We take top 10 lists really seriously here at SiftPop. After all, our very name indicates that our top mission is to “Sift” through the “Pop” culture. With that in mind, I want to set up how I came to my top ten movies of the year. This isn’t my list of “Best Movies of the Year”. This will be “Movies I enjoyed Most” this year. Now, I enjoy great movies so there is definitely a great deal of overlap between those two measuring sticks. Defining these by my favorite movies frees me up to pick the movies I enjoyed most without the restrictions other movie lovers would place upon me. A great deal of top ten lists get bogged down by “This movie is art” attitudes. My favorite movies are a base level awesome, typically have a “twist” and blow away my expectations. Expectations are everything here. If reviewing movies has taught me anything, it is that what you expect about a movie is of equal importance as the quality of the movie its self. Because expectations matter so much to how much I enjoy a movie, you may be surprised by my top movie of the year.
Spiderman has had quite the year. He has lost people, come back to life, and been the rope in a tug of war between Sony and Disney . Thankfully, he is back with the MCU for now(I’m not convinced that whole thing wasn’t a media stunt) and swings back in with two full hours of delight. There are some predictable beats here but the fun of the movie overcomes that and even convinces me to start liking Jake Gyllenhaal. It even ends with a nice move that I would have never predicted.
This one comes with three strong caveats. First, I was a preschool teacher for many years, so I’ve been conditioned to really enjoy animated kids movies. Second, this movie has the highest chance of the movies on my list to absolutely fall apart in a rewatch; there is so much happening in this that I could have easily missed a big plot hole. Third, I got to go to this as press and sit in seats with paper saying “Reserved by Disney Pictures” with a nice paragraph and image so I was on cloud nine. (The answer is yes, I 100% kept the paper.) Let’s finally talk about what is so great now about this! The story continues to advance rather than just play the hits of the original, the world building is really well done, and there are as many epic action moments as there are “aw” moments. I’m trilled the sequel to the movie that took the world by storm was actually good and not entirely a cash grab.
JoJo Rabbit had a high chance of bombing. The concept was intriguing and instantly interesting but that could have just as easily flopped. Instead, Taika Waititi further cements himself as an elite, dependable director. He burst through the public mind with Thor: Ragnarok and now has everyone’s attention. When he followed that up with a movie about a little kid looking up to imaginary Hitler, I thought maybe the Marvel magic was about to shake off. Instead, JoJo Rabbit had the highest range of all 2019 movies. If you want a movie that can make you crack up at times as well as make you cry like a baby, this is it. If you need a movie with a different spin, this is an absolute must. If you just like, need a good movie, this is it!
Gentlemen, if you need a romantic comedy to watch with your girl, this is the movie for you. Romantic comedies can be really horrible but Five Feet Apart held strong in my top three for over half the year before the heavy hitters came out. Your two leads have perfect chemistry, there are genuine laughs, and the story feels so real. I know “love sick” teenager movies are typically pretty bad, but this is one I’d really encourage you give a chance.
Good Boys engaged in hand to hand combat with John Wick 3 when I had to submit my top 5 to Papa Sift for the 2019 SiftPop movie awards. These three kids didn’t have a gun so John Wick slightly edged this movie out and that is pretty typical for this movie as it went mostly forgotten. The trailer for this hinted at a stereotypical comedy that was willing to settle for being raunchy and cheap. However, this young cast forced the writers to be creative and find humor in the restraint. Because of this, I found this incredibly fresh. Good Boys is absolutely hilarious and an absolute must watch. Don’t let this fly under the radar because these boys are good!
It has almost become cliche to say “Sequels aren’t as great as the original.” or “Movie Franchises can never sustain quality.” The John Wick franchise has burst on the scene with the sole mission of bringing incredible action sequences and putting a bullet in this cliche. Every movie sustains the quality of the previous one and dives deeper and deeper into the universe. Honestly, this franchise is the pinnacle of action franchises for me without question. I’ll watch as many of these as they make and I hope to have one of them on my top ten list throughout these roaring 20’s. If we get John Wick 17 in 2033 where it is him with a walker, I’d watch that with just as much enthusiasm.
Knives Out didn’t just bring me the best title I’ve seen in awhile that has turned into my new catch phrase. Knives Out brought us a movie as smart as it is funny and that is something I have NEVER seen before. Truly, to be this goofy while genius is almost incomprehensible. The cast is stellar and the story is told in a fresh way right from the start. This was absolutely snubbed in the Oscar’s “Best Picture” category. (Marriage Story? Really?) The nominations list has a very noticeable hole with Knives Out being absent.
Toy Story 4 continues the truth that the Toy Story franchise is the best franchise of all time at continuing quality flick after flick. There have been significant gaps between some of these and yet the movies are great time and time again. Toy Story 4 added characters better than any sequel has ever added characters and they found a way to make the movie fresh despite being in a franchise that is now over twenty years old. I’m ecstatic that I’ve been lucky enough to grow up with a franchise like this over my life so far.
A lot of movie people fear placing Avengers: Endgame in their top 10 lists for fear of being perceived as being less of a “film watcher”. Not only am I including this but I’m placing it one place away from the top spot. I was counting down the days to Endgame starting at 50 days out. I’ve never anticipated a movie this highly and boy did it deliver. Endgame had all the comedic moments we needed for the typical Marvel experience as well as the layered, deep moments that should come from a franchise releasing such a book end to their franchise. I’ve rewatched the final fight so many times and had one thing gone differently in that final fight, this would have been my top movie of the year. However, there is something in here that stabbed my heart to much for it to be my favorite movie of the year.
Booksmart is my favorite movie of the year! Much like Good Boys, this trailer looked like this could be just another typical comedy. When I got a screener invite for it to go three weeks early, I almost didn’t go. Go watch a movie in non-recliner chairs that might be bad? No thanks. However, my wife was wanting to go so we took a chance on it. I’m so glad we did. 2019 is the first year I started giving movies a letter grade and percentage. This is the only movie in 2019 to get an A+. You fall in love with the characters as well as their friendship immediately. The comedy is the highest of the year. The emotional beats are earned, feel real and hit you right in the feels. The soundtrack is excellent, much of my most played songs of the year from the list Spotify sent me are from this. Booksmart is going to slide right next to sacred ground for me on the shelf next to “The Intern” because this is a movie I’ll enjoy watching time after time after time. If you have a Hulu subscription, it is available there for free now!
Editor’s Note: I saw 73 movies this year in total. The only ones I missed that are notable enough to mention that could have cracked this list are Ford v. Ferrari and Parasite.