The 2019 Midterm Report Card

The ten movies I've enjoyed the most so far this year...

By: Josh McCormack

2019 is almost halfway through and we've already been blessed with some pretty great movies. Here are the ten best that I have seen from January all the way to mid-June. 

Booksmart isn't on here cause I haven't seen it yet. DON'T @ ME!

*Captain Marvel

While far from one of the MCU's best efforts, Captain Marvel displays the merits of this epic cinematic universe when it's at its scaled-down best. While the film didn't quite click with me during my initial viewing, Captain Marvel works best in a more personal viewing setting rather than with an immense crowd like the rest of these movies. 

The stakes are large, but I appreciated Captain Marvel for its emphasis on character relationships, which is where the film truly shines.

*Happy Death Day 2U

Don't expect this one to be on my "Best of 2019" list by the year's end, but HDD2U is an odd, messy, and incredibly entertaining genre mash-up that takes its premise to new heights and surprised me in far more ways than its somewhat underwhelming predecessor. 

More sci-fi comedy than horror slasher and probably more Joe Dante than John Carpenter, HDD2U certainly might not be for the horror junkies going in to get a straightforward horror flick, but I found it very entertaining and with another genuinely fantastic performance from Jessica Rothe, it actually winds up being somewhat moving. 

*Pet Sematary

While their still has yet to be a definitive film adaption of Stephen King's Pet Sematary (one of my favorite novels), this divisive retelling from directing duo Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer is nothing to scoff at. 

Studio influence is felt throughout, especially with the addition of painfully obvious jump scares, however the filmmakers find interesting ways to subvert even the most hardcore King's fans expectations. Well-acted, wonderfully shot, and perfectly humorless, the new Pet Sematary balances out the rough spots with utter conviction to dread from the team behind the scenes.

*How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The Hidden World may be the weakest of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, but with how damn good all these movies have been over the past decade, one of them had to be. 

Very rarely does a third chapter of a trilogy conclude the story as satisfyingly as this. Hiccup and Toothless' relationship gets put to the ultimate test with the introduction of their greatest enemy; growing up. The Hidden World is a story of growing up and letting those we love move on with their lives. Having grown up with these characters over the course of three fantastic films, we understand both Hiccup and Toothless' emotions all to well. 

*Climax

A lot of movies that I love are ones that have plots one can explain in one sentence. Gaspar Noe's Climax is no exception. A group of dance students at a party unknowingly have their sangria laced with LSD...annnnnd WE'RE OFF!

What Climax consists of is 97 minutes of pure, nightmarish insanity as the drugged dancers are reduced to their most violently sexual and primal instincts. What starts off as the ultimate party movie, slowly descends into a new kind of horror film. It's a CRUEL fucking movie. One that got under my skin too much for me to revisit it anytime soon, but certainly one I won't be forgetting anytime soon either. 

*Shazam!

The DC films finally get their groove back with the quaint and utterly delightul Shazam!

There have been better superhero films than Shazam! in the past years, but I haven't loved one in quite the same way I loved this one since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. There's an innocence, a knowing sense of corniness and fun that has been lacking in all too self-serious superhero flicks nowadays. Shazam! certainly reminds us of the responsibility that comes with being a superhero, but it also reminds us that it's pretty friggin' fun too!

*Rocketman

Director Dexter Fletcher has managed to make a music biopic that is both crowd pleasing and traditionally structured, but is incredibly worthwhile due to its unrelenting energy and distinct style.

This is the the stage persona of Elton John in movie form. It's as glittery, energetic, and dramatic as every piece of distinct clothing the man wears on stage and as grand as every piano solo he serenades his audiences with. It's a true story and one that has dark moments, but this a musical in which people beautifully belt out ballads, audiences float in the air, and years pass over the course of minutes. Led by a star making performance from Taron Egerton, Rocketman is everything more recent music biopics are not.

I'm looking at you Bohemian Rhapsody. 

*Avengers: Endgame

A heist film, an "end of the world" epic and a conclusion to a 22-film saga, Endgame is certainly a lot to take in. Yet, the film is a three hour victory lap that rewards anyone who has watched all of these films. It's incredibly satisfying, rightfully tragic in places and extraordinarily rousing in others. 

After a series of movies that have become somewhat predictable after 11 years, there are moments of shock in this most recent MCU entry that still leave me reeling. It perhaps isn't the neatest in terms of a coherent narrative, but on the merits of relentless entertainment, there are very few superhero movies that can match Avengers: Endgame. [Review taken from my previous Ranking the MCU article]

*Us

Jordan Peele has followed up his cultural phenomenon Get Out with a film that may have proven to be more divisive amongst general audiences, but with even more interesting ideas to unpack.

While the mythology of the film's villainous "tethered" is a little messy, Us is still  an utterly compelling and unique horror film that uses ideas of the genre's past and takes them to new territories. As a horror fan, I think Get Out deserves the most praise as a game-changer, but I think I found Us was my personal favorite of the two. It's less structured than his previous horror flick, but it just left my brain spinning non-stop days after seeing it. 

Also, Lupita Nyong'o...wow.

*John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum

The third John Wick movie is just so, so badass.

It is a celebration of incredible stunt work featuring some of the most relentless action this side of Mad Max: Fury Road all led by another committed and wonderfully stoic performance from the man of the hour, Keanu Reeves. And to top this pyramid of badassery is director Chad Stahelski who really shows how much he's grown as a filmmaker. As always, his eye for directing kinetic action is incredible, but the way he shoots architecture and plays with unique lighting is a true highlight in this third chapter. One sequence, taking place in a building made entirely of glass, is one of the most visually stunning things I've seen in a film this year.

I've enjoyed the hell out of all the John Wick movies, but this is the first one I've truly loved.