Favorite 2018 Films

[Totenkindly]

As always, it's the end of the year and due to the industry dumping films at the last minute (to improve their award chances) and me running out of steam, I do have a list but I have a bunch of "not seens" that I would still like to see and might bump off things on my current list.

That being said, here are my current list of faves from this year.

1. Won't You Be My Neighbor? (doc of fred rogers)
2. Annihilation
3. BlacKKKlansman
4. Eighth Grade
5. First Reformed
6. Hereditary
7. You Were Never Really Here
8. Isle of Dogs
9. Free Solo (doc of Alex Hannold)
10. Leave No Trace
11. Thoroughbreds
12. A Quiet Place


List of films yet to be watched that could conceivably bump 11 and 12 off the list:
1. The Favourite
2. If Beale Street Could Talk
3. A Star is Born
4. First Man
5. Roma
6. The Hate U Give
7. Boy Erased
8. The Old Man and the Gun
9. Destroyer
10. Madeline's Madeline
11. The Kindergarten Teacher
12. Green Book

(sigh. too many films here.)

 

[Totenkindly]

Feel free to pitch in any interesting films you've seen from 2018 for discussion....

 

[Jaguar]

Few films interested me this year, but I want to see A Star is Born and Boy Erased.

 

[ceecee]

I haven't seen as many as I could have and I do have a few more I want to see before next week so....

A Private War
First Reformed
Sorry To Bother You
The Rider
The Favorite
Black Panther
The Wife
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
A Star is Born

Documentaries......

Won't You Be My Neighbor?
If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
The Zen Diaries Of Garry Shandling

Still need to see...

Isle of Dogs - I had to leave about 20 min. into it Sunday so I will finish tonight.
BlacKKKlansman
You Were Never Really Here
The King
Blindspotting
If Beale Street Could Talk
Private Life

 

[Totenkindly]

Speaking of Boy Erased, I did see The Miseducation of Cameron Post (which is based on yet another real-life account, this one of a girl sent off for reparative therapy).

Speaking of these kinds of movies, usually these films take a more satirical view (like "Saved!" or "But I'm a Cheerleader!") While those kinds of films might make people who have gone through this kind of thing feel better, I don't really find them as constructive; usually there's a lot of barely masked anger being vented at the folks who run this kind of thing... totally understandable but not really changing anything.

What I liked about Cameron Post (and what I suspect is the case with Boy Erased) is that the films are looking for humanity in everyone, regardless of their role... it's more representative of an actual experience and opens a door to discussion. The opening sequences leading to Cameron getting sent off actually feel pretty organic and real, and while her experience there feels a bit more episodic (which is what lowered my enjoyment a bit), the reality is that the film treated all the characters with a degree of kindness. The people in charge, you can still feel sympathetic for on some level; and it is clear that they care, but they just don't really know what they are doing. And at least some of the kids and one of those characters do have some real exchanges just about being people. It was a very thoughtful film. I am hoping "Boy Erased" is more of the same.

---

I saw Sorry to Bother You. Pretty unique film. Really funny in spots... and kind of creepy-funny with the "white voice." Way to prove the point, yikes. That film had many good points to make, honestly.

Two other films I enjoyed but didn't make my top list were "Tully" (Charlize Theron) and "Mandy" (Nick Cage). Tully ended up being a lot more interesting than I had suspected it would be, although I don't think it really gelled with true post-partum depression scenarios. And Mandy -- while the story is pretty straightforward, we've see the theme before countless times, you could write it on a post-it -- is all about style. Damn, it's a mind-blower and a very cool, psychedelic ride that you can't really decide is a good trip or a bad one. Cage's excesses totally fit the style of the film.

 

[The Cat]

Buster Scruggs was a damn lot of fun.

 

[Luminous]

Buster Scruggs was a damn lot of fun.

I second this.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Buster Scruggs was a damn lot of fun.

What was your favorite segment? I think I liked Tom Waits as a prospector the best, followed by "The Gal Who Got Rattled."

 

[The Cat]

What was your favorite segment? I think I liked Tom Waits as a prospector the best, followed by "The Gal Who Got Rattled."

I liked the mortal remains and the artist. They were all so good. Its hard to pick favorites but those are my averaged top two. Your selections are fantastic as well.

 

[ceecee]

"Meal Ticket"

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

"Meal Ticket"

That was definitely a gut punch.

 

[Hermit of the Forest]

Haven’t seen many films this year, but The Incredibles 2 was quite fun.

 

[Tellenbach]

Ready Player One is probably my favorite film of 2018 followed closely by Peppermint.

2nd Tier: The Incredibles 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Spiderman were all enjoyable.

3rd Tier: Infinity War and Dead Pool 2 were entertaining but slightly disappointing because of high expectations.

4th Tier: A Star is Born wasn't a complete waste of time, but it was depressing.

 

[Tomb1]

I loved Red Sparrow and A Simple Favor. I nearly loved Widows, Blindspotting, and Black Panther. I really liked Halloween and Mission Impossible: Fallout. I somewhat liked Night School, Hereditary, Creed II, and Death Wish. I was neutral towards Deadpool 2 and Equalizer 2. I disliked Game Night, Vice, Skyscraper, and the Girl In The Spider's Web. I hated Superfly and Peppermint. Peppermint could very well be the worst movie I ever saw. I thought Widows, Blindspotting and Hereditary were the best made movies.

