Why So Blu?

Gregg’s Tremendously Tantalizing Top 10 Films of 2019

This list had me worried at the end of the summer.  It was rather sparse and I wondered if, for the first time, I wouldn’t have a sufficiently laid out list of top ten films on the year.  Once autumn arrived, however, movies started surfacing in theaters that would largely construct the upper half of the list below.  While I did miss out on Knives Out and Uncut Gems, I did manage to sneak in the Jumanji sequel at the end.  Funny and fun, yes.  As good as its predecessor, no.  Thus, those are three movies not on the list.  With that being said, there were plenty of others to pull from in the pool of 40+ films I experienced at the theater in 2019. Before we get to the ten on my list, here are some films that stood out in one form or another.  I laughed, I cried, I fell asleep.  We covered the emotional spectrum in films released this year.

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The Unexpected Surprise

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Sure it was full of plot holes, but if you’re going to a Godzilla movie expecting Shakespeareian goodness, you’re in the wrong movie.  After some mediocre and flat out bad attempts at putting everyone’s favorite gigantic lizard on the screen, we finally got a pretty good slugfest of massive monsters duking it out.  Heck, I was satisfied just seeing Mothra again.  The thing is the whole movie was actually fun.  Still, give me either of the Pacific Rim movies when it comes to kaiju fights.

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The ‘Why Didn’t You Release This Everywhere’ Film of 2019

1917

Give me a war film and you have my full and undivided attention.  Give me a film on World War I, a conflict largely ignored by Hollywood, and my eyes will be glued to the screen.  Despite the numerous glowing reviews this movie has received, it was issued in a limited ten-city release in 2019.  It will go nationwide on January 9th.  Either way, I do not live near where it was released and I will not be able to see it until 2020, making it ineligible for this list.  I have a great feeling about this film, but sadly, even if it is amazing, it will not make a top 10 cinema list of mine.

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The Worst Father of the Century Award

Honey Boy

…and the award goes to Shia Labeouf’s dad.  Why?  Watch this film and you’ll discover parenting at its worst.  It is essentially a biopic of Shia’s youth and wow is it disturbing at times.  Shia plays his own father, and whether accurate or not, he does an exemplary job in this picture.  It is also worth mentioning that 14-year old Noah Jupe stole the show here in his performance as Otis (who is basically adolescent Shia).  Great acting, but the story never really takes us very far from where the film started.

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The Movie Most Like ‘Apocalypse Now’ But in Space

Ad Astra

Latin for “to the stars,” this Brad Pitt-led film took me into space alright…and promptly let me drift in orbit for what felt like a four-hour film.  In reality it was around the standard two, but wow, someone throw a pie at me or something to wake me up.  At least Apocalypse Now had an obvious degree of profoundness working for it.  Ad Astra was just a supremely boring goose chase for a deserter that happened to be a relative of the main character.  Yay.

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Okay, it’s time!  Put your seatbelt on and get semi-wowed.  Here are my top 10 films of 2019:

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#10  Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

This latest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise got some mixed reviews, but this writer enjoyed it from start to finish.  It never takes itself all that seriously and you know with it being part of the Fast & Furious family that the action will defy physics and be completely over the top.  Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham share some great chemistry on screen together with their high volume machismo and general competitiveness.  Idris Alba steps in as the film’s bad guy and was a fine fit as the villainous opposition.  Is a sequel in the works?  I would guess yes.

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#9  Joker

This was my most anticipated film of the year, and while it was a little too slowly paced for my tastes, there is no denying this movie took big risks and it paid off.  If Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t win the Best Actor nod at the Oscars, then that whole ceremony is a sham.  His performance, although a different style Joker, was as good as Heath Ledger’s.  To delve into the psyche of Arthur Fleck was a twisted, sad and contemplative journey.  Kudos to director Todd Phillips for his efforts here.

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#8  The Highwaymen

Well look at that.  It’s the first time a non-cinema film made my list.  This Netflix original stars Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as the lawmen who sought to put an end to the infamous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde.  I sat down to be entertained for two hours and got so much more than I expected.  I have long been a Kevin Costner fan and his stoic performance here headlines a thoroughly enjoyable cat and mouse of outlaws versus justice.

