The Best and Worst of 2019

Parasite

Midsommar

The Lighthouse

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Just in time for the Oscars, which snuck up on me this year. * = Seen via streaming. Worst to first:

High Life — 2/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

Aniara — 2/10

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark — 2/10

Fighting with My Family — 3/10

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love — 3/10

Pet Sematary — 3/10

Rocketman — 4/10

The Farewell — 4/10

Honey Boy — 4/10

The Last Black Man in San Francisco — 4/10

The Lighthouse — 4/10

Ad Astra — 5/10

Pain and Glory — 5/10

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

In Fabric* — 5/10

Hustlers — 5/10

The Irishman*– 6/10

Knives Out — 6/10

Booksmart — 6/10

Ma — 6/10

It Chapter Two — 6/10

Queen & Slim — 6/10

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood — 7/10

Us — 7/10

Uncut Gems — 7/10

Parasite — 7/10

== TOP FIVE ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

5. The Art of Self-Defense — 7/10

4. Joker — 8/10

3. Honeyland — 8/10

2. Midsommar — 8/10

1.  1917 — 9/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  Oddly enough, the Academy will agree.

End Note: An abbreviated list this year. I think there just weren’t as many movies that I felt compelled to see. A small year for movies.

The Best and Worst of 2018

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot

Game Night

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2018 was the worst year in movies since I’ve been doing my blog (2012), and probably since long before that.  An abysmal year, with almost nothing released that anyone will care about or remember in five years time.  Makes you appreciate 2017 so much more.  So here goes — *Asterisk denotes the film I saw at home via VOD:

Black Panther — 2/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

You Were Never Really Here — 3/10

Anna and the Apocalypse — 3/10

Disobedience — 4/10

Slender Man — 4/10

Mission: Impossible – Fallout — 4/10

Annihilation — 4/10.  I’m amused how this highly touted and highly hyped film has already been utterly forgotten.

Halloween — 4/10

Destroyer — 4/10

Welcome to Marwen — 4/10

Bad Times at the El Royale — 4/10

A Quiet Place — 5/10

BlacKkKlansman — 5/10

Double Lover — 5/10

Mid90s — 5/10

Game Night — 5/10

Beast — 5/10

The Mule — 5/10

Blockers — 6/10

American Animals — 6/10

The Sisters Brothers — 6/10

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot — 6/10

Sorry to Bother You — 6/10

Blaze — 6/10

A Star Is Born — 6/10

Widows — 6/10

The Old Man & the Gun — 6/10

The Rider — 7/10

Eighth Grade — 7/10

Leave No Trace — 7/10

Crazy Rich Asians — 7/10

Thoroughbreds — 7/10

Searching — 7/10

Cold War — 7/10

Hereditary — 7/10

Roma* — 7/10

First Reformed — 7/10

The Favourite — 7/10

Can You Ever Forgive Me? — 7/10

Upgrade — 8/10

== TOP 3 ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

3. A Simple Favor — 8/10

2. Free Solo — 8/10

1. Isle of Dogs — 8/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year

End Note (in 3 parts): Yup, Top 3.  Those are the only films of note this year, the only ones that come this time next year I will remember with a fond heart.  Special mention to Upgrade, a surprise entertainment — I almost fashioned a Top 4, but that just didn’t have a ring to it.

Obviously, I have to choose the best prospects of the movies which are released in any given year.  So maybe I’m just missing out.  Maybe 2018 was a better year for films than I am realizing.  Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody and Mary Poppins are really that good.  Maybe I’d like If Beale Street Could Talk, but I’ll probably never find out.  Maybe Green Book or Vice — but I just have zero desire to see any psuedopolitical movies.  The real politics we are dealing with are much more compelling.

It’s hard not to think that the down-swing of films this year is connected to the explosion of television VOD.  But then, that didn’t hurt 2017.

