Another year down in the books, another year of great movies along with it. Everyone has their own idea of what makes a great movie, so of course the best and worst movies of the year will be completely subjective. So, these are the ones that really stood out to me…and one that completely broke my heart in two and stomped on it. Let’s get to it.
In release date order, here are my favorite movies of 2019.
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The Farewell
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The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang, is a hilarious, touching, all around beautiful film that delves into family relationships, more specifically a relationship between a granddaughter and her grandmother. Awkwafina and Shuzhen Zhao gave stunning performances that will continue to stick with me. See it if you haven’t—you won’t regret it.
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Booksmart
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Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde, follows a relationship between high school best friends who realize they haven’t lived their high school years to the fullest, and on the last night of the school year, decide that needs to change. I had a smile cemented onto my face the entirety of this film. It was imaginative, it took risks that paid off and it represented the power of friendships between women in such a moving, realistic and profound way. Do not skip out on this one.
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Parasite
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Parasite, written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, is a film you should go into without knowing much. I knew nothing about it going in, and I can say with certainty that’s the best way to watch it. The praise it’s getting is well deserved, to say the least, and I could go on and on about why, but just do yourself a favor and watch this.
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Knives Out
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Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson, takes the cake for most amount of times I saw a movie in theatres this year. I saw this one four times…and I have no shame. Every single viewing, I noticed new details and caught different clues. It’s a whodunnit mystery, but it has a unique tone and theme to it that make it stand out in the genre. The amazing writing and cast make this one impossible not to love.
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Marriage Story
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Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, is a heartbreaking story that follows a divorce. This one can be difficult to watch, but that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. Baumbach really delved into the hard intricacies that can come with marriage and the hard reality of problems that some can have. The acting took my breath away at times, it was that good. It might be a sad story, but I promise there’s warmth in there, too.Â
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Little Women
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Little Women, written and directed by Greta Gerwig, is probably my favorite movie of the year. The novel by Louisa May Alcott holds such a special place in my heart, and this movie multiplied that love tenfold. Gerwig beautifully interwove two timelines throughout the film that let viewers see characters in new lights and let us experience the story in a different perspective. I saw this one three times in theatres! I’m sure I’ll see it many more times, too.
So, these are my favorite movies that I saw, but I know there are several others I’ve still yet to see that I bet would make this list. Those honorable mentions include Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Lighthouse and Midsommar.
But obviously, not all movies turn out that great. Thankfully, this year I didn’t watch many unbelievably cringeworthy ones (yes, I didn’t see Cats). There was only one movie this year that truly broke my heart and disappointed me like no other.Â
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I could rant for a long time about how many problems I have with this movie, but of course, I can’t do that, so I’ll try to keep it succinct as I can. This movie took away Rey’s integrity of character, it ruined Ben Solo’s character arc and robbed him of agency, it reduced Finn to someone who chases after Rey for half of the movie, it completely erased Rose’s character, the dialogue was awful (basically like a continuous SNL skit), Palpatine’s comeback made no sense…oh yeah, wait, nothing in general made sense. The writers, J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio, decided that honoring Luke and Leia was more important than giving satisfying arcs to the characters they created for this trilogy. This movie was a flashy, desperate attempt to please the audience—more namely, those what didn’t like The Last Jedi (which is easily the best, most erudite Star Wars film of the decade.) But when you cater to fans and rob the characters of all their depth and agency… there’s just a story with a bunch of flashing lights and no coherency.
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