A Naijaboy’s Top 10 Movies of 2019 So Far

2019 has been a pretty great year for movies. We witnessed the culmination of Marvel’s epic ten-year journey. Avengers Endgame was an event movie like no other, it would take a while before another movie comes along that can rival the level of emotional resonance Endgame had on audiences worldwide. This is a list of my top 10 movies of 2019.

Yeah, guys are human too but most times we are taught to be strong and subdue our emotions, but Avengers Endgame got dudes crying in the cinema in Nigeria. That surprised me. Enough Avengers talk let’s get on with the list so you see the best movies I saw this year.

Now there is a bit of a caveat, the movies on this list were not all released in 2019, I saw them in 2019, irrespective of when they were released. And also this is not a ranked list (except number 1), it’s just my personal 10 favorites. Here we go. Spoilers Ahead!

10. Dark Phoenix

There is a lot of hate for this movie out there and I kinda get it. The story wasn’t exactly great but it’s still X-Men, and for that alone, there is no way I can hate this movie. Sophie Turner did a great job playing Jean Grey and so did other cast members in their various roles. A lot of factors contributed to the “failure” of this movie; the constant delays, the release date, news about reshoots, those just damped audiences’ enthusiasm. The X-men franchise has been passed on to Marvel, so fingers crossed to see what Kevin Feige and his goons come up with. By the way, I eagerly await New Mutants. It promises to be a fright fest.

9. Triple Frontier


From the stables of Netflix comes a masterpiece. Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal who are ex-special forces, team to rob a South American drug lord. And in typical movie fashion, things don’t go as planned and a shit storm ensues. This movie depicts how even the noblest of men can still fall prey to human tendencies of greed. Wanting to get away with as much cash as they could, these men made bad decisions that eventually came to bite them in the ass. I was hoping that this movie will be like several others where everything ends well and everyone goes home smiling to the bank and then Netflix announces a sequel where the drug lord’s men seek revenge. Boy ol boy was I wrong, Redfly’s (Ben Affleck character) death really got to me, it was at that moment I knew this movie wasn’t in any way typical. The ending was still good though, made me wonder why these men had even left home, to begin with, but still good.

8. Roma


This time film auteur Alfonso Cuaron teams up with Netflix to make one of the best movies in recent memory. The visuals alone are enough to make any film geek drool. It was shot in stunning black and white and was set in the seventies in a city called Roma, in Mexico. This film is a semi-autobiographical account of the director; Cuaron’s childhood. For me, this movie highlighted how one’s life no matter how mundane can yet still be profound. The story follows Cleo, the maid as she navigates her own personal life while also trying to keep a family without a father together. A lot of people won’t like this movie because of how slow and quiet it can be at times, but trust me if you love movies that highlight life in all its mundane glory, you will love Roma.

7. Alita Battle Angel


This movie deserves way more credit than it got. I relished the time I spent watching this movie and Dua Lipa’s Swan Song at the end sealed the deal, making this movie one of the best I have ever seen. This movie was produced by the legendary James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Alita, a “war robot” in the form of a lady wakes up to a world where she remembers nothing of her past. She however though, remembers how to kick ass and fall in love. If metal on metal action is your jam, Alita will be your obsession. The fight scenes are epic, especially during Motorball, a battle royal racing sport. I know this movie wasn’t made to be a romantic drama but those parts of the movie really got to me.

6. Escape Room


I had heard a lot about escape rooms, especially from Craig Mazin on Scriptnotes; a podcast he co-hosts with writer John August. Mr. Mazin loves escape rooms, and after watching this movie, I can see the appeal. There are a lot of horrible deaths in this movie but it is still fun as hell. A group of individuals are placed in a series of rooms and asked to figure out how to ‘’escape’ the room. There is a little twist, however, unlike escape rooms in real life where everyone has a good laugh and smiles home. The escape rooms in this movie are death traps, each room is uniquely tailored to prey on the fears and previous traumatic experiences of the players. I love horror movies so this movie was a no-brainer especially those that really excels at creating tension like Escape Room does. Watch it till the end, epic stuff.

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