The 25 Best Movies of 2019, Ranked – Parade

From record-obliterating box-office juggernauts like Joker and Avengers: Endgame to can’t-miss fare that might have slipped under your radar (like Honey Boy and Waves), we’ve rounded up the best films of 2019. Movies are great right now, and a top ten list just wouldn’t cut it. On this list of 25, there are highly recommended selections from a variety of genres, with selections for all ages, picks that will appeal to a variety of tastes. These are the movies that made 2019 so exceptionally strong.

In ascending order, here is our ranking of the 25 most unforgettable movies we saw in 2019.

Related: The Top 10 Underrated Movies of 2019 

25. Judy

Renée Zellweger‘s note-perfect, incredibly moving embodiment of Judy Garland in the twilight of her life has been rightfully hailed as a masterclass, a lock for the Oscars. Based on Peter Quilter‘s book End of the Rainbow, Rupert Goold‘s biopic is, if anything, a bit underrated. A focused, punchy melodrama that serves as a showbiz cautionary tale and more, Judy benefits greatly from a subplot between Garland and two of her most dedicated gay fans. It should come off as cheesy and forced, but it doesn’t. It’s an insightful, touching look at why gay men adore with their divas. Beyond that, the plot thread reflects how the world has changed in the last half-century, and how it hasn’t.

Related: We Ranked the 100 Best Madonna Songs of All Time 

24. Avengers: Endgame

Following the relative meh of Captain Marvel, the final installment of Marvel’s “Infinity Saga,” Endgame is so good, so complete and satisfying, it makes Infinity War retroactively even better. Combined, they’re a landmark moment for not just the superhero genre, but popcorn entertainment at large.

It’s not a spoiler to say that the final shot of Endgame was a big creative risk. It paid off, big time. Who knew a movie this huge could feel so intimate?

Related: 5 Reasons Avengers: Endgame Became the Biggest Movie of All Time 

23. Hustlers 

Jennifer Lopez ignites the screen as a mother hen with a career criminal edge in Lorene Scafaria‘s scorcher about a real-life Manhattan con job. This is a provocative, timely tale ripped from fairly recent headlines; what’s more, Hustlers is a damn compelling exploration of the complexities of female friendship. It’s got heart to match its bite.

Related: We Ranked the 15 Best Jennifer Lopez Movies of All Time 

22. Pain and Glory 

In perhaps his most stunning and complete work since Volver, Pedro Almodóvar tells a semi-autobiographical tale with his signature gobsmacking photography, strong women, and lots of sex. Antonio Banderas has never been better; he is fully deserving of Oscar attention.

21. One Child Nation

Nanfu Wang and Lynn Zhang‘s Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary examines the ramifications of China’s one-child policy through generations, and it has a very real chance of getting Oscar attention. One Child Nation is an illuminating, highly emotional experience, and the themes and experiences shared in the film have far-reaching relevance.

20. Midsommar 

This summer, there were plenty of family-friendly options in theaters. Midsommar definitely wasn’t one of them! That said, horror auteur Ari Aster is definitely two for two. His follow-up to Hereditary is visually striking, phantasmagorically icky–and, surprisingly enough, it’s frequently LOL-funny. It’s one of the funniest movies of the year, in fact– and that’s just a testament to how skilled and perceptive a writer/director Aster is. His assured sophomore outing features characteristically strong turns by Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor and Will Poulter.

Related: Toni Collette Compares Hereditary to In Her Shoes 

19. Us

With the staggering financial and critical success of Us, Oscar-winning Get Out helmer Jordan Peele is officially a multiplex auteur whose name can open a movie, comparable to Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg. The twisty, gory, profoundly American and surprisingly frightening thriller is more than a worthy sophomore outing, and it gets better with repeat viewings. Lupita Nyong’o deserves serious Oscar consideration for mighty dual performances.

18. Booksmart

Even in a golden age of coming-of-age pictures (see: Love, Simon, Eighth Grade, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) Olivia Wilde‘s howlingly funny directorial debut stands out. You’d be hard-pressed to find a film that more perfectly captures intelligent modern high school students: how they talk, what their rooms look like, their embarrassing parents, things like that. With no shortage of heart to match the humor, this can comfortably be called one of the best teen comedies ever made.

Related: 5 Reasons Booksmart is One of the Best Teen Movies Ever

17. Joker 

Sure, 2019 gave us the highest-grossing movie ever–but nothing struck a nerve in the zeitgeist quite like Todd Phillips‘s insanely profitable, divisive DC origin story (the top-earning R-rated movie in history). Joker doesn’t go deep enough to be the kind of genre-defining masterpiece some have proclaimed, but it’s a gripping, immersive period piece that should raise serious questions about mental health.  Joaquin Phoenix is a lock for a Best Actor Oscar for his mesmerizing, tortured take on the Clown Prince of Crime, and Joker will likely become the second comic-book picture (after Black Panther) to receive a nomination for Best Picture.

