Best of 2019: Top Five Movies

Continuing my Best of 2019 lists, today I come to you with my top 5 movies of the year. Now, I do not get out to see as many movies as I would like, more on that when I get to my disappointments of the year, but I still see more than enough to put together a best of. The rare occasion I do get to go to the theater, I usually pick a movie that I am nearly certain I will like. I don't want to waste money. I have started to take advantage of On Demand and renting movies on Amazon, which has become a big help. Anyway, lets get to the list.

At number 5 I have "Between Two Ferns: The Movie". I had the most fun watching this movie over any other movie I saw this year. It was funny, goofy, well improvised, well acted and an all around good time. The fact that it was on Netflix was an added bonus. I have watched the movie several times because of that fact. Also, I like that they took this awkward concept and turned it into a feature length movie. "Between Two Ferns" was funny enough on its own, and then making it a movie made it that much better. Sure, the story was weird and pointless, but I don't come to this for the story. I want to see the awkward interviews, and they are a plenty in the movie, and they are great. Every person that was interviewed was game, and it showed. I laughed harder at this movie than any other comedy I have seen in quite some time. And Zach Galifinakis is truly awesome. His interview style is so funny. I love this movie.

At number 4 I have "Avengers: Endgame". This movie could have been a real problem, could have felt overstuffed and was already on thin ice with me because I am growing weary of the MCU. But, they did everything absolutely right in this movie, and they closed a chapter better than any big budget, multi universe movie has done in probably forever. "Endgame" was filled with action and drama and made me ugly cry a few times. When, spoiler alert, Ironman dies and has a funeral, I was sobbing so hard that the teen sitting next to me asked if I was going to be okay. I also teared up when Captain America told the Avengers to assemble when they all came back. "Endgame" is the way a super filled cast superhero movie should be done. The movie was over 3 hours long, well over it, but it never felt that long. The movie flowed to perfection. "Endgame" made me appreciate "Infinity War" more, and that in and of itself is an achievement. I am once again excited to see where Marvel goes from here, and that is because "Endgame" was so well done.

At number 3 I have "John Wick Chapter 3; Parabellum". I am a humongous John Wick fan. I was all in on the franchise from the start. I love the action and how nonstop and relentless it is. And "Parabellum" is that for nearly 2 hours. This one picks up right where chapter 2 left off, with Wick now on the run and all the assassins ready to take him out. It is nonstop fro there. The opening scene, where he beats up and kills pro basketball player Boban Marajonivic with a book was unexpected and it ruled. When he fights a group of bad guys with a horse that he whips to kick them in the face, amazing. Being on the run constantly kept me on the edge of my seat. The fight he has with the host of "Iron Chef America", in a smallish room with a ton of stairs, was brilliantly choreographed and a thing of beauty to watch. This movie starts fast, gets faster in the middle and ends on an unnerving note that this may not be the end of the franchise, and that is great news. I hope they continue to make these movies because I will keep giving it my money. John Wick is one of the quintessential characters of the past decade.

At number 2 I have "Yesterday". Look, I was predisposed to like this movie, and I ended up loving it. The movie is filled with the music of The Beatles, who I have called the greatest band of all time, and was directed by Danny Boyle, who doesn't make bad movies. The premise, a guy gets hit by a bus during a worldwide power outage, wakes up in the hospital, and is only one of three people left that remembers The Beatles music, that hooked me in the first preview. The fact that they were able to make a cohesive, beautiful and fun movie out of it, that is icing on the cake. The cast is great as well, led by Himesh Patel, who is simply wonderful in this movie. His version of Beatles songs is reminiscent of the sound from "The Royal Tenebaums" soundtrack, and I thought that was a great choice. I know some called it too sweet, or didn't like his version of Beatles songs, or trashed the premise. I couldn't disagree more. I adore this movie. I will fight for this movie. I legitimately think Patel should be talked about more during awards season. "Yesterday" is a sweet love story to the importance of the music of The Beatles. How could one not like that?

At number 1 I have "Us". Jordan Peele is the best modern day horror director. I don't usually go for horror movies, but "Get Out", and now "Us", has me totally rethinking that stance. He has made two perfect movies that are not only scary, but have solid messages, crazy twists and his sense of humor sprinkled in. The story of "Us", how there is a whole society of doppelgangers that live beneath us on Earth is trippy and it works. I fully bought in from the jump. Oh, and the acting in this movie is top notch. Going back to Patel and awards season, how in the hell is Lupita Nyong’o not up for any awards?! The two characters she plays in "Us" were totally different, yet she absolutely nailed them both. She is amazing in this movie. So is Winston Duke, Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss. Oh, and the kids, they are just as good. But Nyong’o stands taller than all of them. She is astounding. Also, the way Peele puts scares in his movies, not jump scares, more of the psychological kind, it stays with you so much longer. I find myself just sitting around on a random Tuesday and asking myself, what would I do if I ran into my "tethered"? That is the sign of a great movie to me. "Us" is going to go down as one of the best horror movies of all time. I guarantee it.

