The Best & Worst of 2018

It’s time for the 8th annual look back at the year that was in film!

Before we start with my list of the worst films of the year, as I always do, let’s review any trends, successes and failures of the year.

First, let's look at what dominated the box office. As usual, in order to qualify for the Top 10 a film must have exceeded $200 million in grosses and it looks like Sony's Venom and the Star Wars prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story did just that with with over $213 million each. The rest of the bottom half of the Top 10 was between the $213-300 million mark: Ant-Man and the Wasp, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and The Grinch. Deadpool 2 was the only R-rated film to crack the Top 10 and made it to the #5 spot. Universal Studios was the only studio, aside from Disney, to have multiple films in the Top 10. The Grinch was one and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, at #4, was the other. Rounding out the Top 3 were Disney affiliates Pixar and Marvel with The Incredibles 2 (#3), Avengers: Infinity War (#2), and Black Panther (#1) at over $700 million domestic.

What can we glean from the box office numbers this year? Well, the only original films (films NOT based on a book, part of a franchise, or a remake) that were financially successful were A Quiet Place (#14) and Bohemian Rhapsody (#12), the former being the most unknown and original of the two. Plus, Disney is the ultimate super-power in cinema with 5 out of 10 films breaking the Top 10 of the year (the same could be said of Marvel if you count non-MCU films Venom and Deadpool 2).

Also worth noting, LucasFilms's interest in milking original trilogy characters over new ones resulted in the worst box office for an original release in the franchise's history (adjusted gross) - $275 million LESS than Episode II: Attack of the Clones! Here's hoping they make a quick course-correction back towards original stories and away from the Skywalker Saga characters.

The same can be said for recently-expanded Wizarding World with the Fantastic Beasts sequel, Crimes of Grindewald, which took the title of Lowest-Grossing of Series away from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($234 million) by a whopping $80 million difference! It is the first Wizarding World film to bomb at the domestic box office with only $156.6 million. It doesn't look like audiences want fantasy prequels after all.

While not necessarily as well-reflected in the box office Top 10, aside from King T'Challa ruling supreme at the #1 spot, this was a huge year of diversity and some of that required a good hard look at our country's racism. To the latter point, there was BlacKKKlansman, The Hate U Give, Sorry to Bother You, Green Book, and Blindspotting. To the former point, there were so many films with diverse or minority-centric casts like the historically-significant smash success Crazy Rich Asians, and Creed II, Equalizer 2, Ocean's 8, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Proud Mary, Quincy, Searching, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Whitney, Widows, A Wrinkle in Time... the list goes on. Nearly 25% of the Top 50 highest-grossing movies featured diverse casting. That's up 9% from 2017!

The good news is, with the exception of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Venom, audiences mostly stayed away from the critically-panned films in 2018. With the exception of the aforementioned blockbusters and Fantastic Beasts, Fifty Shades Freed, A Wrinkle in Time, The Meg and The Nun, all critically-slammed films earned less than $100 million in 2018.

That seems like a great way to segue into the worst of the year. Here are my picks for…

The Worst

5. Roma

I know, I know... with a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and being named the Best Film of the Year on 58 critic lists you must think I'm crazy for putting this on the list of Worst of the Year. Well, here's the thing... Roma is half of a Great Film. The cinematography, staging and direction are among the best of the year - you really just don't see films these days that have the look and feel of Italian neorealist cinema or recall the work of Ozu Yasujiro. However, the narrative and characters were so dull and uninteresting that this became one of the most difficult theatrical experiences of the year. I simply cannot agree with conventional wisdom when that wisdom seems to be primarily rewarding the technical merits of the film and ignoring the story's shortcomings. I'm sorry, I know, Alfonso Cuaron is a great director, but Roma is his worst work since Great Expectations.

