The Best of 2019: The Best New Movies I Saw

Over the past 365 days, I saw 38 new movies, plus plenty of old ones.

Although there were some notable 2018 movies I didn't see until this year--The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Isle of Dogs, The Mule--I believe there are only two that I watched that I couldn't have reasonably seen anywhere in Chicagoland in 2019:

Cold War and Capernaum.

I think those are the only films on my list below--or that I considered for inclusion--that were officially 2018 releases.

I will cite documentaries separately as I didn't see that many (and even the top one below was more just a concert film than a true documentary).

So before I get to my main list, these were the:

Best New Documentaries I Saw in 2019:

1. Western Stars (Bruce Springsteen) 
2. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
3. Depeche Mode: Spirits in the Forest
4. Echo in the Canyon

As in years past, after my list I will also include the Top 10s of my friend Dave and Brad, who tend to see a wider swath of art films than I do.

I won't take the time to spell out which films are still in theaters, on Netflix or other streaming service, rentable or whatever else, but have found an app called Just Watch is quite valuable in this regard. 

Best New Movies Seen in 2019 (Feature Films)
(F = Foreign; 18 = Officially a 2018 release)

1. Little Women
2. The Irishman
3. Jojo Rabbit
4. Cold War (F, 18)
5. Parasite (F)
6. The Peanut Butter Falcon
7. Wild Rose
8. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
9. Ford v Ferrari
10. The Two Popes
11. Blinded by the Light
12. Hustlers
13. Marriage Story
14. The Farewell (F)
15. Long Shot
16. Capernaum (F, 18)
17. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
18. Us
19. Dark Waters
20. Everybody Knows (F)

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Transit (F), Dolemite is My Name, Always Be My Maybe, Knives Out, Rocketman, Booksmart, The Souvenir, Hotel Mumbai

Notable 2018 Movies Not Yet Seen
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Joker, Pain and Glory, Harriet, 1917, The Lighthouse, Judy, The Report, Queen & Slim, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, John Wick 3, Midsommar, Ad Astra, Toy Story 4, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, American Woman, Fighting With My Family, Bombshell, Under the Silver Lake

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above

Uncut Gems, The White Crow, The Aftermath, Yesterday, Captain Marvel

Dave's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Parasite (F)

2. Transit (F)
3. The Irishman
4. Pain and Glory (F)
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
6. Marriage Story
7. Little Women
8. Synonyms (F)
9. Cold War (F)
10. Queen & Slim

Brad's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Parasite (F)
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3. The Lighthouse
4. The Irishman
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (F)
6. Western Stars (Doc) 
7. Marriage Story
8. 63 Up (Doc)
9. Avengers: Endgame
10. Us 

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite TV Shows

The greatest thing I saw on television over the past 10 years aired on the evening of November 2, 2016.

It had everything anyone could want:

Anticipation, pathos, rising action, crisis, concern, prayer and, ultimately, jubilation.

Oh, and a fortuitous rain delay.

While my beloved Chicago Cubs winning the World Series for the first time in 108 won't top my list below, it does speak to my TV-watching habits over the past decade.

It was somewhat different earlier in the '10s--when there were some broadcast TV shows I would tune into each week--but at this point, sporting events are about the only thing I watch when initially shown.

Everything else I watch on-demand, often in binge sessions.

And I really don't watch all that much.

A lot of shows that were widely acclaimed--Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Americans, The Walking Dead, Veep, True Detective, Fleabag, Dexter, Downton Abbey, Shameless, Transparent and more--didn't really capture me. At best I saw a few episodes of some of them.

Even shows I did like, some making my list below, I only watched for one or perhaps a few seasons; very rarely have I seen an entire series. And in terms of network shows, perhaps I only caught occasional episodes.

My criteria for consideration is that I watched at least one full season--even if it contained as few as 6 episodes--or 10+ random episodes in this decade. (If the program began before 2010, I am only judging the quality within this decade.)

If you've been reading my barrage of my Best of the Decade posts, hopefully you've caught on that I don't claim to be an expert on anything. These are just my opinions, which I'm happy to share and discuss, but am also publishing largely to have a personal resource I can look back upon.

With great regard for quality television well beyond what I opt to watch, in no way am I suggesting that these were really the Best TV Shows of the Decade. Rather just...

