Top 7 - My Favourite Films of 2018
Hey guys, we did it. We made it all the way through 2018, impossible as it seemed at times. I've spent much of the year complaining about the state of cinema but honestly, there's been plenty of amazing films to escape into when reality has gotten a bit much over and over and over again. When I call 2018 a disappointing year for cinema, what I really mean is that there hasn't been anything I've given a ten to, nothing that blew me away on the level of Call Me By Your Name, Paddington 2 or Baby Driver last year. While nothing has quite reached those heights though, I've still been delighted, repulsed and shocked by all forms of cinema in 2018. As with all other years, I'm only talking about 2018 releases in the UK so Lady Bird is in whereas The Favourite is out. For the first time ever though, I actually have a ranking of all the films I saw from this year on my Letterboxd, on which you will always find the depressing answer to the question "What has Henry been watching recently?". You'll find that list here https://boxd.it/2eWVQ but for now, let's get onto the honourable mentions (in no particular order)!
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
Amazingly, this was both the best superhero and best animated film of the year by quite a way, being an absolutely incredible time at the cinema that I feel few too have seen.
You Were Never Really Here
You Were Never Really Here only made it onto my list because I saw it twice, with the second viewing allowing much of what happened to finally sit with me and blow me away a little.
First Man
Damien Chazelle hits another home run and while I don't love First Man as much as Whiplash or La La Land, I have only seen this the once and will be eagerly awaiting the second viewing.
Annihilation
In a year of surprising films, this was up there, going far beyond what I expected from the director of Ex Machina. Another film that is desperate for a second viewing that I have so far neglected.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A controversial film but Three Billboards had me gripped and in hysterics the whole way through, so much so that it's stayed with me since it came out almost a year ago.
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Not quite my favourite action film of the year but my favourite blockbuster and one of the purest experiences I had at the cinema (twice) all year.
American Animals
As my love for Edgar Wright shows, you edit a film snappily and I will pay attention and with his bastard child of a documentary, Bart Layton and American Animals entranced me.
With the honourable mentions out the way, now is the time for the final top 7, that I'll almost certainly want to change in a few months, such is the nature of these lists.
7. Shoplifters
Shoplifters is a hard film to explain my love for because it works on such a subliminal level. As I explained in my Letterboxd review, it's quietly beautiful and basically perfectly so, needing to do little else. Essentially, it's the story of a family who look after unloved children and live off their Grandma's pension. They have very little to get by on and so they shoplift but also criminal in their lives is that the children they pick up are often wanted back by their parents, even though they treat them poorly. With a plot like that, you could get a thriller or a comedy or all other types of genres but instead, we get a quiet drama which clearly has great love for its characters and gradually transplants that love to you. I've never seen a Kore Eda film before this but I think if the rest of his work is anything like this, I'm going to have to check more out. As a final note, I'd also like to say that while I never see everything in any year that is at competition at Cannes, I really do feel like this is a deserved winner of the Palme D'or. Shoplifters is certainly a slow piece but if you're okay with that, it's one that is also absolutely beautiful.
6. Lucky
I apologise because already, I realise that a lot of the films that make up the early part of this top 7 are very slowly paced and I'll be saying quite a few of the same things but what can I say, 2018 has been a great year for quiet beautiful films. With Lucky, it's exceptional instantly because it's Harry Dean Stanton's last film and being one of the greatest character actors to have ever lived, that means a lot. Fortunately, the film doesn't rest on that (because to have planned that would be sick) and first time director John Carroll Lynch creates this tone which enables his film to meander without ever feeling meaningless. Nothing much happens and I can't give you any major details, it's just a lovely series of fairly meaningless occurrences. Harry Dean Stanton swears at a lot of stuff. He walks around a bit. At one point, David Lynch rocks up and starts talking about President Roosevelt, his missing tortoise. If that sounds absolutely unbearable to you, you'll hate Lucky but for me, I had a wonderful time and this film was essentially what I wanted David Lynch's own The Straight Story to be.
5. Roma
Many critics have called Roma the best film of the year and while for me it doesn't quite hit that bar, I'd still be hard pushed to argue it's anything other than extraordinary. Alfonso Cuaron is one of a trio of Mexican directors (the other two being Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) who have spent the last two decades creating some of the most impressive work in cinema and Roma follows in those footsteps. In a way, it acts as a spiritual successor to Cuaron's film Y Tu Mama Tambien (my favourite foreign language film ever) by being semi-adapted from Cuaron's life and also by being absolutely incredible. Personally, I like Y Tu Mama more but Roma is its own beast, one with some of the most stunning cinematography of the year. If you're a regular reader, you'll know my fondness for long takes and Roma has plenty of stunners. My only regret is that I saw Roma just the once and I feel strongly that it could well have risen to the top on further viewings. As we stand now though (and I can't believe I'm saying this), this Netflix original is a one of a kind movie and absolutely one of the greatest pieces of cinema I saw all year. It also made me cry which always earns some bonus points.
