A little bit later than usual, well almost 6 months later, but this was actually written in December last year but I was waiting to watch Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise Of Skywalker to see if it would make it on to the list, it didn't which felt like time wasted and then I just forgot about this.
I felt hugely let down by cinema last year and struggled to come up with 10 films that completely blew me away so I ended up completely skipping my annual Top 10 Films of the year.
This year however, was much better and I did manage to come up with a top 10, some honourable mentions and the worst films of the year. These are obviously based on my opinion and don't reflect the general consensus. There might be a few that were dismissed by critics but held some enjoyment for me.
Anywho, I'm not going to waste anyone's time so I'll jump straight into the countdown.
10. DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE
This is the 3rd time a film by director S. Craig Zahler has appeared on my top 10 list of the year. It follows Bone Tomahawk and Brawl In Cell block 99, the latter of which also stars Vince Vaughn. Dragged Across Concrete is a very slow movie. The majority of the film takes place inside a car with corrupt police detectives Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. The films plays out like a deep analysis of heist and it's an intriguing watch. I found myself glued to the film for all of it's 2hr 39min runtime and the performances were outstanding. It's a dark film, a long film and a very good film. Seek it out.
9. AVENGEMENT
Scott Adkins re-teams with Action movie Maestro Jesse V. Johnson for a homegrown action flick that feels like McVicar but starring Charles Bronson who just learnt how to seriously kick ass. Adkins plays a boxer who for money agrees to help out his criminal brother (Craig Fairbrass off of Eastenders). The Job goes south and Adkins winds up in the clink. Finding life hard on the inside as inmates come at him constantly, Adkins transforms from pretty boy good guy into metal toothed badass as to seek revenge on his brother and his brother's crew. Fuck a duck this film is brutal, great action, especially the final bar smackdown and Adkins gives his best performance to date. Definitely a new high for Adkins and for Johnson who knows how to handle action.
8. US
Jordan Peele's follow up to the Oscar winning Get Out is equal parts scary and funny, not funny in a laugh out loud Key and Peele style but darkly comedic and this works as it offsets the tense and creepy elements of the film. Peele has kinda mastered the art of messing with people's emotions and this is one of the films biggest strengths. It's hard to really detail the film's plot without going into detail and spoilers but I'd definitely recommend checking it out even if it's just for the central performance from Lupita Nyong'o and that creepy ass string version of Luniz 5 On It.
7. RAMBO: LAST BLOOD
Okay, I get it, it's basically a shit DTV Stallone movie that bares little to no resemblance to Stallone's previous Rambo films. It bombed in the theatres and was bomb with the critics, but Critics are usually harsh on Action films anyway so it's not like they were going to give it 5 star review. Anyway, why oh why is it number 7 on my Top 10 list? the last 40 minutes. Its hard to say the film is good but any good Rambo fan will recognise that the last 40 minutes are straight up brutal, excellently staged action and it got me pumped to fuck when I watched it. It's not a great film, not by a long stretch but hell, I enjoyed the shit out of it and I guess that's the whole point of these movies, Enjoyment.
6. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez give us probably the best live action adaptation of a Manga we've seen yet. Alita grows from the "from the producer of Terminator" thanks to the stunning central performance and mocap performance of Rosa Salazar who brings Alita to life with the emotions and intelligence of robot who struggles at first to realise she's not a human. It's a wonderfully realised film that I feel didn't resonate with cinema goers due to it not being an already established brand in the west. That's not to say the Manga or the Anime doesn't have it's fans in the west, I remember watching the Anime back in the 90s so was aware of it's existence. I feel bad for Robert Rodriguez as this is the most competent film he's ever made, more so than Sin City in my opinion and From Dusk Till Dawn is one of my top 5 films of all time. Seek it out, watch it and enjoy.
