The bulk of films came from my frequent visits to Cineworld, almost all the mainstream releases between Welcome To Marwen and Spies In Disguise. There were some sneaky visits to Odeon and Showcase for those few films I absolutely had to see that didn't make it to my local, and my first trip to the London Film Festival also added a few titles in for consideration
Let's skip any more waffle and get down to business...
Based On A Book
Each year I feel like I end up making some kind of amendment to this category, last year was excluding Marvel and DC superhero comics, this year it's books that were based on true events... I have a separate category for that after all.
The list was looking bad for quite a while but thankfully had a resurgence at the end.
The Winner
2019 went out with the bang of Little Women, it was a real treat to watch and I honestly didn't think I'd be saying that considering the cast. The only other contender that was anywhere near this was Doctor Sleep, two very different films but in the end there was no dubious CGI in Little Women!
The Wooden Spoon
There were so many completely average and forgettable adaptations this year but none that were complete disasters, so this award goes to the longest and drabbest adaptation we had... The Goldfinch.
Films In A Franchise
There was a lot of franchise fodder this year, not just sequels but reboots and adaptations of toy franchises too (though those weren't so good).
The Winner
It was a difficult choice until I realised that I had a clear winner in Farmageddon, nothing really stands a chance against Shaun the Sheep.
The Wooden Spoon
Decisions decisions... in the year that gave us Escape Plan 3: The Extractors it seems inconceivable that I'd pick anything else for this prestigious spot, but I'm going to. The award goes to... *unenthusiastic drumroll* Men In Black: International. While it might not be the worst film technically speaking it was by far the most disappointing (at least I knew The Extractors was going to be terrible), it will go down in history with Die Hard 5 and Mission Impossible II.
Based On A True Story
A lot of films qualified under this category, and I had trouble narrowing down both ends of this list.
The Winners
Much like one of the films in this list we have a 3-way tie at the finish line. Le Mans '66 was on my must-see list as soon as I heard about it and it didn't disappoint. A Private War, based on an article about Marie Colvin, was a powerful watch that sadly didn't hang around in cinemas for long. The third film was a delightful surprise. Instant Family was funny as I'd expected, what I hadn't expected was all the crying I'd be doing.
The Aeronauts would also have stood a chance in the winner's circle, it was incredibly atmospheric and had stunning visuals, but considering one half of the lead characters were fabricated from multiple sources seemed a bit of a stretch for the "true story" part of this.
The Wooden Spoon
Most of the films I saw in this category were on the average side but had slight redeeming features, the one thing I saw at the cinema that had barely anything going for it was the documentary Diana Ross Her Life, Love and Legacy. It was dated, it reused footage over and over, and was no tribute at all.
The Daaaaaaaaamn Award
Now for the drooling portion of our awards, I polled a few people and here's a shoutout to all those moments that made us weak at the knees.
Alexander Skarsgård in The Aftermath | Jake Gyllenhaal in E.D.I.T.H. glasses | Jennifer Lopez at the beginning of Hustlers | America's ass | Idris Elba as Brixton in Hobbs and Shaw | Ransom in Knives Out | John Wick looking moody | Kyle Chandler in Godzilla: King of the Monsters | Agent Coulson... de-aged, not de-aged, either way I'd be happy | Queenie in Hobbs and Shaw | Rachel Weisz in The Favourite
Outstanding Performance
There were a lot of middle of the road movies this year but thankfully there were some fantastic performances to make up for that:
Matt Damon as Caroll Shelby in Le Mans '66 - I haven't been this gripped by any of his roles, ever. This was powerful and emotional and honestly a delight to see.
Christian Bale as Ken Miles in Le Mans '66 - Bale is brilliant at whatever he turns his hand to, and this didn't break that trend. Watching Miles testing the cars brought a smile to my face and his relationship with his wife added an interesting thread to the film. Bale and Damon worked incredibly well together as well. (Is it obvious I loved this film?)
Joel Edgerton as Falstaff in The King - Chalamet probably should have got a shout out for this movie but Edgerton just beat him out. His timing was perfect and he was humorous and it brought a much needed lightness to the film.
Everyone involved in the battle scene in The King - I can't imagine the effort that went into the whole muddy scene, but it was incredible.
Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin in A Private War - Everything about A Private War was intense and she didn't skip a beat.
Penelope Cruz as Laura in Everybody Knows - The complete change in character she manages to execute in this was amazing.
Jessie Buckley singing Glasgow in Wild Rose - Guuuuurrrrrrl, goosebumps.
Jennifer Lopez in everything - Seeing Second Act took me back to the good old days of her rom-coms, and Hustlers... well, see the award above. Is there anything this woman can't do?
Special shout out to the person in Kobiety Mafii 2 (Women of Mafia 2) who was dressed as a bear riding a bike.
Why Would You Do That To Me?!
The crying, so much crying. No extra words for these because I will just start blubbing again... but here are the things that made me cry so hard it hurt my brain.
Judy, that ending | Sky's illness in Tomorrow | The Shiny Shrimp | Breakthrough | Wonder Park | Everybody Knows | Instant Family | Jennifer Hudson singing Memory in Cats | Fisherman's Friends, the boat at the end | The wind at the end of Klaus | Beth in Little Women, you know what I'm talking about!
Of course I'm not done there, visit my other posts for more of me waffling about 2019 in film...
Pop over to Twitter, or comment below, to let me know what you'd have put into these categories.
Happy watching in 2020.
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