The Oscar year of February 2018 – January 2019 gave audiences some unanticipated surprises (Marvel actually made a couple of “good” movies, Netflix is stepping up their original movie game, and even the Star Wars galaxy had a quality entry), but nothing too spectacular in comparison to other years in the movies.
As many of you know, I used to write as a movie critic before embarking on a career as an author, educator, and life coach. My love for film has never waned and I’ve kept the series of “MD’s Movie Grade Guides” going since 2000 for the primary enjoyment of others. For a more detailed look at the criteria I use to “grade” a film, click here. Otherwise, I present to you (from the “worst” to the “best”) the 2018-19 rendition of “MD’s Movie Grade Guide”:
#26. “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom”
Grade: F (42%)
It’s hard to imagine that I’d MUCH rather watch my last year’s lowest graded film (“Smurfs: The Lost Village” 50%) many times over before watching this piece of hot garbage one more time, but it’s true. Though there are more Jurassic Park films being made, Fallen Kingdom is definitely “The Last Jedi” equivalent for this series.
#25. “The Cloverfield Paradox”
Grade: F (52%)
Much like the Jurassic Park series, this is another series that went downhill in a hurry. The original Cloverfield was fantastic and brilliantly put together, truly A-caliber stuff, but the Cloverfield Lane sequel fizzled a bit, and now the bottom has fallen out with Paradox. As poorly as this film was put together and thought out, one would figure that J.J. Abrams had something to do with it. Wait a minute…
#24. “Tomb Raider”
Grade: F (58%)
Do you remember Chuck Norris? Yeah…this made me feel like I was watching old school USA Network with good ole Chuck again, except replace him with a scantily-clad girl. What could go wrong?
#23. “Mission Impossible: Fallout”
Grade: D- (63%)
Everybody was clamoring to tell me to see this movie, claiming that it was “actually really good”. It was not. Terribly cliched (all the way down to everybody being saved from a nuclear blast with 1 second left on the bomb) and the amount of things that Tom Cruise and company accomplish in 15 in-movie minutes (which takes close to an hour of actual real-time) is just comical. This was another film that just felt like J.J. Abrams had his fingerprints all over. Oh, wait a minute…
#22. “Blockers”
Grade: D (65%)
This film came highly recommended to me by several people who said it was a classic comedy. First off, John Cena can’t act. Second off, a man getting his testicles crushed is not funny. Third off, this film was an epic waste of time.
#21. “Student Athlete”
Grade: C- (72%)
This is a documentary about student athletes not being paid by a corrupt NCAA. It has some good concepts and ideas in it, but it was awfully dry and drawn out. One could read a 1000 word ESPN article and get the gist of the topic just as well as this film depicted it.
#20. “Mowgli”
Grade: C- (73%)
It’s better than the Disney live-action Jungle Book debacle from a couple of years ago, and visually creative, but from a storytelling standpoint, this film is horribly predictable and thus, for the most part, boring.
#19. “Spielberg”
Grade: C (75%)
Another documentary that was featured on HBO which depicted the life and accomplishments of famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg. It was fine, but perhaps I was a bit “meh” about it because I had already studied Spielberg extensively in the past, so it offered nothing new for me. Maybe other people’s experiences with it would be different.
#18. “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Grade: C+ (77%)
Rami Malek absolutely kills it in his acting portrayal of Freddie Mercury, but the film itself was less than inspiring for a ‘Best Picture’ nominee. To me, it was a glorified music video featuring all of Queen’s greatest songs, where the ‘glorified’ parts were uninteresting and forced drama that created a muddled and boring story arch. For hardcore Queen fans, however, this may be the greatest movie of all-time.
#17. “Black Panther”
Grade: C+ (78%)
Wait…Marvel actually made a movie that I gave better than a ‘D’ grade to? Yes, it did (it actually made a few of them; keep reading). The film was visually stunning and had a magnificent soundtrack, but it’s predictability and formulaic structure ultimately prevented an otherwise good film from being much more than an average film. It has received a “political” ‘Best Picture’ nomination, but that’s too bad, because there’s actually another Marvel film that didn’t get such recognition and it was MUCH better.
