We have arrived at the acting categories and there were plenty of choices this year.

Previous Winners:  Dafne Keene (Logan), Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Emma Stone (Birdman), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses), Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)

Here are the supporting actresses

#10.  Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Dolemite is My Name)

#9.  Jamie Lee Curtis (Knives Out)

#8.  Margot Robbie (Bombshell)

#7.  Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)

#6.  Zhao Shuzhen (The Favorite)

#5.  Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

#4.  Karen Gillan (Avengers: Endgame)

#3.  Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell)

#2.  Florence Pugh (Little Women)

and #1….

Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)

Scarlett was brilliant in Jojo Rabbit, one of her three great movies this year.  She brought so much feels to the spoof/comedy of Jojo Rabbit.

As I said in my earlier review, I needed some more sci-fi movies to complete my list this year.  I have seen a couple of extras..will they make the list?

A couple of rules.  I do not include super hero movies in the sci-fi category, even though they could be arguably included.  There is enough places for those.  I also typically leave out Star Wars movies because, again arguably, they are not science fiction.

Previous Winners:  Upgrade, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, The Martian, Ex Machina, Star Trek Into Darkness, Edge of Tomorrow

Moving on with the list….

BEST Sci-Fi of 2019

#1.  Freaks.  One of the new films not only makes the list, but tops it.  This was quite the trip and was filled with drama and intensity.

#2.  Fast Color

#3.  I Am Mother

#4.  Ad Astra

#5.  Detective Pikachu

#1-3 on this list are films that most people probably never heard of, which is cool.  Go search them out because they are really great.  I was a tad bored in parts of Ad Astra but it looked spectacular. Detective Pikachu boasted a top notch performance from Ryan Reynolds.

WORST Sci-Fi of 2019

#1. Replicas.  Ah Keanu… what have you done?  This was an easy choice as this is one of the worst films of the year…not just sci-fi films.

#2.  Hellboy

#3.  Gemini Man

#4.  MIB International

#5.  Don’t Let Go

Does including Hellboy break my superhero rule?  Maybe, but it was so bad that I am willing to look the other way.  Gemini Man and MIB International were very disappointing, both wasting concepts that could have been excellent.  Don’t Let Go was weird and yet predictable.  Terminator: Dark Fate would have been at #6 had this list continued so I would toss it a dishonorable mention.

2019 was a good year for horror.  Between the categories of animation, Sci-Fi and horror, there were almost double or even triple the number of horror films for these two lists.

I am giving the top 5 in each categories and some honorable mentions after that.

Previous Winners:  A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods

#1.  Doctor Sleep.  The Shining sequel was the runaway choice here and is one of my favorite movies of the year.

#2.  Crawl.  

#3.  I See You

#4. Pet Sematary 

#5.  Eli

The alligator killing Crawl nearly took this award.  It was so tense and I was so anxious during the film.  I See You was a film I just saw on streaming and it was so great.  Very mind bending too.  Pet Sematary was a decent Stephen King remake this year, better than It Ch. 2 turned out.  Eli on Netflix was really good and the ending was very out of nowhere.

Honorable Mentions:  Child’s Play, Midsommar, Brightburn, The Dead Don’t Die, It Chapter Two, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Ready or Not, Girl on the Third Floor, Haunt

WORST Horror of the Year

#1.  Countdown

#2.  Greta

#3. Escape Room

#4.  The Prodigy

#5.  Ma

These were not that bad either.  Ma had its moments and Octavia Spencer was exceptional in the lead role.  Greta had a weird performance from Isabelle Huppert.  Escape Room had its positives too.

2019 in animation was not as strong as in past years.  There is absolutely no Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse here.  Still, there were several that were pretty decent.

I actually skipped several animated films this year that I thought might be on that worst list, so there are not very many to make up the three that I listed.  I skipped animated movies such as Angry Birds 2, Ugly Dolls, Arctic Dogs etc.

Previous Winners: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Coco, Moana, Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Flashpoint, Paranorman, Winnie the Pooh

Best Animated Movie of the Year

#1.  Klaus.  A surprise pick from Netflix.  A great new version of the Santa Claus story.  Features J.K. Simmons as Klaus.

