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.

#50-31

Continuing with the listing of the worst movies of the decade, in my humble opinion.  Disagree?  Please.  Just stay civil.

#50.  Fifty Shades Freed.  The conclusion of perhaps the worst trilogy ever.  Fifty Shades Freed was the best of the three films.The other two are still to come.

Why does his stomach look like that?

#49.  The Legend of Hercules.  Kellan Lutz appears as the son of Zeus and a mortal woman.  That probably is all you need to know.

#48.  Pixels.  An Adam Sandler film, which is also probably all I need to say.  However, this one could have been better.  The film boasted a bunch of classic video game characters used horribly. Kevin James was the President which is nearly as odd as Donald Trump.

#47.  I, Frankenstein.  Another one that I had high hopes for only for them to be dashed.  Aaron Eckhart was the iconic monster who had to wind up in the middle of a war between gargoyles and demons.  Yeah, I’m not sure why either.

#46.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Long Haul.  I had liked the earlier films in this franchise and then this came along.  One of the worst films of that year, Long Haul took the immature humor to a different level.  The recasting of the roles did not help this either.

#45.  Action Point.  Johnny Knoxville running a run-down amusement park where safety is only a minor concern.  Many of the Jackass type stunts were done here too.  They aren’t funny here either.

Hey, it’s Kevin Nash!

#44.  Magic Mike XXL.  The only movie on this list that I actually walked on out.  It is this low because it is unfair to criticize it without having seen the end.  Still, I hated what I did see.  Perhaps the females in the crowd disagreed with me.

#43.  The Emoji Movie.  How are you going to make a movie starring emojis?  And how is Patrick Stewart voicing the poop emoji?  Why am I thinking about this one?

#42.  Clash of the Titans.  a huge disappointment because I loved the original from the 1970s.  Sure it was before CGI and you could tell, but it was such fun.  This one was terrible CGI too, but much more boring.

#41.  A Good Day to Die Hard.  Die Hard is one of the best action movies ever made.  This is the fifth movie in the franchise and it took John McClane to Russia to be with his son, played by Jai Courtney.  Absolutely horrendous.  The only thing hard about this one was watching it.

#40.  Anchorman 2.  I am not a fan of the original, and I dislike Will Farrell, so I was not the target audience for this long overdue sequel.  Even big fans of the original agreed that this one was lacking.

#39.  Underworld:  Awakenings.  Nearly walked out on this one and only stayed because I had gotten into it free because another film I was scheduled to watch did not work.  I stuck this one out, but regretted my choice in attending this.

#38.  Sucker Punch.  Just a horrible Zack Snyder film with a group of women in a fantasy dream world.  Loud.  Ugly.  Vicious.  More like a video game than a story.

#37.  Dumb and Dumber To.  Another sequel that waited too long to be made.  Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reunite for this tragically unfunny film.  All the best scenes were in the trailer.  Not very many to choose from.

#36.  Vacation.  A remake of the classic comedy, this new Vacation had nothing going for it except for a funny bit from Chris Hemsworth.  The rest of the movie was juvenile and filed with drug, poop and vomit jokes.

Is Mortdecai watching some of these movies?  What is with that expression?

#35.  Mortdecai.  Johnny Depp’s low point?  Perhaps, but this weirdo detective was not charming or funny.  It was just mean-spirited and unfunny.

#34.  Assassin’s Creed.  this film, starring Michael Fassbender, was such a disappointment because some believed it would be the film to break that video game curse.  It wasn’t.  It was just too stupid.

Do you think Maggie Grace is missing LOST by now?

#33.  Taken 2.  The first Taken was so great.  Liam Neeson as a father with a particular set of skills in search of his daughter and kicking ass along the way.  That was epic.  This?  Huge drop off.

#32.  Death of a Nation.  Dinesh D’Souza and his attack piece on Barack Obama by using historical inaccuracies.  This was prior to Dinesh D’Souza and his jail time (pardoned by D. Trump).  Can’t imagine how anyone could buy the garbage this guy is peddling.

#31.  Hot Pursuit.  It is Reese Witherspoon and Sophia Vergara in a buddy comedy (using that word – comedy-  sparingly).  Hot Pursuit is about as mind-numbingly dumb as you can get and even the charismatic leads cannot help this flop.

#50-31

We have cracked into the Top 50 of the decade 2010-2019.  Again, this is my opinion and only my opinion.  Disagree?  That’s great.  I am sure you will.

