The Year 2019 in Movies

Matt Lynn Digital maintained a strong focus on reviewing movies in 2019. In taking a cinematic look back at the films we reviewed this year, we’ll provide a look into 48 distinct movie. We’ll additionally look into the concept of remakes and sequels as a bonus look into the field of movie making.

(The best movie Matt Lynn Digital saw in 2019 was Vertigo as directed by Alfred Hitchcock. We reviewed this film in April).

Atop our list of movies is the one film that received a perfect rating, that of 5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars on the movie rankings list. Alfred Hitchcock‘s Vertigo (1958) is a film that uses a narrative style mixing in mystery, thriller, romance, and psychological illness to suggest that a character isn’t guilty. Vertigo is the first of two Alfred Hitchcock movies reviewed this year.

(Matt Lynn Digital reviewed 2001: A Space Odyssey as directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. We reviewed this film in January).

Our second best film for the year introduced us to space tourism and a future of what traveling in space might look like in Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The rating of 4.75-stars reflects the quality in innovation, storytelling, science fiction and genre creation. This is also the first of six movies reviewed this year associated with space travel.

(Three films rated at 4.50-stars included 1980’s Ordinary People, 1992’s Glengarry Glenn Ross and 1998’s Saving Private Ryan. The films were reviewed in January, April and July, respectively).

Four Academy Awards awaited the film Ordinary People (1980), a sad, moving, and emotionally satisfying film. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) offers the colorful language of full-throated criticism of the modern American business culture. The first of six films produced, directed or both for Steven Spielberg happens to be the first of three films starring Tom Hanks in our review this year. The film Saving Private Ryan (1998) shows a highly realistic depiction of the human cost of war, culminating in the central stories of a group of soldiers tasked with saving one soldier whose brothers died in that same war.

(Three of six films rated at 4.25-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 2019’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, 1999’s The Matrix and 1988’s Big. The films were reviewed in August, May and November, respectively).

The film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019) provides a fictional retelling of the time, the place, and an fact-adjacent place of Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. A winner of four Academy Awards, the film The Matrix (1999) offered a groundbreaking dystopian movie-going experience. The film Big (1988) made a splash with the whimsy of a 13-year-old boy in a grown man’s body.

(The remaining six films rated at 4.25-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1988’s Rain Man, 1989’s Field of Dreams and 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The films were reviewed in October, June and December, respectively).

Another winner of four Academy Awards in our reviews this year was the serious yet comedic film Rain Man (1988). The second film, Field of Dreams (1989), while being perhaps the best baseball film ever made is the first of three movies reviewed this year to star Kevin Costner. The film How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) offers an irrepressible portrayal of an aggrieved Grinch who does not care for the holiday of Christmas.

(Four of eight films rated at 4-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 2019’s Joker, 1961’s A Raisin in the Sun, 2016’s Hidden Figures and 1995’s Apollo 13. The films were reviewed in October, June, November and July, respectively).

The film Joker (2019) tells a gritty, physically demanding, emotional gut punch of an origin story of a would-be foil of the comic book character Batman. A Raisin in the Sun (1961) is a film adaptation that reviews the value and purpose of dreams, the need to fight racial discrimination and the importance of family. The film Hidden Figures (2016) focuses on three African American women fighting society and culture placing the obstacles of indignity, prejudice, and institutional obstruction in their way in service of the space race. The blockbuster film Apollo 13 (1995) tells a triumphant story of human ingenuity and tragedy averted.

(The remaining eight films rated at 4-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1992’s A Few Good Men, 1993’s The Remains of the Day, 1993’s The Fugitive and 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The films were reviewed in July, February, March and September, respectively).

A Few Good Men (1992) is a film that tells the fictional tale of a Navy lawyer who has never seen the inside of the courtroom while defending two reticent Marines accused of murdering a colleague in Cuba. The film The Remains of the Day (1993) explored how to waste your life emotionally and politically. The preceding two films garnered a dozen Academy Award nominations between the two of them. In the film The Fugitive (1993) you see the story of a man unjustly accused of murdering his wife who gains his freedom through a train accident then sets to establish his innocence. In Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a partially live action and animated film offers an adult sensibility filled with lurid details, gags of a lighter nature, and an all around good time.

(Four of fourteen films rated at 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 2019’s Motherless Brooklyn, 2019’s Knives Out, 2017’s The Darkest Hour and 2012’s Looper. The films were reviewed in November, December, April and June, respectively).

The film  Motherless Brooklyn (2019) sets itself against the backdrop of 1950s New York City with a puzzle for lead character and private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome. Knives Out (2019) as a whodunnit works for not being based on anything. The film The Darkest Hour (2017) follows the trying days of the Dunkirk Evacuation with Operation Dynamo. Rian Johnson, with his second film in this paragraph in Looper (2012), gets creative with two characters battling each other through time in an interesting science fiction plot.

(Four of fourteen films rated at 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1999’s October Sky, 2018’s Ready Player One, 2010’s Inception and 2018’s Widows. The films were reviewed in May, February, January and September, respectively).

