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+ {"source_url": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com", "url": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/entertainmentlife/20191231/year-in-movies-divorce-drama-marriage-story-tops-his-list?rssfeed=true", "title": "The year in movies: Divorce drama 'Marriage Story' tops his list", "top_image": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg", "meta_img": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg", "images": ["https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/hamilton_logo.png", "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg", "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg&MaxH=200&MaxW=200", "http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=9289482&cv=2.0&cj=1", "https://api.pymx5.com/v1/sites/track?event_type=PAGE_VIEW&noscript=1"], "movies": [], "text": "Dramatic films top critic's 10 best list for 2019\n\nBack around Labor Day, after an embittered summer of bombardment by an unending skein of superhero clang and stupefying sequels to moribund franchises, I was ready to throw in the towel on 2019. Then came the blessed autumn and suddenly I was surrounded by excellence everywhere I looked. Even the season\u2019s lone comic-book entry, \u201cJoker,\u201d shockingly left me impressed.\n\nI actually felt like I was in the midst of a Hollywood renaissance. But a closer look reveals most of that premium output came courtesy of our friends overseas (\u201cParasite,\u201d \u201cPain and Glory\u201d), the occasional indie jewel (\u201cUncut Gems\u201d) and TV-minded streaming services like Netflix (\u201cThe Irishman,\u201d \u201cMarriage Story\u201d). All much to the chagrin of the narrow-minded suits manning the big studios, including Disney, which enjoyed record profits amid a nadir of grade-A product.\n\nThey and others cried foul when the Netflix offerings started scoring intense awards consideration, to which Martin Scorsese rebuffed, why shouldn\u2019t he court a streamer in an environment where the big guys value mindless superhero movies over more sophisticated art like his \u201cThe Irishman,\u201d which, incidentally, they all refused to make.\n\nI\u2019m not shy about saying I\u2019m with Scorsese on this one -- and please fanboys, don\u2019t bombard me with your hatred because of it. Still, I do feel for the theater chains, sorta, being that they\u2019re the ones left holding the empty cash bag, or so they claim. But Disney movies alone provided the Regals and AMCs of the world a bit more than a marginal profit in 2019. And when they dare charge close to $100 for a family of four to see \u201cToy Story 4,\u201d including popcorn and drinks, you could hardly fault folks preferring to park themselves in front of their 70-inch, 4K Samsungs to watch prime Netflix offering like \u201cThe Irishman\u201d at one-tenth the cost.\n\nLet the consumer decide, I say. A motto the Academy Awards voters should heed when marking their Oscar ballots this month. The past two years they\u2019ve gotten uppity when it comes to superb Netflix entries like 2018\u2019s \u201cRoma\u201d and 2017\u2019s \u201cMudbound.\u201d This year, when faced with the plethora of great Netflix flix (\u201cThe Irishman,\u201d \u201cMarriage Story,\u201d \u201cThe Two Popes,\u201d \u201cDolemite Is My Name,\u201d \u201cI Lost My Body\u201d and the great doc \u201cThe Great Hack\u201d), they can no longer shun the streaming giant without looking petty. So I anticipate what could be the start of a sea change when it comes to doling out Oscars. Or, at least one can hope.\n\nCoincidentally, a lot of those Netflix joints cited above are included on my list of favorite films for 2019. And consider this an invitation to seek them out if you haven\u2019t seen them already, and if you have, to watch them again. I promise it\u2019s a no-lose situation. So let\u2019s get started, beginning with my annual Top-10:\n\n1. MARRIAGE STORY: Writer-director Noah Baumbach pours his heart out reflecting on his divorce from Jennifer Jason Leigh in a seriocomic masterpiece insightfully capturing the sorrow and the pity of love torn asunder by two people -- perfectly played by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson -- whose vows don\u2019t align with their wants. That their severance requires jumping through the expensive hoops of California\u2019s ridiculous legal system benefits both the film\u2019s sophisticated brand of comedy and shinning supporting turns by Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda as the couple\u2019s loopy L.A. legal counsels.\n\n2. PARASITE: Bong Joon-ho\u2019s gripping comedic thriller was a classy assault on classism cleverly illustrated via a Korean family of have-nots gradually infiltrating the lives and not-so-happy home of haves on the tony side of Seoul. It proved the perfect metaphor for income inequality, not just in Bong\u2019s native Korea, but the world over. It also sent a shiver with its darkly funny finale in which Bong presented a semi-plausible scenario in which simmering rage turns grotesquely violent. Consider it a warning.