Steve Davis’ Top 10 Films of 2019

1) Parasite

The class struggle cast as both comedy and tragedy. All hail Bong Joon-ho!

2) Long Day's Journey Into Night

Audacious puzzle with an hourlong dream sequence shot in a single take. Mulholland Drive times 10.

3) Marriage Story

Hilarious one minute, devastating the next. Love ultimately rules in Noah Baumbach's scenes from a divorce.

4) Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

Bursting with nostalgic pleasures, it's Tarantino's drive through the Hollywood Hills with the top down.

5) Booksmart

Year's funniest movie about high-school goody two shoes who finally kick up their heels.

6) Little Women

Greta Gerwig smartly rearranges a beloved book's narrative to celebrate women's self-determination and family bonds.

7) Pain and Glory

Almodóvar's elegiac portrait of the artist as an older man, with Antonio Banderas as his aging doppelgänger.

8) Apollo 11

You feel you're experiencing mankind's giant leap in this amazing documentary featuring rare footage.

9) Us

Jordan Peele's paranoiac horror film about our subterranean selves is the year's biggest creep-out.

10) Hustlers

Tell a friend this movie is a total blast and the response will likely be: "Really?" Yes, really.

Near Misses

Ford v Ferrari, Climax, Jojo Rabbit

Most Overrated

The Irishman, Late Night, Joker

Most Underrated

Sword of Trust, To Dust, Blinded by the Light

Wild Card

Ford v Ferrari, Driver v. Johansson, Scorsese v. Marvel, Us v. Us: duking it out on and off the screen.

Acting Kudos (Male)

Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood), Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse)

Acting Kudos (Female)

Renée Zellweger (Judy), Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose), Shuzhen Zhao (The Farewell)

Best Director

Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers)

Best Original Screenplay

Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), Jason Begue and Shawn Snyder (To Dust), Scott Z. Burns (The Report)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Anthony McCarten (The Two Popes), Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (Dolemite Is My Name), Greta Gerwig (Little Women)

TV Series/Event

Goodbye to The Deuce, HBO's fascinating series about 42nd Street, the birthplace of the American sex industry.

Worst Film

Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral: Is this really goodbye to that ratty wig and plus-size housedress? Praise Jesus.

The Little Film That Could

Monos: A squad of armed teenagers in remote Latin America disturbingly enact their own Lord of the Flies.