This list is a bit late, as I've had a tough time getting to see all the movies in 2018 that I figured might make my top ten. Life has been busy and that's good, but I know there are literally several of you out there who are desperate to find out which movies floated my boat the last year.
If there is anyone new here, know that I'm all about the big budget blockbuster movie - I like shit that blows up real good, loads of profanity, pointless nudity and traveling to other worlds. In other words, I like my entertainment to be entertaining and not remind me of real life. There's enough bleak nonsense in the real world, I don't need it in my movies.
That's not to say I don't strive for truth in my movies - I want characters that feel real, dialogue that crackles and a production design that feels 100% believable. Most of all, I want a great story that has emotional resonance and let's me lose myself for a couple of hours. That's not too much to ask, right?
Also, and I've said this many many times before on this blog and to anyone who will listen. I am deep down a massive fan of all of this stuff. I WANT movies to succeed, I don't go in with a super critical eye, because I wouldn't be wasting my time or money on stuff that I thought might be lousy. I'm rooting very hard from the get go for all of these massive budget busting movies to kick lots of ass, so I'm not disappointed very often. I'm for sure not a critic, I'm an unapologetic fanboy who is deliberately steering this boat to the land of joy. There are plenty of nerds my age who seem to be doing the opposite, most of the time.
Here first is the traditional list of flicks that I really liked a lot, and maybe didn't love, but movies that I would watch again on tv.
Venom - What a blast! Way funnier than I thought it would be. A fun comic book film that meanders a bit too much and doesn't pack the emotional wallop I would've hoped for - but it still wildly exceeded my expectations.
Incredibles 2 - Wanted to love this so badly. It's full of GREAT action sequences and humor, but ultimately it doesn't crack my top ten because it's got the impossible task of living up to the first movie which is a magnificent libertarian manifest of individual exceptionalism. This movie is about family or something, and it's all good - but not great.
RBG - Super enjoyable puff piece documentary about an extraordinary woman and her remarkable life. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has long been a hero of mine - not for her politics, which I pretty much universally disagree with, but for her incredible journey and the way she lives her life. She did some great work with civil rights that is detailed beautifully here. Her best friend in the world, outside of her husband, was Antonin Scalia - who is also a hero of mine and deserves his own slobbering documentary (not holding my breath). I marvel at these two and their friendship. Frequent trips to the opera, out to dinner every week with each other and their spouses. How great is that? We all need to be like Ruth and Antonin.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - A massive improvement after the enjoyable but somewhat derivative part 5. The action sequences here are stellar, and Tom Cruise I guess never ages and does all of his own stunts. Crazy. Loved the story and the humor and was wrapped up from beginning to end. Just misses my top ten.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Went in wanting to love this, and liked it very very very much. The animation is incredible, and the story is pretty awesome with the whole multi-verse thing coming to life. Wish I hadn't learned about the story before I saw it. Wish it wasn't quite so heavy handed with it's preachiness.
Christopher Robin - I was enthralled with this movie until the very end, where they stumbled just a bit in the payoff. Through watching most of CR, I figured it was a top 10 entry for sure, but it just didn't quite work at the very end. Clumsy mumbo jumbo nonsense shoe-horned into an awkward boardroom scene where every bad dialogue cliche is thrown at the villain and suddenly the villain's dad has a heart of gold. Huh? Did indeed LOVE the rest of the movie though. Ewan McGregor is fantastic and it's great seeing Peggy Carter again. I will definitely be watching this again and maybe the end will play better next time.
12 Strong - So glad there are production companies still making movies that show radical extremists as the truly bad guys that they are. Fascinating true story here, moves along well and is superbly acted and shot. Does not suffer from what many military movies do in that all the characters are readily distinguishable from each other. Nice to see normally wacky Michael Shannon inadvertently work on a pro-military, pro-USA flick. Hopefully it rattled his brain a bit and he's got more common sense now.
The Nun - Saw this with my 14 year old and it was a lot of fun. Apparently there's a whole bunch of these kind of movies made by the same production company and they all exist in the same cinematic universe. I need to see them all! I greatly enjoy horror movies that push the idea of good and evil (and God and the devil) existing as very real things. Good stuff!
The Meg - Wife and I got a big kick out of this one, saw it in the theater for a discount matinee. A pretty weak opening aside, this one fires on all cylinders of fun and outrageousness. Jaws with massive doses of adrenaline and silliness - a great popcorn flick not meant to be taken too seriously.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs - This is maybe the ultimate Cohen brothers movie, as it manages to elicit all the emotions we all get when watching their stuff. It's hilarious, it's exhilarating and it's infuriating. I loved loved LOVED the first two stories of six. Then the third story was pretty dreadful and dreadfully slow. The Jack London story picked things back up again, and might be the best of all of them. The fifth story, the endless wagon train melodrama, didn't do it for me at all. Eye rolling conclusion, despite a great action sequence to close it out. And finally, the final story just flat out pissed me off for it's pretentous meandering and pointlessness. Though I must say, it's the one story I still think about the most. Darn you Cohen brothers! Why do you challenge your audience so much!
Bohemian Rhapsody - My kid took me to see this one in the theater, it was her second time seeing it. Highly enjoyable and entertaining, and 100% a love letter to Freddie which is all good as I don't much care for depressing films. Still, I do feel that they might have missed out by making Mr. Mercury always sympathetic through the entire movie. After all, this is a man who made some really really bad life choices - it doesn't do anyone any favors to kind of gloss over them.
All the same, there's some really nice emotional resonance here in spite of the filmmakers wish to not sully the band. Yes, I laughed, I cried, I didn't mind kissing my $15.50 goodbye. It also gave me a great excuse to look up Queen on youtube and marvel at just how fucking incredible they were. The Live-Aid performance, the real one (as good as the film version is) is absolutely astonishing and stands right up to the very best live acts today, exceeds them really.
TOP TEN. - here we are, these are the golden children of 2018 for me!
10. Black Panther - It's Marvel, what's not to love?! Here's an excerpt from my more lengthy review earlier in this blog.
"The movie's greatest strength is for sure it's emotional power - seeing a prospering African country is very moving. When the King is "killed" it is a heartbreaking sequence. It all works. I also especially love Michael B. Jordon, up until Infinity War he was easily the best MCU villain of all time, he is outstanding in every way. My favorite scene in the entire movie is when Killmonger visits his late father and it's in the old Oakland apartment. Powerful stuff."
As for why this isn't higher on my year end countdown, after all it's the 2nd biggest Marvel film ever in terms of box office and THE biggest in the US, I thought this movie was bordering on great but didn't quite have the highest of highs like some of the other MCU chapters - Guardians, Avengers 1, Winter Soldier, etc. I think there is likely a large Hollywood contingent that has this fantasy about BP being the end all be all in intersectional identity politics, thankfully the truth is that this is a very good movie about a great character that has positive things to say about personal responsibility, masculinity and family. Definitely a worthwhile chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but not especially deserving of the insanely over the top praise and awards when it's in the company of Infinity War and other better Marvel movies.
9. Aquaman - This one is a hoot and a holler! I was pleasantly bowled over by Aquaman's frenetic fun and an outstanding lead actor whose passion and enthusiasm for being Aquaman in the Aquaman movie shines brightly through every frame of his performance.
There are some great action sequences, very dynamic camera movement, and also some nice emotional heft thanks to a story that while silly at times (massive seahorses!) manages to stick to what matters; love, family and justice in the face of entitlement, betrayal and anger. Can't wait to get this on video and watch it again and again!
8. Free Solo - Documentaries rarely make it onto my top ten because I'm looking for movies that entertain more than they inform, but this is one of those special docs that has massive amounts of both qualities. It will also make you a nervous wreck! I had to go onto the iPad while watching this to make sure that (spoiler alert) the climber in the movie wasn't dead! We have a good family friend who went to a screening of this where the climber himself was in attendance - she said "I'm literally sitting in the theater with this guy, and I'm still nervous that he's going to fall in the movie!"
Though I saw this at home, the visuals are still incredibly powerful and gave me that 'fight or flight' queasy feeling throughout. This is truly a remarkable achievement in documentary filmmaking and it's obvious why it won the Oscar.
7. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Another movie with 'Solo' in the title! I was wanting to hate this, for the first time in the history of my life I didn't show up on opening night for a Star Wars movie. I had little to zero interest in seeing a story that I already had in my imagination being spoon fed into my eyeballs. But I'm happy to say, I was wrong and this movie is a heck of a lot of fun and holds up extremely well to repeat viewings.
I'm a little bit bummed that this movie "bombed" making only 392 million worldwide, it's unlikely we will get to see the story play out, which is a real shame because it certainly ended on an intriguing note - though the big reveal of the big baddie was kind of lame.
6. Deadpool 2 - Many have said this one falls flat after the first installment; I could not disagree more! This one has more laughs and more heart than the first installment, by quite a bit. Love the X-Force, love what happens to them - that is some EFFED UP STUFF! Pool is wickedly funny, and Cable is a great nemesis and begrudging friend. Loved it!
5. A Quiet Place- My first truly great movie theatergoing experience of 2018. Saw this on a bro-date with my good poker playing buddy, it was AWESOME! I will never forget how quiet the theater was, how it felt that any teeny tiny noise was going to be irrevocably damaging to the movie watching experience. We dare not eat a snack or sip a drink, heck I didn't even want to breathe - absolutely enthralling! Love the cast, love the story, love the heartbreak and the triumph. And I have no doubt that this movie wouldn't be half as powerful watching it at home sitting on the couch. Movies like this are why we still go to the movie theater!
4. Ant Man & The Wasp - We really are living in the best time ever to be a fan of comic books. I absolutely loved this movie and have watched it over and over again at home on Amazon. Some in the nerd community said that this one was "Just ok" - absolutely could not disagree more. It's fun, it has heart, crackling good action sequences - it's Ant Man and The Wasp! A long overdue adventure with one of the original giants in the Avengers, yes, that would be The Wasp. Even though it's Hope and not Janet, this movie still brings all the feels; and that mid-credits tag, what a gut punch!