#2.  How to Train Your Dragon 3: Hidden World

#3.  Spies in Disguise

#4.  Toy Story 4

#5.  The Reign of Superman

Worst Animated Movie of 2019

#1.  Playmobil: The Movie.  A poor man’s Lego Movie, Playmobil: The Movie was one of the all-time flops.

#2.  The Addams Family

#3.  Wonder Park

#4.  Secret Life of Pets 2

Getting into the top of the decade.  Interestingly enough, a few of the films from 2019 on this list may be in a slightly different order than they will be in the final Best of list of the year.  Don’t @ me about it.

#30-16

#30.  Wonder Woman.  DC really needed this one and Diana delivered.  Sure I thought the CGI finale of the film was not as great as the rest of the movie, but there is no denying that the No Man’s Land sequence was some of the best movie making in all of comic book movie history.

#29.  Doctor Sleep.  A sort of sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep was a great horror film with a great performance from Ewan McGregor as a grown up version of Danny Torrence.  There is a lot of great mythology in here too.

#28.  Captain America: First Avenger.  Cap’s origin.  It is where we first realize that Chris Evans, a strange choice to play Steve Rogers, was the perfect choice to play Steve Rogers.  A WWII story with a cool appearance from the Red Skull.  This one is better than it gets credit for.

#27.  Warrior.  I had not seen this one until this very year and that was a travesty.  This film is emotional, powerful and thrilling.  You can’t help but root for Joel Edgerton as he makes his unlikely way through the UFC tournament for an eventual showdown with his brother Tom Hardy.  Amazing stuff.

#26.  Captain Phillips.  Tom Hanks brings his powerhouse work to this true story of a man whose ship is taken over by Somali pirates.  The ending scenes with Tom Hanks is perhaps the greatest acting he has ever done in his storied career.

#25.  Edge of Tomorrow.  If you dismissed this as Tom Cruise in a Groundhog Day rip off, you are missing out on one of the most original, inventive and exciting movies of the decade.  Cruise, who starts off going against type which was a welcome change, and Emily Blunt are great together.  This is a film that suffered from poor promotion and a terrible trailer.

#24.  Deadpool.  Ryan Reynolds never let this one go and, after some footage leaked online and the fans went nuts, Deadpool became a thing.  And it was a massive hit.  Arguably, Deadpool contains the best love story of any super hero movie and it is hilarious.

#23.  Knives Out.  Rian Johnson created this murder mystery and it was so much fun.  The fantastic ensemble cast brought their best game.  Knives Out was creative and kept you on the edge of the seat, even when you thought you knew what had happened.

#22.  Avengers: Age of Ultron.  A movie that receives a lot of displeasure from fans because it was not up to the level of the original Avengers.  I maintain that Age of Ultron is still an amazing movie that deserves its place on this list.  There were tons of nitpicks on this one, but nothing there, to me, hurts the film.

#21.  Cabin in the Woods.  A brilliant horror movie that really messes with the horror tropes in a creative and original manner.  It is a movie that explains why characters in horror movies do so many stupid things.  And it is epic.  Great work from director/writer Drew Goddard and co-writer Joss Whedon.  Also brings us a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth.

#20.  The Muppets.  A wonderful trip down the road of nostalgia with Muppet fan Jason Segel.  The Muppets return to form here with an attempt to save the Muppet Theater from the evil Tex Richman.  Man or a Muppet is one of the best songs in Muppet movies.

#19.  Jojo Rabbit.  Taika Waititi’s wonderful comedy about a boy in Nazi Germany and his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler.  The film features some of the best performances of the year and such humanity.  It is a spoof, until it isn’t any more.  One of 2019’s best movies.

#18.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor?  The best documentary I have seen and the one that has affected me more than any other.  I sobbed in my car on the way home.  I’m still not sure why, but this doc on the life of Fred Rogers was something that hit my buttons.   It was absolutely robbed of an Oscar nomination.  One of the biggest travesties in Oscar history.

#17.  Black Panther.  The story of T’Challa, King of Wakanda, was a cultural significance and a massive hit.  It is socially relevant and provided countless children a role model on the screen that looked like them.  Plus, the movie was great.

#16.  Spider-Man: Homecoming.  One of the best Spider-Man movies ever done and finally we have a Spider-Man that everyone can get behind. Tom Holland is the perfect Spider-Man and the perfect Peter Parker.  Then, we get a totally intense and frightening Vulture in the person of Michael Keaton.  That scene in the car with Peter and Toomes was as tense as any scene that year.

#30-16

The worst movies of 2010-2019 continues…

#30.  Zoolander 2.  Holy cow was this a trainwreck. People hold the original in a high regard, but this is nearly universally disliked.  Probably another sequel too late for the making.

#29.  The Brothers Grimsby.  Poop jokes.  Vomit jokes.  And a ridiculous plot, characters and story.  Worst of all…not funny.

#28.  A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Seth MacFarlane has done some really funny things over the years.  This ain’t one of ’em.  A Western movie spoof that just did not work for me.

Education stereotypes running wild

#27.  Fist Fight.  Another one of those stupid comedies (using the term loosely) based in a school that is so unrealistic that it loses me immediately.  The filmmakers here clearly hate teachers and the school system with their display of the school.

#26.  The Snowman.  One of the Spider-man 3 winners, I was looking forward to The Snowman.  Trailers made it look fantastic.  Unfortunately, it was no where near entertaining.  I had the killer picked out immediately.  Michael Fassbender looked depressed.  It was a horrible time at the theater.

Which of these is this picture from?

#25.  Immortals.  A Greek sword & sandal “epic” starring Henry Cavill and Mickey Rourke.  The story was dull.  The CGI was atrocious.  It was just a terrible movie.

#24.  Gods of Egypt.  Gerard Butler played “Egyptian” God Set.  I know that when I see Gerard Butler, I think Egyptian.  Why cannot Hollywood give us a good sword and sandal epic?

#23.  Nine Lives.  Yes, Kevin Spacey is turned into a cat. I know there are lots of people who wish Kevin Spacey would be turned into something, but  a cat may not be their first choice.  Inane film.

She-Hulk????

#22.  The Host.  A young adult book series based movie that came out after the success of Twilight.  Same author by the way and it featured a younger Saoirse Ronan whose future was much brighter than this sci-fi turd.

#21.  Transporter: Refueled.  Another in a franchise that should have gone away.  I remember almost nothing about this movie except for the fact that I wished it did not get made.  It was the #1 on my list of worst in 2015.

#20.  The Collection.  A horror story where a killer named The Collector kills people for the sake of gore and shock value…not for story.

If only I could have had a blindfold too

#19.  50 Shades of Grey.  It it the original in the series where we meet these characters for the first time.  50 Shades started as Twilight fan fiction and that is what the film feels like.  It is not even that sexy.  Pretty sure this is the worst trilogy of the decade.

#18.  Robin Hood.  Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx waste their significant talents in this attempt to once again make Robin Hood relevant.  It failed miserably and was one of the winners of the John Carter Memorial Award in 2018.

#17.  Jexi.  One of this year’s worst movies, Jexi is the story of a man and his cell phone.  Jexi is the “Siri” of this universe on steroids.  A poor man’s “Her”

#16.  Hangover II.  I enjoyed the first Hangover.  Little did I know that they were making the same damn movie in Hangover II, only placing it in a different country.  Hangover II took a huge plummet from where it was and turned the whole series into a joke. And one that was no longer funny.

Music is a vital component to the movie going experience, whether it be the main song or the music in the background.  Music gives you the proper feels for a scene and lives in your head from then on.

There may not have been as many original songs this year, but there are some very quality ones.

Shout out to Jennifer Hudson for her stunning performance of Memory in Cats.  If only she did not look as she did it the theater.  Her voice is amazing and I look forward to her as Aretha Franklin in 2020.

Original song

#5.  The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy (Toy Story 4)

#4.  Catchy Song (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part)

#3.  Speechless (Aladdin)

#2. The Dead Don’t Die (The Dead Don’t Die)

#1.  Lost in the Woods (Frozen II)

This may not be the flashiest of the songs from Frozen II, but I have no doubt that this is the best one.  This was my favorite moment in the movie and I have it on my phone.  Jonathan Groff sings this brilliantly and the Weezer version is okay too.

