The Best Movies of 2019

The time has come for my year-end review in movies and I’m writing that review at the end of March…in 2020…for 2019 films.  Every December, my schedule increases at the exact time when all the best films are released, so I figured the extra time would allow me to see more of them.  I was wrong.  Despite catching up on many forgotten films from the past year, there’s never enough time in the winter to accomplish everything.  This list will be missing a few movies that based on their subject matter and publicized artistry, I suspect could have weaseled their way into the top ten.  Films like Scorsese’s Netflix marathon The Irishman and Sciamma’s intimate character portrayal in Portrait of a Lady on Fire.  Perhaps they will be on my 2020 list, but I know they won’t be - why?  Because for some reason I continue to be stuck in the mold of trying to calculate movies by year.  

The Academy Awards has completely indoctrinated me.  I’ve been brainwashed into reviewing films based on an arbitrary year designation.  This cultural phenomenon to make year-end review lists makes sense considering its a time honored tradition created when writers ran out of ideas on how to craft Christmas articles.  Instead, we review and rank things.  This tradition has become extremely toxic.  The biggest problem with the Academy Awards, other than the fact that it’s more political than an American election cycle, is that it creates binary arguments.  We tear down movies that would otherwise be favorites because we think there are films that should be deemed as “the best.”  In the process, we lose sight of a lot of the artistry that goes into the making of the films.  The Shape of Water isn’t a bad film - in fact, I considered it a worthy nominee - but will it stand the test of time the same way as something like Dunkirk?  Shakespeare in Love is actually a really well-crafted tale, but it’s no Saving Private Ryan, so as the history of cinema evolves we tear down Shakespeare in Love when really we should celebrate it.  This year, 1917 received a lot of criticism, when really it deserves a tremendous amount of praise (you’ll find it on my list).  Can’t we celebrate films without denigrating other ones?  I used to be a much more pessimistic movie goer, always looking for a film’s faults.  Now, I try to appreciate all the work that went into crafting it and only truly criticize a film if it felt like its artistic authors didn’t care.  With all of that in mind, let’s celebrate some films!

A few honorable mentions:

15.  The Art of Self-Defense: A wonderful little dark comedy - thankful that my best friend, Braden, made me celebrate my birthday.  

14.  Long Shot:  Smart comedies are hard to find - especially comedies that play with gender stereotypical tropes.  Charlize Theron is insanely funny.  

13.  Uncut Gems:  While intensely disturbing and disruptive, this chaotic film proves that the Safdie brothers will be working for a very long time in the business.  

12.  Blinded by the Light: Such a delightful film.  It carries both weight and soul as it weaves its way in and out of two of my favorite things: Coming of Age stories based in desire and The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.  No film in any year will ever beat out the importance of The Boss in my life.  

11.  Knives Out: A really great take on modernizing the Agatha Christie model.  I look forward to rewatching this film without the pretext of looking for the twist.  

10.  Booksmart 

Many have compared Booksmart to Superbad in calling the film the modern, female version of the latter.  I think this takes a reductive view on the movie.  While Superbad is a funny film, Booksmart, much like the title implies, is a very smart film.  It interweaves exposition with character development; it connects metaphor and theme with smart storytelling.  Booksmart is an excellent inductee into the coming of age Hall of Fame.  In recent years previous inductees have included, Lady Bird, Moonlight, An Education, and Juno.  In much the same way Juno charmed audiences with its slangy language, Booksmart articulates how teenagers think and how they feel when they think.  Booksmart is a fun joyride through the heartbreak at the end of adolescence.  

9.  Jojo Rabbit 

Jojo Rabbit, a film marketed as a satire against hate, came along at an important moment in both cinema and American politics.  It took a different approach in trying to answer the questions of our times by infusing humor into a darkened climate and culture.  I think the movie best succeeds when it dives head long into either the main character arcs or the dark comedy.  A lot of the surface level humor is funny, but doesn’t leave a lasting impression.  However, scenes like Stephen Merchant as a Gestapo head officer, understand both the gravitas and the injection of humor inside of an extremely darkly comedic scene. 

8.  Avengers: Endgame 

Endgame was just a good time at the movie theatre.  In a time and age, when so many cultural cinematic events fail to live up to their high expectations (Game of Thrones, Star Wars, The Hobbit), Endgame delivers a suitable end to ten years worth of stories.  It completed the story arcs of both Captain America and Iron Man in ways that lived up to the grandeur of their characters.  

7.  American Factory  

American Factory was my final movie watching experience for this list and it was a great way to end.  This award-winning documentary tells the story of a Chinese company coming to save the day - until the day actually arrives.  After a shuttered General Motors plant in Moraine, just outside of Dayton, Ohio stops production following the recession, the former employees are struggling to survive. In steps Fuyao to create a new space for jobs and an improved economy - but it comes at a price.  It’s the Chinese way or the highway.  What follows is an introspective look at the differences between Chinese factory workers and American factory workers.  This isn’t a film with villains, but rather a culture clash between people failing to communicate.  In our current environment, American Factory is a must-watch film and one of the most important documentaries around. 

6.  Toy Story 4   

When they announced a fourth installment of Toy Story, I figured it was a cash-grab and was hesitant to watch it.  I’m very thankful I got over that preconceived notion.  I can count on two hands the number of films that have legitimately made me openly cry - Toy Story 4 is one of those movies.  In a touching send-off to a twenty-five year character arc, Woody ‘finds’ himself and in doing so,  helped the audience feel a little less lost.  This movie helped me make up my mind about switching career paths and going to get a second masters.  Years later, I will get to tell my kids that I became a High School Counselor in part because of an animated toy cowboy in search of a home.  

5.  The Peanut Butter Falcon 

Shia Labeouf and Dakota Johnson might be eccentric people to say the least, but they sure are fascinating to watch on screen.  The Peanut Butter Falcon is a feel-good, warm apple pie movie with an extra dash of brutality.  A simple story that matches a down-syndrome boy from an assisted-living home with a fisherman on the run and a social worker all in search of a backwoods version of a WWE wrestler.  Audiences will notice connections to films like 2012’s Mud, but where that veers into noir, Falcon veers into the heartstrings.  LaBeouf is the perfect actor to pair with Zach Gottsagen, the Down-Syndrome actor who plays the lead.  If you’re looking for a heartwarming film with a little bit of an edge, Falcon is the movie for you.  

4.  Official Secrets 

The best movie on this list that I bet almost no one else has seen.  Official Secrets is director Gavin Hood’s second consecutive film where he tackles systematic issues within the British political system.  The first film, Eye in the Sky made my top ten movies of the decade list and Official Secrets is an excellent vehicle to showcase Hood’s abilities.  The film is a straightforward docudrama about Whistleblower Katharine Gun, who tried to warn the British public about the illegal actions of members of the UN in the Invasion of Iraq.  The film takes a linear path from the initial action taken by Gun, to the Press, to the blowback and trial.  This isn’t a film that’s in anyway inventive in terms of production - it’s just a really good story, a really important story, and one that’s well-acted especially by Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, and Kiera Knightley as Katharine Gun.  

