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
- Pavarotti (Arclight Hollywood)
- Poms (AMC Lincoln Square)
- Waves (AMC Lincoln)
- Rambo: Last Blood (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Funan (IFC)
- They Shall Not Grow Old (AMC Empire)
- Long Shot (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Roll Red Roll (Film Forum)
- Giant Little Ones (Angelika)
- The Edge of Democracy (IFC)
- Slut in a Good Way (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Sauvage (Film Forum)
- Ask Dr. Ruth (Landmark)
- The Brink (IFC)
- Gully Boy (AMC Empire)
- The Inventor (Cinema Village)
- Untogether (City Cinemas Village East)
- Fighting with My Family (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Buddy (Film Forum)
- Hotel Mumbai (AMC Lincoln)
- The Hummingbird Project (Angelika)
- Triple Frontier (iPic)
- 3 Faces (IFC)
- Styx (Film Forum)
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Lords of Chaos (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Little (AMC Village 7)
- Missing Link (Amc Lincoln Dolby)
- Rafiki (BAM)
- Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (IFC)
- Wall (Film Forum)
- Wrestle (City Cinemas Village East)
- Amazing Grace (Film Forum)
- Rezo (Film Forum)
- Hotel by the River (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- High Flying Bird (Film @ Lincoln Center Walter Reade)
- An Elephant Sitting Still (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- Storm Boy (AMC Empire)
- The Unicorn (Cinema Village)
- Piercing (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Touch Me Not (MOMA)
- A Dog’s Way Home (AMC 34th)
- Hellboy (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Shadow (IFC)
- Pledge (IFC)
- Shazam! (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- The Public (AMC Empire)
- How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (AMC 34th IMAX)
- The Silence of Others (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Stockholm (City Cinemas Village East)
- Family (AMC Empire)
- Prosecuting Evil (Cinema Village)
- The Wind (IFC)
- The Upside (AMC Lincoln)
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Landmark)
- Sorry Angel (Quad)
- Little Woods (Nitehawk Williamsburg)
- The Eyes of Orson Welles (IFC)
- The Wedding Guest (IFC)
- Alita: Battle Angel (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Suburban Birds (Metrograph)
- Iceman (Cinema Village)
- The Kid (AMC Lincoln)
- Arctic (Angelika)
- Adult Life Skills (Cinema Village)
- The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (Cinema Village)
- The Vanishing (Cinema Village)
- What Men Want (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Glass (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- The Prodigy (AMC Lincoln)
- Mapplethorpe (Cinepolis Chelsea)
- What Is Democracy? (IFC)
- Greta (Angelika Mosaic)
- The White Crow (City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3)
- State Like Sleep (Cinema Village)
- Happy Death Day 2U (AMC Empire Prime)
- Miss Bala (AMC 34th Dolby)
- Replicas (AMC 34th)
- Combat Obscura (City Cinemas Village East)
- Cassandro, the Exotico! (Metrograph)
- Sea of Shadows (Landmark)
- The Aftermath (AMC Lincoln)
- Yardie (Cinepolis Chelsea)
- The Wandering Earth (AMC Empire)
- Five Feet Apart (Providence Place Showcase Cinemas)
- Jobe’z World (Cinema Village)
- The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (City Cinemas Village East)
- Isn’t It Romantic (AMC 34th)
- Donnybrook (Quad)
- Captain Marvel (Lockheed Martin IMAX — Smithsonian)
- The Highwaymen (Landmark)
- A Vigilante (Cinema Village)
- To Dust (City Cinemas Village East)
- Dumbo (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Daughter of Mine (Quad)
- The Heiresses (Film Forum)
- Girls of the Sun (Quad)
- The Chaperone (Landmark)
- Pet Sematary (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Bolden (Williamsburg Cinemas)
- The Aspern Papers (Quad)
- The Best of Enemies (AMC Lincoln)
- The Hole in the Ground (City Cinemas Village East)
- Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People (Quad)
- Furie (AMC Empire)
- The Invisibles (Landmark)
- Who Will Write Our History? (Quad)
- Captive State (Providence Place Showcase Cinemas)
- Trading Paint (Cinema Village)
- The Intruder (AMC 84th)
- Red Joan (City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3)
- King of Thieves (Cinema Village)
- Wine Country (iPic)
- Drunk Parents (Cinema Village)
- Escape Room (AMC 34th)
- JT LeRoy (Quad)
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- The Kid Who Would Be King (AMC Kips Bay)
