By Ezra Stead
Here we go again! I know I say this every year, but it’s an absolutely absurd and impossible task to try to see even half of the 700+ feature films released each year, and then to attempt a ranking of the best [insert arbitrary number] of them, so that’s not what I do. Instead, I managed to see a paltry 101 movies released in 2018, and I’m going to attempt to rank my ten favorite movies out of that number. It’s still absurd and very difficult, but at least I don’t have to convince anyone these are the “best” movies of the year. They’re just the ones I personally dug the most, and your mileage will most likely vary wildly. As always, I’ve made some effort to highlight movies you’re not hearing about on other year-end lists or awards ceremonies, while not stubbornly ignoring any of those that you are hearing more about, as I did in 2016.
Since it is so difficult to narrow down a list of just my ten favorites, and because I really loved a lot of movies last year (not to mention how many I regret not seeing in time for this list; let’s talk about what I missed in the comments!), I’m just going to shout out a few quick honorable mentions before we get to the main list. First, if this list were expanded even slightly, Can You Ever Forgive Me? would likely be number 11. Though I didn’t intentionally exclude either category from the main list, I also think it’s worth mentioning that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is my favorite animated movie of the year, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is my favorite documentary. And since life is too short not to watch bad movies, I think the worst one I saw all year was James Franco’s awful Mad Max pastiche Future World.
Oh, and of all the movies that didn’t quite make my top ten, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs had my single favorite moment. If you’ve seen the movie, you shouldn’t even have to click that link to guess which one, but you should do it anyway because that moment is awesome every single time. On to the list!
1. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – No one was more surprised than me at how quickly and deeply I fell in love with this movie. I had been more than a casual fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe before it was released, having seen all the movies leading up to it over the past ten years, but I was honestly not that excited to see this one because I thought Marvel fatigue had kicked in for me. Within the opening scene, though, I started to realize I was in for something special. A lot of it comes down to Thanos (Josh Brolin), who is undoubtedly the greatest villain in any Marvel movie yet, but even more than that, it’s the way the movie is structured to make this villain the actual traditional protagonist of the story. His search for the Infinity Stones, which will allow him to rule every aspect of time and space, is his Hero’s Journey, and the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and all else who oppose his will come off as the evil henchman who stand in his way. It’s a stroke of genius on the part of directors Anthony & Joe Russo, and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, but it only scratches the surface of what makes Infinity War so great. There is also the incredibly high stakes of the conflict, which rivets the viewer for a full 150 minutes and generates not only excitement but genuine pathos as well. I’ve cried a little each of the four times I’ve seen it (which is nothing compared to some people), and at various different moments each time. I’ve also laughed heartily each time; even when you already know the jokes, they’re still hilarious, especially the ones involving Drax (Dave Bautista) and/or Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Above all, though, there is Thanos, the hero we both deserve and need right now (yes, nerds, I know that’s a DC reference). Some people balk at the idea of Thanos as the protagonist of the movie, let alone the hero. Why, these milquetoasts say, if Thanos has unlimited power, does he not just create twice as many resources, rather than killing half the universe? To that I say: Where does that end, hippies? #ThanosWasRight
2. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE – Now that I’ve gotten my adolescent geekery out of the way (for now), let’s get into my favorite art film of the year. Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation of Jonathan Ames’s excellent novella manages to maintain a ruthless efficiency comfortably married to a quietly reflective tone throughout the lean and occasionally very mean 90 minutes it takes to immerse us in the troubled world of Joe (Joaquin Phoenix in the absolute best performance of the year and possibly his entire career), a desperately suicidal war veteran whose clandestine job exfiltrating young girls from sex trafficking operations may be the last and only thing tying him to this world, of which he feels he was never really a part. Ramsay illustrates this idea of Joe as a vengeful living ghost beautifully through cinematography and editing (in collaboration with Tom Townend and Joe Bini, respectively), and Johnny Greenwood’s propulsive score anchors the whole thing to the gritty neo-noir pavement. As great as the screenplay, production, and supporting players all around him are, though, Phoenix is nothing short of revelatory as Joe, a soulful but savage beast of a man covered in scars inside and out. I can’t honestly say I’ve ever seen a greater, more convincing performance from any actor in all the years I’ve been watching movies.
