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New Year Post: Best Movies of 2019 and Best Movies of the Decade

The Ten Best Movies of 2019 Below are very brief descriptions of my favorite films of this past year. Most have been the subject of longer reviews. For reference to these I have indicated both the blog post dates and the page number(s) in the 2019 collected reviews document. I have also added a list of a dozen documentaries that most impressed, with information links and review dates and page numbers if applicable. Parasite South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s savage satire of his society’s class divides earned the Cannes film festival’s top prize Palme d’Or and should be the favorite for the best international feature film (previously best foreign-language film) Oscar to be announced February 9. Don’t be surprised if it also makes it into the main best picture category, nominations for which will be announced on January 13. (Reviewed 30 October, p. 67) The Two Popes Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ insightful imagining of this unusu...

First New Year Movies Post

First, a few comments on the 77 th “Golden Globes”. Netflix had no less than three of the five nominees in the major category of best dramatic feature— The Irishman , Marriage Story , and The Two Popes . Yet these collectively scored only one minor win—Laura Dern in a supporting category for Marriage Story . (I still expect all three to be in the running for the Oscar best picture nominations to be announced January 13.) The biggest surprise was the big-screen epic 1917 taking the top award of best drama as well as best director for Sam Mendes, giving it an undeniable boost ahead of a January 10 North American wide release. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood took three Globes including for best musical or comedy. When it comes to movie awards, the streaming services have yet to catch up to these made-for-theatrical-release features. Series are another matter as streaming increasingly dominates. I was glad to see Olivia Colman win ...

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Viewing

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Streaming 27 December 2021 Recently in a Cineplex theatre I went to see Guillermo del Toro’s carnivalesque Nightmare Alley (B) which has tons of psycho-noirish atmosphere over its 150 minutes. It’s definitely lacking the Christmas spirit so be warned. (I had somewhat of a nightmarish time after as I got stranded with car engine failure.) In “Alley” Willem Dafoe has a small role as a creepy carny. That evening the “Crave” channel featured Dafoe in the lead role as a tormented soul in Abel Ferrara’s nightmarish 2019 psychodrama Siberia (C). If anything, it’s even more grotesque and ghastly. So bring on the heartwarming holiday favorites! As usual there is a vast amount of content being added to streaming platforms. Netflix seems to add another series almost every day. Worth checking out is the four-episode docuseries Animal (A) that starts with the predatory world of big cats. And speaking of ...

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