3.  1917  

There’s very little I can say that will add to the discourse surrounding 1917.  There are plenty of people who think the central conceit of a “one-shot” or a cut together to look like “one-shot” concept makes the film a flash in the pan.  I’m not one of those people.  One shot movies like 2015’s Victoria or the opening of the Bond film, Spectre are catnip for me.  I thought 1917 was a feat of technical genius and one of the most beautifully captured films of my lifetime.  Cinematographer Roger Deakins is one of the greatest to ever hold that title and he expertly executes this heart-pounding race.  One of the lost elements in the conversation surrounding 1917’s technical achievement is the great work done by George MacKay in the lead role.  MacKay does wonderful body acting paired with very little dialogue; his face is captivating like watching a lost child in a sea of faces.  

2.  Little Women 

Little Women was one of the best times I’ve ever had at the movie theatre.  Greta Gerwig, in just two films, has cemented herself as one of the best directors working today.  No matter what she makes going forward, I will be there on opening night.  Gerwig’s Little Women is like watching a Aaron Sorkin script inside of a period dramedy.  It’s engrossing and impeccably well-acted.  The chemistry built between Laurie and Jo (Chalamet and Ronan) is electrifying, but is outdone by the chemistry built between all four sisters.  Ronan continues to make her claim as the new Meryl Streep, but the best performance of the film and of the year goes to the amazing Florence Pugh.  I first saw Pugh in 2016’s Lady Macbeth and sang her praises at the time.  However, she outdoes that performance by leaps and bounds in Little Women by making one of the novel’s least interesting characters and turning Amy into one of the film’s most captivating characters.  Amy’s scene with Laurie, better known as the Marriage is an Economic Proposition scene is the best of the film.  Little Women is one of the most delightfully original takes on a classic to ever arrive in the cinema.  

1.  Parasite     

I sat in an empty theater for ten minutes until I called my best friend.  I said,  “It feels like a bomb just went off in my head,” and then I exited out of the theater into a very different world than the one I was in previously.  Far too many films get bogged down in theme and allegory and in trying to prove their message, they forget to tell a complete story.  Parasite weaves in between these two paths to provide the best film (perhaps) ever made on income inequality and simultaneously a brilliant thriller.  Once the comedy of errors beginning takes a turn, you won’t know what hit you.  Bong Joon Ho is a master and he perfectly cast an ensemble that knows how to exact every ounce of his artistic palette.  I’ve never seen a film quite as uniquely captivating as Parasite.  The film is culturally urgent while also connecting Karl Marx with Alfred Hitchcock.  Bravo, Parasite, bravo.  

The Four Most Important Films of the Decade

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.  And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless.  We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”  When John Steinbeck penned those words in the early 1960’s, he was constructing an introduction for his own understanding of the trip that took a small dog and his friend around the country.  As the years go by, those words continue to ring true and have been penned in multiple stories, in multiple languages, for multiple reasons.  For me, they represent a good mantra: Planning is not useless, but when your plans fall apart, go with the flow and pick yourself back up.  This has been a great lesson for my life.  If you told me back in 2010 where I would end up at the end of the decade, I would’ve admitted you into an asylum.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would return to Iowa, let alone five times.  Never did I imagine myself in a classroom, let alone at the head of it.

The bulk of my big life experiences have lived inside of this past decade.  Graduating from college, Gabby Giffords, coaching speech, moving, attending grad school, graduating, teaching, coaching speech again, realizing I was an addict, accepting that disease, applying for grad school again, directing over sixty shows, confronting the most difficult experiences of my life, and finding true hope in ordinary moments.  So much has fit into just ten years that it’s hard to encapsulate them on paper.  They were lived in, experienced and now they flit away like dust in the wind, memories of an escaped life.  But some memories last longer than others.  

Art and cinema have served me as lenses into my creative and professional life; this decade allowed me to focus them, to wield my creativity in ways previously only thought before as dreams.  I make art and I watch film.  Both are essential in my creative journey.  Art allows me to watch more film and the ideas of film allow me to make more art.  They exist in a perfect symbiotic relationship.  I’m blessed to have both of them.  As the decade drew to a close, most of my favorite writers released their favorite films of the decade and while you can see my list (pictured right), it occurred to me that writing about my list wasn’t what I wanted to do.  Instead, I wanted to combine all those life experiences and all those fantastic films to talk about the four most important films I saw this decade - then I realized it wasn’t the films that made the memories important.  

After the Gabby Giffords shooting in 2011, I was a shell of a man.  The event rocked me to my core sending never-ending ripples across my soul.  But a miracle came out of that despair.  A group of local kids were struggling with their choral reading for a speech competition and I came into help.  There I met my family.  Half a year later, when I took over as coach, they were multiplied and solidified.  One of our greatest connections is our love for movies and while our tastes have always varied, we all have a clear idea of what is important to us.  Without further ado, the four most important films of the decade through the lenses of four friends from Mount Vernon, Iowa. 

1.  2011’s Hugo 

Dear god, I hate this movie.  This might be one of the rare times where a truly beloved film causes me to convulse with rage that is was even made.  For some, Hugo is a cute family picture about the beauty in movies.  For me, it’s a soul-sucking disaster from which only over-dramatic acting and convoluted plot construction emanate.  So why does it make the list?  Early on in our friendship, the boys all worked at the local Bijou movie theatre in Mount Vernon.  I, as the local resident, with far too much time on his hands spent many a night hanging out with them at the Bijou.  Most of the time we would talk or play inane word games while we waited for the movie to get out and then I would help them clean up.  In many ways, this solidified my role as the town loiterer, a moniker I take with great pride (there are plenty worse things to be known for).  Eventually, I was invited to the midnight show: a time-honored tradition where workers would screen the films for their friends.  That’s where Hugo came into play.  And while it remains a terrible film and my memories include physically rolling my eyes into the back of my skull - the times spent in that theatre were some of the best of my life.  Whether it was the time someone lost a slap bet or the time I fell asleep watching Tron Legacy, woke up long enough to sing the theme music, and fell back asleep, each moment was special.  