3. ROMA – We open on a tiled floor, still, silent, reflecting nothing. Suddenly a wave of soapy water washes over it, revealing a whole other world above, an expanse of sky with a water tower reflected in the work of the humble housekeeper, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), at the center of the story. An airplane soars through the sky, reflected in the repeating waves of cleansing water, creating a third layer of reality, far above the troubles of life down on the ground. It’s a perfect way to begin such an incredible work of cinematic artistry, a movie in which every frame, every sound, every wonderfully understated performance is impeccably crafted and superbly resonant with emotion and symbolism. Writer-director Alfonso Cuaron removes any lingering doubt that he is one of the greatest filmmakers alive (not that there ever should have been any after Children of Men) with a movie that feels like his most personal work yet. It is an instant classic that made me want to watch it again the minute it was over.
4. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT – If you know the work of Lars von Trier and you hear he’s turned his sights for his latest movie on the reminiscences of a prolific serial killer, and that the concept for the movie is inspired in part by real-life killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, you probably already know if this movie’s going to be for you or not. In structure and tone, this one feels very much like a companion piece to von Trier’s previous epic, Nymph()maniac (though certainly not as overtly as Manderlay was a companion to Dogville), exploring violence in place of that film’s exploration of sexuality. Another clear inspiration is Dante’s Inferno, with Bruno Ganz’s Virgil explicitly playing the role of that legendary poet to Matt Dillon’s Jack, the murderous Dante surrogate here. Though it almost certainly was not intended this way, House also feels like a perverse take on the classic It’s a Wonderful Life storyline (itself inspired by Dickens’s A Christmas Carol), with Jack looking back over his blood-soaked career as he is guided to his destiny by a mysterious cosmic figure. It’s a fascinating, troubling, frequently surprisingly funny movie that lives up to Von Trier’s famous credo that “a film should be like a stone in your shoe.” I was kicking this one around in my head for weeks after seeing it.
5. BLINDSPOTTING – 2018 was a good year for movies about Oakland, California. BlacKkKlansman, Sorry to Bother You, and even Black Panther had something to say about the city, its history, and issues of race and class within it. It was also a good year for Hip-Hop movies, with The After Party and Bodied both providing solid entertainment for those of us likely to recognize cameos from the likes of Jadakiss and DMX (The After Party), or Loaded Lux and Dizaster (Bodied). Blindspotting is my favorite movie in both categories. Real-life best friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, who co-wrote the movie together, play fictional best friends Collin and Miles, one black, one white, who both grew up in the same neighborhood and socioeconomic class together. However, because of the difference in their race, each is perceived differently by those outside their social circle, whether it’s the hipster Oakland transplants gentrifying the city, or the police who hold Collin to a higher level of scrutiny than the far more volatile Miles. Blindspotting explores these issues and many others with a great sense of humor that never lapses into parody or silliness. Even when it seems like it shouldn’t work, Diggs and Casal’s thoughtful, nuanced screenplay deftly walks the tightrope of authenticity without falling into the pitfalls of preachiness.
6. GOOD MANNERS – This wonderful Brazilian film is gorgeous, mysterious, alluring, and almost impossible to categorize. It’s really almost like two great movies in one, the first a subtle and fascinating exploration of the uneasy but ultimately lasting bond that develops between wealthy Ana (Marjorie Estiano) and her new nanny, Clara (Isabel Zuaa). Ana’s baby has yet to be born, but she hires Clara to help her with the housework while she’s pregnant, and Clara gradually begins to observe strange nocturnal behavior on Ana’s part, which leads to the film’s second half, a wild and unpredictable amalgamation of fairy tale, horror, and even musical elements that never loses sight of its central character and what makes her relationship with Ana and her growing child so interesting. It’s an abrupt but very satisfying shift similar to something like Full Metal Jacket or the more recent and thematically similar Proxy, but I’ve never seen a movie quite like this one.
