2019 Movies
My Top Picks
Doctor Sleep: This was an amazing blend of the novel and Stanley Kubrick's original Shining movie. Rose the hat was particularly convincing. Unfortunately, the film didn't do terribly well with audiences because there was almost no publicity and nobody knew that it was a sequel.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: I had no plans to see this at all but word of mouth made me decide to see it. Incredible. Wow.
Jumanji: The Next Level: The acting, directing and writing in this series is far above par for the type of film (action/comedy) that it is. It's a whole lot of fun.
John Wick 3: Parabellum: I liked Wick 1 and loved Wick 2. I had high hopes but this exceeded them. Incredible colours and cinematography -- and it dovetails so well with the other John Wick films.
Escape Room: I'd never heard of this but assumed it would be something fairly "run of the mill". It wasn't. It was kind of like a mix of Saw and the Cube but it held my attention all the way. Really good.
Spider-man: Far from Home: Who would have thought this would be better than Avengers?
Pet Sematary: As it turns out, it was better than the original.
IT Chapter 2: Still very impressive but not as good as the first. The running time is a killer.
Avengers: Endgame: I had kind of expected this to wipe the floor with everything this year, particularly after the first half was so brilliant last year. On the plus side, using some dirty tricks, they managed to get Avatar off it's perch as the highest grossing film of all time but this film was nowhere near as good as its predecessor.
Yesterday: A very nostalgic film.
Alita: Battle Angel: Story-wise, this was a great film and there were some pretty impressive shots there too. Unfortunately, every single shot would have been improved with James Cameron's directing. You just didn't care for the characters.
Terminator: Dark Fate: Not a great terminator film but probably the best since T2 or T3.
Toy Story 4: I'm amazed that they got another (good) film out of the series. It's a fitting end.
Notable Mentions ("Surprise" Films)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: A massive and very welcome surprise.
Joker: Definitely a film that I didn't want to see initially but the reviews were good enough to persuade me.
Painted Bird, The: This is a harrowing film which is fortunately shot in black and white. It raises some issues but feels like they go overboard on the punishment.
Parasite (Gisaengchung): An unexpected gem.
Little Monsters: Unexpectedly funny and watchable.
Yesterday: Not a film on my bucket list but one that I was glad to have seen. Quite funny, very nostalgic.
Angel Has Fallen: Unexpectedly, the best of the three Angel films.
Isn't It Romantic: I wasn't expecting anything from this but it turned out to be pretty funny after all.
Dog's Journey, A: A pretty impressive sequel to an already impressive film. Good ideas and great writing being able to continue the story on after it already seemed closed.
Kitchen, The: Okay, A mob movie with Melissa McCarthy as the main character - and it's not a comedy. All the ingredients for failure and yet, it's pretty good.
Knives Out: I was expecting to hate this but it was much better than anticipated.
The Biggest Disappointments
Captain Marvel: I was so psyched for this film but ... well, she didn't really seem to do anything. I'd prefer to have seen Black Widow's story -- or Spider Gwen.
Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The: The first film was so unexpectedly good that I was expecting good things ... there weren't any.
Addams Family, The: It's been a long long time since I've had to turn off a movie 30 minutes into film (even though I watch a lot of crap). This sanitised cartoon was too much. It was awful.
Curse of La Llorona, The: This seemed like it was going to be a pretty good film but then it turned into a more or less "by the numbers" affair. You more or less knew how all the characters would react by who they were - and you could guess their background. It didn't help that I fell asleep in it.
Doom: Annihilation: They had a chance to fix doom and do it properly. They failed.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: This might have been good but they expected you to have watched the TV series before seeing the film.
Hellboy: Train Wreck. They lost Ron Pearlman and Guillermo Del Toro for this crap.
Men in Black: International: Just couldn't gain its footing.
Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker: A film I was ready to write off. It's still not very good but it's light years ahead of the last Jedi. Unfortunately, like the Force Awakens, this was just a mish-mash of recreations of the "best of" scenes from the other films and of course, the plot really doesn't make sense.
Us: I guess I just don't get the "appeal" of Jordan Peele. Watching people running around in the dark for a couple of hours doesn't do much for me.
Gemini Man: This was unwatchable.
All the films I've seen at the Cinemas in 2019
Films from 2019 that I saw on the "small screen"
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Ad Astra
Addams Family, The
Alita: Battle Angel
Annabelle Comes Home
Apollo 11
Batman: Hush
Brightburn
Cold Pursuit
Crawl
Curse of La Llorona (aka Curse of the Weeping Woman)
Dog's Way Home, A
Doom: Annihilation
Dora the Explorer
Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie
Fighting with My Family
Frozen 2
Gemini Man
Glass
Godzilla II: King of the Monsters
Guns Akimbo
Happy Death Day 2U
Hellboy
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Iron Sky: The Coming Race
Isn't It Romantic
Jay And Silent Bob Reboot
Jojo Rabbit
Kid Who Would Be King, The
Kitchen, The
Knives Out
La Llorona
Lighthouse, The
Little Monsters
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Men in Black: International
Mortuary Collection, The
Other Lamb, The
Painted Bird, The
Parasite (Gisaengchung)
Playing With Fire
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
Queen's Corgi, The
Rambo: Last Blood
Reign Of The Supermen
Rocketman
Rook, The
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Secret Life of Pets 2, The
Shazam!
Standing Up For Sunny
Storm Boy
Stuber
Toy Story 4
Trauma Center
Us
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Zombieland: Double-Tap
What's Left to See from 2019
The boldfaced titles are the ones I'm most interested in;
* Denotes titles I've acquired but haven't gotten around to watching yet.
