(So far) on several occasions in 2019, film critics and mass audiences shared a love affair over a flick. Now that we’re just past the halfway point of the year, that became majorly clear as The Movie Mensch compiled our annual mid-year “best of.” After scouring my impression of every film that was released from January 1, 2019 through the beginning of July, it can be stated that (so far) this year is a great one.
From Avengers: Endgame to Toy Story 4, the Mouse House scored two huge hits and a pair of critical darlings that will surely play some part in the upcoming Oscar race. We’re not expecting a Return of the King Best Picture Oscar for Endgame kind of thing … just sayin’! Mickey’s moviemaking brain trust also gave us another stellar contribution to our Top 15 of 2019 (so far) that soared with the dishers of cinematic taste and those who fill theaters all year.
Our movie year 2019 (so far!) also found timely pieces of art that transcended the medium with its ability to make a statement that enlightened while it entertained. Then, there was the film that featured Matthew McConaughey channeling his inner Matthew McConaughey (it even has a bongo scene!) that was painted with a lofty south Florida hue adding layers of emotion to his character’s Moon-ish poetic prose.
15. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Remember that old Memorex commercial that asked, “Is it real or is it … ?” That was one takeaway from Martin Scorsese’s documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese) that arose by witnessing the fascinating flick. The other, if this film was a weather pattern, it would be a hurricane.
Dylan’s titular 70s tour chronicle takes viewers inside and illustrates what it took to undertake an epic national tour that played smaller intimate theaters and pushed the boundaries of what was present on a rock and roll tour during that time period. There were a myriad of artists that joined the Bohemian Bard on the road—including his Twist of Fate duet partner, Joan Baez. The film that documents the goings-on is strangely inspiring, intriguingly entertaining and wholeheartedly amazing.
14. Little Woods
Tessa Thompson sears in Little Woods, a film that will firmly grab you by your heart and head. In writer-director Nia DiCosta’s seismic cinematic announcement, Thompson portrays Ollie. To say she is down on her luck does a disservice to those who are residing in that hemisphere of supreme challenge. It is a performance that is as riveting as revolutionary. The actress, who many audiences first discovered in Creed, Thor: Ragnarok or Men in Black: International, will discover a side to her that is something you will want to see more of … Every. Single. Day. There are few thespians of her generation doing the work she is just improving on with each successive film.
In Little Woods, her Ollie has some tough circumstances that have put her in the thankless position where she currently resides. Her sister, Deb (Lilly James), and her are stuck in a small town where bright future seems like a phrase that is as elusive as possible. She gets involved with some people she shouldn’t, things don’t quite go as well as they should. Where some storytellers would have all things resolve in the nicest of bows, the route taken by DiCosta is surprising and sensational—a fresh breath of tensely laid out filmmaking.
13. Wild Rose
Music movies are having a great year here in 2019. Further proof of that arrived in early summer with the country music centric charm of Wild Rose. The flick served as the most riveting of talent announcements for its lead, Jessie Buckley. The Irish lass portrays a Scottish country singer who has her sights set on one thing and one thing only when we meet her in Tom Harper’s picture—going to Nashville and becoming a country music sensation. Thing is, as the film commences, she is just getting out of jail, has two small children who hardly know her and a mother (Julie Walters, astounding as usual) who looks at her with nothing but the glare of disappointment. Oh, and she lives in Glasgow, 3,923 miles away. The country music capital might as well be on the moon.
The film medium is at its best when it catches you by surprise. When it takes viewers on a journey that is entertaining, and dare I say even enlightening, and above all else—finds souls emotively moved. As catchy as the soundtrack is to the ears, it is the heart that is treated to a mesmerizing cornucopia of feelings. Witnessing Rose make every mistake, coupled with bad choices and bad luck … and refusing to back down, much less hang her head or slow down her ambition knowing that innately inside her is a country music superstar waiting to permeate audiences’ fancy. What else is fascinating is how one does not have to be a fan of country music or an appreciator of any kid of the down-home American-born musical stylings. From the moment Buckley exits that prison and sings her way into our collective souls, it is a gift to behold. What with its raw and unnerved realness of the signer/actress and her uncanny ability to with the stroke of one performance become that artist whose name alone gets our attention.
