If this is the first part of the rankings you're reading, you've missed the back end of the rankings, posted above. This is part two. No need to have a long intro, let's get right to it.
#39 Bait
This is an utterly fascinating film to watch, because stylistically, it's filmed like it was made in the 1920s or 1930s. It's kind of eerie. Mark Jenkin, writer-director, used an old timey camera to film it and the whole movie feels stuck out of time. Fair warning, if you're not familiar with what a movie from that time looks like, well you may be seriously off-put by the movie. So it's not for everyone.
#38 Toy Story 4
This is, in my opinion, clearly the worst of the Toy Story movies but much better than a fourth movie has any right to be at the same time. So you probably have a sense of your interest in this movie before you've ever seen it, and you'd probably be right.
#37 Atlantics
It is hard to describe this film, because it's both a love story and a ghost story. But because it features characters of lower socioeconomic background, it's also in some ways a social commentary as well. It won the Cannes Grand Prix award which is essentially "the second place award."
#36 High Flying Bird
I actually wrote my thoughts on High Flying Bird during my Soderbergh marathon. I felt it was a good commentary on modern sports and is sort of a sneaky caper movie - the plot is essentially the agent maneuvering things the way he wants and to do so, he has to pull a con of sorts.
#35 Corpus Christi
The Polish selection for the Best International Feature Film, Corpus Christi has a bit of an outlandish premise which apparently isn't as outlandish in Poland. A man with a criminal past poses as a priest for a small village. The act works because the fake priest takes it extremely seriously and sincerely, and the lead performance goes a long way towards making this movie work as well as it does.
#34 The Lighthouse
Is there currently a genre or category for a good movie that has essentially no rewatchability? There should be. The Lighthouse is kind of like Bait in the sense that it's meant to evoke an earlier time, but unlike Bait, The Lighthouse is clearly filmed in a way where only someone in 2019 could film it - the cinematography could only be modern it's so beautiful looking.
#33 Ford v Ferrari
This movie is too long. There's no getting around that. It's not really a premise that supports a 150 minute runtime. Aside from that, it's a pretty good movie. Matt Damon and Christian Bale plus some well filmed race sequences keep your attention for most of the story. But it should seriously be about two hours.
#32 Ad Astra
You know when I started Ad Astra, I was not totally encouraged. It gave me more of a Terrance Malick vibe than I liked. Which for the people who don't know, I don't think Malick films very much. But to my surprise, I ended up liking it and appreciating it.
#31 Give Me Liberty
Full disclosure: I watched this movie without subtitles. More than half the characters spoke Russian. Most of them were there purely to annoy and complicate the driver's life, and not actually essential dialogue. You got the gist of what they were saying because the driver would respond to them in English (or not at all). You'd be surprised how much you can pick up without subtitles if one side is speaking English.
#30 The Art of Self-Defense
You have to prepare yourself for the fact that this is a black comedy and as such adjust your wavelength of sorts. Jesse Eisenberg plays essentially a loser who turns to karate after getting beaten up and nearly killed. Problem is that the karate place he turns to... is run by a truly shining example of toxic masculinity. I like where this movie ends up if you're one to be worried about that.
#29 The Report
This is positively Soderbergh-esque dealing straight with the facts and dispensing any romance. Which makes sense because Scott Z Burns has written a few movies directed by Soderbergh. This movie dispenses with romances or anything extraneous. It just deals with an FBI agent who tries to investigate the CIA's use of torture after 9/11. For simply remaining informed, this is a must-watch. It works as a movie in my opinion too.
#28 Diego Maradona
I confess: I am not remotely anything close to a soccer fan, so much so that I didn't really know who Diego Maradona was. I've heard the name, but definitely did not associate him with someone as good as he is. Anyway, this focuses on his years at S.C.C. Napoli, but it does cover essentially his whole life. I'm not sure how good this is for people who knew all this shit before, but I found it all compelling.
#27 The Mustang
Feel free to read what this movie is about, because it more or less does exactly what you think it will do. A convict with anger issues engages in a therapy program centered around the rehabilitation of mustangs. Sometimes, when something is done well, it doesn't matter that it's clichéd. The performance of Matthias Schoenaerts certainly gives is A game.
