Let’s explore what might be the best movies 2019 has to offer. The ’90s are back with ‘Aladdin’, ‘Sonic’, ‘Lion King’, ‘Toy Story’ and many more. It’s the year when de-ageing actors really hits centre stage, with Ang Lee’s ‘Gemini Man’, Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ using it extensively. Major ‘Avengers’ and ‘Star Wars’ sagas will conclude.

It’s also a year of franchises relocating to the UK for reboots and spinoffs – see ‘MIB: International’, ‘Hellboy’, and ‘Hobbs and Shaw’. What do you think will be the best movies of 2019? What have I missed? Let me know in the comments.

30^th  Hobbs And Shaw
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, Idris Elba, Eddie Marsan
Director: David Leitch
Released: August 2, 2019 (U.S. Dates)

‘Fast & Furious’ spinoff. US Diplomatic Security Agent Hobbs (Johnson) forms an unlikely alliance with Deckard Shaw (Statham)… (Johnson’s Hobbs first appeared in 2011’s ‘Fast Five’ and has been a regular since, while Statham’s Shaw served as the main antagonist of Furious 7 and had an appearance in 8). Idris Elba plays Brixton, an international terrorist leader. Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret in ‘The Crown’) is Gabby Shaw, an MI5 agent and Deckard’s sister. Behind the camera is the red-hot director of ‘Deadpool 2’, ‘Atomic Blonde’ and ‘John Wick’, who knows how to deliver hard-hitting, edgy action. Chris Morgan, who wrote the last six ‘F&F’ movies, has penned the script. The spinoff has caused major drama within the franchise. Johnson and Vin Diesel famously fell out previously and this project looks like an attempt to keep Johnson on board the franchise without having to put their two egos in the same film. Indeed, when ‘Hobbs and Shaw’ was announced it provoked Tyrese Gibson to criticise Johnson on Instagram for causing the ninth ‘Fast & Furious’ film to be delayed for another year. Longtime ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise producer Neal Moritz meanwhile has sued Universal over the deal he’s got on ‘Hobbs And Shaw’. As Vin always says, the most important thing is “family”, but the ‘F&F’ one is looking rather dysfunctional. Nevertheless all the elements are in place for a cracking ‘F&F’ action-adventure with two of the most popular actors in the franchise, nay, the world.

29^th  Men In Black: International
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson, Kumail Nanjiani
Director: F. Gary Gray
Released: June 14, 2019

The London branch of Men in Black (MIB) is charged with protecting the UK from troublesome aliens and policing those who have settled, camouflaged, among us. But Agent H (Hemsworth) and recent US recruit Agent M (Thompson, ‘Annihilation’) soon become involved in a murder mystery that sends them travelling the globe… Liam Neeson plays the head of the UK MIB, and Emma Thompson returns as Agent O, head of US branch. Kumail Nanjiani (‘The Big Sick’) and Rebecca Ferguson (‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’) have unspecified roles. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will not reprise their roles in this spinoff, and the floated (serious) plan to merge the ‘Men In Black’ and ’21 Jump Street’ franchises has been shelved. Veteran director F. Gary Gray helmed ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and ‘Fast & Furious 8’ but hasn’t flexed comic chops since 1995’s ‘Friday’ (2006’s ‘Be Cool’ didn’t turn out too well). Exec-producer Steven Spielberg and the producing team are unchanged, and 2012’s ‘Men In Black III’ was pretty solid. It’ll miss Will Smith but Hemsworth can do comedy well enough, and previously showed nice chemistry with Tessa Thompson in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. Plus it’s not a precious franchise like ‘Ghostbusters’.

28^th  Pet Sematary
Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow
Directors: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Released: April 5, 2019

Behind a young family’s home in Maine is a pet cemetery laid in “sour ground” that holds the power of life after death. When tragedy strikes, its draw becomes irresistible… Remake of the 1989 film, based on the 1983 novel. Jason Clarke plays the patriarch, while Jon Lithgow is neighbour Jud, the role made famous by the deep tones of Munster Fred Gwynne (shame Lithgow has avoided doing the New England accent). Composer Christopher Young is doing his first Stephen King soundtrack since ‘The Dark Half’ in 1993 (which was a great score btw). The directors of ‘Starry Eyes’ should be up to the task (that movie’s only failing was 3rd act plotting, which isn’t a problem here). The trailer’s procession of kids in animal masks (which is not in the book) has some worried they may try and evolve it in a kid occult direction. Hopefully not. With ‘It’ becoming the all-time highest grossing horror there’s a major Stephen King reanimation in Hollywood. Expect more classic low-budget titles to get splashy remakes in the near future (‘Salem’s Lot’ anyone?).

