I have that ill fated Movie Pass so I was seeing a lot of stuff last year until the inevitable happened and it blew up in our faces. So I got the AMC pass and used it a lot. Now I pay for both and hardly ever use them because we are fucking buried in 2 feet of snow in this hell on earth. Wheres yer global warming now ??? JK.
My Top 10 of 2018.
10) Searching
This was the most creative film I saw all year. John Cho of Harold and Kumar fame has his teenaged daughter go missing and he has to find her almost exclusively thru social media. Its fun, its creative and believe it or not I learned how to use stuff on that there internet I never knew existed.
9) 8th Grade
I resisted seeing this. I am not exactly the demo for a movie about a 14 year old girl. But I watched it finally and seeing it from the perspective of her Dad trying to do his best to help his daughter grow up was really captivating. Elsie Fisher is a godsend as the awkward kid trying to fit in and Josh Hamilton as her struggling Dad both are why this movie succeeds. No recognition of course.
8) First Reformed
I really wanted to love this movie with it being Paul Schrader and all. I didnt LOVE it but I did like it a lot. Its basically a Taxi Driver for 2018. Ethan Hawke as a troubled minister dealing with a lot. His pessimism about the climate and his own loneliness. It works. Ethan Hawke for awards? Nothing.
7) Lean On Pete
A boy and his horse. A walk across the West. And perhaps the most shocking moment of 2018 movies about halfway through. I gasped. The women behind us cried. Yeah its good. Charlie Plummer of last years Getty film is another great young actor and hey it has Steve Buscemi too.
6) Annihilation
I didnt expect much. I got a lot. Its a women oriented horror picture. Giant gators. Weird premises. A dead Oscar Isaac. And great performances from Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh (welcome back) Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez. I liked it a lot and I generally hate horror pictures.
5) Love Simon/Boy Erased
These movies got ignored and shouldn't have been. Young gay kids. Parents who struggle with reality. Dads who cant believe it. Moms who love their sons no matter what. I really liked both of these movies. One is more serious than the other and I hate lumping them together bit theres only 10 spots. Its the gay movie slot I guess. Make more.
4) Leave No Trace
Debra Granik has directed two really good movies. Winters Bone introduced us to Jennifer Lawrence. Leave No Trace introduces us to Thomasin McKenzie. Who? Watch this movies about a father with deep seeded PTSD problems and his daughter who drop off the grid and you wont need to ask. Ben Foster is the Dad and anything he is in works. But this kid from New Zealand, Thomasin McKenzie, is a wonder. It doesnt end like you may wish but hey thats reality.
3) Wont You Be My Neighbor
I swear this documentary about Fred Rogers could be argued as best movie of the year, period. The Academy didnt even nominate it for best documentary instead going for another goddamned skate boarding movie. This documentary will give you hope for the world and at the same time make you cry that we have become such assholes to each other. This film moved me more than any other this year and again, thats all it takes for me to proclaim THAT is a great film.
2) If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin was the greatest writer of the 20th century. Thats just me and my knowledge isnt that great cuz I dont read novels. Bit this adaptation of his novel is moving and true. 1970's New York, racism, racism within the black community, police brutality, MeToo, and a heartbreaking performance by Regina King. This film and its jazzy background music which may annoy some really made me sit up and go wow. Things havent changed at all in 50 years.
1) BlacKkKlansman
This Spike Lee joint is the best movie I saw all year. The fact that Spike Lee has NEVER been nominated for an Oscar is an outrage. Buthey, he is this year so goddamit give it to him. This film stars John David Washington and Adam Driver as two cops in Colorado Springs in the 1970's who infiltrate David Dukes very fine people organization the KKK. It covers all the Spike Lee narratives and it does it so well it keeps you captivated throughout. The ending? OMG . It pissed me off. Yep, things havent changed in 50 years again. Realize it folks, we are backpedaling.
Now about a couple of other movies.
Bohemian Rhapsody
I really liked it. I know it was biopic 101. I know there was nothing new in it. I know it has an inside joke involving Mike Myers. I know I know I know. But like last years The Greatest Showman, it made me happy. Rami Malek and everybody else in that cast is fantastic. Yep it was directed partly by a creep, but the guy who took over finished it up well.
You Were Never Really Here
Joaquin Phoenix as a troubled veteran who tracks down missing girls. Its another Taxi Driver inspired revenge movie about a guy who has a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy. So will you. This movie got ignored also. It shouldnt have been.
Now about movies everybody liked except me
Sorry to Bother You
Ugh! Horse dicks? A valid premise that just goes horribly off the track. Make your point and then sci fi bullshit? Sorry it bothered me.
The Sisters Brothers
I hated this film. Even though John C Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix were in it and it was a Western whoaaaaa doggie, this didnt work for me at all. Overly mean and violent, Nope a hard pass.
Other movies I liked a lot
Tully
3 Identical Strangers
Green Book
Pope Francis
Widows
Isle of Dogs
First Man
Mission Impossible Fallout
Vice
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
One movie that everybody loved I only liked
A Star is Born
Ehhhhh. I liked it. Didnt love it. Seen it before. Lady Gaga can act already knew it. Sam Elliott is the best part. Bradley Cooper not a lightweight any longer in my mind.
Onward to Oscar night!
No comments:
Post a Comment