Same intro as 2018, but more emphatically for 2019. Man, I hate pre-list philosophizing, and it was even worse with end-of-decade lists.
Every site writes a too-long preamble to their year-end top-whatever lists, so I won’t. But I will say that I particularly like constricting lists to top 5 because a) they fit well on Twitter, but also b) for the sake of conversation. Whittling your list to 5 makes it hurt a little bit. Which it should! Especially when we talk about what really, truly impacted you, personally, and is gonna stick with you long after the year ends.

#2019TOP5 MOVIES

1 – THE BEACH BUM – This bonkers movie veers from sleazy to beautiful, ridiculous to philosophical, lodged itself in my brain, and made me rethink my own life between the WTF moments. Isn’t that what great art is for?
2 – JOHN WICK 3 – A marvel of technical skill, visual style and artful choreography. Combined with, honestly, how many times I’ll gleefully re-watch these vs ‘higher-brow’ fare, this series deserves more recognition.
3 – PARASITE – A masterpiece of precision camera and character work that dances between comedy, drama and thriller all while landing a resonant political theme. Weird, wild, and impressive — top to bottom (wink).
4 – MARRIAGE STORY – The raw emotion of the year’s two best performances definitely floored me, but the way the turmoil is tempered with wit and tenderness made it feel even truer. Deep, powerful stuff.
5 – LITTLE WOMEN – Gerwig took a century-old book for teen girls, injected it with energy and humor, and restructured the story to reveal timeless, relevant ideas the original only hints at. A genius script and a total joy.

NEARLY MADE IT – Jojo Rabbit, High Flying Bird, Standoff at Sparrow Creek, Last Black Man in San Francisco, Knives Out
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – The Irishman (merely overrated), Rise of Skywalker (massively disappointing), Uncut Gems (ugly, loud, dull), Joker (an outright disgusting travesty)

#2019TOP5 TV SHOWS

1 – WATCHMEN – It’s hard to believe this show even exists. So ambitious in its storytelling, complex in its exploration of the original’s themes in today’s world, and written, shot, scored, acted, and edited on another level. Damn.
2 – FLEABAG – I thought the first season was an expert bit of writing and acting, with one of my favorite characters on TV. The second deserves all the credit it’s getting, but the supporting cast in particular really stepped up.
3 – CATASTROPHE – My favorite couple on television. They’re not perfect, they’re not even always likable, but damn do I get it, and love watching the funnier version of all our inner thoughts brought to life with real heart.
4 – SUCCESSION – Filmed things that feel like plays are a weakness of mine, as are Shakespearean dramatics, so of course a beautiful show that’s mostly dialogue about the fall of rich assholes does it for me. Also, hilarious?
5 – DEAD TO ME – Though it’s just shy of trashy, I actually loved seeing two outstanding female actors work through friendship and grief while a murder lurks in the background giving everything an extra dash of tension.

NEARLY MADE IT – Veep, Barry, Mindhunter, Unbelievable, Better Call Saul (Was that even this year? Who cares, I love it.)
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Game of Thrones (no surprise), The Mandolorian (very enjoyable! not that remarkable)

#2019TOP5 BOOKS

*note: I do not read fast enough to make book lists by year of release, so this, like most normal people’s I imagine, will be books READ this year instead.

1 – IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER by Italo Calvino – A daring feat of meta-story telling, this nested-doll novel — about the search for the end of another unfinished novel — explores what it means to write, to read, to tell stories, and to live. I couldn’t get enough of its pleasures or its insight.
2 – THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead – Few books feel bound to be classics the next generation will be reading in school. This blunt yet heartfelt story of forgotten boys who’ve been through hell deserves to be.
3 – NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney – Emotionally my #1, because reading about two nerdy outcasts, who grow up feeling out of place in the world and only really themselves around each other, pierced my core.
4 – EXHALATION by Ted Chiang – Every story does what the best sci-fi does: poses a mind-bending question and explores what that means for normal, frail, limited human lives. Each one could be its own post here.
5 – SECRET EMPIRE by Nick Spencer – I’m all for the political turn taken by Captain America’s latest alternate-reality, exploring the tension between heroism and fascism. This crossover felt big, but focused on a worthy idea.

NEARLY MADE IT – WALKING: ONE STEP AT A TIME by Erling Kagge, OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk, FRIDAY BLACK by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – GOLDEN STATE by Ben Winters (great start, terrible end), LANCELOT by Walker Percy (painfully mysogynist, do not read)

#2018TOP5 GAMES

*similar note applies because damn are almost all games too long, meaning one can only play so many the year they’re released.

1 – OUTER WILDS – Like 2018’s #1 (Obra Dinn), this wasn’t close. A combat-free mystery, solved by discovering and decoding clues, while visiting weird planets, trapped in a time loop, in awe of the lonely universe. Wow.
2 – BATTLETECH – A must for fans of XCOM and the like, because once your squad are giant mechs, the tactical strategy foundation gains a layer of attrition, adding survival-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth drama to every battle.
3 – CELESTE – This simple-looking platformer hides tons of mechanical depth and challenge, and a sweet, sad story about dealing with depression, all set to a wonderful soundtrack — and I don’t even love platformers.
4 – OBSERVATION – Creepy, gorgeous, mysterious sci-fi that feels like playing 2001 with a bit of a dash of Alien and a little BioShock thrown in. And it’s short enough to play in a day! More games should be like this!
5 – CONTROL – Not enough big action games are cool with being weird. The 3rd-person action delivers a satisfying X-Men power trip, but the Twin Peaks-y, X-Files-ish world made it a far more memorable one.

NEARLY MADE IT – The Outer Worlds, Apex Legends, Jedi: Fallen Order, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Also Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, because I really liked it but it was so punishing I gave up halfway through, which is a huge shame.

#2019TOP5 ALBUMS

1 – BE GOOD by Off With Their Heads – An almost platonic mix of burly riffs and melodic vocals that took me back to indie/punk favorites from my youth, in a year where I needed some loud guitars and angsty energy.
2 – ON THE LINE by Jenny Lewis – It comes on pretty gently, but spending time with this album reveals this rich warmth of sound and feeling that really wrapped its arms around me over time.
3 – MALIBU KEN by Malibu Ken – The trap style that’s so popular in current hip hop doesn’t do much for me musically, but this gonzo collab between lyrical master Aesop Rock and trippy fuzz-god Tobacco sure goddamn did.
4 – PURPLE MOUNTAINS by Purple Mountains – This forlorn, twangy plunge into regret stuck in my brain and moved my soul even before Berman left us — I even had tickets to the tour. Now, it’s etched in history.
5 – SOUND AND FURY by Sturgill Simpson – Rarely does such a departure make me love an artist even more, but the giant guitars and seething anger were a big swing that paid off. Bonus: the Netflix full-album anime video.

NEARLY MADE IT – I,I by Bon Iver, OPTIMAL LIFESTYLES by Pkew Pkew Pkew, DEAD MAN’S POP (REISSUE BOX SET) by The Replacements, and I think Lizzo is mandatory, right?
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – I didn’t listen to enough new music this year to be that disappointed in anything, though the latest New Pornographers seemed to be missing some magic.

So, what were your #2019top5 picks?