My top 20 films of 2018 - and some of my worst
As has now become traditional, my top 3 films of the year were included as part of a larger list of Channel 24's critics' favourite films of the year. I'll just repost my own picks here but do head over to the full list on Channel 24 to check out some other top picks. I quibble with some of the films included and haven't seen a few of them but there's loads of good to great stuff on there too - some of which you'll see later on here, too.
Please note, my picks are based on films released in cinemas in South Africa this year. These aren't in any particular order but the top 5 do rank higher than all the rest.
1) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
Aside for a few fallow periods between seasons, it was a fairly strong year at the cinema. Even so, nothing released over the past twelve months beats Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, which was released towards the end of last year overseas but only reached our shores towards the end of February of this year. Martin McDonagh already proved himself to be a master at mixing caustic but hilariously funny dialogue with real pathos in his under-seen 2008 masterpiece, In Bruges, and Three Billboards is no less powerful, no less moving and no less blackly comic. Bolstered by exceptional performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell, this stunning tale of revenge and redemption is about as good as auteur cinema gets and, all these months later, still stands as the must-see film of 2018.
2) BlackKkKlansman.
Unlike Martin Mcdonagh, I’ve never been a huge fan of Spike Lee, whose literal black and white view of racial politics makes him and his films a bit tough to take at times. His latest film, BlacKkKlansman, may be as racially charged as ever but Lee matches a more subtle and interesting take on the subject with wit, smarts and plenty of bravado to tell the astonishing true story of a pair of cops, one black and one Jewish, who infiltrate the Klu Klux Klan so successfully that they reach the upper echelons of the Klan and even win the trust of Grand Wizard David Duke. The film is as polemical as any other Spike Lee “joint” but he has seldom been this entertaining, this funny or this resonant. Boasting fantastic turns from John David Washington and Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman is Lee’s best film in decades and is easily one of 2018’s best and most important movies.
3)Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The idea that Avengers: Infinity War isn’t the best superhero film of the year is shocking enough but that it was beaten to the post, with just weeks to spare, by the studio that brought you Venom and the Emoji Movie seems like someone’s idea of a particularly weird joke. And yet, here we are. Into the Spider-Verse is the best superhero film in a year that included Black Panther, Infinity War and Deadpool 2; the best mainstream animated film in a year that includes the Incredibles 2 and Isle of Dogs; and is the best crowd-pleaser in a year that includes a Quiet Place and Mission Impossible: Fallout. It’s a work of art on every level with animation the likes of which you have never seen before. We’ve had a lot of superhero films over the past decade – a large number of which, incidentally, happen to feature Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s most famous creation – but Into the Spider-Verse is truly something special and sets a new standard for the superhero genre.
This was actually a very strong year at the cinema with some particularly strong showings from genre films and Hollywood blockbusters, so I don't want to limit myself to just my top 3 picks over on Channel 24. While I'm happy to keep these three at the top of my list (joined with the next two, as I said) I don't want to neglect at least mentioning the films that make up the rest of my top 20, albeit with just a short comment or two for each of them. These are in no order because a) it's hard to judge wildly different genres against one another and b) I can't be arsed - but they're all well worth your time. Some I've reviewed for this blog, some I haven't, unfortunately.
4) The Avengers: Infinity War An incredible achievement of serialized, cinematic storytelling, quite unlike anything we have ever seen before on the big screen.
5) Ladybird Another in an increasingly long line of great coming-of-age stories from recent years, this beautifully acted, written and directed awards nominee is as funny as it is warmly human.
6) Mission Impossible: Fallout I'm still not sure how a twenty-year-old franchise is still this fresh and exciting but it probably has something to do with its unstoppable leading man.
7) A Quiet Place Tense, beautifully controlled and surprisingly moving, Emily Blunt once again wows in this fantastically thrilling sci-fi-horror-drama that was directed and co-written by, as well as co-starring her husband: Jim from the Office. The whole premise makes no sense if you stop and think about it but the brilliance of the film is that it sweeps you up so completely, you won't even notice.
8) Hereditary If a Quiet Place is the best Alien-like horror film in years, Hereditary is the best creepy, psychological horror in just as long. It's also one of the most divisive as many, many film fans and casual moviegoers would very strongly disagree with its placing here. We can at least agree that is has the more purely horrific sequence of the year, though, can't we?
9) Bumblebee Sure, it's just a bit of unoriginal, Spielbergian '80s nostalgia but it's a damn fine example of that, with a truly excellent performance by Hailee Steinfeld at the heart of it. Plus, it's a good Transformers movie and who the hell saw that coming?