The Best Television Series
I Watched This Decade
(for at least one full season or 10+ random episodes)

1. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
2. The Good Wife (CBS)
3. Stranger Things (Netflix)
4. Modern Family (ABC)
5. Jessica Jones (Netflix)
6. Friday Night Lights (NBC)
7. Burn Notice (USA)
8. Person of Interest (CBS)
9. Making a Murderer (Netflix)
10. Homeland (Showtime)
11. Love (Netflix)

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Catastrophe (Amazon Prime)
11/22/63 (Hulu)
The End of the %#!#! World (Netflix)
The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
GLOW (Netflix)
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime)
Mindhunter (Netflix)
Mr. Robot (USA)
Royal Pains (USA)
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Architecture

Since I was 4 years old, I have loved architecture.

That may sound young, but in 1973--when I was 4--The Sears Tower opened in Chicago as the tallest building in the world. (A title it would hold for many years; it is now officially known as The Willis Tower.)

This was after many great skyscrapers had risen in Chicago, including the signature John Hancock Center.

So tall buildings have always fascinated me, and cool structures of all types. I've long been a fan of the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright and saw and even toured several houses he designed again during this decade.

In 2013, I even stayed in the Park Inn in Mason City, Iowa, a hotel he designed which was beautifully restored after decades of various changes for differing uses.

The restoration was completed in 2011, so it could theoretically qualify among my favorite architecture of the decade, but instead I'll focus on:

The Coolest New Buildings I Noted Over the Past 10 Years
These aren't all works I've seen in person and most photos are not by me.

1. The Louis Vuitton Foundation - Paris - Designed by Frank Gehry

2. WTC Hub (The Oculus) - New York - Santiago Calatrava

3. The Shard - London - Renzo Piano

4. National Museum of African American History and Culture - Washington, DC - Freelon Group/Adjaye Associates/Davis Brody Bond

5. The Broad - Los Angeles - Diller Scofidio + Renfro

6. Shanghai Tower - Jun Xia

7. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum - MSU, East Lansing, MI - Zaha Hadid

8. One WTC (Freedom Tower) - New York - David Childs

9. VIA 57 West - New York - Bjarke Ingels Group

10. Louvre - Abu Dhabi - Jean Nouvel

11. Writers Theatre - Glencoe, IL - Studio Gang Architects

The Best of the Decade, 2010-19: My Favorite Sports Stories

Although I've never actually lived in the city of Chicago--just the suburbs--and resided in Los Angeles for 3 years at the start of the 1990s, in terms of sports fandom I consider myself a lifelong Chicagoan.

My allegiances have never lied elsewhere.

But while this will make some of my favorite athletic happenings of the past 10 years Chicago-centric, this won't just be a list of the best seasons had by local teams.

Nor should this be construed as my picks of the Best Athletes or Best Teams of the Decade, though some of those are certainly represented.

Rather, from a decidedly personal point of view, these can be considered:

The Best Things to Happen in the
World of Sports over the Past Decade

1. 108 is Enough: Cubs Win!
Quite simply, though maybe a touch hyperbolically, the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016 after an 108 year drought was the greatest thing to ever happen. I attended three Series games--the first two in Cleveland and Game 5 at Wrigley Field--but though it almost killed me, Game 7 was my favorite.

2. Hat Trick Kane: Blackhawks Win 3 Stanley Cups

I was fortunate to be at Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup and all three title runs were thrilling, though I missed seeing almost all of the 2013 Cup--including the famed 2 goals in 17 seconds against the Bruins--because I was in Europe.

3. The Quiet Superstar, U.S. Edition: Mike Trout
To this day he could probably walk through a shopping mall almost anywhere in America without being noticed, but a guy taken with the #25 pick in 2009 has decidedly been the best player in baseball since his first full season at the age of 20. Now 28, he's won 3 MVP awards, come in second four times and fourth once.

4. The Quiet Superstar, World Edition: Lionel Messi

I'm not a huge soccer fan but I have friends who are. And though he hasn't helped his native Argentina achieve the highest heights on an international level, with his club team, Barcelona, Messi has been among the best players anyone has ever seen.