As far as disappointments for me in 2019, one is "Joker". I had such high expectations of this movie, and after seeing the first trailer, they only got higher. I took my father to see it on its second weekend, and I walked out of that movie more frustrated than anything else. I don't like when movies are complicated just to be complicated. I know this is my problem, and how I consume movies, but "Joker" is one of the more frustrating movies I can remember seeing in a long time. The same thing can be said for "Midsommar". I begged my wife to see this in the theaters, and when we couldn't find a time that worked for both of us, we finally had a weekend open where we could rent it On Demand. We sat down, watched the whole two and a half hours in silence and, when it was done, both said, "what the hell was that?". Now, the movie was beautifully shot, looked tremendous and had some solid acting in it. But, there was so much silence, some of the wildest shit I have seen on screen and the ending was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. This movie stayed with me for a few days afterward, but not in a good way. Again, I was confused and frustrated by what I saw. I don't know if taking psychedelics would have helped, I have seen people online say that it does, but I don't do drugs or drink. I know that "Midsommar" has a fan base, and I so wanted to be part of it, but the movie just didn't work for me. Finally, and this is more of a time thing, I am upset that I have seen "Parasite", "The Lighthouse" or "Uncut Gems" yet. I want to see these movies in the theaters really bad, especially "Uncut Gems", but I just have the time. I have a full time job as an at home dad, my wife works 40 plus hours a week and we do things with our kids on the weekends. I will see all three of them eventually, and I am sure I will like, maybe even love, them all, but they will have to wait for now. I will try my best over my kids winter breaks from school to see all three of them in the theater, but that may be wishful thinking.

Okay, that does it for movies in 2019. Come back tomorrow for my TV picks of 2019.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ty wrote his list before the biggest movie of the year has been released. What oh what will Ty think of “Cats”?

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Better Late than Never on the Incredible "Us"

My wife and I finally had the chance to sit down at watch the movie "Us" this past weekend. Ever since we saw "Get Out", we wanted to see what Jordan Peele would do next. What he did with "Get Out", given his comedy background, was outstanding and unexpected for me. I know it shouldn't have been, given his love for horror movies, but I was still very pleasantly surprised by how awesome "Get Out" was.

So, I waited, as did my wife, with anticipation to his follow up. When I first saw the poster for "Us", I was intrigued. It was simply a pair of scissors and a couple of outlines and the same person. Then the trailers started to come. I watched 2 of them, just to get the premise. When the movie was in theaters, we couldn't find a weekend that worked out, or even a weekday. It is harder and harder to get out of the house the older my kids get, unless it involves one of their activities. So, as I said, we had an open weekend night, we put the kids to bed a little early and rented the movie off our TV.

Now, I need to say, there will be some spoilers, but this movie has been out for some time now, and if you wanted to see it, you already have I assume. But, if you have not yet, I suggest watching it before you read my review. Okay, got that out of the way.

"Us" is amazing. I loved every single second of this movie. While it had funny parts in it, just like "Get Out", "Us" is much more of a straight forward horror movie. Now, that is not to say that it has the jump scares like your cliché horror movie. I would describe the movie more as a psychological thriller, which I enjoy. This movie still has me thinking about it today, and we watched it this past Saturday. That is the sign of a great movie, as I have said many times. From the very opening scene, to the end, I was on pins and needles. I was clutching my wife's hand so hard that she had to pull it away for a moment. She said she was sweating from fear the whole time. The horror of the movie got to us for sure.

"Us" takes place in California, and it is, in my opinion, meeting the worst part of yourself. The family in the movie each has their own doppelganger who is the evil version of themselves. When they arrive on the doorstep of the home of the main family, that was when shit got wild. Winston Duke plays the dad, Gabe. He is great. He thinks he is the leader of the family. He thinks he is the tough guy. He is not. He is only fooling himself. And when he meets his evil twin, The Tethered they're called, you can see his insecurities. Shahadi Wright Joseph plays Zora, the teenage daughter addicted to her phone. Her evil Tethered is faster and way more ruthless than Zora will ever be. Zora is the butt kicker in the family. She is the one that acts and doesn't think. Her Tethered is even more intense. Evan Alex plays Jason, the son and magician of the family. His Tethered is a pyromaniac that happens to have the ability to move fast and do the tricks Jason cannot do. And when the Tethered Jason takes off his mask, Jason wears a Chewbacca mask throughout, it was horrifying. And then there is Adelaide, played excellently by Lupita Nyong’o. She is scared and overly protective of her children. Her Tethered, Red, is insane, and has a plan to take over the US.

