In late 2016, David Malone and I created this website, “E.D. — Music, Movies, Etc.” We were just two IT guys who started the site almost as a joke, hence the “E.D. (Ethan. David., and a reference to one of men’s greatest fears),” but we also wanted to self-publish, at least in some small way, articles about the art forms and entertainment we already loved to investigate together: music, especially hard rock and heavy metal, and films. We also had a goal of reviewing the complete discographies of “The Big 4 of Thrash Metal” — Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. Although we have started but not yet completed that particular mission, we have, from time to time, discussed doing so either on the site or in podcast form. We’ll see about that in the future.

In 2017, ‘18, and ‘19, I committed myself to watching and hearing every new-release movie and album in which I was interested and talking about each of them on one of my E.D.-related platforms — the site itself, Twitter, Letterboxd, or Listnd, all last three of those at AHeavyMetalPen — and then doing a retrospective on the year in the new year after, with at least two articles: one my favorite albums of the year before, the other my favorite films of the year before. I tried to do this same thing with 2019, but I wasn’t quite able to completely fulfill my commitment (I haven’t yet seen and written about all the movies in which I was interested), and because of this — which is due to my life outside blogging, etc., getting in the way — I am changing my modus operandi for my use of E.D. and the other places I discuss movies and music.

Since my healthcare IT job is now demanding progressively more commitment from me, I am in the midst of continuing education, my personal life is getting busier, I am trying to get more involved in my church and my community, I am reading more, and I am beginning to do more creative writing by submitting work to literary magazines and writing at my new site, TheFlummoxed.com, I need to reduce my commitment to music and movies writing. I will continue writing at all my usual places, but I will no longer be keeping up with new releases in the same way I have been. I simply am unable to stay as relevant as is needed for making myself any kind of authority on new music and movies. Instead, I will, starting now, just write about the subjects that inspire me.

I do not believe this new modus operandi will cause my writing for E.D. to decrease. In fact, I think this change will cause my E.D. writing to increase. Often throughout 2017, ‘18, and ‘19, I would be watching new movies or listening to new music when I would rather be writing about those art forms. For instance, in early 2016, I did a comprehensive study of Bob Dylan’s entire discography, reading up on each album, spinning each record repeatedly, taking copious notes, and making Dylan playlists to enhance my experience. I didn’t do anything like that in 2017, ‘18, or ‘19, because I was trying to keep up with new releases. I want to go back to the former and stop filling my precious and little spare time with the latter taking away from the writing I want from myself. I will also still keep up with a lot of movie and music news.

That being said, I do wish to close out my study of 2019 films and albums with three quick lists here: my top ten favorite films of 2019, my top ten favorite albums of 2019, five unfairly overlooked or underrated films of 2019, five unfairly overlooked or underrated albums of 2019, and the thrash albums from 2019’s second half that I consider worth checking out (this list will stand in for my usual “thrash albums of the year part two” article.

My Top 10 Favorite Films of 2019

  1. Ford v Ferrari
  2. The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
  3. Apollo 11
  4. John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum
  5. They Shall Not Grow Old
  6. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  7. The Lighthouse
  8. Shadow
  9. Dragged Across Concrete
  10. Ad Astra

My Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2019 (LPs Only)

  1. Exhorder’s Mourn the Southern Skies
  2. Cody Jinks’s After the Fire
  3. Old Crow Medicine Show’s Live at the Ryman
  4. Sabaton’s The Great War
  5. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Infest the Rats’ Nest
  6. Bon Iver’s I, I
  7. Oozing Wound’s High Anxiety
  8. Kanye West’s Jesus is King
  9. Sunday Service’s Jesus is Born
  10. Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride

5 Unfairly Overlooked or Underrated Films of 2019

  • Arctic
  • Domino
  • Fast Color
  • The Kid Who Would Be King
  • The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot

5 Unfairly Overlooked or Underrated Albums of 2019

  • Kingfish’s self-titled
  • Kyle Craft’s Showboat Honey
  • Mandolin Orange’s Tides of a Teardrop
  • Moron Police’s A Boat on the Sea
  • Morrissey’s California Son

The Thrash Albums from 2019’s Second Half that are Worth Checking Out (LPs & EPS)

  • Acid Reign’s The Age of Entitlement
  • Anticosm’s The Call of the Void
  • Enforced’s At the Walls
  • Exhorder’s Mourn the Southern Skies
  • High Command’s Beyond the Wall of Desolation
  • King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Infest the Rats’ Nest
  • Municipal Waste’s The Last Rager
  • Oath of Cruelty’s Summary Execution at Dawn
  • Sacred Reich’s Awakening
  • Sodom’s Out of the Frontline Trench
  • Toxic Holocaust’s Primal Future: 2019
  • Traitor’s Decade of Revival

See the thrash albums I think are worth checking out from 2019’s first half in this article: “2019 Thrash Albums That’ll Melt Your Face Off — Part 1”

Also, check out the excellent article Tyler Hummel wrote for us about the best films of 2019, keep your eyes open for two best-of-the-2010s articles from me, and go check out my creative writing site, The Flummoxed!

Thanks for reading!