The Best and Worst of 2017

Thelma

Wonder Woman

The Shape of Water

The Beguiled

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

2017 saw an uptick in films compared to the previous year, but it was hardly stellar.  Having no films that I could rate a 9 is disappointing.  2013 and 2014 spoiled me I reckon.  *Asterisk denotes films I saw at home via VOD.

It Comes at Night — 3/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

Personal Shopper — 4/10

Logan — 4/10

Jigsaw — 4/10

Blade Runner 2049 — 4/10

The Square — 4/10

Dunkirk — 5/10

Raw — 5/10

Good Time — 5/10

Last Flag Flying — 5/10

The Book of Henry — 5/10

Wonder Wheel — 5/10

Life — 5/10

Lucky

Logan Lucky — 5/10

Three Billboards blah blah — 5/10

Split — 5/10

Norman — 6/10

T2 Trainspotting — 6/10

Wind River — 6/10

Colossal — 6/10

Brigsby Bear* — 6/10

Lucky — 6/10

Battle of the Sexes — 6/10

Happy Death Day — 6/10

Thor: Ragnarok — 6/10

Wonder Woman — 6/10

Call Me by Your Name — 6/10

Patti Cake$ — 6/10

Lady Bird — 6/10

War for the Planet of the Apes — 7/10

A Ghost Story* — 7/10

It — 7/10

Sleight — 7/10

The Post — 7/10

The Big Sick — 7/10

The Beguiled — 7/10

Lost in Paris — 7/10

The Shape of Water — 7/10

Baby Driver — 7/10

Mother! — 8/10 [u]

== TOP TEN ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NOTE: All in Top Ten are rated 8/10

10. The Disaster Artist

9. The Little Hours I’m upgrading from my original score.  Best comedy of the year — this one grew on me.

8. Lady Macbeth

4. The Florida Project (Not the best of the year, but probably my favorite), Thelma, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Ingrid Goes West are four in fourth.

3. Phantom Thread

1. Get Out and I, Tonya — Clearly the Best Movies of the Year.  I can’t call one over the other.

End Note: What would my year-end list be without an end note?  In this case, I just wanted to point out that there is not a large delta between number 1 and number 10 above, hence the ties.  All are very good and worthwhile films, so watch a trailer or two and decide which one’s for you.

* * *

End Note #2: This year there were a lot of repeats in movie titles: Wonder, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Wheel; Lucky and Logan Lucky, Lady Bird and Lady Macbeth.  To stretch the idea out, you could throw in It and It Comes at Night.  And if It had been the It that came at night, It Comes at Night might well have been a whole lot better.

The Best and Worst of 2016 [u]

Updated on 20 Feb. 2017 to include three films viewed post-post.

Last year about this time, I bluntly stated “2015 was a terrible year for movies.”  Hence I named my end-of-year post “The Best and Mostly Worst of 2015.”  For some time I had thought that compared to the last, thankfully expired year of 2016, 2015 was practically a golden age of cinema.  That maybe 2016 in movies was analogous to the awful year it was in politics.  Actually compiling this list, however, makes me realize that 2016 wasn’t that much worse than 2015.  No film last year passed beyond an 8/10 rating; there were lots of so-so 6’s and ho-hum 7’s.  A fair number of good films, but the shining standouts went AWOL.   Just a kind of middling year.

So on to the list.  No need my normal note on home streaming; I saw all these films in the theater.  As usual, worst to first…