10) American Animals All the attention has fallen on the also very good Widows but this is the heist film of the year that genuinely feels like something new and something genuinely moving in a genre that can all too easily fall into cliche and vapidness.
11) A Star is Born The film that looks set to sweep the 2018/2019 awards season. And rightly so: it's gorgeous. Lady Gaga is a revelation but co-writer/ director/ co-songwriter and star, Bradley Cooper in his absurdly assured directorial debut is the real star here.
12) Isle of Dogs It may be far from my favourite Wes Anderson movie but just shows how great Anderson tends to be when something this inventive, weirdly moving, dryly funny and beautifully put together is only his fourth, fifth or sixth best film.
13) Love Simon While Call Me By Your Name was this year's gay romance that won all the accolades and acclaim, Love Simon - in all its mainstream, unabashedly sentimental glory - is easily my preferred choice this year. It's also a major breakthrough, culturally, as it stands as the first fully mainstream gay-romcom.
14) The Disaster Artist A great movie about a film so bad that it has become a real cult favourite, the Disaster Artist was very unfairly overlooked because of some as yet unsubstantiated sexual harassment claims against director and star, James Franco. Innocent or not, a bit of separation of art and artist leaves us with a funny and heartfelt love letter to the creative impulse.
15) I, Tonya Another award contender that was released in 2017 in most territories, it was released here well into 2018 and stands tall as one of the year's best. Mixing fourth-wall-breaking post-modernism, tons of humour, eccentric characters played by top-notch actors and a general sense of the unhinged about it, it stands out easily against safer, staider biopics.
16) Bohemian Rhapsody Speaking of which, for all that Bohemian Rhapsody fails as an honest biopic of Freddie Mercury and/ or Queen, it is a wonderful celebration of their life and music with a show-stopping recreation of Queen's performance of Live Aid that makes it a must-see all on its lonesome.
17) Leave No Trace I may not love this quite as much as some film critics but this intimate story of a man and his teenage daughter trying to live their life off the grid is as beautifully performed and subtly moving as anything released this year.
18) Searching A remarkably tense and taut thriller played out entirely on computer/ tablet/ phone screens as a desperate father played by John Chu (in a powerful but understated performance) tries to track down his missing daughter. The gimmick doesn't always make sense but the great performances, sharp direction and controlled storytelling make it the surprising must-see thriller of the year.
19) Juliet Naked Just when you thought the romantic comedy was dead, along comes this charming, funny and sweet Nick Hornby adaptation to remind you of how these films are supposed to be done. It's no masterpiece but it is an unfettered, humble delight. See also Crazy Rich Asians, which just - and I mean just - failed to make the cut.
20) Deadpool 2 I know, I know. It's kind of just more of the same and there's little about Deadpool 2 that truly wows in terms of filmmaking but, as a lifelong comedy fan, there is something to be said for films that can have you laughing steadily and quite heartedly throughout. I almost gave this spot to the surprisingly good Game Night but Ryan Reynolds is just so great as the Merc Without a Mouth and the film's funniest scenes are so gut-bustingly funny (and much funnier when watching it a second time NOT in 4DX) that Deadpool 2 can't help but take the crown as the funniest film of the year.
There are a number of major, albeit technically smaller, films that never made it to these shores that may well have made it into my top 20 but because our Cinema Nouveau art-cinemas aren't what they used to be, I, unfortunately, have nothing to say about critical darlings like Lucky, You Were Never Really Here or Shoplifters. Similarly, I still need to get to far too many straight-to-Netflix films to include them here - and the fact that I have to watch the Coen Brothers' latest on my small TV or laptop screen and not in a proper cinema irritates me to no end.
Speaking of irritating me to no end, this year at the cinema wasn't all good news. There were plenty of instantly forgettable films released this year, as well as some true stinkers. Fortunately, Adam Sandler has once again been relegated to Netflix so I don't have his latest abomination to contend with but there were still enough godawful movies to pick up his mantle. Here are ten of the worst, in no order and, because they don't deserve it, no commentary. Just know that these are all bloody terrible - and not in a good way, either.
1) Table Manners
2) The Nun
3) Mile 22
4) Death Wish
5) Show Dogs
6) Nobody's Fool
7) Gotti
8) AXL
9) Kings
10) Escape Plan 2
This is far from a complete list of this year's less impressive films but I'd rather concentrate on the many fine films that came out in 2018 - and there were enough, in fact, that I left out a bunch that I really, really liked on my best-of list.
So, with that said, happy new year and bring on 2019!
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