The Best Films of 2018 (Including My Top 10 Best Ones)

[Crzy Minus]

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing for a great 2019 to all of you, and to also be a great year for movies and life goals.

 

Speaking of movies, 2018 has been a pretty rock solid year for them. From BlacKkKlansman, to Mission Impossible Fallout, to Mandy, lots of good stuff came out. So much good stuff I didn't get a chance to check all of them out, if fact I'm gonna start the thread listing all the films I wasn't able to check out through out the year that I've been interested to see as of the time I'm writing this thread. Some because I didn't get a chance or time to check them out, and others because they haven't come out where I live and might be 2019 films for me. In random order:

 

At Eternity's Gate

Burning

The Sister Brothers

Zama

Mid90s

Overlord

Searching

Bad Times At the El Royale

Sicario 2

Vox Lux

Museo

Upgrade

MFKZ

Under the Silver Lake

Climax

 

(told you guys it was a lot)

Also if I didn't put one on the red list is either because I've already seen or I wasn't interested to see it. I will eventually check out one of these and if I feel like one of them should've been on the list, I will update the thread through a new post instead of an edit.

 

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NOW HERE ARE THE BEST FILMS IVE SEEN IN 2018!!!

 

Starting with very important honorable mentions. I only got 3 honorable mentions and even though these aren't in my top 10, I still think these are beyond great films that I strongly recommend and I think you should also check out. That's why I refer to them as "very important" because that's how these movies feel for me:

 

Suspiria Dir: Luca Guadagnino

The Night Comes for Us Dir: Timo Tjahjanto

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms Dir: Mari Okada

 

Note: Dir is short for Director

 

 

Now with all that said and done, here are my top 10 films of 2018:

 

 

10. Avengers: Infinity War

Dir: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

The most talked about, most gigantic, most meme'd movie of 2018. Infinity War is the Marvel event that's been in the making and build up for pretty much 10 years, and I'd say the wait has been absolutely worth it. Pure popcorn fun filled with action, the stakes are higher than ever, of course this is the peak of the MCU (until Endgame comes out), and I cannot wait to see how the story ends in the next movie.

 

9. Sorry to Bother You

Dir: Boots Riley

Nobody saw this movie, I can barely find people talking about it online, there aren't that many reviews out and at one point I found the full movie on Youtube for free until it was taken down (btw that's not how I saw it, I've seen it in the theater). Yeah that's how much that many people haven't cared about this movie, and it's kind of a shame because the movie itself is fucking awesome. It's funny, creative, surreal and it has a great message about capitalism. If Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman had a black son, this is the movie he would make. A big thumbs up in my books.

 

8. Hereditary

Dir: Ari Aster

From the director of the scariest most disturbing short film I've ever seen, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons. I had high expectations for his full feature debut, and Hereditary shows. This is imo the best horror film I've seen all year and I'm not even a fan of horror. It's unsettling, well crafted, I think Toni Collette's performance is Oscar worthy. Just great horror in general, period.

 

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Dir: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman

From the same animation studio that brought us The Emoji Movie! As well as Sony's comic-book follow up to Venom. Into the Spider-Verse not only was a surprise, but it's also the best comic-book movie I've seen all year, as well as my favorite Spider-Man movie now. Very stylized, filled with humor and heart. And like many people have already said, the animation alone elevates it to a whole other level. Hell Yes this is a good Spider-Man movie.

 

6. Annihilation

Dir: Alex Garland

When I watched Ex Machina for the first time, it didn't blew me away, far from it. This however, is not only better than his last feature but it's also the best sci-fi film I've seen all year. suspensul, smart, and overall intriguing. If you're a fan of sci-fi in general, you should really check this one out.

 

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Now this is where we get to the heavy hitter from spot 5 to 1, from here on I'll post teasers instead of trailers (if I can find them) to not reveal much of the story in case you haven't seen any of these the closer we get to number 1.

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5. The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (Yoru wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome)

Dir: Masaaki Yuasa

This film is just a damn good time, not only that but everything about it is just up my alley. The aesthetic, music and characters are all wonderful. I've been slowly catching up with Yuasa's work very slowly and everything he's mostly done has been great so far. Right after the movie was over I immediately started watching Tatami Galaxy (the anime this movie is kinda based on, not really though) which I've never seen before until now just to see more of this style. I fucking loved it.

 

4. The Favourite

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos

This director's two prior films, The Lobster and Killing of a Sacred Deer have been growing on me ever since I've seen both, especially Sacred Deer. The Favourite is not only his best work by date but also his most accessible film yet as well as the one filled with most emotion when it comes to the characters in his films. All three main actresses are great, the production design and cinematography are stellar. As someone who isn't a fan of British period pieces, the Queen In Her Throne kind of movie in general, the fact that I loved it as much as I did should be a big deal and this director made it possible. I give him my applause for that.

 

3. First Reformed

Dir: Paul Schrader

This director being well known for writing Martin Scorsese's earlier films, First Reformed is not only an achievement for him this year when it comes to writing but also direction. This is a phenomenal character study about a man questioning his doubt about the state of humanity. The writing/direction is top-notch, Ethan Hawke delivers the best performance I've seen from any actor all year (and I believe he will win the Oscar for Best Actor), and this film has hands down the best ending I have seen all year. It's purely a fantastic film, could not recommend enough.