27^th  Aladdin
Starring: Mena Massoud, Will Smith, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban
Director: Guy Ritchie
Released: May 24, 2019

In the fictitious port city of Agrabah, a charming street urchin finds a magic lamp, befriends its larger-than-life genie and uses the three wishes to vie for the love of a courageous princess… Live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated musical, which was inspired by the Arabian folktales of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. Aladdin is portrayed by Egyptian-Canadian Mena Massoud, whose biggest previous credit was TV’s Jack Ryan, and who was born in 1992, the year the original Aladdin came out. He was part of an extensive casting call to find actors of the right Arabic ethnicity for the entire supporting cast of the film. Will Smith will play the Genie when he is in the guise of a human, while his genie form will be CGI and blue in colour. Director Guy Ritchie chose Smith because of his differences with Robin Williams (who gave an iconic voice performance in the original), to bring “the flavour of the character” but be “unique enough to be in a different lane, not trying to compete”. Smith says, “There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history, so I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world.” Director Ritchie has been a heavy hitter and heavy misser, with ‘Man From Uncle’ stylishly confident, but ‘King Arthur’ badly misjudged. His stories are typically about street hustlers, which is why he was chosen. Will he have judged the tone and political correctness right for this latest foray into the past? Overall ‘Aladdin’ doesn’t sit quite as easy as the other Disney remakes this year, but it could become the most interesting as a result.

26^th  Pokémon: Detective Pikacho
Starring: Justice Smith, (voice) Ryan Reynolds, Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy
Director: Rob Letterman
Released: May 10, 2019

A 21-year-old former Pokémon Trainer (Justice Smith, ‘Jurassic World’) travels to Ryme City after his detective father disappears in a car crash. There he meets wise-cracking Detective Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds), who was his father’s partner. He’s somehow uniquely able to understand what Pikachu is saying (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), so they reluctantly team up to find father and uncover the mystery surrounding his disappearance. Chasing clues through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City (a modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side), the dynamic duo encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe… From the director of ‘Goosebumps’ and ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. There have been animated pokémon movies, but this is the first to put CG pokémon into (hyper-realistic) live-action. The pokémon themselves look fantastic, with Pikacho’s fur texture alone making him one of the most adorable on-screen creatures ever. (Having sunk hours into Smash Bros, I never thought I’d see Jiggly Puff in such a glorious rendition.) Such a recognisable celebrity voice will deprive Pikacho of his own character, but there isn’t a more “in” comedy voice right now that Ryan Reynolds. The combination of his brand with Pokémon should be box office gold. Nintendo could well give other franchises the movie treatment if this does as projected.

25^th  Ford V Ferrari
Starring: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Josh Lucas
Director: James Mangold
Released: June 28, 2019

The true story of the battle between Ford and Ferrari to win Le Mans in 1966. An eccentric, determined team of American engineers and designers, led by automotive visionary Carroll Shelby (Damon) and his British driver, Ken Miles (Bale), are dispatched by Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts, TV’s ‘Divorce’) and Lee Iacocca (Bernthal, ‘The Accountant’) with the mission of building from scratch an entirely new automobile with the potential to finally defeat the perennially dominant Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France… Initially it sounds similar to 2013’s racing-rivals biopic ‘Rush’ but the two leads here are part of the same endeavour. As well as the A-list cast and $100 million budget, this has heavyweight director James Mangold who’s made a long string of terrific movies including ‘Cop Land’ ‘3:10 To Yuma’ (with Bale), ‘Identity’, ‘The Wolverine’ and ‘Logan’. His last biopic, ‘Walk The Line’, won an Oscar / nomination for its two leads. ‘Ford V Ferrari’s subject matter does sound a bit niche for general audiences who aren’t petrolheads, so it’ll be interesting to see how they sell it.

Best Movies 2019

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