2019

High Flying Bird (2019)
Is Soderbergh really going to keep shooting movies on his iPhone? I remember liking this one, but that iPhone movie aesthetic is really kind of a bummer, particularly if you like Soderbergh's movies that look lavish and orange. Like, I get it, you get to the level of mastery over your craft that Soderbergh has and you start these self-imposed challenges to keep things fun for you, and that in itself is a pretty interesting thing to think about. Or, I guess I get it in theory. I don’t think I’ve ever actually gotten to the point where I’m skilled enough at anything (or rich enough) to seek out a way to make a thing harder for myself, but I guess I get that on an intellectual level? MUST BE NICE, STEVEN.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
How is this the only movie from this year that I saw more than once? (I saw it twice. TWICE! What is wrong with me??) I didn't hate it. It’s a really big, loud, stupid movie that I respect for seeming to have no further aspirations beyond being big and loud and stupid. It is kind of fun to have a thing where every character is reduced to their most basic trait and is making the most INSANE choices. The good guys are good and full of righteous conviction. The bad guys are cartoonishly evil and sleazy (honestly a shame that none of them had a giant robot mustache to twirl). There are no gray areas here (except for all the murky, digital-ass lighting RIGHT FOLKS??????).

Also! The pacing is so strange. It felt very episodic and meandering, like it could probably have gone on for like another hour and I probably would have just had to accept that that's what my life had become— just me, trapped in a dark room til the end of time, watching a CGI teen beat the shit out of Jackie Earle Haley as I wonder idly about whether Eiza González will ever catch on (no) or if we've given Jai Courtney too many chances (yes). I will say I was genuinely captivated by those rollerball (I'm not going to look up what they actually call it in the movie) sequences. I love a violent future sport! The movie leaves us with a some major plot points up in the air, to be resolved in a sequel that'll never come, which, I must admit, I love.
The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
This one was really disappointing! The concept is fun, the cast is good, I’m ALWAYS here for Jake Gyllenhaal’s outrageous choices (Morf!), but it just didn't deliver. I was hoping for something really weird and out there — a fun, glossy, and violent high concept horror movie — and instead it ends up being an art world satire (boring, played out) that’s shot like a TNT show?? Satires on the world of the super rich, particularly those about the art collecting scene, typically end up falling flat with me because they never really seem to top the actual absurdities of the art world and the real people who pay millions to involve themselves in it (this is also a brag about how I have enough of a passing understanding of art world events to moan about them on my newsletter). The deaths aren't even that exciting! Everyone’s so insufferable and you just want them all to die, and I know that’s kind of the point, but I feel like they had so much fun stuff to work with conceptually, and in terms of interesting deaths we don't really get much. Really it's just Toni Collette getting her arm chopped off after putting it into an ominous reflective sphere (it's art). I wanted some complex machinations or something really bizarre and baroque but nothing was ever even really visually interesting or exciting, which I feel is a loss considering the modern art setting. Shoutout to new Scream Queen Toni Collette by the way. I don't know, maybe mileage will vary on this one, maybe I'm being a snob, but I really just wish that the execution did any justice to the concept, because I would still love to watch a better movie about haunted art killing people. We'll always have The Painting That Ate Paris, I guess.

The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley (2019)
It’s an HBO Documentary, does this count? I’m counting it. I don’t really remember so much about the particulars of this one, but my favorite part of this was when there’s this 3D model of what was supposed to be going on inside her Edison machines, and it’s showing how the machine would be fucking up and spilling blood everywhere, then the blood scientists or whatever are talking about how they’d have to reach into the machine to fix whatever was jamming it but no one wanted to do that because it was filled with broken glass and other people’s possibly diseased blood! INCREDIBLE! Did they talk about her fake husky doofus voice in this one, or do I just remember reading about that somewhere? I loved that too.

