The 10 Most Entertaining Films of 2019

A movie theater is a magical playground for me. Every year, I saunter into countless auditoriums with nothing more than an expectation that what I am about to see will transport me to another world. Occasionally I learn about a struggle I was unfamiliar with or a persevering spirit, and just as often I catch dazzling heroics leaping off the screen. The variations are innumerable, yet that feeling of discovering a fresh 120 minutes or so of escapism – plus trailers – never fails to entice me to immediately embark on this endeavor yet again. Movies are my passion.

2019 has come and gone, and over the past year I have personally screened over 135 new films. That number seems astronomical, yet honestly it only scratches the surface of the content at our fingertips. If you toss in the 500+ scripted television shows currently available, we truly are living in a crisis of riches. Quality stories covering every race or creed, ages young and old, Netflix AND Disney+…it’s insane! When you arrive at a point in life when your entertainment options cause legitimate stress, you know we’re simply far too spoiled.

But the time has come to whittle that total down to the essentials, the bare bones, and deliver my 10 most entertaining films of 2019. I try to stay away from the term “Best” for this list because it feels like elitist nonsense. What I enjoy isn’t necessarily what you like, so how are my choices any “better” than yours? I prefer to instead focus on what I personally consider to be the most entertaining movies of the past year. Some entertain me for artistic reasons, cultural significance, occasionally it’s derring-do, and every once in awhile, it’s old-fashioned ass-kicking involving a tortured assassin using horses as shotguns!

Every year when I compile this final list, some internet warrior always feels the need to point out how “you rated X movie higher than that OTHER movie in your written review or on your podcast, so HOW can it be a better movie now?!’, so let me address that right now: You are absolutely correct. But the plain truth is that some movies play better with repeat viewings – Ready or Not and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood are prime examples of this – while others roll the opposite way. Such is the way with life. So take a breath, slap together your own Top 10 and post it in the comments, I’d love to compare.

Without further adieu, let’s get into it. Here are the 10 most entertaining films of 2019!

Aaron

Honorable Mentions: Joker, Freaks, Aladdin, Ford v Ferrari, Yesterday, Yes, God, Yes, Us, The Farewell, Uncut Gems, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

10. Ready or Not

Samara Weaving has been the best thing about whatever project she’s associated with for the last couple of years (The Babysitter, Mayhem), and Ready of Not is no exception. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett do not go easy on Weaving’s Grace as she learns her impending nuptials require her to win a sadistic game of Hide-and-Seek. Grace’s new family forces her to suffer everything from slashed skin to gunshots, and like Rocky Balboa, she just keeps getting back up for another round. Though it would have been nice to see Grace completely destroy this family as an absurd avenging angel, Weaving manages to hold our attention and keep us firmly invested in every choice Grace makes by making it damn near impossible to not completely soak up every line of dialogue she chews or giggle at every side-eye of frustration at her predicament. At no point throughout this gem does she invoke a ludicrous strategy or idiotic character choice simply for plot convenience. And don’t even get me started on her amazing scream, a reverbing yodel crossed with a cliff-diving raccoon, it’s truly a sound of majestic glory.

Like any marriage, at some point it has to end. Whether it’s till death or the credits roll, Ready or Not makes the most of a souped-up premise, a magnetic star-on-the-rise, and an absolutely bonkers conclusion worthy of Cabin in the Woods comparisons. This is the rare wedding I didn’t mind sitting through, so if you haven’t caught this one yet, settle in for a delicious ceremony from Hell.

9. The Art of Self-Defense

Casey is our hero, a man who has been mugged and humiliated into desperately needing to learn karate so that he never feels this level of weakness again. Yet for a large majority of this film, he is far from heroic. Jesse Eisenberg firmly restrains his trademark tics to present a character who claws at every conceivable scenario in order to never again play the victim (and failing repeatedly), until the final act when Casey finally uncovers his inner strength and the Eisenberg we know and love emerges with him. Jesse Eisenberg has not embodied as well-rounded a character as this since The Social Network, and after several recent career missteps, Casey is a glorious return to form for the actor.