4. Solo: A Star Wars Story

Okay, so at a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes this also doubles as the Movie I Don't Get. Sure, that makes it the worst-reviewed of the recent Star Wars films - and the third worst-reviewed of the entire franchise. But its audience score on IMDb is a 7/10, which is pretty good. At any rate, this was the first Star Wars film EVER that I wasn't excited for. That's because Harrison Ford is such a big part of the character Han Solo that it would be a disservice to any other actor to attempt to step into the role. Plus, this film tries to jump right into the action and I had a hard time caring about any of the action sequences. They just weren't fun. There were a couple bright moments: Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra... but largely this was a cash-in that just wanted to try explaining every adventure we hear referenced in the original trilogy, a completely unnecessary endeavor. And the Empire provided Han his namesake?! Really?! After the prequel trilogy, it seemed we had seen the franchise's lowest point.

Solo took us back to the bottom of the barrel.

3. Pacific Rim: Uprising

This film has very similar problems to Solo. It jumps to an action beat within the first five minutes of the movie, before we even get an opportunity to care about the characters involved. And it's a film that nobody was exactly clamoring for or begging to get made. Guillermo del Toro's quasi-campy, rock-em-sock-em Kaiju 2013 film was fun, but offered little more than just robots beating up monsters; it was certainly no Hellboy and especially no Hellboy II. The only delight in this shorter, yet painful, sequel is one or two Robots vs. Monster sequences. Those 10-20 minutes do not make the other 90 minutes worthwhile. Plus, John Boyega tries hard to lay on the charm, but most of the jokes just fall flat.

2. A Wrinkle in Time

Oh, Ava DeVernay... you poor, incredibly talented auteur... I so wanted to love this film. When you have one of the greatest women working behind the camera today, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling you kind of expect one of the most empowering female-led films of the year. Add on top of that the Disney marketing machine that was pumping heavily months prior to this film's release - and the fact that a young African American girl is the lead and the anticipation is high for a fantasy epic of the Time's Up era. This film is very clearly well-meaning and swells with goodness. But it is just marginally better than the unbearable TV movie from 2003 that starred Alfre Woodard and Katie Stuart (The 100). Characters and situations are not set up well. The third act proves to be unfilmable and somewhat laughable. It is devoid of everything in the execution it aims to achieve. It adds up to the year's biggest disappointment. Better to keep this story on the page and in the imaginations of adolescents.

1. Life Itself

Just thinking about this movie makes me groan and sigh deeply. Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Antonio Banderas, Mandy Patinkin, Annette Bening, Dan Fogelman, Amazon Studios... what the hell were you all doing? All of you wasted your time here. The pedigree of this film promises so much. The trailer makes it look like a beautiful, heart-warming and touching tapestry of life and love. The actual film is a trashfire of misery and depression. Molestation, sudden death, trauma, alcoholism, suicide, child abuse, terminal illness... and very little beauty, humor, or warmth to balance it all out. This film will make you hate life itself.

Dishonorable mentions:

The Thoroughbreds,

Unsane,

The Meg,

The Spy Who Dumped Me

The Best

Now it is time to count down the best of the year. Bear in mind I have only seen 63 films this year and have been unable to catch Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk, Destroyer, On the Basis of Sex, The Hate U Give, The Death of Stalin, Old Man & the Gun, and Hereditary. So, take this list with a grain of salt.

I will say that this is also the first year this decade that has brought us so many films that are equally good and few really Great Films that I've had a very difficult time ranking them. I'm almost tempted to list them alphabetically rather than attempt to crown one the Best Film of the Year. But I shall do my best - just remember that a number of these films could qualify just as easily as the Best Film of the Year.

10. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The Mission: Impossible series has been incredibly consistent in its quality since J. J. Abrams lit a fire in its fuse back in 2006. This is the third film since M:I III (sixth overall) and, while each entry has its merits to qualify among the best action films ever, Fallout may actually be the best in the series. Not only do we have the normal sharp writing and incredible action we've come to expect from the series, but it's even better here. The hits are harder. Tom Cruise seems to acknowledge that even Ethan Hunt is getting older and not able to get up as quickly as he used to. The rewards, as a long-time fan of the series, are richer. We have call-backs to just about every entry of the series, even its bastard child, Mission: Impossible 2. All of this adds up to one of the year's most effective edge-of-your-seat experiences and one of the best action films of the decade.

9. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Very nearly the best documentary of the year (read on for the best). This documentary about children's TV star Fred Rogers was the feel-good antidote to a miserable year. It wasn't that it provided a 2-hour vacation away from life like some popcorn-popping blockbuster. It reminded us of something good in the world and challenged us to be that force of good once we step out of the theater. In a year chock-full of celebrity docs (Quincy, Hal, Whitney, Bad Reputation, to name a few), Won't You Be My Neighbor? was the only one to transcend its subject into something sublime and hopeful in the worst of times.

8. Black Panther

While Avengers: Infinity War doubled-down on a decade-long gamble that first paid off in 2012's Avengers, its "final chapter" essence kept it outside of my Top 20 (more on it in Episode 46 of The Movie Lovers).

Black Panther, however, was a leaner, more independent entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, the film proved essential to the War to follow, but it pretty much worked on its own as a really great superhero film. First of all, it managed to avoid the villain problem that plagues most of the MCU (only Loki, Mandarin, Ultron, Red Skull, Ronan the Accuser, Helmut Zemo and Vulture have been exceptions) with Erik Killmonger, a villain of our time. Because of Killmonger, Black Panther becomes one of the most thematically-rich solo entries with issues of the disenfranchised taking from those in power and colonialism. Let's not forget the historical significance of seeing an all-black cast up on screen kicking ass, being in charge, and hardly needing any help from the likes of the white man. Like Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther is a significant movie - one of the most important of the year, if not the decade. A change has come in representation in film and if it continues to take the form of films like Black Panther, we'll be all the better for it.

7. The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos started the decade as a director of foreign film with the Greek-language art-house hit Dogtooth. Soon after he crossed over to the U.S. art house scene with The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This year he's achieved great success with The Favourite, arguably his most accessible film, which has played in over 800 theaters and gained nearly universal acclaim. I'm not sure it's his best film (being easier for mainstream audiences to digest doesn't make a film better). But Lanthimos's voice as a filmmaker is unique and striking enough that he's able to make a story about two women fighting for the privilege of being by the Queen's side one of the best films of the year. Rachel Weisz and Olivia Coleman, in particular, are stand-outs here with a relationship that is interchangeably humorous and heart-breaking. It is, however, Lanthimos's direction, Sandy Powell's costume design, Fiona Combie's production design, and Robbie Ryan's cinematography that are the real stars here. They allow these women to play their BFF game in lush and gorgeous English surroundings.

The Favourite is one of the year's best films about the relationships between women and they make it look good.

6. Sorry to Bother You

This was very nearly the best film of the year. If it wasn't for that ending, it might be. As it is Sorry to Bother You is the year's most original and creative film. The film is so out-there that it's almost better going in cold, not knowing anything about it upon initial viewing. Yet its politics make it one of the most important films of the year, as it satirizes black and white relations in the U.S. and makes code-switching a literal thing. If you haven't seen it, I'll refrain from any further detail.

Sorry to Bother You is a hilarious and bonkers stare-down at our culture with Lakeith Stanfield as our hero, Cassius 'Cash' Green; today's It Girl, Tessa Thompson (doesn't she star in every film now?) as his girlfriend; Steven Yeun as a romantic rival; and a welcome appearance by Danny Glover. If you need your racial politics in a stand-up comic delivery, Sorry to Bother You is the film equivalent of that - and more.

