It’s time for the awards announcement that nobody asked for and that has got nobody talking – well, except me, and to anyone who will listen. After a strong year for cinema it’s time for me to take my hat off to the films, performances, scores and screenplays that wowed me in 2019.

It’s a bit like the Oscars, only without the gold statues, February date, star-studded red carpet and global coverage. I guess it’s actually nothing like the Oscars…

Anyway, here are my entirely emblematic ‘awards’ for film in 2019.

Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

Phoenix’s Joker was chilling. I cannot think of a single scene of the movie that didn’t place the character at the front and centre. This was his movie and he brought his A-Game to deliver by far the best performance of the year in cinema.

The fact that he improvised entire scenes is testament to how much he understood the tone of the film and the complexities of the character. An acting masterclass and one of the easiest categories for which to pick a winner.

Notable mentions;
Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Christian Bale – Le Mans ’66

Best Actress

Ana de Armas – Knives Out

Knives Out is a movie that constantly throws curveballs at the viewer and the first pitch of the game was when immediately after the movie’s prologue we meet Ana de Armas’ character Marta Cabrera – Harlam Thrombey’s care worker who would be at the centre of the doughnut movie.

The marketing campaign had brilliantly hidden Marta’s significance. She wasn’t a direct relation to the central family, but Rian Johnson’s ultra-smart screenplay propelled her to the heart of the story and Ana de Armas proved that she was ready for her first leading role.

The whole cast were sensational but in a line-up with Jaime Lee Curtis, Toni Colette, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and Michael Shannon, it was de Armas’ performance which left a huge impression. The emotion, humour, sadness and fear were all mixed together perfectly and you felt every beat.

Oh, and she was also the best part of the otherwise forgettable summer movie The Informer…

Notable mentions
Awkwafina – The Farewell
Jessie Buckley – Wild Rose
Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Supporting Actor

James McAvoy – Glass

As much as I hate to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s 55% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, the most rotten misjudgement on the site in 2019 is the 37% critical score for the movie Glass. I’m no movie critic – I’m just a moviegoer who won’t shut up about films – but I’m convinced I watched a different movie to the majority of those reviewers.

James McAvoy’s performance alone should have carried the movie to a higher score than that. Much like Split, McAvoy plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, a character who suffers from the mental disorder DID. Mcavoy effectively ends up playing 26 different characters and incredibly, he delivers each and every one distinctly.

Kevin’s death scene is one of 2019’s most heartbreaking. McAvoy just knocks it out of the park.

Notable mentions
Daniel Craig – Knives Out
Chris Evans – Knives Out
Adam Driver – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Chris Hemsworth – Avengers: Endgame
Robert Downey Jr – Avengers: Endgame
Matt Damon – Le Mans ’66

Best Supporting Actress

Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit

What a year for Scarlett Johansson. Her performance in Endgame was her best as Black Widow – and by quite a margin. Marriage Story could well propel her to Oscars glory, but I thought her wacky performance in Jojo Rabbit was brilliant.

As Jojo’s mother, she is conflicted between towing the Nazi-line which flies in the face of her own personal beliefs, as she hides a young Jewish girl from the authorities. The emotional conflict is set alongside some brilliantly bizarre moments as she looks to maintain a connection with her propaganda-infused son who has fallen deep into the Nazi rabbit hole – pun very much intended.

Notable mentions
Zhao Shuzhen – The Farewell
Constance Wu – Hustlers
Scarlett Johansson – Avengers: Endgame
Jaime Lee Curtis – Knives Out

Best Director

Rian Johnson – Knives Out

I wasn’t on the set of Knives Out – I wasn’t in the same country as the set of Knives Out. But I’m willing to bet that the cast had a blast. It’s the best ensemble of the year – that’s right, it even tops Endgame for me in that regard – and each and every one of the actors seems to love every moment. The director and screenwriter gave them a genius script and the actors delivered.

Johnson wrote and directed one of the smartest movies I’ve ever seen.