Let’s continue…

#50.  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  This is a ballsy film.  It is more of a war epic than other Star Wars movies and it gives us a group of cool new character that are doomed from the start.  Plus, the film follows through with the finale.  I respect that.  It would have been easy to not kill them all and make up some excuse about where they were during the original trilogy, but they did not do that.

#49.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  This was an unexpected pleasure.  After the failed reboot of the franchise with the Mark Wahlberg film in the 90s, I had very low expectations for this, but James Franco and the rest brought Caesar to life and made me care about them.

#48.  Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  My favorite of the Mission Impossible series, it featured the always crazy Tom Cruise hanging himself off of a gigantic building.  We also had a good use of Jeremy Renner.

#47.  Birdman.  Michael Keaton playing a washed actor who gave up the role of a super hero, Birdman, years prior.  Hm.  Sounds familiar.  Great acting in this film, not only by Keaton, but by Edward Norton and Emma Stone as well.

#46.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two.  The only Harry Potter movie to make this list, Deathly Hallows successfully brought the Harry Potter franchise to a close near the beginning of the decade.  The kid movie franchise had moved into a full dark and dramatic action movie.

#45.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  Everyone was remarkably happy to have Star Wars back again, with another chance after the prequels.  Sure The Force Awakens had several similar beats to the original Star Wars: A New Hope, but who cared?  It brought that feeling of nostalgia back to a galaxy far, far away.

#44.  Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  No way this was as entertaining as it was.  The sequel came too long after the original and lacked Robin Williams.  Still, this film had The Rock and featured a fabulous comedic performance from Jack Black.  I was sure this would be a huge failure, and I could not have been more wrong.

#43.  John Wick.  Don’t mess with John Wick’s dog or his car.  My favorite scene in this gun-fu film was when the big bad guy found out that his son had messed with John Wick’s car and the fear was real.  That gave us, the audience, the understanding that John Wick was someone not to mess with.

#42.  How to Train Your Dragon 2.  A great animated trilogy, this one had the guts to have its main hero dragon, Toothless, while under control, kill the father of Hiccup.  While that was a ballsy move, I do think that the movie shrugged it off too quickly.  However, the fact that it happened showed you how invested this film was in creating something different.

#41.  Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  Yeah, I know there is a lot of hatred for this movie, but I do not agree.  Yes, there are some really bad parts of this movie (particularly the Canto Bight sequence), but the parts of The Last Jedi that worked were some of the best Star Wars sequences ever.  And I loved the character arc given to Luke Skywalker, despite other opinions online (be nice please).

#40.  X-Men: Days of Future Past.  The adaption of one of the greatest X-Men stories to ever appear in Marvel Comics, DoFP showed us all kinds of time travel goodness and was able to give us not only the great new Xavier and Magneto (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) but also the great original Xavier and Magneto (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen).

#39.  Doctor Strange.  A great origin story for the Sorcerer Supreme of the MCU.  One of the most original films in the series, too.  I loved the ending where Strange uses his mind to defeat Dormammu instead of the typical fight.  Benedict Cumberbatch is a perfectly cast Dr. Strange.

#38.  Elvis & Nixon.  The true story (though much has been imagined) of the day when “The King” Elvis Presley went to the White House to meet with President Richard Nixon.  Michael Shannon gave us a fantastic Elvis and Kevin Spacey (though a jerk overall) was an intriguing Tricky Dick.

#37.  Searching.  Another film that I expected nothing out of only to find that it was brilliant.  John Cho plays the father of a missing girl and he is desperate to discover what had happened to her.  The gimmick was that the film showed the father only on computer screens and smartphones in his attempt to suss out what happened to his daughter.  John Cho was sensational in the role.

#36.  A Quiet Place.  There has never been a weirder theater going experience.  The theater was so enamored with the film that we were being as quiet as we could possibly be.  John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe are amazing as the family living in this horrible future where, if you make any noise, you can wind up alien food.

#35.  Skyfall.  My favorite James Bond film of the decade, Skyfall featured a smaller story from deep in the past of the character of James Bond.  Daniel Craig hit his stride as Bond and the film was helped along by the amazing theme song by Adele.  Despite the unlikeliness of the villainous plot, Skyfall is fantastic.

#34.  Ant Man.  Who thought this would be in the top 50?  Especially after the controversy with the departure from the film by director Edgar Wright.  However, Peyton Reed stepped in to the film and created a fun, exciting, smaller (avoiding the pun) heist film that was very enjoyable.

