The Best Movies of 2019 — The Year in Review, Ranked for Filmmakers

HIGHEST-GROSSING BEST MOVIES OF 2019

20. Avengers: Endgame

It seems impossible to cap off a successful franchise. Godfather Part 3 was a giant step down from the first two. The Dark Knight trilogy couldn’t quite pull it together with the last film. But Avengers: Endgame managed to hit all the right notes. All of the characters we’ve come to love over the last decade got a fitting sendoff, and that’s an incredible achievement on its own. 

The final battle against Thanos’ army is the greatest fantasy war put to film since the Battle of Helm’s Deep. There are moments of fan service, but it never loses sight of its emotional core. It’s a triumph, and most importantly, it’s cinema.

Despite arriving in theaters in controversy, Joker proved one thing above anything else. Joaquin Phoenix is one hell of an actor. He carries the entire film on his back, dedicating 100% to his performance as a mentally distraught man just looking for some kind of loving bond. 

GOOD MOVIES 2019

18. Honey Boy

Much like Ari Aster’s previous Hereditary, Midsommar is more unsettling than it is downright horrifying. It works to the film’s advantage because you feel that sense of unease throughout the film. It all makes for an ambitiously unnerving film that leaves you guessing as to what will happen next. 

But all the mayhem isn’t for nothing. The film has a lot on its mind about unhealthy relationships and the uniquely Amerian experience of feeling isolated even when surrounded by friends. Among the carnage on the Swedish commune, Dani finds a sense of community, and even once you see where the film is heading, you’ll want to cover your eyes until the horrors are done.

BEST 2019 MOVIES

16. Queen & Slim

Queen & Slim is more than just a retelling of Bonnie & Clyde. Lena Waithe’s brilliant script ties together themes resonant from the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the film goes beyond critiquing police brutality. It shows there is hope in community and how one act of defiance can lead to a revolution.

In addition to being a social commentary, the film is also a love story. We see these two people go from an awkward first date to lovers when brought together by unforeseen and grandiose circumstances. It’s this love that drives the film and keeps you rooting for these two until the final moments.

A horror movie based on a game of hide and seek sounds like it was destined for the same ill fate as Truth or Dare or Ouija. But Ready or Not is so much funnier, scarier, and smarter than most other horror movies that came out in 2019 combined. It’s a riot from start to finish. I honestly feel bad for anyone who didn’t get a chance to see it in theaters because seeing this kind of film with a big group of people definitely adds to the experience.

It’s a subversive crowd-pleaser that takes tries not to take itself too seriously. There are also some themes related to class warfare that help give the film some extra bite.

Saying Booksmart is just Superbad with girls does the film a disservice. It’s an incredibly sweet but riotously funny coming-of-age story focusing on two high school seniors who realized they could’ve done more during  high school than just study. It’s a movie about transcending expectations others have placed on you as our protagonists show everyone who they really are, but they also learn to be less judgy of their peers, as well. 

BEST MOVIES OF 2019 LIST

13. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a strange beast. For large chunks of the movie, you’re either watching someone act in a different film or someone watch a film they’re in. And yet, it never feels bogged down or boring. A trio of fantastic leading performances draw you in every step of the way to the point I’d be willing to watch an entire TV series with these characters just to see what kind of shenanigans they get into next.

This film displays Tarantino doing what Tarantino does best: writing incredible dialogue performed by the finest actors working today. And with the ever-looming threat of the Manson family in the backdrop, there’s always that sliver of tension that this may not go the way you think it will.

Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out is more of a traditional horror film, but it retains all of the cultural and sociopolitical insight as his previous effort. Us has a lot on its mind. Don’t worry about the plot making perfect sense. It more functions as an allegory for our world where in order to get ahead in life, someone else has to suffer immeasurably. 

Marriage Story is one of the rawest looks at an unhealthy and deteriorating marriage put to film. Writer/director Noah Baumbach frequently uses long takes, allowing the characters to really show the depths of their disdain for one another in long, heated arguments. 

Among all the arguments, the film never loses its compassion. It never places the blame solely on one party. Additionally, one person is never made out to be the bad guy. They both have their flaws, and they simply don’t work well with one another. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are incredible, making for a realistic portrayal of a marriage no longer working. Reconciling isn’t in the cards. The best they can try to do is pick up the pieces and move on.

2019 was a great year for horror with auteurs like Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, and Robert Eggers letting audiences know the genre is in good hands going into the 2020s. Eggers’ follow-up to 2015’s The Witch is just as creepy and atmospheric as his first film, a character portrait about two men descending into insanity while chasing the light. 

2019 belonged to Florence Pugh, and she burst onto the scene in a big way early in the year with the fantastic Fighting With My Family. It follows a young woman set to join the WWE, and while she’s training to make it in the ring, her brother is left behind at home, struggling with the realization he’ll never attain his dreams. Pugh is phenomenal, but the film stands out in the way it transcends expectations and tropes. 

The Irishman may run for three and a half hours, but it’s by far one of Martin Scorsese’s most thoughtful movies. The pacing is deliberate, letting you feel every moment in this old man’s story. Ultimately, it’s a tale of regret. It’s not so much interested in providing insight into the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa but how one man allowed his family to disintegrate from his apathy. 

The storytelling is marvelous as always, but Scorsese really doubles down on CGI technology to de-age his main characters. It mostly works, and it makes for a more engrossing picture. No matter what, it’s worth watching for Joe Pesci’s first performance in over a decade.

THE BEST MOVIES OF 2019 SO FAR, RANKED

4. The Peanut Butter Falcon

RANKING THE BEST MOVIES OF 2019

2. Knives Out

The whodunnit is far from dead with Rian Johnson’s masterpiece, Knives Out. The film retrofits the long-dormant genre into the 21st century by taking tropes when necessary and then supplanting them on their heads. Knives Out is a hoot and the kind of film that keeps you on your toes. 

But the film will probably stand the test of time for the thematic political resonances. Behind all the murder and intrigue, there’s a story about who deserves to hold all the wealth. It’s the kind of movie that could spawn thousands of thinkpieces, and each subsequent watch gives you something new to chew on.