2.  2012’s Prometheus 

Among us, Zak is someone who takes great pride in silence in the theatre - but even he couldn’t keep his mouth shut during the atrocious Prometheus.  Without a doubt, watching this movie was the greatest theatrical going experience of my lifetime.  We all sat in the back row and enjoyed perhaps the strangest “comedy” film of the decade that went off the rails within the first fifteen minutes.  Never has a movie infuriated me the same way that Prometheus did.  Charlize Theron, just run sideways!  Why are you running straight?  And Rickon Stark, didn’t you ever watch Prometheus?  Zig-zag little man, zig-zag.  For more problems with Prometheus, look here: 

3.  2013’s This is the End 

After a tumultuous ending to a difficult first year of graduate school at VCU, I drove back to Iowa to pick up boxes for my thesis project.  I didn’t have very long, so we set up a quick double-bill movie night.  Man of Steel and This is the End.  A year earlier, Zak, Stephen, and I sat in a theatre and remarked how Man of Steel looked like it was going to be a masterpiece.  Well, Zack Snyder certainly knows how to cut a trailer together, but not how to make a movie and our first film wasn’t exactly to all of our liking.  But in the evening, after switching theaters, This is the End brought about one hell of a good time.  I remember having a tremendous headache, but fought through the pain because I was with my family and I was laughing so hard.  In many ways, the four of us are like the main characters in This is the End - accept no one is James Franco - there’s just two Seth Rogen’s.  

4.  2016’s Arrival 

Taken from a review I wrote back in 2016: “It takes a lot of me to cry in a movie theatre; it takes a lot for me to cry in general. In fact, I can count on two hands the number of times I’ve cried in five years.  By the time the film was over, I couldn’t see because my eyes were filled with tears.  This movie was a religious experience for me.  I cannot tell you why; I can’t even explain it.  It was like I was no longer in control of my emotions or my body.  For a minute, it felt like I had swapped senses.  Like I felt language and I spoke feelings.  Almost like I was inhabited by a language that transcends the ways in which we conceive that language.  As I walked out of the theatre, after nearly ten minutes of silence, I turned to my friend and said, “that’s the best movie I’ve ever seen.”  That friend was Stephen and I’m so blessed that I got to share that transported moment with him.  Stephen and I have seen many movies together.  We were touched by Spotlight, we rolled our eyes at Suicide Squad, we raced through the galaxy in The Force Awakens, he woke me up when I fell asleep during Hail, Caesar, and we shared mutual love for one of my favorites, Hell or High Water.  Some of the best creative ventures of my life have been with Stephen by my side.  From Brutus to Tony Kirby, from Twelfth Night to The Frogs.  In many ways, our friendship is a lot like Arrival.  We communicate on a level greater than normal language.  It’s love - the type of love that only friends know and understand.  

All four of us share this love.  Over the past decade, we’ve grown apart in distance but never in friendship.  Stephen lives in Des Moines as a reporter for the Des Moines Register, Brandon is the vocal music director for Central Community School District in Elkader, Zak is bartending and writing while following his dreams in New York City, and me, well I keep coaching, teaching, and living, each day a foot in front of the last.  “We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”  Never would I have imagined to be in the place that I am today with this family by my side - but I am, and everyday of my life is better because they are with me.  I love the cinema and while I’ll keep making lists and I’ll keep over-critiquing Superman movies - these four films represent the highlights of my decade all because of the four people involved in making those experiences extraordinary. 

The Best Movies of 2018

In a year built on ingenuity, creativity, and beauty, the Academy Awards did what they always do and awarded the movie that had the best campaign.  Much like the American political system, the best movie rarely wins best picture.  Instead, we’re left with Green Book, a white person’s take on fixing the race problem in America.  As a whole, the movie isn’t bad, it isn’t great, it just is - it sits there and will sit there like many other Best Picture winners (Crash comes to mind). The dustbin of movie history is quite large and stuck up in the ends of the broom are plenty of films deemed great at the time.  I expect time will put Green Book in the broom, where it belongs.  

The Rider

As the awards season mercifully ends, I’m able to sit down and look at my own list.  Due to many snow storms filled with Redbox rentals, I was able to see sixty-five new films this year (although plenty of them were watched, as per usual, in 2019).  In years’ past, I’ve watched far too many films designated for the dustbin, but as my movie tastebuds develop, I saw plenty of wonderful, inventive, and creative works this year.  Of those sixty-five movies, I disliked only 20% (hated only 10%).  In fact, nearly half, 30 out of 65, were movies that easily could have made my list.  Films like First Reformed, Support the Girls, Crazy Rich Asians, and The Rider all took the artistic craft in new directions, bringing to the screen stories we’ve never seen before from differing racial, economic, and religious backgrounds.  While I don’t think 2018 was one of the all-time great years for film, it was a damn good one, with plenty more worthwhile trips to the theatre than wastes of time.  With that being said, I present my Top 15 movies of 2018. 

15.  Can You Ever Forgive Me?  

Each year since 2013, I’ve searched for the Philomena slot.  Philomena was a sweet, true story starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, telling a tale that had no right to be as enjoyable to watch as it was. The final movie I had the opportunity to see, Can You Ever Forgive Me, fits this category.  Starring Melissa McCarthy and the brilliant Richard E Grant, Forgive Me finds a way into our hearts despite telling the story of a true misanthrope, Lee Israel.  Two movies took me out of the theatre and into the bookstore to read the source material, Annihilation (the book supersedes the movie) and Can You Ever Forgive Me, a must-see and must read.  

14.  Avengers: Infinity War

In past years’ lists, I’ve put plenty of prestige films in the slots over movies that were simply enjoyable.  Not this year, at least seven of my fifteen are here because I had a blast watching them.  Avengers: Infinity War starts the enjoyability train with a bang or should I say a snap.  Marvel capped a ten-year romp through the cinematic world with an incredibly engaging first half of the current Avengers swan song.  It was pulled off in large part due to the film’s decision to focus on developing the villain, Thanos.  While brutally psychotic, the charisma of Josh Brolin shines through and made watching evil reign victorious rather fun.  

13.  The Favourite 

As a follow-up to his 2017 disturbing masterpiece, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos continues to prove why he’s one of the most interesting directors in Hollywood.  Here, he is able to deliver a wickedly, delicious re-telling of Queen Anne and the women who served her.  The Favourite is one of the best acted films of the year delivering three outstanding performances from Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz.  Olivia Colman’s Oscar speech was incredibly fitting for such an honest film.  The camera oscillates between scenes of hilarious dark comedy to disturbing back-stabbing drama.  Rarely does a film so perfectly fit the category of dramedy.  

12.  A Simple Favor 

The next film on the list of enjoyable films is Paul Feig’s dark comedy A Simple Favor.  It’s rather perfectly situated on this list next to The Favourite, and while Lanthimos has constructed the better overall film, Feig has created the perfect theatre going experience.  There’s something for everyone in this movie and it never loses its sense of humor even as the plot veers into thriller territory.  A Simple Favor is the cosmopolitan drink of movies - you may criticize, but that won’t keep you from ordering at least one.  

11. A Quiet Place 

Congratulations to all the women nominated for Best Actress, but keeping Emily Blunt off of that list was downright criminal.  Never has a porcelain tub and a nail been more terrifying.  As John Krasinski delves into the horror genre, he doesn’t lose his sense of honesty and maturity toward the themes of family.  In a movie where silence reigns supreme, where there are more sign language scenes than spoken word, the moments where silence is ruptured and we glimpse into the horrors of a life without sound, that’s when the movie comes alive.  