5. Loyola's Final Four Run, Second to Nun

This is seemingly a highly Chicago-centric pick, but Loyola University was a #11 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament yet reached the Final Four. And their #1 fan, Sister Jean Schmidt--then 98 years old--helped make much of the country cheer on this Cinderella story.

6. Leicester Defies the 5000-to-1 Odds
Again, soccer, this time concerning the English Premier League. But prompted by some pals, I paid attention as the Leicester City Football Club--which began the season with 5000-to-1 bookie odds against doing so--won the league title in 2015-16. Some have called it the most shocking season result in sports history.

7. Lightning Bolt
Certainly, some U.S. athletes--Michael Phelps and Simone Biles among others--were remarkably impressive in the Olympics this decade, and merit great admiration. But Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, having established himself as the fastest human being with gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the 2008 Olympics, again won those two races, plus a relay, at the 2012 and 2016 Games. And he seemed like the world's coolest human being in doing so. 

8. Halcyon Times in Tennis
Their greatness goes back to the past decade, but it's been tons of fun watching the continued runs of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams. The 38-year-old Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, but 33-year-old Nadal with 19 and 32-year-old Djokovic with 16 are right on his heels for the all-time men's record. And with 12 Slam singles wins this decade, Serena Williams' total of 23 are the most of anyone in the Open Era. She also has 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles with her sister Venus.

9. Tiger Roars Once More

I used to love watching Tiger Woods during his years of golf dominance. But in addition to showing himself not to be a great husband, he also made me believe he likely isn't a great person. Still, after years of injuries had, at times, made him among the worst players on the PGA Tour, it was undeniably thrilling to see him win the Masters this year at age 43.

10. USWNT Has a Ball

For all kinds of silly reasons--their looks, haircuts, sexuality, celebrations, goal differentials, confidence, boldness and more--the U.S. Women's Soccer Team seemed to engender a lot of hate from many corners. But at the 2019's Women's World Cup, they proved they were the best team in the world. 

11. The Perfectly Unlikely Phil Humber

On April 21, 2012, Philip Humber, a journeyman pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, threw the 21st perfect game (27 up, 27 down) in major league history. It was just his 12th career win. After that game, he would earn just 4 more wins, with an ERA over 7.00 and be out of the majors after the 2013 season. Still, one shining moment. I was lucky to see the end of the game live on TV. 

Honorable Mention

- Ageless Tom Brady Leads the Patriots to 6 More Super Bowls and 3 More Titles

- Cleveland Finally Gets to Celebrate as LeBron Leads the Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA Title
- After Decades with No Horse Racing Triple Crowns, American Pharaoh (2015) and Justify (2018) Both Win
- Loaded with Talent, the Golden State Warriors Win 3 NBA Titles in 5 Straight Finals Visits, Led by Likable Shooting Guard Stephen Curry
- After Losing Superstar Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals Win the World Series the Next Year, Beating Multiple Favored Teams
- In Chicago, the Bears and Bulls Had a Few Good Seasons, Led by the 2010-11 Bulls in Derrick Rose's MVP Campaign

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Movies

I guarantee you. If you see any list of the Top This or That, you will disagree with it.

For it's somebody else's list, and--as often with publications--a composite of differing viewpoints.

So I fully expect you to differ from the list below, and all of my Best of the Decade rankings in recent days.

Chances are, I myself would disagree, in a month, year, decade, or perhaps even if making the same list next week.

Each year since 2010, at the very end of December on SethSaith.com, I've published my picks of The Best New Movies I Saw that year.

Sometimes, especially with prestige films or international movies, some of my favorites spilled over into the next calendar year.

For my picks below, I relied on those lists coupled with my admittedly eroding memory and a few other resources. I did not re-watch any films, and I did not newly view anything wonderful I may have missed upon release.

So as with all my lists, take it--with a proverbial grain of salt--for what it is: My choices, compiled unscientifically, meant for consideration, discussion, perhaps your own recollections & picks and possibly some worthwhile viewing recommendations.

For what it's worth, in looking at My Favorite Movies of the '00s, they seem to hold up pretty well.

And while I love documentaries and saw many great ones this decade, I opted not to include any in the list below. Certainly, some are exceptional cinematic achievements, but given the whims of vague recollect, it seemed wrong to try to work some into my feature film choices of...