7. THE FAVOURITE – I have an acquaintance who once told me he doesn’t like movies with guns or people being mean to each other. I’m not even sure how he manages to avoid the latter, assuming he watches any movies at all. Anyway, this one has both, but is especially heavy on that latter part. In fact, in terms of purely verbal violence, I think this just might be the meanest movie I saw last year, and also one of the most purely entertaining and delightful. I had mixed feelings about visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos’s last feature, The Killing of a Sacred Deer (after loving his previous works Dogtooth and The Lobster), in part because the intentionally mannered acting style and perversely matter-of-fact line deliveries felt out of place in a way they hadn’t in The Lobster, his first English-language feature. The 18th-century England in which this one is set, however, seems to suit his style perfectly, and with the help of an excellent cast including Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, and Emma Stone (in what I’m comfortable naming her best performance yet), and swooping, disorienting cinematography by Robbie Ryan, Lanthimos has crafted a dazzling, surreal, hilariously vicious period piece that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as classics like Barry Lyndon, Amadeus, and Dangerous Liaisons.
8. UPGRADE – This one of my biggest pleasant surprises of the year. You might expect ruthlessly efficient plotting and stunningly rendered violence from someone like Leigh Whannell, the writer of the first three Saw movies, but what you might not expect (you bunch of haters) is the intelligence behind all the brutal action in this one. At times, this movie had me thinking back 20 years to when The Matrix first blindsided us all with its awesomeness, and I can scarcely think of higher praise for any sci-fi/action thriller. If star Logan Marshall-Green hadn’t already proven himself to be more than just a poor man’s Tom Hardy in The Invitation two years ago, he certainly does it here with a story that is somewhat similar but vastly superior to last year’s Hardy-starring Venom. Everything about this movie is electrifying, from the production design to the cinematography, performances, editing and, last but not least, some of the year’s very best fight scenes.
9. BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE – Let’s talk about Drew Goddard for a minute. The guy started out writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, went on to write arguably the best giant monster movie of the 21st century so far (Cloverfield), then made his directorial debut with The Cabin in the Woods, one of the best horror movies of the past ten years at least, before adapting The Martian for Ridley Scott and developing Daredevil for Netflix in 2015. He’s kind of awesome, is what I’m saying, and if it wasn’t for my love of Cabin I’d have no trouble proclaiming this his masterpiece. Impeccably plotted and gorgeously shot, Bad Times is simply overflowing with ideas and clever reveals, and it features a murderer’s row of acting talent, any one of whom feel like they could be brutally dispatched at any second. Relative newcomer Cynthia Erivo leads a cast that includes Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Nick Offerman, and Shea Wigham, among others, and there is a very real (and welcome) feeling that any one of them could be killed in the very next scene, or with shocking abruptness right in the middle of the one we’re currently watching. With its supremely witty dialogue and chronology-jumping narrative structure, Tarantino comparisons are inevitable (The Hateful Eight and Jackie Brown come most readily to mind), but even if you’d seek to dismiss it as a mere QT knockoff, it’s easily the best one I’ve seen in the 25 years since Pulp Fiction came along and blew everyone’s mind.
10. TERRIFIER – I saved this one for last mainly because it’s really, really not for everyone. If you’ve never heard of it, which is likely, it’s an insanely violent killer clown movie available on Netflix. David Howard Thornton gives an incredibly menacing, darkly humorous, completely silent performance as Art the Clown, a nightmarish, possibly supernatural presence that brutally murders pretty much everyone in his path on Halloween night. As in Bad Times at the El Royale, no one is safe in this movie, and there is a purity to its relentless brutality and utter lack of redeeming social value that I find refreshing and totally admirable. Writer-director Damien Leone also edited the movie and created the horrific practical effects around which the story was clearly built. There’s one grisly setpiece in particular that may be the single most horrendous thing I’ve ever seen onscreen (I actually bit my fist and muttered “Jesus” while watching it alone), but most viewers will likely never make it that far. Much as I loved A Quiet Place and, to a lesser extent, Hereditary, this is my favorite pure horror movie of the year. I can’t warn the faint of heart or stomach away from this one enough, but if the phrase “insanely violent killer clown movie” didn’t immediately deter you, this one just might actually be for you. You sick bastard.
