The TMS Top 5 of 2019
Many of The Movie Sleuth writers have
considered 2019 a great year for cinema. From blockbusters, to indie
titles, and foreign films, our top 5 shows the same diversity we saw in the theater this year. Although there were dozens of great features to pick from, this is what we came up with by using a group voting system. Hopefully you enjoy our picks.
#5 Midsommar
In a follow-up to critically-acclaimed
Hereditary, Midsommar delivers as another idiosyncratic
horror film. Midsommar also functions as an inverted allegory:
wherein the “bigger”, more diegetic story is that of a cultish
group who celebrates the Summer Solstice through sacrifice; the
“smaller” story, but perhaps the more salient one, is that of a
young woman who is trying to figure out her way through a
relationship wherein her boyfriend is gaslighting her.
A key feature in Midsommar, as
in many other great films, is that it leaves room for interpretation,
while also clearly telling a story to the audience. In this second
feature film for Aster, we could only wonder whether he’ll again
reach one of our “top” lists in the future.
-Blake Pynnonen
#4 Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
Tarantino returned to cinemas this year with one of his career highlights. Turning his eye to the changing careers of two Hollywood pals, his latest film was an extended look at the end of the hippie era and the Manson murders. Showing his love for old school spaghetti westerns, American television, and the wild and crazy alcohol fueled party attitude of the '60s, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a fantastical film that steps away from Tarantino's typical narrative.
Never one to stick to one exact genre or theme for more than one motion picture, gone are his long winded arcs of violence that are replaced by a dialogue between two buddies that see their world changing in front of them. What is considered to be one of his greatest achievements by many, this one shows a director that is also moving with the times.
-Chris George
#3 and #2 (Tie) Uncut Gems
and The Irishman
Uncut Gems:
Uncut
Gems is astonishing for many reasons, but the biggest might be in how
the Safdies gave us an Adam Sandler movie, but with consequences.
Growing up in the 90s, Sandler movies were crucial to my childhood. I
loved the wacky, man children he inhabited so well. As an adult,
Sandler became something of an annoyance to me, though. While his
audience grew up, Sandler kept playing the same, unappealing men who
somehow have all the luck in the world despite being slovenly,
ill-behaved brutes. Every few years though, he’d turn in a
performance that would remind you why this guy, against all odds,
became a movie star.
Filmmakers
like Paul Thomas Anderson and Noah Baumbach deftly exploited
Sandler’s man-child persona, turned it on its head and showed us
what they’d be like in the real world. The Safdies took that same
principle, cranked all of up into overdrive and in doing so gave
Sandler the role of a lifetime. Howard Ratner, the lead character, is
every Sandler slob we’ve seen before. He has beautiful women, kids
that love him, an incredible house and a ton of friends. But he makes
every wrong choice a person could make, acts like a preteen and tries
way too hard to be cool. He’s Happy Gilmore. He’s Billy Madison.
He’s Longfellow Deeds.
But
unlike Sandler’s comedies, this world has stakes. In this world,
the awful decisions he makes are the difference between life and
death. In giving Sandler stakes, the Safdies remind us why we fell in
love with every lovable loser he’s played. We’re not begging him
to stop because he’s irritating. We’re begging him to stop
because we can’t take the anxiety anymore. And just when we think
he’s done, he steps over the line again. The Safdies gave us the
quintessential Adam Sandler hero and in doing so rejuvenated a movie
star many had long given up on. In anyone else’s hands, Howard
Ratner is just another scumbag. In Sandler’s, he’s the hero we
can never stop rooting for.
-Brandon
Streussnig
The
Irishman:
I
Heard You Paint Houses
(AKA The
Irishman)
is a crime epic that focuses on the life of a hitman for the
Pennsylvania mafia. While it chronicles his life of crime, more
importantly it tells a story of death and betrayal in front of
perhaps one of the most meta backdrops ever displayed. Martin
Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel are
five titans of the big screen, all of which are in their twilight
years. Every participant and viewer of this film has the
understanding that these great talents will never work together again
on the same project. The unavoidable avatar of death hangs over
both real and the imagined. The irony of these masters of cinematic
illusions choosing for their swan song to be not only in the genre
that defined them, but also based on a fabricated memoir is both
hilarious and heartwarming, despite the darkness that pervades every
inch of the film.
Taking
Mean
Streets,
Goodfellas,
and Casino
and comparing them to different stages of life is perhaps one of the
most powerful parts of Scorsese's filmography, however, The
Irishman
blends all three of these concepts and uses them as paint for the
mural of their creator's legacy. Made possible in part by dynamic
CGI deaging technology, this presents yet another dilemma within the
framework. It would have been easy to cast younger actors in the
part, yet the decision was made to use the senior actors. While this
has been defended and decried on every corner of the internet,
perhaps the reason is simpler and related to the meta aspect outlined
above? Perhaps the decision was a means to allow the film's
principals a chance to relive their youths? Perhaps it is a
statement on the dangerous territory ahead for tentpole films and
arthouse films or furthermore what if is a plea for both combatants
to find celluloid (digital) harmony? This is a Netflix film,
emblematic of the change that is coming to cinemas in the near
future, however, if anything, The
Irishman
shows that cinema can exist on the small screen as much as the big
and is a powerful reminder that there is room for every kind of film,
both at home and in theater.
-Kyle Jonathan
#1
Parasite
Parasite
is a film that folks will talk about for years. The product of South
Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho, Parasite contains multitudes. It is well
written, funny, terrifying, thrilling, and brilliant. It is truly
something else. Parasite is a film about the class divide and the
relationships between the haves and the have-nots. All unemployed,
Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest into the wealthy and
glamorous Park family and begin to ingratiate and entangle themselves
into their lives. The film is the work of a director at the peak of
their powers, combining social commentary and smart writing to make
one of the most dazzling and entertaining films of this decade.
-Liam
O’Connor