By Nathan Kouri
What were your favorite movies of 2019? Favorite older movies you saw for the first time? Did you have any once-in-a-lifetime moviegoing experiences? We asked Bijou and this is what they said:
Molly Bagnall (Executive Director)
Jack Christensen (After Hours)
I was not expecting this film to get anywhere near number one on my list when I heard about it (even hearing reviews I thought it would barely scratch my favorite films), but in the end, it completely blindsided me. I figured this would make my top 10 and maybe even my top five, but I never imagined it would be my number one film of the year. I had heard of the “one take” style it had before I watched it and assumed it would be a little gimmicky like in Birdman (although I will say Birdman was one of my favorite films of that year). A one take film that I would whole-heartedly recommend is Victoria; an actual 2 hour long one take film which completely blew my mind. 1917 used its one take in a surprisingly thoughtful way, though. I think the "single take" only serves to enhance the story rather than add a gimmick to the filmmaking and distract from the rest of the movie. All in all, this is a very compelling story with extremely impressive filmmaking to boot. This is Mendes’ best film ever (and that comes from a Mendes fan). It literally hits every nerve I have as a film buff, most of which I can’t mention without spoiling the film (and trust me the spoilers are almost the entire reason I want to talk about this movie), I have watched the last twenty minutes of this film maybe ten times and have never tired of it. I am very open about films I cry at and of every movie I have seen this year this is only one of two I’ve cried at, and I cried multiple times. Please, do yourself a favor and watch this film. This may be a little bit too “mainstream” for some people, but I think that shouldn’t be a disqualifying factor in determining films to watch. This is one of the most powerful stories (although fictional) to be told, ever.
Please email me at jack-christensen@uiowa.edu to tell me why I'm wrong!
Emma Gray (Marketing Director)
2019
1. Uncut Gems (Safdie Brothers)
2. Honey Boy (Alma Har'el)
3. Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher)
4. High Life (Claire Denis)
5. Vox Lux (Brady Corbet)
Jack Howard (Open Screen)
Matthew Huh (After Hours)
1. The Adventures of Prince Achmed on 35mm @ Music Box Theatre — My first modern 35mm experience in a classic movie theater. It introduced me to this ancient, yet incredible form of animation, and it has since become one of my favorite animations.
2. Marriage Story on 35mm @ Music Box Theatre — I got to see one of my most anticipated movies of the year close to 2 weeks before Netflix in a theater on film.
3. Sex and Astrology @ FilmScene — Never in my life did I expect to watch vintage pornography in a theater with a packed house in 2019.
4. House @ FilmScene — It's been a dream of mine to see this in a theater as it is one of the most unique horror films. The reactions from the audience and the images on the big screen made it worth it.
5. Bad Black @ FilmScene — From the trailer, this seemed like it would be a fun film to watch. And it was. The audience was laughing, applauding, and in awe of the insanity on the screen.
Nate Kouri (After Hours & Blog)
Calvin Leslie (Forum & Banter)
Movie Experiences
1. Avengers: Endgame: It was, without a doubt, the best time I’ve ever had in a theater. I went with a friend who knew very little about Marvel, one who knew a good amount, and me, who’d been checking the countdown clock every day for the past 135 days. Not only did the film turn out to be one of my favorites of all time, but the audience had no qualms participating. I’m pretty sure there were 2 standing ovations during the film, and dozens of applause breaks. Thanks to Marcus Sycamore for that.
2. Independence Day: Resurgence: I, for some reason, wanted to see this movie. An usher actually asked if I was there to watch the movie before it started, which should have been an omen. It was one of the worst movies ever made, however, I was alone in the theater. I heckled the shit out of it, and nobody in Ames Iowa’s Movies 12 could complain.
3. Batpussy: FilmScene, hilarious pornography on the big screen, and my friend skinned her knee on the way but refused to leave. Perfect.
4. Happy Death Day 2 U: My friend showed us the first one to prep us for the Late Shift at the Grindhouse preview, and it was awesome. Then, we go to what can only be described as an experiment in insanity with a sold out crowd. It was just a blast with people who signed up to have a blast.
5. Free Solo: Once again, I was alone in the theater for this. I sat in the couches in FilmScene, making the screen enormous. It was good I was alone because, numerous times, an involuntary curse escaped my scared-of-heights mind and bounced off the guy climbing a SHEER CLIFF with nothing but his BARE HANDS! Terrifying.
Ryan Nielsen (After Hours)
2019 (alphabetical)
The Irishman (Scorsese)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Talbot)
The Lighthouse (Eggers)
Monos (Landes)
Parasite (Bong)
Movie Experiences
And Then There Were None, dir. Rene Clair (After Hours Event)
Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood, dir. Quentin Tarantino (70mm event at Music Box Theatre in Chicago)
Parasite, dir. Bong Joon-ho (Just amazing)
Flash Gordon, dir. Mike Hodges (Really fun After Hours event, though not a great movie)
The Passion of Joan of Arc, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer (Special event at Film Scene with score provided by George Sarah)
Lee Sailor (Horizons)
Michael Wawzenek (Forum & Vertical Cinema)
2019
High Life (Claire Denis)
Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
Monos (Alejandro Landes)
The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
Knives and Skin (Jennifer Reeder)
New-to-me (alphabetical)
Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling)
Ishtar (Elaine May)
Popeye (Robert Altman)
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong)
Harry Westergaard (After Hours)
2019
1. Uncut Gems (Safdies)
2. The Farewell (Wang)
3. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Talbot)
4. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story (Scorsese)
5. The Lighthouse (Eggers)
Something Wild (Demme)
To Sleep with Anger (Burnett)
Police Story (Chan)
Don’t Look Now (Roeg)
Movie Experiences
1. Visiting Odd Obsession Video in Chicago over the summer, renting The Landlord (Ashby), Melvin and Howard (Demme) and Stolen Kisses (Truffaut).
2. Charles Burnett Retrospective. Technically five separate events (To Sleep with Anger, My Brother’s Wedding, and Killer of Sheep screenings + the Q&A with Chris Harris and Cinema Savant event).
3. Seeing Hausu for Bijou Horizons with a close friend of mine in a very enthusiastic packed house. There were Rocky Horror levels of energy in that room.
4. Blood Simple screening for After Hours
5. Watching The Muppet Movie, a childhood favorite of mine, in a theater with my six year old brother, who shouted “LOOK, ITS STEVE MARTIN” during the actor’s cameo.