1917 is magnificent.

This might not be Victor Hugo’s story, but that doesn’t mean Les Misérables doesn’t still bear the author’s imprint, the ending of this story a mixture of tragedy, compromise, disappointment and, yes, even hope that leaves many questions unanswered and the future for all involved painfully uncertain.

Thanks primarily to the cast I can’t hate on Like a Boss, but that doesn’t mean I found it worth recommending, either. It’s instantly forgettable, and by the end of January it will probably have slipped out of my mind completely.

Andrew Desmond’s feature-length narrative debut The Sonata is a literate, methodically paced throwback gothic thriller that plays a little like a Hammer production from the mid-to-late 1960s that would have starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the two primary male roles.

Underwater gets the job done. I liked it a lot. Heck, I’m likely to head to the theatre and see it again before January ends.

It is a pity that The Grudge goes so obnoxiously off the rails just as it’s building to a conclusion.

2019 has turned out to be a rather stupendous year for film.

It was a great year at the movies. Here were ten narrative features and five documentaries I wholly adored.

A second twenty-five (because I can).