Another year down, and overall a pretty good one! Here's my roundup of the best and worst movies of 2018, but since I didn't have much to complain about, it's more best than worst. But why waste time yakking? Let's get to the list!
The Best Movies of 2018
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This was the best movie of the year, genre prejudice be damned! It's a crowd pleasing epic that manages to set barely a single foot wrong, and builds a world so seductive that I didn't want to leave. Black Panther satisfied me more thoroughly than any movie this year. Judging from the audience's reaction both times I saw it in theaters, I'm not alone in that feeling.
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A riotous comedy of manners set atop an ever growing pile of corpses. When the supreme leader dies, his followers immediately begin backstabbing and consolidating power. Steve Buscemi is the MVP as Nikita Khrushchev, who I never thought I'd be rooting for in a movie. "The Death of Stalin" was both terrifying and hilarious.
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Upgrade (Leigh Whannell)
"Upgrade" is a some brilliant piece of science fiction (don't let the terrible poster scare you off. A wronged man is saved from being a quadriplegic by having a cutting edge smart device implanted in his spine. Soon the device begins talking to him, and gently nudging him towards vengeance. Persuasively inventing technology just out of reach, this is a gruesome but highly entertaining action flick.
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Olivia Cooke gives my favorite performance in any film this year in the remarkably amoral "Thoroughbreds". She plays a girl almost devoid of emotional feeling who's spent her whole life learning to fake it. With her friend, she helps to plan a murder. I feel like there's some deeply true lesson about character in this script, though it might only apply to sociopaths. This one has really stuck with me.
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What happens when you give a communist revolutionary rapper his own movie? This generation's answer to "Office Space" and one of the craziest films ever made. A guy who works at a call center learns the secret to success and soon the hidden truths of our society are laid bare. It's a bit overstuffed, but "Sorry to Bother You" was a film like no other.
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Honorable Mention
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The Mule (Clint Eastwood)
Clint plays Clint again, this time as an old man who turns out to be the perfect drug mule for the Mexican cartels. Turns out the cops aren't looking for a doddering old white guy. There are some dud scenes and tone-deaf moments, but it's also got Eastwood's trademark sincerity and lack of bullshit. It's an enjoyable and surprisingly low-key movie that's more touching and insightful than people are giving it credit for.
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I could list a dozen or more things "Bohemian Rhapsody" does wrong. But I don't really care. This movie brought Queen back to life for two hours. I felt like I got to spend a little time with Freddie thanks to Rami Malek's powerhouse performance. If you want the true facts, watch a documentary. This is a two hour fangasm, and proud of it.
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Peter Jackson has done something truly unique, restoring silent WWI footage to pristine quality and adding color and a full audio track to transport audiences back in time over 100 years. It's so immersive that it's honestly a bit exhausting, as it should be. And as a silent film nut I was blown away at the transformation of the footage, which still managed to stay respectful to the truth being shared.
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Venom (Ruben Fleischer)
A horrible opening 45 minutes is made up for by the odd couple of Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy as Venom and Eddie. In case you haven't heard from Tumblr, this is a one-man xenosexual love story pretending it's a straightforward comic book action film. Join the cult of "Venom", laugh your ass off and ship it so hard.
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Hall of Shame 2018
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"Avengers: Infinity War" did more to kill my enthusiasm for the MCU than Black Panther did to increase it, and that's saying a lot. The shock ending is only made possible by characters we love making inexplicably stupid decisions. Big emotional moments strain for profundity despite being completely unearned. It's just such a damn waste of space, money, and the audience's time. Gamora deserved so much better.
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What did you think? Any of your favorites miss the cut? Let me know in the comments!
