Every year, I try to see as many new release films as I can. I rank everything as I go so that, when it’s all said and done, I can publish a list that completely encapsulates my experience of the year in film. Usually I run this series through the first few months of the new year, spreading it out and writing at least a sentence or two about each film. But this year I just want to get my rankings out there so I can move on into 2020. I also published lists of my favourite films, tv, and theatre of the decade which you can check out HERE (two 2019 films made the cut; they’re not the ones you think). So here you go, the earliest but also least elaborated-upon My Cinematic rankings ever…
Standard Disclaimer So You Don’t Yell At Me:
This Is Not A List Of the Best Films Of the Year. This is not a definitive ranking based on some sort of arbitrary but generally agreed upon criteria for “quality”. Though my opinion is swayed by artistic merit, it’s not completely defined by it and I do not care at all if your cinematography is brilliant if none of your characters are worth rooting for. I like what I like. Sometimes that’s a brilliantly made film, sometimes it’s a decent adaptation of something I already love, sometimes it’s the Backstreet Boys documentary (actually, I was really disappointed in the Backstreet Boys documentary but we’ve already talked about this). I think criticism is most effective when readers seek out writers who share their taste rather than expecting all critics to reach some sort of group-think consensus on what’s “best”. So I’m telling you what I liked most (and what I liked least, and what I thought of everything in between) in 2019, subjectively, because subjective is all any of us can ever really be.
Okay, here we go:
1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Isn’t It Romantic?
3. Booksmart
4. Mouthpiece
5. Little Women
6. Waves
7. Jojo Rabbit
8. Parasite
9. Queen & Slim
10. 1917
11. Long Shot
12. Fighting with my Family
13. Rocketman
14. Late Night
15. Peanut Butter Falcon
16. Spider-Man: Far From Home
17. Harriet
18. Long Time Coming
19. Judy
20. Honey Boy
21. Knives Out
22. Family
23. Just Mercy
24. The Souvenir
25. The Farewell
26. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
27. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
28. Marriage Story
29. Paddleton
30. The Lion King
31. Wild Rose
32. Little Woods
33. Tolkien
34. Hotel Mumbai
35. Always Be My Maybe
36. The Two Popes
37. Bombshell
38. The Laundromat
39. The King
40. Motherless Brooklyn
41. Stockholm
42. Glass
43. Tea with the Dames
44. Lucy in the Sky
45. Maze
46. Shazam!
47. Frozen 2
48. Changeland
49. The Public
50. What Am I Without You?
51. Little
52. Hobbes & Shaw
53. Hustlers
54. Non-Fiction
55. MIB International
56. Captain Marvel
57. Toy Story 4
58. The Sound of Silence
59. Stan & Ollie
60. Unicorn Store
61. Us
62. The Aftermath
63. Best of Enemies
64. Dumbo
65. Poms
66. Brittany Runs a Marathon
67. Ode to Joy
68. Giant Little Ones
69. The White Crow
70. Ford vs. Ferrari
71. Wine Country
72. Someone Great
73. Fyre
74. The Grizzlies
75. Tomorrow Man
76. Blinded by the Light
77. A Dog’s Way Home
78. Ad Astra
79. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
80. Richard Jewell
81. The Hustle
82. Yesterday
83. Detective Pikachu
84. The Hummingbird Project
85. Five Feet Apart
86. A Christmas Love Story
87. Last Christmas
88. The Sun is Also a Star
89. Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy
90. Funny Story
91. Gloria Bell
92. The Goldfinch
93. The River You Step In
94. After the Wedding
95. The Irishman
96. Hot Summer Nights
97. Aladdin
98. Stand!
99. Missing Link
100. The Perfect Date
101. All Summer Long
102. Winter Castle
103. Flip That Romance
104. Cats
105. Tall Girl
106. Picture a Perfect Christmas
107. Joker
108. No Time Like Christmas
109. Love Under the Rainbow
110. Boy Band