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?  

Queen of Hearts/Dronningen (2019) - Dyrholm explores complex culpability in el-Toukhy's dynamite drama

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Sex Drama of the Year

A fairly hideously designed poster for May el-Toukhy's Queen of Hearts, which seems to indicate an orgy between generations

A successful mother and wife career woman lets her life become untethered, when her husband's late-teenage son from a former marriage moves in with them, and she initiates a sexual relationship with him.

Queen of Hearts is written by Maren Louise Käehne (Shelley (2016)) and great Danish co-writer/director May el-Toukhy (Long Story Short/Lang Historie Kort (2015)). It is a layered and complex drama about issues of marriage, sexuality, culpability, manipulation and responsibility.
Trine Dyrholm (A Royal Affair/En Kongelig Affære (2016)) gives what is arguably her best performance to date as the unwound protagonist, who gets her way around her husband with eerie and amazing cunning, while letting herself roam free from morality behind the curtains.
What makes the adulterous relation in Queen of Hearts especially provocative and wrong in my eyes is not so much the young man's age, (he looks to be at least 17 or 18), but more so the fact that he is her step-son, - and mostly so the fact that they carry on their sinful relation in and around the family's home, which seems the ultimate disregard for everyone else. The overstepping of course mostly shames Dyrholm's character, who is in full command of her wits, is fully mature and aware of her conduct. But I personally cannot completely exonerate her Swedish husband (well-played by Magnus Krepper (Ditte & Louise (2015-16)), whose wrongdoing is that he leads a tame marriage to a partner who is obviously neglected to some degree, in attention, sexually especially, - while he moves in his attractive son to their home and leaves the two of them alone. Gustav Lindh (All Inclusive (2017)) who was around 23 at the time of shooting, is very good as the troubled son, SPOILER who becomes mixed-up from the experience.
SPOILER The development is that of a downwards spiral: The great script and expert handling makes every step wholly authentic and believably natural; but things almost couldn't go any worse for our protagonist or the other main characters.
The film has elegant and evocative photography (by Jasper Spanning (The Guilty/Den Skyldige (2018))), which also helps to set the thematic scene through shots of gnarly, naked, wiry tree branches; nature has convoluted chaos that can sometimes resemble the inner workings of humans, these fine images seem to relate. The production is also graced with good production values and wardrobe decisions; especially Dyrholm's character's costumes are incredibly elegant, and she carries them with the powerful aplomb of an everyday queen. (Costumes by Rebecca Richmond (Heartless (2014, TV-series), costumer)).
Queen of Hearts is a film for grown-ups; a heady, lingering drama to be sure. My only negative note goes to its choice concerning the sexuality it portrays: El-Toukhy has especially one sexually explicit scene, which naturally wouldn't be done with any underage actor. The sex is sure to stir up conflicting feelings of arousal and nausea for different audiences. - But at the same time the narrative keeps a point alive about the young man being a boy and "just a child", as the protagonist's sister puts it, - which is obviously false. This point would have been stronger and relevant in the film, if casting had gone with a younger male actor, - and we could have skipped the explicit sex in that case.

Related post:

May el-Toukhy: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess
Long Story Short/Lang Historie Kort (2015) - Charming actors elevate generational, party-centered romcom

El Toukhy and Dyrholm give an interview about the film at Sundance in this video

Cost: Reportedly 19.5 mil. DKK, equalling approximately 2.91 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 3.2 mil. $ and counting
= Currently a huge flop (has returned 1.09 times its cost)
[Queen of Hearts premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 127 minutes. Shooting took place in the Copenhagen area. The film won an audience award at Sundance. It has sold an impressive 318k admissions in Denmark, but as it is part of Cinema Club Denmark, a large portion of the admissions are sold at half prize. A realistic outcome is therefore a 21.8 mil. DKK gross/3.25 mil. $. Listed is also a gross from Hungary, Lithuania and Russia of 35k $. - This would put the gross currently at 3.2 mil. $ and counting. The film is set to release in Poland (7 June), Belgium (19 June), Netherlands (20 June) and the UK (6 September) and could hopefully still turn a profit. El-Toukhy has not announced her next film yet. Dyrholm returned in Brecht (2019). 704 IMDb users have given Queen of Hearts an 8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Queen of Hearts?

Long Story Short/Lang Historie Kort (2015) - Charming actors elevate generational, party-centered romcom

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Box Office Disaster of the Year

In bright feminine colors, the cast and a huge dog stand out on this poster for May el-Toukhy's Long Story Short

We follow a group of close, middle-aged friends through 8 parties over the course of 3 years; their relationships' ups and downs.

Long Story Short is written by Maren Louise Käehne (Shelley (2016)) and co-writer/director May el-Toukhy (White Man's Burden (2003)). It is a romcom made with a sure stylistic touch and a good soundtrack. It works as a tender exposé of the filmmakers' own generation, which is superficial, immature and annoying. What discouraged me most about this was that it made me think that my own generation may be even worse.
The focus on the parties banalizes the issues to some degree, because it implicitly indicates that of the most paramount important in life is socializing with friends, - who don't speak about the pressing problems, (they are solved with divorces and therapy), and where children are treated largely as negative, disturbing elements.
The film still works, because it is made with enthusiasm and energy and a group of lovely actors, who bring Long Story Short to life: Mille Lehfeldt (Talenttyven (2012)), Peter Gantzler (On Thin Ice/Kampen (2013)) and Trine Dyrholm (Nico, 1988 (2017)) are all delightful, in spite of my personal ruminations. 
Long Story Short is a crowdpleaser of the kind which could only come from a woman. But it is a lightweight work.

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Watch a piece of one of the party sections from the film - the surprise party - in this 2-minute video

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 248k $ (Denmark only)
= Uncertain (but likely a box office disaster)
[Long Story Short was released 7 May (Denmark) and runs 100 minutes. Outside of its production country Denmark, the film was shown at festivals in 3 other countries and released in Hungary, but grosses are not made public. If the film was made on a very modest 1 mil. $ budget, it would count as a box office disaster. It won 1/6 Robert nominations (Denmark's Oscar) and 2/4 Bodil awards (Danish film critics' awards). El-Toukhy returned with The Legacy/Arven (2017, TV-series), Ride Upon the Storm/Herrens Veje (2017, TV-series) and theatrically with Queen of Hearts/Dronningen (2019). Lehfeldt has not returned with any credits since. Jens Albinus (Far from China (2001)) returned in 3 TV projects and a short before he was back on the big screen in A Fortunate Man/Lykke-Per (2018). 426 IMDb users have given Long Story Short a 6.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Long Story Short?