After a bit of a slow start, 2019 movies really picked up steam, before finishing incredibly strong in the last few months. With all said and done, it ended up being quite a good year for movies. So before we head into 2020, let’s take a look back at what 2019 had to offer.
Movie Stats
- Total number of movies watched: 373 different movies, plus 8 that I rewatched, making a total of 381 movie viewings
- 160 of those were new 2019 releases (shouts to AMC A-List)
- 109 were pre-2019 movies that I watched for the first time
- Leaving 104 movies that I had already seen
- The average rating for all new 2019 movies was 67.4, which grades out to about a C+ on my rating scale
- 16.25% (26/160) of movies were scored at least an 87/100, where an A- begins on my scale
- 71.25% (114/160) were at 60/100 or above, meaning nearly 3/4 of new movies I saw were average at worst
- 5.6% (9/160) graded out at an F
*VARIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS IS YOUR ONE WARNING*
My Oscars*
*Outside of Best Picture – which is my verbatim Top 10 – these are a combination of my personal favorites and those who are at least on the edge of the nomination conversation. Examples: Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) would be in my top five favorite lead actress performances, but she stands no chance at being nominated, so I left her off. And Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) feels like a lock for a Lead Actor nomination, if not win, but there are at least five other actors who could be nominated whose performances I liked more. All this mostly to say: these are not predictions.
Best Picture
- Parasite – 100/100 (Review on FandomWire)
- 1917 – 97/100
- Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood – 96/100
- Marriage Story – 96/100
- Avengers: Endgame – 95/100 (Review on News From The Couch)
- Waves – 94/100 (Review on FandomWire)
- Jojo Rabbit – 94/100
- The Peanut Butter Falcon – 93/100
- Knives Out – 93/100
- Little Women – 93/100 (Review on FandomWire)
Best Director
- Bong Joon-ho – Parasite
- Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
- Trey Edward Shults – Waves
- Greta Gerwig – Little Women
- Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
Lead Actor
- Adam Driver – Marriage Story
- Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
- Taron Egerton – Rocketman (Review on News From The Couch)
- Roman Griffin Davis – Jojo Rabbit
- Matt Damon – Ford v Ferrari
Lead Actress
- Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
- Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
- Charlize Theron – Bombshell
- Lupita Nyong’o – Us (Review on News From The Couch)
- Awkwafina – The Farewell
Supporting Actor
- Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
- Song Kang-ho – Parasite
- Taika Waititi – Jojo Rabbit
- Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- Joe Pesci – The Irishman
Supporting Actress
- Florence Pugh – Little Women
- Taylor Russell – Waves
- Scarlett Johannson – Jojo Rabbit
- Margot Robbie – Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
- Laura Dern – Marriage Story
Biggest Surprises
There sadly weren’t too many “true” surprises for me this year. As far as surprises go, it was mostly movies that I expected to be good turning out better than expected (John Wick 3, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Little Women, for example). So I’m just going to single out two, the first being one that I thought would be average at best, and the second is one that I thought would be straight up terrible.
Ready or Not
Ready or Not finished as my 40th best film of the year, but would be much higher on a list of favorites. The perfect mix of over-the-top gore, suspense, and dark humor, it’s a riotous good time. And it has one of the most awesome and insane endings of any movie from 2019 (and maybe ever).
Crawl (Review on News From The Couch)
Crawl had no business being as good as it was. It’s far from great, but packs plenty of punch in its tight 87 minute run-time. It’s self-aware enough to know when to be corny and when to hold back and play into the seriousness. And it stays enough within the realm of possibility rather than going a supernatural or genetically-enhanced beasts route. #ApexPredatorAllDay
Favorite Performances
Everyone in Parasite
Right up there with Knives Out and Little Women, Parasite offered some of the best ensemble cast work of the year. From the down on their luck Kim family and their possibly too-smart-for-their-own-good children, to the well-meaning but disconnected Parks, every single person here brought it. A great story, great script, great production, great cast, great movie.
Samara Weaving – Ready or Not
*SPOILERS AND SUPER NSFW*
Zoey Deutch – Zombieland: Double Tap (Review on News From The Couch)
Big time yes to all things Zoey Deutch. I don’t care what the role or movie is, if she’s involved, I’m in.
Ana de Armas – Knives Out
The entire cast was great, if we’re being honest, especially Chris Evans and Daniel Craig. But Ana de Armas deserves special mention. I don’t think many were expecting there to be one true lead character in this story, and even fewer probably expected that to be de Armas. But Rian Johnson knew what he was doing. She absolutely nailed it from top to bottom.
Billie Lourd – Booksmart (Review on News From The Couch)
Taika Waititi/Archie Yates – Jojo Rabbit
In a movie full of great performances, these two deserve mention for a couple reasons. One, Waititi plays Hitler, yep that same one. And it’s one of the funniest roles on the year. And while Yates’ role is a smaller supporting one, he’s a laugh riot every single second he’s on the screen.
Keanu Reeves – John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Review on News From The Couch); Always Be My Maybe (Review on News From The Couch); Toy Story 4
Keanu Reeves was on an absolute heater in 2019. Well, except for Replicas; let’s just pretend that never happened. John Wick 3 is one of the craziest action movies ever, his cameo in Always Be My Maybe could arguably be the movie highlight of the year, and he was a fantastic addition to the Toy Story universe as Duke Caboom.
Isabela Moner – Dora and the Lost City of Gold (Review on Reel Big Films)
Having never watched the Dora the Explorer show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the movie. And while it certainly has its share of faults, Isabela Moner in the title role is certainly not one of them. She’s excitable and high-energy, pitch-perfect for the young explorer. Already with excellent preceding performances in Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Instant Family, Moner’s star is one on the rise.
Florence Pugh – Little Women
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new queen to stan. If you weren’t already convinced after Midsommar, there is no doubt after Pugh’s amazing turn as Amy March in Little Women. Smart, fierce, confident, funny, flawed, Pugh showcased it all in one of the year’s best movies.
Taron Egerton – Rocketman
Egerton need this. He was great in the first Kingsman movie and was fine in the sequel, but the movie itself wasn’t well-received. Then last year’s Robin Hood and Billionaire Boys Club were both widely regarded as two of the worst movies of the year. So it was awesome to see him completely nail this role, forcing his way into the Oscar conversation. He might ultimately unfairly be forgotten about due to Rocketman’s earlier release date, but make no mistake about it, a nomination, or a win, would be more than deserved.
(Some of the/my) Best/Favorite Scenes
*Only including those scenes where I could find a video clip. Sorry Doughnut Hole scene from Knives Out*
* Definitely will have overlooked some great scenes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ *
Pretty much everything in Endgame
Also pretty much everything in John Wick: Chapter 3
Always Be My Maybe
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Rocketman
This is a bit of a cheat code, since it is essentially filled with music videos, so I’ll just include this one.
Us
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Marriage Story
Anna
Parasite
There’s tons here, but this is still one I’m going to protect. If you have not seen it, I don’t want to take any chances at accidentally spoiling something. Just trust that multiple scenes from Parasite would belong here.
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