2019 in movies and a look back at the 2010s.

As a storyteller, I consume stories all the time.  Novels, movies, TV shows, you name it.  The problem with novels is that while I can recommend a bunch, there's just no way anyone can read every good book produced each year.  Also, because I'm constantly writing books of my own, I can't keep up, so with the exception of a few favorite authors, I find that I don't get to many of the books I want to read sometimes for many years.  Many of the books I've read (or re-read) in the last few years are from long ago (Hit and Run by Richard Deming, The Last Buffoon by Len Levinson writing as Leonard Jordan, Gone by Lisa Gardner, The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke, etc.) so there you go.

It's a little easier to keep up on movies.  It's also easier for them to be a shared experience.  Call up a friend, and say, "Hey, want to go to a movie?" is more likely to get a, "Sure," than saying, "Hey, let's read the new Connie Willis novel."

That said, I am way behind on my movie-watching this year.  So with the understanding that I didn't get out to the theater much this year, and the only movie I've found time to go see in December is the latest Star Wars flick, here is my list of the top ten movies I saw this year.

Top 10 Movies I saw in 2019

 1. Motherless Brooklyn
2. Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
3. Knives Out
4. Dolemite is My Name
5. Avengers: Endgame
6. Spider-Man: Far from Home
7. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
8. Captain Marvel
9. Always Be My Maybe
10. Jojo Rabbit


We also happen to be at the end of a decade, so just for fun, here's a list of more than 300 movies I watched and enjoyed in the last ten years.  The list will certainly grow as I see more movies.  But if you're looking for something entertaining or in some cases thought provoking, these might do the trick.  To get on the list, I went with a grading system of A B C D F.  These films got at least a B from me.  I try to take movies on the level they're intended which is why a movie like FDR: American Badass is on the list.  That movie hit what it aimed at and kept me laughing throughout.  To make it easy, I just went in alphabetical order because I wasn't about to try to rank them.  So without further ado:

Movies I saw and recommend from the 2010s

10 Cloverfield Lane
12 Years a Slave
1917
2 Guns
3 Days to Kill
47 Ronin
About Time
Absolutely Anything
Accident Man
The Accountant
The Adjustment Bureau
Adrift
The Aeronauts
The Age of Adaline
All is Lost
Allied
Always Be My Maybe
American Assassin
American Hustle
American Made
American Sniper
Anthropoid
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Argo
Arrival
Assassination
Atomic Blonde
Avengement
The Avengers
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Infinity War
The Awakening
Baby Driver
Before Midnight
Before We Go
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Big Short
Bird Box
Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Black Panther
BlaKkKlansman
Blade Runner 2049
Blood Father
Blue is the Warmest Color
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Book of Eli
The Book of Henry
The Book Thief
The Bourne Legacy
Boyka: Undisputed
Bridesmaids
Bridge of Spies
Bright
Broken City
Brooklyn
The Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain Fantastic
Captain Marvel
Captain Phillips
Chappie
Charlie St. Cloud
Chinese Zodiac
Chronicle
Cloud Atlas
Coco
Coherence
Cold in July
Colin Hay: Waiting for My Real Life
Collateral Beauty
The Company You Keep
The Conjuring
The Conjuring 2
Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Creed
Creed II
Criminal
Dallas Buyers Club
Darkest Hour
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
Deadwood: The Movie
The Debt
The Debt Collector
The Descendants
The Discovery
Divergent
Django Unchained
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Strange
Dolemite is My Name
Draft Day
Dragon Blade
Dredd
Drive
Eddie the Eagle
Edge of Darkness
The Edge of Seventeen
Edge of Tomorrow
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Elvis & Nixon
Elysium
Ender's Game
The Equalizer
The Equalizer 2
Escape Plan
Ex Machina
The Expendables
The Expendables 2
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Fading Gigolo
The Family
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Fast and Furious 6
Fast Five
The Fault in Our Stars
FDR: American Badass!
Fences
The Fighter
Finding Dory
The Finest Hours
Fisherman's Friends
Focus
For the Love of Spock
Ford v Ferrari
The Foreigner
Foxcatcher
Furious 7
Fury
Get Out
Get the Gringo
Gifted
The Girl on the Train
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Giver
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
The Greatest Showman
Green Book
Green Room
The Grey
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Hacksaw Ridge
Hanna
Hard Target 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
He Never Died
Headhunters
Hell or High Water
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Her
Hereafter
Hereditary
The Hero
Hidden Figures
The Highwaymen
The Hitman's Bodyguard
Homefront
Hugo
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
The Ides of March
I'll See You in My Dreams
The Imitation Game
In the Heart of the Sea
Inception
Incredibles 2
Indignation
Interstellar
Ip Man 2
Ip Man 3
Ip Man 4
The Irishman
Iron Man 3
Jack Reacher
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Jason Bourne
John Carter
John Dies at the End
John Wick
John Wick: Chapter 2
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
Jojo Rabbit
Joy
The Judge
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
The Jungle Book
Jurassic World
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Kill the Irishman
Killer Joe
The King's Speech
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Knives Out
Kong: Skull Island
La La Land
Lady Bird
Larry Crowne
The Last Stand
The Last Tycoon
The Legend of Tarzan
Life
Life of Pi
Limitless
Lincoln
The Lincoln Lawyer
Live by Night
Logan
Logan Lucky
Lone Survivor
Looper
Loving
Machete
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Magic of Belle Isle
The Magnificent Seven
The Man from Nowhere
Man from Reno
Manchester by the Sea
Marriage Story
The Martian
Me Before You
The Meg
Men in Black 3
Midnight in Paris
Midnight Special
Midsommar
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Molly's Game
Money Monster
Moneyball
A Monster Calls
The Monuments Men
Motherless Brooklyn
Mr. Church
Mud
The Nice Guys
Nightcrawler
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
Not Another Happy Ending
Now You See Me
Odd Thomas
The Old Man & the Gun
Olympus Has Fallen
Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
The Outpost
Overlord
Papa Hemingway in Cuba
Parasite
Parker
Paul
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect 2
The Place Beyond the Pines
Polar
Police Story: Lockdown
The Post
Predestination
Prisoners
The Professor and the Madman
Promised Land
A Quiet Place
The Raid: Redemption
Ready Player One
Real Steel
Red
The Red Sea Diving Resort
Redemption
Reign of Assassins
The Revenant
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Rocketman
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rush
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
Safety Not Guaranteed
Saving Mr. Banks
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Sessions
The Shallows
Shanghai
The Shape of Water
Shazam!
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Shutter Island
Sicario
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Silver Linings Playbook
Sing Street
Snowpiercer
The Social Network
Solace
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Sometimes Always Never
Spectre
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spotlight
The Spy Next Door
Stand Up Guys
A Star is Born
Star Trek Beyond
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Steve Jobs
Stuck in Love
Sully
Super 8
Ted
The Theory of Everything
This is the End
Thor
Thor: The Dark World
Thor: Ragnarok
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Time Trap
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Town
Toy Story 3
Train to Busan
Trouble with the Curve
True Grit
Unbroken
Undisputed 3: Redemption
The Vast of Night
Venom
A Walk Among the Tombstones
A Walk in the Woods
War Horse
War for the Planet of the Apes
Warm Bodies
Water for Elephants
The Way Way Back
We Bought a Zoo
We Still Kill the Old Way
We Still Steal the Old Way
What's Your Number?
Whiplash
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
The Wife
Wind River
Winter's Bone
Winter's Tale
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Woman in Black
Wonder Woman
World War Z
The World's End
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: First Class
Yesterday
Zero Dark Thirty
ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas

Which movies did I miss?  What are some of your favorites?

Since we're here, if I were to rank the top ten I've seen in the past decade...

My favorite movies from the 2010s (list could change if I made it tomorrow)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Debt Collector
The Adjustment Bureau
Wind River
The Book Thief
About Time
Silver Linings Playbook
Limitless
Gifted





These ten stand up to repeat viewings, though some folks might only watch The Book Thief once because they'll cry their eyes out.  And to the haters of Solo, don't waste your time complaining about it here because it's my favorite Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back.  It's a total blast. Okay, Solo got knocked off the list when I did an update because The Debt Collector had to be in my top 10.