4. Lady Bird
I said Roma made me cry but man, Lady Bird is a real kicker when it comes to that. The funny thing is, it was part of a weekend where I also saw Coco and Paddington 2 and cried heartily at all three, but Lady Bird was the one that made me weep most. Getting away from that though, there is more to Lady Bird than it just being a film that can make you cry. It's also a story whose aching beauty and nostalgia for times only just gone by truly resonated with me. Maybe Lady Bird isn't a technically better film than Shape of Water or Three Billboards (and I've said as much before) but there's something intangible that Gerwig injected into her film and that Ronan put into her performance that captured me. The great thing is that my profession of love for Lady Bird has gotten many people to venture outside the multiplex to check it out and the review became one of my most popular ever. That's not why I love this film, although selfishly, I think I love it so much because it was essentially the filmic version of the year in my life before Uni. See, this is what I meant about it being subjective, there's a good chance you may disagree with everything from here on out.
3. Bad Times at the El Royale
There's maybe nothing deeply artistic or meaningful about Bad Times at the El Royale but it was a joyously slick romp that nowhere near enough people saw. My own personal experience of it was seeing it in the middle of the night in a cinema I'd never been to before, the night before I had a half eight lecture AND STILL it captured me. As soon as the film started, I was instantly awakened and enraptured by a conspiracy thriller whose cast and slick direction were, at least for me, impossible to resist. In simple terms, it was a story about a group of strangers who meet at a hotel called the El Royale, which exists on the border line between Texas and California. Mysterious things have gone down here in the past and many more may (read: will) take place over the course of the film in what is basically Agatha Christie meets Tarantino meets Jon Hamm and Jeff Bridges. On that note, the cast are all spectacular, including Chris Hemsworth's abs, and this was the first hint I had that Dakota Johnson is actually a great actress who may have just been trapped in bad films. Bad Times just clicked perfectly for me and if nothing else has been huge in finally moving me towards Godard's other directorial effort, Cabin in the Woods.
2. The Night Comes for Us
Maybe a controversial pick but The Night Comes For Us was my favourite action film of the year. I've been a huge fan of The Raid films for years and so hearing that a new film was coming out with a lot of the same creative team involved (ironically, not the director who made the just okay Apostle this year), I was excited. Many of the weeks after it debuted to rave reviews at Fantastic Fest were spent in eager anticipation for me, as I hoped and prayed it would make it to the UK soon. And then suddenly, one night, I discovered that Netflix had taken on distribution and just kinda dropped it on their platform. It being the middle of the night, I knew I'd probably fall asleep if I put it on right then so I waited until the morning and holy shit did it blow me away. The action was so brutal yet engrossing that it kind of puts The Raid films to shame and by the end, I was just on my feet and cheering. The Night Comes For Us leaves your jaw on the floor, although that's only because it ripped it off in a brutal hand to hand fight. Even if you like action films but not foreign films, just give it a shot because hey, it's on Netflix. What have you got to lose? Nothing, unlike the characters who have an ocean and a half of blood to lose.
1. Suspiria (2018)
This is easily the most controversial entry on my list, a film that has delighted and repulsed in equal measures. David Erlich loves it, Mark Kermode doesn't. I adore it but Dario Argento, director of the original Suspiria, hates it. There is no consensus on this film because it is so powerful there is no room to be on the fence. I was lucky in that I got to see it at Cambridge Film Festival, two weeks before it came out (or three before it came out in deepest darkest Exeter) and what was aggravating was that I had no one to talk it over with and no chance to see it all again and process it. Eventually I saw it twice and what amazed me was that both experiences were so different. The first time was a very visceral experience, in which I was highly uncomfortable throughout before being so violently affected by the finale that I genuinely started shaking in the cinema. Everything had gone in but it was so hard to process it and that's what the second viewing was for, where I got to analyse each and every theme, motif and glance to death. Suspiria (2018) is the rare film that was about 160 minutes and I adored it start to finish. In a weird way, it was the perfect successor to Call Me By Your Name in that it immersed me entirely, but into a world completely unlike that of CMBYN. I don't love Suspiria (2018) quite like I loved CMBYN but I've realised that's a hard target for any film and regardless, Luca Guadagnino still has the high honour of making my two favourite films of the year, two years in a row. Mr Guadagnino, take a bow and take away the pain your films inflict on me.