#16. “Mary and the Witch’s Flower”
Grade: C+ (79%)
From the makers at what used to be Studio Ghibli, this animated feature was incredibly creative and beautiful to watch. The story was somewhat flat in parts, but the imagination in this film is off the charts.
#15. “Roma”
Grade: B- (80%)
Though this ‘Best Picture’ nominee had one of the most emotionally hard to watch scenes I’ve ever seen towards the end of it, it’s “real-life” style of filmmaking and storytelling was rather dull and uninspiring to me. It’s “if you are a woman, you shouldn’t trust men because they will leave you in the end and you will have to do it on your own” theme is tired and simply…untrue (though there are many on the “left” who praise this type of message and thus, it’s popularity). Fantastic cinematography though, perhaps the best in this year’s crop.
#14. “Deadpool 2”
Grade: B- (81%)
Another Marvel movie, and I gave it a B grade? Though the first Deadpool was a better film all-around, this sequel didn’t disappoint (besides a really weird baby penis scene). Though I did hear that whatever Deadpool movie came out near Christmas was a catastrophe.
#13. “The Mule”
Grade: B- (82%)
I had high expectations for this film and it sadly let me down. It’s not a “bad” movie by any means, it’s just not “great”, and I’ve come to expect “greatness” out of Clint Eastwood. It’s got some humor, a decent story, and a powerful theme that wasn’t hit on as much as it should have been.
#12. “Red Sparrow”
Grade: B- (83%)
What a gritty performance by Jennifer Lawrence in this spy-thriller. The film had a realness to it that was brutal at times, but played well with the genre to create a genuine “good” movie. If you liked older films such as “Spy Game”, “The Last Castle”, and “Ronin”, you will enjoy this one.
#11. “Bird Box”
Grade: B (84%)
The only reason I watched this movie was because I am a Sandra Bullock fan, and I’m glad I did. The ideas that founded as the premise of the film were creative and carried out in an entertaining and suspenseful way. The ending of the movie was a little poor, but all-in-all, a really good film.
#10. “Fahrenheit 11/9”
Grade: B (85%)
I know Michael Moore is a polarizing figure in contemporary society, and I’ve learned to take his material with the biggest grain of salt imaginable, but this Moore film actually makes some fantastic points (though carried out in a very bias fashion) that are relevant and important to the fabric that makes up America. The film was hated by people on the “right” because, well…it’s Michael Moore, and hated by people on the “left” because Moore uses the premise that it is the “left’s” fault that Donald Trump ever got elected President in the first place, so the film was hardly seen by anybody and considered a box office flop of massive proportions, but if you can peel back the Michael Moore bias, it’s very well done.
#9. “A Star is Born”
Grade: B (85.5%)
To me, this is fringe-caliber ‘Best Picture’ material (e.g. the kind of movie that if they are struggling to come up with 8 or 9 nominees, to put on the ballot to fill it out). It had some really powerful themes and one memorable song, but in the end, it felt like it was missing the entire final act (if one was to analyze by a classical 3-act structure). It ends abruptly and without hope or inspiration when the film featured a theme (love and loss) that sets up an inspiring finish perfectly. And Bradley Cooper being nominated for ‘Best Actor’? Makes no sense to me, he was nothing special in this movie at all.
#8. “A Quiet Place”
Grade: B (86%)
Much like “Bird Box”, this film’s premise was very creative and built a foundation perfect for a suspense-thriller. Some have called it a horror film, but it’s nowhere near a horror film in my opinion. If you like “Bird Box”, you should check this one out as well.
#7. “Outside the Bubble: On the Road with Alexandra Pelosi”
Grade: B+ (87%)
An HBO documentary that features Alexandra Pelosi (yes, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter) travelling to different pockets of America to capture their ideologies and beliefs. Though Pelosi is definitely “left”-leaning in her other media creations, her goal in this film is to stay as neutral as possible and just listen to people from all walks of life. It’s an incredibly eye-opening piece in the sense that it leaves you thinking: “Oh my God, there are actually people like that living in our country…lots of people like that living in our country.”
