Top 20 Films of 2019

  • Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic

20. SHAZAM - David F. Sandberg - DC finally gets another movie they can hang on the fridge next to Wonder Woman.

19. AD ASTRA - James Gray - Space is full of daddy issues.

18. THE LIGHTHOUSE - Robert Eggers - If you dislike this film (or me lobster), let Neptune strike ye dead! HAAAAARK!

17. FORD V FERRARI - James Mangold - *Raises hand* I wanna go fast.

16. APOLLO 11 - Todd Douglass Miller - Did they just have all this sitting in a vault somewhere? What took them so long to do something with this incredible footage?

15. JOJO RABBIT - Taika Waititi - Sometimes your imaginary best friend who is an insecure, idiotic supreme leader who flames the fires of the worst kind of tribalism doesn't have the best advice when it comes to talking to girls.

14. THE NIGHTINGALE - Jennifer Kent - A road trip revenge movie for the most horrific reason imaginable.

13. THE FAREWELL - Lulu Wang - Respect to the Grandma.

12. US - Jordan Peele - Everybody now, grab the hand of your doppelganger for Hands Across America!

11. UNCUT GEMS - Benny & Josh Safdie - I may never gamble again after this film.

10. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD - Marielle Heller - Well, if you insist, I will gladly be your neighbor.

9. BOOKSMART - Olivia Wilde - Two best friends decide to do a bar crawl version of high school on the eve of graduation. They can do a crossover with Superbad, which stars Beanie Feldstein's older brother, Jonah Hill, and call it Supersmart.

8. THE IRISHMAN - Martin Scorsese - An Irish wake for the Martin Scorsese Repertory of Mobster Players.

7. LITTLE WOMEN - Greta Gerwig - Blood is thicker than Chalamet thirst.

6. MIDSOMMAR - Ari Aster - If your significant other demands that you watch this with them... run.

5. MARRIAGE STORY - Noah Baumbach - Forget a fight between Kylo Ren and Rey. The fight Adam Driver's Charlie has with ScarJo's Nicole in this film is far more impactful than anything involving a lightsaber.

4. ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Quentin Tarantino - I'm really curious to see which historical wrong Tarantino wants to right next. This can't really be his next to last film, can it?

3. AVENGERS: ENDGAME - Anthony & Joe Russo - We loved it 3000. Or $2.797 billion…

2. KNIVES OUT - Rian Johnson - And the most f***ed up family of the year goes to the Thrombeys and the dead (murdered???) patriarch whose fortune they're all clamoring for. They make me want to puke.

1. PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho - “Oh what tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!”