- A Madea Family Funeral (Landmark Atlantic Plumbing)
- Penguins (AMC La Jolla)
- Mary Magdalene (IFC)
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Williamsburg Cinemas)
- Fast Color (Regal Majestic, Silver Spring Maryland)
- 1917 (AMC Lincoln)
- 5B (AMC Empire)
- 6 Underground (iPic)
- 63 Up (Film Forum)
- América (MOMI)
- Citizen K (Film Forum)
- Dark Waters (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Diamantino (Metrograph)
- Dogman (Film Forum)
- Domino (La Paloma, San Diego)
- End of the Century (IFC)
- Everybody Knows (Angelika)
- For Sama (Quad)
- Honey Boy (AMC Lincoln)
- Invisible Life (Film Forum)
- Ip Man 4: The Finale (Regal Essex)
- Jesus is King (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Knife + Heart (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Knives Out (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Knock Down the House (IFC)
- Les Misérables (Landmark)
- Little Women (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Loro (IFC)
- Marriage Story (Nitehawk Prospect Park)
- Meeting Gorbachev (Film Forum)
- Mickey and the Bear (Film Forum)
- Midnight Traveler (Film Forum)
- Mike Wallace is Here (Angelika)
- Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Animated (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Documentary (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Live Action (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Pain and Glory (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Pasolini (Metrograph)
- Perfect Strangers (AMC Empire)
- Pig (IFC)
- Plus One (City Cinemas Village East)
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (MOMI)
- Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (Metrograph)
- Rojo (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- Ruben Brandt, Collector (Angelika)
- Synonyms (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- The Apollo (Metrograph)
- The Disappearance of My Mother (Quad)
- The Good Liar (AMC Lincoln)
- The Hottest August (MOMI)
- The Irishman (Broadway’s Belasco Theatre)
- The Laundromat (IFC)
- The Lighthouse (AMC Lincoln)
- The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (AMC Empire)
- The Nightingale (Alamo Drafthouse)
- The Plagiarists (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- The Poison Rose (Cinema Village)
- The Report (Landmark)
- The Two Popes (IFC)
- The Wild Pear Tree (Film Forum)
- Tito and the Birds (Quad)
- Uncut Gems (Metrograph)
- Varda by Agnès (Film Forum)
- Wild Nights with Emily (Quad)
- Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Metrograph)
- Teen Spirit (AMC Lincoln)
- UglyDolls (AMC 34th)
- Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (AMC Empire)
- Stuck (AMC Empire)
- Wonder Park (AMC Village 7)
- Tolkien (City Cinemas Village East Jaffe)
- Decade of Fire (Metrograph)
- The Hustle (Scotiabank Theatre Toronto)
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Trial by Fire (AMC Lincoln)
- The Sun Is Also a Star (AMC Lincoln)
- A Dog’s Journey (AMC Lincoln)
- Perfect (City Cinemas Village East)
- My Son (Quad)
- The Tomorrow Man (Landmark)
- The Professor (Cinema Village)
- Photograph (Angelika)
- Slaughterhouse Rulez (AMC Empire)
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Cinema Village)
- Brightburn (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (Landmark Ken Cinema, San Diego)
- Breakthrough (AMC Lincoln)
- Ma (Reading Town Square, San Diego)
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Arclight La Jolla, San Diego)
- Rocketman (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Booksmart (Angelika)
- Too Late to Die Young (Laemmle Music Hall, Los Angeles)
- Men in Black: International (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- American Woman (AMC Lincoln)
- Being Frank (Landmark)
- Late Night (AMC Lincoln)
- Halston (Quad)
- The Proposal (IFC)
- The Spy Behind Home Plate (Quad)
- The Raft (Metrograph)
- Walking on Water (Film Forum)
- Carmine Street Guitars (Film Forum)
- Hail Satan? (BAM)
- Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Film Forum)
- The Biggest Little Farm (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Screwball (Cinema Village)
- Maiden (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Anna (AMC Lincoln)
- Shaft (AMC Empire Dolby)
- Hampstead (IFC)
- Wild Rose (Landmark)
- Euphoria (City Cinemas Village East)
- Annabelle Comes Home (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Nureyev (Film Forum)
- Ophelia (IFC)