 

2. Roma

Dir: Alfonso Cuaron

This film is a masterpiece, this is without a doubt and in my general opinion instead of personal, the best film of the year. As someone with a Latin-American background, this film resonated with me. The 70's Mexico in this movie is no different than where I grew up in Peru, from my experience seeing other people there and areas like this even though I was from an upper middle class residence there. I could relate, and for that I loved the movie even more. The direction is fantastic, the production, cinematography and even sound design is fucking amazing, you can clearly tell this is a very personal film from a filmmaker who's had years of experience and it truly shows. Ever since I watched Children of Men knowing it was from Alfonso Cuaron, not only it became one of my favorite films but right at that time I knew I would love more of his work. Prisoner of Azkaban, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Gravity, and now Roma, which is by far the best film he's done yet, even better than Children of Men (even though I still prefer Children of Men on a personal level). I believe this will win Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, I would even say Best Picture and Best Director as well. This my friends, is cinema at it's finest.

 

1. Isle of Dogs

Dir: Wes Anderson

Isn't this a surprise is it, and I'm not even a huge fan of Wes Anderson to begin with. To simply start this is easily the most fun I had watching a movie all year. It's energetic, very stylistic, the deadpan humor fits very well with the dogs, the music is great, the cinematography is stunning for a stop motion animated movie even the production, it has emotion, etc etc etc. Sure it may be very Wes Anderson-y to a lot of people and even reading some of the reviews pointing out what they didn't liked, for some reason none of it bothered me. As a film itself I honestly thought it was fucking fantastic, ever since I watched it I truly loved it and I still do today. So that is why Isle of Dogs is my favorite film of 2018.

 

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And that's the list done, what about you guys? What were you favorite films of the year? Feel free to make up a list if you'd like.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Crzy Minus

[Cassylvania]

Good read. I think the only movies I saw that came out this year were Creed 2 (really good), Tomb Raider (bad), Ocean's 8 (ugh), and Mile 22 (complete garbage). The sad thing is, for all the movies I missed, the only ones I really want to see are Mary Poppins Returns and A Star is Born. I can't bring myself to watch the Ralph sequel, and I'm not sure I need more superhero movies in my life.

[OBSTINATIO]

'Isle of Dogs' was definitely my favorite film 2018. My second favorite film was 'An Elephant Sitting Still', outstanding film everyone should watch. 
For someone like me who is watching movies basically for a living the year felt little weak overall. 

[Crzy Minus]

10 minutes ago, OBSTINATIO said:

'Isle of Dogs' was definitely my favorite film 2018. My second favorite film was 'An Elephant Sitting Still', outstanding film everyone should watch. 
For someone like me who is watching movies basically for a living the year felt little weak overall. 

Just watched the trailer for An Elephant Sitting Still, I actually never heard of it until you mentioned it. The trailer itself looked very intriguing, definitely adding this one to my watchlist.

 

Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Also just checked the running time of the movie, around 4 hours long. God Damn.

[Feral]

Didn't really watch that many new movies last year but Mission Impossible Fallout was definitely the best.

 

Avengers Infinity War was the biggest disappointment.

[AffectatiousDonk]

Great thread again this year @Crzy Minus. It is one of my highlights on here each year. Thanks for the recommendations many I have never heard of.

 

Hope you get to Bad Times at El Royale, quite good. I see you like horror, there is a strange film " A Quiet Place " which while the story is so so the sound design and concept is quite interesting and well executed. 

Edited January 1, 2019 by Cjshai

[Crzy Minus]

2 hours ago, Cjshai said:

Great thread again this year @Crzy Minus. It is one of my highlights on here each year. Thanks for the recommendations many I have never heard of.

 

Hope you get to Bad Times at El Royale, quite good. I see you like horror, there is a strange film " A Quiet Place " which while the story is so so the sound design and concept is quite interesting and well executed. 

Thanks a lot and no problem! I will check out Bad Times at the El Royale someday if I can.

 

I did see A Quiet Place, I thought it was decent.

[Crzy Minus]

Just a quick update on my 2018 list and thread bump since the Oscars are happening this week:

 

I updated the red list taking out the movies I’ve already seen. As for the main list itself, one of the movies I finally got to watch was Cold War just awhile ago and I decided to put it on my Top 10 at the #7 Spot. Taking out Infinity War and changing it as an honorable mention.

 

Also shout-out to both Shoplifters and Won’t You Be My Neighbour, those were good enough to be deserved to be mentioned.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Crzy Minus

[fbdbh]

Seeing that you placed Hereditary and Annihilation in the Top 10, you should watch Apostle, Hold the Dark and especially The Endless.

[Crzy Minus]

3 hours ago, fbdbh said:

Seeing that you placed Hereditary and Annihilation in the Top 10, you should watch Apostle, Hold the Dark and especially The Endless.

I have seen Apostle and Hold the Dark, but not The Endless (might check that one out).

 

I thought Apostle was really good, and Hold the Dark was just okay.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Crzy Minus