Find the best movies and show to watch from the year 2019. These handpicked recommendations are highly-rated by viewers and critics.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Antoinette Robertson, Ashley Blaine Featherson, Brandon P. Bell, DeRon Horton, Giancarlo Esposito, John Patrick Amedori, Kyle Gallner, Logan Browning, Marque Richardson, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris, Tyler James Williams
Director: Justin Simien
TV nerds know that Orange is the New Black, as much as it’s hailed in the U.S. for being 'crazy’, doesn’t deserve that title. It’s only a mellow take on the women prison genre that was perfected outside the States. The Australian show Wentworth is one example and Vis a Vis (or Locked Up) is another. The show starts with an inmate being boiled alive.
Macarena Ferreiro is set up by her boss/lover and ends up in prison for tax crimes. First naive and used to luxury, she has to adapt to harsh prison conditions, and harsher inmates. On the outside, her parents try to secure a large sum to pay her bail.
Genre: Thriller
Actor: Abril Zamora, Adriana Paz, Alba Flores, Alberto Velasco, Alma Itzel, Almagro San Miguel, Ana María Picchio, Ana Marzoa, Berta Vazquez, Carlos Hipolito, Claudia Riera, Cristina Marcos, Cristina Plazas, Daniel Ortiz, David Ostrosky, Harlys Becerra, Huichi Chiu, Inma Cuesta, Inma Cuevas, Isabel Naveira, Itziar Castro, Javier Lara, Jesus Castejon, Laura Baena, Laura Baena Torres, Lisi Linder, Lucas Ferraro, Luis Callejo, Maggie Civantos, María Isabel Díaz Lago, Maria Isabel Diaz, Maria Salgueiro, Marta Aledo, Najwa Nimri, Ramiro Blas, Roberto Enríquez, Ruth Díaz, Verónika Moral
The brainchild of Lisa Hanawalt (one of the creative forces behind Netflix's BoJack Horseman), Tuca & Bertie departed from that other show's no-holds-barred look at addiction and depression to focus on the freewheeling adventures of two best friends in the wacky city of Birdtown. The series wears its silliness like a badge of honor and takes pride in portraying adult women as weird, insecure, sexual beings who are still fully capable of anything. And while it mostly plays as a manic romcom (with an incredible Steven Yeun playing Bertie's boyfriend, Speckle), there are enough moving moments sprinkled throughout that remind you this is all rooted in authentic emotion.
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Actor: Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, Tiffany Haddish
Like a Wes Anderson movie, The Last Black Man in San Francisco takes artistic risks and nails every one of them. There are many quirky, aesthetically well-studied, and even funny aspects to this moving story.
Jimmie has been maintaining a typical San Francisco Victorian house, regularly painting the windows and watering the plants. One small problem: other people live there and they don’t want him around. It turns out this was once Jimmie’s family house, having been built by his grandfather in 1948, and he misses it deeply.
This story is based on writer Jimmie Fails’ life, as he tried to reclaim his family home in SF. However, it’s not a movie that limits itself to gentrification. It transcends that to being about the universal yearning to find a place to call home.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Andy Roy, Daewon Song, Danny Glover, Finn Wittrock, Isiain Lalime, Jamal Trulove, Jello Biafra, Jimmie Fails, John Ozuna, Jonathan Majors, Mari Kearney, Mike Epps, Rob Morgan, Thora Birch, Tichina Arnold, Tonya Glanz
Director: Joe Talbot
A young lawyer has to defend a murderer after passing the bar only three months prior in this satisfying German drama. To make matters worse, the victim happens to be his mentor, a wealthy and seemingly kind-hearted business man. As for the perpetrator, he refuses to say a single word. Caspar, the lawyer, is from a German-Turkish background, which is a hint to where the complexity of this legal drama lies: in Germany's history and racial legacy. The Collini Case is satisfying to a fault, but if you’re looking for substance-filled entertainment, this is some of the best you’ll get.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actor: Alexandra Maria Lara, Anne Haug, Axel Moustache, Bettina Lohmeyer, Catrin Striebeck, Elyas M'Barek, Esther Maria Pietsch, Falk Rockstroh, Felix Everding, Franco Nero, Frederik Götz, Hannes Wegener, Heiner Lauterbach, Ilknur Boyraz, Jannis Niewöhner, Levi Kirchhoff, Ludwig Simon, Lutz Blochberger, Manfred Zapatka, Margarethe Tiesel, Max Wagner, Omid Memar, Peter Prager, Pia Stutzenstein, Rainer Bock, Sabine Timoteo, Sandro Di Stefano, Sina Reiß, Stefano Cassetti, Stephan Schad, Tara Fischer, Thomas Limpinsel, Thomas Stecher, Tom Jahn
Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Beth Ditto, Kirsten Dunst, Mel Rodriguez, Ted Levine, Théodore Pellerin
Los Espookys is the name of a horror-loving group of friends, who, following their passion, provide gory services to those who seek them. Their clients range from fearmongering priests to greedy insurance claimants, all of whom demand the most bizarre out of the Los Espookys team. They’re a bit like the Scooby-Doo team in that sense, except instead of solving spooky crimes, they’re called in to initiate them.
