1917 was named as Best Picture of 2019 by the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.
Photo by François Duhamel/Universal Pictures
The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, of which our own Alex Bentley is a member, has voted the war epic 1917 as the best film of 2019.
The results of the DFWFCA's 26th annual critics’ poll were released on December 16, with both 1917 and Marriage Story winning four awards. In addition to Best Picture, 1917 won for Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins), and Best Musical Score (Thomas Newman). The film is scheduled for release in Dallas on Christmas Day, with a wide release on January 10.
Marriage Story, the runner-up for Best Picture, nearly swept the acting categories, winning for Best Actor (Adam Driver), Best Actress (Scarlett Johansson), and Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern). Writer/director Noah Baumbach also won for Best Screenplay.
The other acting award went to Brad Pitt for Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, the only award for writer/director Quentin Tarantino's ninth, and supposedly next-to-last, film.
Other winners included Apollo 11 for Best Documentary and Toy Story 4 for Best Animated Film. The Lighthouse was awarded the Russell Smith Award, named for the late Dallas Morning News film critic, for the best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association consists of 32 broadcast, print, and online journalists from throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
For as closely tied together as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are, it might come as a surprise how few times they’ve led a movie together. They’ve appeared alongside each other in Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel, and Air, but the only time they were on equal footing in a story was Kevin Smith’s Dogma. So the fact that they are the two true stars of the new Netflix movie The Rip makes it a rare opportunity for the longtime friends to square off against each other.
Damon and Affleck play Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D Byrne, respectively, the two highest ranking members of a Miami police department squad that specializes in drug and drug money raids. A tragedy to begin the film already has the team - which includes Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandina Moreno) - on edge, with the FBI and DEA breathing down their neck.
Going off a tip, Dumars gathers the team to raid a house in nearby Hialeah that is supposed to have a stash of a relatively small amount of money. But when they get to the house occupied only by Desiree Molina (Sasha Calle), they soon discover that there’s close to $20 million there instead. The team, required by law to count the money on site, must not only fight the urge to skim a little off the top for themselves, but also worry about the Cartel and other agencies that might want a slice of the pie.
Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is a surprisingly effective crime thriller made even better by its high-quality cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent. The story is designed for the audience to not know who’s trustworthy until the last possible second, and the various twists and turns it takes are well done, with barely a hint of narrative cheating.
Taking place entirely at night, the mood is set right from the start, with the only surprise being that Carnahan didn’t add in rain for extra effect. He keeps things tense with a number of subtle elements, including having the house located in a seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. This allows for the characters to remain on high alert at all times, with anything out of the ordinary - an unexpected noise, a flashing light, etc. - adding to the stress of the situation.
The only element that could have used a bit more of a punch-up is the characterization. The story is set up to cast suspicion on almost everybody, making it tougher to understand exactly what type of person each of them is. As the two leads, more time is spent with Dumars and Byrne, leaving everyone else with slightly underwhelming arcs. It’s to the credit of the actors that everyone else below Damon and Affleck is still compelling.
Damon and Affleck play their sometimes friendly, sometimes adversarial roles well, showing an ease together that’s a result of their friendship and the acting skills they’ve honed over 30+ years. Taylor, an Oscar hopeful for One Battle After Another, and Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Yeun have a pedigree that elevates their supporting roles. Chandler, Moreno, and Calle each get just enough to demonstrate why they were cast in their respective roles.
Damon and Affleck have had their individual ups and downs throughout their careers, but when they choose to work together, the results are usually good-to-great, as they are in The Rip. It’s a different take on a crime thriller that features a story that will keep viewers guessing until the very end.