3. Avengers: Infinity War - I did an exhaustive full length review on this movie that you can read by clicking here, but if you don't want to wade through that wall of text here's the cliffs: Great Marvel movie, superb action, lots of funny and powerful emotional stuff. This is a giant payoff for over a decade of Marvel movies. So grateful we have this incredible franchise of films and I can't wait for Endgame in April!
2. Ralph Breaks the Internet - I"m a bit surprised that this one finished so high on my list; higher than the original did in 2012. This is a continuation of where we left off, that feels natural and actually necessary - a feat that I didn't necessarily think was possible. The original was so great and so fun, it didn't feel at the end that there was more to tell, but now that RBTI is out, I can't imagine the story without this second chapter. Yes, it's that great.
This time it's just as much about Vanellope as it is about Ralph, and her dreams and aspirations. There is a surprising emotional punch to the choices she makes and to Ralph's reaction at her growing up. It ties directly of course to a dad and his daughter and what they go through when the little girl grows up. So yeah, it made me blubber quite a bit. Plus there is all this cool Easter egg shit that is dope AF. Another movie I watch over and over.
1. Ready Player One- The Beard has still got it! This one for me gets to all the feels because it is an utter celebration of popular culture, i.e. all the stuff in life that I'm interested in. There is a big contingent of fans who disparage the movie because it is so different than the book, for me this is never really a concern as long as the spirit of the original material is still there, and thankfully the book's author was heavily involved in seeing that his intentions (if not the details) of the story were preserved.
I watched this movie for the 4th time this last weekend, and I was crying throughout because it's just so darn awesome; that's what puts it on the top of this list. If I can still mine that emotional well fully after repeated viewings, I know I have something great on my hands.
Love the actors and their performances, love the cultural references, love the production design and most of all love the story that works from top to bottom. This is the ultimate geek movie for geeks made by the king of geeks. It really doesn't get any better!
Disappointments - Thankfully the list this year is short.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Saw this in the theater and like all of these big tent pole action adventure movies, I was rooting for it to succeed wildly. I wanted more than anything to love it. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure I like this movie, which is really tough to do with me.
Almost all of the action, we've seen done before and done better. The characters are entirely forgettable. Bryce Dallas Howard's character is so badly mishandled here, by what I suspect is more unfortunate Hollyweird nonsense, that I found myself actively rooting for her to be eaten; which sucks because I really loved her in Jurassic World. Chris Pratt is shockingly almost entirely forgettable, and this stems from the filmmakers commitment to telling a story that we don't really need to see. I guess this was Colin Trevarow's idea for a trilogy, and of course he left after he got "Me Too"'ed, so now we have a jumbled mess. Too bad.
Tomb Raider (remake)- Don't even know if this one is worth mentioning, as the movie sucks so bad, but really it kind of breaks my heart to see a franchise that has oodles of potential fail miserably for the second time. The Angelina Jolie movies sucked, and this one incredibly is even worse. Flat production design, no emotional component to Lara and her dad's relationship (which is tough to do) and a villain that is remarkable in his pointlessness. Give this one a hard pass.
Hard PASS - New for this year, a category of movies that I will be purposefully avoiding, for all of the reasons you probably expect.
Ocean's 8- See it's good and worthwhile because it's all women, see? Blech. How many times do I have to say it - Good movie first, diversity/inclusion/fairness/other bullshit second.
Mama Mia 2- Still infuriated over the first mess of a movie that managed to take spectacularly fun music and turn it into a terrible celebration of actual white privilege featuring people who couldn't sing even after autotune. Thankfully apparently Meryl Streep is dead in this one. Still not seeing it.
Vice - Cool, a political hit piece! Nothing better in movies. Um, no.
A Wrinkle in Time- Truly terrified to see this, as the book is one of my all time favorites as a kid. Heard a couple of the story changes, and no, can't do it, can't deal with it. The story is about God, okay? Not some mysterious force, not some cosmic energy - it's about God. You can't F with that, you can't change it and you certainly can't package it into some new age intersectional nonsense. HARD PASS.
WANT TO SEE - One of the reasons this list is so late is that I was hoping to catch all of these movies before hammering out a top ten list. Oh well, I will return and make edits if I need to. I especially am anxious to see the Mary Poppins sequel and find out if it's a worthy successor or a waste of time. I reeeeeally hope it's the former.
A Star is Born (Not because I think this was necessary in any way, but Mr. Bradley and Ms. GaGa are two performers I greatly admire)
Sicario 2 - (LOVED the first one, hope this is a worthy sequel)
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. (Bad reviews aside, am anxious to catch up with these characters)
Stan & Ollie (Looks amazing)
Mary Poppins Returns
Widows. (Heard nothing but great things)
Bumblebee (Heard this is shockingly good!)
So there you have it - another year, another batch of movies in the books! Looking forward to seeing the rest of them! If you read this be sure to let me know on social media or the next time you see me if I missed any great ones from 2018.
Peace!