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#7  John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Woooowee!  The first John Wick may be the best of the bunch, but this sequel was an absolute blast.  Just when you thought the production crew ran out of kill scenes, someone brought in a horse.  The franchise’s story continues down its twisting path of rebelling and redemption, this time with the lovely Halle Berry as Wick’s temporary wingman.  One can argue the ending may have jumped the shark, but Keanu Reeves struck absolute gold in this role.  Can 2021 get here soon enough?  Bring on the fourth one!

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#6  Captain Marvel

Some say she’s Marvel’s answer to Superman.  You will hear no argument out of me on that.  Carol Danvers is one bad ass earthling who takes to the skies and beyond in this pre-Avengers-closure that I enjoyed so much more than that final Avengers installment.  Brie Larson turns heads and cracks a few too in this adrenaline-laced adventure while Samuel L. Jackson plays a younger Nick Fury.  Now we know how he got that patch 😉

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#5  Ford v Ferrari

Christian Bale may be the new Daniel Day Lewis.  That guy goes full throttle in anything he does and it is quite evident in the films he stars in.  Along with Matt Damon as the late, great Carroll Shelby, Bale plays British race car driver and ace mechanic Ken Miles.  The duo reluctantly teamed up to build the much sought after Ford GT dream machine that put an end to Ferrari’s success at the 24-hour Le Mans race.  Superb acting and great storytelling quickly supplanted Ford v Ferrari on this list.

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#4  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

After the horrid and plot-pointless movie The Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino returns with this tinsel town fairy tale.  First off, if Joaquin Phoenix didn’t give the performance he did in Joker, I would say Leonardo DiCaprio is your Best Actor winner.  Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie join the cast in a fictional retelling of Hollywood in the late 1960’s.  The ending is legit bonkers, not unexpected in a Tarantino film, but was still one I did not see coming.  Django Unchained is still my favorite Tarantino film, but this runs a close second.  As a side not, hey, students of acting, watch this movie.  Leo acts as an actor acting.  Surreal experience or master of his trade?  Perhaps a little of both.

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#3  Jojo Rabbit

Certainly I have chuckled, even laughed in a film here or there over the past few years, but the last time I completely laughed, and I mean at extended periods of time laughing in a movie, was during The Hangover.  That was a decade ago.  Enter Jojo Rabbit.  Taika Waititi (of Thor: Ragnarok fame) directs this movie about a young German boy during World War II who joins the Hitler Youth.  Waititi also stars as young Jojo’s imaginary friend, Hitler.  Other Marvel alum include Scarlet Johannson as Jojo’s mother and Sam Rockwell as a the most flamboyant Nazi you’ll ever lay your eyes upon.  I absolutely adored this movie from start to finish as it takes viewers on journey that is ridiculous, hilarious and heartfelt.  Finally, a legitimate comedy!

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#2  The Peanut Butter Falcon

When I say this title out loud, the reaction I typically get is one of a single raised eyebrow followed by, “What did you just say?”  No, it is not some quirky super hero film.  Shia Labeouf plays a down-on-his-luck scavenger who is on the run from the law.  The movie introduces Zack Gottsagen as a young man with Down Syndrome who escapes the nursing home he was forced to live in.  The two men cross paths in an unlikely union that forges an unbreakable friendship.  The film was nothing short of beautiful.

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#1  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

“…a festival that occurs every 42 years,” stated C-3PO.  A festival indeed.  After nine episodic films spanning that amount of time, the Skywalker saga has finally come to a close and did so in a most glorious fashion.  Despite all the backlash over the years, I remain a staunch supporter of the franchise’s film efforts, not because I wish to stand out, but because these movies are a part of me.  They are not perfect, they have their flaws, but what an incredibly fun ride it has been.

One cannot discuss the series without talking about the music. Star Wars is never fully Star Wars without the composition genius of John Williams.  The Episode IX score revisits older, classic music from prior films in the series as well as bringing us an array of new pieces as well.  Not only that, but the extraordinary Williams actually lands in front of the camera this time, a fitting honor for the man who breathed life into the Star Wars soundtrack.

Finally, this ninth and final episode was an absolutely brilliant delivery by JJ Abrams and crew and was arguably the best of the new trilogy.  I could not have asked for a better way to have closed it out either.  The action was feverish, the jokes put a smile on my face and once again I revisited the younger me sitting in that cinema seat watching worlds in a galaxy far, far away.