Well, there we go, 2018 is over and now we move straight onto 2019. My most anticipated of 2019 list will be out this time next week and then the next month is going to be all in on the awards season, so get ready for all that (and presumably more) as we head into the fifth year of the Quite Nerdy Blog. As ever, thank you all for all the support, whether you've read all, half or just one of the posts this year, I appreciate you all.
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
Amazingly, this was both the best superhero and best animated film of the year by quite a way, being an absolutely incredible time at the cinema that I feel few too have seen.
You Were Never Really Here
You Were Never Really Here only made it onto my list because I saw it twice, with the second viewing allowing much of what happened to finally sit with me and blow me away a little.
First Man
Damien Chazelle hits another home run and while I don't love First Man as much as Whiplash or La La Land, I have only seen this the once and will be eagerly awaiting the second viewing.
Annihilation
In a year of surprising films, this was up there, going far beyond what I expected from the director of Ex Machina. Another film that is desperate for a second viewing that I have so far neglected.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A controversial film but Three Billboards had me gripped and in hysterics the whole way through, so much so that it's stayed with me since it came out almost a year ago.
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Not quite my favourite action film of the year but my favourite blockbuster and one of the purest experiences I had at the cinema (twice) all year.
American Animals
As my love for Edgar Wright shows, you edit a film snappily and I will pay attention and with his bastard child of a documentary, Bart Layton and American Animals entranced me.
With the honourable mentions out the way, now is the time for the final top 7, that I'll almost certainly want to change in a few months, such is the nature of these lists.
7. Shoplifters
Shoplifters is a hard film to explain my love for because it works on such a subliminal level. As I explained in my Letterboxd review, it's quietly beautiful and basically perfectly so, needing to do little else. Essentially, it's the story of a family who look after unloved children and live off their Grandma's pension. They have very little to get by on and so they shoplift but also criminal in their lives is that the children they pick up are often wanted back by their parents, even though they treat them poorly. With a plot like that, you could get a thriller or a comedy or all other types of genres but instead, we get a quiet drama which clearly has great love for its characters and gradually transplants that love to you. I've never seen a Kore Eda film before this but I think if the rest of his work is anything like this, I'm going to have to check more out. As a final note, I'd also like to say that while I never see everything in any year that is at competition at Cannes, I really do feel like this is a deserved winner of the Palme D'or. Shoplifters is certainly a slow piece but if you're okay with that, it's one that is also absolutely beautiful.
6. Lucky
I apologise because already, I realise that a lot of the films that make up the early part of this top 7 are very slowly paced and I'll be saying quite a few of the same things but what can I say, 2018 has been a great year for quiet beautiful films. With Lucky, it's exceptional instantly because it's Harry Dean Stanton's last film and being one of the greatest character actors to have ever lived, that means a lot. Fortunately, the film doesn't rest on that (because to have planned that would be sick) and first time director John Carroll Lynch creates this tone which enables his film to meander without ever feeling meaningless. Nothing much happens and I can't give you any major details, it's just a lovely series of fairly meaningless occurrences. Harry Dean Stanton swears at a lot of stuff. He walks around a bit. At one point, David Lynch rocks up and starts talking about President Roosevelt, his missing tortoise. If that sounds absolutely unbearable to you, you'll hate Lucky but for me, I had a wonderful time and this film was essentially what I wanted David Lynch's own The Straight Story to be.
5. Roma
Many critics have called Roma the best film of the year and while for me it doesn't quite hit that bar, I'd still be hard pushed to argue it's anything other than extraordinary. Alfonso Cuaron is one of a trio of Mexican directors (the other two being Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) who have spent the last two decades creating some of the most impressive work in cinema and Roma follows in those footsteps. In a way, it acts as a spiritual successor to Cuaron's film Y Tu Mama Tambien (my favourite foreign language film ever) by being semi-adapted from Cuaron's life and also by being absolutely incredible. Personally, I like Y Tu Mama more but Roma is its own beast, one with some of the most stunning cinematography of the year. If you're a regular reader, you'll know my fondness for long takes and Roma has plenty of stunners. My only regret is that I saw Roma just the once and I feel strongly that it could well have risen to the top on further viewings. As we stand now though (and I can't believe I'm saying this), this Netflix original is a one of a kind movie and absolutely one of the greatest pieces of cinema I saw all year. It also made me cry which always earns some bonus points.