 

[ceecee]

I loved Red Sparrow and A Simple Favor. I nearly loved Widows, Blindspotting, and Black Panther. I really liked Halloween and Mission Impossible: Fallout. I somewhat liked Night School, Hereditary, Creed II, and Death Wish. I was neutral towards Deadpool 2 and Equalizer 2. I disliked Game Night, Vice, Skyscraper, and the Girl In The Spider's Web. I hated Superfly and Peppermint. Peppermint could very well be the worst movie I ever saw. I thought Widows, Blindspotting and Hereditary were the best made movies.

I also loved Creed II, same way I loved Creed. I keep waiting for these movies to be bad and they never are.

 

[Totenkindly]

I want to see Creed II.

I know he just exec'ed Creed II, but I think my favorite Coogler film is "Fruitvale Station" so far -- I've enjoyed every film of his I've seen and felt like I was seeing something from a different perspective, and I hope some of that filtered into Creed II.

I remember when the trailer for "Peppermint" dropped when I was in the theater, and I was just like WTF. It looked horribly lame/derivative/unbelievable from the start. I'm not really a Garner fan either, although I guess some people liked her performance here -- she just never scans as that tough to me, I find her more believable as the wannabe mom from Juno.

I really wanted to like Red Sparrow (I actually purchased it sight unseen, sigh), but... kind of aimless and too long (either the film itself and/or the pacing). Not as much chemistry as I expected either between the leads, either, which is a shame -- I am a fan of both Lawrence and Edgerton. I enjoyed Atomic Blonde (from last year) better, although that film also had some issues with the constant time cuts.

While MI: Fallout had some great set pieces (that bathroom fight... damn), I think what really elevated it for me was the emotional core and harkening back to old resonances in Hunt's life. It pulls the movie together and makes it a cohesive reflection on his character, even if it's still an action picture at core. (I tend to appreciate action flicks that are more than the surface, and have some character depth.) And even if Cavill will never be as big as Dave Bautista (I'm thinking that scary train fight from Bond's "Spectre" -- Bautista is terrifyingly huge, like a human oak tree), he was pretty intimidating here in appearance and the fight sequences.

One of the films that will probably not win anything this year is "Annihilation," which is on my list and the latest Alex Garland flick that released in March (so it was quite some months ago). I still rewatch it, but I think it can be a difficult film for some viewers to parse... I can't even really articulate it all, and I've seen it probably four times now and will continue to rewatch. It is a bit LESS abstracted than "Under the Skin" (scifi-horror semi-adaptation from a few years back), but the same issue... there's a lot going on that is more experienced and felt internally but that cannot be easily described. I mean, the title really describes the concept of the film, the human wrestling with self-destruction and/or destruction through transformation... and how malleable we are, and actually are constantly changing throughout life just at a less-accelerated pace, how that distances us from ourselves and others somewhat. The us we were is lost, the us we become is prone to keep changing. Reminds me of Gaiman's Sandman in that regard -- we either change (which is a mini-death because we become something we weren't and the old is partially lost) or we die, if we aren't willing to change.

 

[ceecee]

I want to see Creed II.

I know he just exec'ed Creed II, but I think my favorite Coogler film is "Fruitvale Station" so far -- I've enjoyed every film of his I've seen and felt like I was seeing something from a different perspective, and I hope some of that filtered into Creed II.

I remember when the trailer for "Peppermint" dropped when I was in the theater, and I was just like WTF. It looked horribly lame/derivative/unbelievable from the start. I'm not really a Garner fan either, although I guess some people liked her performance here -- she just never scans as that tough to me, I find her more believable as the wannabe mom from Juno.

Haha right. I also saw the Peppermint trailer and I was like..

That said, I watched a few episodes of Camping on HBO. Mom role yes but awkward, OCD, somewhat cringy and funny.

 

[Tomb1]

I did not see the trailer beforehand. I walked out of Peppermint about 45 minutes in. Movies I just dislike take me between an hour and an hour and a half.

 

[highlander]

A star is born
Red sparrow
Green book

I am sure there are others. What I can think of now
I cried watching A Star Is Born Normally I don't like sad moviea.

 

[Totenkindly]

hahaha, this came over a Facebook post -- Barack Obama's favorite Book and Movie list from 2018.... so I will list the movies:

- Annihilation
- Black Panther
- BlackkKlansman
- Blindspotting
- Burning
- The Death of Stalin
- Eighth Grade
- If Beale Street Could Talk
- Leave No Trace
- Minding the Gap
- The Rider
- Roma
- Shoplifters
- Support the Girls
- Won't You Be My Neighbor

I guess he has more time nowadays, his book list (reads and rereads) looked even longer.

A star is born
Red sparrow
Green book

I am sure there are others. What I can think of now
I cried watching A Star Is Born Normally I don't like sad moviea.

Did you ever see the first one? I haven't. I guess they are stand-alones, but if anyone did see both, is there any symmetry / references between the two pics?