#6. “Ready Player One”
Grade: B+ (89%)
Now this is how special effects and nostalgia is done! Forget that piece of trash “Pixels” from a few years ago. “Ready Player One” is a ton of fun and Steven Spielberg definitely goes back to his 80’s roots for this fun flick. On a serious note, it’s interesting to think about where virtual reality and video gaming will take us in the next 20 to 30 years.
#5. “Avengers: Infinity War”
Grade: A- (90%)
I can’t believe it (and I know none of you can either), but yes…a Marvel movie made my A-list. That hurt just typing that, but Infinity War is legitimately a “great” movie. For all of the absolute garbage that Marvel put out there leading up to this film (all of the standalone superhero movies), IW pays it off with a a marvelous (heh, see what I did there?) performance by Josh Brolin as Thanos and a storyline that proves superheroes aren’t invincible. Until this April when I’m sure Marvel will absolutely RUIN Infinity War by bringing all of the characters they killed back to life in cheesy fashion. I’m dreading the next Avengers flick more than any other Marvel film to date…
#4. “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
Grade: A- (90.5%)
This one also caught me by surprise after “The Last Jedi” effectively took the galaxy’s largest shit on the entire Star Wars franchise. Though Solo has a couple of cringe-worthy scenes (e.g. how Han Solo got his name & Wookie-wrestling in the mud) and a horrible “Last Jedi”-caliber character in L3, the film thankfully kills off that character in quick fashion and overcomes those couple of scenes with some good old-fashioned Star Wars fun the way the originals did it. And I loved Alden Ehrenreich’s portrayal of Han Solo, more than Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Han Solo in “The Force Awakens”. Great, fun film that belongs in the increasingly shrinking pantheon of “good” Star Wars movies.
#3. “Vice”
Grade: A – (91%)
A worthy ‘Best Picture’ nominee that tells the behind-the-scenes story of Dick Cheney’s life. Christian Bale does an excellent acting job as Cheney, as does Sam Rockwell as George Bush Jr. The film’s, at times, eccentric style (e.g. Cheney and his wife breaking into tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare in bed) actually works against it, I think (and I normally love that kind of thing), and prevents it from being a straight A or A+ caliber of film.
#2. “BlackkKlansman”
Grade: A- (92%)
It’s funny to me that people have a problem with the “true story” elements of “Green Book”, but bot with “BlackkKlansman”, but that’s beside the point. This Spike Lee film is definitely worthy of it’s ‘Best Picture’ nomination, although it’s heavy-handedness in theme penalizes it at times in my evaluation. Though it is LOOSELY based on a true story, it’s still strange to me that they would have two people (one white, one black) playing the same “character” in the film instead of just letting the white person play the character entirely (both in real life and in the film). Oh well, it’s still a “great” film nonetheless.
#1. “Green Book”
Grade: A (94%)
This ‘Best Picture’ nominee is MD’s selection for “Best Picture” of the 2018-19 Movie Year. “Green Book” gives audiences a very good, Oscar-worthy story that entertains, makes you think, and in the end, makes you feel good afterwards. That’s the trifeca. I don’t want to spoil anything for you if you’ve not seen it, so just go check it out and let’s talk afterwards.
So there you have it folks! For what it’s worth, here’s who MD’s major awards would go to:
MD’s “Best Picture”: “Green Book”
MD’s “Best Actor”: Viggo Mortensen in “Green Book”
MD’s “Best Actress”: Jennifer Lawrence in “Red Sparrow”
MD’s “Best Visual Effects”: “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
MD’s “Best Score”: Ludwig Goransson for “Black Panther”
MD’s “Best Costume Design”: “Black Panther”
MD’s “Best Make-up and Hair”: “Avengers: Infinity War”
MD’s “Best Original Song”: “Shallow” from “A Star is Born”
MD’s “Best Sound Mixing & Editing”: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
MD’s “Best Film Editing”: “Roma”
MD’s “Best Cinematography”: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
MD’s “Best Screenplay”: “Green Book”
MD’s “Best Director”: Spike Lee for “BlackkKlansman”
MD’s “Best Supporting Actress”: I didn’t really see a performance this past year worthy of this
MD’s “Best Supporting Actor”: Mahershala Ali in “Green Book”