The film October Sky (1999) tells the tale of a difficult father son relationship and the formation of a career in the early days of the space race. The science fiction, fantasy, and action film Ready Player One (2018) offers clever mixes of graphic and reality set in the hypothetical year 2045. Winning four Academy Awards, the film Inception (2010) offers a decent science fiction story line with an entertaining if dreamy cinematic experience that works well in movie or home theaters alike. The film Widows (2018) offers political intrigue, a corrupt local crime boss, and a broken relationship between a husband and wife that gives this story some punch.

(Six of fourteen films rated at 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1988’s Bull Durham, 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1983’s Terms of Endearment, 1982’s Poltergeist, 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1954’s White Christmas. The films were reviewed in October, August, February, August, June and December, respectively).

The film Bull Durham (1988) is the film of a rookie, a veteran, an experienced fan seeking a love triangle and baseball.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) tells a comedic high school version of the message stop and smell the flowers. Winning five Academy Awards, the film Terms of Endearment (1983) tells of the family problems of an independently spirited daughter and her hard to please mother. The original film Poltergeist (1982) gains momentum as random occurrences in the home begin to introduce themselves and grow into outright disturbances that scare the audience. An alien-themed film with a lyrical bent gives a glimpse into the wonder that is the move Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). White Christmas (1954) is the romantic movie for Christmas that quite honestly inspired the genre.

(Four of ten films rated at 3.50-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1996’s Fargo, 1998’s Fallen, 1985’s The Color Purple and 1941’s Dumbo. The films were reviewed in February, March, March and March, respectively).

Fargo (1996) won an Academy Award for screenplay written for the screen while playing in the genres of crime, drama, and possibly thriller. Most correctly, the film should be characterized as a dark comedy in small town America. The film Fallen (1998) mixes the genres of supernatural with police thriller in tackling a clever telling of aiming to defeat the supernatural. The film adaptation of The Color Purple (1985) could have been harder hitting in getting into some of the upbringing and forcibly separate lives of sisters Celie Johnson and Nettie Harris. Brutal truths in the lives of the sisters are explored nonetheless with dignity. The fifth movie released by Disney was the animated film Dumbo (1941). The 64-minute feature gets into the story of a baby elephant forced to work in order to survive.

(Three of ten films rated at 3.50-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 1963’s The Birds, 1990’s Arachnophobia and 2018’s Brian Banks. The films were reviewed in May, June and August, respectively).

The sudden and unpredictable attacks of birds form the premise of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds (1963). Arachnophobia (1990) just might be the film for you have a fear originating in childhood that you’d like to have comically challenged for two hours. The film Brian Banks (2018) recounts much of the story of a man sent to jail unjustly in what appears to be a clear case of injustice.

(Three of ten films rated at 3.50-stars by Matt Lynn Digital included 2019’s The Secret Life of Pets 2, 2019’s Gemini Man and 2010’s The Town. The films were reviewed in July, October and December, respectively).

The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) is an animated film that follows the lives of pets in an apartment in New York City as pet owners leave for the day with the added mixture of a circus, a farm, and an airplane flight. The film Gemini Man (2019) deserved better than the box office gate the film received in theaters.  The Town (2010) offered a film looking into the notion of burglary, armored trucks, banks, and Fenway Park serving as places just as distinctly as there were funny notions of love and loyalty.

Movies landing with a rating of 3.25-stars included The Jackal (1997) reviewed in May,  The Running Man (1987) reviewed in August, The Mule (2018) reviewed in August, Welcome to Marwen (2018) reviewed in September and Ad Astra (2019) reviewed in October.

Addressing the theory of remaking movies or offering sequels that keep a franchise going, we offered why this can work to assist storytelling and cinema in a look we made in March. We looked into A Star is Born (1937), A Star Is Born (1954), A Star Is Born (1976) and A Star is Born (2018). We looked into The Wizard of Oz (1939) and The Wiz (1978). Then there were Little Orphan Annie (1932), Annie (1982), Annie (1999) and Annie (2014). The films The Godfather (1972) led to sequels The Godfather: Part II (1974) and The Godfather: Part III (1990). Batman Begins (2005) led to The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The film Jaws (1975) led to three sequels, namely Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983), and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).

We finally offered our Top 20 Movies in ranked order (with reviews) in April. I recommend taking a closer look, as there are movies that we didn’t specifically review in 2019 that are worth your time. 2019 was a good year for reviews with us. Invite your friends to follow us if you agree.

Matt – Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Top 20 Movies in ranked order (with reviews)

We at Matt Lynn Digital created our listing of the Top 20 Movies on December 18. 2016. Here are those movies with the reviews we’ve made. Warm regards!