I feel like there’s been a recent wave of schadenfreude documentaries (those Fyre Festival docs, Weiner, surely there are others), documentaries where the main motivation seems to be about giving viewers the opportunity to revel in their schadenfreude, and I’m here for it. They usually try to illuminate or at least nod at a bigger, systemic problem with our society that has enabled the rise of these frauds and scammers, but I mean, ultimately, being able to laugh at these people is all I have, it’s not like any of them have suffered any real consequences or have learned any real lessons.

Fyre Fraud (2019) & Fyre (2019)
I looked it up and realized that those dueling Fyre Fest documentaries both came out in 2019, so I should talk about them a little bit more here. I don’t remember which one was which, but I remember something about how Netflix had announced that they were doing one, but then Hulu surprise-dropped theirs like right before the Netflix one? There was streaming drama, I guess. I think I remember preferring the Hulu one, except for the lame animated explanation bits. That always feels kind of lazy with documentaries. Both were great, though, in terms of delivering on the spirit of that aforementioned schadenfreude documentary sub-genre. Wasn’t there also some kind of controversy about the Netflix one paying the Fyre Fest guy to be a part of it or something? I refuse to do further research, so you’ll just have to accept my aimless and unprepared line of questioning. It’s MOVIE DIARY 2018 II: 2019, not RESEARCH DIARY 2019, c’mon. Anyway, let's all agree it's hilarious when rich people get scammed.

Us (2019)
Us is good! Maybe there’s a small plot hole or two, but that’s fine. The goofy, convoluted explanation to it all really just adds to its video store horror charm. It’s fine for things to be a little messy, particularly when the spirit of the work comes through and shines so brightly. Typically seeing a bunch of fan theories about “what’s actually going on” tends to bother me, but I was actually pretty pleased to see that kind of engagement after Us came out. Maybe because the vibe that I got from it tended to be more “Here’s what I thought was happening” than “The Ending of US, EXPLAINED!” Though it is true that there was plenty of that nonsense going around too, I felt like most people online were genuinely trying to grapple with some complex ideas about race and privilege that they saw lurking beneath the surface of this fun horror movie.

Us is carried by fantastic performances from everyone involved. There are so many cool, subtle actorly ticks that are in play, and the actors are so good at fleshing out these characters through little motions, little reactions that make you feel like this family is real. Lupita Nyong’o in particular flexes those  Y A L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A muscles, making so many strong choices for both Adelaide and Red, her tethered counterpart. There’s that scene where Red’s stalking Adelaide in the underground tunnels, and Lupita (as Red) is gleefully moving around like a dancer, threatening Adelaide with her scissor blades. It’s that kind of annoying actors’ thing where when you see it, you just kind of can see the wheels turning in their head, congratulating themselves for how brave it is, but it’s also so graceful and powerful and overall so weird and threatening. Lupita is just so good that you could see all the seams of her performance and still be so thoroughly moved. There’s obviously a lot more to talk about with this movie— mostly how I want Elisabeth Moss to just get let loose and do some more wild shit (don’t worry, the Her Smell email will be coming soon)— but I’m trying to keep these things short. It’s blogging, not a podcast!

Serenity (2019)
What we have on our hands here is maybe not so much a good movie as it is a curiosity, a confounding puzzle to pore over for generations to come. Maybe it’s less a movie than it is a perfect kōan, presenting a contradiction in order to open your mind to new ways of thinking. I promise this is only like kind of a bit that I’m doing here.

Whatever this is, it’s bizarre. Maybe one of the strangest movies I’ve seen this year. It’s mostly the tone of it all that’s so baffling to me. Everyone’s hamming it up in this like it’s lurid, sweaty Florida noir, which I LOVE, but it’s all in service of one of the wildest, most nonsensical twists I’ve ever seen.

— SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER —

The entire thing has all been taking place in a video game that some kid has designed as a way to escape from the trauma of dealing with his abusive step father?? First off, fucking crazy, I love it and I must respect it. How many dumbass auteurs have the guts to just say “fuck it, the movie’s a video game, an actual video game that a 14 year old boy made” and play it absolutely seriously (Maybe if you’re counting Paul WS Anderson, MAYBE, and even then it’s just aesthetic more than anything). Second, who is this 14 year old boy making a video game about some washed up boat captain slash part time gigolo? The thing that really bothers me about it is that I'm actually not really sure if that's something that a kid around that age would do. My instinct of course is to say, No, that's ridiculous, no kid would do that, but I don't know— I was probably into some weird bullshit when I was 14. I don't know what those kids are doing these days! Maybe Gen-Z is all about femme fatales and killing your step dad and the whole Tik Tok thing is a front! I'm not going to talk to a teen about this because I don't want to get roasted by a teen so I'll once again have to be left wondering.

I mostly just wanted to talk about how wild the video game thing is, sorry. Uh what else... the cast is good. They all seem to have different ideas about what this movie is (Anne Hathaway, unexpectedly, is the only one who I think actually knows what this movie is? Jeremy Strong also knows what it is but I can't tell if he's laughing at it or taking it too seriously), but it all works together once that twist comes into play because at that point it's like, Fuck it, sure why not, everything's already insane anyway, why not have Jeremy Strong's character reveal that he's actual the embodiment of the concept of "rules?" sure. When you look at it that way, maybe Serenity really does a great job of reflecting that feeling that we're living in a glitching simulation that's breaking down all around us?

Guava Island (2019)
Possibly the worst movie I saw this year, my god did I hate this movie. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was really smart of Donald Glover to pivot his Childish Gambino project away from resent-fueled raps about how annoying women are to being a cool new soul guy (essentially rebranding from funny for a hot person to a deep hot person, but that’s a different conversation), and Atlanta is very very good, but Guava Island really shines a light on how high on his own supply Donald Glover has been in a  post-“Awaken, My Love!” world. It’s ostensibly a showcase for the singles he released after “Awaken, My Love!” and it’s directed by Hiro Murai, his director on Atlanta. It’s a fine idea, to put together all the things that we all seem to like about Donald Glover (now), but the end result comes off as something so self indulgent, and not even in a fun, self-aware way. The story is thin, and mostly serves as a way to showcase the island setting (fine, looks good, cool Caribbean fairy tale vibes) and tell you how hot and charismatic and talented and down to earth Donald Glover is (what this email presupposes is… maybe he’s not? Sorry, I’m being salty, at least half of those things are true). Looking at stills from the movie, you'd think they were from some glossy photo spread for GQ about how it's ok for men to wear shorts, and you know what? Maybe I would have liked this better if it were like some kind of supplementary spon-con that gives a backstory to a celebrity fashion shoot? Like, I can just see the pop up buy links on the video now. I'm ready to swipe up for more on the backstory of this island essential footwear! I’m all for a singer’s vanity project, but if you’re making a movie to tell me how cool you are it better be fucking insane and kind of stupid or you better be Prince.

High Life (2019)
I was kind of dreading talking about this one because I'm not sure I really remember a whole lot about the particulars about this movie, but I know I didn't like it. I don't know, maybe this is a good opportunity to unpack what I remember and how I felt? There's a spaceship, the crew's been on there for a while, Andre 3000 is growing a bunch of plants, I think I remember some or all of these people were criminals or something? The space suits were cool. Mostly I remember Juliette Binoche's long, untrustworthy hair, and the room where everyone goes to jack off. There's a lot of weird jacking off in this movie, which I guess is cool? It's about time we get a space movie where we explore the issue of jacking off in space.

