PsychoCinematic: 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: