Today is the day that the ballots for the Oscars went out. We haven’t had this good of a year for movies for a looooooooong time. Critics have long declared 1999 the best year ever for movies, and for a long time I agreed. Until now. It’s been a refreshing year especially since audiences have been bombarded with mediocre entertainment since superhero movies and endless remakes completely took over the film industry.
It’s easy to watch a movie, enjoy the experience and remain completely oblivious to the effort put into making it. I still believe that the Oscars cater to the kinds of people who truly appreciate the hard work of filmmakers and invest in learning about the hardships of filmmaking and examining the way a film is structured. Side note: it’s going to be hilarious to watch Rami Malek be forced to present the award to an actor with actual talent.
Will Joaquin Phoenix finally get Best Actor on his fourth try for playing the titular character in Joker? This is his fourth nomination in almost 20 years. Or will Adam Driver snatch it away from him for his dramatic downfall in Marriage Story? And what about Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems? They’ll have plenty of competition — veteran actors Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Willem Dafoe, and Antonio Banderas are all busy campaigning as well.
And how about Best Actress? All year long, the only frontrunner is Renee Zellweger for her role as Judy Garland in the film Judy. (Side note: she actually sings in this role. Take note, Rami Malek!) But could Awkwafina make history by being the first Asian American woman to be nominated in this category for her role in The Farewell?
Will Brad Pitt get Best Supporting Actor and finally get recognition for being the great character actor that he is? Will Jennifer Lopez surprise everyone and win Best Supporting Actress for Hustlers? Her opening pole dancing scene alone is worth the trophy. What about Laura Dern, who attracted a lot of Oscar buzz for her performances in Marriage Story and Little Women? Could this be Scarlett Johansson or Margot Robbie’s year? Both women have had acclaimed performances in Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story (Scarlett) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Bombshell (Margot). And what about Willem Dafoe? Is it FINALLY going to be his year? His performance in The Lighthouse was one of my favorites of his entire career.
Will Quentin Tarantino finally take home the award for Best Director? If he does, it will be about him getting his due and being awarded for his body of work. Choosing the best Tarantino film is daunting. He may not have the vast filmography that other directors have but all of his movies are pretty much flawless. Or will Martin Scorcese win again for The Irishman? Scorcese is the one filmmaker that I can’t believe only has one Best Director Oscar — and that one came late in his legendary career. He should have won for Goodfellas but the Oscars are always correcting past omissions. What about Taika Waititi, who has been making quite a splash in the past few years with his subversive humor and social commentary? And don’t discount Bong Joon Ho, whose movie Parasite has been cleaning up at many awards shows in the lead up to the Oscars.
Let’s not forget about director Todd Philipps, who made what is arguably the most culturally significant movie of 2019 - Joker. Like it or not, this movie has managed to stay in every single conversation about films this year. Even when critics talk about other movies, they can’t help but compare them to Joker. It’s the game-changer of the year with its thought-provoking politics, its box office grosses, winning the top prize at a prestigious film festival, getting banned in China, and for being the anti-comic book movie that is still based on a comic book. I will go ahead and say that I am in line with the politics of the the film.
What about the battle between streaming and theatrical? So far, Netflix is the studio with the most amount of Oscar fare, since most of the traditional Hollywood studios are too busy trying to cash in on reboots, remakes, sequels and comic book movies.
The big categories at the Oscars (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture, Best Director) are jam-packed with the kind of worthy competition we haven’t seen in years. it’s going to be a bloodbath. If I had it my way, Fernando Meirelles’ love letter to Pope Francis, The Two Popes, would win Best Picture and Jonathan Pryce would take home the trophy for Best Actor for his sympathetic portrayal of the pontiff.
One category that I think is very underrated is Best Animated Feature. Big Hero 6, Wall-e, Moana, and Coraline are among my all-time favorite movies and if the Oscars ever changed any of their rules, I would love for them to allow animated features into the Best Picture category. Toy Story 4 had a great year in 2019 and will be tough to beat. The Toy Story series has always been smart in realizing that childhood ends and it’s always succeeded in capturing that bittersweet, tragic feeling. These are movies that speak to children and parents alike. As a parent, you can feel the heartbreak that Woody and Buzz feel as they watch Andy grow up. And if there is one thing I’ve learned from watching the Oscars, never bet against Pixar.
It was so hard for me to narrow it down because this was such a remarkable year, but here are the best movies of 2019:
MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2019
Joker
The Two Popes
Birds of Passage
Parasite
Skin
Peanut Butter Falcon
The Irishman
Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood
Marriage Story
Booksmart
The Lighthouse
Jojo Rabbit
Uncut Gems
I Lost my Body
Dolemite is My Name
John Wick 3: Parabellum
THE ABSOLUTE WORST MOVIES OF 2019
(Because I simply couldn’t resist…)
Avengers: Endgame
If Marvel stopped making movies, the film industry would be a much better place. Marvel and Disney also need to stop forcing us to take their movies seriously. They’re fun movies, yes. They are also bad movies. Black Panther positioned itself as the movie event of the century yet had little to say about race or racism, despite boasting an almost all POC cast and crew. Disney then tried to buy a Best Picture award for it. I’m with Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and John Woo on this one — they are not cinema. Not even close.
Yesterday
How does such an excellent premise completely drop the ball? I’m convinced that this was simply a paycheck movie for Danny Boyle, who has directed some of modern cinema’s icons such as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire. This movie opened up so many conversations about art and artistry and culture….and then decided to turn into a formulaic and predictable romantic comedy that frankly, ruined the film. If ever there was a movie that screamed, “OK BOOMER!” this is it. It’s that bad.
Little Women
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This movie is painfully boring and has been told too many times.
Posting this image again. This was taken in October 2019 in NYC. My friends and I found the Joker stairs — take the 4 train up to 167th Street.
Recent Posts
I usually do a write up of the events I’ve organized or hosted and my most-read articles at the end of the year. This was an unusual year (obviously, there is no need to go into it here) so I didn’t bother. Instead I want to highlight a project of mine that I am particularly proud of — it’s my new podcast show, Unverified Accounts, that I cohost with my frequent collaborators, Chris Jesu Lee and Filip Guo. If you're a big movie/TV/book buff, have leftist sympathies, but can't stand 'wokeness' dumbing down our culture, then we're the podcast for you. So far in our 25 episodes, we’ve covered a range of contentious topics.