Category: Movie

Bill I	Bill C
Best Movies
1. Killers of the Flower Moon 2. Poor Things 3. Oppenheimer 4. The Holdovers 5. Dumb Money 6. The Equalizer 3 7. American Fiction 8. Mission Impossible: 9. Dead Reckoning 10. Bottoms 11. Maestro 12. The Iron Claw 13. John Wick: Chapter 4 14. A Thousand and One 15. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant 16. Dream Scenario 17. Napoleon 18. Air 19. A Haunting in Venice	1. Poor Things 2. Air 3. American Fiction 4. Oppenheimer 5. The Holdovers 6. Joy Ride 7. Past Lives 8. Close 9. John Wick: Chapter 4 10. Barbie 11. Theater Camp 12. Concrete Utopia 13. Bottoms 14. The Iron Claw 15. Saltburn 16. Elemental 17. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 18. Anatomy of a Fall 19. Maestro 20. RRR *
Best Documentaries
	1. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie 2. First We Bombed New Mexico 3. Born to Fly 4. The Lady Bird Diaries 5. Let the Canary Sing 6. Little Richard: I Am Everything 7. Joan Baez I Am A Noise 8. Close to Vermeer 9. Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb 10. Hung Up On a Dream: The Zombies Documentary
TV
1. Fargo 2. The Bear 3. Justified 4. Suits (seasons 1& 2) 5. New Amsterdam (seasons 1 & 2) 6. Lincoln Lawyer 7. Abbot Elementary 8. Mayor of Kingstown 9. Lucky Hank 10. Only Murders in the Building 11. Beef 12. And Just Like That 13. Harlem 14. Modern Love	1. Reservation Dogs 2. How To With John Wilson 3. The Bear 4. Ted Lasso 5. Barry 6. The Last of Us 7. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 8. Beef 9. The Afterparty 10. The Diplomat 11. Succession 12. Justified: City Primeval 13. Peacemaker 14. Only Murders in The Building 15. Letterkenny 16. Bobba Fett 17. The Mandalorian
Best Actors/Actresses
Best Actor in a Movie 1. Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction 2. Bradley Cooper, Maestro 3. Leo Decaprio, Flowers of the Killer Moon 4. Willem Defoe, Poor Things 5. Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers 6. Cilian Murphy, Oppenheimer 7. Denzel Washington, Equalizer 3 8. Jake Gyllenhaal, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant 9. Barry Keoghan, Saltburn 10. David Strathairn, A Little Prayer 11. Tom Hanks, A Man Called Otto 12. Zac Effron, The Iron Claw 13. Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon Best Actress in a Movie 1. Emma Stone, Poor Things 2. Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon 3. Carey Mulligan, Maestro 4. Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One 5. Margo Robbie, Barbie 6. Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings 7. Anamaria Marinca, Housekeeping for Beginners Best Supporting Actor 1. Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer 2. Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction 3. Simon Pegg, Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ 4. Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things 5. Robert Deniro, Flowers of the Killer Moon 6. Jacob Elordi, Saltburn 7. Richard E. Grant, Saltburn 8. Holt McCallany, The Iron Claw 9. Samson Salim, Housekeeping for Beginners Best Supporting Actress 1. Myra Lucretia Taylor, American Fiction 2. Gaia Scodellaro, Equalizer 3 3. Rosamund Pike, Saltburn 4. Maura Tierney, The Iron Claw 5. Vanessa Kirby, Napoleon

• * RRR becomes the first movie I have (knowingly) included on the Best of list twice. In 2022 I watched it on Netflix. It’s a crazy, over the top Hindi action movie. This year I saw it in a packed, large theater. It was one of my most fun movie experiences ever as the crowd would go wild in support of the action, the heroes, etc. if you ever have the chance to see this in a theater – GO!!

After being the first major event cancelled last year, SXSW returned as a shorter, toned down, online event. Interactive and music were significantly smaller. Film was smaller too – missing the big name films that usually show at the Paramount but they still had a good selection of smaller independent narrative and documentary films. While I missed the vibrancy, breadth of choices, live Q&A’s, meeting people while waiting on line non-stop action of downtown there’s a lot to be said for being able to watch the films in the comfort of your own home. I was able to watch things at a much more leisurely pace, didn’t have to worry about figuring out if I could get from one theater to another, etc. I was also able to pick out more shorts to watch, abandon movies I didn’t particularly like (I would have liked that several years ago with my all time worst SXSW movie – Trash Humpers) and just do more of my non SXSW activities while still having time for SXSW stuff. So overall I enjoyed it although I’m looking forward to a live SXSW next year.

