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End of Year Review 2019: Top 5 Movies

End of Year Review 2019: Top 5 Movies

It’s our final end of year post and it’s the big one – our top movies of 2019. There are a few heavy hitting movies that we haven’t had chance to catch up on yet, but of the ones we have seen, these were our favourites.

Lee’s Top 5 Movies

5: Crawl

A real pleasant surprise. 87 minutes of gut wrenching intensity courtesy of a bunch of alligators as they terrorise a woman and her dad, preventing them from evacuating the area during a category 5 storm. Read my review

4: Le Mans ’66

The trailer for Le Mans ’66 certainly looked fun, but it turned out to be so much more than that. As well as depicting the true story of the battle between Ford and Ferrari, Matt Damon and Christian Bale also make this a really enjoyable buddy movie. Throw in some high-energy, beautifully shot and well directed racing and this was yet another truly pleasant surprise. Read my review

3: Spider-Man: Far From Home

I was pretty disappointed with Spider-Man: Homecoming, so was a little cautious before heading into Far From Home. I needn’t have been – this movie gave me Endgame-level thrills and goose-bump moments, over and over again throughout. Visually, it’s outstanding – with impressive action scenes and trippy sequences the likes of which we haven’t seen since Doctor Strange. I was just completely blown away, which made all of the Sony/Marvel shenanigans that came after its release all the more frustrating! Read our review

2: Joker

As the year progressed, I was pretty certain that nothing was going to topple my current number 1 movie. But then Joker arrived and came pretty damn close! It features no CGI, no costumed antics (other than the clowned variety), or any of the traditional comic book movie tropes that we’re now so used to seeing. Instead, Joker treated us to a slow-burn character study showing one mans slow descent into madness, and the birth of one of the most iconic villains of all time. Outstanding. Read my review

1: Avengers: Endgame

Endgame manages to include pretty much every single MCU character to date, including characters you never even expected to see, and it expertly handles every single one of them – weaving multiple plot threads and themes, paying homage to and referencing its vast back catalogue of movies. It rewards an audience that has been invested in these movies all the way, and it does it all perfectly. Endgame is the closing chapter to what has been one hell of an incredible journey – the perfect conclusion to an incredible saga. There was never really any doubt that this was going to be my movie of the year. Read our review


Mark’s Top 5 Movies

5: Fighting with my Family

I absolutely loved this movie and it was a real pleasant surprise as I was coming from the angle of not really knowing anything about the true story that this is based upon. To me it had so much going for it and was such a great story with so many funny lines and heartwarming moments. Read my review

4: Instant Family

This movie really tugged at my heartstrings as the base of the movie was very personal for me ( not the fact of them fostering kids by the way, more the reason why they do it!) Aside from this, it had some very funny moments to boot but it just ended up being one of those films you come out of the cinema just feeling good and that’s a winner for me. Read Lee’s review

3: Spider-Man: Far From Home

This to me was a faultless Spider-Man movie and it dealt with the aftermath of Endgame perfectly. It had everything, with good twists and turns and an awesome reveal and a total jaw dropping final scene, setting the future up in the best possible way.

2: Joker

It was a real tough call for me for this one as my number 1, but it just slipped into the number 2 slot.

This movie blew me away, but for different reasons to any normal comic based film.

Yes it was an origin story, but even more so it felt like a story about mental health as we were watching the breakdown of a man and at times you’re not sure what’s real and what’s inside his mind.

It was perfectly acted and didn’t really put a foot wrong, actually feeling all the better for having no CGI. So for this, Joker will go down as not just a great movie based on a comic book, but a great movie period.

1: Avengers: Endgame

Although I loved Joker with a passion, there was never any doubt for me that as soon as I came out of the cinema I had just watched my movie of the year. And nothing was going to take it’s place!

This was everything I wanted and more from the end of this epic saga and it simply blew me away.


Deb’s Top 5 Movies

5: Rocketman

It would be difficult to make up a story as good as this and there are no real surprises or unexpected revelations, there have never been any secrets about Elton John’s colourful career and the ups and downs of his personal and professional life. This is a great way to tell the story using Eltons own songs to create both a factual and a fantasy world which was both believable and magical. Read Lee’s review

4: Captain Marvel

Comic book hero’s are ten a penny in cinema and I haven’t seen one Marvel film I didn’t enjoy, each one bringing something new and enjoyable to watch. It was either this or Spider Man, Far from Home, but for me Captain Marvel deserves  to be in my top five. It was great to finally see a female lead but also to see Samuel Jackson as a young  Nick Fury get the screen time he deserved. Read Lee’s review

3: Toy Story 4

I admit I was worried at the thought of another Toy Story film. Especially after the trauma of watching number 3 I wasn’t sure if I cope with more heartbreaking moments or if it could still be any good. I should have  known better though,  Pixar were always going to take good care of these beloved characters, the story was great and gave a great sense of back to being a plain old film about friendship. It was great catching up Woody and Buzz but I also feel in love with new characters of Forky and Duke Caboom For me this gave some of the funny moments on screen this year. Read Lee’s review

2: Avengers: Endgame

It would be hard not to include Endgame in the top 5 especially as this was a special trip to the cinema, booking an afternoon off work just to see it on opening day, and for sure it was worth it. It was everything we’ve come to expect from Marvel and then some. Every character was given their moment, it was full of action, comedy, drama, and too many jaw dropping moments to mention this was epic, thoroughly enjoyable and a great way to conclude the story.

1: Joker

It was a battle between this and Endgame but for me Joker has the edge. The feeling when I came out of the screening for this was indescribable, not quite sure how to process what I had just seen. This is an amazing telling of a story I thought I already knew, it felt so gritty and real and relied solely on the performances of the actors to push the film along, I think I sat on the edge of my seat for the whole thing in what at times was uncomfortable to watch but for Joaquin Phoenix alone this is easily my number one film of 2019.

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