Related: 10 of the Best Movies About Mental Health 

16. Little Women 

Irresistible. Thrillingly entertaining thanks to the vibrant personalities of its characters, Greta Gerwig‘s all-star take on Louisa May Alcott‘s beloved book is one for the ages. Little Women further establishes Florence Pugh as one of the hottest talents around right now. She co-stars in next year’s Marvel pic Black Widow alongside Scarlett Johansson.

15. Wild Rose

A star is born feels like a sheepish understatement when the topic at hand is Jessie Buckley, whose turn as a Glasgow girl with her heart in country music is one of the year’s best performances by any measurement. Wild Rose will make you laugh, and it will move you to tears. It will lift you up, and it will give you an even deeper appreciation for one of the great American art forms.

Related: Jesse Buckley Talks Country Music and Why There’s No Place Like Nashville 

14. The Irishman 

Martin Scorsese‘s long-gestating crime epic, centered on and Jimmy Hoffa, is an extraordinary achievement in rich, slow-burn character development. It’s on Netflix, but the best way to see it is one sitting, on the biggest screen possible. Front-and-center are titanic turns by Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and (stepping out of retirement for a moment) Joe Pesci. Also front-and-center are the picture’s much-discussed de-aging visual effects. At times they’re pretty seamless. Also, they’re often distracting, even off-putting. Make no mistake: we’re still in the Uncanny Valley.

Related: The 15 Best Crime Movies on Netflix 

13. The Farewell

Awkwafina stars in Lulu Wang‘s widely acclaimed dramedy, as a Chinese-American struggling with familial tradition as a loved one becomes seriously ill. Even through its emotionally-charged subject matter, The Farewell is warm and hilarious; a family film accessible to a wide audience. The Farewell broke this year’s per-screen average record for its opening weekend, besting even Endgame.

12. Amazing Grace 

Documentaries have been great this year. We were over-the-moon for Apollo 11. The Biggest Little Farm inspired us. Netflix‘s Knock Down the House was a knockout. Martin Scorsese‘s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story has been widely praised. But who could possibly top The Queen of Soul?

Pure and simple, Amazing Grace is as much a spiritual experience as it is a movie. An electrifying account of Aretha Franklin‘s famed 1972 concert with the Southern California Community Choir, Sydney Pollack‘s decades-delayed doc proves all you need is a few cameras and one of the greatest voices in history to make essential viewing. Unforgettable.

11. The Nightingale

Jennifer Kent‘s thunderous follow-up to The Babadook stars Aisling Franciosi as an imprisoned, abused Irish convict who sets out into the wilderness of 1825 Australia seeking vengeance. To be clear: The Nightingale is not a revenge fantasy; it’s a moral, humane exploration of themes that aren’t restricted to any particular time and place. It’s not easy viewing—it’s as much a series of events you experience as it is a movie you watch—but storytelling this clear-eyed and urgent doesn’t come around all that often, and demands to be seen. Kent does not make compromises in telling challenging, impactful stories. She’s one of the most exciting filmmaking talents around right now.

Parade Exclusive: Jennifer Kent Talks About The Nightingale, Finding Light in Dark Places, and Why There Will Never Be a Babadook 2

10. The Lighthouse 

Robert Eggers‘ follow-up to The VVitch is a turbulent two-hander showcasing riveting work from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. In this frightening, funny, bizarre 1890s-set psychological nerve-fryer, Eggers’ meticulous attention to detail is as  staggering as it was in his debut. Eggers doesn’t make easy viewing; his challenging, layered and ambiguous films force us to become active viewers. That’s a big part of why he’s so great.

9. Honey Boy 

Let it be known throughout the land: 2019 was the nascence of the Shia LaBeouf renaissance. He deserves Oscar attention as star–and particularly as screenwriter–of this painfully honest, liberating memoir, directed with just the right amount of visual flair by Alma Har’el. Honey Boy is a small-scale showbiz tale, a piercing look at LaBeouf’s formative years as a child star–but the subject matter (families, addiction, etc.) is entirely universal.

8. Rocketman 

Bohemian Rhapsody was overcommitted to recreating some things on a technical level. Rocketman really, truly feels the music. Dexter Fletcher‘s Elton John biopic is a splashy old-fashioned musical, a juicy showbiz melodrama, and one of the most affecting movies about sobering up in recent memory. It all wouldn’t work without Taron Egerton, who is now one of the most versatile and well-liked young actors working in popular films.

