I'm pretty much socially dead online, and it feels great. After years of being too scared to disconnect from Twitter, I gave it up after I got back from my honeymoon last October. I realized I hadn't been on it in a week and I didn't miss it. I took advantage of that, deleted the app from my phone and haven't looked back. I don't even know if you can permanently delete your Twitter account, but I would refrain anyway, if only because I have nowhere else in the world to place these damn lists I feel compelled to do. Truthfully, the only compulsion comes from having done them for nine years now. I suppose it's the one thing I don't want to completely abandon online. Even if no one reads them, I enjoy considering everything I see in a year within the measurables I started for myself in 2011. Now let's finish out the decade:
The Pretty Damn Goods of 2019
"Daisy" by Pond
Massive Tame Impala fan that I
am, I’ve tried to find everything Kevin Parker has been associated with, and
there is nothing better his Aussie buddies’ band Pond. Perhaps they tire of
Kevin’s name perpetually existing alongside every mention of their band, but
Pond’s psychedelic rock material stands on its own as quality material. The third
single from their most recent album, Tasmania, is “Daisy”. It was released just
days into 2019 and nothing came to top it for my favorite song of the year.
From its soft, sweet-sounding opening to the thumping shift into full-on pop
track, “Daisy” is a joy start to finish.
Under the Silver Lake
This movie is basically a fever dream. It's arguably entirely nonsense, but it was engrossing in a way I seldom encounter. It feels like an old '40s noir, one man's odyssey into the unknown, complete with the old-fashioned matte painting landscapes in the distance. When it was over, I wasn't entirely sure what had just transpired over the previous two and a quarter hours, but in the months since, I find myself thinking about it repeatedly. Under the Silver Lake is certainly divisive, and it's not prestige cinema or "Oscar worthy" by any stretch, but it made a lasting impression. Some movies don't work for some people. Some do. In this case I'm the latter.
The Watchmen soundtrack
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
began the last decade composing one of the all-time cinematic scores for The
Social Network. In the years since, they have established themselves as one of
the premier sonic mood creators in the business, all while sprinkling in new
music and tours with Nine Inch Nails. The Watchmen series itself was a
fascinating exercise in storytelling, but I often became distracted focusing on
how perfect the musical mood was. I’ve found myself pulling up the soundtrack
on YouTube just to have it going in the background while I’m doing other
things. The compositions work on their own as great pieces of music to listen
to anytime, but when they accompanied the show itself, everything fit like a
glove.
The end of Doctor Sleep
(mild spoilers)
Both Doctor Sleep the book and
movie are worthy successors to The Shining. As fans of the material well know,
both The Shining the book and the movie differ a great deal, so much so that
Stephen King himself has a notorious dislike for the movie. Both movies have
similar running times, but The Shining moves at a much brisker pace than Doctor
Sleep. At some moments it becomes a bit sluggish, but I’ve said
many times if a movie that struggles finishes strong, that’s all I
ever hope for. Man, does Doctor Sleep stick the landing. The final stretch of
the movie combines elements of both books, The Shining and Doctor Sleep. As
someone who’d read and seen all the material to that point, I realized that’s
what was happening in the middle of it, and I was awestruck. To my mind, there’s not been any
situation where an adaptation has done something like this, and writer/director
Mike Flanagan deserves all the credit in the world for nailing it.
Ford v Ferrari
At some point toward the end of
watching Ford v Ferrari in the theater I said to myself, “I think is one of the
most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen.” Months later, I still feel that way.
It’s a long haul of a running time, but, man, it is never once dull. From the
craftsmanship of creating such a seemingly difficult movie by James Mangold and
his team to the lived-in performances of Damon and Bale, Ford v Ferrari can appeal to just about everyone who loves a thrill. Whether you’re a gearhead
or not, there’s plenty to be invested in while watching this superb movie.
Favorites of 2019
10. "405 Method Not Allowed"
Episode Five of Season Four of Mr. Robot
Mr. Robot never made things easy for
the viewer. In its four seasons, it really was all over the place. Maintaining
the frenetic pace of the first season was unattainable in hindsight, but knowing
that creator Sam Esmail always had the series ending in mind made runs like the
majority of season two a little bit easier of a pill to swallow. By season
three’s end, the show got its groove back, and season four may well prove to be
the show’s greatest achievement. It certainly had the series’ greatest
technical achievements, with every episode directed by Esmail himself. Some of
the episodes were genre experiments, such as an Agatha Christie parlor room
mystery and episode five, which was essentially a dialogue-less heist movie.
