Best of 2019 and the decade

What are the top films of this year and the 2010s?

Exclusive to MeierMovies, December 31, 2019

Creating a list of the best films of a given year before you’ve seen all the good films from that year is a silly exercise. A rush to judgment. A click-bait clinic.

But yet here I am again: putting out a list before I’ve caught up on all the end-of-the-year domestic releases, not to mention some of the best foreign-language and documentary films, many of which don’t get seen by American audiences (and even American critics) until well into the next year. So please take this top-20 list with a large salt lick. (And keep checking my big Yearly List, which I update constantly as I see new films.)

More set in stone, however, is my top 10 of the decade, which I’ve had a chance to mull over for nearly 10 years. I’m particularly proud of that list’s diversity, as it includes a documentary, two foreign-language offerings, a couple of animated films, a silent film, a couple of “art films” and even two films that appear to have been shot in a single take. It’s quite the eclectic group.

Before we look at the movie lists, let us recognize some of 2019’s best performances. In the lead-actor race, Adam Driver in Marriage Story wins in a photo finish over Joaquin Phoenix in Joker. For lead actress, I am sticking with my early selection of Julianne Moore in the disappointingly overlooked Gloria Bell. For supporting actor (if you can really call it a supporting performance), I recognize Anthony Hopkins in The Two Popes. And for supporting actress (again, if it’s truly a supporting performance instead of a lead), I pick Adèle Haenel from Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).

Best of 2019 (so far)
1. 1917 – 4 ¾ stars
2. Ad Astra – 4 ½
3. Joker
4. Marriage Story
5. Toy Story 4
6. 63 Up  TV – 4 ¼
7. The Two Popes
8. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
9. Apollo 11
10. Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker
11. Ford v Ferrari – 4
12. Gloria Bell
13. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
14. Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) FL
15. Jojo Rabbit
16. Rocketman
17. Knives Out – 3 ¾
18. Parasite FL
19. Midsommar
20. The Farewell FL

Best of the Decade
1. Dunkirk – 5 stars
2. Hugo (3-D version)
3. Anna Karenina
4. Loving Vincent – 4 ¾
5. 1917
6. Toy Story 3 (3-D version)
7. The Artist SlWS *
8. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) *
9. The Act of Killing FL
10. Holy Motors FL

And just for fun, here are the four worst of the decade. (You can catch them playing in a cinema with an out-of-focus projector, broken seats, crackly speakers and sticky floors – in hell.)

4. Saving Christmas – 0 stars
3. Bad Black FL
2. Fateful Findings
1. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection

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