There are plenty of 2018 movies I still haven't seen (Mandy, Cold War, Roma, Shoplifters, First Reformed, Paddington 2) but these are the movies I did watch and enjoyed.




10. Thoroughbreds/ A Simple Favor Both dark comedies carried by two female leads, think I liked Thoroughbreds more because it took bigger risks and was more offbeat than ASF but Anna Kendrick/Blake Lively combo felt very old Hollywood and they both knocked it out of the park.

9. Bumblebee-Just a sweet movie, Loved the 80s motif... Hailee Steinfeld is so good as a likeable girl next door/ nerdy/lonely girl it's obvious that she's going to be a superstar. Just a nice surprise considering how much I hate the Transformer movies.

8.) Black KKKlansmen-Spike Lee's comeback movie, been awhile but he's firing on all cylinders here.

7. Sorry To Bother You- Felt like I was hallucinating despite going in to watch this sober. Kind of falls a part in the final third but fun, subversive and smart when its not going off the rails.

6. Isle Of Dogs- I'm a Wes Anderson fan boy and wasn't disappointed with IOD, loved every frame, laughed a ton. Might be my favorite Wes Anderson movie of all-time.

5. Crazy Rich Asians - I usually hate RomComs but this was so refreshingly sweet and laugh out loud funny. I've watched it multiple times and its easily a modern classic romcom.

4. Phantom Thread (Think it came out in 2018)....I loved everything about this movie. Just great to look at, Jonny Greenwood's score fits perfectly with the mood, PTA takes his time like a master at the peak of his craft and delivers one of the best constructed scenes that I've ever seen in cinema.

3. Mission Impossible Fallout: I'm not really a fan of the Mission Impossible movies but this is an action movie masterpiece. In an era of superhero movies stuffed with CGI it was refreshing to see a practical effects movie (although there was a lot of CGI in it). Tom Cruise obviously put in a ton of work/preparation into all of the stunts and it shows. Just an amazing feat of a movie.

2. Spiderman Into The Spiderverse: Not an exaggeration to say that this is the best looking animated movie that I've ever seen, add that to a very human story, likeable characters...Spiderman 2 is my favorite superhero movie but this might top that, it's that good.

1. Annihilation: I'm a sucker for trippy/heady sci-fi movies and this scratched the itch. I'm not sure the plot holds up if you think about it too much but the stunning cinematography and moody feel made up for it for me. I love these type of movies and personally this was my favorite movie of the year.

Gonna have to rewatch Annihilation at some point...it didn't really stay with me, although I enjoyed it. Maybe it's because I was fresh off reading the book when I did see it.

Phantom Thread came out last year but was awesome.

Black Klansman was the most overrated film of the year imho.

Mission Impossible Fallout was very solid but I didn't understand why everyone loved it more than me, although I quite enjoyed it.

I don't see many first-run movies nowadays, what with kids and an old dog that needs care and all, but of the ones I saw this year, Spiderman was by far the best. I have not been that happy after seeing a movie in a long time. One of the best movies I have ever seen.


Someone mentioned Sorry to Bother You. It was fantastic. Best film I saw at that point in the year.

Perhaps everyone was prepared hate it, so when they liked it they overrated it.

Disagree that 2018 wasn't a great year for film. 10 of the best I've seen, in the order in which they occur to me:

1) The Favourite - great performances all round, funny, witty, surreal, just excellent.

2) Widows - innovative take on the heist genre that contains political and social commentary while remaining gripping. The scene where Colin Farrell is driven from the poor neighbourhood to his mansion in what looks like one take (maybe faked, dunno) was so good.

3) Three Identical Strangers - fascinating documentary about triplets who are separated at birth then accidentally find each other. Sounds like a feelgood story but actually much darker.

4) They Shall Not Grow Old - absolutely brilliant, just incredibly moving. As 11/11 approaches every year, there's always commentary about Remembrance Sunday being a jingoistic celebration of imperialism, and we shouldn't have all this pomp and ceremony about WW1. This film is the answer to those people. In fact, one usually annoying Guardian columnist admitted that the movie helped change her mind and realise that the day is about commemoration, not triumphalism.

5) Kindergarten Teacher - creepy as ****. Maggie Gyllenhall is brilliant as this teacher obsessed with a student, who appears to be the Mozart of poetry.

6) A Quiet Place - the Finchley Road Vue cinema frequently doesn't have the best behaved audiences. There's often a lot of phone glare, talking, rustling and moving around. The Quiet Place had everyone rooted to their seats, as still and silent as you can be while remaining conscious. It's great when a film can have that effect on an audience.

7) Mission Impossible: Fallout - everyone involved admits that the script only came together at the end of the production, and it shows in the incoherent plotting. I quickly lost track of why Ethan Hunt and Co. were where they were, doing whatever it is they were doing. Who cares though when the characters are likeable and the action is this good? Practical stunts are so much better than CGI.

8) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - a superhero film which dares to be different and succeeds. Fantastically animated; the way the Prowler moved was particularly good and led to him being more threatening than any Marvel movie villain.

9) Death of Stalin - Darkly funny, and sometimes just plain dark.

10) Sorry to Bother You - like Get Out, this does social commentary the right way, ie make an entertaining, original film where the critique flows from the plot. Smart, visually clever and funny.

So that's a nice mix of blockbuster, drama, comedy and documentary, there was a great film for anyone's taste in 2018. There are quite a few well-received films I haven't seen, ones that spring to mind are: Hereditary, Shoplifters, You Were Never Really Here, Cold War, Leave no Trace.

I have to catch up on a bunch of films from 2018 but I thought first man was fantastic.
ryan gosling was great as always, the original score and visuals were magnificent, and the film was incredibly accurate down to very minute details.

How have you been doing? Are you at a point where you can get out and go to a movie?

I've been doing a bunch of physical therapy and I could go to a movie but would have to sit in my wheelchair and with my 65" top of the line TV and sound system it's just way more comfortable to watch at home in my recliner.

but even before my accident I was a pretty big homebody.

I have made a lot of progress learning to live with my injury and in a month or two I'll start advanced gait training and with a couple of years of intensive gait training there is a good chance I'll regain some movement even if it's just being able to walk with a walker.

the gait training is very expensive tho so we'll see.

but even with how awful this has been I have a lot to be truly grateful for.
I can use the bathroom on my own which most paraplegics can't and that's a HUGE thing, and I can also have kids if I want, or at least practice.

Wonderful attitude, RBK. Continued good luck with the rehab.

And practice, practice, practice.

Wait, you're paralyzed?? I just thought you were in a bad wreck and would fully recover....fu*king hell.

that's one helluva great attitude you have RBK...if you want to use my Netflix or Kanopy account, just let me know.

I watched Mission Impossible last night. I love the series although the car/truck/motorcycle/boat/helicopter chases tend to bore me a bit. Still, it's fun and well-directed.

Tonight I saw Let The Sunshine In, Claire Denis's newest film, which I think one of the best movies of 2018. The script, co-written by Denis, is based in part on Roland Barthes's A Lover's Discourse, stars Juliette Binoche, and in a knockout conclusion, Gerard Depardieu! It's an extraordinary Romantic Comedy (perhaps) about the ways that we talk about love or don't talk about love or talk about not talking about love. I wish I didn't need to rely on subtitles for this one, but Denis's work takes its place with the witty screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s, and a couple other great films in which people mostly talk: My Dinner With Andre and My Night at Maud's. What *do* we talk about when we talk about love?

ty brother.

haha ty bud! I have a Netflix account but never heard of kanopy would def be down to check that out much appreciated.

edit: just checked out kanopy. wow can't believe I hadn't heard about it what a fantastic collection of films.

Enjoy Kanopy! Glad I can do such a little thing to help.

watching my friend dahmer now!

really, dahmer? that's one I avoid.

ya I'm kindv wishing I had, but I have a strange interest in serial killers.
this is the wrong thread to discuss it tho as it certainly isn't one of the best films tho it was very well made.

me too! I can't get enough Ted Bundy or Gary Ridgeway material (I live in the PNW). I've read about Randy Woodfield, Charles Manson, BTK... haven't got to Dahmer yet. Doesn't seem like there are many decent films about actual serial killers out there. The Bundy ones range from old/decent to WTF is this? The new doc on Netflix is interesting, but it's all familiar to me already. Looking forward to the movie with Efron.

The Mule wasn't that good, that's why. I enjoyed it, but that's about the extent of it.

There were a lot of things wrong with this movie too and, I'm guessing, most of us really wanted to like it.

I'm guessing you haven't seen Mandy yet and based on this explanation, you absolutely need to.

My favorite movie of the year is still A Star Is Born.

Other favorites:

Into the Spider-Verse
A Quiet Place
Black Panther
Blindspotting
Mission: Impossible
Mandy
Widows
Game Night
Blackkklansman

Lots of notables I haven't seen: Green Book, First Reformed, Eighth Grade, Free Solo, Sorry to Bother You, Isle of Dogs, The Favourite, Hereditary, Roma, Beale Street, Can You Ever Forgive Me, First Man, Leave No Trace, Won't You Be My Neighbor, Cold War, Burning, Shoplifters,

JohnCole, I finally watched all of Paddington....it is quite charming, and I loved the train chase at the end and Brendan Gleeson as Knucles. Also loved Hugh Grant's prison song and dance.

See! Peter Capaldi also pretty great as neighborhood bad guy.