When the movie starts, we see a young Adelaide at a carnival, and she wanders off to a hall of mirrors. In here is where she first meets her Tethered. That whole introductory scene is intense and scary as hell. We then see Adelaide after the incident, and she is in a therapist's office with her folks because she isn't talking due to trauma. We come to find out that she has grown up, married and had the 2 kids I mentioned. They return to the same spot every year with their friends, played by Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker, who are hilarious and clearly have animosity towards each other. But, things keep happening to Adelaide that are starting to freak her out. She is starting to remember her childhood trauma. She tells Gabe that she wants to leave one night, and that is when the Tethered family shows up at their doorstep. We come to find out that Red, Adelaide's doppelganger, has a plan for all the Tethered to take over the US, like I said. She has all her minions doing her work. See, everyone in this universe has a doppelganger of their own that happens to be a murderous psychopath. Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss each have one that gets them. Same with their daughters. The random people on the boardwalk have doppelgangers. There is a scene where a newscaster is reporting the story, and he gets slashed by his own doppelganger. It is creepy as hell. While this is going on, the main family is picking off their doppelgangers one by one. You come to realize that they are carbon copies of you, so what you do, they do. Duke gets his by bashing his head on boat motor, knocking him unconscious and sending him in the water to drown. Zora's doppelganger is in a race all night to get Zora, and eventually, she gets ramped off a car and struck by a tree. Jason sees his doppelganger hanging out by a big car fire, and makes him walk backwards into the fire, causing him to self immolate. As he is doing this though, he gets kidnapped by Red.

This is where shit gets crazy. We come to find out that Red has this plan for all the Tethered to join hands across the US like "Hands Across America". She has had this plan since she was a child. She wants all the people she has been with to experience a real life, just like Adelaide and her family. The fight scene after Red explains all this to Adelaide is amazing and scored beautifully. It is a ballet, something they reference a lot. Adelaide does eventually get Red in the end, and we think everything is okay. We think everything is going back to normal.

Here comes the major spoiler people.

What we come to realize, what Adelaide realizes as she is driving off with her family in an ambulance, is that she is not who she thinks she is. Adelaide is actually the Tethered. She is the one that Red saw in the hall of mirrors. Red was abducted by Adelaide when they were children. Adelaide assumed the role of her because she likes, and wants, chaos. There are little clues throughout the whole movie, but none make sense until after you have already watched the whole thing. I was absolutely stunned by this twist. When Adelaide realizes who she really is, she looks at Jason who is sitting up front with her, and they both smile, as if to say, they know who each other is. It was such a frightening way to end such a well crafted horror movie. It was stunning.

I loved "Us". Jordan Peele most definitely stayed away from the dreaded sophomore slump. He knocked it out of the park. Now I cannot wait to see what he does next, even more so than I did after seeing "Get Out". "Us" is wonderful, and I highly recommend watching it if you have a spare couple hours. You will not regret it, and you will think about it over and over again. What a great movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His double is just like Ty except that the double is a huge Ohio State fan. That is true horror.

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Ty Watches the Trailer for "Us"

Yesterday Jordan Peele released the trailer for his follow up to "Get Out", "Us". I have been on pins and needles waiting to see how he would follow up his Oscar winning movie. "Get Out" was so unique and new and funny and scary and violent and fresh. I had never seen anything like "Get Out" before. I was pleased to see something new and different in this current climate or remakes and sequels. So when Peele announced that he was going to make a new movie I was stoked. I was hoping it was going to be another horror movie too. I like that he is doing these types of movies, given his comedic background. He could have done trite, typical comedic movies and been very, very successful. But, he went with what he liked, horror, and crushed it right out of the gate.

I was very excited to watch the trailer for "Us" yesterday. I had to wait awhile, what with going to see multiple family members for the holiday, but when I got home, put the kids to bed and showered, the first thing I did was watch the trailer. The only stuff I had seen or read prior to watching this last night was the poster, which is awesome, and some of the cast, which features Lupita N'yong’o and the guy who played the vegetarian troupe leader in "Black Panther". So, after all the dad stuff I had to do, I sat, in silence and watched. I try to stay away from trailers, I don't want movies ruined for me, but this one was a must watch. And it did not disappoint.

The trailer opened with the excellent song, "I Got 5 on It", and it has a family of 4 driving to a beach for a family vacation. It starts out all nice and happy. They meet up with another couple and are seemingly having a great day at the beach. Then the son of the main family starts to walk off to see this odd figure just standing out on the beach with scissors and blood dripping from them. The mom, N'oyongo runs up to him and tells the son he cannot run off like that. Then we get to see the entire creepy family in the very next scene of the trailer. The dad goes outside to confront them, and even has an aluminum bat and says he is ready to get physical. This is when the trailer starts to reveal some crazy stuff. We come to find out that this other family is out to get the main family. They are fast, scary, will talk to the main people, and they oddly look exactly like them. It is as if they are fighting evil versions of themselves. The daughter is terrified of her counterpart. The mirror scene is horrifying. The dad continues to get brutally beaten up by the evil version of himself. The mom fights and fights and fights back with her counterpart. But the son is oddly accepting of his evil half, especially when he takes off his mask and sees a scarred face. This trailer scared me, legitimately. I loved that about it.

The movie looks absolutely amazing. It seems like an excellent follow up to "Get Out". I cannot wait to see this movie. I'm so full yon board with "us", and pretty much anything Peele will do from here on out. He is easily on pace to be this generation's horror master. He is the dude. He is the shocking guy now. And he deserves all the accolades. I cant wait to see the movie. But first, I need to go watch the trailer about 10 more times. I suggest you all do the same.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. For Christmas he got a bad cold, out of control children, and some Michigan gear. How was your holiday?

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