#33.  Chef.  Jon Favreau’s fun food film. After leaving his job as a chef at a prestigious LA restaurant, Favreau started a food truck business with his son and friend.  This movie is funny, heart-warming and provides us a wonderful relationship with Favreau and his son, played by Emjay Anthony.

#32.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.  While it may not have reached the levels of the original, Guardians Vol. 2 has a ton of positives going for it, including some of the most emotional moments in the MCU.  The entire arc at the end of the film involving Yondu is simply gorgeous.  Plus, Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet is something we never knew we needed.

#31.  The Imposter.  A documentary about a man who claims to be the long-missing son from a family in Texas.  This story is so amazing that you cannot believe that it is true.  Heck, if it were a scripted movie, you would have a difficult time stretching reality to accept it.  But it happened.  The only problem is that there is too much of an open ending and I desperately wanted to know the answer.

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.

The “I Am Groot” Voice Acting Award goes to the best voice actor/motion capture performance of the year.  This has been becoming more and more important to the film industry and it is not seen as just animation any longer.

In the short time we have been presenting this award, we have given this to the characters Moana, Caesar, Thanos, and Genie.

It was a tough choice this year.

Previous Winners:  Auli’i Cravalho, Andy Serkis, Robin Williams (honorary), Josh Brolin

2019

#4.  Josh Brolin- Thanos (Avengers: Endgame).  Infinity War was Thanos’s movie.  Here he was still epic, but in a different way.  Brolin is still fantastic.

#3.  Tom Hanks- Woody (Toy Story 4).  The fourth installment of the Toy Story franchise was Woody’s story, and his ultimate fate.  It may not have been as great as the previous Toy Story movies, but that did not detract from Hanks’ top of the line performance.

#2.  J.K. Simmons-Klaus (Klaus).  Klaus was a surprise at Netflix, but it is one of the best animated films of the year.  That is thanks, in part, to a great job from J.K. Simmons in the title role.

And the “I Am Groot” Voice Over Award winner for 2019 is….

#1.  Ryan Reynolds- Pikachu (Detective Pikachu).  This film may not have been hugely successful, but a big part of what made this movie awesome was Ryan Reynolds and his witty banter.  He made this movie worth seeing.

Next up on the Year in Review is the Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award, in honor of one of my favorite characters from General Hospital, WSB super spy Anna Devane.  I loved everything about Anna and the fact that she was a kick ass spy was just part of the package.

So this year’s group of females who can kick my butt is a strong one.  There are some returning favorites here as well as some brand new entries.

Previous winners:  Rey (Star Wars), Mockingbird (Marvel Comics), Wonder Woman (DCEU), The Shirewolves

#10.  Valkyrie (Avengers: Endgame).  Tessa Thompson plays a small role in the film, but she winds up as King of Asgard.  Not bad.  Looking forward to more from her.

#9.  Aero (Marvel Comics).  New hero in Marvel’s Agents of Atlas, Aero is a Chinese hero who can control the winds.  She is a fun new character expanding the Marvel Universe.

#8.  Sarah Connors (Terminator: Dark Fate).  Linda Hamilton returned to the Terminator franchise and, while the film appeared to have flopped, Sarah Connors showed how tough she still was.

#7.  Eleven (Stranger Things 3).  Millie Bobby Brown continued to make this character one of the best parts of the Netflix series.  Her relationship with Mike was pushed a bit this year, but when she needed to crush some Russians, she was ready to fling that car.

#6.  Agent Melinda May (Agents of Shield).  It was a tough year for May.  She lost Coulson.  Someone came back who looked just like him and she had to kill him at least once.  May continues to be the best agent on that show.

#5.  Saraya aka “Paige” (Fighting With My Family).  She would become the professional wrestler Paige in the WWE, but watching how she came to arrive in this biopic was extremely entertaining.  Florence Pugh had a huge year and this kicked it off.

#4.  Rey (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).  We are on the eve of the movie and this spot is truly ceremonial.  I can only assume that Rey is going to kick some ass.  It sure looks like she will in the promotional material.

#3.  Black Widow (Avengers: Endgame).  Natasha sacrificed her life to make sure that the Avengers were able to fix the big mistake they made with Thanos.  Black Widow held the team together during the five years during the snap and she brought a ton of emotion.  She may be even higher next year as she gets her very own solo movie.

#2. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House).  I try to leave politics off of this web site, but I just cannot ignore how Nancy has brought her power down on Washington this year, holding off on impeachment until she just couldn’t hold off any longer.  She shakes off the insults from President Trump like a boss.  And she prays for him.  Nancy knows how to get under his orange skin.

