Best and worst films of 2019

The good news is that there were a lot of good films out in 2019. The bad news is that seeing those films in a cinema just keeps on getting harder. It’s not even a secret that Disney would really prefer it if cinemas just showed Disney movies, which would seem hilarious except that they had a bunch of the biggest movies of the year and bought Fox studios; when Joker making a billion dollars is a sign of hope, you know we’re in a dark place.

As is usually the way these days, the superhero movies grabbed all the attention despite rarely deserving it (Shazam! was probably the best of the bunch; Avengers: Endgame mostly just felt like an end), while the other big money makers were often films that just kept on quietly raking in the cash like Aladdin or Rocketman. At least the idea of coming back after years with “all new” sequels in an attempt to revive long dead franchises seems to have died yet again, even if Terminator: Dark Fate was nowhere near the worst Terminator movie this century.

Worst films of 2019 (in no particular order)

There’s always more bad films than good in a year, but usually they’re just bad in a way that’s sad rather than rage-inducing. What was notable this year was the sheer number of bad films that didn’t even care about being good; while a couple of these films stunk because of obvious mistakes they really shouldn’t have made, or were just the last gasp of a series that had run out of steam a movie or two earlier, some just set out to be as firmly average and bland as they could be whatever the subject matter or possible potential.

(there’s four horror movies on this list because a horror movie only has one job: be scary. If you don’t want to do that, make something else)

*Doctor Sleep

*MiB: International

*Black Christmas

*The Lion King

*Pet Sematary

*It Chapter 2

*King of Thieves

*Ride Like a Girl
*Poms

*Judy & Punch

Best films of 2019 (in no particular order)

This really was a good year for film; I’d take pretty much any one of these films over anything in my top ten list for last year. And Rambo: Last Blood didn’t even make the top ten! It was a pretty good year for films I didn’t see in cinemas too: Netflix’s Marriage Story is great, and if Scott Adkins’ movie Avengement had made it to cinemas here it definitely would have been on this list.

Also I should stress I haven’t yet seen Cats, so obviously this top ten list is provisional at best.

*Toy Story 4

*Parasite

*Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

*John Wick 3

*Ready or Not

*The Irishman

*Pain and Glory

*The Report

*Portrait of a Lady on Fire

*Little Women