Best Film of The Year
PARASITE
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
AD ASTRA
THE LIGHTHOUSE
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
UNCUT GEMS
THE IRISHMAN
PAIN AND GLORY
TRANSIT
Yeah, I'm boring, but I'm still impressed at the overlap between my nominees and everyone else's.
Worst Film of the Year
LITTLE MONSTERS
FAST AND FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS AND SHAW
SERENITY
CATS
THE DIRT
MEN iN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL
Most of my picks obviously didn't make it because the rest of you either have worse taste than I do or make better viewing choices, but I did manage to see MIB: International for this countdown and, as painful to watch as Cats could be, at least there was something there (even if it was terrible). Here we see an already-mediocre franchise get stomped into the ground even further under the smooth-soled loafer of 2010s franchise filmmaking.
Best Director of the Year
Bong Joon-ho, PARASITE
Quentin Tarantino, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Martin Scorsese, THE IRISHMAN
Celine Sciamma, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Benny and Josh Safdie, UNCUT GEMS
RESPECT!
Best Actor of the Year
Antonio Banderas, PAIN AND GLORY
Brad Pitt, AD ASTRA
Leonardo DiCaprio, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Paul Walter Hauser, RICHARD JEWELL
Adam Sandler, UNCUT GEMS
A tough call here (and obviously I stand by my picks that didn't make it through), but I think this was reasonable.
Best Actress of the Year
Awkwafina, THE FAREWELL
Lupita Nyong'o, US
Noemie Merlant, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Elisabeth Moss, HER SMELL
Zhao Tao, ASH IS PUREST WHITE
Definitely a toss-up between Moss and Nyong'o here, but I gave the edge to the super-damaged not-Courtney Love that the former portrayed (especially on the basis of the last two vignettes of Her Smell).
Best Supporting Actor of the Year
Brad Pitt, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Willem Dafoe, THE LIGHTHOUSE
Song Kang-ho, PARASITE
Eric Bogosian, UNCUT GEMS
Joe Pesci, THE IRISHMAN
He could've been in Cats and I would've voted for him.
Best Supporting Actress of the Year
Jennifer Lopez, HUSTLERS
Adele Haenel, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Park So-Dam, PARASITE
Cho Yeo-Jeong, PARASITE
Juliette Binoche, HIGH LIFE
Was really expecting Park to take this one, but I guess Cho does have the more "showy" performance (though it is a good one).
Best Screenplay of the Year
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
PARASITE
THE IRISHMAN
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
UNCUT GEMS
I know, I'm boring, but so is everyone else.
Best Animated Film of the Year
TOY STORY 4
THE LEGO MOVIE 2
KLAUS
I LOST MY BODY
RIDE YOUR WAVE
Had to go I Lost My Body for being something genuinely different - Klaus is good and all, but there are limits to its core concept of an off-brand Disney renaissance film about Santa that stopped me liking it more.
Best Documentary Film of the Year
APOLLO 11
VARDA BY AGNES
ROLLING THUNDER REVUE: A BOB DYLAN STORY BY MARTIN SCORSESE
HONEYLAND
MUTE FIRE
Hasn't really been an overwhelming year for docs - even American Factory didn't do much for me. These are still decent ones, though.
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
PARASITE
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
PAIN AND GLORY
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
TRANSIT
I almost voted Portrait as a sympathy vote but decided to keep it in line with voting Parasite for Best Film. A difficult choice, alright. Also, take this as your recommendation to see Long Day's Journey Into Night if you can. There's your long take masterpiece of 2019.
Biggest Surprise of the Year
PARASITE
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
DOCTOR SLEEP
TOY STORY 4
RICHARD JEWELL
Voting for my only successful nominee again. Screw it, it worked - in some ways, it even makes an improvement over 3.
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
WEATHERING WITH YOU
IT: CHAPTER TWO
HELLBOY
I already had...modest expectations after finding out it was going to be helmed by Colin Trevorrow and then J.J. Abrams again, but even that wasn't adequate preparation for how badly he handled it. Guessing Dark Fate didn't crack the list because a) not enough people saw it and b) they already had low expectations.
Most Overrated Film of the Year
MIDSOMMAR
JOKER
JOJO RABBIT
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
This was definitely too easy, if only because the more prestige-driven reaction made it more overrated than Endgame's stock-standard popularity.
Most Underrated Film of the Year
AD ASTRA
DOLEMITE IS MY NAME
UNDER THE SILVER LAKE
A HIDDEN LIFE
RICHARD JEWELL
THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON
Well, how about that. I definitely need to check this out now.
Most Memorable Scene of the Year
Home invasion, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Knife museum, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
Bonfire, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Long take, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
Mid-point reveal, PARASITE
Birthday party, PARASITE
Parasite is one of those films where it's so great overall that picking individual segments to celebrate is too easy - I nominated two different scenes from it and a third one made the cut so I figured I'd vote for it (and also because of the aforementioned strategic voting for the Hollywood finale.
Funniest Scene of the Year
Peach montage, PARASITE
Home invasion, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Finale, READY OR NOT
Hoffa meeting Tony Pro, THE IRISHMAN
Meeting Carl, TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
A much easier pick than the Bruce Lee scene, all things considered. As for the contender, I have to go with the Ready or Not ending in all its bloodthirsty silliness.
‘Mixed-Bag’ Award of the Year
GLASS
CRAWL
SHADOW
SHAZAM!
THE DEAD DON'T DIE
It's not just the biggest mixed bag of the year, it might be one of my biggest mixed bags ever. Like if I did a list of my top 100 "mixed bag" movies it'd have to be top 25.
Best Cast of the Year
PARASITE
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
THE IRISHMAN
UNCUT GEMS
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
3 out of 5 isn't bad. The other 2 that made the final cut...eh.
Best Cinematography of the Year
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
THE LIGHTHOUSE
A HIDDEN LIFE
PARASITE
As noted, I just had to give it to the ostentatious one. I will maintain that Portrait deserved a nod here - every frame a painting with that one.
Breakout Performance of the Year
Park So-dam, PARASITE
Noemie Herlant, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Adele Haenel, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Awkwafina, THE FAREWELL
Julia Fox, UNCUT GEMS
1 out of 5 so an easy choice. Nobody else came close (well, maybe Pugh).
Best Score
PARASITE
AD ASTRA
UNCUT GEMS
THE LIGHTHOUSE
UNDER THE SILVER LAKE
1917
I noted already how it kept with the "videogame" criticisms by just sounding like relentless background noise that barely stood out on its own merits. Then again, I could just be voting for Uncut Gems because it sounds like Akira at points.
Best Visual Effects
AD ASTRA
1917
GEMINI MAN
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
THE IRISHMAN
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Yes, I would take Big Eyes Starring Christoph Waltz and Freshie Prince Jr. over another MCU fustercluck. Next question.