 | Wow! That time of the year again already! What's there to say about this year in film? Well for starters, 2019 officially marked five years since I started this blog, and it has grown so immensely since then as I grew as a critic and general human being. I really want to thank you all for following my blog and for giving me your strong moral support over the years. So now, on looking back on the films that I saw this last year, here's what I believe is the objectively best of 2019: be prepared for a few unsung gems that just need to get noticed! |
But first, a few notes on some of these categories:
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
Best Film Editing
| The Nominees:
The film is made to look like one continuous shot, and the result looks so fluid and seamless, you really do feel like you're there in the horror of war. As the focus remains on the leads, the fluidity of the edit generates the crunch of time in how quickly a life-or-death event can happen. |  |
Best Sound
| The Nominees:
With every musical number that celebrates the legacy of Elton John, the roar of his passion always erupts with the impact of a crowd, yet sounds eerily similar to what his mental state was really like. In the loud and quiet moments, there's never a mistake on what's going on in Elton's head. |  |
Best Cinematography
| The Nominees:
The shots in the world of the lower class look cluttered and bleak, the shots in the world of the upper class look wide open and a different kind of bleak. The cinematography of Parasite is not about looking beautiful, but about striking the separation between what should bring us together. |  |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
| The Nominees:
Every teenager in Booksmart, be it the preppy kids or the rebels, stands out in his or her own unique way. What's clever about the makeup designs in this coming-of-age comedy is how everybody looks just like a high school drama club exaggerated the stereotypes of social cliques. |  |
Best Costume Design
| The Nominees:
Whether on the stripper pole or out on the street... or even while in the presence of a daughter, every mentally disturbed woman in Hustlers is dressed to impress. No matter their various predicaments, each "hustler" finds that harsh balance between looking trashy and looking real. |  |
Best Production Design
| The Nominees:
The whole set is just a single lighthouse, but it's designed so that it becomes a character in its own right. It all keeps its walls over the two men, ever so stationary yet somehow closing in, making the absolute most of its horrific black-and-white photography for invisible impact. |  |
Best Music
| The Nominees:
Want to know what it sounds like to lose your mind? Just give the soundtrack of The Lighthouse a listen. It sounds like a mixture of old sailor voices with what they used to play on their instruments to pass the time, the result is a demonic orchestra to accompany the ascent into Hell. |  |
Best Visual Effects
| The Nominees:
Flood pours. People get stabbed. People die. A toilet pukes. The small scale of this motion picture feels much larger with how perfectly executed these little moments are staged. None of it looks like stunt work. None of it looks like pyrotechnics. It doesn't just look real, it is real. |  |
Worst Picture
| The Nominees:
The more Disney lies to themselves in thinking that remaking their old classics is a good idea, the worse those products get. Dumbo is the worst of it because it is so uninspired: the heart of the adorable elephant is replaced with a cast and crew that can't land on the same page. |  |
Best Supporting Actress
| The Nominees:
Truly an unsung heroine of what is an overlooked film of the year, Bluesy Burke leaves a surprising amount of impact with her role of a girl who hates everybody for what she genuinely believes are good reasons; it's done to the effect of giving the larger characters justification for their beliefs. |  |
Best Supporting Actor
| The Nominees:
Mr. Hanks perfectly embodies the little quirks of Fred Rogers: The way he sits, the way he pauses between words, and his gentle presence with even the most unlikable of people. He was the best choice for the job of reminding us why Mr. Rogers is still our special neighbor to this day. |  |
Best Actress
| The Nominees:
She's not meant to be playing a likable human being, but Beanie Feldstein carries her role in Booksmart so naturally, that her performance as a self-entitled smart girl tells you everything you need to know to feel her deep pain that she keeps trying to cover up from those she pretends to love. |  |
Best Actor
| The Nominees:
As problematic as the script is, James McAvoy carries M. Night Shyamalan's vision with an anchor of terror and unpredictability. He's now more monstrous and bipolar than he was in Split, and never overplays it: all that his multiple personalities project are somehow completely genuine. |  |
Best Screenplay
| The Nominees:
It's just two men and a nonexistent mermaid, but the tiny cast is all that The Lighthouse needs to outline all the steps of losing your mind. Its efforts though would have been futile had it not been for the uncomfortable details that resonate for all who shared a living space with someone. |  |
Best Director
| The Nominees:
With a smaller screen that boxes you in and an absence of color to make the image darker than the night, Eggers' twisted vision of this repulsive profession gives you the feel that you also went through weeks upon weeks of what is basically solitary confinement... in only under two hours. |  |
Best Picture
The Nominees:
It's not just an experimental horror film that throws in an "open to interpretation" ending, it's an experience meant to confuse you and throw you off guard. Everyone guided by director Robert Eggers understood that we all as human beings lack the distinction between sanity and personal justice, and that blurring between the two starts with all that we can't stand about the person sitting right next to us. It's a message that applies to any and every situation, be it at school, at home, at work, or even on the street. There's lunacy all around us, and we have no choice but to coexist with the other generation.
- The Irishman
- The Farewell
- The Mustang
- Parasite
- The Lighthouse
It's not just an experimental horror film that throws in an "open to interpretation" ending, it's an experience meant to confuse you and throw you off guard. Everyone guided by director Robert Eggers understood that we all as human beings lack the distinction between sanity and personal justice, and that blurring between the two starts with all that we can't stand about the person sitting right next to us. It's a message that applies to any and every situation, be it at school, at home, at work, or even on the street. There's lunacy all around us, and we have no choice but to coexist with the other generation.
And finally, here's EVERY 2019 release I saw and graded, ranked. (Reached my goal of 50 for the first time!)
| 1. The Lighthouse 2. Parasite 3. The Mustang 4. The Farewell 5. The Irishman 6. The Last Black Man in San Francisco 7. Booksmart 8. Birds of Passage 9. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 10. Hustlers 11. The Peanut Butter Falcon 12. Us 13. Blinded by the Light 14. Marriage Story 15. Little Women 16. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 17. 1917 18. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part 19. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 20. Five Feet Apart 21. Downton Abbey 22. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie 23. Rocketman 24. Ford v Ferrari 25. Judy | 26. Joker 27. Bombshell 28. Jojo Rabbit 29. Long Shot 30. Missing Link 31. Alita: Battle Angel 32. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum 33. Frozen II 34. Greta 35. Ad Astra 36. Glass 37. Knives Out 38. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 39. The Angry Birds Movie 2 40. Noelle 41. Toy Story 4 42. Avengers: Endgame 43. Pokémon Detective Pikachu 44. Shazam! 45. Spider-Man: Far from Home 46. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 47. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 48. Captain Marvel 49. Aladdin 50. Dumbo |
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