The first of our end of year review posts is here, our worst 5 movies of 2019. There are sure to be some controversial choices here, so apologies if we hate on one of your favourites! Just feel free to leave us a comment to tell us how wrong we are, but make sure you join us again later this week when we bring you our 2019 favourites from TV as well as movies. In the meantime, Merry Christmas!
Lee Boardman
5: Mary Queen of Scots
The first of two historical movies in my top 5 that are monarchy related. This one features two powerful female leads, lost in a movie that tries to cram too much story and too many characters into its run-time. And it fails, dismally. Read my review
4: Black Christmas
A late entry to my list of worst movies, bumping Lego Movie 2 from the number 5 spot! Bland kills, bland characters, bland script and a totally ridiculous finale secured this remake of a remake its well earned spot at number 4! Read my review
3: Isn’t It Romantic
A self-aware romantic comedy starring Rebel Wilson which tries just too hard to send up romantic comedies, resulting in a complete humourless misfire. Rebel Wilson just about carries the movie but even my wife, who loves both rom-coms and Rebel Wilson, thought this was awful. Read Debs review
2: If Beale Street Could Talk
This is one of those movies that I saw nothing but high praise for online. The trailer did nothing for me, but I try not to be swayed by trailers and decided to go for it based on the huge amounts of positive reviews I was saying. The movie starts slow, then gets even slower. A real limp lettuce of a movie which, I’m ashamed to say, I couldn’t even watch to the end, it was that dull.
1: The Favourite
I’m fully aware that this is going to be a controversial choice, and I know I’m in the minority here. Again, I got vibes just from the trailer that I was probably going to hate it and avoided seeing it at the cinema for that very reason. But the strong cast, the rave reviews, the awards buzz, all those things once again overruled my gut instinct and I decided to take the plunge. As with my number 2 movie on this list, I just couldn’t watch it all the way through. The script, the ‘humour’ and the overall style just didn’t sit well with me and I truly hated what I saw. Read Debs review
Mark Parmenter
5: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
I didn’t really like the first movie that much but thought I’d give this a go and yes, although it had some good bits, in the main I walked out of this feeling the same way as the previous film. Would I watch it again? Probably not and therefore it’s number 5 for me.
4: Black Christmas
So, like Lee, we both went along with kinda high hopes for this as we had read that the girls in the film start to fight back at the killer and thought it could be as kick ass cool as Ready or Not. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth! To put it bluntly, this movie sucked on an epic scale and just wasn’t good enough! Plus it had a silly ending.
3: Wild Rose
For me, this was a simple case of missed opportunity. The whole story/ dream of the main girl in the film was to go to Nashville and make it big, yet when it does happen it is all over far too quick and she’s flying back home! This isn’t necessarily the worst movie, I just felt it went a bit flat and wasn’t as good as all the praise it was getting. Read Deb’s Review
2: The Favourite
I really wanted to like this film, and certain elements I did like, but in the end it all got too much for me and I remember walking out of the cinema thinking ‘What the hell have I just watched!!!!’ It was all just a bit too weird albeit well acted weirdness.
1: X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, what a mess of a film this turned out to be! Nowhere near dark enough to ever be a proper threat like she should have been and it made me sad if I’m honest as it was one of the biggest missed opportunities going! That bad I’ve not even wanted to buy it on Blu-ray! Read our review
Deb Parmenter
5: Dumbo
I suppose I should have known better. Dumbo has certainly never been up there as one of my favourites and Disney’s live action remakes can be a bit hit and miss. This just lacked any real magic for me. Tim Burton did an okay job and who could deny the little Elephant with big ears and and an even bigger heart was adorable, but as I’ve seen to forgotten most of what happened with the rest of it, I’ve put this down as my number 5. Read Lee’s Review
4: The Favourite
Lee’s certainly not in the minority as far as I’m concerned. Sure, it was great to finally see Olivia Coleman get the recognition she deserved, and I can’t deny I was originally swept along with everything I read about this film saying how good it was that it wasn’t until a few months past and the award season had blown over that I finally woke up and realised how dull and dreary this really was.
3: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Why they had to make a sequel of this I not entirely sure, this could have been so much better, but was so drawn out with Malificent trying to find out who she was on a journey of self discovery. It actually became quiet contrived, Michelle Pfeiffer is the only redeeming feature as she plays evil pretty well, but I’ve never really liked Angelina Jolie and think it’s time to avoid any other film she’s in.
2: Hustlers
I think I’m the minority in this one. Maybe I wanted to enjoy this too much that it ended up being a real disappointment. It started off well and I loved all the scenes in the club at the beginning, but half way through I started to get a little bored, I disliked all the characters and had no sympathy for any of them and couldn’t wait for it to be over. Read Lee’s Review
1: X-Men: Dark Phoenix
This was a real disappointment, I love the X-Men films and find real interest in characters turning to their dark side, but this just left me cold. I can’t really think of one redeemable feature, which is a real shame. Maybe I just miss Wolverine too much and when I think about how good Hugh Jackman was in his last outing in Logan this one is just too far at the other end of the spectrum. Unfortunately for me this was the worst film of 2019 and perhaps even the last 10 years.
Totally agree on The Favourite, one of the most overrated films 2019, good list
Thanks for that!
Your Welcome! All the best for christmas and 2020