Today we went to Alamo Drafthouse for a screening of the animated short films nominated for Oscars this year. Of the nominees, I hope Hair Love wins. It’s beautiful! And somehow the least devastating. (Seriously was that a requirement this year?)

After the nominees, they screened a handful of other animated shorts and wow, The Bird and the Whale is extraordinary. It’s paint-on-glass animation and all seven minutes are made of “over 4300, 24 x 34 inch paintings and took more than 14 months to paint.” The effect is gorgeous.

Here’s a trailer for the film and a behind-the-scenes video:

This list was much harder to make than my favorite movies of 2019. I was able to get it down to 15 and that’s how many Chris Coyier did, so I figured that’s great.

It was especially difficult because movies released earlier in the decade have the advantage of nostalgia and repeat viewings. I might revisit this in 5 years to see how my opinions change.

15. Logan

14. Get Out

13. Midnight in Paris (I know Woody Allen is horrible and I debated putting this here. But this movie made my heart ache like not many before or since.)

12. Moonrise Kingdom

11. Baby Driver

10. JoJo Rabbit

9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

8. Guardians of the Galaxy

7. Crazy Rich Asians

6. Inception

5. Bridesmaids

4. Tangled

3. Gone Girl

2. Pitch Perfect

1. Eighth Grade

...

Honorable mentions: Parasite, Moana, Crazy Stupid Love, Thor: Ragnarok, Searching, This Is The End

Lots of great movies this year, but here are my ten favorites.

10. The Farewell

9. Shazam!

8. Yesterday

7. Us

6. Booksmart

5. Avengers: Endgame

4. Always Be My Maybe

3. Knives Out

2. Parasite

1. JoJo Rabbit

I love Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, Eighth Grade, so much. And I love this You Should See It from FilmJoy a whole bunch too. If you haven’t seen this marvelous film, please do.

UI developer Diana Smith is also an amazing artist. She creates detailed, beautiful portraits using only HTML and CSS. She captures the glow of skin and the life behind it in the way many painters which they could. And it’s all done in code. Truly magnificent work.

CSS Zigario / CSS Francine / CSS Pink / CSS Lace