2019 was a fairly good year for movies. Now that I have my Cineworld card back I managed to go and see a fair few – not all of the ones that I wanted to see but most of them! I decided to write a list of my top twenty that I managed to see this year. This is just my opinion and bear in mind I didn’t see every single release in 2019! But here were my top twenty picks.
20. Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)
So… I wrote a pretty scathing review of this film here and I still stand by everything I said. The film was too long, too slow, didn’t keep enough of an atmosphere. Yet I can’t get this film out of my head and I’m actually vaguely irritated because I love the idea, I thought the acting was phenomenal it’s just that it let itself down (in my opinion). Although I sort of disliked it though I can’t stop reading theories about the film and I absolutely love that scene where they all dance to be the May Queen (no idea why, I just think it’s a great scene). I’ve also watched the majority of the deleted scenes. This film just managed to leave the biggest impact on me this year regardless of the fact that I didn’t like it so for that specific reason it’s made it onto the list.
19. Ma (Tate Taylor, 2019)
I don’t think this film was in cinemas for long and the showings were all really awkward, like late night showings. I was staying in a hotel literally a minute walk from a cinema though whilst this was on so decided to go and see it – the trailer didn’t look ground-breaking or anything like that but everyone knows I like a good horror so I decided to give it a chance. As predicted it wasn’t anything to get excited about but it was an okay film. I wouldn’t be upset if anyone wanted to watch it but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to suggest it either.
18. What Men Want (Adam Shankman, 2019)
Apparently this is sort of a reverse on ‘What Women Want’ which was released in 2001 but I’ve never seen it so I can’t comment. I quite like a good chick flick so I decided to give this a go. Again, nothing ground-breaking but it had its funny moments, its heart-warming moments, its sad moments – everything that goes into a good chick flick.
17. Instant Family (Sean Anders, 2019)
I hadn’t really intended to go and see this film as although it looked okay I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy over it. However I was looking after my brother one morning and we both like going to the cinema and he likes anything aimed at children or anything funny so off we both went. And I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would to be fair. I’m not sure how accurate of the fostering system the film is as it certainly wouldn’t work like that in the UK but it is still ultimately a comedy film and it worked well.
16. Toy Story 4 (Josh Cooley, 2019)
I absolutely love the Toy Story movies, they might even be my favourite Disney films. I think my favourite is Toy Story 3 even though unfortunately I’ve seen it one too many times – but arguably one of my favourite things about Toy Story 3 was the ending. The three films were solid and had the best possible ending. So why on earth did they make a fourth? I enjoyed it but definitely felt the story would’ve been better to end with three, I wasn’t keen on the ending of the fourth one. However it was still enjoyable and I liked some of the characters – I thought Forky would be really annoying but ended up liking him more than I thought and I liked Gabbie too. So I guess it was still a good film.
15. A Dog’s Journey (Gail Mancusco, 2019)
I absolutely loved [first film] so when I saw there was a sequel I dragged my brother along to see it with me. This one was just as heart-warming as the first and I enjoyed it so much that when I spotted the book on my way back from San Francisco I decided to give it a read. The book is sadder and although I loved it I prefer the film because I’m a sucker for happy endings. I really enjoyed it, I need to re-watch both of these films.
14. Booksmart (Olivia Wilde, 2019)
I actually loved this film. An amazing chick flick with a good feminist twist that still managed to be super funny. The chemistry between Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein was incredible, I truly believed in their friendship! And it was nice to see some LGBT representation just for the sake of it rather than having that be the central point of the story. I’d definitely watch this film again as I just loved it!
13. Shazam! (David Sandberg, 2019)
I’m much more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan I won’t lie. But this film looked decent and I decided to give it a go. It was actually much better than I thought it would be, it was really funny, heart-warming and just generally a good film. I’d definitely watch it again and hopefully there’s a sequel in the works because I’d go and watch it in a heartbeat.
12. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (Rob Letterman, 2019)
When I was a little kid I was absolutely obsessed with Pokémon but irritatingly I think members of my family but me to suppress my love for it because it was ‘for boys’. My brother was allowed to buy Pokémon cards but when I wanted to buy them with my own money I was told no. Still vaguely irritated by that now. Everyone freaked out when this trailer was released and the Pokémon did look a bit weird but it must’ve been difficult to bring them into a live action movie and keep them looking realistic. They did a better job than Sonic though, let’s be real. But yeah, the film was really good and I think I’d watch it again given the opportunity.
11. Happy Death Day 2U (Christopher Landon, 2019)
I low-key enjoyed ‘Happy Death Day’ because like whilst it was ridiculous at least the filmmakers acknowledged it and rolled with it instead of trying to make it too serious (looking at you ‘The Bye Bye Man’). So I was keen to see the sequel. I won’t lie the film almost seemed like an excuse to justify the first one. In ‘Happy Death Day’ it’s never explained why Tree is stuck in a loop reliving the same day and it’s like they made a sequel to say ‘THIS IS HOW SO IT MAKES SENSE OKAY’. Regardless I still enjoyed it because like the first one it definitely didn’t take itself seriously and it was a lot of fun.