\n\n3. THE IRISHMAN: Just when it seemed Martin Scorsese had lost his fastball, he (and his savior, Netflix) pitches us high and inside with a flamethrower hard enough to knock us off the plate. And what a delivery it is, with Marty\u2019s old crew (De Niro, Pesci and Keitel) joining with the greatest actor of their generation, Al Pacino, to make a gangster picture to rival \u201cThe Godfather\u201d with its powerful insights on everything from family and aging to murder and mayhem, all set around the rise, fall and infamous disappearance of belabored labor-leader Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).\n\n4. PAIN AND GLORY: Pedro Almodovar delivered his finest film to date with his semi-autobiographical tale of an acclaimed filmmaker (Oscar-worthy Antonio Banderas) staring mortality straight in the face while also ruminating on being raised by his deeply religious mother (Penelope Cruz) and the fight to ignore impure impulses provoked by her hunky handyman. By laying his life so bare, the idiosyncratic Spaniard cut through all pretenses to give us something we all should crave: a need to be our true selves.\n\n5. UNCUT GEMS: New York\u2019s Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, proved deserving heir-apparent to the Coens with their electrifying profile of a chaotic Manhattan jeweler (a marvelously obnoxious Adam Sandler) getting in over his head when the chickens -- and a band of determined leg-breakers -- come home to roost on all his seriously flawed get-rich schemes. It\u2019s easily the best thing Sandler has ever done, and the perfect marriage between performer and material. A true diamond in the rough.\n\n6. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE: Writer-director C\u00e9line Sciamma's gorgeous, wrenching tale of forbidden love between a woke female artist (Noemie Merlant) and her aristocratic subject (Adele Haenel) set amid repressed 18th-century French culture wasn\u2019t just a worthy follow-up to her acclaimed \u201cGirlhood,\u201d but the dawning of a major talent fully capable of blending affecting storytelling with mesmerizing visuals every bit as seductive as her two protagonists. And her deft use of Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cThe Four Seasons\u201d to emphasize the combustible tempest building in the women\u2019s loins is so unforgettable you\u2019ll never listen to the composer\u2019s luscious suite the same way again. (It opens in Boston next month.)\n\n7. 1917: War is hell, as director Sam Mendes devastatingly proves in his stirring tribute to those who fought and gave their lives during the lethal madness that was World War I. Making perfect use of the everyman qualities of his leading man, breakout-star George MacKay, and Roger Deakins\u2019 simulated one-take cinematography, Mendes\u2019 real-time race against death proved both a technical marvel and a hauntingly immersive dive into a horror where danger forever lurks and valor never ceases. (It opens in Boston next Friday.)\n\n8. DIANE: It\u2019s been months since I first saw it, but I still can\u2019t shake the unmitigated sadness of Kent Jones\u2019 haunting debut feature gifting Mary Kay Place a role she was born to play: A rapidly aging Massachusetts baby boomer who suddenly finds death to be her constant, unavoidable companion\n\n9. LONG DAY\u2019S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT: You\u2019d think wunderkind Chinese filmmaker Gan Bi, at 29, is too young to create such a thought-provoking noir on how the passage of time sullies and distorts memories. But you\u2019d be wrong. Instead, he stimulates our brains -- and our eyes -- with a gorgeous, hallucinatory tale of a man obsessed with an ex-lover he regretfully let get away. And, now, in pursuit of her, he is gradually overcome by recollections distorted by time and perspective. Can he rely on those feelings? The answer will amaze you almost as much as Gan\u2019s 50-minute finale filmed in one continuous tracking shot fully confirming his visionary prowess.\n\n10. WILD ROSE: Jessie Buckley (my pick for newcomer of the year) tore up the screen and ripped out my heart as a down-and-out ex-con Glaswegian forced to choose between being a mother to her two young children and chasing her feverish dreams of becoming a country music star in her idea of Eden -- Nashville. Under the deft direction of Tom Harper, Buckley made Nicole Taylor\u2019s perceptive script sing with both melancholy and hope in pursuit of an ending that\u2019s as sad as it is redeeming.\n\n10.5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ... HOLLYWOOD: I know, Quentin Tarantino\u2019s loving opus to the land of broken dreams is in many circles being hailed as the film of the year, but I only found that to be \u201chalf\u201d true, thus the fractional designation. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie were outstanding, as advertised, and the movie\u2019s look is 100 percent evocative of its circa 1969 setting, but too much of its first 60 minutes was heavy on wacky extravagance. Ah, but the back half was pure movie magic, particularly the climactic showdown on Cielo Drive between a fading film star and Charles Manson\u2019s band of crazed \u201ccreepy-crawlers.\u201d It was another attempt by Tarantino to re-write history (see \u201cInglourious Basterds\u201d; really, SEE IT!) in a way that\u2019s both cathartic and flat-out hilarious. Mission accomplished, or at least partially so.