2019 Films

• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – B+ (95%RT) This movie is a little weird but I liked both it and the message.
• Ad Astra – A- (83%RT) A mesmerizing movie with a subdued performance by Pitt. I really enjoyed the ride.
• Aniara – B+ (70%RT) A bleek, existential, entirely disturbing film about a space colony devolving. It’s fascinating and I think it would make a great series.
• Aladdin – B (57%RT) It’s better than you think it’s going to be.
• Always Be My Maybe – B+ (92%RT) Cute rom-com about two old friends rekindling their romance.
• Avengers: End Game – B (95%RT) A small indie film about several friends dealing with the aftermath of the death of their loved ones. Themes include: depression, MPD, obesity, anger, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety.
• Booksmart – A+ (97%) It doesn’t get better than this clever film about two high school senior girls making the most of their last day. Destined to be a cult classic.
• Brittany Runs a Marathon – A (90%RT) A hot mess approaching age 30 reluctantly turns her life around in this clever, funny dramedy.
• Bumblebee – B (93%RT) – This is basically E.T. but with a giant robot. So …the Iron Giant?
• Charlie’s Angels – C+ ( %RT) – A not terribly exciting reboot of the franchise with extreme editing to hide the stunt people, lots of over-dubbing, and some weird acting by Kristen Stewart.
• Child’s Play – B (61%RT) – Fun and gross and disturbing. A good reboot for the Internet of Things world we are living in.
• Cold War – A- (94%RT) – Sparse and spellbinding.
• Dark Waters – B+ (91%RT) – Basically DuPont knowingly gave us all cancer.
• Doctor Sleep – B- (75%RT) – The book is a sequel to The Shining book. The movie is a sequel to The Shining movie. I liked the changes. Rebecca Ferguson’s accent was all. over. the. place.
• Dolemite is My Name – B (97%RT) – Eddie Murphy is great as the crude, rapping comedian.
• Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile – C+ (57%RT) -Stupidly titled, kinda boring, and not at all scary.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters – C+ (40%RT) – Not as exciting or smart as the previous two in the franchise but still entertaining if a little rote.
• Greta – B- (57%RT) – The acting lifts this otherwise by-the-books thriller. The most unrealistic part is when Chloe leaves her 10-speed propped outside a building in Brooklyn and it’s still there 30 minutes later.
• Hustlers – B (88%RT) – True-ish story about a group of strippers who form a criminal organization. “J.Lo deserves an Oscar nom” says people.
• Isn’t It Romantic – B (68%RT) – A sweet satire of traditional rom-coms. Rebel Wilson must be contractually obligated to fall down in every movie.
• It: Chapter 2 – B (64%RT) – Not as good as the first but overall a satisfying conclusion to the IT story. At least we get some LGBTQ representation.
• Joker – B (69%RT) – Disturbing. Phoenix will either get an Oscar or a Razzie.
• Jojo Rabbit – B+ (79%RT) – This funny, sweet, and clever movie takes on Hitler and the difference between right and wrong. It’s an allegory for good people going along with bad ideas because they want to fit in.
• Judy – B+ (83%RT) – A very sad portrait of a legend lost.
• Jumanji: The Next Level – B (70%RT) -A decent retread of the last film. Some good action sequences but nothing too new.
• Knives Out – B (96%RT) – An interesting, if a tad slow, Whodunnit with a decent twist out of the gate.
• Late Night – B- (76%RT) – A mostly by-the-book script about a female writer brought in to remind a complacent talk show host who she used to be. Per usual Mindy Kaling overstuffs her scripts with useless supporting characters.
• LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part – C+ (89%RT) – Nowhere near as good as the first. A good lesson for kids but a retread for adults. I feel like this was a missed opportunity to call it “Another brick in the wall”.
• Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice – B (88%RT) A celebration of her life in music.
• Little Monsters – C+ (85%RT) – Mostly dull zom-com about a kindergarten teacher protecting her kids from the undead. Josh Gad’s character is beyond annoying.
• Little Women – A (95%RT) – An absolutely lovely and joyous film.
