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Best and Worst Films from January 2019

Best Films from January 2019:

3. Beauty

I absolutely loved Beauty and the fact that it comes only third on the list just goes to show that I’ve had a pretty good movie month this January. This South African drama is one of the better gay movies that I’ve ever seen, featuring a terrific central performance and a highly moving, complex ending sequence. The film is a terrific exploration of sexual obsession and closeted homosexuality with a couple of powerful scenes and it’s the kind of slow, introspective cinema that actually works owing to its complexity and emotional investment.

2. The Guilty

The Guilty is definitely one of my favorite movies of 2018 and a shameful snub for the foreign category by the Academy. This Danish thriller is immensely intense and riveting throughout, it’s quite disturbing and mind-blowing in its twist which changed everything, but still made sense in the context of the story. The subplot also wonderfully coalesces into the main story plus the main performance is so powerful and the character is wonderfully conveyed. It’s a terrific showcase of how what’s unseen is more effective than what’s shown.

1. Three Identical Strangers

Another shameful snub by the Academy is this amazing documentary feature which just honestly might be the best documentary that I have ever seen in my life. Three Identical Strangers is a deep, complex and thought-provoking take on the eternal question of nature versus nurture which is superbly explored here through a variety of highly personal, emotional interviews. It’s presented as a sort of suspenseful conspiracy thriller and it’s thus very entertaining to watch, but ultimately its emotional power and sophistication made it one of the greats of its medium.

Worst Films from January 2019:

3. The Rider

I really did not care for this movie and thus it ended up taking the third spot. The Rider is well shot and it has its moments, but honestly to me it was incredibly boring and the kind of introspective cinema that here did not work, it wasn’t deep and the acting is weak as its actors aren’t real actors. Also, the movie is way too subdued emotionally to make a bigger impact.

2. Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is a very bad movie that got a Best Picture nomination in what is one of the worst decisions in recent memory by the shameful Academy. This movie is homophobic as hell in its intentions, caricaturist in its central character, messy in pacing and historical elements and ultimately just made for the fans of the singer and group alone.

1. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Whoever decided first to explain Michael Myers and give him a backstory and a reason for his killings and supernatural entity should have been instantly fired as that was the worst decision to have ever taken place when it comes to this franchise. This movie is one of the worst with a bad script, terrible dialogue and very uninspired horror elements.