Listmania: The Sixth Annual Zeppo Marx Appreciation Award

Welcome to the Sixth Annual Zeppo Marx Appreciation Award. For this pointless award, we pay tribute to the films that may have been overlooked in favor of something flashier and more interesting. In some cases, these films exceed the expectations set by those around them. However, to remove these lesser known titles is to sacrifice what is great about cinema. Just like Zeppo Marx, these films have a thankless job that is worthy of further recognition in really arbitrary categories. Join me in honoring 10 films that are better than those films you likely call great and deserve to have more attention.

Movie Based on Books Featuring Dead Cats

Winner: Cats

Better Than: Pet Sematary

Sure, Cats may have been the last major box office bomb of the decade, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have one of the more interesting depictions of existentialism. Between all of the nonsensical songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber is a story about what it means to be alive, with everyone vying for a reason to matter and go to the "Heavy Side Layer." It's all a metaphor for death, or something like that, with constant lyrical mentions of heaven and hell. While there aren't any creatures who were "put down" on screen, they still strive to be reborn as their true self, proving that T.S. Eliot's work had an unexpected Buddhistic undertone that nobody expected. Still, it's quite a show if you can even begin to understand what it's saying.

Use of Captain Marvel

Winner: Shazam!

Better Than: Captain Marvel

This does feel like a bit of a cheat but in the history of comic books Shazam! was always the fist Captain Marvel until Marvel got the rights to the name. That is what makes their choice to fight each other at the box office during the first half of 2019 all the more interesting. With two very different perspectives, they fought to see whether they wanted a Captain who was silly and drank beer, or who could do a Top Gun homage. Whatever the case may be, Zachary Levi's take just brought more humanity and heart to the character, managing to find excitement in being a superhero that fought crime and symbolizes the desire to be seen as a foster child. There's so much more to Shazam!'s dynamic that makes for a fun and enjoyable romp, serving as one of the few comic book movies to try something new this year. The results may be uneven, but at least they were bold and fun.

Use of Time Travel

Winner: Happy Death Day 2 U

Better Than: Avengers: Endgame

While Happy Death Day ended up being one of the most delightful surprises in recent horror, the sequel upended things in an even greater manner. By introducing time travel as more of a concrete subject, it allowed the film to transcend genre and go on crazier adventures through paradoxes in an attempt to make a story that was more than a Groundhog Day knock-off. What it ended up being was a film that strived to make sense the further into heavy science it went. Did it succeed? Well, at least it was entertaining and showed a franchise that could go in millions of directions without disappointing. So long as Jessica Roethe is at the helm, this franchise will be in good hands. 

Adam Driver Dealing with an Unruly Partner

Winner: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Better Than: The Report

It doesn't seem like Adam Driver can get along with anyone. This past year saw him fighting with different foes, but none were more bizarre than Don Quixote and The U.S. Government. While the latter is arguably more important and full of substantial revelations, it doesn't compare to Terry Gilliams' decades-long passion project that finally found him bringing Quixote to the 21st century in an absurd comedy that finds a film production going poorly. Driver is clearly annoyed by the whole thing, especially as the shooting recounts the adventures that Miguel de Cervantes wrote about. It was maddening in a different way, but nonetheless an entertaining ride. 

Story Featuring an Imaginary Person with a Violent History

Winner: Jojo Rabbit

Better Than: IT: Chapter Two

If you had to pick between a killer clown and a killer dictator, which would you choose? In the IT sequel, Pennywise upped the ante with so much child murder that it felt like the R-Rating got them off a little too lightly. However, it took more guts to have Hitler as an imaginary character. He may have killed far less in Jojo Rabbit, but that's part of what makes it all the more alarming. His danger is taken away to show how cruel and simplistic racism is at its core. He talks more like a cartoon character than one of the most powerful men in the world. While both have a murder sheet on their conscience, Hitler somehow comes away being the more compelling option in this particular battle in terms of enjoyability and use to the plot. 

Portrayal of an Aging Actor

Winner: Dolemite is My Name

Better Than: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Ever since the trailer's premiere, talk of Quentin Tarantino's presumed penultimate film has served a metaphor for the end of an era with a western TV actor who can't compete with the New Hollywood growing up across the fence from him. However, there was a take that was even more exciting and reflected a more unconventional approach: blaxploitation icon Rudie Ray Moore set out to make Dolemite when it was confirmed that nobody cared what happened to his career, and the story is an entertaining ride through a making of where everything went wrong, and that was part of the fun. Also, Eddie Murphy is such a delightful force of optimism that one can't help but be welcomed by every piece of profanity he shouts while lying naked in a bed. It's more than just a story of an insignificant man. It's the story of a community wanting to be represented in ways that cinema hadn't quite achieved. 

Movie Based on a TV Series

Winner: Deadwood the Movie

Better Than: El Camino

Two of the most unlikely releases of 2019 came from the world of TV making it big on film. While Breaking Bad gave Jessie Pinkman a redemptive finale, Deadwood the Movie did the unthinkable in reuniting a cast 15 years removed from their famous roles for one last ride. It's a story about a town growing and uniting against the tyranny of outside threats. It was great to see the crew, especially Al Swearengen, return with some juicy David Milch-stylized dialogue that brought the story to a more convenient end. Beyond the quality of the story, Deadwood's film feels more essential than Breaking Bad, if just because the latter was able to grow old with dignity. Deadwood was taken abruptly and left too many cliffhangers for anybody really to be satisfied. 

Depiction of the Fyre Festival

Winner: Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

Better Than: Fyre Fraud

While it's a forgotten product now, there was a point in 2019 when The Fyre Festival was one of the biggest stories of the year. That was in large part thanks to Hulu and Netflix unwittingly releasing competing documentaries meant to explore how the festival was poorly handled and left YouTube influencers stranded on an island with poor service. They both told the same story, but Netflix's Fyre edges out Hulu's Fyre Fraud just in terms of presenting a story without nonsense filler and special effects that added nothing to the story. Both add their own depth to a story by interviewing different people, but if one has to get the best picture in the quickest time, Netflix chooses the no-nonsense way with the best results.

Comic Book Inspired Depiction of a Mentally Unstable Person

Winner: Glass

Better Than: Joker

This fall saw a debate over whether Joker was a proper representation of mental illness. While it remains heavy in conversation, there's a certain story that had more fun with it. M. Night Shyamalan's ambitious trilogy came to an end this year with his beloved antiheroes all gathered in a mental institution, discussing how the world saw them and the perception of comic book mythology. While Shyamalan's interpretation may have been more thematic than realistic, it did produce a controversial finale that found the characters having an all-out brawl that chose realism in a way that will frustrate most. Whereas Joker chose to confuse its audience with potential hallucinations, Glass simply chose to deconstruct the myth of a hero in a way that completed the most unique comic book trilogy in 21st-century history. It was exciting and silly, the results proving to be just as mad as the characters themselves.

American Adaptation of a Japanese Export

Winner: Detective Pikachu

Better Than: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

For decades, Godzilla has been the greatest Japanese export in pop culture. In the second film featuring the kaiju king in the MonsterVerse, he teams up with so many other monsters that it became an all-out brawl on a ginormous scale. However, there was one monster-heavy Japanese story that came out in 2019 with far more charm. Detective Pikachu is the first live-action movie from the Pokemon franchise, and its choice to update the models and have Pikachu voiced by Ryan Reynolds only helped to make it stand out. Yes, in some ways this is all just an exercise in rebranding to sell merchandise, but the fact that the story had more heart and humor than expected only served as a positive for the film. Godzilla may still be king of the box office, but Pikachu knows how to get to people's hearts better and quicker.