The Best Movies of the Decade (excluding documentaries)

1. Ida
2. A Separation
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. Zero Dark Thirty 
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
6. Blancanieves
7. Selma 
8. Take Shelter
9. Sing Street
10. Poetry
11. Roma
12. Boyhood 
13. The Social Network
14. Manchester by the Sea 
15. Fruitvale Station
16. I, Daniel Blake
17. The Irishman
18. Room
19. The Secret in Their Eyes (original)
20. Moonlight
21. Hugo
22. Inception
23. The Past
24. Kubo and the Two Strings
25. Phoenix

25 Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Amour
Argo
The Artist
Burning
The Fighter
The Florida Project
Gravity
Holy Motors
The Imitation Game
Lady Bird
Les Miserables
Love & Mercy
Loving
Monsieur Lazhar
Mud
99 Homes
Parasite
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Rabbit Hole
The Salesman
Shoplifters
The Theory of Everything
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Two Days, One Night
Wild Rose

Oversights, meant to include

Dunkirk - Top 25

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Websites and Apps

From what I could quickly find, there are nearly 2 billion websites, though only about 10% of them are active.

Still, that's about 200,000,000 websites.

And sure, many are in languages other than English or representing companies I will never need care about.

But how many websites have I visited...ever? 1,000? 5,000?

Who knows?

But it seems that far fewer than 100 matter to me on a regular basis, though I get that many--such as for hotels, restaurants--will only occasionally be topical.

And when so, I appreciate that they exist.

But the lists below--I'll rank both my favorite websites of the decade (not only new ones) and apps, although sometimes they're duplicative--aren't primarily meant to judge sites based on design, navigation, etc.

There are some I'll leave off--Hotmail, Messages (texting), Netflix, Blogger, OneDrive, Camera, Bank of America and others akin--because it's really hard to compare them to other websites and apps, in terms of my usage.

But essentially--with several repeating from my Best of 2000-09 list--these are the:

Websites and Apps I Most Valued
Over the Past Decade

Websites

1. Wikipedia.org

2. Amazon.com
(use Smile.Amazon.com so it makes charity donations from your purchases)

3. AllMusic.com

4. Google.com

5. Setlist.fm

6. Pollstar.com

7. Baseball-Reference.com

8. Maps.Google.com

9. ChicagoTribune.com

10. IMDB.com

11. Backstreets.com

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

AllMovie.com
Booking.com / BookAAHotels.com
CNN.com
ListChallenges.com
Stubhub.com
Thesaurus.com
Ticketmaster.com
Travelocity.com
TripAdvisor.com
Twitter.com
WikiArt.org
Xe.com/ucc (Foreign currency rates)
Vistaprint.com

Special Mention (for my own websites)

SethSaith.com

6wordPortraits.com


Apps (I use iPhone)

1. Facebook

2. YouTube

3. Spotify

4. Uber / Lyft

5. Google Maps

6. MLB At Bat

7. SiriusXM

8. Scrabble

9. Kindle

10. Open Table

11. Twitter

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

AccuRadio
Flixster
Goldstar
Google Translate
Grubhub
Lose It
Overdrive
TransitStop (CTA)
Venmo
Weather (iPhone)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Rock Albums

For me, the album has always been the definitive statement of musical artistry.

Sure, they are comprised of songs, and great songs are what get your blood pumping, but the truly special artists are those who can fill an album of 12 or so stellar songs, with little or no filler.

Theoretically for album after album.

But it can be fairly argued that, in this age of streaming music, the importance of albums have lessened (even though they are still the way new music is packaged).

Along with this, the type of popular music I most love--guitar-driven rock--is no longer predominant.

This bothers me because I haven't been able to find nearly as much new music I love as in decades past.

I will never knock the talents of contemporary mainstream favorites such as Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Twenty One Pilots, Billie Eilish, Chance the Rapper and others, and I've listened to many of them.

But even though act such as the above have shown staying power, which I find crucial to musical fandom--the ability to follow a cherished act over time--there are few beyond the rock realm that have consistently moved me, or prompted me to revisit them.

Hence, while I think the term "rock music" can be construed rather broadly, I think it only fair to include it in this category title. Artistically, there were probably better albums produced than the ones listed below, but these were my favorites.