Season four was an incredible homestretch to an iconic series, and television
does not come in a more thrilling package than Mr. Robot's fifth episode this year.
9. "Volume 5: The Fool"
Episode Five of Too Old to Die Young
Have
you ever watched something that you enjoyed immensely but would never think of
recommending to anyone in your own life? Like you’d be concerned with putting a
friendship at risk by saying, “Hey, give this a shot.” That was Too Old
to Die Young for me. It inherently appeals to the slimmest possible audience
and is off-putting in more ways than can be counted. It’s full of abhorrent
sexual and violent content, even torture. Every single character is depraved.
It tests the patience of every single pair of eyes that sits down to watch it.
But there’s something about existence of these things in the cinematic
world of Nicolas Winding Refn that made me unable to take my eyes off the show.
Regardless of what was happening on the screen, even something like the irreparably damaging way episode five begins, I was rapt in the neon world
of his creation. Perhaps it’s something about the juxtaposition of the truly
awful things happening on screen and the gorgeous aesthetic result of the work.
Episode five, “The Fool”, is the apex of this aesthetic achievement. It’s
certainly in my top ten episodes of anything I saw this year. If you can
envision an episode with everything described heretofore, and Barry Manilow being the most disconcerting thing, then maybe this show is for you. All that to say,
I really loved this show… But maybe you shouldn’t watch it.
8. Season One of What We Do in the Shadows
Making a series out of Taika
Waititi’s cinematic indie vampire comedy seems like a hyperspecific thing to do,
but leave it to FX to adapt pieces of pop culture that no one else is
considering and turn them into can’t-miss television. The film What We Do in
the Shadows was ripe for adaptation. Done in mockumentary style, it has the
interview breaks of classic comedic television comedies like The Office and
Parks and Recreation. In the adaptation, a film crew follows a trio of
overzealous vampires who set out for world domination from a house in Staten
Island. Over the course of the first season, we learn the bizarre and
hilarious eccentricities of each character while encountering various entities
from each of their pasts. The main cast is flawless, and the supporting players
round everything out perfectly. This series has the potential to be an FX
mainstay for years to come.
7. Season One of The Righteous Gemstones
In the wrong
hands, The Righteous Gemstones, a series about a superstar Christian minister
and his insufferable adult children, could have been exactly that for the
viewer: insufferable. It could have been unrelentingly scathing, mean and
belittling. Granted, there is plenty about the megachurch industrial complex
that can be attacked in a fictionally scathing manner, but the millions of people
who attend such institutions are not necessarily deserving of the same
sentiment. In the hands of Danny McBride, however, The Righteous Gemstones is a
hilarious indictment of hypocrites who are also capable of capable of earnest
moments. This series is so deftly helmed by Danny McBride and his longtime
creative partners, it’s astounding there isn’t one weak link anywhere in
the casting. The series is brimming belly laughs and will blindside you, not
only with occasionally shocking vulgarity and perversity, with earned moments
of sincerity. Like I did, you may think you know what you’re getting into with
The Righteous Gemstones, but I guarantee you it isn’t anything like you expect.
6. Season Two of Fleabag
When a show has garnered nearly
every accolade and won every award for its second season, there isn’t much else
to say about it. Fleabag’s second season is truly a marvel. It’s hilarious,
shocking and touching in equal measure. That first dinner episode is one of the
greatest pieces of television I’ve ever seen. From just twelve episodes of a
half-hour comedy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has cemented herself as a comedic titan.
To end a series at its absolute peak is one hell of a power move, and at this
moment in time, Pheobe Waller-Bridge certainly has plenty of it.
5. The Lighthouse
It's a rare occurrence when a
movie hijacks my brain and it’s all I think about for two weeks. It’s an even
more rare occurrence when I see something that doesn’t definitively mean
anything, and thus can figuratively mean anything. Even beyond that, it’s a
rare balance when something that is so more aesthetically precious than most
multiplex films, something that is so clearly “art”, isn’t insufferably
pretentious. I, though, feel pretentious attempting to praise it because it is so
unto itself. The movie would not work without world class actors like
Pattinson and Dafoe, and they are top-tier in it. The Lighthouse is art made in
such a way that each second commands your attention and begs to be scrutinized,
much like “the light” itself. Deeply intriguing and unsettling, The Lighthouse
is something whose effect on me was immediate and likely everlasting.