Scores

#5.  Last Black Man in San Francisco- Emile Mosseri and Joe Talbot

#4.  Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker- John Williams

#3. Us- Michael Abels

#2.  Avengers: Endgame- Alan Silvestri

#1.  Joker- Hildur Guðnadóttir

Pop culture today is Geek Culture and most of the biggest stories affect the Geek community and the culture.  So the Top 15 Biggest Geek Stories of 2019 cover lots of ground.

#15.  Storm Area 51.  This came up online as a meme about midway through the year with a large number online supporting the idea.  Fortunately, when it came to the actual event, a small number of people showed basically as a whim and we avoided the trouble that was certainly coming.

#14.  Big Bang Theory ends.  After 12 seasons and 279 episodes, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory ended its run by giving Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler their much deserved Nobel Prize.

#13.  AEW.  The WWE got some real competition in 2019 with the arrival and birth of AEW.  Backed by billionaire Tony Khan, AEW came from the minds of Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks and provides another area fro wrestlers to work.  There was immediately a new wrestling “War” as AEW started on Wednesday nights spurring the WWE to counter-program its NXT against it.

#12.  Royal Baby- Archie.  The first-born son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Archie immediately became the 7th in line of succession for the throne of England.

#11.  Watchmen.  The HBO series created remarkable buzz as everyone loved each week’s episode. The series, written by Damon Lindelof, took the premise of the iconic graphic novel and moved it forward into the future to tell the story of racial tensions and divide among Americans.  Genius level work.

#10.  Star Wars ends the Skywalker Saga.  Episode IX was released to the common middling response to anything these days named Star Wars that does not feature Baby Yoda.  The film was very divisive with some believing it was a great finale to the Skywalker saga while others thinking that it was a gigantic mess.

#9.  WWE video game glitches.  The new WWE video game, WWE 2K20, had a ton of glitches and bugs when released, causing fans to complain about it not being ready for release.  There are some real funny ones, including when Charlotte went for the figure-8.

#8.  Greta Thunberg.  A 16-year old Swedish environmentalist, Greta created a huge stir on the world stage when she spoke at the UN Climate Action Summit.  She was named Time’s Person of the Year for 2019 and she was Tweeted at by the President of the USA, Donald Trump, but not in a positive way.

#7.  Joker/Captain Marvel pass $1B at box office.  Despite calls and protests against both film online, DC Movies Joker and Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel both passed one billion dollars world wide in 2019. It goes to show that the vocal minority on the Internet is just that, a minority.

#6.  Impeached.  Although I try to remain outside of the political realm here, you cannot ignore the fact that Donald Trump became only the third US president to ever be impeached.  Political junkies all over the internet and the media will be debating the importance or lack thereof well into 2020.

#5.  Spider-man tug of war.  About midway through the year, Sony and Disney announced that they were unable to come to an agreement over the rights to Spider-man and that the Web-Head would be leaving the MCU.  The public outcry was loud and, after Tom Holland called Bob Iger, a compromise was found to keep Spidey where he belongs.

#4.  Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola “trash” Marvel Studios.  It was the story that wouldn’t go away.  Scorsese made some comments about Marvel Studios not being cinema and how it is compared to an amusement park ride.  Though his comments were not that bad when read in context, the Internet exploded.  Then, when Coppola threw in his two cents about Marvel being “despicable” everything only got worse.  It seems like everything has finally started to calm down.  *Terry Gilliam-hold my beer*

#3.  Disney + launches.  The streaming service Disney + launched to great success on Nov. 12th as Disney says they had 10 million subscribers after the first day of launch.  Featuring such fun shows as The Mandalorian and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, a ton f Disney movies, and with the upcoming Marvel series, Disney + looks to be solid well into the future.

#2.  Game of Thrones ends.  The finale of HBO’s classic show Game of Thrones took place this year and, unfortunately, much of the final season, including the finale, was not what the public was hoping for.  The finale was disliked by many of its longtime viewers and continued that toxic environment that has become social media online.

#1.  Avengers: Endgame passes Avatar.  Yes, they had to re-release it right near the end of its run with some additional footage added in a post credit scene, but Avengers: Endgame was still a massive win.  It was able to overtake Avatar as the most money worldwide for any movie ever (without inflation).  Endgame made an insane $350 million domestic opening weekend, totally crushing the previous record set the year before by Infinity War.  It also made over $1 Billion dollars worldwide in the opening weekend.  It ended its theatrical run at $2,797,800,564, compared to Avatar’s $2,789,958,507.

