Doug's Favorite Movies of the Decade

Max Max: Fury Road
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
John Wick
Cabin in the Woods
Rango
Day and Night
Exit Through the Gift Shop
What We Do in the Shadows
20 Feet from Stardom
The Silver Linings Playbook
The Shape of Water

HONORABLE MENTION:

Black Swan
Kick Ass
Rogue One
Side Effects
The Queen of Versailles
American Hustle
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Get Out
La La Land
Gravity
Whiplash

Appendix A:

Best Performance by a cat: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Performance by a dog: John Wick 3
Best Performance by a horse: Lone Ranger
Worst Performance: Jared Leto - Suicide Squad
Worst Performance in the Best Movie: (tie) Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson - Hunger Games
Best Performance in the Worst Movie: Hong Chau - Downsizing
Worst Movie: (tie) The Counselor and Birdman

Doug's Favorite Movies of 2019

Jo Jo Rabbit
The Laundromat
Bombshell
The Irishman
Dolemite is my Name
El Camino
John Wick: Chapter 3

HONORABLE MENTION:

Avengers: Endgame
Hotel Mumbai
Toy Story 4
Apollo 11
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Ready or Not

APPENDIX A - MOVIES THAT EVERYONE ELSE LOVED BUT THAT I HATED:

Uncut Gems

The Report

“My god! Page 1001 of the torture report completely contradicts page 5013 of the torture report! We’ve got to tell someone!”

Unfortunately, for as serious a subject as this is, it’s not a very exciting movie. Adam Driver endeavors to educate about the CIA torture authorized by the Bush administration. Grimly, it’s a people-sitting-in-front-of-computers kind of movie with the occasional two-hander with Diane Feinstein in an important-looking conference room. Filmmakers occasionally cut to detainees being tortured, which is a bummer that doesn’t really ratchet-up the drama. It’s clearly a very well-researched piece, and a sad period of American history, but it doesn’t make for a cozy night of viewing. It’s a medicine movie. As in: it’s time to take your medicine.

Ready or Not

When I’m watching the corniest of corny horror movies, I want to be surprised. I've seen it all. Shock me. Make me laugh. The finale of this movie did EXACTLY that. A+ for being the movie that it aspires to be and nothing more.

Uncut Gems

… is a neurotic fever dream, determined to irritate as much as possible. There are no likable characters and the conceit/plot is pointless. Filmmakers keep the plates spinning and there is an admirable amount of kinetic energy, but if it’s a morality play with no morality, what’s the point? It’s like an unfunny episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The music is terrible. Better versions of this kind of story have been told. Better movies about this have been made. Several people walked out of the theater in a huff in the middle of this mess. So, it's not a Christmas movie. I say: meh.

The Laundromat

Smart ensemble/anthology of people from all walks of life who were affected and/or perpetrating the rogue, offshore financial entities that resulted in The Panama Papers. The movie entertains and educates thanks to a top-notch cast including Meryl Streep and funny, speedy, unconventional direction from maestro Steven Soderbergh. A time may come when I’ll stop asking, “Why did a movie with a cast this great get relegated to Netflix?” But then I stop and I realize: some of the best movies of the year have been on Netflix. The times are changin’ quickly. Well-done, Soderbergh and company.

Bombshell

When there’s not one but two star-filled shows depicting you as an asshole, that’s how you know you’re an asshole. Along with the Showtime show, The Loudest Voice, this movie depicts Fox News asshole Roger Ailes in all of his grand assholery. You really have to be an asshole to make Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson look sympathetic. Filmmakers do an excellent job juxtaposing the experienced anchors with the “newby” played by Margot Robbie who just wants to impress and get ahead. It wouldn’t work without her, and her regret about what is ultimately an extremely toxic environment is devastating. Filmmakers run a tight ship with a first-rate cast in one of the best dramas of the year. This was great – and it couldn’t be more relevant. Kudos to Jay Roach et al.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Thoroughly enjoyed this – an emotional “way homer” from Lucasfilm and a final chapter, of sort, for Emperor Palpatine and his Sith experiment. It’s a “way homer” because as you’re driving home, it occurs to you that some of this doesn’t resolve anything, it just brings up more questions. But it achieves emotional depths that distract one’s encyclopedic knowledge of the galaxy. There are a million little comments I could make and questions I could ask -- adding things up and picking things apart. But I’ll need to see it again for that. Suffice it to say: the music was beautiful.

Apollo 11

With newly released archival footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this documentary isn’t designed as much to inform as it is to inspire. There is no voiceover, no interviews, and very few informational title cards. It combines spectacularly clear, freshly transferred film footage with the audio feeds and news reports from the launch. It bittersweetly reminds the audience of what Americans are capable of (making huge technological leaps) if they could be on the same page and work together, instead of being usurped and outsmarted by technological rivals and their propaganda and disinformation efforts. That being said, of the many faces shown working on the launch, very few of them were women or racially diverse. Distilled down to one theme: America needs to be inspired again, and we’re ready for some new leaders who can do it. See it in IMAX.