The Girl on the Train — 2/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

Suicide Squad — 2/10

Midnight Special — 2/10

The Meddler — 2/10

Lights Out — 2/10

Arrival — 3/10

Love and Friendship — 4/10

Everybody Wants Some!! — 4/10

Captain Fantastic — 4/10

Fences — 4/10

Deepwater Horizon — 4/10

Don’t Think Twice — 4/10

The Shallows — 4/10

The Witch — 5/10

Embrace of the Serpent — 5/10

Deadpool — 5/10

Elle — 5/10

Silence — 5/10

Moonlight — 5/10

Jackie — 6/10

20th Century Women — 6/10

The Accountant — 6/10

Ouija: Origin of Evil — 6/10

Hacksaw Ridge — 6/10

Lion — 6/10

The Lobster — 6/10

Swiss Army Man — 6/10

Nerve — 6/10

American Honey — 6/10.  This year’s Tangerine

A Bigger Splash — 7/10

Don’t Breathe — 7/10

Manchester by the Sea — 7/10

City of Gold — 7/10

The Nice Guys — 7/10

Hidden Figures — 7/10

Hunt for the Wilderpeople — 7/10

Café Society — 7/10

In Order of Disappearance — 7/10

10 Cloverfield Lane — 7/10

Hell or High Water — 7/10

Certain Women — 7/10

The Neon Demon — 7/10.  More on this one later.

Passengers — 7/10

Sully — 8/10

== TOP FIVE ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

5. Nocturnal Animals — 8/10

4. The Founder — 8/10

3. Where to Invade Next — 8/10

2. La La Land — 8/10

1. Hail, Caesar! — 8/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  Another grand victory for the Coens, yet swept under the rug.  Watch in a darkened theater, close to the big screen — or the nearest approximation thereof that you can muster.

* * *

That’s right, Top Five.  As I said, a middling movie year.  I just couldn’t see highlighting movies that would have been at Number 30 on the 2014 list as a Top Ten pick here, putting them on some sort of equal footing as the magnificent films of that year.

END NOTE on OSCAR CONTENTION.

1) Not long ago (to the best of my recollection), films had to be released for at least two weeks in any given year to be eligible for Oscar consideration for that year; that time period has now been squeezed down to one week.  This means the trend of Oscar-contending films being released later in the following year at a theater near you has only gotten worse.  Foreign and independent films are the worst hit by this phenomenon.  Leviathan, for example, wasn’t available to watch locally until March 2015 — after the Oscars.  This is done to boost ticket sales for award-winning movies, but it’s annoying.

I mention this not because I want to go off on a rant, but to point out that I can’t wait until March or April to put out my yearly list.  There’s a good chance that I’ll be seeing more 2016 pictures in the months ahead; if so I’ll make a note of where they place on this list, and/or make an update.

2) As a corollary to point 1), it is widely accepted that any studio who wants a film to compete in awards season must release its movie in the final quarter of the year.  A summer release is iffy, though not ruled out entirely — but it would have to be a film that captured the year’s zeitgeist.  And anytime in the first half, no way.

Again, my main objective here is not to rant, though the release-date blues do get me down.  I mention it because Hail, Caesar!’s February release — and its studio’s opinion of it as reflected by that release — has more to do with its Oscar non-contention than anything to do with the quality of the picture.  As the best of the year, that’s a shame.  But then shame and the Oscars go hand in hand.

The Best and Mostly Worst of 2015

2015 was a terrible year for movies.  There was a dearth not only of good, mainstream Oscar contenders (“big” movies) but also of quality indies.  Making this list, however, I am a little surprised no 7/10-rated film made the top ten.  So maybe it wasn’t the worst year ever.  But the whole year felt weird and “off.”  I considered highlighting a “TOP FIVE” instead of the normal top ten, because it’s hard for me to be enthusiastic about the better movies this year.

It’s so bad this year that the Academy agrees with me.  Although, naturally, they missed the two best pictures of the year, they’ve only nominated eight for the top prize — and two of them are Mad Max and The Martian!  Now that’s a good one.  They’re really scraping the bottom there.

As established last year, each movie is linked to the original post; an asterisk denotes a film seen via VOD.

Furious 7 — 1/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year.

Sicario — 1/10.  A close runner-up for Worst of the Year

The Martian — 2/10

Unfriended — 3/10

Creed — 3/10

Phoenix — 4/10

About Elly — 4/10

Mr. Holmes — 4/10

Paper Towns — 4/10

Brooklyn — 4/10

Mission: Impossible V — 4/10

The New Girlfriend — 4/10

Hot Girls Wanted* — 5/10

While We’re Young*– 5/10

It Follows — 5/10

Ich Seh Ich Seh (Goodnight Mommy) — 5/10.  Tragic how this film was resolved.  Otherwise such a powerful picture.