10. Escape Room (Adam Robitel, 2019)
I really can’t remember watching any trailers for this movie, it came out so early in 2019. I must’ve seen a trailer at some point and was probably instantly ready to watch it. Unfortunately I watched it just two days before I did my first ever escape room experience myself but you know, it was fine. I loved this film, I thought it was well-thought out and it had good pacing like I was on the edge of my seat for some scenes. My worst room was when the floor kept dropping like my heart was in my mouth for most of that. I loved this film!
9. IT: Chapter Two (Andres Muschietti, 2019)
Although I enjoyed the first film I wouldn’t have said I ‘loved’ it. My friend Becca on the other hand absolutely loved the first film and insisted we had to see Chapter Two the night it was released so off me, her and Jess went to see it. And I actually loved it. We recently rewatched the first one and I see Becca’s point of view now because they are good films. I loved that they’re more realistic in terms of how people would react to being in such a situation and the mix of comedy and horror. It just works really well and I love it!
8. Aladdin (Guy Ritchie, 2019)
This is another Disney film I absolutely loved as a child (and still do love) so when they announced they were turning it into a live action I was nervous – especially when they released the first stills as Will Smith as the Genie because although I love Will Smith it definitely didn’t look good. To be fair to Will though he had some pretty big shoes to fill and he did a fantastic job, it was just the stills that had made it look a bit horrendous. I liked that they gave Jasmine more of a feminist storyline and also ‘Speechless’ is an amazing song. I’m so glad they did a good job with this film as I’d have been gutted if they hadn’t!
7. Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2019)
I’m never sure if films released at the very end of the year are 2019 releases or 2020 but considering I saw it in 2019 and it was released in that year I’m going to count it. From the moment I saw the trailer for this film I was excited to see it. I’d bought the book a few years previously but couldn’t get past the first few pages. I’m not sure I’m keen on classics but I’ve kept hold of the book in case I wanted to read it after watching the film and I think I might do. They got an amazing cast for this film like actually incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d definitely be down to go and watch this film again.
6. Avengers: End Game (Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, 2019)
I was absolutely crushed by the ending of Infinity War and was low-key furious that I had to wait an entire year to see what happened but God it was worth the wait. There were aspects of the film that I wasn’t keen on but I still loved it. I watched it at midnight in 4DX with my sister Holly, my friend Emma and her boyfriend Alan and it was an amazing night. I was so happy to finally see this film and like I said, it was worth the wait!
5. Captain Marvel (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, 2019)
Ya’ll are trashing this film ‘cos it’s a Marvel film about a woman, I don’t care how you try and defend it, this film was under scrutiny from the moment it was announced and some people were never gonna like it out of principle – but this film was way more interesting and thought out than any Iron Man film I’ve ever seen yet all I see is people moaning about it. It’s actually infuriating. This movie was a gem from start to finish, I love Carol to pieces and the plot was just so interesting! So many twists and turns! Please God give us a sequel because I need more Carol Denvers in my life.
4. Spider-Man: Far From Home (Jon Watts, 2019)
Obviously I wanted to see this film, I loved the first Spider-Man movie, I love Tom Holland, I love Peter Parker, of course I was going to watch it. For some reason, I can’t remember why I was a bit late to go and watch it like it had already been out for a couple of weeks and I saw people raving about this film wherever I went. Luckily it lived up to the hype because I loved it, it was so clever and that ENDING. I’m glad Sony and Marvel have worked things out because we need to see what happens next, I can’t stand not knowing. Give me the next Spider-Man film like now please.
3. Frozen 2 (Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck, 2019)
Listen, fair play to the people that made the sequel because they could’ve released pretty much anything after Frozen’s success and everybody would’ve gone to watch it anyway. But instead they made a decent sequel with amazing songs (Into the Unknown? Iconic. Show Yourself? Incredible. The Next Right Things? Makes me cry.) and good character development. I’m sick of people trashing Frozen and saying there are other Disney movies with the same values – this one just happened to blow up and still has a good message about following your heart, about sisterhood, about friendship, about not trusting everyone you meet immediately etc. Stop whinging about it for crying out loud!
2. Us (Jordan Peele, 2019)
I was SO hyped when the trailer for this dropped because it looked incredible and of course Jordan Peele absolutely delivered. So did Lupita Nyong’o like I’m sorry but where’s her Oscar for this performance? Absolutely incredible. This was an amazing horror that had me on the edge of my seat and creeped me out for ages. It’s not perfect because when me and my friends were discussing the plot there are a few holes but it’s still an incredible idea and was executed perfectly. The pacing was good, it didn’t go on and on and it was just really creepy! Definitely one of the best films of 2019 without a doubt.
1. Ready or Not (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2019)
Like my top spot from 2018 I think this film made it to the top simply because it impressed me so much. I was looking forward to watching it because it looked good and I wanted to understand why they needed to hunt her down and kill her. When I saw it at the cinema I thought it was a little slow to get started but once it going it really got going. I thought this was another example of how someone would genuinely react to being stuck in this situation and they didn’t take themselves too seriously. The concept itself is ridiculous but the filmmakers acknowledged that and made the film accordingly. For those reasons alone it takes my top movie for 2019!
There we have it, my top twenty films from 2019. Feel free to leave your favourites in the comments or any that you think I missed!
Hozzie Writes 