Year-End Lists

Entertainment Weekly: The 10 Best Books of 2019, compiled by David Canfield and Leah Greenblatt

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Normal People
   Sally Rooney
2. The Nickel Boys
   Colson Whitehead
3. Say Nothing

   A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
   Patrick Radden Keefe
4. Fleishman Is in Trouble
   Taffy Brodesser-Akner
5. Bowlaway
   Elizabeth McCracken
6. Girl, Woman, Other
   Bernardine Evaristo
7. Disappearing Earth
   Julia Phillips
8. Nothing to See Here
   Kevin Wilson
9. The Yellow House
   Sarah M. Broom
10. The Need
    Helen Phillips

Owen Gleiberman: The Best Films of 2019, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012]

1. Joker
   Todd Phillips
2. Marriage Story
   Noah Baumbach
3. The Irishman
   Martin Scorsese
4. Diane
   Kent Jones
5. Toy Story 4
   Josh Cooley
6. Uncut Gems
   Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
7. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
   Quentin Tarantino
8. Bombshell
   Jay Roach
9. A Hidden Life
   Terrence Malick
10. The Report
    Scott Z. Burns

Peter Debruge: The Best Films of 2019, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017]

1. Waves
   Trey Edward Shults
2. Pain and Glory
   Pedro Almodóvar
3. Birds of Passage
   Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
4. Diane
   Kent Jones
5. Toy Story 4
   Josh Cooley
6. The Chambermaid
   Lila Avilés
7. Woman at War
   Benedikt Erlingsson
8. The Hottest August
   Brett Story
9. I Lost My Body
   Jérémy Clapin
10. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
    Marielle Heller

Honorable mentions

• Greener Grass
  Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe
• Midsommar
  Ari Aster
• Our Time
  Carlos Reygadas
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire
  Céline Sciamma
• The Two Popes
  Fernando Meirelles

Michael Silverblatt: Best Books of 2019, as posted by KCRW, a list of favorites from the host of Bookworm

[see also 2021]

Three books by Eve Babitz

• Eve's Hollywood
  Eve Babitz
• Slow Days, Fast Company

  The World, The Flesh, and L.A.
  Eve Babitz
• I Used to Be Charming

  The Rest of Eve Babitz
  Eve Babitz

• American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
  Terrance Hayes
• Making Comics
  Lynda Barry
• Where Reasons End
  Yiyun Li
• A Sand Book
  Ariana Reines
• Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming
  László Krasznahorkai
• Dunce
  Mary Ruefle
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• A Wonderful Stroke of Luck
  Ann Beattie

Two books by Dave Eggers

• The Parade
  Dave Eggers
• The Captain and the Glory
  Dave Eggers

Emily Nussbaum: The Best TV Shows of 2019, as published by The New Yorker with an essay amusingly titled "I Love Top Ten Lists"

[see also 2018 • 2017]

• Fleabag
• Succession
• Los Espookys
• Watchmen
• BoJack Horseman
• Sherman's Showcase
• Jane the Virgin
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Dickinson
• Russian Doll
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
• High Maintenance
• Unbelievable
• Couples Therapy
• PEN15
• Our Boys
• Evil
• Catastrophe
• Good Trouble
• Orange is the New Black

Honorable Mentions

• Tuca & Bertie
• Kim's Convenience
• Documentary Now!
• Glow
• Big Mouth
• Broad City
• Younger
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• The Other Two
• Shrill
• Fosse/Verdon
• Corporate
• South Side
• Veep
• BH90210

Richard Brody: The Best Movies of 2019, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2012 • 2011]

• The Irishman
  Martin Scorsese
• The Dead Don't Die
  Jim Jarmusch
• An Elephant Sitting Still
  Hu Bo
• Us
  Jordan Peele
• Coincoin and the Extra-Humans
  Bruno Dumont
• Uncut Gems
  Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
• My First Film [live]
  Zia Anger
• A Family Tour
  Ying Liang
• One Child Nation
  Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang
• Her Smell
  Alex Ross Perry
• The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman
  Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
  Marielle Heller
• Frankie
  Ira Sachs
• Before Summer Ends
  Maryam Goormaghtigh
• August at Akiko's
  Christopher Makoto Yogi
• Birds of Passage
  Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
• Atlantics
  Mati Diop
• Richard Jewell
  Clint Eastwood
• Hotel by the River
  Hong Sang-soo
• Chaos
  Sara Fattahi
• The Competition
  Claire Simon
• Marriage Story
  Noah Baumbach
• The Pig
  Mani Haghighi
• Burning Cane
  Phillip Youmans
• Napalm
  Claude Lanzmann
• Varda by Agnès
  Agnès Varda
• Chez jolie coiffure
  Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam
• Tux and Fanny
  Albert Birney
• Harriet
  Kasi Lemmons
• Little Women
  Greta Gerwig
• Ad Astra
  James Gray
• Sword of Trust
  Lynn Shelton
• Return to Bollene
  Saïd Hamich
• High Flying Bird
  Steven Soderbergh
• Black Mother
  Khalik Allah
• Cassandro, the Exotico!
  Marie Losier
• Chained for Life
  Aaron Schimberg
• The Laundromat
  Steven Soderbergh
• American Factory
  Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• Waiting for the Barbarians
  Eugène Green
• The Image Book
  Jean-Luc Godard
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire
  Céline Sciamma
• The Burial Of Kojo
  Blitz Bazawule
• Two Plains & a Fancy
  Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn
• Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
  Matt Wolf
• Ghosts of Sugar Land
  Bassam Tariq