However, as readers of this blog should know, I do also love Broadway musicals, and recently chronicled my favorites of this decade.

And cast recordings of the finest new musicals--several fused with rock, hip-hop and other contemporary sounds, as noted in this post--make for some of my favorite albums of any type this decade.

So as a Special Commendation before my main list, I will cite the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of:

Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Matilda, The Book of Mormon and Moulin Rouge (which incorporates pop/rock songs new & old) as among my favorite new albums released between 2010-19. And this doesn't even include all the pre-existing brilliance found on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

But disclaimers done, to my ears these were...

The Best Rock Albums of the Decade

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2. David Bowie - The Next Day 
3. Adele - 21 
4. Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars 
5. The Struts - Everybody Wants
6. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse 
7. Blur - The Magic Whip 
8. Bob Mould - Beauty and Ruin 
9. David Bowie - Blackstar 
10. Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound 
11. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order by artist)

Ash - Islands
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
Elvis Costello & the Imposters - Look Now
Dinosaur Jr. - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Gang of Youths - Go Farther in Lightness
The Hives - Lex Hives
Interpol - El Pintor
Tommy Keene - Laugh in the Dark
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Johnny Marr - The Messenger
Maximo Park - The National Health
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
Robert Plant - Carry Fire
Len Price 3 - Pictures
The Struts - Young and Dangerous
Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
Taylor Swift - Red
Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation
Wild Flag - self-titled

People Get Ready: It's the Best Of List Time of the Year. And Decade.

Well, here we go again.

If you look at the Blog Archive on the right hand side of this blog, in a non-mobile format, you'll see that the origins of SethSaith.com date back to 2004.

And, although somewhat sporadically and without images, I did post a good number of articles over the next few years.

But I generally regard December 2009 as when I really began maintaining this blog in earnest.

Then, I posted about 30 lists covering The Best--or My Favorite--This or That (Plays, Musicals, Albums, Restaurants, etc., etc.) of the 2000-2009 decade.

And now another decade has past.

So over the next month, I'll be sharing my picks in several categories--probably not as many as in 2009--and perhaps looping in some pals to help with certain idioms.

But, as beginning in 2010, I've posted "Best of the Year" lists in about 10 key categories each year, I'm also going to do likewise for 2019.

So you, and certainly I, might get a bit list weary--and I will keep posting reviews as I see shows--but beware that these selection posts will be populating this blog for most of the month.

Feel free to add your own lists, or just some picks, in the blog comments--and/or on Facebook or Twitter if seeing the posts when I share them there.

And if anyone asks you to cite your "Favorite Blog of the Decade," perhaps consider mention this one.

Thanks for reading over the years.

If stats are to be believed, I've had nearly 1.4 million pageviews across the decade.

Which, of course, many websites garner on a daily basis. Yet it still sounds flattering to me.

All the Best,
Seth

The Best of 2018: The Best New Movies I Saw

Of movies that were first made readily available for me to see in 2018, whether in Chicagoland theaters for a regular run--i.e. not a festival showing--or via self-producing streaming TV channels, I saw 39 over the past 365 days.

For the purposes of my list below, these include The Post, Phantom Thread, Hostiles and perhaps a few other films that were officially 2017 releases but didn't open locally until 2018.

I won't count as eligible a film called Fast Color, which I saw at a special screening--with star Gugu Mbatha-Raw present at Chicago's Music Box Theatre--but which won't open normally until March 29.

And because I believe I only saw two new documentaries in 2018--not counting straight concert movies or Springsteen on Broadway--I will take care of acknowledging them separately here:

1. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 
2. McQueen

As in years past, after my list I will also include the Top 10s of my friend Dave and Brad, who tend to see a wider swath of art films than I do.

I won't take the time to spell out which films are still in theaters, on Netflix or other streaming service, rentable or whatever else, but have found an app called Just Watch is quite valuable in this regard. 