What We Do in the Shadows — 6/10

Crimson Peak — 6/10

Star Wars VII — 6/10

The Big Short — 6/10

Maps to the Stars — 6/10

Black Mass — 6/10

The Visit — 6/10

Leviathan — 6/10

Mad Max: Fury Road — 6/10

The Wolfpack* — 7/10

Straight Outta Compton — 7/10

An Honest Liar* — 7/10

Spy — 7/10

Tangerine — 7/10

Trainwreck — 7/10

Best of Enemies — 7/10

Meru — 7/10

Dope — 7/10

Everest — 7/10.  Rating applies to 3D theatrical showing.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl — 7/10

Amy — 7/10

Love & Mercy — 7/10.  This movie had problems, but I find these months later it still resonates with me.

Irrational Man — 7/10

Carol — 8/10

== TOP TEN ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

10. The Overnight — 8/10

9. I’ll See You in My Dreams — 8/10

8. Spotlight — 8/10

7. The Hateful Eight — 8/10

6. The Gift — 8/10

5. Relates Salvajes (Wild Tales) — 8/10.  The most “fun” movie of the year.

4. The Revenant — 8/10

3. Room — 8/10

2. Ex Machina — 9/10

1. The Walk — 9/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  A beautiful, inspiring film; make sure to watch on the big screen.

The Best and Worst of 2014

Nightcrawler

Nymphomaniac Vol. I

Snowpiercer

Interstellar

Ida

The Dance of Reality

2014 was a very different movie year than 2013 — many more good movies.  But first:

Pride — 2/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

And now the rest, in ascending order of my opinion.  That no film sank to 1/10 may be seen as a bellwether of the elevated overall quality of the movies of 2014.  Last year each movie that received an 8 or above made it into the Top Ten; this year some movies of that caliber won’t even make the top 20.  I think I watched a record number of movies this year as well, so this will be quite a list.

*The mix-up with Nymphomaniac made me rethink omitting films from my annual list which I did not see in the theater.  I will denote films seen via VOD with an asterisk.

Oculus — 2/10

The Blue Room — 3/10

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies — 3/10

Men, Women & Children — 3/10

22 Jump Street — 3/10

Citizenfour — 3/10.  This year’s Room 237: the most overrated documentary

Inherent Vice — 3/10

Love Is Strange — 3/10

The Book of Life — 4/10

Calvary — 4/10

Godzilla — 4/10

The Other Woman — 4/10

Non-Stop — 4/10

X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D) — 4/10

Lucy — 4/10

The Signal — 5/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier — 5/10

Two Days, One Night — 5/10

Jersey Boys — 5/10

Nymphomaniac Vol. II* — 5/10

A  Most Wanted Man — 5/10

The Two Faces of January — 5/10

I Origins — 5/10

Beyond the Lights — 5/10

Visitors — 6/10

The Unknown Known* — 6/10

300: Rise of an Empire (IMAX 3D)– 6/10

Interstellar — 6/10

John Wick — 6/10

Snowpiercer — 6/10.  What happened to all the awards?

Guardians of the Galaxy — 6/10

Wild — 6/10

The Homesman — 6/10

Only Lovers Left Alive — 6/10.  This is becoming a bit of a sentimental favorite, so may be upgraded in the future.  Always good to get a dose of Jim Jarmusch.

Particle Fever* — 7/10

Noah — 7/10

The Dance of Reality — 7/10

The One I Love –– 7/10

Boyhood — 7/10  If Boyhood — the exact same movie in all other ways — is shot over 90 days instead of 12 years, nobody’s talking about it.  The impact of shooting over 12 years cannot be denied, but otherwise this is a string of Parenthood episodes.

