More Movies Like This, Please: 2019 List

I started something in 2012. Whenever I saw a new movie I liked, I would jump onto Twitter, identify the movie, then simply tweet: “More movies like this, please.”

Then I thought, Why don’t I do an annual More Movies Like This, Please list?

What do I mean by “more movies like this, please”? Not big popcorn flicks. Hey, I love huge spectacle movies as much as the next guy, but we know Hollywood is going to make them, studios don’t need encouragement to produce prequels, sequels, remakes, tentpoles, and so forth.

Rather, I’m talking about movies Hollywood seems to have a hard time committing to nowadays for a variety of reasons, most of them related to economics and conventional wisdom about what supposedly will work / won’t work.

Here are some of elements I’m looking for in my More Movies Like This, Please list:

• More adult dramas
• More mid-budget movies [$25–50M], smaller stories that need larger budgets to be told well
• More original movies [based on an original screenplay]
• More movies targeting people who love movies and appreciate the history of movies
• More movies that represent the vision of one writer / writer-director or team of writers / writer-directors
• More movies that explore interesting, unique and unusual subcultures
• More movies written, directed, and/or starring women and people of color
• More movies that take risks
• More movies that approach narrative in different ways
• More cinematic movies
• More quirky, whimsical, oddball movies reflecting a distinctive take on the world
• More movies where the focus is on characters, not special effects
• More movies that make me think
• More movies that have no reason to exist other than the fact they have a great story to tell.

So here is my 2019 More Movies Like This, Please list:

1917
Blinded by the Light
Booksmart
Clemency
The Farewell
Good Boys
Hala
Harriet
Hustlers
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Just Mercy
Knives Out
The Lighthouse
Little Women
The Long Shot
Marriage Story
Midsommar
Parasite
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Queen & Slim
Sister Mercy
Toy Story 4
Uncut Gems
Us
Yesterday

Most films on the list are indie films, however, there are some studio releases as well: 1917 represents an audacious piece of storytelling. Good Boys is a fun R-rated comedy and great fun. Joker is a compelling character study which taps into the madness of the zeitgeist. The Long Shot is the type of romantic comedy we used to see and reminded me how much I miss them.

However, the stand-out movie among the bigger releases is Knives Out. It’s terrific, doing gangbuster box office, and importantly… IT’S AN ORIGINAL MOVIE! Its performance spawned this quote in Variety:

It’s another triumph for original content — a form of entertainment once thought to be imperiled by the ubiquity of franchise fare.

An original movie with a $40M budget? This is precisely the type of project the major studios started shunning about 10 years ago. Thankfully, Lionsgate and their partners stepped up to the plate to back the Rian Johnson project, and they’re going to see a nifty profit from it. Hopefully, this will inspire other major and mini-major studios to take similar risks.

So definitely more movies like Knives Out, please!

I have probably missed some movies as I’m still working my way through screeners and going to the movie theater to catch other films, but I look at the above list and it stands right along side every one I’ve put together since 2012. It’s been a very strong stretch these last eight years, so kudos filmmakers!

How about you? Which movies would you put on your More Movies Like This, Please list?