Best New Movies Seen in 2018
(F = Foreign; 17 = Officially a 2017 release)

1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Roma (F)
3. Shoplifters (F)
4. Burning (F)
5. Green Book
6. The Post (17)
7. Widows
8. Leave No Trace
9. Eighth Grade 
10. Blackkklansman 
11. The Rider 
12. Disobedience 
13. You Were Never Really Here
14. Bohemian Rhapsody 
15. Black Panther 
16. On the Basis of Sex
17. Crazy Rich Asians 
18. A Simple Favor 
19. First Reformed
20. A Star Is Born

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Mary Poppins Returns, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Foxtrot, Lean on Pete, Annihilation, Zama, Hostiles, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Notable 2018 Movies Not Yet Seen
The Favourite, The Sisters Brothers, Mandy, The Mule, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Wildlife, First Man, A Private War, Creed II, Museo, Boy Erased, Ben Is Back, Halloween, Cold War (not yet released in Chicago), The Death of Stalin, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Love After Love, Isle of Dogs, The Other Side of the Wind, Colette, Bloodspotting, A Quiet Place, The Endless

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above

Phantom Thread (17), Fast Color, Support the Girls, Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Set It Up, Anon, Game Night, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Dave's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Roma (F)

2. Eighth Grade
3. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
4. The Mule
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
6. The Favourite
7. Hostiles
8. Foxtrot
9. Green Book
10. Leave No Trace

Brad's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Roma
2. Blackkklansman
3. First Reformed
4. Burning (F)
5. Hereditary
6. The Other Side of the Wind
7. Black Panther
8. Eighth Grade
9. The Endless
10. Shoplifters (F)

The Best of 2017: The Best New Movies I Saw

I can't help but think that if more people saw more of the types of new movies I saw in 2017, the world would be a better place.

Yes, I know how naive, foolish, snobbish and vainglorious that sounds.

Yet I really don't mean to suggest my tastes are better than anyone else's, or to condemn blockbusters about superheroes or space battles.

I enjoy several of those myself.

But I liked how the crop of new films I saw this year depicted real people facing identifiable issues.

Such as the British pensioners fighting cold bureaucracy in I, Daniel Blake, the Hasidic widower trying to retain custody of his child in Menashe, the Native American couple coping with tragic loss in Wind River, the Iranian theater director seething after an attack on his wife in The Salesman, African-Americans facing abject brutality in Mudbound and Detroit and aiming to rise above it, the Georgian (the country, not state) woman searching for appreciation & peace of mind in My Happy Family, the teenagers discovering young love, sometimes with those of the same sex, in Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name.

Hence, the idealist lefty in me can't help think that if more people saw--at least onscreen--others they presumed were nothing like them, but who faced similar struggles, heartbreaks, etc., we wouldn't be besieged by so much bigotry and xenophobia.

And with that I move onto my rather standard disclaimer my selections below do not adhere to Academy Award eligibility for "2017," but rather include any films that first played at a movie theater or TV screen near me over the past 12 months.

I've decided to list out My Favorite Documentaries separately, and actually will do so right here:

1. I Am Not Your Negro
2. Chasing Trane
3. Pearl Jam: Let's Play Two
4. One of Us
5. Loving Vincent
6. Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul
7. Long Shot

As in years past, after my list I will include the Top 10 of my friend Dave, who tends to see a wider swath of art films than I do.

I won't take the time to spell out which films are still in theaters, on Netflix or other streaming service, rentable or whatever else, but have found an app called Just Watch is quite valuable in this regard. 

Best New Movies Seen in 2017
(F = Foreign; A = Animated; 16 = Officially a 2016 release)

1. Dunkirk
2. I, Daniel Blake

3. The Salesman (F, 16)

4. Lady Bird

5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

6. Wind River

7. Mudbound

8. Call Me By Your Name
9. Silence (16) 
10. The Shape of Water

11. Molly's Game

12. Okja

13. Menashe

14. Detroit

15. My Happy Family (F)
16. Darkest Hour

17. Coco (A)

18. Hidden Figures (16)

19. Logan
20. Everybody Loves Somebody

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Baby Driver

Columbus

The Lost City of Z

Colossal

Get Out

20th Century Women

Wonder Woman

The Big Sick
Their Finest

Beauty and the Beast

Good Time

Notable 2017 Movies Not Yet Seen
The Florida Project, The Square, All the Money in the World, The Disaster Artist, I Tonya, The Post, Phantom Thread, Wonder, It, The Ornithologist, God's Own Country, A Ghost Story, Blade Runner 2049, Battle of the Sexes, American Made, Logan Lucky, War for the Planet of the Apes, A Quiet Passion, Last Flag Flying, Thank You For Your Service, Marjorie Prime, Brigsby Bear, Brad's Status