Actually, I think I want to walk back what I said earlier about not liking it. I think I appreciated what Claire Denis was going for, but the overall message just felt really punishing and bleak, and not really in the way I like to feel punished by a movie. I guess I liked what she was doing, but it ultimately made me feel bad, which I didn't like? Ugh, I don't know, I'm at that age where my friends are having kids, and we're living in a time where scientists are warning us that the world's going to be falling apart in our lifetimes if we don't make some really drastic changes, so this story about nurturing life in the midst of horrible, violent people hurtling toward a black hole is, uh, timely I guess, but I left the theater feeling the same kind of awful I feel at the back of my head on any given day with no new clarity, no new perspective. Don't get me wrong, I don't need a movie to tell me everything's going to be ok, I'm fine with a movie being pessimistic, suffering makes you a better person, etc etc. Though usually I'd hope that a movie with a sort of doomed tone like this would help to illuminate my anxieties or my own nihilism, maybe even help me feel kind of good about the impending end of all things, but it mostly just felt like when you unload your problems on someone and they're like, "Yeah man, sucks." I guess maybe I have to respect it for that? Is this what I sound like when I start sinking into a depressive state? Maybe it's good that Denis isn't trying to bring to light anxieties about trying to hold onto hope in a time where it seems impossible not to feel doomed, maybe she's working through it too? Anyway, I don't know, I hope we can make a better world for your kids, I really do, I want that for you and your kids who I've come to care about.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)
I was typing up a whole thing, trying to lay out my complex, nuanced stance on how these are stupid movies that suck but I still roll out for them sometimes because I do love spectacle and getting swept up in the zeitgeist, but I stopped because it's boring and I'm tired. At the end of the day, no words more perfectly describe my feelings on popular corporate superheroes and the movies they star in than this tweet from some guy:

With a few exceptions here and there (you can email me about what I think those exceptions are if you want) these movies are mostly inconsequential and forgettable, but what do I care? I'm still in there gawking at Josh Brolin's big stupid purple body because at the end of the day, yes, I guess I did want to watch Chris Hemsworth fly around with lightning coming out of his biceps, I'm not above these things.

Her Smell (2019)
Ok real talk, as I was trying to remember what happened in this movie I realized that what I had in my head was actually scenes from Vox Lux (2018), but don't worry I rewatched the trailer and I was reminded that Her Smell was the one where Elisabeth Moss is in a band and she's screaming at everyone, her bandmates, Dan Stevens (easing his way back into being hot onscreen), her mom, everyone. The mood of Her Smell is tense, it's long, it's exhausting, all by design. We've all heard so much about these famous volatile rockstar personalities via Behind The Music, TMZ, whichever gossip outlet you feel best represents you, etc etc, but Her Smell puts you right in there, less to gawk and more to get that visceral feeling of worry that Becky (Elisabeth Moss) is going to get fucked up and drop her baby while yelling at someone about the finer points of conducting a seance or something. (And to gawk. Movies are all gawking I guess.)

It's all pretty effective. You're there with Becky through the downs and even further downs, and it feels like you're constantly bracing yourself for something really bad to happen. Each act of the movie presents different bad situations that Becky mostly creates for herself through her own desire to self-destruct, but the last act fakes you out with the same beats as before so that when the movie ends on a hopeful note, you're fully relieved that Becky didn't manage to sabotage herself again this time. It's pretty touching, and it makes you feel like maybe all these hard times were worth it if it means that Becky gets to walk off into the sunset with her daughter (and a bunch of royalty checks I assume).

Always Be My Maybe (2019), The Perfection (2019)
Earlier this year, I was on my friend Bobby's other podcast, I'm Obsessed With This, where I talked about these two movies and Ava Duvernay's When They See Us with former MOVIE DIARY 2018 guest Fran!
You can listen to the podcast here. I think it turned out pretty well, but that's not too surprising since Bobby's a professional!

Domino (2019)
Kind of disgustingly reactionary, but also totally goofy. There was a very specific turning point where everyone in the theater (wisely billed as a one night only special event) collectively decided that this movie was hilarious. An insane energy with this movie. Guy Pearce does a Southern accent. You could say that De Palma’s done it again, mostly in that I guess he made another movie.

Five Feet Apart (2019)
Sick kids in love is still a viable genre! We as a culture will never stop being into teens flirting with death and their peers! I watched this for Cole, who feels like a no-brainer for something like this, and for Haley Lu, who is far too good for something like this. It’s actually pretty sweet, but like all of these kinds of movies, nothing really stuck with me. I'm not the audience!
PS— When is Cole going to start playing adults? What’s that even going to look like?