Notable mentions
M. Night Shyamalan – Glass
Todd Phillips – Joker
James Mangold – Le Mans ’66
Joe and Anthony Russo – Avengers: Endgame
J.J. Abrams – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Original Score

Alan Silvestri – Avengers: Endgame

When Spotify wrapped dropped at the start of December, it was no surprise to see Alan Silvestri’s name in my top five most listened to artists of the year. His Avengers: Endgame soundtrack had me wearing out the replay button.

Portals is the obvious marque track, but the score is so much more. Some of my favourite scenes in Endgame are from the first 30 minutes of the movie, with the the character’s anguish at having to process the devastating defeat to Thanos underpinned by the solemn score.

Becoming Whole Again has it all – the sadness, the panic and ends with the hope. The Measure of a Hero does exactly the same pushing and pulling. It’s a real masterpiece and the soundtrack I’m listening to while typing this very sentence…

Notable mentions
John Williams – The Rise of Skywalker
Hans Zimmer – X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Nathan Johnson – Knives Out
Hildur Gudnadottir – Joker

And a bonus award because I love scores…

Track of the Year

Portals – Avengers: Endgame

I was about to give this to The Force Is With You by John Williams. What he does with Rey’s Theme in The Rise of Skywalker is just phenomenal – and it was already the best character theme in Star Wars.

But, in reality, this one had to go to Portals. Silvestri had to compose a track to match the magnitude of the moment as our snapped heroes emerged from portals to enter the battlefield for Earth’s last stand against Thanos’ army. Somehow he managed to elevate the epicness. It is one of the greatest moments in cinematic history and Silvestri plays a huge part in that.

Notable mentions
The Force Is With You – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Gap – X-Men Dark Phoenix
I Am Joker – Joker

Trailer of the Year

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Ok, I’ll admit that the first Joker trailer is, technically speaking, the best of the year. It lays out the tone of the movie, builds up a sense of the narrative despite featuring almost no dialogue and has a distinctive aesthetic.

But I will never forget the first time I watched The Rise of Skywalker final trailer. Waking up at 3am to catch the trailer just moments after release, struggling not to cheer and wake up the street when the score built to a crescendo – a grand twist on the Star Wars main theme. And yes, Threepio’s “one last look” even made me shed a tear.

Honourable mentions
Joker

Avengers: Endgame

And now for the grand reveal…

But first a disclaimer. I am hopelessly biased when it comes to judging the quality of movies. What can I say; I’m a big Sci-Fi fan. Before my love of cinema came a love of Star Wars and comic book movies. My natural compass will always dictate that these have a more likely chance of becoming my favourite movies.

So, I’ve broken the big prize into two categories – best picture, where I try and be impartial to my personal tastes, and favourite movie, where I will, quite simply, list my favourite 12 movies from the year with bias and all.

Got it? Great, here goes;

Best Picture

Knives Out

You could probably see this one coming a mile off, given how the movie has appeared more times than any other and in nearly every single category listed above – twice in the honourable mentions for best supporting actor alone.

It truly is a masterpiece. I watched it three times in cinemas, appreciating the nuances more and more each time. There’s not a second wasted in that movie. Each line of dialogue earns it’s place and every performance is pitch perfect. The score is sensational. And it achieves all of this while also being one of the funniest movies of the year.

Favourite Movie of 2019

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Going into the year, it was always likely to be between Star Wars and Endgame as to which movie would claim the spoils as my favourite of 2019. I love both franchises and the culmination of both the Skywalker Saga and Infinity Saga would always strike a chord.

It’s testament to how good Knives Out and Joker were that they managed to split the two movies on the list. In truth, Glass was also a surprise favourite of mine in 2019 and the top five movies on this list stand above the rest and will be the ones that will spring to mind when I think of this year in film.

But my favourite movie was the end of a franchise that has been with me since my early childhood. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stuck the landing to end a 42 year Skywalker Saga in fine fashion. The breakneck pacing may be too much for some but for this lifelong Star Wars fan, it simply meant that I could experience more epic moments, dramatic scenes and lore expansion.

It’s opened up a bright future of storytelling opportunities in comics, books, TV shows and perhaps even future movies. It may not have eclipsed The Last Jedi, or even Return of the Jedi, but The Rise of Skywalker was a totally biased pick as my favourite movie of 2019.