A movie called The Killer—based on a graphic novel, no less—sounds like David Fincher self-consciously revisiting his serial-killer glory days with some pre-millennium tension revived along with them. Yet Fincher’s ruthlessly streamlined and darkly funny assassination thriller has some of the dry procedural wit of his pal Steven Soderbergh, as well as such sleek momentum that you might not notice that it only contains about two proper action sequences. (They’re doozies, though.) It’s Fincher’s whole deal sharpened to a fine, deadly point. And, OK, the Old Hollywood biopic Mank is kinda just tagging along here; it’s not actually better than The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. But Fincher working in black-and-white is even more of a cinephile dream than Cuarón, and Mank’s Hollywoodscapes are downright dreamlike.
2-3. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017) and Marriage Story (2019)
Netflix/Everett Collection
If Netflix has a higher function, it’s to funnel money to Noah Baumbach—America’s foremost chronicler of disappointed NYC-based overthinkers, who has never really made a hit movie, except that time he co-wrote Barbie, one of the biggest hits of the century. (He’s also credited on Madagascar 3.) But incredibly, most of the Netflix money came before that, so they deserve extra credit for funding the likes of Marriage Story (which at least was an awards darling) and The Meyerowitz Stories (which wasn’t, and may be an even better movie). Meyerowitz feels particularly overlooked in light of Uncut Gems stealing its Serious Sandler thunder; the Sandman is arguably just as good here as a sweet, underachieving Brooklyn dad staggered by his “genius girl” daughter, and casting him as Dustin Hoffman’s son and Ben Stiller’s brother is pretty brilliant. Even more bonus points for the even bigger truckload of cash that the studio gave over to Baumbach’s faithfully idiosyncratic adaptation of White Noise.
1. The Irishman (2019)
Netflix/Everett Collection
In the words of Al Pacino in another 2019 film: What. A. Picture. Netflix gave Martin Scorsese the money for a big-budget decades-spanning mob picture featuring an all-star cast, extensive digital de-aging, period settings, and a supersized running time. In the ultimate tribute to one of the best in the biz, The Irishman did not become a prestige miniseries broken out into awkward chunks (though some misguided efforts were made online to explain how to watch it like one). No, however people chose to watch it, this is a 210-minute movie, a detail-packed, darkly hilarious, and ultimately devastating march toward oblivion, taking care note of the wreckage left in the wake of a “house-painting” mob middleman (Robert De Niro) who has a special relationship with Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Mournful yet also wildly entertaining, it’s a Scorsese crime epic that can stand comfortably alongside Goodfellas and Casino, and deserves just as many future rewatches, possibly by dads standing up in the middle of the living room.