12. The Beach Bum
There is something so gorgeously grand about the way Harmony Korine shoots the pastel-laden landscape of Florida. His colorful and mind-melding Spring Breakers still catches our eye every time it’s on. Haven’t seen it … make it your mission to seek it out. The writer-director returns to The Sunshine State in The Beach Bum and in the process crafted a role custom built for a certain “alright, alright, alright” actor. Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey channels his inner stoner (there’s even a scene where he plays the bongos for goodness sakes!). He is Moondog, a poet who is married to Isla Fisher’s Minnie and spends his days and nights all in the service of his id and thank goodness he does because it is an utter delight to witness.
The cast is sublime and many take on roles that are so wildly different than what we’re used to seeing them. Top of the list must be Martin Lawrence, who triumphantly tackles Captain Wack. It is a hilarious turn, yes, but one will never look at the Bad Boys actor the same way again. Zac Efron’s Flicker shares some stupendous scenes with Moon Dog that are so going to get watched on repeat when the flick comes home. Jonah Hill’s Lewis is Moon Dog’s agent and loses himself in the role to stunningly hilarious results. Jimmy Buffet’s even in the movie, people! Of course, there is one soul whose performance is probably not much of a stretch and that’s alright, alright, alright—Snoop Dogg!
11. Artic
Mads Mikkelsen puts on a clinic in the survival flick Artic that will go down in history. As phenomenal as Tom Hanks was in Castaway, Mikkelsen commands tenfold. He is basically the only character in the film, save for a Maria Thelma Smáradóttir, who is unconscious most of the time. His Overgård has survived a plane crash in the Artic Circle and he keenly knows that his chances for survival go up significantly if he leaves the “sanctity” of the destroyed air vessel.
Although little is said, so much is expressed through all the uncanny tools that the Danish actor possesses. In director/co-writer Joe Penna’s stunning script (which was also penned with Ryan Morrison), Overgård is not just a man possessed with surviving the un-survivable, he is all of us in the most inspirational of ways. Viewers feel the cold, and every single one of his pains that consume him as he traverses the snow-covered landscape. His hunger, thirst—they are all captured in such a way that it is palpable. Between the cinematography, bare-bones score and an actor doing his best work at the highest of his ability, this is a journey through the Artic that will be one that is hard to shake for some time.
10. Rocketman
After the box office ($700 million) and critical (4 Academy Awards, including Rami Malek for Best Actor) success of Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman could have sank or swim on a multitude of levels. It could not come off or appear to come off as riding the coattails of telling (another) story of a 70s starting gay rock star who battled varied challenges once he reached the pinnacle of his profession. Instead of going down a yellow brick road of the standard rock and roll biopic, director Dexter Fletcher and his creative crew delivered a bombastically beautiful true blue musical that used Elton John’s music and Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to tell the story as so many of the truly great musicals do.
Then, there’s the performance of Taron Edgerton as the musical prodigy/genius. He digs deep and all that promise he’s been showing with the Kingsman movies and the rich turn he delivered in Eddie the Eagle is on full display with Rocketman. Look for him to score an Oscar nod for Best Actor, like Rami Malek achieved for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Not to be left out, Jamie Bell was magnificent as Taupin and watching Edgerton and Bell capture one of the most prolific of artistic relationships in history will produce a response that consists of wanting to witness this rock and roll revelry repeatedly for years to come.
9. John Wick Chapter 3
John Wick is like the Energizer Bunny, except instead of those killer shades, he is the killer with a cavalcade of guns, knives and anything that can impale or imperil a human being. Yes, he too keeps going and going and going and going … especially in this third chapter of the John Wick franchise that finds our favorite assassin running and fighting for his life against what seems like everyone.
Keanu Reeves gets his fifth (at least!) transcending role in an actioner that pushes the envelope in terms of what audiences can get thrilled by with fight choreography. Specifically, in John Wick: Chapter 3, the movie superstar has a part that could not be more challenging. It’s fitting, after all this is a soul that was introduced to audiences with a secondhand story that said all you need to know about this anti-hero in one short sentence, “He killed a man with a pencil.” With that kind of build-up, each successive film needs to up the ante (as is the case with any sequel property, but specifically with John Wick, the bar has been set so high, stratospheric expectations exist) in terms of the action sequences. From samurai sword wielding motorcycle riders coming after Wick to him racing through Manhattan traffic on a thoroughbred, Reeves earns his paycheck on this third (of at least four chapters) edition of a man who stresses that this entire justice extolling endeavor is not simply “about a dog.” At this point, it has gotten so much deeper.