In charge of shaping Casey’s growth, Alessandro Nivola’s Sensei is – while at times thunderously moronic – mostly a man’s man, a warrior living in an age of hipster douchebags. He is The Karate Kid’s John Kreese taken to an 11, with an intriguing agenda to spare, and he is everything Casey aspires to be. Nivola delivers each line in an almost monochromatic manner, rarely altering the tone of his voice even in extreme circumstances. It’s an intriguing way to approach such a pivotal character, yet one that truly works within writer-director Riley Stearns’ framework. Despite Sensei’s misogynistic treatment of Casey’s fellow student, Anna (Imogen Poots), and frequently horrific training methods, Nivola’s portrayal is relentlessly fascinating to watch. At times, even endearing.

I cannot reiterate enough how polarizing the subject matter here is. Veering between uproariously comical and hypnotically unnerving, The Art of Self-Defense is a hilarious middle finger to toxic masculinity, and not a film that will register with every viewer; the humor is simply too dire for mainstream audiences. But if you are open to the concept of skewering red-blooded American male machismo for laughs, Riley Stearns has just the dojo for you.

8. Family

After several festival runs last year, Family finally arrived in 2019 to barely a blip of marketing muscle and faded away into obscurity. Which is a damn shame, because this “Uncle Buck meets the Juggalos” comedy is easily one of the most genuinely hilarious films of the year.

Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) gives a one-of-a-kind performance as Kate – a career minded, no-nonsense businesswoman tasked with caring for her teenage niece, Maddie (a delightful Bryn Vale) – that deserves to launch her straight onto the A-list of comedy. Her blunt yet sincere and intelligent delivery – tinged with a hint of naïvete – is complimented with a subtle depth that instantly warmed me over to any shenanigan Kate finds herself stuck in. I try to avoid exclamations such as this, but it damn sure fits: Taylor Schilling is a revelation.

Laura Steinel directs from her own script and she is an artist with a skill for making people laugh. Steinel also brilliantly underscores her primary story of family with a radical present-day interpretation of the concept. The Juggalos are the Insane Clown Posse faithful, and as her film concludes with a huge fan event known as “The Gathering”, Steinel deftly illustrates that the modern family lies not solely with blood relatives, it stems from those who accept you for who are, underneath all the muck and mud of everyday life. By the time I finished, I wanted to join the Juggalos myself.

7. The Peanut Butter Falcon

If you would have told me that one of the best films of 2019 would revolve around Shia LaBeouf helping a young man with Down syndrome realize his dream of becoming a professional wrestler by building a raft and floating there, I’d have laughed you off of the internet. Yet here I sit, once again somehow surprised at the sheer talent that radiates from LaBeouf’s fingertips whenever he sets his mind on dazzling us.

The Peanut Butter Falcon is never manufactured sentiment, this is a film that wins you over by remaining genuine to its subject, and respecting its characters. Tyler (LaBeouf) is not a bad person, he just consistently gets in his own way due to his own self-punishment for a checkered past. Zak (Zack Gottsagen) may have a disability, but he demands and deserves to seize the opportunity of following his dreams. Together, this bromance grows into one of heartfelt warmth, compassion, and mutual respect. Even as Dakota Johnson’s Eleanor closes in as she attempts to take Zak back to his nursing home prison, not a moment of this film feels anything less than an honest champion of the human spirit. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and hopefully you will walk out of the theater desperate to be a more understanding person.

Quite simply, The Peanut Butter Falcon is a beautiful film.

6. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Walking out of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, I was immediately left with a feeling of disappointment. After Django Unchained and the criminally underappreciated The Hateful Eight, my expectations for Hollywood were sky high and they simply were not met.

Yet, as I sat on the film, it did what every good Quentin Tarantino film does and left me with an era to ponder, dialogue to relive, and an entire movie to deconstruct with friends. It is not the perfect complement to Tarantino’s other films, nor does it continue the seemingly endless obscene violence from other titles in his catalog. Akin to many films centered on the business of making movies, Once Upon a Time will live or die based on your own knowledge of Hollywood history, your respect for the era, and overall appreciation for the arts.