4. Season Two of Barry
The first season of Barry had
such a perfect and neat ending that it made you wonder if more of the story was
even necessary. We know all too well the excesses of television series that
go well beyond what they should, but Bill Hader and Alec Berg are really
onto something with Barry. The second season has multiple sections (the failed
sniper attempt, the entirety of “ronny/lily”) that seemed like immediate iconic
moments in comedy. The “ronny/lily” episode was far and away my favorite
episode of television last year. Dropping 30 minutes of surreality into a
straightforward show was a bold move and it worked wonderfully. While Barry is
full of laughs, it is certainly violent. The violence is played to comedic effect
many times, but the moments of examining the violent nature of Barry himself are where the lines of balance that the show toes really shine. The writers and creators
have clear ideas that are honed in the writing room and it all comes out on the
screen. These are expert craftspeople handling Barry, and I can’t wait to see
what they come up with next.
3. Season Two of Succession
There was a period during which I
watched the first few episodes of Succession that I resented everyone who told me this show was good. All the characters seemed reprehensible and I didn’t care
one bit about the very conceit of the show, being who will succeed Logan Roy to
become the next head of the billion-dollar company. I stuck with it and the
humor that was peppered into the rest of the season made what I disliked about
it a bit more palatable. I finished the first season and waited for the second
in ambivalence.
The second season legitimately
shocked me with how great it ended up being. It all boils down to the writing
and the performances. There is no show I saw last year that gave me as many
genuine belly laughs as Succession. Multiple times it nearly had me practically clapping alone in my house. Succession somehow presents an outright hilarious
drama that compels you without you necessarily caring about the fate of most of its
characters. When the stakes are so high and the characters are so well-written
and performed, the entertainment value and investment in whatever
ridiculousness comes next is compelling enough. Maybe Succession was this good
all along and something changed about me. I won’t know for sure until a rewatch
down the line, but as of right now, there is no greater show on TV than the one
about spoiled billionaires on HBO.
2. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
It wasn’t until my third viewing
of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (henceforth referred to as OUATIH) that I
made a connection between the movie itself and Quentin Tarantino’s career. We
all know that OUATIH is an ode to the final moments of the Golden Age of
Hollywood and that Rick Dalton and his career represent that. Similarly, we
know that Tarantino aims to stop making movies after his tenth, which would be his
next one. It made me realize how these are basically the final moments of living
in a world where we revel in the excitement of a new Tarantino movie on the
horizon. The run of these last three decades of film in which Tarantino has become
arguably the most influential writer/director in the medium is about to end. It
made me see OUATIH in a different, slightly more melancholy light. Rick Dalton
wasn’t necessarily an important figure in the fictional Hollywood of the movie,
but Tarantino unquestionably is in the real one. The unknown but hopeful way OUATIH ends in
terms of where Rick might be headed, what his next chapter in life will be, is
how I look at Tarantino. He’ll always be putting something out into the world
in one form or another, but his time in this particular medium is almost done. With
the '70s on the horizon in OUATIH and a new decade beginning here in 2020, only
time will tell his story to come.
1. Parasite
(mild spoilers)
It’s a wonderful feeling at year's end when you finally see something that has been met with universal
acclaim the world over and confirm that notion for yourself. I saw Parasite in
a cozy 40 seat screening room in a non-profit film center in Nashville, a
setting in which I’ve never been. It was the perfect sort of discombobulating
ambiance for one of the most memorable first-time viewings of a movie in my
life. When it begins, you know you’re in an expert’s hands. This is the perfect
example of the take-a-screenshot-and-hang-it-on-your-wall movie. Everything is
gorgeously composed, from the pristine quality of the Park home all the way down
to the squalor of the Kim's. For as genuinely hilarious as Parasite is, there lurks this insidious feeling that something terrible is going to happen. You think
it’s maybe going to be one of a few things, but I will never forget the moment of sheer astonishment and fear I had while in the throes of what transpires
while that thing begins to bear out. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know. If not,
you will. As any fan of the medium can attest, there’s really no feeling like the one you get when the credits roll on a movie and the people in the auditorium all take a few beats
before moving out of their seats. It’s a rare feeling, and
everyone with whom I shared that tiny room in Nashville felt we'd just watched one of the great pieces of cinema together. No foreign
language film has ever won Best Picture at the Oscars, but I really hope that
streak ends with Parasite. It was the best film of the year after all.
