My on-the-fly, as-I-see-movies ranking of the new theatrical releases of 2019 has begun. It’s here, and there are already quite a few movies on it… but this year, the ongoing ranking will be available only for my Patreon patrons at the $5/month level and above. You can join my Patreon here, or click through from the button you’ll see on the 2019’s films ranked page. (Current Patreon patrons can find easy info here on how to connect your Patreon account to FlickFilosopher.com in order to access the ranking post and other Patreon-only content here.)
To whet your appetite, here’s what the list looks like today. I’d really appreciate your financial support at Patreon so I can continue doing this work, in my 22nd year here at FlickFilosopher.com, and my 17th year doing an on-the-fly ranking.
This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2019 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the OFCS and AWFJ awards); some films released in the UK without US releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2019 unless otherwise noted.
other yearly rankings:
2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003
[none at the moment]
[none at the moment]
[5 stars]
Jellyfish (02.15/TBA/02.15)
Woman at War (09.28/03.01/05.03)
Wild Rose (09.12.18/05.10/04.19)
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2019 (91st Academy Awards) (02.01/02.08/direct to VOD)
[4.5 stars]
An Impossible Love (01.04/TBA/01.04)
3 Faces (Se rokh) (03.02/03.08/03.29)
Voices of the Sea (01.09/TBA/01.11)
Who Will Write Our History (02.02/01.18/TBA)
Communion (01.12/01.04/TBA)
[4 stars]
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (01.30/02.08/02.08)
Arctic (09.27.18/02.01/TBA)
All Is True (01.28/05.10/02.08)
Daughter of Mine (02.09/02.01/TBA)
What Is Democracy? (11.05/11.16/TBA)
Of Love & Law (02.26/TBA/03.01)
Children of the Snow Land (02.27/TBA/03.14)
Fighting with My Family (02.07/02.14/02.27)
[3.5 stars]
A Breath Away (01.31/02.01/TBA)
Saint Judy (02.23/03.01/TBA)
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts 2019 (91st Academy Awards) (02.01/02.08/direct to VOD)
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2019 (91st Academy Awards) (02.01/02.08/direct to VOD)
[3 stars]
Red Joan (02.14/TBA/04.19)
[2.5 stars]
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (01.20/02.01/02.22)
Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben) (02.26/02.08/03.08)
The White Crow (10.18/04.26/03.22)
Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano) (02.28/02.13/05.17)
An Acceptable Loss (01.17/01.18/TBA)
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (02.10/02.08/TBA)
[2 stars]
The Aftermath (02.26/03.15/03.01)
Rust Creek (01.26/01.04/TBA)
King of Thieves (08.31.18/01.25/09.14.18)
Out of Blue (10.12/03.22/TBA)
[1.5 stars]
[none yet]
[1 star]
Berlin, I Love You (02.13/02.08/TBA)
Peterloo (10.29.18/04.05/11.02.18)
Glass (01.16/01.18/01.18)
Nina (01.24/TBA/01.25)
[.5 stars]
Girl (02.19/direct to Netflix/03.15)
[0 stars]
The Upside (01.08/01.11/01.11)
The Prodigy (02.20/02.08/03.15)
Alita: Battle Angel (01.31/02.14/02.06)
Cold Pursuit (02.04/02.08/02.22)
Serenity (02.26/01.25/03.01)
If you’re charging money for the listings, you should make them interactive, like an electronic scorecard, so that we can check off how many of the movies we’ve seen and then give them a star rating, to figure out how often our taste aligns with yours.
I’m not sure that I’m kidding.
I don’t know that there’s any technical capability to do that.
But… really? What I’m doing is not enough? That’s really depressing. Maybe I should just give up now. I’m almost at the point where I was when I worked in corporate publishing, when I suddenly realized that doing good work and putting in a full day was not enough, that they wanted my actual soul. And they were paying me a living wage! No one reading this site is even doing that.
I am doing my best to pay you a living wage; if I calculated the percentage of my salary that goes to this site, I would probably be astonished at the size of the number. Just yesterday, I replaced my “story geek” T-shirt, because I’d worn it out by wearing it over and over again. But if my stupid joke gave you any extra angst, I apologize.
You’ve been a strong supporter and I absolutely appreciate that. But it’s not about one person alone — unless that person is a millionaire throwing a LOT money around (which isn’t happening for me) — that is going to make this work for me.
I just said to someone else, away from this site, that I’m almost literally dying here, that I am running out of options and exhausting the patience of the friends and family who have been helping me get by, financially. I don’t have much time left to make this work for me. I’ve said this before, but I am really and truly almost at the end of my rope now. And I’m not seeing any indications that things are going to get better. For all the talk about people wanting diversity in criticism and more female voices, I’m actually seeing NO evidence of that manifesting in support for me and my work.
So, yeah, I do feel like if someone is following my work enough to want to keep tabs in the ongoing ranking, $5 a month is not too much to ask. If they don’t want to pay that, there’s still a fuckton of my work they can get for free here. For now.