• Long Shot – B (82%RT) – A schlubby journalist falls for the Secretary of State in this raunchy yet sadly plausible political comedy.
• Marriage Story – A (95%RT) – Brilliant performances with a truly funny supporting cast. One of the year’s best.
• Mike Wallace Is Here – B- (94%RT) Wallace changed the way TV interviews were conducted; for that he deserves credit. He was also a complete prick. Even his friends say that.
• Midsommar – C (83%RT) – 3+ hours of not scary nothing culminates in an ending not earned. Skip it.
• Minding the Gap – B+ (100%RT) – Three teenage friends try to understand life, death, and child abuse through their escape of skateboarding.
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – B+ (85%RT) DiCaprio is fantastic as an aging 60s Western A-list actor trying to navigate the cultural shift to edgier 70s fare.
• Parasite – A- (99%RT) A clever, intriguing, mystery with some good twists and turns. One of the best of the year.
• Pink Wall – D+ (83%RT) – Two characters that you would never want to be friends with meet, date, and then slowly break up over the course of 77 minutes (which felt like 177 minutes).
• Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins – B+ (93%RT) – Molly was a rabble-rouser and a game-changer in the area of journalism and politics.
• Ready or Not – C- (87%RT) – The movie doesn’t know if it’s a horror or a comedy and therefor it fails at both.
• Richard Jewell – C- (73%RT) – Eastwood manages to take an interesting story and make it really dull. Thankfully the performances are good.
• Rocketman – A (91%) – A fantastic fantasy film featuring stellar performances. Just give Taron Egerton the Oscar now.
• Roma – A (96%RT) – A gorgeous and visually arresting portrait of Mexico City in 1970 and a year in the life of one young woman.
• Shazam! – C- (91%RT) – Juvenile, boring, bad acting, predictable, lame, older actors that have no resemblance to their younger counterparts.
• Someone Great – B+ (82%RT) – Cute rom-com about a depressed woman getting her BFFs together for one last fling.
• Spider-man: Far From Home – B+ (90%RT) – Fun, flirty, and surprising. Plus that post-credits scene not only explains a lot from the film but sets up Phase 4 nicely.
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – B- (54%RT) – Entertaining but convoluted. It essentially erases the previous movie.
• Tell Me Who I Am. –B (94%RT) – Documentary about one twin with amnesia trying to fill in the missing years while his brother is lying to him about everything that happened.
• The Aeronauts – B (72%RT) – This movie gave me about 5 mini heart attacks.
• The Farewell – A+ (99%RT) – Utterly delightful film about doing a questionably bad thing for a good reason. One of the best of the year.
• The Good Liar – B (64%RT) – A con-man preys on Helen Mirren for her money. Helen don’t play that.
• The Great Hack – B (87%RT) – Terrifying. I am not sure we will ever have a fair democratic election again. THIS is the real SkyNet.
• The Irishman – A (96%RT) – I was never bored despite it’s very long running time. Being in the mafia seems exhausting.
• The Laundromat – D– (43%RT) – A horribly directed mess that attempts to weave multiple stories into one narrative but fails miserably.  One of the worst of the year. Seriously, it’s unwatchable.
• The Torture Report – B (83%RT) – A paper chase movie about the Bush-Cheney administration’s penchant for torture post 9-11.
• The Two Popes – B+ (89%RT) – Pope Palpatine was a jerk.
• The Wife – B (85%RT) – Behind every great man is an even greater woman who has to put up with a lot of b.s.
• Triple Frontier – B- (73%RT) – A lesson in greed and stupidity. It’s a straight to Netflix Ben Affleck movie that you’ve never heard of.
• Uncut Gems – A+ (94%RT) – Fantastic! So engaging and stressful. Give it all the Oscars
• Us – B+ (94%RT) – This wasn’t as scary as I wanted it to be but it is definitely smarter than I anticipated. Another solid film from Peele.
• Wine Country – B (68%RT) – This partially improvised film works well on Netflix if you grab some friends and a few bottles of pinot.
• Yesterday – C+ (60%RT) – They wrote themselves into a corner and didn’t know how to get out. The ending makes little sense if you spend 2 minutes contemplating it. This really should have been better.

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