Best of the Year/Decade

For some crazy reason I spend a couple of hours compiling these lists.

Here’s my ranking of all the movies I saw last year, with the rating I gave them.

Best of 2019

1. Blinded by the Light – 10
2. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood – 9
3. Parasite - 9
4. Richard Jewell – 9
5. Wild Rose - 9
6. Bombshell - 9
7. Dark Waters – 9
8. Ford v Ferrari – 9
9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – 9
10. Her Smell – 9

Western Stars – 9

Terminator:  Dark Fate – 8

Black and Blue - 8

Long Shot - 8

Marriage Story – 8

Late Night – 8

Joker – 8

Eighth Grade - 8

Yesterday - 7

Rocketman - 7

Us – 7

The Irishman – 7

Ad Astra - 7

Knives Out – 7

Queen and Slim - 6

Uncut Gems - 6

Booksmart – 6

John Wick 3 – Parabellum – 1

Documentaries

Don’t F**k with Cats-10
Free Solo – 10
Leaving Neverland - 10
Hitsville:  The Making of Motown - 10
Linda Ronstadt:  The Sound of My Voice – 10
Inventor:  Theranos – 10
Apollo 11 - 10
The Soundtrack of Our Life:  Clive Davis – 10
The Many Lives of Nick Buoniconti - 10
Satan and Adam – 10
Bathtubs over Broadway – 10
Knock Down the House – 9
The Apollo – 8

The Ozzies

Best Picture – Blinded by the Light

Best Actor – Paul Walter Hauser in Richard Jewell

Best Actress – Charlize Theron in Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor – Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time …in Hollywood

Best Supporting Actress – Kathy Bates in Richard Jewell

Best Director – Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best Documentary – Don’t F**k with Cats (Netflix)

The Lizzies

Best TV Show – The OA

Best Actor – Mahershala Ali in True Detective

Best Actress – Jodie Comer in Killing Eve

Best Supporting Actor – Tony Shaloub in the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Supporting Actress – Nina Arianda in Goliath

Bonus Feature

Here’s my friend David Jones’ 2019 favorites. 

He is the only one I know who loves this shit as much as I do:

1. Don’t F**k with Cats
2. Parasite
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Marriage Story
5. Ford v. Ferrari
6. Toy Story 4
7. Gloria Bell
8. Uncut Gems
9. My Name is Dolemite 
10. Blinded by the Light

Which brings me to my purely personal best of the decade, in only approximate order.  These are the ones that stuck with me the most.  

The Best of the Decade

Movies:

1. Mad Max:  Fury Road
2. Mission Impossible:  Fallout
3. Arrival
4. The Social Network
5. I, Tonya
6. Inception
7. Blinded by the Light
8. Spotlight
9. The Imitation Game
10. Whiplash
11. The Wolf of Wall Street
12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
13. The Dark Knight Rises
14. Get Out
15. Zero Dark Thirty

Bonus Feature – The David Jones Top 10

1. Gravity
2. The Social Network
3. Roma
4. Her
5. The Revenant
6. Don’t F**k with Cats
7. The Shape of Water
8. Winter’s Bone
9. Manchester By the Sea
10. Mad Max:  Fury Road

My Favorite Performances of the Decade:

Lead:

Leonardo Di Caprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

Amy Adams In Arrival

Supporting:

Paul Walter Hauser In I,Tonya

Rebecca Ferguson in 2 Mission Impossible’s.

Favorite Documentaries

1. Stories We Tell
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Tim’s Vermeer
4. Hot Coffee
5. George Harrison – Living in the Material World
6. Mea Maxima Culpa – Silence in the House of God
7. Searching for Sugar Man
8. Requiem For the Dead:  American Spring 2014
9. Don’t F**k with Cats
10. Going Clear:  Scientology and the Prison of Belief
11. Free Solo

My top 20 Favorite TV Shows

1. Rectify
2. Fargo
3. The Good Wife
4. The OA
5. Catastrophe
6. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
7. True Detective
8. The Sinner
9. The Newsroom
10. Veep
11. Glee
12. Billions
13. The Good Place
14. Late Night with Seth Meyers
15. Silicon Valley
16. Real Time with Bill Maher
17. Treme
18. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
19. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
20. You're the Worst

My Favorite TV Performances:

Lead:

Jodie Comer in Killing Eve

Billy Bob Thornton in Fargo

Supporting:

Tony Shaloub in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Maggie Siff in Billions

As Gene and Roger used to say, “See you at the Movies.”

Oscar Predictions

Yes, I’ll be watching the Oscars as usual.  Just as I have every year since 1928.I love the movies and of course the ceremony will be too long, and there’s always the specter that a little free speech might break out at any moment.  So, here’s my annual predictions.  It was a great year for movies.  I actually saw, and liked all the Best Picture nominees.  The question is which ones will go on to become classics?

Best Picture

Will Win:  La La Land

Should Win:  Arrival

Best Actress
Will Win:  Emma Stone
Should Win:  Amy Adams in Arrival (oops, not even nominated)

Best Actor
Will Win:  Denzel Washington
Should Win:  Casey Affleck

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win:  Viola Davis
Should Win:  Viola Davis

Best Supporting Actor

Will Win:  Marershala Ali
Should Win:  Hugo Weaving (not even nominated for Hacksaw Ridge)

Best Director

Will Win:  Damien Chazelle

Should Win:  Damien Chazelle

Other Predictions

Original Screenplay:  Manchester By the Sea
Adapted Screenplay:  Moonlight
Animated Feature:  Zootopia
Animated Short:  Piper
Production Design:  La La Land

Cinematography:  La La Land

Costume Design:  La La Land
Editing:  Hacksaw Ridge

Makeup:  Star Trek: Beyond

Sound Mixing:  Hacksaw Ridge
Sound Editing:  Hacksaw Ridge
Visual Effects:  Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story
Original Score:  La La Land

Original Song:  City of Lights
Documentary Feature:  OJ Made in America

Documentary Short: Watani: My Homeland

Foreign Film:  The Salesman

Live Action Short:  TimeCode

Enjoy

The Best of 2016

Here’s my ranking of the movies I saw that were released in 2016.  Unfortunately, there are many acclaimed movies that I haven’t seen yet, like Jackie, Silence, Everybody Wants Some, and 20th Century Women,    Should I see them, I’ll go back and inject them into my "subject to change" list, not that you’ll ever look at this list again.  One more thing, some of these movies I haven’t written about yet, but will soon, Arrival – 10 Hidden Figures - 10 La La Land – 10 Hacksaw Ridge - 10 Hell or High Water - 9 Manchester by the Sea - 9 Captain Fantastic - 9 Star Trek Beyond – 9 Deepwater Horizon - 9 Midnight Special – 9 Deadpool – 8 10 Cloverfield Lane – 8 Jack Reacher:  Never Go Back – 8 The Accountant - 8 Suicide Squad - 8 The Free State of Jones – 8 Southside with You - 8 Criminal – 8 Money Monster - 8 Fences – 7 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot - 7 Nocturnal Animals – 6 Moonlight - 6 Edge of Seventeen - 6 Sully - 5 Jason Bourne - 5 Hail, Caesar – 5 Independence Day:  Resurgence - 2} The Girl on the Train - 1 Documentaries: OJ – Made in America - 10 Weiner - 10 Gleason – 10 13th - 10 Nothing Left Unsaid – 10 Marathon:  The Patriots Day Bombing - 10 Becoming Mike Nichols – 8 Bright Lights – Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – 8 TV Shows I wrote about Rectify – 10 All the Way - 10 The Good Wife – 10 Roadies - 10 Billions – 10 The Night of – 10 The People vs. OJ Simpson - 10 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel - 10 Cyberwars - 9 Vinyl - 9 Confirmation - 8 My guilty pleasures on TV are Timeless and Lethat Weapon because they feature graduates of Rectify, which had such a fantastic cast. While this was an exceptional year for movies, particularly documentaries, no movie cracked my top ten of the 21st Century so far: 1 Serenity 2 Gone Baby Gone 3 Inception 4 The Dark Knight Rises 5 Pan's Labyrinth 6 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 7 The East 8 Zero Dark Thirty 9 The Wolf of Wall Street 10 Minority Report
See you at the movies!