We once again will have the specialty award to honor those members of the Expendables cast and their acting prowess in other films.

Best Expendable Supporting Actor:  Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator: Dark Fate).   Arnold returned to the Terminator franchise (again) and killed off poor John Connor.  Then he went off and got into a relationship.  Arnold continued to show his skill at being an emotion-less cyborg.

Expendable Match of the Year:  Ronda Rousey competing at Wrestlemania 35 in the main event.  Yes, Ronda lost that match, but you cannot argue that she was in the main event of Wrestlemania.  It was the first female main event of Wrestlemania ever and she shared the match with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.

Best Expendable Actor in a Lead Role:  Jason Statham (Hobbs & Shaw).  Jason Statham and The Rock had great chemistry together in the last Fast & Furious film (I don’t recall the number…9,maybe?) and that lead to a spin off for their characters.  The film was fun and as ridiculous as any F&F movie.  The film made a lot of money because of Statham and Johnson.

Best Expendable Actor in a Return Role:  Bruce Willis (Glass).  Bruce returned to the role of David Dunn this year in Glass, a film I liked but many people thought underperformed.

Best Expendable in a Rom-Com: Liam Hemsworth (Isn’t It Romantic).  A surprisingly funny film with a good comedic turn from Liam.

Best Expendable Cameo:  Harrison Ford (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).  This is a shoo in since he already took home the Stan Lee Cameo of the Year Award.

This award is brand new this year. 

I wonder….

Is the title of this award…a SPOILER?

Yup.

Winner of the first ever Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award is….

Avengers: Endgame!

Of course.

I mean… duh.  It is literally the name of the brand new award.

And this is reasonable too.  There were so many great moments in the film.  Robert Downey Jr throughout.  Chris Evans and his story wrap-up for Cap.  How about Chris Hemsworth’s amazing portrayal of a Norse God fighting depression/PTSD?  Scarlett Johansson and her sacrifice.  Jeremy Renner was strong in all his scenes.  Karen Gillian gets overlooked a lot but she brought so much depth to Nebula.  Paul Rudd showed all kind of range, from comedic to downright frightened.  Gwyneth Paltrow’s good bye to Tony Stark was note perfect.  There were so many actors in this ensemble yet they all seemed to have their moments.  Especially the OG Avengers.

There were some other great ensemble casts this year too.

Runners-Up:  Knives Out, The Favorite, Parasite, Hotel Mumbai, Good Boys, Kid Who Would Be King, Bombshell, Little Women, Ready or Not, The Dead Don’t Die.

I actually have not seen as many documentaries of the past years and, honestly, there has not been that dominant documentary around.  Still, here are the list of 10.

#10.  Jawline.  On Netflix, the tale of 16-year-old Austyn Tester trying to become a celebrity on YouTube.  Interesting look.

#9.  Fire in Paradise.  The doc about the fire in the California city named Paradise.  It was intense and tough to watch, but it was too short.

#8.  Western Stars.  Bruce Springsteen in a barn singing his new album.  Solid work, but I did not know any of the songs.  Loved his cover of Rhinestone Cowboy.

#7.  Apollo 11.  The story of the first expedition to land on the moon featuring unaired footage and the actual news coverage.

#6.  Never Surrender.  Screen Junkies create a documentary all about the making of Galaxy Quest, the classic 90s comedy/spoof starring Tim Allen and Alan Rickman.

#5.  They Shall Not Grow Old.  A look at the soldiers of World War I through old BBC footage that Peter Jackson used technology to update the footage.

#4.  Biggest Little Farm.  An intense story of how a little farm begins and survives outside of Los Angeles.  I never thought this could be as exciting as it was.

#3.  Ask Dr. Ruth.  A documentary all about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the noted sex therapist.  Entertaining and vital.

#2.  Amazing Grace.  A remarkable film with the performance of Aretha Franklin recording her Amazing Grace album live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972.  The Queen of Soul brings it.

#1.  Leaving Neverland.  The six hour documentary on the Michael Jackson child sexual abuse case was devastating, painful to watch and heartbreaking.  Listening to the stories of Jackson’s alleged victims was incredibly horrific and the interviews with the families involved made you angry and wondering what these people were thinking.