The 2019 Raymo Awards

It's been a year of few real standouts in film evidenced, to me at least, by seeing only 36 movies at the cinema - the first was Mary Poppins Returns and the last being Jumanji: The Next Level and in a log of ways that sums up the year. Unnecessary sequels and/or remakes.

Most of you would be aware by now that a score of 7/10 is seen as the minimum for a pass - now 7 can be a good score as much as it can be a bad one. Interestingly 28 of my 36 received 7 or more but only 10 scored 8 or higher. That tells me the quality was down.

So here's my top 5 of 2019, unsurprisingly dominated by Marvel.

1. Captain Marvel (9/10)
Very much a polarising character if you believe the internet, Captain Marvel was as big a risk as Guardians, Ant-Man or Doctor Strange and I thought they nailed it. Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson teamed up so well and the 1990s backdrop paved the way for a great soundtrack. It came with plenty riding on it to complete the Avengers Infinity War/Endgame tie in and it's just great fun too.

2. Ford v Ferrari (9/10)
Definitely didn't expect this Matt Damon/Christian Bale story about the 1966 Le Mans battle for supremacy between the two motor companies to be as outstanding as it turned out. Aided by two superb performances, especially Bale, it's much more about the stories of Ken Miles (Bale) and Carroll Shelby (Damon) than it is about car racing itself. Though the scenes of the actual race are awesome. Be surprised if it's not in a lot of people's lists.

3. Spider-Man Far From Home (9/10)
The second Spider-Man film in the MCU was just as fun as the first and it had the job of kicking off the post-Endgame era. They stacked plenty in, from the duplicitous Mysterio to showing Peter's struggle with being a hero and wanting to just be a teenager for a while and the big reveals at the end. Can't wait for number 3.

4. Avengers: Endgame (8.5/10)
Now this is a controversial one. My original score on first viewing was 8.5 but having seen it a few times more it'd be easily my number one but I go with first impression here. Endgame was a massive undertaking and it worked, despite the always risky time travel plot, and it works more each time you see it. And the soundtrack over the 'signs offs' in the credits is perfect. I do fear the MCU might have peaked but we won't really know until 2021.

5. Ben Is Back (8.5/10)
I love a solid dramatic film and 2019 lacked them noticeably. This one, though, was a ripper. Lucas Hedges is Ben, a drug addict who returns home claiming to be sober much to the disdain of his home town. His mother Holly (Julia Roberts) has to walk the line between wanting it to be true and knowing even if it is it won't last and dealing with the consequences. More of this in 2020 please!.

Honourable mentions: Coming in sixth was Green Book (8.5), which I noted was the year's first great film, Joker (8/10) would have gone higher in hindsight. Brilliant. Rocketman, Hotel Mumbai and Stan & Ollie (all 8/10) are worth seeing for different reasons too.

Surprise of the year: Parasite (7/10) - wouldn't have thought I'd find a Korean film so interesting and it could have gone higher had it not been far too long. It's essentially a story about a family living in poverty gradually taking over the lives of a rich family (hence the name).

Flop of the year (note I didn't see Cats): Us (5/10). Not remotely scary, or even gripping, with a twist you can see coming a mile off. Interesting enough premise, and solid lead performance, but in no way did it live up to the hype.

The film I wanted to like more: Knives Out (7.5/10) gained a respectable score and was quite an entertaining whodunnit. But the way it played out ultimately cost it the higher score I was expecting to give. Great cast, some excellent performances but just proved a bit too smart for its own good.

Letdowns: Most of them are remakes or belated sequels like Hobbs & Shaw, Rambo: Last Blood, Terminator: Dark Fate and Men In Black International (though I kinda expected it to be garbage).

What does 2020 hold? I really hope there are some hidden gems out there because the release list is looking very light on quality and high on more of those sequels/reboots. Wonder Woman 1984, Top Gun Maverick and Ghostbusters Afterlife come to mind. Fast & Furious 9 needs to be good too. There's also Black Widow, which I expect to be excellent, and The Eternals will be another risk for Marvel.