8. Captain Marvel
Speaking of Oscars … Academy Award winner Brie Larson dove into the role of Carol Danvers/aka Captain Marvel, with such power and supreme presence that what she accomplished with that performance will not only go down in the history books of the comic movie landscape, but Hollywood lore for the statement that the film makes. Comic book flicks have come so far that a production can get an Oscar winner to sign on because the power of the prose is rich, the stories are compelling, important and envelope pushing—not to mention serving as a ripe landscape for making a statement about our society at large.
It’s truly important and will be fascinating to see how the effect of the film will influence young girls over the next few decades.
After Thanos wiped out half of the living things on Earth in Avengers: Infinity War, who was the first person Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) contacted? Yup, Captain Marvel and that says so much.
Captain Marvel not only achieved all the above, but at its core the film was a totally delight that entertained, enthralled and even enlightened. It’s a rich tapestry of character introduction, explosive action sequences and technical marvels that push the moviemaking envelope. The de-aging process that appeared to take decades off Jackson’s physical appearance was utterly seamless and should usher in a stellar tool for cinema artists by expanding the storytelling opportunities.
7. Long Shot
Sadly, not enough people were treated to the shared joyous experience that is witnessing Long Shot with an audience. Whether you share space with a fellow film goer won’t affect the joyous potential of the unlikely brilliance of the Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron rom-com.
Rogen is a journalist, who is tapped by potential presidential candidate and current Secretary of State (Theron) to pen her speeches as she ramps up her executive branch ambitions. The two knew each other back when, specifically when she babysat for him. Their happenstance meeting at a Washington soiree sets off a divinely delightful (and yes, original) rom-com that could not have been more of a shot in the arm of a subgenre that sorely needs it.
6. Avengers: Endgame
What is so astonishing about Avengers: Endgame is how the Russo brothers managed to one, take all that expectations and surpass them. Two, weave 11 years of Marvel movies and 22 films during that span (helmed and written by a varied crop of filmmakers) and seamlessly resolve everything that came before in a manner that not only satisfied fans, but has many believing that it has a shot to earn a Best Picture nod, a la The Return of the King.
It is truly amazing to even consider undertaking such an endeavor. Think about that cast, all those characters and to give each one their due, a moment to shine, emotional highs and lows—all without the flick feeling like a slow boat to China. In fact, it couldn’t have been more electrically entertaining and surprisingly, when those credits rolled, most fans felt they could have gone for more of a ride on that Avengers speeding train.
Also, the man who started it all—Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man—turned in the performance of Phase I, II and III with such panache that he’s even getting Oscar talk.
5. Toy Story 4
After Toy Story 3, most of the world thought we’d seen the last of Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen) and their fellow toy cohorts. The entire franchise had been wrapped up in such an emotionally satisfying (and sobbingly sad—but in a good way—let’s be real) manner. What more could the folks at Pixar have to say via their animated plaything surrogates? Turns out, a whole lot. When these items are passed on from one wide-eyed child to another, there is an enormous shift in the play potential of every single one of those beloved toys. Toy Story 4 captures that and then some.
As Disney-Pixar has done with the previous three Toy Story films, they’ve found ways to top themselves with adding fun and unique toys, and most stunningly finding the perfect soul to bring them to life on the silver screen. This time out Keanu Reeves’ Duke Caboom—a Canadian daredevil—takes the cake and shows the most hilarious side of Reeves that audiences have not experienced in years. Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key are reunited as attached at the hand stuffed animals Bunny and Ducky, respectively. Don’t get me started on the fall to the floor hilarity of those two! Serving as the centerpiece of our film is Tony Hall in a stunning turn as Forky. Director Josh Cooley and his creative partners have expanded the Toy Story world to create a stalwart of the childhood experience—the self-made toy. Forky is, in fact, a spork with broken other assorted trash, such as a used popsicle stick (for feet!). Adorned with colored pipe cleaner and glued googily eyes, when he comes to life, Bonnie’s happiness hangs in the balance. Led by Woody, the toys rally to ensure Forky stays and doesn’t fulfill is initial wish to remain trash. Loving lessons ensue and are learned anew for us adults and priceless moments abound for their kiddos.
