Top Ten Films First Seen in 2019

[Dead & Messed Up]

Because we need to quantify and rank art.

[Dead & Messed Up]

1. BlackkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)
2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (The Coens, 2018)
3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Rob Cohen, 2008)

[Dukefrukem]

Yeh we need some 2019 sections up in here.

[Peng]

1. Eight Hours of Terror (1957)
2. Witness (1985)

[MadMan]

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
2. Under The Skin (2013)
3. Deep Impact (1998)
4. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Birdbox and maybe Enemy is next.

[transmogrifier]

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77

[MadMan]

1. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018, Theater)
2. Vice (2018, Theater)
3. Crazy Rich Asians (2018, RedBox)
4. Under The Skin (2014, Netflix Instant Viewing)
5. The Town (2010, AMC)
6. Night of the Living Deb (2015, Shudder)
7. The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972, Shudder)
8. Deep Impact (1998, AMC)
9. The Day After Tomorrow (2004, AMC)

[Ivan Drago]

https://boxd.it/2kfuu

[baby doll]

• Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957)
• Our Little Sister (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2015)
• Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2018)

[Peng]

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
2. Eight Hours of Terror (1957)
3. City on Fire (1987)
4. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
5. Animal House (1978)
6. Witness (1985)

[Stay Puft]

1. PROTOTYPE (2017, dir. Blake Williams)
2. Shirkers (2018, dir. Sandi Tan)
3. The Yards (2000, dir. James Gray)
4. Twelve Tales Told (2014, dir. Johann Lurf)
5. Apostle (2018, dir. Gareth Evans)
6. Details of Pollock's White Light (2019, dir. Ken Jacobs)
7. more than everything (2018, dir. Rainer Kohlberger)

[Dead & Messed Up]

1. BlackkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)
2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (The Coens, 2018)
3. Glass (M. Night Shyamalan, 2019)
4. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Rob Cohen, 2008)
5. Body Bags (Carpenter & Hooper, 1993)

[transmogrifier]

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77
2. Orlando (1992) - 70

There is nothing better than watching a film that you had completely the wrong impression of before you actually watched it. Knowing nothing about the book it was based on, and assuming it was just a typically stuffy period piece, Orlando is frequently hilarious.

[Peng]

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
2. Eight Hours of Terror (1957)
3. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
4. Paris Is Burning (1990)
5. City on Fire (1987)
6. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
7. Animal House (1978)
8. Witness (1985)

[Spinal]

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77
2. Orlando (1992) - 70

There is nothing better than watching a film that you had completely the wrong impression of before you actually watched it. Knowing nothing about the book it was based on, and assuming it was just a typically stuffy period piece, Orlando is frequently hilarious.

Orlando has long held a spot on my Top 100. I had the poster on my wall when I was in college. But it's one that I've found rather difficult to convince others to watch.

[baby doll]

• Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1947)
• Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
• Our Little Sister (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2015)
• Ocean Falls (Ryan Ermacora/Jessica Johnson, 2016)
• Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2018)

[transmogrifier]

Orlando has long held a spot on my Top 100. I had the poster on my wall when I was in college. But it's one that I've found rather difficult to convince others to watch.

I only thing I knew about it was that [

Show Spoiler

the main character lived a long time, and that Swinton played a man

]. And silly me still assumed that it was going to be a straight drama.

(Spoilered not because it is a spoiler as such, but because I recommend others to go in with as little info as possible)

[transmogrifier]

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77
2. The Guns of Navarone (1961) - 71
3. Orlando (1992) - 70

Navarone actually saves its best for last, with a superbly tense third act, especially the scene[

Show Spoiler

focusing on what to do with the traitor

], which is more morally prickly than a lot of these glossy heist-esque films are, ending with [

Show Spoiler

the trenchant shot of Niven standing over the dead girl's body

].

[Dead & Messed Up]

1. BlackkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)
2. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimo, 2018)
3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (The Coens, 2018)
4. Glass (M. Night Shyamalan, 2019)
5. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Rob Cohen, 2008)
6. Body Bags (Carpenter & Hooper, 1993)
7. The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, 1963)

[baby doll]

• Penny Serenade (George Stevens, 1941)
• Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1947)
• Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957)
• Machorka-Muff (Danièle Huillet/Jean-Marie Straub, 1963)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
• Our Little Sister (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2015)
• The Dreamed Ones (Ruth Beckermann, 2016)
• Ocean Falls (Ryan Ermacora/Jessica Johnson, 2016)
• Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018)
• Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2018)

[MadMan]

1. BlacKkKlansman (2018, RedBox)
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018, Theater)
3. Hereditary (2018, RedBox)
4. The Favourite (2018, Theater)
5. Vice (2018, Theater)
6. Enemy (2013, Netflix Instant Viewing)
7. Paddington (2015, TubiTV)
8. Crazy Rich Asians (2018, RedBox)
9. Under the Skin (2013, Netflix Instant Viewing)
10. The Town (2010, AMC)

[transmogrifier]

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77
2. The Congress (2013) - 74
3. Air Doll (2009) - 73
4. The Guns of Navarone (1961) - 71
5. Orlando (1992) - 70

The Congress is the type of film we need to see more of, a mix of styles and influences, and crammed with ideas, but underlying it all a sense of melancholy at the things we leave behind in the pursuit of the old and the familiar. Air Doll takes Pinocchio and makes it weird, but the best trick is taking the trappings of saccharine cinema (twinkly soundtrack, naive protagonist learning to love) and twisting it into something darker and more desolate.

[dreamdead]

Probably the fewest number of films I've watched to date in a year so far, but:

1. Shoplifters
2. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
3. Roma
4. Control
5. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
6. BlackkKlansman
7. Mandy
8. A Quiet Place
9. Revenge
10. Red Sparrow

[

Show Spoiler

Juliet, Naked
Sinister

]

[Stay Puft]

1. PROTOTYPE (2017, dir. Blake Williams)
2. Happy as Lazzaro (2018, dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, dir. Robert Altman)
4. Shirkers (2018, dir. Sandi Tan)
5. The Yards (2000, dir. James Gray)
6. Twelve Tales Told (2014, dir. Johann Lurf)
7. Apostle (2018, dir. Gareth Evans)
8. Details of Pollock's White Light (2019, dir. Ken Jacobs)
9. more than everything (2018, dir. Rainer Kohlberger)

[baby doll]

• Regeneration (Raoul Walsh, 1915)
• Penny Serenade (George Stevens, 1941)
• Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1947)
• Machorka-Muff (Danièle Huillet/Jean-Marie Straub, 1963)
• The Ceremony (Oshima Nagisa, 1971)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
• The Dreamed Ones (Ruth Beckermann, 2016)
• Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018)
• The Endless Film (Leandro Listorti, 2018)
• Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2018)