And the winner of the Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year…

#1. Captain Marvel.  I know a lot of fanboys had problems with Brie Larson and with the movie from Marvel Studios, Captain Marvel.  Despite the controversy, Captain Marvel broke the billion dollar mark, something very few people would have guessed.  She also played a significant role in Avengers: Endgame without overshadowing the characters that we really wanted to see.  Captain Marvel deserves this placement for 2019.  Sorry to the haters.

The technique of de-aging actors in films has started to really become a huge trait in movies these days.  This CGI technique has been used more over the last few years and this year there has been some major uses of it.  So it is time to start giving out the Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award, in honor of Kurt Russell’s amazing de-aging in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award will give out two awards, one for the Best De-Aging and one for Worst De-Aging of the Year.

2019 Best De-Aging

Runner’s Up:  Joe Pesci (The Irishman), Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel), John Slattery (Avengers: Endgame), Edward Furlong (Terminator: Dark Fate), Linda Hamilton (Terminator: Dark Fate)

2019 Winner:  Robert DeNiro (The Irishman)

Worst De-Aging of the Year

Runners-Up:  Clark Gregg (Captain Marvel),  Michael Douglas (Avengers: Endgame)

2019 Worst:  The kids from It Chapter Two

The WWE has had a bit of a down year this year, but also have reached new heights.  NXT has continued to be a jewel in the WWE crown.  There have been times when I was bored with Monday Night RAW, but I have mostly enjoyed the PPVs.  The FOX deal has been a huge money maker for the WWE, but it has not really increased the quality.

Still, there is a feeling that things are getting ready to turn the corner.

Matches of the Year.

#10.  Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks, Hell in a Cell.

#9.  The NXT Women’s War Games, Team Rhea vs. Team Shayna, NXT Takeover: War Games

#8.  Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano, NXT Takeover XXV

#7.  Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy, Elimination Chamber.

#6.  Candice LaRue vs. Io Shirai, NXT Takeover:  Toronto

#5.  Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar, SummerSlam

#4.  Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano, NXT Takeover:  Phoenix

#3.  NXT Men’s War Games, Undisputed ERA vs. Team Ciampa, NXT Takeover: War Games

#2.  Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole, 2 out of 3 falls, NXT Takeover: New York

#1.  Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan, Wrestlemania 35.

There has been few matches this year that had as much of an emotional story as Kofi vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania as Kofi completed his life long dream of winning the WWE Championship.  This was an amazing story and one of the best pay offs in the WWE in years.

WWE Wrestler of the Year:  Becky Lynch.  “The Man” has had a year unlike any other.  From defeating Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania in the main event to the main event of TLC, Lynch is a star.  Runners-Up:  Seth Rollins, Adam Cole, Kofi Kingston, Brock Lesnar, The Fiend.

WWE Tag Team of the Year:  New Day.  One of the greatest teams in the WWE is ending 2019 as tag team champs once again, this time on Smackdown.  Get well soon, Xavier!  Runners-Up:  The Revival, The Viking Raiders, The Kabuki Warriors, Gallows & Anderson.

WWE Feud of the Year:  Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole.  These guys had three matches this year that could have made the top ten.  Runners-Up:  Kofi vs. Daniel Bryan, Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

WWE Performer of the Year:  Bray Wyatt.  Wyatt has re-energized himself with the Firefly Fun House segments and the character of “The Fiend.”  He is the hottest thing in the WWE and continues to be one of the most interesting characters around.  Runners-Up:  Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Shayna Baszler, Adam Cole, Seth Rollins

WWE Woman of the Year (Not Named Becky):  Shayna Baszler.  The NXT Women’s Champion had been a force to reckon with in the yellow brand.  Shayna has placed her name down as a future superstar.  Runners-Up:  Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks, The Kabuki Warriors, Io Shirai.

Manager of the Year:  Paul Heyman.  Yes, I know he is an advocate, but there are few others who could be considered anywhere near his level.  Runners-Up:  Lana, Sami Zayn.

Face of the Year:  Kofi Kingston.  Kofi and his partners in the New Day were the best faces of the year.  Kofi got the awesome storyline for the WWE title and, even though he had it end in an unhappy manner, he keeps with his job and works hard.  Runners-Up:  Ricochet, Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns

Heel of the Year:  Daniel Bryan.  He has since turned face, but Daniel Bryan’s heel run this year was so great.  He spoke the truth and people hated him for it.  Runners-Up:  Adam Cole, Baron Corbin, Brock Lesnar, Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler.

