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.”

At the Cinema - July 2019

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – 9

Quentin Tarantino’s 9^th film meanders through 1969 and the Hollywood of his youth.  It is a sprawling tribute to the golden age of Hollywood, featuring fictional characters interacting with real people.  It concludes its winding path on the night that Charles Manson sends 4 cult members to murder the residents of a house that is owned by Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.  If you know Tarantino, you know there will be a blood and guts ending, and he doesn’t spare the audience. 

Leonardo Di Caprio plays Rick Dalton, an aging actor who was once the lead in a TV western, but, as pointed out by an agent (Al Pacino), he is now relegated to guest star villain roles on series like “The FBI.”  His career, and his bank account could be rejuvenated by a trip to Italy for some starring roles in spaghetti westerns.  His sidekick, stuntman, and best friend is Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt.  Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate.  It is quickly evident why these three are movie superstars.  They are all terrific.  It is Pitt that has his best role in years as he strolls through his part with the same charisma he had in Thelma and Louise.  I hope he gets an Oscar.  He’s that good.

So, what’s great about this movie, besides the three superstars?  First, there’s the music.  Tarantino as always, nails the background.  Everything is from 1969 or earlier, and its all great.  The supporting cast features many Tarantino regulars and some new faces.  The sets are great, and the way Tarantino inserts Dalton into footage is often draw dropping.  There’s even a Mannix moment, and I loved Mannix. Best TV theme song ever. 

My only quibble with the movie is that it is a little slow paced at times, as Tarantino goes to great lengths to show off his recreation of Hollywood.  It’s the Tarantino way.  At 2 hours and 40 minutes, I suggest you ignore the concession stand on the way in.  Well worth seeing, unless you are violence-adverse.

So, now for a couple of purely personal lists.  Once Upon a Time takes it place in the pantheon of great L.A. films.  Here’s my top 5:

1. Chinatown
2. L. A. Confidential
3. Singing in the Rain
4. Collateral
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

And where does it rank among Tarantino’s other films?  Here’s my ranking:

1.       Kill Bill 1 & 2 
2.       Pulp Fiction 
3.       Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 
4.       Reservoir Dogs 
5.       Inglorious Bastards 
6.       Django Unchained
7.    The Hateful Eight  
8.       Death Proof 
9.       Jackie Brown

And finally, 1969 was perhaps the most eventful year in U.S. history. 

Chew on these events:

January 12           The New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III

January 12           Led Zeppelin releases their first album in the U.S. that same day

January 20           Richard Nixon is sworn in as 37^th President of the U.S.

January 30           The Beatles give their last public performance on the roof of Apple Records

March 28             Dwight Eisenhower dies

June 22                 Judy Garland dies of a drug overdose

July 18                   Ted Kennedy drives off a bridge at Chappaquiddick.  Mary Jo Kopechne dies in the car

July 20                   Apollo 11 lunar module “Eagle” lands on the moon

August 9               Members of the Manson Family invade the home of Roman Polanski and kill his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and 3 others.

August 15            Woodstock begins

August 17            Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi Gulf Coast, killing 248 people

September 23    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is released

September 28    The Beatles release Abbey Road

October 16          The Amazing New York Mets complete their World Series upset of the Baltimore Orioles

October 31          Wal Mart is incorporated

November 9       A group of American Indians seize Alcatraz Island

November 15     Dave Thomas opens his first Wendys

December 6        Altamont Free Concert ends in violence

1969 – well worth the attention.  There’s a whole bunch of movies there.

 

Scanning the Satellite

Satan and Adam – 10

This enthralling documentary appearing on Netflix was started when streaming was only a dream.  It begins in the mid-80’s when the streets of Harlem were marked by racial tension.  A despondent Columbia grad student named Adam is exploring Harlem when he comes upon a blues guitarist known as Mr. Satan.   Mr. Satan is Sterling Magee, a well regarded backup musician who had become dissatisfied with the music business and decided to make his living on the street. 

Adam is white and Sterling is black, and when Adam asks Sterling if he can accompany him with his harmonica little do they know they are embarking on a 20 year odyssey of ups and downs that will include some modest acclaim, a disappearance, disability, and triumph. 

Sometimes documentaries are lucky and sometimes they are good, and this is both.  The filmmakers could not have predicted what they would be lucky enough to document.  This is one of my favorite documentaries ever, and if you like music, don’t miss it.

Bathtubs over Broadway – 10

Another Netflix documentary home run is this amazing film.  It is hard to believe that musical theater Is as old as our country.  It thrived in the 20^th century as the Broadway musical reached great heights.  And late in the century, Broadway caliber talent was used in the corporate world for industry meeting productions.  Steve Young, a writer for David Letterman discovered this world as he searched for records for “Dave’s Record Collection,” an early bit on the Letterman’s show.  This launched Steve’s obsession with this invisible world, with records that were marked “internal use only” and “not for public viewing.”  His 20-year hunt for as many of these musicals, both on vinyl and video, is beautifully chronicled here.  This film has already won many awards.

If you like music, or musicals, or anything Broadway, you will be wide-eyed as Steve tracks down some of the individuals who put these shows together.  Their stories are terrific, the music is indeed catchy, and the personalities, including some famous ones, are worthy of the star treatment they get from Young.  Don’t miss this love story.

Big Little Lies, (season 2) - 7

Meryl Streep joins the superstar cast of this hit HBO soap opera, and the star power jumps off the screen, even if the story can’t quite live up to the fast-paced events of the first season.  Streep, Witherspoon, Dern, Kidman, Kravitz, and Woodley make up an all-star team, but unfortunately there isn’t much likability in the team.  They are all irritating.  Given no one to root for, I was rooting for an earthquake.

Veep – 10

I was late to the Veep party, but I’m glad I finally got there.  There’s a good reason Julia Louis-Dreyfous is an 8 time Emmy winner and a national treasure.  She delivers one of television’s all time great characters as Vice President Selena Myers.  But, as good as she is as the anchor of this, the entire cast is terrific.  I understand why this show ranks as one of HBO’s best ever. More laughs per minute than anything I can remember.

 And finally, a little Lagniappe: