Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
As Decider’s Head of Product, my writing consists mostly of behind the scenes technical wrangling, but once or twice a year I poke my head out to the front of the site. And with it being New Year’s Eve, time to hurry and get in my favorites of 2019.
Before I get to the streamables, here are some other, random things that inspired me this year:
THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood
EXHALATION by Ted Chiang
Trader Joe’s Japanese Fried Rice
Multiple beers from Threes Brewing, Other Half, and Hill Farmstead
F&F Pizzeria in Brooklyn, NY
Rollneck sweaters
Listening to cassettes on my Technics double deck player
Strava for iOS
Moleskine weekly planner
Bob Dylan at the Beacon Theatre
Garcia Peoples at Nublu 151
Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens at the Bell House
Waking up before sunrise
And most of all, taking in the wonderful music, visual art, and words produced by both friends and people I’ve never met. When you see someone announce that they’ve produced something, it’s always worth it to follow through and check it out.
Ok, here we go, in no particular order.
Holey Moley
A no holds barred mini-golf competition presented in straight, Wide World Of Sports style, and hosted by Rob Riggle. Wondrous.
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese
The first of two fantastic Martin Scorsese films released in 2019, Rolling Thunder Revue serves as both tour documentary (the footage is insane) as well as a sly re-telling of history, interpolating historical elements with fictional characters. All in all it’s very Dylan, re-shaping history in the same, grand manner that folk music itself does.
The Irishman
Much of the talk around The Irishman concerned its length, which got me thinking about the linear placement of this film in Scorsese’s body of work. To me, this film, and its assured pace, shares much with Bob Dylan’s career path. If Scorsese’s earlier films were more taut, then The Irishman finds Scorsese in a confident place, allowing scenery and conversation to settle into the senses of the viewer. The Irishman is to Scorsese what Time Out Of Mind and Love & Theft, and other late-era albums are to Dylan: genius enhanced by experience.
Bao
The Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short (this year – it was released in 2018) is adorable and touching and even features a twist or two. One of the many shorts available on Disney+ (see below).
Float
This 2019 short about a father and his infant son contains only one line of a dialogue, but it’s a brutal one, and one that will probably hit close to home for many parents (especially those of special needs kids). The most moving thing I watched all year.
The Mandalorian
It wasn’t perfect, but The Mandalorian succeeded in expanding the Star Wars universe in a way that seemed natural. It’s odd to say, but it all felt realistic (in-universe, of course). Also, it was appointment viewing: for two months, I happily looked forward to Friday evenings and a new episode.