5. Blindspotting

On the other hand, there's Blindspotting, which may be the most sincere look at the state of blacks in America in 2018. It's also a bit of an enigma as its trailer indicates it's about one thing, its IMDb page indicates it's about another - and it turns out to not really be about either of those things! It is a very serious and, at times, riveting look at the day-to-day wrongs that black men, in particular, have to endure and add to their paranoia in our current climate. Daveed Diggs, previously known as the brother-in-law in black-ish and for Broadway's Hamilton, excels here. Carlos Lopez Estrada, previously a director of mostly short films, has taken a huge step forward in the big leagues with Blindspotting. It'll be very interesting to see what he comes up with next.

4. A Quiet Place

What makes A Quiet Place so great? It's not that it has much in the way of any social or political themes that make it particularly important like 2017's Get Out or many of the films released in 2018. It doesn't necessarily do anything to transcend its genre. What makes A Quiet Place so great? Incredibly efficient and clever writing, perfect direction, and great performances by Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, and Millicent Simmonds.

A Quiet Place manages to have some of the best sound design by simply not having any during key points throughout the film, including ambient sound. Krasinski, and screenwriters Bryan Woods and Scott Beck have all crafted a clever horror film that reveals the rules and sticks by them. It's also worth noting that a person with a disability such as deafness is not only a dimensional character, but also critical to the premise and used so well.

A Quiet Place is just a damn good film, no pretense, no moral high-ground - just good old-fashioned thrills done well.

3. Annihilation

A giant extraterrestrial dome has enveloped a region and growing. A team of women (Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny) go in to investigate, one of which is married to a member (Oscar Isaac) of a previous team that went in and never came out. That's the premise of what might be 2018's biggest head-scratcher - and one of its most over-looked films. Leaving its audience wondering what the hell happened is often a hallmark of a great sci-fi film.

Annihilation, Alex Garland's follow-up to the excellent Ex Machina, is such a film. With a score by Geoff Barrow, beautiful and often perplexing visual effects, next-level writing, and a great cast of women Annihilation is the film for fans of brainy science fiction.

2. BlacKKKlansman

There were several films in 2018 that spoke to the black experience in the United States, a couple are listed above.

BlacKKKlansman might be the best because it has such a great balance of humor and sincerity, historical and contemporary relevance. It's entertaining without being a slog - but it doesn't let its audience off the hook with a feel-good credit-roll.  John David Washington and Adam Driver ground the film as two detectives tag-teaming to infiltrate the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK and work their way to the Grand Wizard himself, David Duke (played with a perfect balance of dim-wittedness and venom by Topher Grace). The script makes points about the real dangers of hate groups not being from clubbing people on the streets, rather from getting into elected positions and manipulating the public into putting the blame on minorities and taking away their rights. That makes BlacKKKlansman a particularly potent film. Spike Lee has made something like 20 narrative theatrical films over the past 30 years, most of which have moved the needle forward in black cinema, becoming a legendary filmmaker. That said, BlacKKKlansman may be Lee's best and most important film since 1992's Malcolm X.

1. Minding the Gap

It's been well-established that 2018 was a great year for representation in cinema. Black cinema alone had a great year with over a dozen films with African American leads and confronting racism in America. It was also a great year for women in cinema, with several female-fronted and created films doing well. We round out the list with a film that seems to address a number of issues at once, including racism and violence against women. The primary focus is domestic violence and how that issue (and others) can affect our relationships and who we become as parents. Who knew all of this could come from a documentary about skateboarders? Debut director Bing Liu created this documentary about a few skateboarding buds and their personal lives and it is the most revealing, crushing and impressive doc of the year. It is a huge surprise and unfortunately widely overlooked. But Hulu was kind enough to distribute the film with a day-and-date limited theatrical and streaming release. So, check it out!

Honorable Mentions:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,

Crazy Rich Asians,

Widows,

Tully,

Revenge,

Leave No Trace

That just about puts the year 2018 to bed! Be sure to check out the upcoming episode of The Movie Lovers that looks at the year as a whole and counts down our favorite films from the year. That should be posted on January 8th.

What do you think are the best films of the year? Comment below!