It’s an absurd yet surprisingly sweet show that asks you to leave any self-serious viewing lens you might have at the door. Anything goes in this hazy, unnamed part of South America, and you would do well to let its boundless imagination carry you wherever it may lead, and its dry humor ground you on your feet.
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction
Actor: Ana Fabrega, Bernardo Velasco, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Julio Torres
A man returns to a town chasing the memory of a woman he loved years ago.
Poet turned filmmaker Bi Gan coats his idiosyncratic filmmaking with a thick layer of neo-noir in this sumptuous follow up to his remarkable debut Kaili Blues. This time around, Kaili City is a neon-drenched dreamscape dripping in style and calling to mind the work of Tarkovsky and Wong Kar-wai.
He may wear his influences on his sleeve, but Bi Gan keeps his trademark moves like the bravado long takes and a poetic disregard for past and present, reality and dreams. This leads to an explosive and unforgettable sequence in the second half that while originally intended for 3D loses little of its mind-bending power when watched at home.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Actor: Bi Gan, Bi Yanmin, Chen Yongzhong, Chloe Maayan, Duan Chun-hao, Feiyang Luo, Hong-Chi Lee, Huang Jue, Jue Huang, Lee Hong-chi, Ming Dao, Qi Xi, Sylvia Chang, Tang Wei, Tuan Chun-hao, Zeng Meihuizi, 张艾嘉
Director: Bi Gan
This coming-of-age drama set near Sept-Îles in Quebec, Canada is about two indigenous Innu best friends who grow up together. One day, one of them meets a white guy and starts planning a life with him, which is seen by both her best friend and her community as a rupture with them.
“If everybody did the same thing you’re doing, we wouldn’t exist,” her friend tells her. Kuessipan is about that intersection between friends growing apart and indigenous identity, all set in the backdrop of Canadian reserve life. Won the Grand Prix at the Québec City Film Festival.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Anniss Desterres, Brigitte Poupart, Étienne Galloy, Katinen Grégoire-Fontaine, Martin Desgagné
Director: Myriam Verreault
Girl won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was nominated to 9 Magritte Awards. It was also Belgium’s entry to the Oscar for best foreign-language film. When a dance school accepts her, Lara has the opportunity to realize her dream and become a professional ballerina. The dancing takes a toll on her body, but her biggest obstacle is that she was born into the body of a boy. Girl illustrates the trans teenage experience with sensitivity, slowly and humanly making Lara’s anguish become the viewer’s. Based on a true story.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Alexia Depicker, Alice de Broqueville, Angelo Tijssens, Arieh Worthalter, Chris Thys, Daniel Nicodème, Els Olaerts, Hélène Theunissen, Ingrid Heiderscheidt, Katelijne Damen, Lukas Dhont, Magali Elali, Naomi Velissariou, Nele Hardiman, Oliver Bodart, Pieter Piron, Rilke Eyckermans, Steve Driesen, Tijmen Govaerts, Valentijn Dhaenens, Victor Polster
Director: Chad Faust, Lukas Dhont
Whoever paired Christina Applegate with Linda Cardellini should be given a raise. As the inadvertent crime duo Jen and Judy, the actresses are magnetic—their chemistry simply radiates through the screen. Whether they’re solving a crime or attempting to incite one, you can’t help but root for them. As long as they’re on screen interacting, everything else—the basic mystery, the predictable twists—is forgivable.
Aside from the irresistible pairing, Dead to Me is also very watchable for its precise and sympathetic take on grief and womanhood. Both Jen and Judy have had to suffer through immense loss, and the series reminds us through their different reactions that there is no one way to grieve. They're also middle-aged women, a fact that the series handles in a refreshingly deft manner. In lesser hands, this could have been trivialized or sensationalized, but under the helm of showrunner Liz Feldman, it's a simple matter of fact that ingrains itself in every moment.
