10 Most Disappointing Movies Of 2019 (So Far)

7. High Flying Bird

What It Promised

Brilliantly cast and offering another chance to see Steven Soderbergh do his thing - and still, crucially, without the unwanted, over-zealous impetus of Big Studios (though Netflix isn't exactly an auteur platform just yet) - this should have been a triumph. It looked to explore intense personal relationships and politics against the backdrop of professional basketball and it looked enthralling.

But Really...

The film loves itself too much and the script is near-impenetrable. Sure, some love it because of its hurtling speed and dense writing, but nobody in it speaks even remotely like a human and it's too concerned with writing poetry over writing characters.

There's something to admire in it, absolutely, but the fact that its caveat - that it was filmed solely on an iPhone 8 - speaks so loudly afterwards says everything you need to know about its failure to be even remotely cinematic.

And crucially, it misses the usual magic of sports movies, which - for anyone seeking that sort of romance - is pretty disappointing.