one of the few horror films I’ve seen recently that actual scared me throughout, Ari Aster knows how to direct effective horror films. Midsommar is a beautiful movie, its never boring visually, Florence Pugh puts on one of the best female performances of the year, and seeing how the film deals with loss, grief and bad relationships is very unique and adds to the horror. I’m sorry but the cliff scene is one of the best bits of horror I’ve seen in a film.
3: Thunder Road
Produced for only $200,000 Thunder Road tells a personal story of a cop dealing with the loss of his mother and dealing with the fact that his daughter is becoming distant. Jim Cummings who wrote, directed and is the leading star of this engaging drama with a hint of dark comedy and he puts on a performance that’s one of the best of the year. There’s an incredible amount of long takes and the film never feels or looks cheap Thunder Road is just amazing.
2: The Favourite
The Favourite was my favourite film of 2019 for a long time, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Dear are fantastic but the Favourite is Yorgos Lanthimos best movie to date. It’s expertly shot, darkly funny, the set design and costumes are incredible. Olivia Coleman truly put on the best performances of the year which was recognised when she won best actress at the Oscars, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are both fantastic. I was gripped by the film from minute one when I saw it in January and even now 12 months later it’s still my number 2 film of the year only closely beaten by the number 1.
1: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
I cannot believe that Tarantino wrote the line “No one likes spaghetti westerns” in one of his films as Sergio Leone is one of his biggest inspirations as a director. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a love letter to 1960’s Hollywood from old tv westerns, to the new wave of Italian films and to how the time period looked which he achieved by redecorating entire streets in Hollywood to take us back to the 1960’s and how it sounded via music of that period. Tarantino is one of the best writer and directors working today and this could be one of his best movies he has made.
Written By Robert Drever