10.  Disobedience 

A one-line synopsis: a forbidden romance threatens the boundaries of a strict Orthodox Jewish neighborhood on the outskirts of London; all set around a funeral.  Does it sound like a fun movie?  Disobedience falls prey to caricatured thematic tropes, but surpasses its limitations with three of the best acting performances of the year from Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.  Situated on this list next to A Quiet Place, the story lives in the fraught silences and tension-filled glances between Weisz and McAdams.  On the other side, Alessandro Nivola delivers such a restrained and committed performance that lives on the boundaries of how do you serve God and serve your wife, when those two things are oppositional.  

9.  Game Night

My review for Game Night is simple.  If you found it funny, you loved it; I loved it.  Game Night combined with A Simple Favor were my two most enjoyable movie going nights of the year.  A big thanks to Nicole Klostermann for being around for both.  Game Night is devilishly fun, Rachel McAdams is startlingly hilarious, and Jesse Plemons continues to grow into one of the best young character actors on the planet.  A perfect movie for your friends.  Have a game night, watch Game Night.  

8.  Widows 

Widows suffers from an uneven script and on the re-watch, enough plot holes to fill the armored car, but it transcends those issues by combining great acting with perfect directing.  The list is short: David Fincher, Yorgos Lanthimos, Greta Gerwig, Denis Villeneuve, and now, Steve McQueen; just list one of those five directors and I’ve already bought my ticket to the theatre.  Steven McQueen understands intimate moments told inventively better than any working director on the planet.  The infamous shot from Widows comes through the mouth of Colin Farrell, but the vision of a deeply gentrified neighborhood in Chicago.  Steven McQueen is a master at work in Widows, however his success works in tandem with the star-making performances from supporting actors Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, and the entire collection of women including Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, and the phenomenal Elizabeth Debicki.  Of all the films on this list, Widows was the first one I needed to see twice.  Deeply disturbing and not for the faint hearted, Widows is a must watch for any aspiring director.  

7.  Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse 

Those of you aware of my own personal preferences know that I’m not a fan of animated movies.  I watched Incredibles 2 and found myself barely able to stay awake.  However, each year a film surprises me and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is precisely that film.  It quickly races into my three most beautiful animated films list behind Kubo and the Two Strings, and Spirited Away.  The film is purely enjoyable from both a storytelling and animation point of view.  Perhaps the greatest Spiderman movie ever made, Spiderverse integrates comedy with loss, hardship with triumph.  The scene delivered between a silent Miles inside his room and his father searching for words on the outside is perhaps the most poignant scene of the year.  This is a film that dives deep into the depths of what it means to be a hero.  

6.  Black Panther 

Marvel’s best movie made to date; there I said it and I won’t take it back.  Ryan Coogler elevates the entire superhero formula by creating an intensely fun, yet socially significant comic book movie without having to rely on quips to bring in the humor.  Top to bottom one of the best ensemble casts of the year, Black Panther lives up to the hype and completes the task of creating fully-realized heroes as well as villains.  I look forward to seeing how the sequel can build on the success of the first, without losing its core sense of self in the process.  

5.  Eighth Grade

By far the most disturbing scene of the year comes inside of the social commentary movie about approaching adulthood, Eighth Grade. For those who saw the pool scene and weren’t on the edge of your seat yelling at the screen, I envy your middle school experience.  Eighth Grade is nothing short of a horror movie for those of us who suffered the slings and arrows of being social pariahs.  I have never connected on such an emotional level with a performance and character more than Elsie Fisher’s portrayal of Kayla.  Both Fisher and writer/director Bo Burnham create an familiar yet private look into the modern American early teenage outcast.  Eighth Grade is an emotional rollercoaster.  We cry in anguish as Kayla waits by the screened door, afraid to show her one piece bathing suit and we cheer with glee when she realizes that the awkward kid might just be her best friend.  In 2003, Evan Rachel Wood starred in Thirteen the docu-drama turned horror film for parents to watch.  Eighth Grade is the more honest portrayal within the same format. It’s genuine, tender, and emotionally satisfying.  

4.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor 

In this day and age, it’s a bad idea to idolize someone famous.  In the end, you’re bound to uncover something terrible from their past, but there are exceptions.  Fred Rogers is one of those exceptions.  In a patient and honest portrayal, documentarian Morgan Neville takes the viewer on an intimate and extremely emotional journey behind the cardigans and land of make-believe, into the heart and mind of Fred Rogers.  This film made me fall in love with Mr. Rogers all over again.  For those of us in the speech/theatre world, his congressional appearance in 1969 is the stuff of legends and I’m thankful we are able to re-live and remember a true American hero like Fred Rogers.  “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.  But for children, play is serious learning.  Play is really the work of childhood.” 

3.  Roma 

It’s rare when you watch a modern movie and immediately know it will be studied in film classes for the next hundred years.  Within the first five minutes, I knew Roma was such a film.  Roma is a quiet and simple story about a complex woman.  As we watch, Cleo, played miraculously by Yalitza Aparicio go through the daily turmoil of taking care of a family that cannot take care of itself; we are engrossed in the everyday beauty of seemingly inconsequential things from cleaning dog poop off of the driveway to watching martial arts in a dusty field.  Each of these moments is carefully produced and shot to create a masterful work.  The heartbreak is deeper and the joy is greater because of the connection the camera creates with Cleo.  Roma is a movie that transcends language, but never forgets to celebrate heritage.  It is by far the best drama of 2018.  

2.  The Death of Stalin

It’s hard when you write year-end reviews to avoid being hyperbolic.  When you proclaim things like, “this is the funniest movie of the past decade,” you should actually mean it rather than just run out of words to write.  With that being said, this is the funniest movie of the past decade.  The script is perfectly selected, like the courses at a five-star restaurant.  Armando Iannucci has been responsible for some of the best comedy in recent years from The Thick of it (and subsequently In the Loop) to HBO’s Veep to The Death of Stalin, each production has been widely heralded as being extremely funny, while simultaneously remaining relevant, truthful, and poignant.  This is especially true in Stalin, where we are treated to a whirl-wind comedy that crashes swiftly to the ground in the final act to reveal the underbelly of evil and corruption.  This is satire at it’s truest form.  Extreme hilarity mixed with heavy social commentary and tremendous real world consequences.  The cast is superb, lead by the wickedly evil and equally hilarious Simon Russell Beale as Lavrenti Beria.  It is by far the best comedy of 2018.  