4. Us
Jordan Peele firmly established himself as a supernatural sensei of cinema with his second writing-directing effort, Us. The man who made a name for himself as half of the comedy duo Key and Peele, has the most discerning devilish eye for horror, thrills and suspense. His sophomore effort knew not the word slump and in fact was as socially charged as his debut, Get Out, but in the most extraordinarily unique of ways.
Lupita Nyong’o puts on a clinic, and here’s hoping that Oscar voters remember her come ballot time because she deserves to go to the front of that line with her indelible double duty performance. Nyong’o inhabits Adelaide Wilson and her doppelganger, Red, with a ferocity that hits audiences like a double-barreled tsunami. In this world, Peele’s pointed view focuses on race, sure, but expounds that critical eye to the vast notion of an unspoken caste system in society that is more about access to opportunity versus straight-up economics. Never has a film nightmare so “tethered” to today hit so close to home for so many.
3. Apollo 11
Rarely has a documentary been able to match the power, visually and phonically, of a big screen blockbuster. That is so the case with Apollo 11 and its grandiose intensity of sight and sound. It is also the rare doc that can take a subject that is perceived to be well known, and frame it in a myriad of fresh lights that gives the legendary folks involved in the event a new, proper and permanent place in our cultural lore.
Director Todd Douglas Miller masterfully frames a seismic human history achievement in such a way that not only do viewers wholeheartedly feel the sense of global pride at the achievement that is millennia in the making, but also casts a spell anew over each and every pair of eyes that has the honor and privilege to witness Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong recently got the Hollywood treatment in the Ryan Gosling starring (and Oscar nominated) First Man and it is understandable why on this 50thh anniversary of the Moon landing that so much attention is being given to the feat. Now with the dazzling documentary, history literally comes alive in a manner that serves as a benchmark for the non-fiction wing of the filmmaking universe. It is breathtaking and if there was ever a documentary that deserved to also score a Best Picture nod, it is Miller’s.
2. Booksmart
Olivia Wilde could not have made a better first splash as a director than with what she astonishingly achieved with Booksmart. The film is fun, hilarious, heartfelt, thought-provoking and serves as a stunning talent reveal, not only by Wilde, but by the two leads—Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. The story of two seniors on the eve of their graduation and how they discover that many of their fellow students have gotten into similarly challenging colleges as them and spent the last four years having fun while all they did was study. It sets off an evening for the ages… let’s just hope they can make it to graduation. It’s not like one of them is delivering the valedictorian speech!
Booksmart is an insightful movie that is as intelligent as its moniker, but also street smart in how it captures youth and our society’s judge a book by its cover faultiness that can keep us collectively from not only enjoying life but enjoying each other.
1. Hotel Mumbai
The real-life terror attack on Mumbai, India’s beloved and legendary Taj Hotel, lies at the heart of Hotel Mumbai. But the takeaway from this expertly crafted heart-pounder is an enlightening and uplifting study into the heroic and stoic potential of humanity. Director Anthony Maras directs a cast led by Dev Patel as a member of the kitchen staff and Armie Hammer as a visiting guest with a young wife and baby in tow. It is 2008 and the entire city becomes engulfed in a terror wave as the train station left numerous dead, bombs went off across the seaside town and most jarringly as told in Hotel Mumbai a historic (and luxurious) site is taken over and those who did not get caught by the terrorists mount an astonishing escape effort while death lay around every corner.
Patel’s character has a family (including a baby) at home and his response and dozens of other hotel workers were the same. They stayed, ever committed to the guests. Sure, their comfort and luxurious leanings are their expertise, but on this day their “guest is God” mantra was purely about the worthiest of endeavors—life saving. Patel embodies that with such panache it is truly moving, as is every single one of the Indian casts’ stunning turns. Hammer, meanwhile, is our eyes, ears, heart and soul. His presence is simultaneously volatile and calm, and embodies not only the best of humanity, but that universal heart-string that is parenting.