What it does do is offer two of the best performances in both Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt’s storied careers, an enigmatic and almost dreamlike Margot Robbie softly darting in-and-out of frame like an elusive spirit, and shines a spotlight on a pivotal time of shifting ideologies in this crazy business we all love. Whiffed careers, wonderful characterizations, missed expectations, surprising revelations, joyful cameos, excessive runtime, and an ending to be talked about for years; I ask you, what could be more Hollywood than that?

5. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Is there any actor in history who has revitalized their career in the way that Keanu Reeves has with these films? Think about it: a slew of flops, often times the butt of jokes from critics, and then – after some idiot decides to off his dog – John Wick miraculously exacts his revenge on all who doubted Reeves and breathes not only life back into the talented actor, but also creates a myth of sorts. Famous for his many “whoas”, Reeves now genuinely embodies the coolest man on the planet, a guy the average Joe is genuinely convinced could beat your silly ass in less time than it takes for you to finish this article. Reeves has become a legend.

And the legend hit another peak this year with John Wick 3, a film that kicks off with enough energy to power the sun and rarely takes a moment to breathe before it leaves us knee deep into a finale that demands MORE! How do these films keep kicking so much ass? Credit director Chad Stahelski and Keanu for that. While Halle Berry and her pups were a definite highlight, there is simply no denying that watching Keanu whip through bodies like we rummage through junk mail is intoxicating.

There is simply no American actor working today as fluid with physical acting as Keanu is, and Stahelski knows how to make a stunt shine. In just the opening scene, John Wick uses a book, a motorcycle, and even a freaking HORSE as a weapon, and the film keeps amping it up from there. Very rarely does the third movie in an action franchise demand one more, but I dare anyone to watch John Wick 3 and feel like anything here is even remotely close to tired. We’re all living vicariously through Keanu, and this badass is just getting started.

4. Ms. White Light

Lex Cordova (Roberta Colindrez) has a very unique skill…she prepares people for death. By the title you might believe this to be a brand of psychic phenomena, but in truth it simply means that Lex has an ability to empathize with a person’s innate fear of the unknown, and opens herself up to understanding the underbelly of their soul and assist them in overcoming their dread. When a new client arrives in the form of Val (Judith Light), a dying woman seemingly lacking in concern about her eventual demise, Lex makes it her mission in life to ascertain exactly what it is that Val is desperately searching for.

The entirety of Ms. White Light hinges on Roberta Colindrez’s breath-taking performance. She eschews every likeable characteristic – she’s rude, curt, rarely fiddles with her mountain of hair, and snips at even a mere mention of genuine closeness – and we love her more the further out of bounds she goes. Even as a former client returns to honor her misguided Samurai code of repaying a debt and Lex repeatedly derides this survivor, Colindrez somehow chokeholds us back to her side with her wry mix of devilish delight. It is a phenomenal and often hilarious performance rife with hubris and humanity that is the driving force of every aspect in the film, and one that has stuck with me since I first caught the film at SXSW back in March.

I can honestly say I have never seen this story told on film before, and how rare is that in a world of non-stop content? Director Paul Shoulberg delivers a haunting tale detailing the constant struggle with our own mortality, and our reluctance to accept our eventual fate. Carried by that daring lead performance from Roberta Colindrez, Ms. White Light deservedly belongs near the top of this list.

3. Long Shot

Charlize Theron is an on-the-rise politician and Seth Rogen is a writer who refuses to compromise, and together they make one of the smartest couples on screen in forever. Yea, I said it. This was the most ridiculous concept in a year chock full of them, and it absolutely works beautifully. Even with as raspy and weird as Rogen can be, by the end of the film we completely understand what Theron’s Charlotte Field sees in him, and it’s pretty easy to understand what Rogen’s Fred Flarsky sees since Charlotte is basically perfect. Sincerely, she’s perfect. Can I vote for a fictional character?