1.  Free Solo

I’ve never had a documentary reach the top of my list, but then again, I’ve never seen a movie like Free Solo.  On its face, Free Solo isn’t the type of movie I would generally go for.  I’m terrified of heights, I don’t care about climbing, and I think when documentarians break the fourth wall it dooms the overall piece.  Throw all of that out the window for the most beautifully shot film that I’ve ever seen.  Free Solo is a triumphant success for both documentarian and subject matter alike.  The athletic feat Alex Honnold completes (spoiler, he doesn’t die) is up there with any single accomplishment in the history of sports.  It seems impossible to imagine just how difficult the task of free solo climbing Yosemite’s 3,000 foot El Capitan can be, but the camera creates all the imagination for us.  At all times, there are three stories at play inside of this compact movie.  The first is the climb itself.  Alex takes such intricate notes about pieces of the rockface that are smaller than pebbles.  Each of these hand/foot holds must support his entire body, otherwise he will fall to his death.  The second is the story of the documentarians, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, along with their camera crew as the group grows closer with the subject.  There is an intimate and loving story that goes alongside the climb about just what are the limits of filming what could potentially cause someone’s death.  And can the camera itself create more pressure thereby leading to said subject’s death.  The final story is the one that grabbed ahold of me and didn’t let go.  Aside from the climb itself, we are brought into the neurotic and at times self-centered world of Alex Honnold as he tries to make the climb and hold onto his girlfriend at the same time.  As an artist, this story portrayed so many of my own questions and concerns.  Is it possible to be truly great and simultaneously live a happy life?  What must be given up in order to accomplish greatness?  Alex’s struggle to tame both the beast inside and on the rock face is a story that must be shared and gladly seen.  You will not watch a more complete movie this year.  That is why Free Solo is both the best documentary and the best movie of 2018.  

Why I Direct Community Theatre: A Decade in Community, College, and High School Theatre

“Food and shelter are very nice, but without stories to hear and tell, we might as well be the walking dead.” ~Leah Cohen, The Stuff of Dreams: Behind the Scenes of an American Community Theatre.  

The Drowning of Manhattan 2008

There are certain birthdays where it’s important to mark the occasion, to celebrate the milestone in having reached it.  At 16, you can drive and no longer go on grocery trips with your mother just to get out of small town Iowa.  At 18, you drive around to three separate gas stations just waiting for someone to card you when buying cigarettes you’ll never smoke.  At 21, you legally buy an Appletini and realize there are so many better drinks.  And at 30, you get scared that you’re turning 30.  This is how I’ve felt for the past few months as 30 rapidly approached.  I worry that I haven’t accomplished enough or that I’m not where I want to be personally, spiritually, or professionally.  And yet, I can’t entirely lose my mind, because I have a show to direct.  This is a common symptom.  In fact, out of my last 10 birthdays, 8 have fallen on show dates.  2018 is no exception and yet, it does mark a milestone.  This Sunday, I’ll turn 30 years old, I’ll have been directing for exactly one decade, and Julius Caesar marks my 50th directing project.  30, 10, and 50.  I like round numbers.  

Julius Caesar 2012

In the past decade, I’ve worked on 50 projects; 24 full length plays, 17 one acts, 9 assistant directing, plus another 50+ categories coached in five years of competitive speech.  I’d say that I could’ve never imagined this work load considering it also includes acting, dramaturging, designing, teaching, and completing an MFA, but then I’d be lying.  If you could go back and tell 20 year old me that I’d hit 50 shows by age 30, I’d say, “I thought it would be closer to 75.”  I’ve always been an over-worked artist, entirely by my own design.  I used to say that, “theatre is my whole world and directing is my air, take it away and I can’t breathe.”  I’ve had a passion for directing in a way that I can’t quite explain because it’s certainly a love/hate relationship.  It’s a low-paying, extremely stressful job that demands much more of you than you think it will at the beginning of the project and yet, to see your artistic vision embodied, it’s truly a spectacular sight to see.  I’ve seen miracles take place onstage.  

Romeo & Juliet 2013

With 50 projects in 10 years, you would think that I’ve ventured into professional regional theatre, but I haven’t.  Despite the workload, all of these productions fit into one of three categories: Community Theatre, College Theatre, or High School Theatre.  Shockingly, the bright lights have never interested me and I’ve never attempted to direct for anything bigger than a Community Theatre.  Simply put, I love the community of Community Theatre.  I love that in any given show the four leads can be made up of an Uber driver, a law clerk, a photographer’s assistant, and a florist.  In the educational setting, I love that the kid who can barely speak a sentence in class, gets up and plays Mercutio.  I love when the class clown turns into Hamlet.  It seems that I’ve traded a lifetime of names on a marquee for gyms, poorly air-conditioned black boxes, and finding inventive ways to use a library.  I’ve turned in searching for an equity card to searching for a hardware membership card.  After 10 years, I’ve learned a lot and here’s just a little of what I’ve learned.

Casting 

Blood Letters 2014

Throw out all your rules for casting.  You say you won’t cast couples: too bad you’ve got 3 couples in one show.   You say your lead has to be played by a man:  too bad only women auditioned for the show.  You say this is the perfect cast:  too bad over 10 of the actors quit (3x).  All the rules you can create mean very little in Community Theatre.  You never know what you’re going to get when you audition so stop trying to put restrictions and instead expand your creative playground.  Instead of looking for the perfect cast, look for all the possibilities that each actor can provide.  Actor A can’t do dramatic work - well find a way to include comedy.  Actor B can’t sing, break out that copy of My Fair Lady and turn them into Rex Harrison.  Never be confined to what you think is possible - always seek to explore the impossible.  The only rules that matter are the following:

1.  Cast a Family.  Don’t cast the most talented actors; cast the best ensemble.  A group of people that like each other will always show up for each other.  

2.  Work Ethic.  If an actor sells you on their work ethic - cast them in a leading role.  As long as they have some talent, any director worth their salt can turn them into the performer they need.  

3.  Cast Talent.  Skilled actors are a dime a dozen, if you get an actor with raw talent - cast them!  Give them the opportunity to shine.  

Production

30 in 30: JC Reborn 2014

Now you have your cast.  3 have done regional theatre, 4 have done community theatre, 2 are high schoolers, and one is still confused where they are at all times.  It’s your cast, be proud that you were able to do it without having to plead on the phone with actors at 2 AM searching for just one more male.  It might not be the “perfect” cast, but it’s your cast.  Get rid of all your “what ifs” and move on with belief and strength.  Prep every rehearsal beforehand and make the process professional for you.  Keep a schedule and don’t deviate.  If you say rehearsal ends at 10, do your best to keep to it.  Try weird ways to engage the actors.  Play the newlywed game.  

1.  Don’t assume your community theatre ensemble knows anything about theatre down to what’s Stage Right and Stage Left.  In both the educational world and community theatre, the director is as much a teacher as anything.  Don’t talk down to actors who know less than you, because most likely some actors know more than you do.  

2.  Expect more; not less.  Just because some of your actors may be theatrical neophytes doesn’t mean that the production should be anything less than extraordinary.  I direct community theatre, but I still expect regional theatre level quality.  I believe in my actors and in turn, they believe in the production.  

