Monday 6 May 2019

My Top 10: Films Of 2018

2018 has been quite a varied year. While the blockbusters did get better on the whole compared to 2017, the indies and low budget films still go from strength to strength and for me remain to be the go-to area for originality.

As I'm still working as an usher at my local community cinema, almost all of the films towards the bottom of my list were ones that I ushered a screening of. While they may be my least favourite films of the year, they reassured me that the choices of films that I was paying money for, were the right ones.

Despite that, there are so many films I saw this year that were totally varied in many ways. From the country that is producing it, to the style and tone, genre, time period and the noticeable progress in ethnic minority representation.
The most varied period was my second visit to the Leeds International Film Festival where I saw films from America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Serbia, Brazil, Colombia, Italy and even Estonia and Lebanon.

Below is my full ranking of 2018 films I have seen, both as a list and in video format. Again I must mention, that I know some films in this list were released in the UK in 2019. So my ruling on giving a film a year, is basically how IMDB do it. Which is, its first ever release, anywhere in the world and that is accessible to the public. That does include premieres and film festivals. With that in mind, check it out both in video and list format:

Video format: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x77jhtk

221) The Last Sharknado: It's About Time
220) Luis And The Aliens
219) 6-Headed Shark Attack
218) Lake Placid: Legacy
217) Megalodon
216) Fifty Shades Freed
215) Show Dogs
214) Life Of The Party
213) Make Me Up
212) The Jurassic Games
211) Duck Duck Goose
210) Sherlock Gnomes
209) Peter Rabbit
208) Mute
207) Mile 22
206) The Predator
205) A Wrinkle In Time
204) Slender Man
203) The Nutcracker And The Four Realms
202) The 15:17 To Paris
201) Torvill & Dean
200) I Feel Pretty
199) Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
198) The Nun
197) Venom
196) Robin Hood
195) The House With A Clock In Its Walls
194) Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation
193) King Lear
192) An Elephant Sitting Still
191) The Commuter
190) King Of Thieves
189) The Eyes Of Orson Welles
188) The Little Stranger
187) Overlord
186) Sauvage
185) Ray & Liz
184) The Meg
183) Prospect
182) Genesis
181) Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
180) Tomb Raider
179) Red Sparrow
178) Early Man
177) Skyscraper
176) Pacific Rim: Uprising
175) The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society
174) Rampage
173) The Cloverfield Paradox
172) Book Club
171) Ocean's 8
170) Hurricane
169) Searching For Ingmar Bergman
168) The Grinch
167) Aquarela
166) Alpha
165) The Happytime Murders
164) Aquaman
163) Bird Box
162) Apostle
161) Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald
160) Mortal Engines
159) Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle
158) The White Crow
157) Mary Magdalene
156) In Fabric
155) Shoplifters
154) Suspiria
153) The Other Side Of The Wind
152) The Front Runner
151) Vox Lux
150) Destroyer
149) Black Mother
148) Brothers In Football
147) The Mule
146) Make Us Dream
145) Nothing Like A Dame
144) Bumblebee
143) The Happy Prince
142) Burning
141) Mary Queen Of Scots
140) The Girl In The Spider's Web
139) White Boy Rick
138) The House That Jack Built
137) The Candidate
136) The Kleptocrats
135) In The Name Of Your Daughter
134) Night Comes On
133) Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot
132) They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
131) Unsane
130) The Spy Gone North
129) Blue Not Records: Beyond The Notes
128) Searching
127) Hereditary
126) Mandy
125) The Christmas Chronicles
124) The Mercy
123) Sicario 2: Soldado
122) Solo: A Star Wars Story
121) Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
120) Deadpool 2
119) Halloween
118) Creed II
117) Cold War
116) Everybody Knows
115) The Wild Pear Tree
114) Welcome To Marwen
113) The Devil We Know
112) Vice
111) At Eternity's Gate
110) Kusama: Infinity
109) A Simple Favour
108) Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don't Know Me
107) The Silver Branch
106) Utoya - July 22
105) Loveling
104) Stan & Ollie
103) The Cleaners
102) House Of Hummingbird
101) Free Solo
100) Arctic
99) Howard
98) Under The Wire
97) High Life
96) Woman At War
95) Gloria Bell
94) Evelyn
93) Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager
92) Why Don't You Just Die!
91) Whitney
90) American Jail
89) The Nightingale
88) Stree
87) The Kindergarten Teacher
86) Roma
85) Instant Family
84) Skate Kitchen
83) Penguin Highway
82) BlacKkKlansman
81) The Equalizer 2
80) Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
79) Ant-Man And The Wasp
78) Black Panther
77) The Old Man & The Gun
76) Aniara
75) After The Screaming Stops
74) Den Of Thieves
73) Leave No Trace
72) Isle Of Dogs
71) 1985
70) Birds Of Passage
69) Mary Poppins Returns
68) Maiden
67) Balloon
66) Spitfire
65) Only You
64) United Skates
63) Never Look Away
62) The Miseducation Of Cameron Post
61) The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
60) Minding The Gap
59) The Silence Of Others
58) The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
57) Wildlife
56) Boy Erased
55) Mission: Impossible - Fallout
54) Bad Times At The El Royale
53) The Guilty
52) 12 Strong
51) Won't You Be My Neighbor?
50) Crazy Rich Asians
49) Bohemian Rhapsody
48) Peterloo
47) A Private War
46) Fahrenheit 11/9
45) If Beale Street Could Talk
44) The Ice King
43) The Game Changers
42) Carmine Street Guitars
41) Outlaw King
40) Girl
39) The Hate U Give
38) Happy As Lazzaro
37) McQueen
36) American Animals
35) Upgrade
34) Climax
33) Christopher Robin
32) Border
31) Blindspotting
30) Amazing Grace
29) Incredibles 2
28) Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
27) Widows
26) Sorry To Bother You
25) Ready Player One
24) Wild Rose
23) Mid90s
22) Ralph Breaks The Internet
21) Green Book
20) The Night Comes For Us
19) Love, Simon
18) Liz And The Blue Bird
17) Hotel Mumbai
16) Colette
15) Tully
14) The Favourite
13) Eighth Grade
12) Three Identical Strangers
11) Beautiful Boy

