The Gomer Award is given to the Biggest Surprise film of 2019, the film that I did not expect to be as great as it was.  Over the years, there are few things that are better than when you go into a film with low expectations and coming out thrilled with what you have seen.

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Bumblebee

So the runners-up for the Gomer this year included:  The Upside, The Curse of La Llorona, The Kid Who Would Be King, Ready or Not, I See You, Eli, Long Shot, Klaus, The Art of Self-Defense, Girl on the Third Floor, Togo.

The Gomer Award for 2019 goes to….

Crawl

I never thought that a killer alligator story would be as exciting and compelling as Crawl was.  Certainly not after seeing the trailers for it.  Yet Crawl had me anxious and on the edge of my seat the entire time.

And the other side of the coin…

There are movies where you arrive with high expectations for quality and the film just fails to reach them.  It is not even necessarily a bad movie, but it just is not a great one.  Honestly, some of the films this year received “FRESH” reviews from me, but they were a disappointment because they were not as epic as I had hoped.

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin

Runners-Up:  Hellboy, The Lion King, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Addams Family, Gemini Man, Cats, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Glass, MIB: International.

2019 Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is….

It Chapter Two

I liked It Chapter Two.  However, I LOVED the first It and I had hoped that they would bring the finale in with as much awesomeness as the original.  When you throw in the fantastic ensemble cast that the film had, the expectations only rose.  What they gave us was… it was fine.  I didn’t hate it.  But I would be lying if I didn’t say that I wasn’t disappointed.  I wanted a huge ending.  I got an okay one.

Flop.

Every year they happen.  It is the unfortunate truth that is faced by movies in Hollywood.  Some times they will lose money.  You just hope that you aren’t ever in consideration for the John Carter Memorial Award.

There are some really good films that have fallen into this category.  Heck, some people would go as far as to argue for John Carter.  Not me, mind you, but I know some think that movie gets a bad rap.

However, with some movies and their inflated budgets, they are setting themselves up for failure.  Something like Joker this year had a low budget and made a lot of money.  Large budgets make it a challenge as it is.

Other reasons for a film to be a flop could include poor scheduling, bad word of mouth, bad critical reactions, too much competition, limited appeal, too many risks, terrible marketing etc.

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines

This year, there were some unfortunate flops.  Just this past weekend, the $100 million budgeted Cats made about 6 million in their opening weekend.  Most super hero movies do fairly well, but Hellboy this year was a huge flop.  Charlie’s Angels was extremely unsuccessful.  The Kid Who Would Be King was a lot of fun and a great movie, but it lost a lot of money.  Will Smith’s sci-fi picture, Gemini Man failed to live up to its expectations.  The Goldfinch barely made any money either, and failed to receive any support from anyone.

I was prepared to give this “award” to Terminator: Dark Fate, which did terrible and may have finally ended this franchise for once and all.  However, then there was a film that had an epic flop on its opening weekend.  A film that made $625,000 in 2000 theaters domestically.  It was one of the worst openings of all time.  As it secured its John Carter Memorial Award for 2019.

Playmobil: The Movie. 

There have some amazing people this year who have had tremendous years.  I had a difficult time actually picking out a winner for this award.  It wasn’t until late that I made a decision on who to give this award to this year.

Previous Winners:  Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams, Josh Brolin

Runners-Up:  Scarlett Johansson has had an amazing year with Endgame, Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story.  Three amazing films with three amazing performances.  I thought about the king of late night with Stephen Colbert and his consistently funny bits on Donald Trump.  Bob Iger of Disney certainly was a possible choice since Disney has had six billion dollar movies this year and launched their streaming service Disney +.  Shia LaBeouf was in two brilliant movies in The Peanut Butter Falcon and Honey Boy.

However… the winners of the Star of the Year…

Regina King & Damon Lindelof from HBO’s Watchmen.

I just finished Watchmen and it was brilliant.  It was heavily because of the writing of Damon Lindelof and the performance of Regina King.  Lindelof was able to do something that many people (including myself) believed was unnecessary and unneeded.  He took the story he wanted to write and he placed it squarely into the world of the Watchmen and never blinked.  It was a brilliant work.  Regina King brought Angela Abar (aka Sister Night) to life and was the absolute heart of the show.

Congrats to these two.

Star of the Decade.

With the decade coming to a close, who was the star of the decade?  One name came to my mind when I was thinking about who to award this to and one name only.

Robert Downey Jr.

RBJ is the godfather of the MCU, no matter how much he denies that fact.  His success is what made this series so successful and he brought so much emotion to Avengers: Endgame.  Tony Stark’s arch was beautifully planned out and played to a tee by RDJ.

I saw a movie yesterday that would have fallen on this list (Cats), but it will not appear here since I saw it after the list was completed.  It would probably wind up in the Top 10 eventually.