- Child’s Play (AMC 34th)
- The Quiet One (IFC)
- Three Peaks (IFC)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Mine 9 (Quad)
- Yesterday (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (Landmark)
- The Other Story (Quad)
- My Days of Mercy (City Cinemas Village East)
- Ray & Liz (Film Forum)
- Always Be My Maybe (Home)
- Sword of Mercy (Landmark)
- Stuber (AMC Lincoln)
- General Magic (IFC)
- Trespassers (IFC)
- Crawl (AMC Village 7)
- Firecrackers (IFC)
- A Faithful Man (FIAF Florence Gould Hall)
- Rosie (IFC)
- David Crosby: Remember My Name (Film Forum)
- The Sweet Requiem (IFC)
- Skin (City Cinemas Village East)
- Honeyland (x2: Quad, New Plaza Cinema @ NYIT Auditorium on Broadway)
- The Great Hack (IFC)
- The Mountain (IFC)
- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- A Score to Settle (City Cinemas Village East)
- Luce (Alamo Drafthouse)
- The Ground Beneath My Feet (IFC)
- Tel Aviv on Fire (City Cinemas Beekman)
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold (AMC Empire Dolby)
- Brian Banks (AMC Kips Bay)
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Light of My Life (City Cinemas Village East)
- One Child Nation (Film Forum)
- Love, Antosha (Quad)
- The Art of Racing in the Rain (CMX Cinébistro 62nd)
- The Kitchen (Nitehawk Prospect)
- The Peanut Butter Falcon (AMC Lincoln)
- Good Boys (Alamo Drafthouse)
- The Angry Birds Movie 2 (Regal Essex)
- After the Wedding (AMC Lincoln)
- Gwen (Cinema Village)
- 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (AMC Empire Prime)
- Aquarela (Landmark)
- What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- Driven (Cinema Village)
- Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Quad)
- This Is Not Berlin (IFC)
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Blinded by the Light (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Ready or Not (AMC Lincoln)
- Brittany Runs a Marathon (City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3)
- Give Me Liberty (BAM)
- Tigers Are Not Afraid (IFC)
- Vita & Virginia (Quad)
- Angel Has Fallen (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- American Factory (IFC)
- Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles (Landmark)
- Jawline (IFC)
- Jay Myself (Film Forum)
- Official Secrets (AMC Lincoln)
- Midsommar – Director’s Cut (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Don’t Let Go (AMC 34th)
- Before You Know It (Landmark)
- The Load (Film @ Lincoln Center)
- Adam (IFC)
- Satanic Panic (IFC)
- Edie (Angelika)
- Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (BAM)
- Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins (Landmark)
- Strange But True (Cinema Village)
- Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Film Forum)
- It Chapter Two (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Another Day of Life (IFC)
- The Sound of Silence (IFC)
- The Kingmaker (Quad)
- Cats (x2: City Cinemas Village East Jaffe, AMC Lincoln)
- Ne Zha (AMC 34th)
- Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (Cinema Village)
- Ad Astra (x3: AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- One Cut of the Dead (IFC)
- Hustlers (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Depraved (IFC Center)
- Freaks (AMC Empire)
- The Goldfinch (AMC Lincoln)
- American Dreamer (Cinema Village)
- Ms. Purple (Quad)
- Monos (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Downton Abbey (AMC Empire)
- Always in Season (Metrograph)
- Where’s My Roy Cohn? (Landmark)
- Villains (Regal E-Walk)
- Zeroville (Cinepolis Chelsea)
- Judy (AMC Lincoln)
- Abominable (AMC Empire Dolby)
- The Death of Dick Long (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Joker (Alamo Drafthouse)
- National Theatre Live: Fleabag (IFC)
- Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (IFC)
- Lucy in the Sky (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Dolemite Is My Name (iPic)
- The Day Shall Come (IFC)
- Low Tide (Quad)
- Memory: The Origins of Alien (Cinema Village)
- Charlie Says (IFC)
- First Love (Angelika)
- Mister America (Metrograph)
- The Addams Family (AMC Empire Dolby)
- Jexi (AMC Lincoln)
- Gemini Man (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- The Farewell (Alamo Drafthouse)
- The Cave (Metrograph)
- In My Room (MOMI)
- The King (Landmark)
- Jojo Rabbit (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Ash Is Purest White (Film @ Lincoln Center Walter Reade)
- Birds of Passage (Film Forum)
- The Fall of the American Empire (Laemmle Royal, Los Angeles)
