Movies of 2019

Like most people these days, I’m watching more movies at home on Netflix and fewer of them on the big screen in cinemas. That’s not entirely by choice, but because most cinemas aren’t programming movies for people like me - cinephiles over 50 without children. If theater managers reserved at least one screen for something more interesting than the latest Disney or Marvel feature, I’d be more likely to trek out more often. Regardless, here are the movies that caught my eye most this year:

1. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? - I was delighted to see Richard Linklater’s latest masterpiece receiving a well-deserved wide release along with critical acclaim this past summer. And no wonder - it’s a real knockout, featuring intriguing performances from Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup and Kristen Wiig. It takes a while to get going - at the beginning of the movie, it’s difficult sympathizing with Blanchett’s character and her extremely privileged Seattle family. But then we learn about her past as an architect and become absorbed in the complex narrative. By the time the movie switched to Antartica, we’re thoroughly engrossed.

2. Stan and Ollie - I grew up laughing along with the hi-jinks of Laurel and Hardy around a black and white tv set. So, it was a delight to see this loving look at the classic comedy duo’s later years, with Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly perfect in the roles. Of course they did an amazing job with set-pieces such as the Hospital Sketch but what endures is the love and friendship between the two men.

3. The Goldfinch - I’m always worried when I see that someone has adapted one of my favorite books. I needn’t have worried, though, as Joe Crowley’s adaptation of Donna Tartt’s third novel is masterful, with some wise casting couches (e.g., Jeffrey Wright as “Hobie”) and some superlative acting performances from the kids. In the end, Tartt's winding and nuanced story is the star - just as it should be.

4. Us - In the space of a couple of years, Jordan Peele has gone from a one part of a duo on Comedy Central to one of the country’s most important filmmakers. The iconic imagery in Us, nominally a horror movie about a family of doppelgangers, shows that Peele a true student of film.

5. When They See Us - Ava DuVernay’s three-part Netflix film about the Central Park jogger case couldn't be more relevant in the Trump era, given that Trump himself took out a full-page ad in the New York Times urging the death penalty for the teenagers who were later exonerated by DNA evidence, but also, and more importantly, because the racial injustice at the heart of the justice system is part of parcel of the struggle today.

6. The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Joe Talbot’s surrealistic view of contemporary San Francisco is the kind of movie that seems like a miracle in this age of reboot dreck. In it, Jimmie, a young African American man obsesses over a beautiful Victorian home that he believes was built by his grandfather. When it becomes abandoned, he takes the opportunity to move in while he refurbishes it.

7. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood - I haven't had so much fun in a Quentin Tarantino movie since “Jackie Brown” some 20 years ago. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have a blast playing an aging actor known for his Western roles and his longtime and loyal stunt double. Tarantino obviously relishes painting the backdrop leading up to the notorious Manson Family murders in vivid and lurid detail.

8. Yesterday - Danny Boyle’s fantasy about a world without the Beatles is the movie that most made me smile this year. Part of its charm is its East Anglian seaside setting in Lowestoft where a young, failing musician rediscovers his career after a cosmic blip removes all memory of the Fab Four. He begins spinning out Lennon and McCartney tunes to an astonished audience that comes to include ginger phenom Ed Sheeran who does a great job playing himself. The best comment I saw about the film was from Macca himself who when interviewed on Colbert simply said, “Well, it’s very flattering, isn't it?

9. Echo in the Canyon - Andrew Slater’s loving look at the early 70s Laurel Canyon music scene in LA was my favorite music documentary of a year full of great music docs. The music created by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, and Nash and Neil Young and many, many others still resonates in the work of many contemporary singer-songwriters today.

10. Joker - Anyone who pays attention to my movie rants knows that I am certainly no fan of Marvel comic book movies and generally agreed with Martin Scorcese’s critique this year. But “Joker,” with its incendiary performance by Joaquin Phoenix, mined emotional territory in the origin story of the Batman foe, that most comic book movies haven’t dared to attempt.

Notable Others:

* Above Us Only Sky

* Cold Pursuit

* The Dirt

* Hustlers

* Rolling Thunder: Martin Scorcese Presents

* Teen Spirit

I’d love to hear what you were watching this year.