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above
The Meyerowitz Stories, Megan Leavey, Graduation, A United Kingdom, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Spiderman Homecoming, Split, Paterson, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, John Wick 2, Atomic Blonde, Mother

Dave's Top 10 Movies of 2017

1. Baby Driver
2. The Salesman (F)
3. Lady Bird
4. Dunkirk 
5. Julieta (F)
6. The Square
7. The Big Sick
8. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
9. The Florida Project
10. Frantz (F)

The Best of 2016: The Best New Movies I Saw

When it came to movies in 2016, I was kind of lax.

Not so much in terms of seeing movies, although there were some stretches when--due to scant appealing selections, work hours and/or the success of the Chicago Cubs--I tended to watch relatively few.

Altogether I saw about 100 movies, including 44 new releases--whether in theaters or subsequently at home--which isn't as many as some previous years, but not a paltry sum.

But where I was lax was in keeping track.

In each of the past 6 years, I had maintained a Filemaker database in which I entered each movie seen, the date, location and my rating of it on a 0-10 scale.

This year I got lazy and didn't.

I merely kept a list in the Notes app on my iPhone of each movie seen--and whether it was a 2016 release--but with no notations about my reaction.

So even more so than in the past, my Best Films of 2016 will be suspect not only due to my whims and opinions--and the fact that I saw far less than every notable movie--but to a Swiss cheese memory that is bound to give greater consideration to recently-watched films than ones seen early in the year.

Oh, well. It's not like I expect anyone to agree with my rankings anyway. But hopefully I'll point out some movies that may be worth your time.

Because some official 2015 films--for Academy Award purposes--weren't released in Chicagoland until 2016, the main one being The Revenant (and Anamolisa, which I never did see), I am considering anything that was newly available for me to see this year. And unlike some previous years, my list will include (or consider) foreign films and documentaries, rather than ranking those separately.

Also, as in years past, after my list I will include the Top 10 of my friend Dave, who tends to see a wider swath of art films than I do.

With the disclaimers out of the way, as best I can tell or remember, here are my choices of the:

Best New Movies Seen in 2016
(F = Foreign; D = Documentary; A = Animated; 15 = Officially a 2015 release)

1. Manchester by the Sea
2. Sing Street

3. Kubo and the Two Strings (A)

4. Loving

5. Moonlight

6. Hell or High Water

7. 13th (D)

8. Fences 
9. The Revenant (15) 
10. Indignation

11. Jackie

12. Lion

13. Nocturnal Animals

14. Moana (A)

15. Zootopia (A)
16. Mustang (F)

17. 10 Cloverfield Lane

18. Midnight Special

19. La La Land
20. Rogue One

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Arrival
Born to Be Blue
Genius
The Accountant
Deadpool
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (D)
Love & Friendship
Papa: Hemingway in Cuba
Oasis: Supersonic (D)
The Fundamentals of Caring
The Nice Guys
Edge of Seventeen
Mountains May Depart (F)

Notable 2016 Movies Not Yet Seen
Queen of Katwe, Eye in the Sky, Don't Think Twice, Doctor Strange, Paterson, 20th Century Women, Neruda (F), Sully, I Daniel Blake, The Salesman (F), Toni Erdmann (F), Hidden Figures, The Handmaiden (F), Elle (F), Green Room, Silence, Fits, Little Men, Certain Women

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above
The Lobster, Everybody Wants Some, Captain America: Civil War, Miles Ahead, Hail Caesar!, Jason Bourne, Jane Got a Gun

Dave's Top 10 Movies of 2016

1. Manchester by the Sea
2. The Lobster
3. The Revenant (F, 15)
4. Hell or High Water
5. The Witness (D)
6. Magical Girl (F)
7. Tower (D, A)
8. La La Land
9. Elle (F)
10. Fences

The Best of 2015: The Best New Movies I Saw

With a few hours left to go in 2015, I've watched 151 movies this year.

For my purposes, 53 of them were new releases, including some that for Academy Award purposes, or for list makers who have better access to everything, or for the main IMDB parentheses date, are officially 2014 movies.