\n\nNEXT 10:\n\n11. \u201cOne Child Nation\u201d: I don't think I'll ever forget the horrors on display in Nanfu Wang\u2019s shocking and devastating look back at China\u2019s hideous one-child policy.\n\n12. \u201cThe Lighthouse\u201d: A wonderfully written two-hander from Robert and Max Eggers about 19th-century lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) slowly driving each other mad while cooped-up on an island off the coast of Maine. Who knew insanity could be so funny?\n\n13. \u201cLuce\u201d: Julius Onah co-wrote and directed this subtle and sly treatise on racism fueled by a magnetic performance from Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the black adopted son of ultra-white snowflake parents (Tim Roth and Naomi Watts).\n\n14. \u201cApollo 11\u201d: Abetted by newly released footage from NASA, Todd Douglas Miller\u2019s immersive doc proved the perfect tribute to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.\n\n15. \u201cFord v Ferrari\u201d: Christian Bale and Matt Damon provided the fuel needed to propel James Mangold\u2019s fun and inspirational tribute to two race-car designers unafraid to traverse new roads.\n\n16. \u201cTigers Are Not Afraid\u201d: Writer-director Issa Lopez proved why Guillermo Del Toro took her under his wing after seeing her affecting, eye-opening tale about kids left orphaned on the streets by Mexico\u2019s never-ending drug wars.\n\n17. \u201cWoman at War\u201d: Quirky doesn\u2019t begin to describe Benedikt Erlingsson\u2019s tale about a climate crusader (Halldora Geirharosdottir) dividing her time between directing a choir and plotting terrorist attacks on corporations she blames for destroying the environment. Brilliant is more like it.\n\n18. \u201cMaiden\u201d: A truly stirring documentary about the first all-female yacht crew to sail around the world.\n\n19. \u201cI Lost My Body\u201d: Jeremy Clapin delivered the year\u2019s most imaginative animated film with his funny/creepy tale of a severed hand on a citywide search for the body to which it was formerly attached. You\u2019ll want to become attached, too.\n\n20. \u201cThe Farewell\u201d: Awkwafina stole the show in Lulu Wang\u2019s sumptuous tribute to life, love and family, but we were the ultimate winners because of it.\n\nHONORABLE MENTION: \u201cFor Sama,\u201d \u201cKnives Out,\u201d \u201cAmerican Factory,\u201d \u201cThe Two Popes,\u201d \u201cThe Great Hack,\u201d \u201cWaves,\u201d \u201cThe Biggest Little Farm,\u201d \u201cHoney Boy,\u201d \u201cThe Peanut Butter Falcon,\u201d \u201cDolemite Is My Name\u201d\n\nTHE WORST OF THE YEAR: I learned to be perceptive in weeding out the truly awful when opting what to see in 2019, but there were a handful I got suckered in by. Among them, the vastly overrated foreign-language darlings \u201cHoneyland\u201d and \u201cAtlantics.\u201d I found both to be meandering and pretentious, with the former repeatedly setting off my contrivance radar, always a bad omen for a documentary. Too much introspection, on the other hand, was what beleaguered Joanna Hogg\u2019s \u201cThe Souvenir,\u201d tedious proof that not every filmmaker is a Noah Baumbach or Pedro Almodovar when it comes to making autobiographical films. Along with those three turkeys, I'll toss in Joe Talbot\u2019s addled \u201cThe Last Black Man in San Francisco.\u201d I thought it dumb and self-indulgent. And speaking of self-indulgent, my final slot goes to Terrence Malick\u2019s DOA World War II saga, \u201cA Hidden Life.\u201d It should have remained concealed, thus allotting me the three hours of my life I could have better spent staring at the ceiling.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": ["Al Alexander For The Patriot Ledger"], "publish_date": "Tue Dec 31 00:00:00 2019", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Dramatic films top critic's 10 best list for 2019", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0", "og": {"site_name": "Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle", "title": "The year in movies: Divorce drama 'Marriage Story' tops his list", "description": "Dramatic films top critic's 10 best list for 2019", "image": {"identifier": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg", "width": 4501, "height": 3120}, "type": "article"}, "msvalidate.01": "7E15F9269E2CE66F2A488ABB04B5015E", "description": "Dramatic films top critic's 10 best list for 2019", "bt": {"pubDate": "20191231T12:06:27Z", "modDate": "20200101T18:20:00Z", "keywords": "entertainment,movie-review", "author": "Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger"}, "twitter": {"title": "The year in movies: Divorce drama 'Marriage Story' tops his list", "description": "Dramatic films top critic's 10 best list for 2019", "card": "summary_large_image", "image": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/storyimage/WL/20191231/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/191239650/AR/0/AR-191239650.jpg&MaxW=1200&MaxH=630", "site": "@HWChronicle"}, "author": "Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger", "vf": {"unique_id": "siteWL-pub449-9B024813-6891-1B70-E053-0100007FC573"}, "fb": {"app_id": 143435942403889}, "article": {"opinion": "false"}}, "canonical_link": "https://hamilton.wickedlocal.com/entertainmentlife/20191231/year-in-movies-divorce-drama-marriage-story-tops-his-list"}