2019 Movie Round-Up!!

Hello darlings!

It's time for our end-of-year (although it's technically late February) movie round-up!!



In an unusual turn, I am going to continue with the theme of this year's resolution post and pepper this post with "The Good Place" gifs.  Because you're worth it.

Let's make this happen!

The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies

2019 Edition

1. The Bleeding Edge (4)
2. The Death of Stalin (3.5)
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (5)
4. Vice (4)
5. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (3)
6. Fyre Fraud (4)
7. Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit (4)
8. Terms and Conditions May Apply (4)
9. Lego Movie 2: the Second Part (4)
10. They Shall Not Grow Old (5)
11. The American Meme (3)
12. Get Me Roger Stone (3.5)
13. Prospect (4)
14. Captain Marvel (4)
15. Behind the Curve (3)
16. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (5)
17. Us (3)
18. An Honest Liar (3.5)
19. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (5)
20. The Price of Everything (4)
21. The Unknown Known (3)
22. American Factory (5)
23. Cold Case Hammarskjöld (5)
24. Wine Country (1)
25. Avengers: Endgame (4)
26. The Hottest August (3)
27. Decade of Fire (5)
28. Free Solo (4)
29. Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much (4.5)
30. Isn’t It Romantic (3.5)
31. Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz (5)
32. Do I Sound Gay? (3)
33. Booksmart (5)
34. Rocketman (3)
35. Holy Hell (3.5)
36. Gilbert (2)
37. Filmworker (4)
38. Deliver Us (2)
39. The Gospel According to André (5)
40. Tim’s Vermeer (4)
41. Pavarotti (3.5)
42. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2)
43. The Farewell (3)
44. The Endless (3)
45. Spider-Man: Far From Home (3.5)
46. Ad Astra (3.5)
47. Joker (1)
48. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (2)
49. Jojo Rabbit (5)
50. The Great Hack (4)
51. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3)
52. Saving Capitalism (4)
53. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (4)
54. Magnus (4)
55. Hail Satan? (5)

To my pleasure and pride, I once again met my 52 movies per year goal and exceeded it by 3 films!  Woo!

With the exception of that one month when I didn't see any movies but actually did, and the month in which my child was born, I managed to maintain a pretty persistent pace of movie-watching in 2019.  This continues to be an overall good sign of ongoing self-care, which is very heartening!

As always, we'll first review the year's least favorite movies, which have been nominated for the following infractions:

For having an incredible cast of women but seemingly hating women??:

Wine Country (2019)

For insisting on celebrating a comic whose brand of comedy is honestly fine at best 

but grating at worst, and not just because of the put-on voice:

Gilbert (2017)

For somehow managing to blow an opportunity 

to make an utterly terrifying and fascinating documentary:

Deliver Us (2017)

For being an unforgivably boring, low-key misogynistic, 

and tiresomely unnecessary exercise in Hollywood self-celebration... 

to the extent I forgot I'd seen it:

Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019)

For being, as I previously summarized, unrelentingly grim and not much else:

Joker (2019)

For being straight-up propaganda:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

There are three major contenders for my least favorite movie.  The films up for this dishonor are "Wine Country" (2019), "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood" (2019), and "Joker" (2019).  Both "Wine Country" and "Once Upon a Time" have misogyny problems.  Regarding the latter, we all know I'm pretty fatigued with movies about movies.  On the other hand, in some ways the brand of misogyny displayed in "Wine Country" stings a bit more because it's a women-dominated film and directed by Amy Poehler, who I love!  Despite these things working in its favor, it portrays relationships between women as toxic and shallow and is depressingly lacking in sincerely funny moments.  

Ultimately, "Wine Country" is a movie I finished out of stubbornness rather than anything resembling enjoyment.

Amy whyyyyyyyyyyyy

With all that said, however, I honestly did not need "Joker" to be made, and I don't think the world is better for its existence.  Honestly, I felt awful for the duration of that film and I felt awful when I concluded watching that--and not in the "wow that movie really challenged me in a way that is worthwhile albeit difficult" or "hey that film really taught me tough things about the world that I should be aware of" way.  It was just awful for awfulness's sake, in a way that feels borderline celebratory of the miserable male destructiveness its titular character embodies without cease for the entire duration of the movie.  

Blech.  

So, my absolute least favorite movie of 2019 was:

Joker (2019)

Seriously this movie.

And now that that's over with, this year's best movies!

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
American Factory (2019)
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019)
Decade of Fire (2019)
Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much (2017)
Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz (2018)
Booksmart (2019)
The Gospel According to André (2017)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Hail Satan? (2019)

I'm pleased to have seen such a wonderful variety of great movies last year!

The majority of my favorite movies from 2019 were really excellent documentaries on a variety of topics.  "They Shall Not Grow Old" (2018) is a stunning and innovative repurposing of World War I footage, lovingly and painstakingly orchestrated by Peter Jackson.  "American Factory" (2019) won the Academy Award for Best Documentary and illuminates the dire struggles of American workers facing the erosion of unions, dwindling labor jobs, and the new challenges of being taken over by Chinese-led businesses.  "Cold Case Hammarskjöld" (2019) is a WILD and riveting ride that stretches credulity to some incredibly dark and disturbing places.  "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley" (2019) and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" (2005) skewered the greed and pathological ego of corrupt business enterprises.  If I weren't such a committed atheist, "Hail Satan?" (2019) honestly might have converted me to satanism?  "Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz" (2018) profiled a courageous, principled, and diligent lead prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials.   So many good documentaries this year!

In the land of fiction, we all know I found "Booksmart" (2019) utterly delightful, fresh, rich, and entertaining.  "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018) was SO MUCH FUN and finally helped me understand why people are so into Spider-Man.