10) A Quiet Place - A wonderfully inventive horror-thriller set in an apocalyptic world where monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing inhabit the Earth and a family is trying to survive as quietly as possible.

The film manages to make you feel like you're there and the way the story plays with this concept was the most gripping and tense viewing experiences I've had for a long time.

9) They Shall Not Grow Old - An astonishing technical achievement of not only restoring BBC archive footage of World War I, but colorising it, widening the screen ratio, slowing the speed to a normal frame rate and adding voices and sound.

It was amazing hearing what British mentality was back then. This felt like a thorough account of The Great War and I was completely engrossed by it.

8) Annhilation - Alex Garland's complex sci-fi horror adventure covers many interesting topics and will certainly be a film that will be talked about for years.

It sees Natalie Portman play a biologist recruited to a secret expedition into a place that has been transformed where the laws of nature is being bent.

It's totally captivating and like everyone else, I'm still trying to work out everything that happened.

7) Mirai - Mamoru Hosoda's latest feature and it may be his most poignant one.

With the arrival of his baby sister, Kun is transported to several moments in time to help him realise the important of his family.

It has a charm that is hard to beat and the way it develops and enhances its themes is very clever and a joy to watch come full circle.

6) A Star Is Born - The third re-make of the 1937 original of where a musician helps a young singer find fame.

It also sees us show Bradley Cooper as director for the first time and seeing him sing as well as Lady Gaga being a major acting role.

All three of those aspects are pulled-off nicely in their execution and are awards-worthy.

5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? - A true story that has to be seen to be lived. It sees famous writer Lee Israel create a series of forgeries to make easy money to maintain healthy living.

The performances by Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant alone make it such a fun and dramatic drama.

4) Capernaum - Set in Lebanon, when a young boy leaves his parent due to neglect, he makes the most amazing journey.

It has unreal performances by kid actors and has a wonderful uplifting second half.


3) Avengers: Infinity War - The culmination of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gave us what I think is their best work.

It sees The Avengers along with many other MCU characters unite to take on a powerful being called Thanos who's aim is to effectively cleanse the universe and destroy half the population.

It's fun, exciting and emotionally heart-breaking when it needs to be. A wonderful modern blockbuster.

2) Game Night - This is a very rare time when I champion a straight comedy, and this one did so many things right and it made me smile and laugh throughout.

It sees a group of friends who regularly meet for game nights be involved in a murder mystery that they initially believe is just another game.

1) First Man - Damien Chazelle's third directed film and another heavy awards contender.

While it may be about the first moon landing, the story is all done from Neil Armstrong's perspective.

It is a wonderfully impactful human story with some of the amazing space mission set-pieces that needs to be experienced on the big screen.

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