Stereogum: The 50 Best Albums Of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Norman Fucking Rockwell!
   Lana Del Rey
2. All Mirrors
   Angel Olsen
3. Purple Mountains
   Purple Mountains
4. U.F.O.F.
   Big Thief
5. Father of the Bride
   Vampire Weekend
6. House of Sugar
   (Sandy) Alex G
7. Ghosteen
   Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
8. Four of Arrows
   Great Grandpa
9. Hiding Places
   Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
10. Dogrel
    Fontaines D.C.
11. Schlagenheim
    black midi
12. Young Enough
    Charly Bliss
13. PROTO
    Holly Herndon
14. Patience
    Mannequin Pussy
15. Magdalene
    FKA twigs
16. The Practice of Love
    Jenny Hval
17. Titanic Rising
    Weyes Blood
18. ZUU
    Denzel Curry
19. Quiet Signs
    Jessica Pratt
20. Die a Legend
    Polo G
21. Reward
    Cate Le Bon
22. Charli
    Charli XCX
23. Anger Management
    Rico Nasty & Kenny Beats
24. Emily Alone
    Florist
25. So Much Fun
    Young Thug
26. Active Listening: Night on Earth
    Empath
27. 1000 gecs
    100 gecs
28. What Chaos Is Imaginary
    girlpool
29. Covert Contracts
    Control Top
30. Bandana
    Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
31. Morbid Stuff
    PUP
32. Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
    Bill Callahan
33. Better Oblivion Community Center
    Better Oblivion Community Center
34. thank u, next
    Ariana Grande
35. What On Earth Can We Do
    Abuse Of Power
36. placeholder
    Hand Habits
37. LEGACY! LEGACY!
    Jamila Woods
38. Our Voices Will Soar Forever
    Amygdala
39. i,i
    Bon Iver
40. uknowhatimsayin¿
    Danny Brown
41. Nest
    Brutus
42. basking in the glow
    Oso Oso
43. IGOR
    Tyler, The Creator
44. Hidden History of the Human Race
    Blood Incantation
45. Jaime
    Brittany Howard
46. When I Get Home
    Solange
47. Miss Universe
    Nilüfer Yanya
48. The Talkies
    Girl Band
49. Wildcard
    Miranda Lambert
50. New Hell
    Greet Death

Molly Young: The Best Books of 2019, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2020]

1. The Topeka School
   Ben Lerner
2. In the Dream House
   Carmen Maria Machado
3. Stay and Fight
   Madeline ffitch
4. The Book of X
   Sarah Rose Etter
5. Oval
   Elvia Wilk
6. Vernon Subutex One
   Virginie Despentes
7. Trust Exercise
   Susan Choi
8. How to Do Nothing

   Resisting the Attention Economy
   Jenny Odell
9. Machines Like Me
   Ian McEwan
10. Doxology
    Nell Zink

Craig Jenkins: The Best Albums of 2019, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. Ode to Joy
   Wilco
2. When I Get Home
   Solange
3. Father of the Bride
   Vampire Weekend
4. Magdalene
   FKA twigs
5. Jaime
   Brittany Howard
6. Bandana
   Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
7. Norman Fucking Rockwell!
   Lana Del Rey
8. The Highwomen
   The Highwomen
9. Sound & Fury
   Sturgill Simpson
10. WWCD
    Griselda

Susannah Gruder: Best Movies of the 2010s, as posted to Letterboxd

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

1. Under the Skin
   Jonathan Glazer
2. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
3. I Am Love
   Luca Guadagnino
4. In My Room
   Ulrich Köhler
5. In Jackson Heights
   Frederick Wiseman
6. Two Days, One Night
   Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
7. Force Majeure
   Ruben Östlund
8. Christine
   Antonio Campos
9. We Need to Talk About Kevin
   Lynne Ramsay
10. Weiner
    Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
11. Take This Waltz
    Sarah Polley
12. The Love Witch
    Anna Biller
13. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
14. Greenberg
    Noah Baumbach
15. The Wonders
    Alice Rohrwacher
16. Private Life
    Tamara Jenkins
17. Stranger by the Lake
    Alain Guiraudie
18. Melancholia
    Lars von Trier
19. Let the Sunshine In
    Claire Denis
20. Good Time
    Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
21. Toni Erdmann
    Maren Ade
22. Happy as Lazzaro
    Alice Rohrwacher
23. Frances Ha
    Noah Baumbach
24. Dogtooth
    Yorgos Lanthimos
25. American Honey
    Andrea Arnold
26. First Reformed
    Paul Schrader
27. Another Earth
    Mike Cahill
28. Moonlight
    Barry Jenkins
29. The Skin I Live In
    Pedro Almodóvar
30. The Great Beauty
    Paolo Sorrentino
31. Certified Copy
    Abbas Kiarostami
32. The Favourite
    Yorgos Lanthimos
33. Barbara
    Christian Petzold
34. Burning
    Lee Chang-dong
35. Us
    Jordan Peele
36. Weekend
    Andrew Haigh
37. The Lobster
    Yorgos Lanthimos
38. Carol
    Todd Haynes
39. Black Swan
    Darren Aronofsky
40. Boyhood
    Richard Linklater
41. Amour
    Michael Haneke
42. The Witch
    Robert Eggers
43. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
44. Roma
    Alfonso Cuaron
45. Hereditary
    Ari Aster
46. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
    David Zellner
47. Shoplifters
    Hirokazu Kore-eda
48. Get Out
    Jordan Peele
49. Spring Breakers
    Harmony Korine
50. Clouds of Sils Maria
    Olivier Assayas