Ezra Stead is the Head Editor for MoviesIDidn’tGet.com. Ezra is also a writer, rapper, and occasional painter who has been previously published in print and online, as well as writing, directing and acting in numerous short films and two features. A Minneapolis native, Ezra currently lives in New York City, where he is working on his second novel (the first has yet to be published).
For more information, please contact EzraStead@MoviesIDidntGet.com
The post Ezra’s Top Ten Favorite Movies Of 2018 appeared first on Movies I Didn't Get.
I would never recommend reading a movie review without having first seen the movie in question for yourself, but I would also never dream of spoiling the plot of a movie I review without providing a fair warning. So if you are somehow unfamiliar with the basics of Pet Sematary (come on, you’ve had thirty years to see the original movie, and thirty-five to read the book – what are you even doing with your life?), consider this your warning to stop right here and rectify that.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the latest incarnation of Pet Sematary is quite good overall. It carefully treads the line of showing reverence to the source material (both 
What this latest version is lacking is a lot of the heart of the novel, much of which did make it into Lambert’s film (adapted for the screen by King himself). The sort of surrogate father-son relationship between Louis and Jud, for example, is largely excised in favor of a streamlined, efficient plotting that focuses more on the scares. Likewise the strained relationship between Louis and his father-in-law is reduced from an ugly fistfight at his son’s (in this case, daughter’s) funeral service to just a drity look, which weakens the family dynamics present in both this element and the Louis-Jud relationship. It’s a shame, especially, that the always reliable Lithgow isn’t given more interesting stuff to do, but it is commendable the way this movie seems determined to keep things relatively swift and relentless. The ending is far from disappointing, too, reminiscent of Frank Darabont’s King adaptation The Mist in its ruthless brutality. As it should be.
It’s been a while since I attempted a 
In many ways, the deck is stacked in favor of these two cops, Ridgeman (Gibson) and Lurasetti (Vaughn). The initial act of excessive force is, as previously stated, relatively mild compared to many real-life cases in which officers have been exonerated, and they are made likeable through their banter and, later, the way Ridgeman is seen struggling to support his family and trying to get them out of a high-crime neighborhood in which his daughter, in particular, feels unsafe. On the other hand, we see more egregious tactics from them only moments later, when they abuse and humiliate their suspect’s girlfriend in ways that can only be chalked up to racism, sexism, and ableism (she is partially deaf). This moral ambivalence continues throughout, as their plan to rob a crew of bank robbers (of whose own plan Ridgeman has inside knowledge) leads to the deaths of innocent people that could have been saved had the two cops followed proper procedure instead of going after their own illegal score. Further muddying the waters (in the best way possible) is the character of Henry Johns (Tory Kittles), a recently released ex-con who is, in many ways, the true protagonist of the movie. Though we spend more screen time with Ridgeman and Lurasetti, we are introduced to Johns first, and it is ultimately his fate that provides the story its conclusion. He is also a more reliable moral center than either of the two cops, and certainly a more honorable man than Lurasetti, who would undoubtedly proclaim himself the more forthright of the two cops. The title of the movie refers not to, say, a man’s face being literally dragged across concrete (as seen in Brawl), but to the lines of moral code that both Johns and the two cops are forced to cross while trying to keep some sense of their own honor intact.
In this way, The Highwaymen‘s perspective as a movie is more closely aligned with that of its protagonists than our other subject, but Hamer and Gault are not above brutality of their own. Hamer in particular is portrayed with a certain frustrated self-righteousness and, in a rather electrifying conversation scene during a rainstorm near the film’s conclusion, we learn just how far he is willing to go in the pursuit of his ideal of justice and protecting his fellow officers. The duo’s ultimate takedown of the Barrow gang’s infamous leaders is likewise gritty, brutal, and bereft of any mitigating romanticism. It is a massacre, plain and simple, a killing undertaken for a paycheck as much as out of any sense of duty or righteousness.
