2019 in films - according to Film Excess

The Top 10 of 2019

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker/Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker - J.J. Abrams + Best Action-Adventure of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Villain of the Year: Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid)

2. The Irishman (I Heard You Paint Houses), VOD - Martin Scorsese + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Comeback Actor of the Year: Joe Pesci + Best Epic of the Year + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Worst Poster of the Year

3. Judy - Rupert Goold + Best Biopic of the Year + Best Comeback Actress of the Year: Renée Zellweger

4. One Child Nation, documentary - Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang

5. Queen of Hearts/Dronningen - May el-Toukhy + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Sex Drama of the Year 

6. Avengers: Endgame - Anthony & Joe Russo + Best Blockbuster of the Year (2,797.3 mil. $ gross) + Best Superhero Movie of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year (763.12 
mil. $ range)

7. Honeyland, documentary - Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov + Best Hero of the Year: Hatidze + Best Nature Documentary of the Year 

8. Out Stealing Horses/Ut og Stjæle Hester - Hans Petter Moland + Best Adaptation of the Year + Norwegian Movie of the Year 

9. Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria - Pedro Almodóvar

10. It Chapter Two - Andy Muschietti + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Horror Movie of the Year 

Other good, recommendable movies (in alphabetic order):

Late Night - Nisha Ganatra + Best New York Movie of the Year

Uncle/Onkel - Frelle Petersen + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year

The Bottom 2 of 2019

1. Annabelle Comes Home - Gary Dauberman + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year 

2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood/Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino + Most Overrated Movie of the Year 

Other failed, mediocre and/or poor films (in alphabetic order):

Rambo: Last Blood - Adrian Grünberg
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - André Øvredal 
Us - Jordan Peele + Strangest Movie of the Year 

[17 titles in total]

Notes:

No masterpieces from 2019 have been found yet.
The year's top is reigned by J.J. Abrams' exhilarating saga ender Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; Martin Scorsese's mammoth-length gangster drama The Irishman; and Rupert Goold's terrific showbiz biopic Judy. The rest of the top are Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang's politically explosive documentary One Child Nation; May el-Toukhy's stirring sex drama Queen of Hearts; Anthony and Joe Russo's expectations-beating franchise finale Avengers: Endgame; Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov's rare nature documentary Honeyland; Hans Petter Moland's visually sumptuous adaptation Out Stealing Horses; Pedro Almodóvar's personal drama Pain and Glory and finally Andy Muschietti's horror whopper It Chapter Two.
The bottom only has two films on it at the moment; Gary Dauberman's awful bore Annabelle Comes Home; and Quentin Tarantino's hugely applauded, dead movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Great filmmakers who put out underwhelming efforts in 2019 also include André Øvredal (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) and Jordan Peele (Us).

Biggest flops of the year:

[The loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]  

1. Rambo: Last Blood - 13.44 mil. $ range
2. Out Stealing Horses - 3.98 mil. $ range
= Combined losses: 17.42 mil. $

Biggest hits of the year:

[The gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account] 

1. Avengers: Endgame - 763.12 mil. $ range
2. It Chapter Two - 118.8 mil. $ range
3. Annabelle Comes Home - 91.4 mil. $ range
4. Us - 82.04 mil. $ range
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - 53.92 mil. $ range
6. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - 13.8 mil. $ range
7. Late Night - 4.92 mil. $ range
= Combined profits: 1,128 mil. $

2019 titles currently on the watch-list:

Ip Man 4: The Finale, Bombshell, Frozen II, Last Christmas, Terminator: Dark Fate, Jexi, The Addams Family, The Goldfinch, Hustlers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Dolemite Is My Name, Waiting for the Barbarians, Joker, Citizen K, Uncut Gems, Daniel, The Truth, Echo, Crawl, Deadwood: The Movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Parasite, Frankie, The Lighthouse, The Virtues, Missing Link, The Twilight Zone (2019-), Ximei, Booksmart, The Art of Self-Defense, The Peanut Butter Falcon, The Kid, The Golden Glove, Brittany Runs a Marathon, The Souvenir, Luce, Greener Grass, Cold Case Hammarskjöld, Honey Boy, The Kid Who Would Be King

Previous annual lists:
    
2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess  
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess    
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   

What do you think of the 2019 lists?
Which 2019 titles are at the top and bottom of your lists?
Which worthwhile 2019 titles are missing on the watch-list?  

Honeyland (2019, documentary) - Captivating, demanding observed life

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Hero of the Year: Hatidze + Best Nature Documentary of the Year 

The main character of Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov's Honeyland works with the bees in a striking light on this captivating poster for the film

Hatidze is a bee hunter in the rough, mountainous Macedonian countryside, caring for her old mother and working with a respectful 'take half, leave half' philosophy, as a nomadic family becomes her new neighbors and disrupts the precarious natural balance.

Honeyland is an observed life documentary by debuting Tamara Kotevska (Free Hugs (2015, short)) and Ljubomir Stefanov.
Hatidze is a remarkable and strong person to follow: Her teeth and nose are a mess; she is past her prime as a marriage item, and she knows it. Still there is something beautiful about her, which no doubt stems from her exuding spirit and intelligent humanity. SPOILER Her caring for her invalid mother is touching and funny, but the story sees her lose the only family she has left, just as the new neighbors' exploitative efforts at bee-farming breaks her own little honey factory. But in the face of death, wintry cold, loneliness and financial ruin, Hatidze perseveres, keeps moving, engages with nature and thinks ahead to the coming spring.
Before this end, the neighboring family's interaction, two workhorse-like adults and their big litter of kids, are also a sight to behold; shouting, screaming, running, falling, fighting and doing what they can to keep the skins on their noses, it is hard to blame them much for the consequences of their failed farming attempts and rummaging Hatidze's surroundings; and the film doesn't vilify them. But it shows how different attitudes to making use of nature has different consequences, whether the involved parts are big or small, rich or, as in this case, all poor. - We share the same land, and consequences don't respect our borders.
Paradoxically, big, expensive nature documentaries free of people, - and usually with faster editing, - are often more readily relatable for modern city audiences as myself than a sojourn with people such as the ones we meet in Honeyland, simply because their everyday lives are so different from those of us watching them in cinemas, (a cultural luxury which they have likely never tried.)
It is therefore a demanding but captivating trip to a kind of life most will not have known of prior to Honeyland.

Related post:

Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 660k $ and counting
= Uncertain
[Honeyland premiered 28 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 87 minutes. The project was started in 2016. Shooting took place in North Macedonia, including Skopje. The filmmakers have bought Hatidze a 10k € house with electricity, an oven and a refrigerator, nearer the city, as well as clothes for the nomadic family's children; and they have launched a campaign for the sale of local honey. The film opened #40 to a 31k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it is right now peaking at #36, and has peaked previously theater-wise on 56 screens, grossing 650k $ there to date. It won 3 prizes at Sundance, - and is likely to become a Best Documentary Oscar contender. The film has screened at numerous festivals and is set to continue opening in new markets into 2020. Kotevska has since made two shorts; House on a Rocky Road (2019) and Paw Law (2019), and is announced to helm a drama entitled Man vs. Flock. Stefanov does not have an announced next project yet. Honeyland is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.35/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Honeyland?