Blue Ruin* and Cold in July — crime dramas tied at 7/10

Selma — 7/10

Mr. Turner — 7/10

Birdman — 7/10

St. Vincent — 7/10

Top Five — 8/10

Tim’s Vermeer — 8/10

Foxcatcher — 8/10

Nymphomaniac Vol. I — 8/10

Get on Up — 8/10

The Grand Budapest Hotel and Neighbors — 8/10.  It’s a tie.

 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes — 8/10

Force Majeure — 8/10

Nightcrawler — 8/10

The Imitation Game — 8/10

Gone Girl — 8/10

Edge of Tomorrow — 8/10.

== TOP TEN ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

10. Obvious Child — 8/10.  The year’s best comedy

9. Big Eyes — 8/10

8. The Drop — 8/10

7. The Theory of Everything — 8/10

6. Whiplash — 9/10

5. American Sniper — 9/10

4. A Most Violent Year — 9/10

3. Ida — 9/10

2. Life Itself — 10/10.  A must for all cinephiles.

1. Under the Skin — 10/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  An astounding film that’s not for most, so before you proceed read my post.

End Note:  There is an interesting correlation, which I guarantee is hardly coincidental, of Scarlett Johansson and quality films.  Last year she was in Her and Don Jon, and this year Under the Skin.  Not content with simply ‘good enough’, these are great, daring, spirited films.  Really liking her these days.

The Best and Worst of 2013

Stoker

Side Effects

The Place…

2013 was an interesting year in movies for two reasons: 1) the bigger movies hyped for awards season were generally disappointing, and 2) there were no great indie dramas this year, unlike 2012 which featured Safety Not Guaranteed and the second-best film of the year, Sound of My Voice.

In keeping with the parameters established last year, this list is a rundown of every 2013-released film I saw in the theater.  All links will be to the original posting.  From worst to first:

Anchorman 2 — 1/10 and Honours for Worst Movie of the Year

Broken City — 2/10.  Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg, and… why?

Room 237 — 2/10

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints — 2/10.  Biggest disappointment among indies.

Mama — 2/10

No — 2/10 (Officially a 2012 film, but not released until 2013)

The Conjuring — 3/10

Now You See Me — 3/10

Much Ado About Nothing — 3/10.  Nothing is right.  As I recall, critics were pretty well tripping over themselves when this was released, and it ends up being another forgotten movie come awards time.  Validates my reaction, I’d say.  I swear, if American Hustle had been released in March there would not have been any nominations or talk about it being a Best Picture Oscar favorite.

Kon-Tiki — 3/10

Star Trek Into Darkness — 3/10

American Hustle — 4/10

You’re Next — 4/10

The Great Gatsby — 4/10

Out of the Furnace — 4/10

Fruitvale Station — 5/10

Blue is the Warmest Color — 5/10

Inside Llewyn Davis — 5/10

The Wolf of Wall Street — 5/10

The Place Beyond the Pines — 5/10

Stoker — 6/10

Mud — 6/10

The East — 6/10

Enough Said — 6/10

Nebraska — 6/10

World War Z — 7/10

Prisoners — 7/10

All Is Lost — 7/10

Dallas Buyers Club — 7/10

This Is the End — 7/10

== TOP TEN ==

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

10.  Blue Jasmine — 8/10

9.  Elysium — 8/10

8.  The Way, Way Back — 8/10

7.  Don Jon — 8/10

6.  Side Effects — 8/10

5.  Gravity — 8/10.  Rating applies to in-theater 3D showing only.

4.  Oldboy — 8/10

3.  Captain Phillips — 9/10

2.  Her — 9/10.  A profound and visionary film, but edged out for best of the year because it didn’t have the emotional wallop delivered by:

1.  12 Years a Slave — 9/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  The more I’ve thought about this movie, the more I appreciate its greatness.  An instant American classic, it is important not only within cinema but as an historical testament. 

The Best of 2012

First the worst:

Savages – 1/10 [prior post].  Savages earns the distinction of “Clearly the Worst” Movie of the Year.  My version of a Razzie if you will.