#26 Pain and Glory
Another Oscar nominated International Feature Film, this is from acclaimed director Pedro Almodóvar, but this is my first ever movie I've seen from him. He uses frequent collaborator Antonio Banderas, who got nominated for an Oscar for his performance. I last saw this in February so my specific memory of the movie is not as good as most of the movies on this list unfortunately.
#25 The Farewell
Another movie that is written and directed by the same person - is this becoming more common or something? Anyway, this is from Lulu Wang and as I understand it, is partially autobiographical, or at least inspired by her own life. Which shows in the final product as it feels very real.
#24 Uncut Gems
This movie made me feel exactly what it wanted to feel which was stressed out for two hours. In fact, my one complain about this movie is that it's too long. Just speaking personally, a film that is designed to have you stressed the whole time seems like a movie that should be about an hour and a half. Over two hours is asking a lot.
#23 Midsommar
I watched Midsommar before I watched Hereditary. I did not like Hereditary. But I liked Midsommar quite a bit, which is saying something for a guy who doesn't particularly like horror movies (I'm really trying horror fans). I enjoyed how this could be framed as a woman moving on from a terrible boyfriend to find her sense of self if you ignore all the horror trappings.
#22 The Peanut Butter Falcon
This is the feel good movie of feel good movies. It would be higher but I did not care for the ending all that much. There's a specific thing I don't like about it where the movie goes from realism to fantasy, but otherwise the movie will put a smile on your face.
#21 The Vast of the Night
This is the epitome of why execution is so much more important than the premise. Because this premise is not all that spectacular or original. But hell if Andrew Patterson doesn't direct the hell out of it. There's a few long takes that are incredible. Some people are put off by the long stretches where nothing necessarily happens - speaking specifically of the beginning which is one of those long takes, but it helps set the mood and give a sense of place.
#20 Marriage Story
Another movie where - sorry just watched it a while ago and don't have as much to say. I watched most of the Oscar nominated stuff back in February and early March. I'm sure you've seen this. Well maybe the premise doesn't appeal to you and I'm not here to convince you because it's really about how divorce is ugly no matter the intentions.
#19 The Cave
Now this is confusing. There were two movies called The Cave in 2019. I'm speaking of the documentary, which is a look at a female physician in a makeshift hospital during the Syrian Civil War. If you want a personal look at the Syrian Civil War to see both innocent victims and people preserving in the face of impossible odds, this is a necessary watch.
#18 The Irishman
This is too long. I'm sorry. This is insanely long. It's a story that should be long. It just shouldn't be three hours and thirty minutes. But hey it's Martin Scorsese and who am I to tell him he's doing his movie wrong. People that are mad that there are some internet users who are giving advice on how to watch this as a miniseries of sorts - please fuck off. There is absolutely no reason you need to watch this entire movie in one sitting - I think it would benefit from multiple sittings in fact, because there are in fact points in the movie where you can obviously stop.
#17 Portrait of a Lady on Fire
I think in my viewing of a Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I had the unfortunate situation where my expectations were expecting it to blow me away. That is never a good place for a movie to be for me. It places an impossible burden on the movie. Nonetheless, at the end, I was really impressed with the writing of the movie. Maybe you'll understand when you reach the end. And I'd like to rewatch it with a proper set of expectations.
#16 Wild Rose
I did not expect to like this movie that much. A Glaswegian woman wants to be a country singer and believes she belongs in Nashville. These musical dramas where someone is trying to make it - they're not my favorite type of movie. But god damn. Jessie Buckley won me over. She's a genuinely great singer, and the message of the movie is quite heartwarming.
I wasn't sure if I was going to go Top 15 or Top 10 tomorrow, but the clock is ticking and I think it's time to stop. There's at least one movie outside the Top 10 where I think I'll have a lot to say about it. Little worried I won't have a lot to say about all the movies though, which again - some of them were watched a while ago. But nevertheless, I finish my rankings tomorrow.
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