Best of 2019

The Nine Best Films of 2019

/ / Top Tens & Lists

The Nine Best Films of 2019

Family was a strong theme in many of my favorite films of 2019. My list includes some famous directors, one super-hero, secrets, mystery and deception, strong ensembles, the search for the truth, and the horrors of war and divorce. Tying for an honorable mention (I couldn’t decide on which to include as #10 on the list) are the equally good, yet very different, Dolemite is My Name and Motherless Brooklyn. Without further ado, it is time to count down the nine best movies of 2019.

…

The Nine Best Films of 2019Read More »

The Nine Best Films of 2019 Read More »

1917

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 1917
  • IMDb: link

1917 movie reviewBased on actual events that occurred during World War I, 1917 follows two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) sent alone across enemy territory to warn of an impending ambush by the German Army. The script from director Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns strips down to the bare essentials avoiding obvious tropes and cliches from war movies to deliver one of the most memorable entries to the genre in recent years which was based on a story Mendes’ grandfather told him as a child. Exceptionally well shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, 1917 is a movie of heroism, sacrifice, and survival that is marvelous to behold.

For a film about war, 1917 is a deceptively quiet film that builds tension between the moments of action (equally as memorable as its quite sequences) as our protagonists race to prevent more than 1,000 troops (including a brother) from walking into the enemy’s deadly trap while performing what appears to the British line as a hasty retreat. Along the way, Mendes sprinkles in supporting performances from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Richard Madden, but the film belongs to the two soldiers on their own past the German line on a suicide mission to deliver a message in time.

…

1917Read More »

1917 Read More »

Parasite

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Parasite
  • IMDb: link

Parasite movie reviewA family of con artists living together a cramped semi-basement apartment set their sights on a wealthy and gullible family in writer/director Bong Joon Ho‘s Parasite. Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi) is the first through the door as a tutor for the teenage daughter Da-hye (Ji-so Jung). Next comes his sister Ki-jeong (So-dam Park), as an art teacher and art therapist for the couple’s son (Hyun-jun Jung). Together the pair are able to replace the family’s driver with their father Ki-taek (Kang-ho Song) and the housekeeper (Jeong-eun Lee) with their mother (Hye-jin Jang) all while hiding the familial relationship behind the Parks’ (Sun-kyun Lee and Yeo-jeong Jo) new employees.

The insidious nature of the clan and their slow takeover of the household is fascinating to watch. What’s interesting, despite their lies and deceptions, each proves fairly good at their jobs. I won’t get into the film’s dark turn or reveal what happens in the film’s second-half other than to say the house of cards is threatened by a discovery deep in the heart of the Parks’ home in the dead of night leading to a climactic sequence of events playing out in the middle of a family celebration.

…

ParasiteRead More »

Parasite Read More »

The Farewell

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Farewell
  • IMDb: link

The Farewell movie reviewBased on a true story, writer/director Lulu Wang‘s film showcases a major cultural difference between China and America in dealing with life-threatening illness. When the oldest member of the family (Shuzhen Zhao) is diagnosed with cancer in China, the family chooses not to reveal her condition. Instead, the family orchestrates a wedding as an excuse to bring the full family back to China. However, the gathering’s true purpose is to say farewell.

There’s a philosophical question at the base of the film that Wang refuses to loose herself in. While showcasing a very different view of medicine and death (even the doctors in China help the family to hide the old woman’s condition), Wang doesn’t attempt to argue one method is better than the other. Instead, the movie focuses on how Nai Nai’s (Zhao) condition, and the decision to hide her prognosis from her, effects the entire family – primarily her granddaughter Billi (Awkwafina) from America who isn’t brought over with her parents because her family fears her ability to keep the secret (but who comes anyway to spend time with the grandmother she loves).

…

The FarewellRead More »

The Farewell Read More »

Marriage Story

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Marriage Story
  • IMDb: link

Marriage Story movie reviewOffering as much commentary on divorce at large as its effect on his two main characters in Marriage Story, writer/director Noah Baumbach explores the dissolving marriage of theater director Charlie Barber (Adam Driver) and actress Nicole Barber (Scarlett Johansson) who struggle through change in humorous and heartbreaking ways. While their separation is mutually understood from the opening scene, a particularly good use of narration that allows us to get a sense of both characters, Charlie seems less able to deal with the changing realities of the family dynamic while Nicole relocates from New York to Los Angeles with their son Henry (Azhy Robertson) for work on a television pilot and begins to take the lead in the divorce by hiring a ball-busting attorney (Laura Dern).

There is still affection between the pair, but there is also hurt, resentment, and anger which only increases as the divorce becomes more litigious. Providing some of the film’s more humorous scenes, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta both appear at times as Charlie’s lawyers taking on Dern’s character in court (proving the old adage that the only ones who win in divorce proceedings are the lawyers).

…

Marriage StoryRead More »

Marriage Story Read More »