But several of the "prestige films" that may have opened in New York or LA in December 2014 didn't hit Chicago area cinemas until January, February.

In a couple cases, movies may have played one screen in Chicago--typically the Century or River East--around Christmas 2014, but didn't open in the suburbs until awhile later.

Then there are movies--many of them foreign--that may have played film festivals throughout 2014 but didn't actually open anywhere in Chicago, or even on any U.S. screens beyond festivals, until sometime in 2015. (I'm really not sure how film festival screenings count against Academy Award eligibility for a given year.)

So while acknowledging the imperfections, I am essentially counting as eligible any movies I watched over the past 12 months that I didn't have a reasonable chance to see previously.

I realize that this logic could theoretically make eligible films that showed up for a week at the Siskel Film Center, Facets or the Music Box in, say, 2012--or didn't even--but only came to DVD, cable or Netflix in 2015, but in reality it means that I'm looping into the choices below about 7 movies technically from 2014 that I didn't get to see until 2015.

Given my erosive memory, there's always the possibility that films seen almost a year ago may suffer in my thought process next to ones seen just this week or month, but it's also possible I may recall something as even better than I would now find it to be.

So, take my rankings for what they're worth.

To augment my rankings, I also provide the Top 10 choices of my friends Dave and Brad, both--like me--members of the Chicago Film Discussion Meetup Group.

Obviously there are numerous other lists like this but I enjoy pointing out Paste Magazine's list of The 50 Best Movies of 2015, which further serves to reveal how many substantive movies I didn't see this year, whether I could have or not.

For no entirely explainable reason, I've decided to cite my favorite documentaries separate from feature films, possibly because some were never released in theaters.

Anyway, enough with the preamble, here are my:

Best New Movies Seen in 2015 -
Feature Films 
(F = Foreign; 14 = Officially a 2014 release)

1. Selma (14) 
2. Room

3. Phoenix (F)

4. Two Days, One Night (F, 14)

5. 99 Homes

6. The End of the Tour

7. Love & Mercy

8. Wild Tales (F)

9. Spotlight
10. Carol
11. Still Alice (14)

12. The Martian

13. The Big Short

14. American Sniper (14)

15. Ex Machina

16. Brooklyn

17. The Gift

18. The Danish Girl

19. Trumbo
20. Bridge of Spies

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

A Most Violent Year (14)
Grandma

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Experimenter
Son of Saul
Tangerine

Straight Outta Compton
Force Majeure 

Desert Dancer
A Borrowed Identity (F)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
The Last Five Years
Leviathan (F)

Notable 2015 Movies Not Yet Seen
Anomalisa, Chi-Raq, Steve Jobs, Sicario, The Revenant, White God, The Tribe, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amselem, The Peanuts Movie, It Follows

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above 

The Hateful Eight, Trainwreck, Youth, Mad Max: Fury Road, While We're Young, Far From the Madding Crowd, Woman in Gold, Joy, Z for Zachariah

The Best New Documentaries Seen in 2015

1. The Jam: About the Young Idea
2. Keith Richards: Under the Influence
3. Amy
4. Lambert & Stamp
5. Red Army (14)

Didn't see: Cartel Land, Janis: Little Girl Blue, Iris, Seymour: An Introduction

Saw, didn't love: Cobain: Montage of Heck

Dave's Top 20 Movies of 2015

1. Wild Tales (F)
2. Human Capital (F, 13)
3. Tangerine
4. Mommy (F, 14)
5. Two Days, One Night (F, 14)
6. Steve Jobs
7. Carol
8. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (F, 14)
9. Spotlight
10. Goodnight, Mommy (F, 14)
11. Victoria (F)
12. The Gift
13. Bridge of Spies
14. Phoenix (F)
15. The End of the Tour
16. Leviathan
17. Selma
18. Inside Out
19. Inherent Vice
20. The Hateful Eight  

Brad's Top 11 Movies of 2015

1. Inside Out  
2. Mountains May Depart (F)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road 
4. The Hateful Eight 
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
6. Son of Saul (F) 
7. Tangerine 
8. Anomalisa 
9. It Follows 
10. Love & Mercy
11. Spotlight