4. Lady Bird
I said Roma made me cry but man, Lady Bird is a real kicker when it comes to that. The funny thing is, it was part of a weekend where I also saw Coco and Paddington 2 and cried heartily at all three, but Lady Bird was the one that made me weep most. Getting away from that though, there is more to Lady Bird than it just being a film that can make you cry. It's also a story whose aching beauty and nostalgia for times only just gone by truly resonated with me. Maybe Lady Bird isn't a technically better film than Shape of Water or Three Billboards (and I've said as much before) but there's something intangible that Gerwig injected into her film and that Ronan put into her performance that captured me. The great thing is that my profession of love for Lady Bird has gotten many people to venture outside the multiplex to check it out and the review became one of my most popular ever. That's not why I love this film, although selfishly, I think I love it so much because it was essentially the filmic version of the year in my life before Uni. See, this is what I meant about it being subjective, there's a good chance you may disagree with everything from here on out.
3. Bad Times at the El Royale
There's maybe nothing deeply artistic or meaningful about Bad Times at the El Royale but it was a joyously slick romp that nowhere near enough people saw. My own personal experience of it was seeing it in the middle of the night in a cinema I'd never been to before, the night before I had a half eight lecture AND STILL it captured me. As soon as the film started, I was instantly awakened and enraptured by a conspiracy thriller whose cast and slick direction were, at least for me, impossible to resist. In simple terms, it was a story about a group of strangers who meet at a hotel called the El Royale, which exists on the border line between Texas and California. Mysterious things have gone down here in the past and many more may (read: will) take place over the course of the film in what is basically Agatha Christie meets Tarantino meets Jon Hamm and Jeff Bridges. On that note, the cast are all spectacular, including Chris Hemsworth's abs, and this was the first hint I had that Dakota Johnson is actually a great actress who may have just been trapped in bad films. Bad Times just clicked perfectly for me and if nothing else has been huge in finally moving me towards Godard's other directorial effort, Cabin in the Woods.
2. The Night Comes for Us
Maybe a controversial pick but The Night Comes For Us was my favourite action film of the year. I've been a huge fan of The Raid films for years and so hearing that a new film was coming out with a lot of the same creative team involved (ironically, not the director who made the just okay Apostle this year), I was excited. Many of the weeks after it debuted to rave reviews at Fantastic Fest were spent in eager anticipation for me, as I hoped and prayed it would make it to the UK soon. And then suddenly, one night, I discovered that Netflix had taken on distribution and just kinda dropped it on their platform. It being the middle of the night, I knew I'd probably fall asleep if I put it on right then so I waited until the morning and holy shit did it blow me away. The action was so brutal yet engrossing that it kind of puts The Raid films to shame and by the end, I was just on my feet and cheering. The Night Comes For Us leaves your jaw on the floor, although that's only because it ripped it off in a brutal hand to hand fight. Even if you like action films but not foreign films, just give it a shot because hey, it's on Netflix. What have you got to lose? Nothing, unlike the characters who have an ocean and a half of blood to lose.
1. Suspiria (2018)
This is easily the most controversial entry on my list, a film that has delighted and repulsed in equal measures. David Erlich loves it, Mark Kermode doesn't. I adore it but Dario Argento, director of the original Suspiria, hates it. There is no consensus on this film because it is so powerful there is no room to be on the fence. I was lucky in that I got to see it at Cambridge Film Festival, two weeks before it came out (or three before it came out in deepest darkest Exeter) and what was aggravating was that I had no one to talk it over with and no chance to see it all again and process it. Eventually I saw it twice and what amazed me was that both experiences were so different. The first time was a very visceral experience, in which I was highly uncomfortable throughout before being so violently affected by the finale that I genuinely started shaking in the cinema. Everything had gone in but it was so hard to process it and that's what the second viewing was for, where I got to analyse each and every theme, motif and glance to death. Suspiria (2018) is the rare film that was about 160 minutes and I adored it start to finish. In a weird way, it was the perfect successor to Call Me By Your Name in that it immersed me entirely, but into a world completely unlike that of CMBYN. I don't love Suspiria (2018) quite like I loved CMBYN but I've realised that's a hard target for any film and regardless, Luca Guadagnino still has the high honour of making my two favourite films of the year, two years in a row. Mr Guadagnino, take a bow and take away the pain your films inflict on me.
Well, there we go, 2018 is over and now we move straight onto 2019. My most anticipated of 2019 list will be out this time next week and then the next month is going to be all in on the awards season, so get ready for all that (and presumably more) as we head into the fifth year of the Quite Nerdy Blog. As ever, thank you all for all the support, whether you've read all, half or just one of the posts this year, I appreciate you all.
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