Best Films Of 2019

I don't see this film nearly like most people do. Nor am I about to share the way I see it entirely. Nonetheless, I loved this film, and partly because to me, it really exposes the naivete of the vast majority of the audience. It also exposes many other subtle political truths and ongoing conflicts within. There are a million and one things to draw thought from in this film because it confronts certain things in such an uncompromising and real way.

War is a crazy thing. I've long believed that war should only be engaged in as an absolute last resort, because in truth all that it does is make people crazy, and of course cause a lot of death and destruction. There is no such thing as winning in war, other than for those who profit from it. War in truth, engagement in violent offensive aggression is basically at once an admittance that there is no good solution, or at least that a good solution is not seen, or that you don't actually even want a good solution. Who will fail and suffer the most is really the only main question for most of the people actually involved. Being human is greatly about failing, and nowhere will you see this more clearly or closely than in war type situations.

I will however try to convey to you most of why I do find this film to be great. For one thing, I find the film is actually far more observatory than what most reviewers seem to say of what they saw in it.

This film in my view does not at all set out to what its filmmaker had hoped to show, yet I still see it as a truly great film. The main reason is just because of the uncompromising and thought provoking look we get, into the heads of those deeply involved in situations that are impossibly good. What I mean is, when people are put into certain situations, there is no good outcome. Of course you know this, just being born human assures you that you will not always have a great choice to make. We all have situations that don't have perfect solutions here. So then, the questions become more like, what is the potential best outcome, etc? From other perspectives, and there are many possible here. Certain aspects of the film, both subtle and obvious can be seen in so many different ways; And that's to me what truly makes it great. 8.5/10

Too busy looking at what you don't have. A pretty great film! In my view Gray's best film since the very underappreciated The Yards (2000). 8/10

One of Guy Ritchie's best efforts yet. Very funny, very entertaining. 8/10

Johnson directs this film beautifully, and the editing is spot on as well. A very fun, entertaining, modernized Agatha Christie style mystery. Good stuff! 8/10

A strong character driven Irish crime drama. While there may be nothing overly new here, the execution of the film is excellent. 8/10

Clint Eastwood just keeps making great films. This is such a relevant to our times story, produced in part by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill. It tells a fairly horrifying tale of how a person's life can be literally ripped apart by irresponsible journalism and grasping law enforcement agencies. It's a sad but extremely important story at this moment in history. A moment in which the American mainstream media seems to have become a witch hunting outfit, commonly destroying the good names of people in the press well before their deserved due process. Perhaps the US should adopt British policy regarding crime in the media. Over there, when a person is accused or charged with a crime, the media is not allowed to report on it until there has been a court descision. I think people on this side of the pond are really starting to see why this is a much more reasonable way to go about it. People are innocent until proven guilty is an idea in which our modern society was supposedly built upon. In recent times however, the mainstream media seems to be trying to mess with this important human right, and are often steam rolling certain people well before their day(s) in court. Something has to change about the current irresponsible media circus that has become so mainstream. I applaud this film and all involved. It's a well told story, written in a very engaging way, with some very thought provoking points. I also thought Sam Rockwell was amazing in his role. 8/10

I thought it was a very good film. Interesting, funny, fairly original and mostly I enjoyed the real human aspect the film has to it. Perhaps a little overrated by some critics in my view, it's definitely very good as I said. However, it didn't really strike me as brilliant. That's going a little far I'd say. I've seen a number of films from this director and he's definitely strong, but in my view not really groundbreaking. This is definitely his best work from what I've seen so far. 8/10

Honestly, this was in my view better than many Breaking Bad episodes. I liked the series quite a lot, but I wasn't nearly as big on it as many people were. I thought it was a very funny but definitely flawed series overall. Anyway, this film was a damn good continuation of the show. Pinkman was always the best character I thought anyway. I kinda hope they keep following Pinkman in future movies. 8/10

I must say, as far as big budget action films go, this was great. It kept me entirely interested the whole film, which very few action blockbusters in recent memory have. I like Rodriguez as a director. He seems to have a great sense for pace in the way he delivers his stories. They slow down only at the right times, and mostly move with a sense of fun and excitement through many of his films. This in my view is one of his best films yet. 7.5/10

I'm putting this as a 2019 film because it only opened up in a few festivals in 2018, and still as of March 2019, very few people have seen it. So it deserves to be on this 2019 list as it wasn't widely available to see until then.

A real slow burner, but in a good way. It's not often we get to see this much realism in this type of film anymore. Hollywood often goes too far to the unbelievable side when doing action and/or cop films these days; Most of them just bore me with their silliness. This one however was very good. This isn't all action by any means, it slowly but surely develops quite an interesting story and group of characters, then we get into a little action. Great to see Vince Vaughn doing some serious films again, he was great here. Recommended to anyone who enjoys realistic thriller/action/drama type films, and isn't overly squeamish. It has a decent running time at around 2 and a half hours, but it goes by quite smoothly I found. I enjoyed the story the entire way. 7.5/10

Well there are two Woodstock documentary revisits that I've seen from 2019, the 50th anniversary of the original festival. This one is definitely by far the better of the two. The other one sadly was basically just modern political propaganda in the end. This one however gives people a great insiders view of what it was like to be at this legendary event.

Definitely good, but definitely flawed...and also sorta like Taxi Driver extra light and with more focus on spectacle. Still, for the most part a pretty interesting origin story. 7.5/10

As a black comedy, I felt it worked and it was fun. It likely won't work for those looking for something more serious or realistic. 7.5/10

I'm a pretty big fan of the Deadwood series. So many great characters in the show was the main reason. This was a pretty strong Deadwood reunion in my view. I enjoyed it. 7.5/10

It's a pretty strong film in many ways. At the same time, I feel it's gotten far more praise than it deserves. It does very much feel like a war story passed down (Which is exactly what the story really is.), just as a typical fishing story often is. Exaggerated and unauthentic feeling in some ways for certain. Also, there's really nothing new here at all. There isn't even one thing in this film that at all measures up to the best war films ever made. 7/10

Metaphorically interesting to say the least. 7/10

Good, but nothing too special. The acting and comedy was just enough to get through the film while still enjoying it. 7/10

Low budget film, but quite effective. If you're into offbeat comedies, give it a try. Ignore the rating so far, it only has 380 votes at the moment, so it really means nothing with so few viewers and of course, many voting abusers here as well.

It's interesting but also full of inaccuracies. If interested, read my full review. If you want the best and most informative film on Bundy, that no doubt still belongs to 1986's TV film The Deliberate Stranger with Mark Harmon. 7/10

Not Boring. Not Brilliant. I Am Good

A good thought provoking sci-fi. It's not as boring as some are saying, nor is it nearly as brilliant as some others are claiming. It is good though. A cautionary tale about advanced AI. If you like a thinker, watch it. Don't expect 2001 or anything, it's not even in the same league, but it's a reasonably good watch if you enjoy films you have to think about to fully appreciate. The film definitely has a few big holes, however it also creates some slightly new perspectives a person can ponder. So if you're into that kind of film, then this is one of them. 7/10

It's like La Femme Nikita part 28, but it's definitely an entertaining version anyway. If I went into the film not knowing that it was basically just another version of Nikita, then perhaps I would've rated it lower. Maybe I would've been a little disappointed in that case. But when I saw the preview in the theatre, I knew right away it was La Femme Nikita part 28. So for me, I was quite happy with it, as it was as advertised. 7/10

I really feel I have to give this a 6.5 on here. In some ways it was quite interesting to me, and I feel some things were well captured here. However this film is certainly not for everyone, in fact not nearly everyone. It is a true story that claims to have kept the story as authentic as possible. Some may know by now that I'm big on films that duplicate reality in a very believable way. For the most part, this film is quite believable, as extreme as it is. Not every scene feels 100% authentic, but overall they did a fairly good job in this area. Aside from having some interesting aspects, it also has some pretty hilarious moments here and there. Overall however it is a pretty bleak and sad story that involves a person with mental health issues. The story itself however is really not all that bleak until near the end. 6.5/10

6.5/10

This is a fairly good road trip kind of film. Heart warming and funny for the most part. Some parts seem somewhat rushed, rather than convincing, is really my only major negative critique of the film. It will be well worth a watch for most people in my estimation. 6.5/10