Top 20 Of 2018: Part 1 (20 - 11)
I’ll be honest, 2018 didn’t get off to the best of starts for me but at the end of it all I’m left with still a few movies that I haven’t got round to watching that might make a difference to this list but probably not enough for it to matter. Besides the cut-off point is the Oscars and I don’t know how many more I can fit in before then.
Honourable Mentions go to:
Anna & The Apocalypse - Proving that zombies and musicals can work together.
The Endless – One of the most intriguingly low-key sci-fi’s we’ve had for an age.
Game Night – In a year filled with great R-Rated comedies, this fake kidnapping turned real was one the better ones.
First Reformed – Extremism, environmentalism and evangelism all served up with a wonderfully angry performance from Ethan Hawke.
Blockers – Not only the hardest I’ve laughed all year with the ass-beer scene but a touching and mature look at teenagers having sex and their parents not wanting them to be having sex.
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20: The Favourite
Imagine an 18th Century sex comedy, then imagine it with a lot more politics, duck racing and descriptions of lesbianism and you’ll probably still have no idea what to expect from this flick. Much like Lanthimos’ previous film The Lobster there is a very dry sense of humour that not everyone will enjoy but thanks to the fantastic trio of Coleman’s maddening but sympathetic Queen Anne, Weisz’s wonderfully cunty Sarah and Stone’s slowly corrupting Abigail, this sexial power-play has a lot to enjoy even if you’re not sure why you enjoy it.
19: Wreck It Ralph2: Ralph Breaks The Internet
I hold the first Wreck-It Ralph in a special place because it was the film that solidified Disney’s return to form for me so I was interested to see where the sequel would go once they brought the internet into play. I expected a heartwarming story filled with pop culture gags but what I got was a story about friends growing up and growing apart and realising that there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s arguably the most adult story Disney has handled and they surrounded it with superheroes, princesses and the best surprise song number of the year.
18: Upgrade
Not-Tom Hardy starring in Cyber-Venom and it’s a much better movie, honestly calling this a low-budget R-Rated black-comedy sci-fi thriller sounds like a mess waiting to happen but thanks to Whannel’s deft hands this turned out to be a glorious B-Movie with enough self-awareness to catch you off-guard with its story twists and its lashing of the good old ultra-violence. Schlocky but sophisticated, this is one of the more enjoyable flicks I’ve seen all year and a complete surprise worth experiencing.
17: Mayhem
Primal is the best word to describe this film, in the vein of Falling Down and the angry beating hearts of an entire generation, there’s nothing about watching Yuppie assholes getting brutally slaughtered that gets old. Led by the great double-team of Yeun (shaking off the nice guy Glenn image) and Weaving (embracing her bad-girl scream queen status), this wonderful excuse for carnage is not high-class but it’s not fucking trying to be.
Plus is has Faith No More on the soundtrack so it earns a lot of points for that one.
16: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
While I don’t think the movie is as perfect as others have been saying, I’d be foolish not to recognise the risks of making a Spider-Man film this crazy and somehow pulling it off this well. It’s a testament to Spider-Man and the history of the character that Spider-Verse works as well as it does, taking the establish Peter Parker storyline, throwing it out of the window and into a blender filled with talking pigs and dimensional jumping. It manages to capture so many different genres and animation styles and yet never feels cluttered, the care and attention done to bring the story of Miles Morales into the mainstream alongside the likes of Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham and Spider-Nick Cage is worthy enough of being on this list, let alone the fact that it’s one of the most enjoyable superhero films this side of the MCU.
15: Overlord
The Hells Bells trailer suggested a B-Movie romp from Live Action Wolfenstien, but instead this was an exceedingly well-written film that put a group of soldiers into a circle of hell and told them to survive at all costs. When it’s quiet its gives you a reason to give a shit about these people with Wyatt Russel’s taking cues from his dad on badassery as reluctant hero Ford and when it’s loud it’s embracing its Nazi Zombie tones, never going completely bat-shit crazy but just enough that it makes the whole thing worth checking out.
14: Mission Impossible: Fallout
Somehow six movies in they’re still finding new ways to have Tom Cruise risk his life for our entertainment. The first direct sequel in the franchise and easily one of its best entries, Hunt is put into a morally questionable position, Superman is an absolute cock and fucking brilliant as a result and McQuarrie showcases some of the franchises best action sequences with the bathroom fight alone not going anywhere close to how you’d expect it to be. It’s intense, it’s personal and it’s proof that there’s still life in the old girl yet.
13: Apostle
Gareth Evans has kicked me in the head twice with his Raid films and once more again with his branch into horror with Safe Haven so going into Apostle I was expecting something similar. Instead Evans tones the film right down to a slow-burning, Wicker-Man vibe and uses that to highten just how fucking strange this island is with a palpable Pagan Madness. Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen make for a great duality as the dark-hearted hero and the charismatic villain but it’s Evans change of pace that makes this one of the best horror films of the year.
12: Black Panther
Forgetting whether or not it deserved the Oscar nomination, Black Panther kicked off Marvel’s best year since 2014 with its first movie to carry an actual message. Taking a racial edge and making it understandable for a modern, child-friendly audience, Marvel knocks it out of the park by introducing an entire new continent into the MCU and embracing a heritage that’s still controversial to this day. T’Challa’s stoic hero is a nice change from the snark of Stark and the honour of Cap but it’s his supporting cast that really stand out with Shuri’s hilarious little sister role and Killmonger taking his place as one of the MCU’s best villains, carrying a justified anger that burns long after the film is done. Forget the Oscar nomination, this was a special film regardless.
11: Bad Times At The El Royale.
At first glance a 2 and a half-hour 60s set crime noir featuring the music of Phil Collins and Deep Purple might sound insane but Bad Times engrossed me so much with its multi-faceted mystery, it’s ensemble cast and it’s magnificent soundtrack. Covering everything from bank heists, Catholic guilt, soul-singing and Manson Murder, the story shocked me more than once, everyone from Bridges to Pullman to Hemsworth to even Johnson gave their A-Game and Goddard delivered one of the best noir thrillers of the modern age that should hopefully be recognised as a cult classic in years to come.