- Zombieland: Double Tap (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Cyrano, My Love (Landmark)
- Gloria Bell (AMC Boston Common)
- By the Grace of God (Film Forum)
- Frankie (Angelika)
- Burning Cane (IFC)
- Framing John DeLorean (IFC)
- The Competition (Metrograph)
- Island of the Hungry Ghosts (MOMI)
- The Current War: Director’s Cut (AMC Lincoln)
- Greener Grass (IFC)
- Countdown (AMC Lincoln)
- Western Stars (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- The Kill Team (City Cinemas Village East)
- Grass (Metrograph)
- Peterloo (Angelika)
- Paradise Hills (Cinema Village)
- Black and Blue (AMC 34th)
- Motherless Brooklyn (AMC 34th)
- Working Woman (IFC)
- Woman at War (IFC)
- Fyre (IFC)
- Serenity (AMC 34th)
- Harriet (Princeton Garden Theatre)
- Adopt a Highway (City Cinemas Village East)
- High Life (Angelika San Diego)
- Light from Light (Quad)
- American Dharma (Film Forum)
- Terminator: Dark Fate (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Mrs. Lowry and Son (Cinema Village)
- Doctor Sleep (AMC Empire Dolby)
- Braid (Cinema Village)
- Non-Fiction (IFC)
- Aniara (IFC)
- Cold Case Hammarskjöld (IFC)
- The Art of Self-Defense (Alamo Drafthouse)
- I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (IFC)
- The Mustang (AMC 19th)
- Playing with Fire (AMC Empire)
- Midway (AMC Lincoln Dolby)
- Diego Maradona (Cinema Village)
- Last Christmas (AMC Lincoln)
- Primal (Cinema Village)
- Earthquake Bird (Cinema Village)
- Our Time (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Charlie’s Angels (AMC Empire Dolby)
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (AMC Empire)
- Dragged Across Concrete (AMC 34th)
- Relaxer (City Cinemas Village East)
- Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer (Quad)
- Ford v Ferrari (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- I Lost My Body (x2: Cinema Village, MOMA)
- Never Grow Old (Cinema Village)
- Shooting the Mafia (Quad)
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Climax (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (x3: Alamo Drafthouse, City Cinemas Village East Jaffe, Roxy)
- The Souvenir (Angelika)
- Atlantics (Metrograph)
- Frozen II (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Ramen Shop (IFC)
- The Chambermaid (Film Forum)
- 21 Bridges (AMC 34th)
- Queen & Slim (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Fantastic Fungi (BAM)
- Knives and Skin (IFC)
- Midnight Family (Metrograph)
- The Aeronauts (Cobble Hill Cinemas)
- Luz (IFC)
- Apollo 11 (Airbus IMAX — Smithsonian)
- Transit (IFC)
- In Fabric (Metrograph)
- Jumanji: The Next Level (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Cunningham (Film @ Lincoln Center Walter Reade)
- Temblores (Quad)
- Bombshell (AMC Lincoln)
- Her Smell (IFC)
- The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (x2: IFC, Film Forum)
- The Beach Bum (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Under the Silver Lake (Angelika)
- Chained for Life (IFC)
- Richard Jewell (AMC Lincoln)
- War (City Cinemas Village East)
- The Third Wife (Film Forum)
- A Hidden Life (City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3)
- What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (Film Forum)
- Spies in Disguise (AMC 34th)
- Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Just Mercy (AMC Lincoln)
- Advocate (AMC Empire)
- The Song of Names (Landmark)
- The Dead Don’t Die (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Diane (IFC)
- Parasite (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Black Mother (Metrograph)
- The Amazing Johnathan Documentary (City Cinemas Village East)
- John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Sunset (Paris)
- Clemency (AMC Kips Bay)
- Velvet Buzzsaw (Landmark)
- Them That Follow (Cinepolis Chelsea)
- Out of Blue (IFC)
- Cold Pursuit (AMC 34th)
- Hot Air (City Cinemas Village East)
- Echo in the Canyon (Arclight La Jolla, San Diego)
- Dark Phoenix (AMC Mission Valley IMAX, San Diego)
- Avengers: Endgame (AMC Uptown, Washington DC)
- The Secret Life of Pets 2 (Reading Town Square, San Diego)
- The Image Book (Film @ Lincoln Center Walter Reade)
- In the Aisles (City Cinemas Village East)
- Asako I & II (Metrograph)
- Midsommar (Alamo Drafthouse)
- Toy Story 4 (x2: AMC Empire, AMC Lincoln)
- Los Reyes (Film Forum)
- Aladdin (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- The Lion King (AMC Lincoln IMAX)
- Klaus (Paris)
- Us (Alamo Drafthouse)
- All Is True (Paris)
- The Golden Glove (Alamo Drafthouse)