3.  Be a person and a friend alongside being a director.  A theatre ensemble is like a small family and as you build that family take the paternal/maternal role.  These people aren’t paid to be there.  Never take their hard work and dedication for granted.  Always thank them.  Always be cordial.  Look to be helpful when they are tired, they are anxious, they are worried about things outside the theatre.  Be a person and in turn, they’ll listen to your direction.  

Being a Director 

Directing is hard and in community theatre it’s at times downright impossible.  On any given day, you will have to serve as your own ASM, sound designer, costumer, and actor.  It’s extremely stressful and can, at times, feel like the world is against you.  It isn’t.  Breathe and go with the flow.  

1.  Know who you are and be proud of it.  Perhaps the hardest thing of my career is apologizing for the way in which I direct.  I’m a really weird director and ask actors to do extremely strange activities.  I care more about cast bonding than I do the script.  I love to put inside jokes into the plays for no one’s benefit but myself.  Know who you are - be proud of it.  This is who I am.  Hopefully you hire me, but whether you do or you don’t, I will always be me.  I’ll adapt for the show and the company, but you can’t make a cheetah lose his spots.  

2.  Trust your Gut.  The major times I’ve been wrong in theatre are when I don’t trust my gut.  I second guess myself (sometimes through the entire production) and it leads me to ruin.  Create a theatrical gut and then trust it to lead you in the right direction.  

3.  Directors are fallible.  You aren’t always right; try to direct with as much humility as you can muster.  You’re a human too; accept that you’re going to get stressed, perhaps even depressed, but do your utmost best to manage it.  Try and be professional and let everything fall into place.  And if you’re having a bad day; have it.  Move on tomorrow.  

30 in 30: The Medea Project 2013

Directing has been a strange mistress these past 10 years.  At times, she has been cruel and demanding and at other times, soft and gentle.  Directing has brought me profound anguish and supreme hope.  There are days when I think it’s time to stop.  Days when I think the stress level is too high, but then I reach the end of a project and realize that I’ve already signed up for another three.  I think it’s because of something I said at the opening of the World Premiere of 30 in 30: The Medea Project, “Each one of my shows takes my whole heart and soul to create and so each show feels like it takes a lifetime to make.  I want to thank this tremendous cast for sharing an incredible lifetime with me.”  50 lifetimes in 10 years makes turning 30 feel a little less scary.  

Come and Join the Celebration 

Julius Caesar July 20-22/27-29 at the First Street Building in Mount Vernon, IA.  

The Best Movies of 2017

Many reviewers have criticized 2017 for a down year in film, but I heartily disagree.  This was the year of the good film, and at times even the great film.  There was far less mediocrity and definitely less abysmal to suffer through (unless you have kids and watched Transformers or The Emoji Movie).  Of the 55 or so films I watched in 2017, less than five fit the category of horrifically bad and more than 70 percent were better than average.  This year I had a lot of fun in the movie theatre whether it was watching Kong: Skull Island, Star Wars, or Thor: Ragnorok, this was a year where fun and good were synonyms for each other.  Today, I will present my top 13 movies of 2017.  This films were all a cut above the other 42 and warranted a spot on my list.  If the list were longer films, like the coming of age Patti Cakes, the brilliant documentary Icarus, and the foreign horror thriller Raw would surely find their names added, but thirteen is my lucky number.  Without further ado, the best films of 2017.

13.  Star Wars:  The Last Jedi 

I like The Dark Knight Rises.  There I said it, go ahead and stone me to death.  It has many problems from a meaningless Joseph Gordon to a very convoluted plot, but hell, it’s fun and after all, aren’t movies, especially blockbusters supposed to be fun?  The Last Jedi is a flawed film.  Everything that happens on Canto Bight is ridiculous, some of Luke’s comedic choices were out of character, and Leia’s brief stint as Mary Poppins is just plain weird, but guess what, I had fun.  It was a blast watching this film in the theater at midnight.  The connection between Ridley and Driver was excellently executed, the throne room guard fight was one of the best in Star Wars film history, and Holdo’s jump to lightspeed is one of the most silently beautiful images I’ve ever seen on film.  Don’t try and make this into something it isn’t.  Don’t try and say, “It ruined my childhood,” (I watched Episode II, it was already ruined).  Don’t attack Rian Johnson for listening to the fans and deciding to not make a carbon copy of Empire.  I applaud him and I liked this film. 

12.  Darkest Hour 

In a year consumed by the retreat from Dunkirk, (Dunkirk, Their Finest) Darkest Hour gives us a look at the behind-the-scenes political intrigue by following an overwhelmed Churchill at the start of his Prime Minister stewardship.  This film is widely heralded for Gary Oldman’s performance, but largely overlooked as a complete film.  While I had some issues with the few scenes of poorly constructed CGI (budgeting issues), I was enthralled by a captivating story and I wonder if it came out in a year without Dunkirk if it would be receiving the same level of negative reverberation.  Yes, Gary Oldman is superb as the stodgy, but resolute Churchill; however, the real stars of this film are the supporting cast.  Stephen Dillane, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Lily James are all performing with grace and defiance, and the true standout of the movie is Ben Mendelsohn finally proving that he can play more than just a villain.  On top of the cast, Joe Wright deftly directs the picture with class and dignity. 

11.  Lady Macbeth 

For all the talk surrounding the acting performances of Gary Oldman and Francis McDormand, clearly the nomination boards missed a small Spring movie from Roadside Attractions.  Florence Pugh is breathtaking is the lead role.  With just a couple of credits, Pugh transforms from an actress ingenue into a seasoned veteran. Based on the short story, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, the film follows a newlywed locked in a loveless marriage to a bitter, hateful man twice her age.  In many ways this is film operates like Jane Eyre if Jane went to boarding school with Hannibal Lecter.  This film is helmed by Director William Oldroyd (Full length film debut) and Ari Wegner, director of photography.  If you don’t know these names, that’s ok, because no one does, but I hope to see their names working again soon.  Back in 2013, I raved about a scene in 12 Years a Slave, talking in length about the courage it took for director Steve McQueen to film the hanging scene.  Five years later, I will again rave about the courage it takes to film the opening 20 minutes of Lady Macbeth.  Two films this year understood the importance of sound and lack of sound (Dunkirk being the second).  The sparse, cold, echo of the house in this film haunt the audience for its entire run time.  A mixture of Oldroyd’s artistic vision and Pugh’s phenomenal breakout performance made this a film to remember.  

10. Brigsby Bear 

It’s hard to talk about Brigsby Bear without giving away the plot of the film so I will simply say this:  I was completely shocked by how much this movie made me cry and how much it made me laugh.  Despite its subject matter, it’s one of the funniest movies of the year and one of the better coming of age movies in the past decade.  Kyle Mooney could’ve easy played this film for cheap laughs and over-the-top humor, but instead gives the film heart, kindness, and consideration for all the characters involved, villains and heroes alike.  This is a perfect children’s film that no child should ever see.  