Now that we have that out of the way, an explanation: 2012 was a breakout movie-watching year for me.  I am listing here all movies that I can recall seeing in a theater during the 2012 calendar year.  There may be a movie or two here that were actually released in 2011, but that I saw in 2012.  I am also including a couple movies that I saw this year but which were 2012 releases.  And I saw one or two 2012 releases via Apple TV this year, but I am not including them in this list.  Notably then, off this list are Salmon Fishing in the Yemen [prior post] and Take This Waltz [prior post], though maybe I should include those as well.  I doubt that seeing either of those in the theater would have boosted my opinion of them.

Hope that makes sense to everybody.  This is not just a “Best of 2012” list but a listing of everything I’ve seen for 2012.  If I watch any more 2012 movies in a theater, I’ll amend this list.

So, continuing on with the bad ones and getting progressively better:

The Grey – 1/10.  This one deserves special mention on two counts.  First off, as runner up to worst of the year.  Secondly, as to why it is I am writing this blog.  This movie was heralded by nationally known critic A.O. Scott as a “NYT Critics’ Pick”, stating “It’s a fine, tough little movie, technically assured and brutally efficient, with a simple story that ventures into some profound existential territory without making a big fuss about it.”

No it doesn’t.  It’s a big stinky trash-heap of a movie.  Awful.  Like Jaws 3-D but with wolves.  Except not even in 3-D.  If it hadn’t taken itself so seriously it might have made a good B-movie farce.  Moving onward:

Battleship – 2/10.  Gets a little credit for some cool special effects.

Looper – 2/10.  Good preview though

The Hunger Games – 3/10

Prometheus – 3/10

Silver Linings Playbook – 3/10 [prior post]

Lincoln – 3/10 [prior post]

Skyfall – 4/10 [prior post]

The Dark Knight Rises and its twin The Avengers – both 4/10

Melancholia – 5/10.  Saw this in Tucson a year ago.  A disappointing retreat by Lars von Trier, though with extraordinary elements.

The Master – 5/10.  Worth seeing for Joaquin Phoenix’s acting, probably the best male acting performance of the year.  A lot to recommend this one, but it didn’t come together as a complete picture. [prior post]

Barbara – 5/10 [prior post]

Arbitrage – 6/10

== ==== Now on to the good stuff! ==== ==

Beasts of the Southern Wild – 6/10.  As time has gone by I have thought better and better of this movie.  You’ll definitely see some things you never have before and never will again.  [prior post]

Flight – 7/10 [prior post]

The Campaign – 7/10.  Funny with lots of good-natured bad language.

Neighboring Sounds – 7/10 [prior post]

Safety Not Guaranteed – 8/10.  Fun, intriguing, interesting little movie.

Moonrise Kingdom – 8/10.  Wes Anderson returns to form.

Bernie – 8/10.  Jack Black is excellent in this true story.  An extraordinary tale, even more worthwhile if you are not familiar with what really happened, as unfortunately I was due to an NPR interview which gave away too much.  Really one of the best of the year.

Rock of Ages and Les Misérables – this is a tie; both 8/10 [prior post].  Who would have thought that two musicals released in 2012 would be so good?

Argo – 8/10.  Lincoln could learn a thing or two from this one on how to present a historical movie that works. [prior post]

The Cabin in the Woods – 8/10 [prior post].  A very effective sci-fi thriller that comes in at No. 3

Sound of My Voice – 9/10.  I’ll be posting on this one and the related and also excellent Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) at some point in the future.  Released in April, for most of 2012 I thought it the best of the year and was developing a theory on 2012 in movies around the concept of an inverse relation of budget to quality, as this is about as low budget as a still professionally made film can get.  It was knocked to No. 2 when I saw:

Django Unchained – 9/10 and Clearly the Best Movie of the Year.  [prior post]

And that’s it.  If I’ve left anything off I’ll update later.  Your comments are welcome as always.

Sound of My Voice