Rocketman can’t get bogged down by the clichés that commonly burden biopics, because–to be perfectly accurate here– it dances all over them. What a triumph this is.

Related: Taron Egerton Reveals How Elton John Helped Him Prepare for Rocketman, What He Found Reading His Diaries and More 

7. Jojo Rabbit 

Taika Waititi channels the spirit of Mel Brooks in this ballsy black comedy. A comedy about Nazis. The comic timing of newcomer Roman Griffin Davis (now a Best Actor Golden Globe nominee) is more impressive than that of many veteran sitcom stars in the game at the moment. Scarlett Johansson, who’s had one hell of a year, does her funniest big-screen work since Ghost World.

Jojo Rabbit cements Waititi as an auteur of the offbeat. May he continue to take risks on a grand scale.

6. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will surely get Oscar nods for their work in Quentin Tarantino‘s crowd-pleasing, blissful ninth feature, a eulogy for an era most of us (including him) have only seen on film. The critical and box-office success of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood proves that Tarantino can open a movie like only a few auteurs out there still can. Hopefully we’ll get at least a few more great films from him before that rumored retirement.

One more thing about Once Upon a Time: That ending. Oh, that ending. It’s instantly iconic–a gleeful pleasure when you’re watching it. The more it sinks in, it has considerable emotional resonance

Like so many of the Old Hollywood classics it references, Once Upon a Time just gets better and more meaningful with each spin.

5. Marriage Story 

Noah Baumbach‘s emotional juggernaut showcases career-best work from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. The rare kind of picture that can make you guffaw hysterically and ugly-cry within the same scene, this epic divorce saga is an instant classic. Laura Dern is a Best Supporting Actress Oscar frontrunner for her portrayal of an L.A. power-lawyer who wears pants so tight you can see bone, then fake-apologizes for looking like a slob. Perfect. Brilliant. Nailed it.

4. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Sad, sometimes deeply funny, always impeccably composed, director Joe Talbot‘s debut feature, about gentrification in the City by the Bay, is uniquely, wondrously gorgeous to behold. We can’t say enough about the music and cinematography, both among the year’s best. Few movies from 2019 possess the power to haunt quite like this. The Last Black Man in San Francisco consumes you and moves you like a sweeping piece of music.

3. Parasite 

One of the most wholly satisfying, widely appealing Palme d’Or winners in ages (it’s not like everybody is buzzing about the meandering The Square a year later), Bong Joon-ho‘s funny, terrifying, tragic, tense, erotic, gross and compulsively, feverishly entertaining crime film examines internationally relevant topic of classism. In light of its astounding, highly deserved nod for top honors at the SAG Awards, Parasite damn well could be the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

2. Knives Out 

Heaven. Just, heaven. The most uproariously funny picture of the year isn’t even a comedy. It’s Rian Johnson‘s exhilarating modern twist on the all-star whodunit–spiced with savage social commentary. This was a major snub in the SAG Awards’ Best Ensemble Category, and Johnson’s airtight, giddy, provocative script should give Marriage Story a run for its money for Oscar’s Best Original Screenplay honor. One of this year’s noteworthy a-star-is-born stories is that of Ana de Armas. After admiring her nimble, screen-commanding work here, we were thrilled to see her kicking butt in the No Time to Die trailer.

Related: We Ranked Every James Bond Movie From Worst to Best

1. Waves 

Writer/director Trey Edward Shults makes good on the promise of raw talent displayed in arthouse sensation Krisha (and the primal, underrated It Comes at Night) in an unconventional, downright courageous cinematic feat. Two films for the price of one, Waves is a life-affirming, empathetic and exquisitely acted study of a suburban African-American family’s navigation through seemingly hopeless tragedy and loss. It is one of the most radical, affecting dramas about an American family’s life in memory, and the best film of 2019.

It’s abundantly clear that phenomenal Kelvin Harrison Jr. is about to take Hollywood by storm. This year, he also starred in Julius Onah‘s Luce, which would have been our number 26 pick for this list.

Related: The Best Movies About Addiction and Alcoholism 

Honorable mentions we recommend: 

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (which needed more Tom Hanks), Sam Mendes‘s immersive war film 1917, emotional sports bromance Ford v Ferrrari, Adam Sandler‘s spellbinding turn in Uncut Gems,  Joanna Hogg‘s tragic romance The Souvenir, animated features Toy Story 4 and I Lost My Body, Kent Jones‘s breakthrough drama Diane, superhero delight Shazam! and heartwarmer The Peanut Butter Falcon.

Do you agree with our list of 2019’s best films? What’s the best movie you saw this year? Let us know in the comments!

What You Missed: The Top 10 Underrated Movies of 2019

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