In a year dominated by comic book movies and Star Wars, it’s easy to miss films that aren’t about Thanos or Kylo Ren. 2019 has also given us a few standalone films worth checking out, and what better category to go over than stories about actual events and heroes? After all, movies can make history a lot more exciting than your high school class memories. The films below may not be 100% accurate in every detail, but they all bring famous names and events to life with intimate, twisting stories. I wasn’t able to review them all, but spoiler alert, they all would have gotten a thumbs-up.
The Current War (Director’s Cut)
To confirm, we’re talking about the much better received director’s cut version here, so don’t let the initial release’s Rotten Tomatoes score scare you off. The Current War shows us the personal drama and competing ideas that gave our world electricity (which is sort of a big deal). See how the incredibly different giants of invention Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) went through an intense rivalry as they fought for control of cities and technology. Dirty tricks, personal loss, and entertaining performances all take center stage. If you’re a Marvel fan, you could even think of it as a Doctor Strange/Spiderman spinoff where they go back into time to push an inferior type of electrical current. My only quibble is the movie could have talked a lot more about Tesla’s crazy life and ideas, but that could take up a whole feature by itself.
Harriet
Imagine being born a woman in slavery in 1822, escaping to freedom, and then deciding to go back into the jaws of danger and hatred to save others. That’s only the setup for Harriet, and by the end of the film you’ll realize there’s a whole lot you didn’t know about Harriet Tubman. It’s a solid historical drama, relying on raw emotions and plot points that will have you tearing up one moment and then cheering the next (and also laugh a surprisingly frequent number of times). Cynthia Erivo perfectly portrays Harriet’s journey from fearful refugee to one of America’s most fearless legends. Other standout performances include Leslie Odom Jr. as abolitionist William Still and Joe Alwyn as all-around terrible person Gideon Brodess.
1917
I was crushed when no theater around me showed this on the release date thanks to a limited release schedule. And to be honest, it’s still my most-anticipated feature, since I’m still waiting for AMC theaters around here to pick it up (sad trombone noise). So, unlike the two movies above, I can’t speak from experience, but I can mention that it’s directed by Sam Mendes of Skyfall fame, is stacked with British powerhouse actors, and both critic and audience scores are in the 90’s. If you’re a fan of World War I content or have no idea what trench warfare was like, this continuous single-shot movie may be the year’s most dazzling cinematic achievement, and has a slew of award nominations to argue that point.
Jason Talks Movies 