#70-51

#70.  Jupiter Ascending.  A sci-fi fantasy that swings for the fence, but whiffs too much.  Eddie Redmayne was a disaster here in a performance that some thought might cost him the Oscar for Theory of Everything.  Lots of dumbness and too much world building crammed in it.

#69.  Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.  Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in a inane fantasy based loosely on the fairy tale.  The movie was dark and really uninteresting.

#68.  After Earth.  Will Smith and his son Jaden starred in this M. Night Shyamalan flop from 2013.  Will and his son crash land on an alien planet in this sci-fi romp.

#67.  Captive State.  The people of Chicago need to decide whether or not to raise up and revolt against the occupying aliens.  There is not much about said aliens actually.

#66.  Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.  The first Paul Blart was a guilty pleasure of mine.  The second one, not so much.  Paul leaves the mall for a security conference in Las Vegas.

#65. Alpha.  The story of the first boy and his dog.  I found this to be just so boring and such a manipulative tale.  It may have looked nice, but the story was lacking.

#64.  Max Steel.  A superhero story no one ever wanted to see.  A teen finds the Max Steel armor and fights off those trying to reclaim it.

#63.  Suspiria.  A horror movie from 2018 that I just did not enjoy.  Lots of people disagree with that. but I just disliked this.

#62.  Dracula Untold.  There have been plenty of attempts to revitalized Dracula, but this is one more failure at that.  It was an attempt to give us the origin of Drac as we meet Vlad III.  Not good.

#61.  The Darkest Hour. A dull and uninspiring sci-fi/action movie with a group of young people in Russia.  An invisible force arrived on the earth to send the planet into darkness.  The film was in darkness too.

#60.  Exodus: Gods and Kings.  Ugh.  Just a terrible film dealing with the old sword and sandals now.  The CGI is atrocious and hilarious.  Moses and Ramses  try to save Egypt from the rule of the evil Sethi, their father.

#59.  Replicas.  Keanu Reeves loses his family in a tragic accident and decides to clone them in an attempt to recreate them.  There are some serious god issues here.

#58.  The 15:17 to Paris.  Clint Eastwood tried to tell this story with the actual people involved in the real life event.  Poor choice.  There was also just not enough of the situation for a full length movie.

#57.  Independence Day: Resurgence.  The sequel to the classic 80s film was just a total flop.  The film was dumb, the characters were boring and cardboard and the ones from the original film were wasted.

#56.  Transcendence.  A failure of the movie was unexpected.  However, the Johnny Depp vehicle was dull and lifeless.  It was hard to understand and had a typical B-movie plot/theme.

#55.  The Bye Bye Man.  One of the terrible monster/horror movies of the decade where the Bye Bye Man would come and kill you if you thought about him or said his name. Thought about him?  Seems fairly hard to avoid, unlike th emovie.

#54.  Bad Teacher.  Cameron Diaz appeared as a teacher who drank, slept around and looked to score with the hot substitute, Justin Timberlake.  I hate those movies that have no basis in reality when it comes to education and Bad Teacher was one of those.

#53.  Green Lantern.  Ryan Reynolds hates this movie.  At least he sure seems to as he keeps making jokes about it in Deadpool movies.  I knew this film did not have a chance as soon as I saw Parallax.  It was such a terrible looking CGI creature that I was laughing at it immediately.  Not a good start.

#52.  Early Man.  I hated this animated movie.  It took early man and had them play soccer.  Yep, soccer.  I regretted going to this movie within the first ten minutes.  It felt like a long time before it finally ended.

#51,  Pitch Perfect 3.  The first two were fine.  The first one was downright original and surprisingly good.  By the time we reached Pitch Perfect 3, the gimmick had run its course and they were trying to stick the Bellas into a weird action story. It was bad.

#70-51

The decade’s best, according to EYG, continues with a double dose of the list.

#70.  Frankenweenie.  Tim Burton directed this stop-motion animated film that was dark, funny and told a wonderful story about a boy and his dead dog.

#69.  Whiplash.  This film brought the powerful performance of J.K. Simmons to light as the obsessive music teacher who is trying to get the best out of Miles Teller.

#68.  Tickled.  One of the most fascinating documentaries of the decade, where a reporter discovers an underground group involved in  “competitive endurance tickling” and the unexpectedly drastic things that come from it.  It is unbelievable.

#67.  Room.  The film that brought Brie Larson to an Oscar and Jacob Tremblay to the forefront of the Hollywood scene.  This film had me sobbing the whole time.

#66. Paranorman.  Norman Babcock is a young boy who has the ability to talk with the dead, and he is trying to prevent a witch’s curse from destroying his town.  One of the top animated films from the company Laika.