9.  A Ghost Story 

A Ghost Story is a film with everything working against it.  The “Art Film” aesthetic, the hipster approach to costuming, an aspect ratio that begs us to wonder if David Lowery was wearing a beret and smoking cloves as he directed.  There’s the cliche of “The Light”, a self-righteous monologue that comes in the middle of an otherwise heavily silent film and happens to explain the entire theme, and a completely unnecessary cameo from Kesha.  This is a movie that yearns for “look at me” attention seekers.  It screams of artistic indignation.  It’s almost as if Lowery is sitting in his director’s chair smirking and thinking, “I’m fucking brilliant.”  —He might be.  For all of the problems working against the movie, it works in spite of them.  Lowery has found a niche at turning cliche into authenticity.  He found this aesthetic first in his 2013 western noir, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Also starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck), but he has perfected his vision with A Ghost Story.  Believe me, I didn’t want to like this film.  With all the negative news surrounding Casey Affleck, I hesitated to even watch it, but while I derive no feelings of sympathy for the actor, his character embarks on a mystical journey to the dark recesses of both the film and my own nostalgic sensibilities.  In other reviews, three words hit me like a ton of bricks and I think they sum up the film:  Melancholy, Mundanity, and Meditation.  This movie is at its core a melancholic walk through the mundanity of time, but it’s also a meditation on time as a concept.  I find it fascinating that in recent years the films that have resonated with me have all dealt with time.  2013’s About Time, last year’s Arrival, and now A Ghost Story.  There’s something about the way in which we appreciate and simultaneously discard time that turns me into an emotional wreck.  A Ghost Story has continued where the first two films left off.  It’s the type of film that you watch less with your eyes and more with your soul.  It’s the first film of the year that had me screaming at the screen, “Let him read it.”  And that self-righteous monologue I remarked on, yeah, it had me in tears wondering the meaning of my own life.  A Ghost Story is not a film for everyone and if you leave the theatre feeling bored or unfulfilled — I’d completely understand, but for me it was the longest, shortest film of the year.  It made me ponder my own life, relationships, and connection with the world around me.  I applaud David Lowery for his gutsy approach to directing: less can be more.  For some, the film’s ending with leave them unsatisfied and hollow, but for me, you don’t need to know the answer to understand it.

8.  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

Does a movie always have to be about a larger social message?  Can you redeem a racist?  These questions surround the center of the debate on Three Billboards.  I’ll admit that there are problematic parts with the racial elements of Three Billboards. I will admit that the film needed to dive deeper into the racial politics of Sam Rockwell’s character and the background characters of the movie. I will gladly fully admit that Abbie Cornish sticks out like a McDonald’s stand in the middle of a Whole Foods.  But I will also admit that I really enjoyed this movie.  I found it another perfect addition to the Martin McDonagh catalogue and despite the negativity, albeit somewhat warranted, that surrounds this film, I applaud the acting and the directing.  McDonagh is one of my favorite playwrights on the planet, writing what I believe are two masterpiece’s in The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, the latter being the funniest play I’ve ever seen in my life.  Perhaps this film was beyond the pale for McDonagh, but then again so are all of his works of art.  The audience tries to redeem Colin Farrell in In Bruges after he kills a kid.  The lead of The Cripple of Inishmaan is named Cripple Billy.  And Sam Rockwell’s Jason Dixon, is a horrific racist who never quite gets the comeuppance he deserves, but in no way do I believe the ending of the film justifies, simplifies, or exonerates him.  McDonagh deals in brokenness.  Broken people breed brokenness and no matter what you do, retribution will eventually catch up to everyone.  I understand the backlash to this movie and I understand anyone who hates the narrative it portrays, but I was a fan, and I remain a fan.  

7.  Wind River

If you think I like Martin McDonagh then just be prepared for the adoration I will pay to Taylor Sheridan.  In my opinion, he is the best Hollywood writer on the planet and has completed his quasi-western trilogy with Wind River.  A deeply disturbing story about a rape, murder, cover-up, and a shootout on a Native American reservation in Wyoming.  Sheridan has quickly rose from a novice to a master with Sicario, Hell or High-water, and Wind River.  He is one of the few film writers who understands that a location is always as much of a character as any of the lead actors.  And he continues to showcase the diverse talents of little known character actor Gil Birmingham.  In another small co-starring role, Birmingham shines as the grieving father in search of answers.  Two words come to mind when watching a Sheridan film: disturbing and beautiful.  He understands landscape and scenery in ways I’ve never seen before on camera.  And he writes complex, deeply traumatized characters who are intensely nuanced and subtle in the way they call and commiserate with the camera.  First it was Emily Blunt and Benecio Del Toro in Sicario, last year it was Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges in Hell or High-water, and then the trio is complete with Jeremy Renner and Gil Birmingham in Wind River.  I love what Sheridan captures with Wind River and I’m extremely excited to see his next project, the up and coming television show Yellowstone, which just so happens to have cast my friend Jefferson White as a series regular.   

6.  The Shape of Water 

I held off watching this film because I expected to dislike it.  Although I think Pan’s Labyrinth is a masterpiece, I feel Del Toro’s directing/writing has fallen prey to style over substance with lackluster

stories in Crimson Peak. Pacific Rim, and Hellboy II. All three have been visually stimulating, but lacked in character and plot arcs.  Then, I found out he had made a movie dubbed the “fish sex” film and I expected more of the same.  However, what I saw on screen was an intimate love story that transcended sex, orientation, race, species, and language.  I’m sure criticism of the film will find the love story quite trite or wonder “what’s the point,” but the lack of overall meaning neglects the actual story.  This is a folk story, somewhat gory and arcane, but a folk story nonetheless.  Sally Hawkins is wonderful and Doug Jones continues to go unrecognized for the wonderful clown work he has done over the years.  He has become the unsung version of Andy Serkis.  Technically, this is by far the best movie of the year with superb production design, sound, and editing.  The word visionary has long been ascribed to Del Toro’s name and he once again earns the title with this picture. 

5.  The Killing of a Sacred Deer 

Yorgos Lanthimos is the winner for the most googled name when you misspell it in a word document.  Lanthimos has created a style of directing and writing that strips away emotionalism and subtext to reveal the inner workings of the human mind and soul.  He created this vision in Dogtooth and Alps, figured out its success in The Lobster, and has molded it into perfection with The Killing of a Sacred Deer.  Lanthimos much like McDonagh, Allen, and Tarantino, likes to use the same actors in multiple films due to the nature of his writing and directing.  Colin Farrell once again shines as the Doctor Stephen Murphy, a man who must deal with his very real demons.  The film is based off of the Greek Myth of Iphigenia, specifically the tale of Iphigenia at Aulis written by Euripides (A favorite of mine).  There are many subtle references to this throughout the movie which is taut with tension throughout.  Two additions to Lanthimos’s team are Nicole Kidman and the main antagonist, Barry Keoghan, who gives a performance that rivals Ezra Miller in We Need to Talk about Kevin.  An excellent movie that requires a rewatch in order to understand Lanthimos’s unique style and sense of humor, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a haunting film that dives deep into the depths of vengeance and acceptance.  