Best Heel Turn:  Dakota Kai.  Dakota Kai turned on her best friend in the middle of the NXT Women’s War Games Match.  It was a fantastic moment and a great heel turn is a lost art these days.  Runners-Up:  Seth Rollins, Bayley, Io Shirai, Finn Balor

Best Announcer:  Mauro Ranallo.  I don’t care what anyone says, Mauro makes the NXT Takeovers better with his match calls.  Runners-Up:  Cory Graves, Samoa Joe

Biggest Waste of Talent:  Cesaro.  He has won this “award” before.  It is sad that he is not in the main event every night.  Runners-Up:  Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sammy Zayn, Drew McIntyre.

Best News of the Year:  Roman Reigns returns in remission.  Last year, Roman announced that he had to step away because of a battle with Leukemia.  This year, Roman returned and announced he was cancer free.

Next Big Thing:  Keith Lee.  The massive man from NXT had a chance to show off for the WWE Universe around the Survivor Series this year and he was amazing.  A man his size with the abilities he has was spectacular.  Runners-Up:  Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley.

Continuing my own list of the worst movies of the last decade, we will hit on numbers 80 through 71.  As always… this is my subjective thoughts and if there is anything that you disagree with, you have every right.  This is my list.

#80.  Cars 2.  Pixar’s Cars franchise was not meant for me.  Unlike a lot of the Pixar films, Cars is directed at the children and only the children.  It is a perfect example of dumbing down the material instead of raising it up.

#79.  Baywatch.  I was actually looking forward to this.  The TV show was a guilty pleasure of mine.  I love the Rock.  But unfortunately, Baywatch was just a terrible, immature waste.  This could have been so much more entertaining.

#78.  X-Men: Apocalypse.  Another waste was the first use of one of the greatest X-Men villains ever, Apocalypse.  This was such a step down after the greatness of Days of Future Past that you wonder what happened.

#77.  Ben-Hur.  I mean…why?  What was the reason behind the remake of the classic (which was also a remake, by the way).  If you are doing this, find something worth doing.  They did not.  It was bad.

#76.  Terminator: Genisys.  Another major disappointment.  James Cameron had said that this was a great Terminator film.  Not sure which film he was watching.  The flop of Terminator: Dark Fate is directly connected to how bad this film was.

#75.  King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.  They have not gotten King Arthur right in a long time and this was a boring mess.  This story had so many weak points to it and Charlie Hunnam did not pull anything out.

#74.  Tron: Legacy.  Some people like this, but I thought it was horrendous.  It was dull.  It looked like a mess.  Even the presence of Jeff Bridges could not save this one.

#73.  The Gangster Squad.  Remarkably forgettable.  How could this film be as bad as it was with a cast like Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Pena?  It was though.

#72.  Getaway.  It has 2% on Rotten Tomatoes.  Even the audience score is low at 35%.  Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez are the stars here, but the car chases are considered much more important.

#71.  Need for Speed.  Another car type movie, this time with Aaron Paul in the lead.  Based on a video game franchise and that should be all you need.

Villains are so important.  If you want your hero to stand out, you need to have a great antagonist.  Here are the best and worst of each for 2019.

BEST Villains

#5.  Pennywise.

#4.  Carnage

#3.  Thanos

#2.  Mysterio

#1.  Joker

Joker made over 1 Billion dollars at the box office.  He carried his own movie with a great performance from Joaquin Phoenix.  Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio from Spider-man: Far From Home was fantastic, but just could not reach the levels of Joker.  Thanos was in the largest money making movie of all time, but he was more important last year.  Carnage was featured in his own major Marvel crossover.  Finally, Pennywise could have been higher had It Chapter Two been better.  Pennywise was not an issue with that movie.

WORST Villain

#5.  Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix)

#4.  Charlie Peck (The Intruder)

#3.  Bosley (Charlie’s Angels)

#2.  Smith (Dark Phoenix)

#1.  Mexican Drug Cartel (Rambo:  Last Blood)

The Mexican Drug cartel in was as weak as could be.  They were totally one-dimensional and interchangeable.  The movie Dark Phoenix brought us two weak villains, not only title character Jean Grey but Jessica Chastain’s character… Smith, I guess (that is what IMDB says).  Patrick Stewart phoned in his performance as Bosley in the new Charlie’s Angels movie.  The Intruder was one of those movies that spoiled itself in the trailer.