So that leaves us with the two contenders for my absolute favorite movie of the year.  

Months ago, I wrote about "Decade of Fire" (2019), which thoroughly details the multiple systemic factors that led to the destruction of huge swaths of the Bronx in the 1970s.  Because of how expertly and coherently it weaves together the combined disastrous impacts of systemic racism, including redlining of communities of people of color, the withholding of resources to maintain infrastructure, exploitive landlords, inaccurate and sensationalist press, and abandonment and disparagement by powerful officials, it should be required viewing for all American citizens.  People would have a much more clear-eyed understanding of how systemic racism continues to impact American cities and people of color if they saw this formidable, brilliant film.  They would also have the chance to see how communities can nevertheless come together to survive and overcome their oppression.

Earlier this month, I also wrote about "Jojo Rabbit" (2019).  It left me absolutely astonished by its ability to pack such a range of emotion into one film and to extract hope from some of the bleakest, most terrifying events in human history.  It was funny and sweet, but also horrifying and devastating, but also strengthening and uplifting.  It's the kind of movie that makes me so excited about movies--weird, maybe a bit messy, but also exhilarating, inventive, thought-provoking, and audacious.

Reflecting on these two movies, a common element is clear: not just survivorship, but the preservation and ultimate victory of human dignity, strength, and goodness.

So I'm going to do things a little differently this year.  The best film I saw in 2019 was:

Both of them.

Thanks for reading!  Onward to ever more wonderful movies!

{Heart}

PS: You can watch "Decade of Fire" here!

Before the Oscars, A Quick Plug for "Jojo Rabbit"

Hi everyone,

Before tonight's Academy Awards, I want to jump in with a little celebration of "Jojo Rabbit" (2019).

It is nominated in six categories, including best picture.  Unlike a few years ago, when I had long-shotty but sincere hopes that the most deserving (and my favorite) film in that category would win--and those hopes were dramatically borne out--I have very little hope indeed that that will happen this time around.

Admittedly, I haven't seen every movie in the Best Picture category for 2019, and there are some I have reason to suspect are really excellent films.  However, of those I have seen, you already know how I feel about one of them, and that I found the other unrelentingly grim.  Based on how other recent awards have panned out, I'm bracing myself for these two to very unfortunately clean up at tonight's Oscars.  Hollywood doesn't seem able to resist a film celebrating Hollywood, no matter how deathly dull and/or problematic it is.  And they also may not be able to differentiate between a, granted, strong performance that nevertheless takes place in an honestly pretty awful movie.

If I'm right that one or both of these two films fares well tonight, then some truly wonderful films will have been robbed.  "Jojo Rabbit" is one of them.

This is the last movie Husband and I saw in theaters before our child was born.  We were admittedly both a bit emotionally vulnerable, with the birth of our child imminent, pausing just for the moment in the borderland between here, the before, and there, where life will never be the same.  Being in that emotional space primed us to be receptive to this movie in ways we couldn't have anticipated, but I'm grateful for that, because "Jojo Rabbit" is a remarkable, brave, and beautiful movie.

The best synopsis I have for the film is that it's like a Wes Anderson movie, but braver.  This is said, of course, as someone who generally loves Wes Anderson movies.  But part of what makes Wes Anderson movies so charming is that their preciousness--the obsessed-over, lovingly and thoughtfully crafted auteurship that has come to be emblematic of Anderson's work--creates a safe space.  Even as his films at times turn toward moments of sincere and painful emotion, they contain just enough elements of sweet fantasy to transport a viewer from the imperfect ugliness of the real world.

"Jojo Rabbit" shares some of these elements: it is beautifully and intricately set-designed and costumed, and the characters are silly and just heightened enough such that they are an utter delight to watch, but they still ring true and deeply human.  This is no small feat, because for Christsakes, this is a movie about Nazi-era Germany, and the eponymous Jojo is a child in the Hitler Youth who worships the führer to the point that Hitler is his imaginary friend.  How in God's name could anyone make that funny?

Yet director Taika Waititi delivers with brilliance.  It helps that he himself plays the imaginary version of Hitler, portraying him with a dandy absurdity that mocks the genocidal dictator in a manner that is deeply satisfying.  Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, and Archie Yates each further add moments of wonderful levity to the film.

Yes, Waititi somehow found a way to make this bleak, horrifying chapter in human history funny... but only for a time.  Because there then comes the point at which the realization finally dawns that we are watching a film about World War II set in Germany, and that there is no way this deeply thoughtful and powerful film isn't ultimately going to turn to face that head-on.  When it does, it hits with the devastation of an emotional freight train.  One small, not terribly spoiler-y example of this: In his final scene as Hitler, Waititi delivers a hysterical rant exploding with unhinged rage--a sobering reminder that we can mock and deride dangerous leaders and their dangerous movements all we want, but they are still deeply, devastatingly lethal in their dangerousness and must be dealt with accordingly.

As the film approaches to its conclusion, it draws you to think about those who survived that period.  It asserts that humanity can endure even the most unspeakable horrors and still assert itself, unfailingly, as it re-emerges on the other side; that the truest and most lasting truth about humankind is not the suffering we inflict on each other, but our resilience in surviving that suffering.  Thinking about the world my child will inherit and fearing all the ugliness this world has to offer, it was bracingly and unexpectedly hope-instilling to be reminded of the strength and grace humanity has within it as, over and over again, it stubbornly and beautifully survives.

Surely a movie capable of all of this--of reclaiming one of the darkest periods of human history and transforming it into something that both makes us laugh and connects us to the inherent strength of humanity--deserves to win Best Picture?

{Heart}