“Humor is subjective” is a phrase I forced myself to remember several times throughout legendary independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s latest, The Dead Don’t Die, as several other people in the audience with me reacted audibly and approvingly to jokes I found relentlessly unfunny and lame.
It might also help if you’re not actually into horror movies in general, or zombie movies in particular, the latter of which, at least, 
The ostensible leads don’t fare much better. Devoid of any real personality or chemistry, Driver and Bill Murray instead share an annoyingly postmodern bit, telegraphed early on and later made face-palmingly explicit, in which they know they’re in a Jim Jarmusch movie. This goes absolutely nowhere interesting or unpredictable, much like everything else.
Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, UK / USA / China, 2019
Mark Wahlberg 
As always, it is important to stress that this list is a compilation of my ten personal favorite movies of the year, and not necessarily the “best,” though I do consider the top three to be timeless, unassailable classics. The bottom three are, on the other hand, a few that I feel have not gotten the love they deserve on lists like this one. 2019 saw feature film conclusions to two of my all-time favorite television series in Deadwood and El Camino, both of which I considered for this list before ultimately deciding to count them as TV in order to make room for other, equally worthy movies. It is a bit of a cheat, necessary because of the difficulty of ranking my ten favorites out of the 113 movies I managed to see in 2019, so allow me to indulge in a bit more cheating….
4. AVENGERS: ENDGAME – Yes, I intentionally put this one right next to The Irishman (which could have easily swapped places with Once Upon a Time … in my estimation) in order to address the “controversy” about Scorsese not considering the MCU movies to be cinema. To me, the fact that a (relatively) quiet, contemplative work of art like The Irishman can fit so comfortably alongside a blockbuster amusement park ride like Endgame in my mind just shows the remarkable range of what cinema can do, and I was thoroughly moved by both. In fact, seeing Endgame in a mostly packed theater at 3:30 a.m. opening weekend is easily one of the most epic and enjoyable moviegoing experiences I have ever had, and if that is not cinema, then this is easily the best amusement park ride of the year instead.
7. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM – Keanu Reeves is the greatest American action star currently working, and in this movie he absolutely demolishes a giant (former NBA player Boban Marjanovic) armed with nothing but a book in the very first fight scene. It only gets crazier from there, with Keanu’s titular badass employing everything from standard weapons like knives and guns to more unconventional ones like motorcycles and horses, but it is the strange, fascinating world-building that really makes this series stand out. Pure action cinema at its finest.
9. ONE CUT OF THE DEAD – This highly meta Japanese comedy is continually unpredictable, positioning itself as a movie-within-a-movie before breaking down even more walls to reveal a surprisingly sensitive and poignant center within all the madness. Its layers of repetition and subjective reality recall Alfred Leslie’s classic experimental short 
There are several nominated films I have not yet seen, including Best Picture nominee Ford v Ferrari, but I will do my best to predict all 24 categories anyway, with a little help from the oddsmakers in Las Vegas. First, the snubs, as I see them. First and foremost is Uncut Gems, which is shockingly missing from any and all categories. The most obvious snub is Adam Sandler for Best Actor, but I think it should have a Best Picture nomination as well. There are a couple others missing from that category that I love even more (
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – I have only seen three of the nominees, but I am confident Laura Dern will take this one, and she is the one I would vote for as well.
CINEMATOGRAPHY – Roger Deakins is taking home another Oscar for 1917, and I have no problem with that at all. He is easily one of the top cinematographers working today (and of all time, for that matter), and his work on this is arguably the most important element of its success.
VISUAL EFFECTS – In 2018, Infinity War lost this one to a historical movie (First Man) and I fear this year will be a repeat of that, with 1917 cleaning up in the technical awards. But this is one last category where I can’t bear to bet against my favorite, so Avengers: Endgame. (The Irishman is actually my favorite movie nominated, but not because of the effects, which Endgame did better).
ORIGINAL SONG – Though it did well at the Golden Globes, Rocketman is only nominated in this one category, and it would be very surprising if it doesn’t win.