5. THE IRISHMAN
It really shows the state of cinema in 2019 when Martin Scorsese can't get studio funding. Scorsese, the man who gave us Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfella's, Casino, The Aviator and The Departed, ended up going to Netflix to get The Irishman made, A sprawling gangster epic about Frank Sheeran, a former soldier in WW2 who finds himself working for the mob and eventually getting in with Union boss Jimmy Hoffa under the orders of mafia boss Russell Bufalino. It follows Franks relationship with both Hoffa and Bufalino leading up to the real life disappearance of Hoffa. It's a long film, 3hrs 29mins and I couldn't do it in one sitting, I watched it over 2 nights and even though it is a long film, it never failed to grip me. This isn't Goodfella's mind, this is Scorsese at his most mature gangster film wise and the super star teaming of DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino is the Avengers Assemble we wanted from gangster films. All stars give incredible performances and show the youngsters why these three men are the best at what they do. Just a brilliant film.
4. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
Sony's first stab at an animated Spider-man flick and it's a near masterpiece. A funny, dramatic and almost meta animated film that avoids the often done Peter Parker origin opting instead to go with Miles Morales. The action is brilliant, the voice acting top notch and the animation is absolutely stunning. The film goes for this weird CGI stop motion style to look like it's coming straight from the pages of a comic book. The film also opens up the world of spider-man or the multi-world if you will, to allow for endless possibilities within this spiderverse. I could see a film based on Peter B. Parker, Spiderman Noir, Penny Parker or my personal favourite, Spider-ham. Its just a wonderful film filled with everything a spider-man fan could want.
3. AVENGERS: ENDGAME
The 3rd near 3hr plus movie to appear on my countdown. I struggled with where to put Endgame, Originallt it was where Alita was but on reflection, considering it's the culmination of 12 years of movies building to this point and the fact that it delivered on expectations warrants it's place at Number 3. Endgame is epic, it's action packed and it's also pretty damn emotional considering the mass execution of 50% of life in the universe at the end of Infinity War. The Russo Brothers absolutely nailed Endgame and shows the fans why they were the right choice to steer the franchise after Joss Whedon's initial 2 Avengers movies. They also had the brilliant Idea of making Thor fat for the entirety of the film and dressing him like The Dude but still made sure that Thor did what he had to when he needed too. As ensemble action adventure comic book movies go, this one is up there with the best of them (well Infinity War is the only other one).
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Tarantino's penultimate movie is a love letter to the dying days of the studio contract players, the end of the studio system of the golden age of Hollywood and the rising of New Hollywood. We follow almost washed up TV star Rick Dalton and his best friend/stunt double Cliff Both over a few days and months in 1969 and leading up to the infamous Manson murders. My only gripe with the film is that the Manson stuff didn't really need to be there, I mean it has a reason for being there because it was happening at the time of the movie but Rick and Cliff were the far more interesting aspect of the film and I'd have rather watched a film solely about those two than with the inclusion of Sharon Tate. I loved the film none the less which is why it's my number 2 pick and obviously being a Tarantino flick, things don't play out like they historically do. Check it out.
1. EXTRA ORDINARY
This small Irish horror comedy that barely made a blip is my number one choice this year. While trying to work out this list, Extra Ordinary was the only film I considered for my number one spot, I don't know why but something about the film just struck a cord with me. There was no other choice.
The film follows Rose, a driving instructor who also happens to be the daughter of a famous, now dead, TV Ghost Hunter who has inherited her father's Ghost hunting powers. Rose want's to concentrate on her driving instructor career but people only want her to perform exorcisms. One day she gets a call from Martin, a recently widowed father who's dead wife's spirit still inhabits the house. Meanwhile, washed up 80s pop star and satanist, Christian Winter casts an incantation which possesses Martin's daughter. He calls Rose to exercise the demon and hilarity ensues.
Extra Ordinary is consistently funny, not a chuckle here or sniff there, I'm talking laugh out loud funny especially the wife possession scene, had me rolling to the point where I rewound the film to watch that scene over and over. Taking the piss or comically homaging The Exorcist and Ghostbusters by also taking a dry humorous quintessentially Irish take on the possession film, Extra Ordinary stands out for me as the best comedy of the year. It's really really really fucking funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment