Empire's ultimate list of 2019's best films
How many have you seen?
As the year draws to a close, it's time for one of Empire’s favourite traditions – looking back at the movies we've loved the most this year. The final year of the 2010s has been another belter, filled with cinematic surprises, indelible imagery, deeply emotive dramas, thrilling new voices behind and in front of the camera, and bold returns from masters of the medium.
The final list – as voted for by Team Empire – comprises everything from period dramas, to original horrors, to superhero epics. It’s a list that reflects a stellar year for work by female filmmakers, for brilliant indie filmmaking, and blockbusters that delivered on an ever-greater scale of spectacle and emotion.
Take a look through the gallery to see an extract of Empire’s list of the best films of 2019...
10) Joker
The superhero – or rather, supervillain – movie that even Martin Scorsese might like (partly because it owes a big debt to his work and that of his 1970s contemporaries), Joker felt like a gamble... And it paid off big time, becoming the most successful R-Rated movie ever released. Todd Phillips, co-writing with Scott Silver and directing, comes up with his own origin story for Batman's grinning foe. He wanted Joaquin Phoenix to play him, and he got him, with the actor turning in a nuanced, tortured performance. Controversy about the movie's potential to incite violence didn't stop it becoming a big hit. Just don't expect it to spawn a load of sequels.
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9) Midsommar
Ari Aster follows up his ultra-dark grief horror Hereditary by stepping out into the light – where even more fresh hell awaits. Florence Pugh continues her flawless streak with another incredible turn as Dani, a young woman whose life is shattered by tragedy, and whose boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) is only staying with her out of a sense of duty. Their fracturing relationship erupts when they attend a Swedish cult festival where… well, if you've seen it, you know. If you haven't, you'll want to experience it for yourself. Shooting in bright sunshine, there's no shying away from the disturbing imagery Aster has in store – and he once again proves to be a master craftsman in making unforgettable sequences and emotionally-charged, character-focused storytelling. A distressing (but also surprisingly funny) festival of frights.
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8) Knives Out
Following up The Last Jedi (and the wave of online debate and, from some corners, hate) that swept in with it, Rian Johnson plays out his latest film on a much smaller scale, bringing a fresh feel to the whodunnit. Simmering a stew of potential suspects played by a starry cast (Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson and Katherine Langford), Johnson makes it work wonderfully. Solving the alleged murder of crime writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) falls to eccentric detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, on swampy accent form), and the result is a comic delight with more issues on its mind than just who-did-it.
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7) If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins is back after Oscar triumph with Moonlight and, if it didn't get the same love from the Academy – aside from a well deserved Best Supporting Actress trophy for Regina King – or indeed, audiences at the box office, it's not because the film isn't worth the attention. It absolutely is – Jenkins' searing, emotional adaptation of James Baldwin's classic book finds two lovers doomed to suffer the slings and arrows of society in 1970s Harlem. Kiki Layne is luminous as Tish, while Stephan James has a quiet rage and real feeling underlying his work as Fonny. There's great support from King (as Tish's mother) and Brian Tyree Henry (as Fonny's friend).
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6) Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
A near-three-hour shaggy dog story (that features a non-shaggy dog), this sun-baked tale of an imploding actor, an ice-cool stuntman and a historically doomed movie star is Quentin Tarantino at his most playful and laidback. Set largely over a February weekend in Los Angeles, 1969, it doggedly sticks to the lazier pace of a world before mobile phones, emails or paparazzi – in one of the most charming scenes, Sharon Tate has to actually inform a movie theatre ticket vendor who she is – only accelerating in its madcap final ten minutes. Textured with the kind of period detail only this director would think to add, like the Hopalong Cassidy cups on Rick Dalton's shelf (Tarantino's own), it's guaranteed to reward repeat viewings. As for the most quotable quote, we're torn between Rick Dalton calling a car a "mechanical asshole" (a phrase lifted from John Carpenter's Christine) and the immortal words, "I'm as real as a donut, motherfucker."
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5) The Irishman
Martin Scorsese returns with a film that both brings him back to a cinematic world he helped define (gangster movies) but within a new method of distribution (Netflix, though it also hit cinemas) and with some cutting edge technology. But despite all the digi-de-ageing, it's really down to what he does best: compelling stories staffed by some of the best in the business, reuniting with Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel, and working with Al Pacino for the first time. Taking its spine from Charles Brandt's book, I Heard You Paint Houses: The Biggest Hit In Mob History, The Irishman plays out like GoodFellas meets Silence – a more languid, meditative take on the mafia movie, with a final reeled steeped in existential emptiness. Another late-career masterpiece.
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4) Marriage Story
Noah Baumbach has made love stories before, and divorce stories, but never a love story about divorce. Marriage Story details the splintering relationship between Adam Driver's Charlie and Scarlett Johansson's Nicole, tracking the fallout as they try to navigate the pain and awkwardness while dealing with their son Henry (Azhy Robertson). Baumbach expertly excavates the weird, funny, human moments among the heartbreak, offering an authentic, non-judgmental portrayal of each side of the divide. There's a stellar supporting cast too, with the likes of Laura Dern, Merritt Wever, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta on hand as the lawyers and friends caught in the couple's orbit. Love, in all its sharp edges, is on display here.
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3) The Favourite
Months after it infiltrated the Oscar ranks, Yorgos Lanthimos' period-drama-like-no-other still lingers in the memory. A darkly funny, often heartbreaking take on the court of Queen Anne (an ever-brilliant Olivia Colman), the power-struggle for her affections between Sarah Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail Masham (Emma Stone) is a wickedly barbed tale of shifting allegiances and sexual intimacy. With a c-bomb-laden screenplay, fisheye-lens shots, and moments of shocking bloodiness, Lanthimos' unique, mannered style makes for a fascinating, human-focused history lesson – and it goes without saying that Colman couldn't have deserved her Best Actress Oscar more.
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2) Booksmart
In Kaitlyn Dever's Amy and Beanie Feldstein's Molly, cinema just got two brand new era-defining teenage icons to rank alongside Ferris Bueller, Cher Horowitz, Kat Stratford, and Cady Heron. Olivia Wilde's whip-smart directorial debut is a rip-roaring, ultra-stylish, progressive teen movie that takes all the best things about the coming-of-age genre – youthful energy, earworm soundtracks, amped-up emotions – and imbues them with a sense of complete platonic adoration. As they prepare to leave high school behind them for good, the two best friends embark on one heady night where they hope to prove to their classmates that they're fun as well as studious – and watching the pair empower and uplift each other is just as entertaining as watching them lose control. Wilde shoots in ambitious extended takes with a visual confidence that announces her as a major filmmaking talent. Party on.
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1) Avengers: Endgame
There's no getting around it – Endgame is a triumph in nearly every way. The grand finale (Spider-Man: Far From Home aside) of the MCU's Infinity Saga pays off 20-plus films with an epic, surprising narrative, considerable character development, and the jaw-dropping action showdowns you've been waiting to see ever since Nick Fury popped up at the end of Iron Man. After the astonishing finale of Infinity War, Endgame is a film of major consequence – one that dares to take its heroes to drastic new places, and in some cases take them off the board for good. An epic, rollocking blockbuster with a finale that sticks the most difficult of landings with genuine emotional impact, it's an incredible achievement. We love it 3000.
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