17 Bridges
8 A South African Horror Story *
8 Days (8 Tage) *
Abigail *
Abominable *
After
After Midnight *
After the Wedding *
Aftermath, The
Aladdin *
Alive (Jandar) *
American Hangman *
Amityville Murders, The *
Angry Birds Movie 2, The *
Anna *
Annabellum: The Curse of Salem *
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Artemis Fowl
Assent, The *
Assimilate *
Attaché, The *
Backdraft II *
Bad Education *
Balkan Line, The (Balkanskiy rubezh) *
Bangkok Dark Tales *
Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles *
Beach Bum, The *
Beach House, The *
Beanpole (Dylda) *
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, A *
Benny Loves You *
Black And Blue *
Blackout: Invasion Earth, The (aka Avanpost) *
Blinded by the Light *
Blood Quantum *
Blush *
Bombshell *
Breakthrough
Buoyancy *
Cabal *
Call to Spy, A (aka Liberte A Call to Spy) *
Can You Keep A Secret *
Captive State
Carnival Row *
Carpark Clubbing *
Cats *
Cavendish *
Chaos Walking
Charlie's Angels *
Chasing the Moon *
Cheat *
Child's Play
Chimerica *
Christians Like Us *
Cliffs of Freedom
Close *
Code 8 *
Cold Pursuit *
Come To Daddy *
Corpus Christi (Boze Cialo) *
Crawl *
Cruel Peter *
Curiosa *
Dark Harbor *
Dark Light *
Dark Money *
Dark Place *
Dark Sense *
Date for Mad Mary, A *
Daughter Of The Wolf *
Dauntless: The Battle of Midway *
Dawn, The *
Death And Return Of Superman, The *
Deliver Us (Fred til lands) *
Demon Eye *
Divine Love (Divino Amor) *
Don't Let Go *
Downton Abbey
Dreamland *
Drone, The *
Dublin Murders *
Dumbo *
Eat Brains Love *
Enhanced *
Extra Ordinary *
Farewell, The *
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Fatal Friend Request *
Feed, The *
First Man *
Five Feet Apart
Flarsky
Ford v. Ferrari *
Frayed *
Front Runner, The *
Funhouse *
Gentlemen, The
German Lesson, The (Deutschstunde) *
Ghost Box *
Girl On The Third Floor *
Goldfinch, The
Good Boys *
Good Liar, The
Grand Isle *
Gundala *
Hard Night Falling *
Harriet *
Haunt *
Hidden Life, A *
High Life *
Homesitters *
Hunt, The
Hustle, The
Hyde *
I Lost My Body (J'ai perdu mon corps) *
In the Tall Grass *
In The Trap *
Informer, The
Inheritance *
Into The Ashes *
Intruder, The
Irishman, The *
It Must Be Heaven *
Jacob's Ladder *
Judy and Punch *
Justice League Vs The Fatal Five *
KGB *
Kid, The
Killer Sofa *
Klaus *
Last Christmas *
Last Vermeer, The
Last Wave, The (La Dernière Vague) *
Lego DC: Batman - Family Matters *
Les Misérables *
Liberation *
Limetown *
Limited Partners
Lion King, The *
Little
Little Kingdom *
Little Women *
Lodge, The *
Long Shot *
M - The City Hunts A Murderer (M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder) *
Ma *
Magical Land of Oz, The *
Manhunt *
Margie Claus
Mermaid Down *
Midway *
Mimi And The Mountain Dragon *
Miss Bala
Missing Link
Motherless Brooklyn *
Mr. Jones *
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase *
Night Eats the World, The (La nuit a dévoré le monde) *
Nightingale, The *
Ninth, The (Devyataya) *
Official Secrets *
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
One Role For Two (Ni une ni deux) *
Operative, The *
Overlord *
Overcomer
Parish, The *
Passage, The *
Penguins
Platform, The (El hoyo) *
Playmobil: The Movie
Possession of Hannah Grace, The *
Prodigy, The
Queen Of Black Magic, The (Ratu Ilmu Hitam) *
Queen Of Hearts (Dronningen) *
Radioactive *
Rainy Day in New York, A *
Rare Beasts *
Red Line, The *
Rhythm Section, The
Robert the Bruce *
Room, The *
Rosie Project, The
Saint Maud *
Salma's Big Wish (aka The Big Wish) (aka Day of the Dead) (Dia de Muertos) *
Santa's Little Helpers *
Sea Fever *
Serenity
Shaft
Sil And The Devil Seeds Of Arodor *
Slice *
Snatchers *
Son, The (El Hijo) *
Sorry We Missed You *
Souvenir, The *
Spies in Disguise *
Stan and Ollie *
State of the Union *
Stray Dolls *
Sun is Also a Star, The
Super Intelligence
Swallow *
Teacher *
Text (Tekst) *
Them That Follow *
To Your Last Death *
Translation of Wounds, The
Troll Bridge *
Twin *
Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral
Ugly Dolls *
Under the Silver Lake
Upside, The
Vai *
Valley of the Boom *
Vast of Night, The *
VFW *
Vienna Blood *
Vigilante, A *
Villains *
Violet Evergarden Eternity And The Auto Memories Doll (Vaioretto evâgâden gaiden Eien to jidou shuki ningyou) *
Wave, The *
Way You Look Tonight, The *
We Summon The Darkness *
Welcome to Marwen *
What Men Want *
When We Last Spoke *
When We Last Spoke *
Widow's Point *
Wildlife *
When We Last Spoke *
Widow's Point *
Wildlife *
Widow's Point *
Wildlife *
Wolf Hour, The *
Woman in the Window, The
Wonder Park *
Wretched, The *
Year of the Rabbit *
Yes, God, Yes *
Yummy *
Z *