1) Vertigo (1958)

2) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

3) One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)

4) The Wizard of Oz (1939)

5) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

6) Pulp Fiction (1994)

7) Do The Right Thing (1989)

8) The Princess Bride (1987)

9) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

10) Memento (2000)

11) In Bruges (2008)

12) Interstellar (2014)

13) Rocky (1976)

14) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

15) Jaws (1975)

16) The Terminator (1984)

17) Toy Story (1995)

18) The Shining (1980)

19) Calvary (2014)

20) The French Connection (1971)

Matt – Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Top 20 Movie “The French Connection.”

Back in December, Lynn and I decided to post my listing of the Top 20 Movies in Ranked Order. These would be movies that added something significant to the course of cinema, were groundbreaking in some way, highlighted an up-and-coming actor in a great movie, or was the best movie example of a great filmmaker. A movie that tells a great story helped in making the list. That a movie is one that I can enjoy watching repeatedly is another.

The movie that came in the 20th position on my listing is The French Connection (1971), which starred a young Gene Hackman in the leading role as Popeye Doyle. I choose to quote the Roger Ebert website to give you some sense for why this is a great movie, worthy of the 20th position on my listing.

Roger Ebert’s review of The French Connection (1971). Among other things, I couldn’t agree more with Roger Ebert that the movie included a great story, an excellent chase scene, and a performance for Gene Hackman that launched his career as a leading man in movies. That the chase scene tends to crowd some of the other compelling qualities of this 1971 movie did not bar the movie from my list, though it in part did move it to the twentieth spot.

The French Connection” is routinely included, along with “Bullitt,” “Diva” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” on the short list of movies with the greatest chase scenes of all time. What is not always remembered is what a good movie it is apart from the chase scene. It featured a great early Gene Hackman performance that won an Academy Award, and it also won Oscars for best picture, direction, screenplay and editing.

The movie is all surface, movement, violence and suspense. Only one of the characters really emerges into three dimensions: Popeye Doyle Gene Hackman, a New York narc who is vicious, obsessed and a little mad. The other characters don’t emerge because there’s no time for them to emerge. Things are happening too fast.

The story line hardly matters. It involves a $32 million shipment of high-grade heroin smuggled from Marseilles to New York hidden in a Lincoln Continental. A complicated deal is set up between the French people, an American money man and the Mafia. Doyle, a tough cop with a shaky reputation who busts a lot of street junkies, needs a big win to keep his career together. He stumbles on the heroin deal and pursues it with a single-minded ferocity that is frankly amoral. He isn’t after the smugglers because they’re breaking the law; he’s after them because his job consumes him.

Director William Friedkin constructed “The French Connection” so surely that it left audiences stunned. And I don’t mean that as a reviewer’s cliché: It is literally true. In a sense, the whole movie is a chase. It opens with a shot of a French detective keeping the Continental under surveillance, and from then on the smugglers and the law officers are endlessly circling and sniffing each other. It’s just that the chase speeds up sometimes, as in the celebrated car-train sequence.

In “Bullitt,” two cars and two drivers were matched against each other at fairly equal odds. In Friedkin’s chase, the cop has to weave through city traffic at 70 m.p.h. to keep up with a train that has a clear track: The odds are off-balance. And when the train’s motorman dies and the train is without a driver, the chase gets even spookier: A man is matched against a machine that cannot understand risk or fear. This makes the chase psychologically more scary, in addition to everything it has going for it visually.

The movie was shot during a cold and gray New York winter, and it has a doomed, gritty look. The landscape is a waste land, and the characters are hardly alive. They move out of habit and compulsion, long after ordinary human feelings have lost the power to move them. Doyle himself is a bad cop, by ordinary standards; he harasses and brutalizes people, he is a racist, he endangers innocent people during the chase scene (which is a high-speed ego trip). But he survives. He wins, too, but that hardly matters. “The French Connection” is as amoral as its hero, as violent, as obsessed and as frightening.

The key to the chase is that it occurs in an ordinary time and place. No rules are suspended; Popeye’s car is racing down streets where ordinary traffic and pedestrians can be found, and his desperation is such that we believe, at times, he is capable of running down bystanders just to win the contest. I had an opportunity at the Hawaii Film Festival in 1992 to analyze the sequence a shot at a time, using a stop-action laserdisc approach, at a seminar honoring the work of the cinematographer, Owen Roizman. He recalled the way the whole chase was painstakingly story-boarded and then broken down into shots that were possible and safe, even though actual locations were being employed. Lenses were chosen to play with distance, so that the car sometimes seemed closer to hazards than it was. But essentially, the chase looked real because its many different parts were real: A car threads through city streets, chasing an elevated train.

The other key element in the film, of course, is Hackman. He was already well known in 1971, after performances in such films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Downhill Racer” and “I Never Sang for My Father.” But it’s probably “The French Connection” that launched his long career as a leading character sta r– a man with the unique ability to make almost any dialogue plausible. As Popeye Doyle, he generated an almost frightening single-mindedness, a cold determination to win at all costs, which elevated the stakes in the story from a simple police cat-and-mouse chase into the acting-out of Popeye’s pathology. The chase scene has, in a way, been a mixed blessing, distracting from the film’s other qualities.

Matt – Sunday, January 15, 2017