2019 Movies: Introduction

On By Steven StraussIn Remember All the Movies, Terry, We'd Go See

And so begins Write All Nite’s multi-part recap of 2019 in film.

You know the annual drill by now. Leading up to the Academy Awards, I’ll be ranked-listicling — embedded with commentary throughout — everything worth rewarding in the cinematic year that was, including areas of achievement that fall outside the purview of the Oscars’ limited categories, which fail to encompass the totality of brilliant work turned in by filmmakers over any 365-day stretch (for the record, I define “filmmaker” as literally EVERYONE involved in making the film; it’s a collaborative medium!).

There’s so much love to go around that, to contain it all, my accolades must be split over a series of posts, each dedicated to a different, sometimes loosely-connected subject of focus. Glaring omissions will undoubtedly abound. But I took notes while watching all these movies, so the rankings aren’t based solely on leaky memory. With that being said, the order should not be considered to be set in stone from on high. If I look at the lists the day after publishing, I would further tinker with them, because I’ve jiggered and rejiggered them practically every day of my existence over the past 365 days (because I’m a loser).

Heck, I might even continue to alter them in the weeks to come — let that constitute as your legal disclaimer, hope you enjoyed — but I’ll try to resist, because though these lists may seem like a record of the movies themselves, they’re in fact, if not an encapsulation, then at least a capsule of who I was in 2019, through the movies of 2019. And if I watch all these movies again right now? Oh boy, the ordering would change even more. The same can be said if I rewatched them next year, and the year after that, and then the year after that, and so on and so forth.

So no, these aren’t the “BEST” movies of 2019; I would never deign to be so declaratively objective (writers should always protect the precise meaning of words, leaving little to interpretable implication), especially because there’s an infinitesimal, perhaps nonexistent separation in quality between the movies. But are these my “favorites”? Sure, I can jive with that. This endeavor will be more of a snapshot of who I am/was in 2019, and what particularly resonates/resonated with me at the moment. It’ll be…informative to revisit in the future to figure out how much I’ve…evolved? Devolved? Who knows!

To get the party started, here’s a list, IN NO DISCERNIBLE ORDER, of every 2019 movie I saw last year (including where I watched each — all theaters located in NYC, unless otherwise specified — and how many times, in parentheses), AKA the movies eligible for contention in the forthcoming listicles.

And yes, to qualify, a movie needed to play IN THEATERS for at least one uninterrupted week in New York City between January 1 and December 31, 2019. My awards, my rules. #SupportTheaters

2019 Movies — Complete Viewing Log

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