At the Cinema - November 2016

Arrival – 10

One of the little thrills of being a movie-lover is when you see one that provokes much discussion and deciphering afterwards.  I have a pantheon of such movies:  The Conversation, Nashville, Cabaret, The Godfather.  Welcome “Arrival” to that pantheon as it took me a little while to figure it out.  The water isn’t deep, it’s just murky.

What a pleasure to watch a beautifully crafted story edited to perfection.  It’s complex and it ends up circling the most important concept of life, the concept that has always been the most intriguing to me.  I’m not going to disclose it here. 

Two things I will say about this movie.  First, Amy Adams is terrific, probably even Oscar-worthy.  Much of the movie’s emotion is deployed in close-ups of her face as she reacts to what she sees and hears. She plays a linguist who is sent to try to communicate with one of several alien objects that are hovering over earth.  They have brought us something, and the clock is ticking, because the military is getting itchy.  She must figure out what they want.  All this intrigue is laid out ingeniously.

The second thing I want to say, is that if you have a young daughter, tread carefully. There is a subplot that could be upsetting.

Anything beyond these comments would serve to spoil a pretty cool movie experience, one that you will enjoy unraveling when it all sinks in.

 

Manchester By the Sea –9

Casey Affleck is another early Oscar favorite for his performance as Lee Chandler, a man with a very troubled past who, when his brother dies, finds himself as the unqualified and unwilling guardian to his nephew Patrick played equally well by Lucas Hedges. 

This is a character study of tragic intensity.  Lee is beyond damaged and Affleck captures it all with an epic performance.  I have been an Affleck fan since seeing him in Baby Gone Baby which I consider the best movie of this century.  It was directed by his brother Ben Affleck, whom I just want to shake and say “more movies like this please.” 

This is not an easy movie to digest.  It is slow moving, and there are no easy resolutions to the struggles the two main characters are going through.  While Patrick is wrestling with high school issues, like how to keep two girlfriends from finding out about each other. Lee is wrestling with having to move from Boston back to Manchester where he’s a pariah to the locals.  The presence of his ex-wife Randi, played  explosively by Michelle Williams, further complicates his life.  Manchester is a lovely place, but he doesn’t want to be there.

Writer/Director Kenneth Lonergan treats the audience like adults.  He paints a canvas and lets the viewer interpret.  It’s slow and melodic and haunting.

Edge of Seventeen – 6

All three of these movies are distressing to old school parents, and I guess I’m just officially an old fogie.  If this is what it’s like to be a teenager today, I’m glad I’m safely into my 60’s. 

Hallee Steinfeld, who is a budding singing and acting superstar plays Nadine, a young girl who has never really fit in.  When she finally gets a BFF (yes, I know what that means) in Krista they seem destined to grow old together.  Then Nadine’s shallow world is shattered when Krista, (a beautiful Haley Lu Richardson) becomes the girlfriend of Nadine’s older brother (Blake Jenner). 

Teen angst in 2016 hasn’t changed much, but my angst was elevated by the obliviousness of the parents.  Bobby Knight once said that kids haven’t changed, but parents sure have.  Bingo.  I guess Woody Harrellson, who is terrific as Nadine’s sparring teacher, is the responsible adult in the movie.  Let that sink in for a moment.

Sometimes movies are over my head.  This one just whizzed past my ear.