Here are some of my favorites from this year:

• Favorite Narrative Features
  • The Fallout – Narrative Feature Competition Winner about impact of school shooting on one of the students and her friends
  • Language Lessons – Sweet movie about relationship of teacher (Natalie Morales) and student (Mark Duplass) taking Spanish lessons via Zoom
  • Potato Dreams – quirky autobiographical film about a gay Russian kid who emigrates to the U.S. with his mother in mid 80s
• Favorite Documentaries (General)
  • Lily Topples The World – Documentary winner about world’s best domino toppler, Lily Hevesh
  • When Claude Got Shot – This doc follows impact to Claude, another victim and the kid who shot Claude as they go through the health and legal systems.
  • Alien on Stage – A real life Waiting for Guffman
  • Fruits of Labor – This doc follows a struggling, low income family with an undocumented mother and her citizen kids during the Trump administration.
• Favorite Documentaries (Music Related)
  • Under The Volcano – The story of the rise and fall of the music studio on the island of Montserrat built by Beatles producer George Martin
  • Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free – The creative process of Tom Petty and crew during creation of Wallflowers album.
  • The Sparks Brothers – Interesting doc by Edgar Wright about 50 year (and counting)! career of the Sparks. I had never heard of them but some of the music in doc was pretty good. Only complaint was the film could have been a bit shorter.
  • Without Getting Killed or Caught – Doc about musician Guy Clarke.
• Favorite Documentaries (Tearjerkers)
  • Not Going Quietly – Story of Ady Barkan, activist (known for confrontation about health care with Ben Sasse) and ALS sufferer. If you like this also watch Gleason about former New Orleans Saint who also suffers from ALS (although I’d suggest a break between the two to replenish your tear supply).
  • Introducing Selma Blair – Intimate portrait of actress and MS sufferer Selma Blair
• Favorite Music Video
  • The Dirty Projectors – Overlord – I love this song!
• Favorite Shorts (Documentaries)
  • The Last Cruise – doc about passengers and crew of Diamond Princess that were stranded on ship due to Covid-19 outbreak during beginning of pandemic. I think it’s already on HBO!
  • Red Taxi – documentarian talks to taxi drivers in both mainland China and Hong Kong during last years Honk Kong protests.

These are our best movies of 2019 (with comments below). We each could have listed more but needed to cutoff somewhere. Please give us your feedback.

	Bill I	Bill C
Best Movies	1 Gully Boy 2 Joker 3 Never Look Away 4 Queen and Slim 5 Blinded by the Light 6 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 7 Motherless Brooklyn 8 The Irishman 9 Uncut Gems 10 Booksmart 11 Badla 12 Yesterday 13 The Farewell 14 Richard Jewell 15 John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum 16 Knives Out 17 The Peanut Butter Falcon 18 Dark Waters 19 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 20 Brittany Runs a Marathon 21 The Good Liar	1 Parasite 2 Jojo Rabbit 3 Booksmart 4 Once Upon a Time In Hollywood 5 Uncut Gems 6 Pain and Glory 7 Good Boys 8 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 9 One Cut of the Dead 10 Toy Story 4 11 Dark Waters 12 Queen & Slim 13 John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum 14 The Irishman 15 Gully Boy 16 The Peanut Butter Falcon 17 Honey Boy 18 Waves 19 Avengers: Endgame 20 The Last Black Man in San Francisco 21 The Farewell
Best Documentaries	1 Echo in the Canyon (2018) 2 Western Stars 3 The Apollo 4 They Shall Not Grow Old 5 Amazing Grace 6 Maiden	1 They Shall Not Grow Old 2 For Sama 3 The River and the Wall 4 Apollo 11 5 Amazing Grace 6 Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of my Voice 7 Maiden

Bill I’s Comments:

Gully Boy – Who knew there’s a rapping scene in India? Poor teenager dreams of winning a rapping contest and making it big

Joker –  How does a young man turn into the maniacal joker? This shows how, fantastic from beginning to brutal end

Never Look Away – Epic story, great, based on a real life painter, starting as a young boy in Poland during WWII

Queen and Slim – Combination thriller, love story, social commentary; beautifully filmed, great use of music, and terrific acting

Blinded by the Light – Best use of music in film I can remember, thanks to Springsteen; based on real-life Bruce super fan growing up in a strict Pakstani immigrant family in dead-end middle class English town

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Tarrantino takes his time, Brad Pitt and Decaprio do their thing; based on Manson family but Quentin makes up his own fantasy ending

Motherless Brooklyn – Ed Norton tour de force as a PI in the 50’s NY, trying to track down who killed his long-time mentor (Bruce Willis)

The Irishman – Scorceses directs DeNiro, Pesci, Keitel, Pacino; how could it miss…it doesn’t

Uncut Gems – Adam Sandler as gambling addict jewelry hustler, Kevin Garnett terrific as himself