4.  Dunkirk

If you’re looking for a film with dialogue, for a film with action scenes between soldiers locked in desperate battle, for a war epic that focuses on violence and bloodshed; look somewhere else.  Dunkirk represents none of these things.  There might be a total of 100 lines of dialogue, you never once see a German soldier, and to call this a war genre film would be a mistake.  Dunkirk is less about war and more about survival, with an 86 minute run time that travels at the speed of an accelerated heart beat.  If Hans Zimmer doesn’t walk away with an Oscar for his score, it would be a crime.  Every song crafted by Zimmer has the underlying theme of a ticking clock, which changes speed depending on how Nolan wants the audience to feel  Each section of this film permeates tension and the catharsis at the end of the film is warranted and necessary.  Dunkirk signals a  return to form for Christopher Nolan, by taking taking an amazing true story, adding some Christopher Nolan flair, and making it extraordinary.  His use of intersecting stories by changing the time in which they take place is fascinating and while it confuses some, it inspired me.  Dunkirk isn’t without its flaws, the Mark Rylance civilian storyline is certainly imperfect and some of his soldiers

could’ve been enhanced with a class in enunciation, but the sparse script, the use of time, and the commitment to the everyman soldier made Dunkirk a great film and perhaps Nolan’s Masterpiece. 

A Note:  Before I reveal the top three films of the year, I will make one caveat.  The previous ten films were fun, exciting, engaging, organically depressing, and loved.  However, in my mind each suffered from some cinematic ailment:  A stretched out scene that broke its believability, a storyline that doesn’t fit with the rest, racial ambiguity, or way too much exposition.  The final three films on this list do not suffer such calamities.  Despite dedicated viewings and for some, multiple rewatches, each of these three films represented what was great about cinema in 2017 and so, despite a number labeling them (1-3), each could be considered the film of 2017.  

3.  Get Out 

Proclaimed funny man Jordan Peele, best known for an Obama impersonation on his hit tv show Key and Peele, made a horror movie about racism that’s as funny as a Richard Pryor comedy set, as deeply embedded in detail as a Hitchcock masterpiece, and as revealing as a James Baldwin documentary.  I love this movie and beyond how I feel about the actual piece of cinema, I love what it says about the industry going forward.  Sex, race, and experience are not determining judgements for artists.  Peele’s contribution to the cinematic landscape is simply astounding.  He jumped over stereotypes and genre boundaries to make this film.  In the process, he created a brilliant new look on racial narrative, an incredibly believable protagonist (exceptional work by Mr. Daniel Kaluuya), and one of the best villains in recent memory with Allison Williams.  The film is great, the artists involved with its production are great, but the conversation at the heart of the film is truly important.  In this country and in any country where the racial foundations are white, race has become a difficult and awkward conversation to have (which is an improvement, we used to never even have the conversation). But no matter how weird or awkward we all might feel, it is a necessary discussion and one that I’m glad to be a part of.  It’s the job of the privileged to listen and identify their own ignorances and prejudices.  We all must engage in conversation so one day we will defined less by our differences and more by our commonalities.  Get Out is far more than just a horror movie, it’s the beginning of a movement.  

2.  Lady Bird 

Many new directors fall prey to the same problems, while they make interesting debut projects, many are weighed down with too many choices and too much tinkering.  A new director sometimes feels the need to add as many of their shot ideas, story ideas, and production ideas as possible feeling that they may not get the chance to do so again.  This is not the case with Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.  Gerwig doesn’t waste a single shot, a single moment, in the first film about millennials that doesn’t fall into the trap of talking down to millennials.  Gerwig’s creation, played masterfully by Saoirse Ronan, is incredibly flawed, broken, and raw.  Yet, she is also sweet, innocent, and far too smart for her own good.  Every time I thought this movie was going to shift into the cliche, it surprised me, bringing me plenty of laughs mixed in beautifully by gut-wrenching heartache.  Lady Bird’s father going for a job interview and then running into his son interviewing for the same job is simply heartbreaking.  Lady Bird’s education in learning to accept her mother quickly goes from sappy to satisfying.  The girls obsession with Crash into Me by The Dave Matthews Band sums up the film in a nutshell (if you haven’t listened to the lyrics from that song in a while, do yourself a favor and take a listen.  It’s deeply disturbing).  These moments create a vivid picture of time, mood, and place.  Ronan has quickly supplanted the girlish ingenue in Brooklyn with the confused rebel in Lady Bird.  And as for Laurie Metcalf, I dare you to find a more complete mother character than that of Marion McPherson.  Gerwig has quickly planted her flag in the director’s chair for years to come and Lady Bird is simply a treasure.  

1.  The Big Sick 

My number one movie of the year goes to, of all things, a romantic comedy.  However, to classify The Big Sick as simply a romantic comedy would be doing it a great disservice to both the script and the true story behind it.  Written by the real life couple (and comedians) Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, The Big Sick tells the story of culture clash romance between a Pakistan-born comedian and a white grad student.  Difficulties in family and commitment are magnified when Emily (Zoe Kazan) falls into a coma and Kumail has to navigate his feelings, his family, and Emily’s family (Holly Hunter, Ray Romano).  This sounds like a simple storyline, but labeling it in classic rom-com terms would be a mistake.  At the heart of this film are a collection of love stories told between families, between partners, and between strangers.  It’s a film about what it really means when you love someone in all aspects of the word, but that’s not the only story it tells.  For those who loved the racial complexity of Get Out get ready to find one of the first American movies to talk about Islam without talking about terrorism; other than the most awkward and comedic discussion in the film between Ray Romano and Kumail.  This is a film that criticizes religion without condemning it, that celebrates heritage without certifying all of it.  A neatly built script is brought to life by tremendous performances.  In a year filled with strong mother performances, Francis McDormand, Laurie Metcalf, and Allison Janney, Holly Hunter certainly fits into the category.  Kazan is equal parts simple and complex, giving much needed depth to the third act.  However the unsung hero of the film is Kumail himself.  A graduate of my parent’s alma mater, Grinnell College, Kumail has been a consistently funny comedian and comedic television actor for the past decade.  It’s always difficult to play yourself in a film, even more difficult when your wife helped you write the script, but Nanjiani executes his ‘character’ with perfection.  The Kumail on film is deeply flawed, despite consistently trying and the Kumail in real life brings across those little quirks and affectations that make the character extremely memorable.  Of all the films this year, all the conversations, all the performances, this is the film I will remember for being simple and simultaneously perfect.