Well, here we are again. The year has come to a close, and I’m here with my annual Top 10 movies list. According tomy Letterboxd, I saw 135 new releases in 2018, so I feel like I’ve done my due diligence in trying to whittle that down to my favorite ten movies. As always, the point of this list is for recommendations. If it’s not your job to see over 100 new releases every year, then you might need some guidance on what’s worth seeing. That’s where a list like this comes in. This is my way of saying, “If you only see ten movies from 2018, make sure it’s these ten,” although this year has a special 11th entry, and I will explain why when I get there.
So thanks for taking the time to read this as well as all the other stuff I crank out over the course of the year, and I hope you have a wonderful 2019 filled with plenty of great movies.
Special Honorable Mention: The Tale
As always, there will be honorable mentions at the bottom of this list, but I felt special attention needed to be paid toThe Tale. For this list, I set the parameters that a movie needs to have a theatrical release. I’m a big believer in the theatrical experience, and as streaming services grow and expand, that theatrical experience becomes even more important.The Tale, which I saw at Sundance and was then picked up by HBO, did not receive a theatrical release, and yet if it had, it would have easily made my Top 5 of the year.
Writer-directorJennifer Foxdid a remarkable thing in investigating her own memories of sexual abuse and putting them up on screen. Anchored by a phenomenal performance byLaura Dern,The Taleis a gut-wrenching, painfully honest, and powerful look at how we deceive ourselves in order to make sense of trauma, and how that deception can shape our lives. It’s one of the best movies of the year, and if you have HBO, you should seek it out immediately.
10) Mission: Impossible – Fallout
One of the best action movies of the decade was an obvious choice for the Top 10 list. I remember back whenMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocolcame out and we all thought, “Well, there’s no way they’re going to top climbing the Burj Khalifa!” and thenChristopher McQuarriespent two movies proving us wrong. But what makesMission: Impossible - Falloutmore than just the amazing stunts is that he took the time to finally explore who Ethan Hunt is as a character. For most of the series, he’s largely been a cipher, a way forTom Cruiseto let us all know that Tom Cruise is doing these stunts, but we can’t call the character “Tom Cruise”.
Even though Hunt is surrounded by incredible set pieces,Falloutworks to the core of the character and discovers someone who will do whatever it takes to save the day, but also can’t stand the loss of innocent lives. He’s the guy that makes his life a billion times harder because ruthlessness isn’t in his DNA. While we’re all astounded by the helicopter chase and the HALO jump, the personality of Ethan Hunt is what really shines through inFallout.
9) A Star Is Born
I’m still kind of in awe of this movie. For his directorial debut,Bradley Coopertook on the fourth iteration ofA Star Is Bornand made the best one. While the other versions have their strengths and weaknesses, Cooper took the best aspects of each and then remixed them into something that felt new and vibrant. Then he went even further by giving one of the best performances of his career oppositeLady Gagagiving a breakthrough acting performance, all anchored by outstanding music.
The emotional weight this movie carries, and does so without hesitation, is truly remarkable. Cooper knows this is just his variation on those “twelve notes”, but he sings a tune that’s entirely his own, and it makes me ecstatic to see what he’ll do as his directing follow up. This was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved, and their passion comes through in every frame.
8) Annihilation
Look atAlex Garlandout here making unabashedly, unapologetically weird science fiction. I hadn’t read the source material, so I went intoAnnihilationwith no preconceived notions. What I got was a trippy, mind-bending trip that explore the nature of self-destruction through the lens of “What if the Earth got cancer?”Annihilationoffers no easy answers, and that’s part of the reason I love it. While the trailers tried to sell it as an action sci-fi movie, the film is far more2001thanIndependence Day.
Annihilationisn’t a movie for everyone, and that’s okay. But it’s a movie that challenges its audience and forces them to think about symbolism and metaphors in a way that films usually don’t present. For Garland, when his heroine (Natalie Portman) is having a dance off with her mirror self, the origin of the alien isn’t as important as what the dance says about his lead character and what the symbolism of the dance means for the film.Annihilationmay not have been a massive hit, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a touchstone for a lot of film geeks in the years to come.
7) The Sisters Brothers
The western is one of the oldest genres in cinema, and it would lead one to believe that not much more can be done with it. The best one could hope would be to use the tropes to convey some themes (a laThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs). But leave it toJacques Audiardto make the genre feel completely new and vibrant again. There’s really no pinning downThe Sisters Brothers, but it’s a film that feels surprising at every turn. The story moves effortlessly between melancholy, humor, confusion, and pathos. It’s a difficult, uneasy narrative that carries itself with utmost confidence.