R-rated romantic comedies are a dying breed, honestly because there is rarely a fresh idea in the bunch. The political perspectives here manage to surprisingly engage both sides of the aisle, and the raunchier moments tend to fall more into the “every adult can be an idiot” category than just sheer gross-out humor. Yet while director Jonathan Levine offers twice as much naughty as he does nice, the film also doesn’t reinvent the wheel.

What it DOES do is deliver the best romantic comedy in ages through a stellar supporting cast and a wild pairing in Theron and Rogen, which might still seem impossible, yet by the final frame you’ll be sporting “Field and Flarsky 2020” bumper stickers. This Long Shot pays off.

2. Avengers: Endgame

My entire life.

That’s how long I’ve been waiting to see what Avengers: Endgame would bring to the screen. What seemed implausibly ridiculous 10 years ago, now seems like nothing more than fate and happenstance. Marvel managed to land one of the greatest collections of actors and heroes ever assembled on screen, and they exceeded our every expectation with a finale that took blockbuster entertainment to another level. Suck it, Scorsese, THIS is cinema.

In fact, despite a few pacing issues and odd character choices in the early goings, the final hour of Avengers: Endgame is pitch-perfect. Every single comic book fan let out a huge sigh of relief, because directors Joe and Anthony Russo absolutely nailed the climactic conclusion to one of the greatest achievements in cinema history. We cheered, applauded, and even cried. It was a glorious return to what we love about these films, and by the film’s final frames, I collapsed in my chair with the revelation that I had just witnessed a culmination of history, nostalgia, and sheer fan-service unrivaled in today’s theaters. The Russo’s understood that they held a great power in wielding this story, and the responsibility they demonstrated in delivering closure to every single arc is utterly breathtaking in hindsight.

Like many fans, I have no idea where we go from here. I’m just thankful Stan and friends allowed me to watch these classic Avengers assemble one last time, and witness a childhood dream come to life.

1. Knives Out

The best mysteries (Hound of the Baskervilles, Murder by Death, The Maltese Falcon) have an effective con at play, a backdrop where only us and our leading character know an insidious game is afoot. Elevating the stakes of Knives Out is writer and director Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi), who has taken this concept of a wealthy author found seemingly to have killed himself – oh there’s more to that story – and constructed a script that not only delivers a positively satisfying conclusion where even the tiniest of pieces fit into the puzzle, it is also peppered with numerous character moments while simultaneously building on that initial setup until the eventual reveal.

The sharpness of this script lies in its ability to evolve, seamlessly layering plot points brick-by-brick, as the story continues to weave in-and-out of possibilities, all while dropping moments of genuine heart and hilarity. Every scene is spackled with clues and witty asides, bloodlines and treachery, reveals and revelations. Unlike most modern films, there is no moment I could point to and clearly proclaim, “if only you would have cut this” to tidy up the runtime. I’ve even run back through the film in my mind, hunting for holes or missed opportunities, and everything still fires on all cylinders. Johnson’s screenplay is so tight, Arthur Conan Doyle himself might struggle to put every piece in place before Daniel Craig’s twangy detective Benoit Blanc sinks his final putt.

Words only work if the right actors are in place to make them shine, and Knives Out is stacked with diamonds. Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, and on and on we go. If I broke down every character highlight, we might be investigating our own death before we finished. Suffice it to say, there is not a single character underplayed nor overshadowed. And although Craig and Ana de Armas’ Marta sparkle the brightest (and believe me, I’d kill Arthur Thrombey myself to get another spin with Benoit and Marta on the case), not a single actor departs this film without leaving their own personal mark on the proceedings. This is an insanely well-cast ensemble.

In a market overrun with remakes and reboots, the world screams for original movies, and so here we are. In terms of art, genre films like these often go unnoticed and grossly unappreciated in these end of the year lists, which is ludicrous considering how entertaining they are for audiences worldwide. Rian Johnson, his crew, and this brilliant cast deserve every accolade they can garner. Not only is it one of the best mysteries in eons, Knives Out is hands-down the most entertaining film of the year.