Booksmart – Terrific girl buddy story, last day of high school the nerds decide to cut loose

Badla- India, legal murder thriller

Yesterday – Beatles songs to a forgetting public

The Farewell – Don’t tell Grandma she’s dying, she’s doing fine

Richard Jewell – Great acting by the lead; Clint Eastwood directing

John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum – Non-Stop fun gunning, knifing, swording, karate, kung fun, judo…

Knives Out – whodunit, lots of fun

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Autistic young man buddies up to drifter

Dark Waters – Mark Ruffalo, as lawyer suing DuPont

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Tom Hanks does his thing; emotional story, well done

Brittany Runs a Marathon – Inspiring comedy

The Good Liar – Scammer gets scammed

Echo in the Canyon (2018) – Laurel Canyon music scene in the 60s

Western Stars – Bruce performs in a barn, tells his stories

The Apollo – Great documentary, combines history, social commentary, music and commentary from the artists

They Shall Not Grow Old – Actual footage from WWI

Amazing Grace – Aretha live, Stones in the audience

Maiden – All female crew races around the world

Bill C’s Comments:

Parasite – Class warfare told by a master (with subtitles)

Jojo Rabbit – Great Dramedy showing the need to push past stereotypes. While set during WWII this is very relevant today

Booksmart – Olivia Wilde scores in her directorial debut, coming of age comedy 

Once Upon a Time In Hollywood – Another winner from Tarrantino.  Good throughout but really comes alive in final act

Uncut Gems – Intense, gritty film from Safdie Brothers (watch Good Time also).  Sandler is excellent in non-comedy role

Pain and Glory – Another excellent film by Pedro Almodovar. Semi autobiographical as he deals with aging and writer’s block.

Good Boys – Rude and crude comedy – a pre teen Superbad.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Mister Rodgers, but an equal focus on the magazine writer telling Mr. Rodgers story and need for forgiveness. Very touching.

One Cut of the Dead – Hilarious Japanese comedy about film crew filming a zombie movie.  The comedy really picks up in the second half.  Find this on Shudder

Toy Story 4 – Another winner from Pixar

Dark Waters – Corporate Lawyer realizes error of his ways as he represents small time farmer against Dupont

Queen & Slim – Bill says it all above

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – Fun action thriller.  Watch out for the dogs! I’m ready for #4

The Irishman – Great film from Scorsese reunited with some of his favorite actors

Gully Boy – Entertaining movie from India on the Indian hiphop scene

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Down Syndrome young man on the run to realize his dream of being a wrestler

Honey Boy – Who’d have thought there’d be two Shia Lebeouf movies on my list (see Peanut Butter Falcon above)!  He wrote this autobiographical film of his life growing up as an actor (and plays his father).  Noah Jupe is a revelation as the young actor (and he’s also good in Ford vs. Ferarri)

Waves – This movie is tough to watch (especially the 1st half) but is excellent about family going through trauma. I think this is what Scorsese means when he talks about ‘cinema’

Avengers: Endgame – For all those Marvel fans out there

The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Deals with impact of gentrification on minorities in San Francisco

The Farewell – Awkwafina is excellent in touching comedy about generational and cultural issues of Chinese family.

They Shall Not Grow Old – Great WWI doc using actual footage that is visually/audibly enhanced with current technology

For Sama – Impact of war in Syria on young family through family footage.

The River and the Wall – Five friends travel from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico along Rio Grande on horses, bike, feet, etc.  The movie shows the beauty of the different areas and explores the effects on people and habitats if a wall is built

Apollo 11 – Great movie using archival footage of Apollo 11 mission

Amazing Grace – Never before seen footage of intimate Aretha Franklin gospel concert at the peak of her skills

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of my Voice – Rondstadt;’s career and personal life is explored.  Currently on CNN

Maiden – First all female crew overcomes challenges as they enter round the world sailing race

Here’s our picks for the best of 2018.

	Bill I	Bill C
Best Movies	1 Black Panther 2 The Hate U Give 3 A Star is Born 4 BlackkKlansman 5 The Post 6 Upgrade 7 Hearts Beat Loud 8 Searching 9 Creed II 10 Free Solo 11 Green Book 12 Shoplifters 13 Eigth Grade	1 BlackkKlansman 2 Shoplifters 3 Green Book 4 Blinspotting 5 Isle of Dogs 6 Hearts Beat Loud 7 The Hate U Give 8 Black Panther 9 Eighth Grade 10 Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse 11 If Beale Street Could Talk 12 The Insult 13 The Post 14 Incredibles 2
Best Documentaries		1 The Dawn Wall 2 RBG 3 Won't you be my Neighbor 4 The Great Buster 5 Free Solo 6 Minding the Gap 7 Three Identical Strangers 8 The Interpreters