I also have to give special credit toJohn C. Reilly’s remarkable performance. Reilly has always been one of our most underrated actors despite being excellent in just about everything he does, but his performance inThe Sisters Brothersmakes the most of his considerable talent. While his surrounding cast is impressive, Reilly’s turn as Eli Sisters is what holds the movie together as he shows a man trying to find a better life on the frontier even if the reality of his life is ruthless bloodshed.
6) The Hate U Give
I was absolutely floored byGeorge Tillman Jr.’s adaptation ofAngie Thomas’ novel. In lesser hands, this would have reeked of an after-school special or a ripped-from-the-headlines TV movie. Instead, Tillman, working from a script by the lateAudrey Wells, did a masterful job of telling an immediate and vital story that’s both a coming-of-age narrative and weaving it together with the Black Lives Matter movement. Everything inThe Hate U Givefeels real and viewed from the ground level rather than someone who had simply watched the news and tried to synthesize it into an easily digestible movie.
Praise also goes toAmandla Stenberg, who gave a breakout performance in the lead role of Starr. Playing someone who has to wrestle with the death of her friend and then stand at the center of a national controversy while just trying to live her life as a teenager is a heavy burden for any actor, and Stenberg makes it look effortless.The Hate U Giveis a serious juggling act, but everyone brings their A-game to create an unforgettable picture and an essential film of the 2010s.
Leave it toAlfonso Cuaronto open up his head and let us stroll into his memories. Despite being heavily autobiographical,Romanever feels indulgent or navel-gazing. Instead, Cuaron takes us back in time to show us the unlikely relationships that form between families and who is part of our world, who is outside of it, and how those delineations easily start to blur.
The juxtaposition between the personal and the historical is astounding inRoma, and for Cuaron, you easily get the sense of our loneliness and fragility with the only thing holding us together is our love for each other. He brings that sense to a perfect crescendo at the climax of the movie, but everything leading up to that moment is still powerful, still affecting, and still overwhelming.Romais an artist at the top of his game, taking us inside his mind, and yet managing to show us something of ourselves.
4) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
We’ve hadSpider-Manmovies since 2002, but they’ve never felt as fresh or as alive as this year’sSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. What directorsBob Persichetti,Peter Ramsey, andRodney Rothman, with the help of co-writerPhil Lordand producerChris Miller, did here was nothing short of amazing. They took a character who already had three different film iterations, and said, “We can work with that,” and not only reinvented him all over, but got to the core of whySpider-Manis a great American myth.
By putting Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) at the front of the story,Spider-Verseshows why Spider-Man is such a special character and why he connects to so many people. For so many superhero movies, the heroes are basically like gods who stand above us and we require their protection. ForInto the Spider-Verse, heroes live among us, and anyone who has a desire to help others can be just as great as Spider-Man. Paired with eye-popping animation and terrific humor,Into the Spider-Verseshows how far Spidey has swung in his cinematic adventures.
3) First Reformed
First Reformedis not an easy movie by any stretch. It’s a film that looks despair in the eyes for about two hours and then ruminates about the shortcomings of faith in a consumer-driven, climate-ravaged world. Although it’s easy to describeFirst ReformedasTaxi Drivermeets Christianity, writer-directorPaul Schraderis doing something far more intricate and compelling than just retreading his classic 1976 script.
Led byEthan Hawkegiving a career-best performance,First Reformedis not a movie with answers or a balm for the audience. Instead, it suggests that we have largely failed, and that rather than doing the work of faith—work that requires us to think about the weight of prayer, the cost of our actions, and the repercussions for our community—we’ve commoditized it and made it something so easy and light that people can’t help but miss the point even if they’re sitting right in front of a reverend. And yet for all of its weight,First Reformednever feels like a slog or a constant bummer. It’s a film that’s constantly challenging its audience even as it takes them to some dark and disturbing places.
2) The Favourite
I run hot and cold onYorgos Lanthimosmovies, but he absolutely floored me with his spin on the period drama.The Favouriteis bitingly funny, unrepentantly savage, and surprisingly sad. For a film that at first glance seems like it’s just going to beVeepbut in 18th century England with vicious people jockeying for position around a dopey ruler,The Favouritehas a lot more on its mind than just politicking and ruthless people.
The soul ofThe Favouriteis about how love should have limits. While Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) believes that it should not, her loyal advisor Sarah (Rachel Weisz) believes love is marked by brutal honesty, and that without willing to speak truth to the people we love, we just have flattery. Enter Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) whose lust for power is only matched by her willingness to flatter Queen Anne. The tragedy ofThe Favouriteis that Queen Anne, pampered by everyone around her, cannot tell love from flattery, and that way lies sadness. Thankfully, the road there is painfully funny and marked by some sharp comedy.