Midsommar (2019)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
I wasn't initially very wild about this movie after watching it, but I still found myself thinking about it a while after. There's a lot of stuff that worked in this movie, but for whatever reason, it just didn't really hold together in an exciting way for me. I was really impressed with Leonardo DiCaprio in this movie, it seemed like he was having fun, I'm happy for him. I'm a little torn about the ending. Margot Robbie's performance portrays a version of Sharon Tate that's an embodiment of light and good, and you're meant to spend that time also feeling a sense of dread because you know that Sharon's going to end up violently murdered, so when she's not violently murdered, there's this wave of relief. On one hand I think it's kind of sweet and poignant, having Sharon Tate et al live at the end, a sort of wistful look back at what Hollywood could have been— but on the other hand I think it's also kind of cynical to play on our dread over what actually happened to this woman. I have a feeling that this is a movie that I could watch again and fixate on something different every time, but I still don't know if I'm going to put this up there with the other Tarantino movies I've really enjoyed.

Crawl (2019)
There's always a discourse around the idea of the summer blockbuster, but Crawl gives some love to the mid to late summer low tier aquatic menace movie, and between this and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019), 2019 was a great time for this! There's an incoming hurricane somewhere in Florida, a girl goes to check on her dad and finds him trapped in his flooding basement, suddenly they're trying to escape a bunch of alligators, both of them are going to wrap up a tidy little character arc by the end of it! It's simple, it's reliable, and there are some genuinely surprising moments in there to keep it from feeling like it's too much on the rails. I mean, it is on the rails, but it doesn't have to feel like it's on the rails, right? Crawl also has a great scene that features one of my favorite things to be mad at at the movies, calling for help from passerbys and being ignored. You know what's going to happen, but it's still gonna get your heart rate up for a second — because what if it doesn't happen how you expect it to happen this time?? Don't worry, it's what you expected, but it still fucking delivers, bro.

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
A uniquely stupid movie that I wish I could have liked more, but I think I was at least mentally prepared for how dumb and over long it was going to be? Vanessa Kirby is a legit action star, loved Jason Statham and Idris Elba just like, being British at each other, the third act epic fight/chase was totally nonsensical and very fun, the last fight where they figure out how to beat the bad guy by just like… punching him at the same time from different directions… an incredible hallmark of a uniquely stupid movie, I couldn’t stop myself from loving it. There were so many good parts, but as a whole it didn’t really stick together for me. The Rock and Statham are meant to carry this movie, but they’re both on autopilot, and the buddy cop/odd couple dynamic doesn’t really work. I hate when people talk about how they’d fix movies, but I’m gonna do it here because my solution is so simple: just let Jason Statham be the funny one. Statham’s funny! He can do comedy! He’s self aware and he’s willing to have a laugh at the persona that’s been built up around him! The Rock is all those things too, sort of, but at this point it seems like all of The Rock’s dialogue in these movies is generated by an algorithm: “This big sumbitch Daddy’s going to work and bring pain with family don’t quit Daddy,” just line after line of that stuff. Whatever, getting worked up about movies like this is a fool’s errand. Can’t wait for the Fast and the Furious franchise to finally cut the shit and just have an AI generate their screenplays.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)
Hands down the best movie-going experience of the summer of 2019 for me. The final act of the movie is a real reminder of why We roll out to movies, which is to say everyone in the theater was screaming in terror, delight, … and even, I like to think, awe. The movie’s a schlocky and predictable aquatic menace movie, but its earnestness really makes all of it work. The Sharknado franchise and all its offshoots made their bones off of “deconstructing” the genre by smugly winking at the audience while making stupid elements of those movies even stupider, but there’s something much more satisfying about a movie that plays it straight— “Escaping from sharks in a confined space underwater? What if that happened to you and your shitty drunk friends and your dad? What could be scarier?” 
The movie is pretty dumb, but what I liked about it is that it’s the kind of movie dumb movie that’s never even considered that it might be dumb. It’s also really exciting. You should know better and you should see these things coming, but the movie gets you so engrossed in this extreme situation, making it feel like you’re seeing a shark take a bite out of someone for the very first time.