Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Top 10 of 2018

2018 had quite a few solid movies, but was nowhere near the quality of 2017. 2017 had an all-time great (Blade Runner 2049), excellent action (Baby Driver, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), dramas (Lady Bird, 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri), and some of my favorite comic book films ever made (Guardians, Logan, Thor:Ragnarok). 2018 had... Mission: Impossible and some good documentaries? While that's a bit of an exaggeration, 2018 just was not a strong movie year in my estimation, probably the weakest since 2013. Despite all that, I still had some of my more memorable theater experiences in a while. The big screen induced dread of the criminally underseen Annihilation. The weepy funeral recession feeling of A Star is Born. And A Quiet Place would not have been near the experience it was without the ominous quiet in a large movie theater. I've rated every movie I saw in 2018 on Letterboxd, but my thoughts on the top ten movies of the year are below!

1. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

A day will come when Tom Cruise running around like an action hero will seem silly. When Roger Moore got too old to play James Bond, those final couple of movies were campy and dumb. But Cruise is not there yet, and somehow, Fallout may very well be the best entry in the Mission Impossible franchise. The stunts and fight scenes are just plain awesome. Swapping Jeremy Renner with Henry Cavill somehow works. But it's Cruise and his ageless charisma and dedication to jaw dropping stunts that helps slot the sixth entry in the franchise as my favorite film of 2018. The much hyped bathroom fight and infamous halo drop scene are both impressive and vault Fallout into the discussion of the greatest action films of all time.

2. A Star is Born

When you hear the pitch for this movie, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. So many questions came to my mind after seeing the trailer. "Wait this is the third remake of this movie?" "Bradley Cooper has never directed a movie before?" "Lady Gaga is in it and took off all her make up?" Bradley Cooper is trying to sing?!" And to say that those fears were assuaged is a massive understatement. A Star is Born is an emotional punch with fantastic acting and even better music. When Ally, played by Lady Gaga, joins Jackson Maine, Cooper, on stage for the first time to sing the now mega hit "Shallow", it is an absolutely masterful movie moment. It felt like our theater was going to explode in applause when Gaga really lets it go. While there may be a corny line or two, this film is a powerhouse, and is easily my pick of this year's Best Picture nominees.

3. Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade may be the most accurate portrayal of middle school life ever put on film, sometimes painstakingly so. Given first-time director Bo Burnham's history as a YouTube star, it makes sense that he would be the one to most capably portray life as an 8th grader in 2018. Instead of taking the easy route and vilifying today's kids as self-important screen addicts, he takes a more sympathetic approach. Kids are as much the same now as they ever have been, they just have different outlets. In one interview I heard, Burnham points out that kids are going to be glued to their phones because parents gave them the most powerful tool in the history of mankind and just said "you figure it out". Eighth Grade will make you cringe, laugh, cry, and remember one of the most difficult years in everyone's childhood.

4. Bad Times at the El Royale

Director Drew Goddard is most certainly doing his best Tarantino impression in Bad Times at the El Royale, but I say that with the utmost respect. Bad Times is a twisting crime story with wonderful characters and abrupt reveals in the same vein as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth and more give excellent performances. This movie tanked at the box office, and I predict will have a strong following over the next few years as it gets discovered on streaming.

5. BlacKkKlansman

Not based on a Chappelle's show sketch, BlacKkKlansman is the incredible true story of a black police officer in Colorado infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. John David Washington, Denzel's son, was the biggest snub of the Academy Award nominations as the star of the film. His conversations over the phone with KKK members posing as white man are darkly hilarious. Just as a pure thriller, this had me on the edge of my seat. I don't necessarily want to get into the politics of the film (that's been covered in every place imaginable on the internet), but I do think that director Spike Lee’s choice of using actual news footage at the end of the film was a bit too on the nose. The story from the late 1970's was very clear in its timeless message of the reality and evils of all types of racism. To add news footage from 2017 will unfortunately make the ending a prisoner of the moment, rather than something more timeless. I still loved the film and it didn't detract from my enjoyment, just something that I would have liked to have seen done differently. Adam Driver and John David Washington's budding friendship in the film is really the heart of it, and both actors really nailed it.

6. Incredibles 2

The Incredibles is my favorite animated movie of all time, and the sequel nearly reaches the same heights. All the same action, suspense, and comedy is just as charming the second time around. Pixar rarely misses and this is no exception.

7. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

I must admit that my love for this documentary is extremely clouded by nostalgia and sentimentality, but I think that was the point. Fred Rogers was one of my favorite TV personalities as a kid, and this was a loving tribute to the man that so many children adored. I wept in the theater while the film showed the countless times that Rogers loved his fellow man, all in the name of Jesus Christ. Your mileage may vary based on this one, dependent upon your love for Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but I would still recommend it to anyone.

8. Three Identical Strangers

Some documentaries can reveal new information that was previously unknown to the public. Others are tributes to their subjects or attempt to record history. And then there are those stories that are so insane that you don’t quite believe what you’re watching. Three Identical Strangers is in that latter camp. I won’t spoil anything more than what the title tells you, but just imagine if on your first day of college you bump into your long lost twin. It only gets weirder from there.

9. Annihilation

Alex Garland's previous film, Ex Machina, was a sci-fi masterpiece. His follow up, Annihilation, was not quite up to that level, but was still an incredibly thought provoking work. Natalie Portman leads an almost all-female cast in a visually stunning and hauntingly scored brain buster. I think the strangeness of the film ultimately kept me from liking it more, but this is the type of big swing that I love to see filmmakers take. I’ve heard five or six interpretations of the end that all differ from my own, which is a truly rare feat.

10. Beirut

I have a rule- if your movie has Jon Hamm, I will like it by approximately 34.4% more. Hamm can play comedy, drama, or romance, and do it while looking more handsome than just about anyone else out there. Beirut benefits greatly from the Hamm rule. The political thriller set in the early 80’s hits a lot of great action notes and is engaging throughout. Perfect plane flight watch.

Honorable Mention: Ready Player One, A Quiet Place, Green Book, Deadpool 2, Creed II, Wreck It Ralph 2, Instant Family, Tag, Game Night

Overrated: Vice, Isle of Dogs, Black Panther, Roma

Movies so bad that they're worth mentioning specifically: The Predator, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 

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