As we make our way through the post-Thanksgiving haze and into the world of winter holidays, it’s time for retrospection. For some of us, that means looking back at our last 12 months and trying to figure out what went wrong. For film fans, it’s a time to forget all those terrible situations and experiences you found yourself in over the year and just focus on the good stuff — ranking and debating movies! And with that in mind, we’re going to turn our attention to Time Magazine and its annual ranking of the year’s best films.
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Given that Time doesn’t traditionally venture off the beaten path a ton with its film choices every year, it should be no surprise that many of the big titles populate the Best of 2019 list. “Hustlers,” “The Irishman,” “Parasite,” “Pain & Glory,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” all make appearances. However, even if Time doesn’t pick any true left-field choices, the ranking of these films is a bit different than you might be thinking.
First off, at the top of the list, you have Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory.” While the film is universally beloved and probably the strongest film the director has released in over a decade (if not longer), the Spanish-language film isn’t normally listed at #1 on very many lists. If there’s a foreign-language film that leads the pack in 2019, many would just say that its “Parasite,” but Time would disagree, as the Bong Joon-ho film only reaches the #6 spot here.
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While opinions of “The Irishman” seem to vary from “Greatest Thing Ever…since ‘Goodfellas’” to “Overly Long Disappointment,” it may surprise some film fans that Martin Scorsese’s latest crime drama lands up at #2, beating the likes of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” landing at #3.
And yes, Noah Baumbach’s early Oscar front-runner, “Marriage Story,” does make the coveted list, the relationship/family drama sits at #4, which may ruffle a few feathers for film fans that believe the Adam Driver/Scarlett Johansson picture is easily the best of the year (and just won the Gotham Award).
You can read the entire top 10 at Time.