Dead to Me is both heartwarming and gut-busting, a darkly comic series buoyed by strong performances and principles.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Actor: Christina Applegate, Edward Asner, James Marsden, Linda Cardellini, Luke Roessler, Max Jenkins, Sam McCarthy
This drama is about two friends attempting to rave in 1994 Scotland, after a recent Thatcher-era law banned the act and all music “characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”.
Johnno and Spanner, one living in fear of his older brother and the other of his stepfather, want to turn things around by joining their first and probably last rave. They’re introduced to the world of illegal parties, a movement as influential as punk, that in the 1990s was born in reaction to the U.K.’s oppressive policies.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Music
Actor: Amy Manson, Anthony Anderson, Ashley Jackson, Brian Ferguson, Chris Robinson, Christian Ortega, Dave East, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Gemma McElhinney, Josh Whitelaw, Kevin Mains, Khalil Everage, Laura Fraser, Lorn Macdonald, Martin Donaghy, Megan Sousa, Neil Leiper, Patrick McAlindon, Paul Walter Hauser, Rachel Jackson, Ross Mann, Ryan Fletcher, Seandrea Sledge, Stephen McCole, Uzo Aduba
Director: Brian Welsh, Chris Robinson
Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano star in this true story of a big academic corruption case. Hugh Jackman is (of course) excellent as a successful and dedicated superintendent with a complicated personal life. However, when a curious student with the school journal starts digging around in a project he promotes, she uncovers what will become the largest public school embezzlement in the history of the U.S.
The performances stretch the story to its full potential, as this movie would be nothing without its incredible cast. It should be watched for the acting. Eventually, it suffers from a problem common to all movies based on newspaper articles: the story can be told in a single article.
Genre: Crime, Drama, History, TV Movie
Actor: Alex Wolff, Allison Janney, Annaleigh Ashford, Brent Langdon, Brian Sgambati, Catherine Curtin, Darlene Violette, Dina Pearlman, Doris McCarthy, Finnerty Steeves, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gino Cafarelli, Giuseppe Ardizzone, Halle Curley, Hari Dhillon, Hugh Jackman, Jeremy Shamos, Jimmy Tatro, John Scurti, Jorge Chapa, Justin Swain, Kathrine Narducci, Kayli Carter, Larry Romano, Natasha Goss, Pat Healy, Peter Appel, Rafael Casal, Ray Abruzzo, Ray Romano, Rene Ojeda, Robert 'Toshi' Kar Yuen Chan, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Stephen Spinella, Steve Routman, Victor Verhaeghe, Welker White, Will Meyers
Director: Cory Finley
In After Life, Ricky Gervais plays a kind-hearted journalist who turns dark after his wife passes away. Her parting gift to him is a video manual on how to deal with life. But his pessimism and annoyance with people keep delaying him from watching it. Worst of all, a new recruit at the newspaper is assigned to work with him. Her determined personality not only further delays him from dealing with his sadness, but gives him the platform to be even darker and more pessimistic. After Life is a mix of dark humor, straightforward drama, and tragedy. It’s a difficult story packaged in the easiest and most digestible TV form. The episodes are quick, have clear arcs and plot; and yet, you won’t be able to shake the feeling that you’re watching something much deeper than a Ricky Gervais comedy.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Ashley Jensen, David Bradley, David Earl, Diane Morgan, Jo Hartley, Joe Wilkinson, Kerry Godliman, Mandeep Dhillon, Penelope Wilton, Ricky Gervais, Roisin Conaty, Tom Basden, Tommy Finnegan, Tony Way
The film follows Yuma, a young woman with cerebral palsy who dreams of becoming a manga artist but struggles to find independence while living with an overprotective mother. That, however, doesn’t stop her from applying to work at an erotica manga publishing house. In this moving narrative, the themes of identity and self-discovery are tenderly portrayed through the lens of disability as Yuma embarks on a journey toward self-acceptance and sexual empowerment. Despite a rocky and somewhat dragging last act, the respectful depictions of sex work and disability make this film's warm heart feel genuine.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Eita Okuno, Haruka Imou, Itaya Yuka, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Makiko Watanabe, Mei Kayama, Minori Hagiwara, Misuzu Kanno, Nanami Kawakami, Nobu Morimoto, Shizuka Ishibashi, Shohei Uno, Shunsuke Daitoh, Toshinori Omi, Yuka Itaya
Director: Hikari