#65.  How to Train Your Dragon.  The original movie from the trilogy where young Viking Hiccup discovers one of the rare Night Fury dragons, Toothless. The bond of friendship that happens between the pair is the basis of the animated trilogy.

#64.  The Conjuring.  Ed and Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators and demonologists.  They are called to a farmhouse to try and help a family that was being terrorized by a dark presence.  This film led to an entire Conjuring cinematic universe with Annabelle, The Nun, etc.

#63.  The Lego Movie.  One of the great surprises of the decade.  How did a movie about these kids’ building blocks become an emotional journey of self-discovery?  The humor, creativity and heart made this a brilliant film.

#62.  Rocketman.  The biopic/musical of Elton John’s life was filled with amazing music and helped show the world a deeper version of the life and times of Reginald Dwight.

#61.  Coco.  One of the times when Pixar ripped our hearts out with emotion and family ties.  An amazing tale about the Day of the Dead and the Latino culture.  Coco is filled with music and feelings.

#60.  Mr. Holmes.  A smaller film featuring the great Ian McKellan as an older, retired Sherlock Holmes who had to try and solve an unresolved case before his life ends.  He has help from his housekeeper’s son, and their relationship is a huge factor in the film.

#59.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  The middle film of the trilogy, Dawn focuses on Caesar and the remaining apes in the forests outside of San Francisco in a world where the human population has been ravaged by the simian flu.

#58.  Nightcrawler.  Jake Gyllenhaal was brilliant in this movie and he was robbed by the Academy.  His performance as Louis Bloom saw the actor transform in front of our face into someone unrecognizable without the benefit of any makeup or CGI.  He disappeared into the role unlike few could.

#57.  Big Hero 6.  A group of low-level Marvel heroes appear in an animated film.  Baymax becomes a huge star from the movie.  It also includes an animated Stan Lee cameo.  Many do not know this is a Marvel group of characters but the film was released by Disney and won an Oscar.

#56.  Star Trek Into Darkness.  This was one of my favorite movies of that year and, while it may not have held up as well as other films, I enjoyed this more than many people did.  I liked the way the film played with the comparisons to The Wrath of Khan.  While it has not aged as well, it was still my #2 movie of that year.

#55. Moana.  Another Disney animated film, this time featuring The Rock as Maui, an Hawaiian demi-god.  It is the story of a young girl named Moana, who feels the call of the ocean.  It’s a great movie. You’re Welcome.

#54.  Spotlight.  An Oscar winner about the scandal dealing with the Catholic church and the priests who sexually abused young children.  The reporters at the Boston Globe discovered the cover up and they investigated the story.  A great ensemble cast made a difficult subject to watch, totally compelling.

#53.  Mission Impossible:  Rogue Nation.  The Mission Impossible franchise has only gotten better and better over the years.  Tom Cruise was hanging off an airplane as it took off.  A fantastic spy adventure with characters we have grown to love.  Plus, the addition of Rebecca Ferguson is tremendous.

#52.  Joker.  One of 2019’s top films, Joker told the story of Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian, whose madness leads to the formation of the mastermind, Joker.  Joaquin Phoenix is stunning as Arthur Fleck.

#51.  The Disaster Artist.  The story of the filming of one of the worst films of all time, The Room, is told in this movie.  James Franco is masterful as filmmaker and “actor” Tommy Wiseau and his passion project.

SPOILERS INSIDE HERE

This will be a difficult year for this award as it is the final time that Stan Lee will be up for the award named for him.  No one had such a career as a cameo actor as Stan the Man.  As a three-time winner of this award, Stan has a legacy unmatched by anyone.

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (three times), John Cena, Chris Evans, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman

This year’s runner’s up:  Starting off, in It Chapter Two, the author of the original book, Stephen King made a cameo in the sequel.  It was a strange one though.  Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart made surprise cameos in Hobbs & Shaw.  Finally, and sad to say, Stan Lee’s final two cameos, in Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, came up just short of the award this year.  I struggled with this because I wanted to give it to him one final time, but the fact is that the two cameos that I have tied for the win this year were more impactful and important than either of Stan’s cameos.  RIP Stan.  We love you.

This year’s winners… (Tie)

J.K. Simmons (Spider-man: Far From Home).

Nobody saw this one coming and it was one of the best moments of the year.  Not to mention that his cameo completely turned the movie on its head and changed the film from a happy ending into a shocking finale.  No one could play JJJ like J.K. Simmons and thankfully, in the MCU, we do not have to have anyone try.

SPOILERS AGAIN

and….

Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker)

If you wanted to give Kylo Ren a chance for redemption, you needed to hear from his father, Han Solo.  Kylo’s killing of Han was one of those things that were impossible to return from, but if you could gain forgiveness from Han himself, Ben might have a chance to be accepted.  Sure, it was just a memory in Ben’s head, but we got to see Harrison Ford once more as his iconic character and that is worth everything.