The Top 20 Films of 2018
2018 has been a spectacular year for films. From massive cinematic universes, to great indie films, there has been a lot to offer of great quality in the spectrum of cinema, and now is the time to rank the 20 best I've seen this year. There are many honourable mentions for this list, with good films such as Bumblebee, To All the Boys I Loved Before and Ready Player One missing out on the list. However, let's have a look at some of the years true stars.
20. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
When the original Mamma Mia entered cinemas ten years ago, it was an odd occurrence, because while on paper and in action a lot the movie shouldn’t and didn’t work, yet mostly everyone, from the common cinema-goer to the admired and well-respected film critic found enjoyment and fun in the movie, leading to it breaking a lot of UK box office records. When the sequel was announced, most feared the second movie would be unable to capture the same fun and magic as the first one, and yet, upon arrival, it turned out to still be there, and arguably, even better than the first one.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again brings back pretty much every beloved character and idea from the first film is brought back and built upon as we see Amanda Seyfried’s Sophie deal with her own pregnancy and new issues, alongside returning to 1979 to see a younger portrayal of her mother, Donna, by Lily James as we see her story of she came to be the much-loved hotel manager on the Greek Island. The catchy Abba soundtrack makes a few great returns and a lot of great additions also, especially those of ‘Angel Eyes’ and ‘My Love, My Life’. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is one of the biggest shocks of the year, and thankfully, one of the best.
19. 22 July
The bombing of the executive government quarter of Norway and the shooting at a summer camp on the island of Utoya on the 22nd July 2011 claimed the life of 77 people. These horrifying events of that tragic day has been brought to the screen in two different films this year; with Utoya: July 22, following the events of the attack on the island in a more personal focused story, and also 22 July, which followed the events of the terror attack and the following infamous events of the trial.
This film is in all honesty a hard-watch throughout, showing the attacks, following Lie’s fantastic as the heartless and truly evil terrorist through his arrest, questioning and trial, with his infamous salute in tow. The film also follows the young survivors as they try and recover and adapt to their lives after such a tragic and scarring event, and also bring themselves to stand up and testify against the monster who brought this upon them. This harrowing watch will make you feel terrified, both for the characters of the film and even yourself in the face of the monster of terror, yet through the displayed unity and overcoming displayed by the protagonists on screen and the country of Norway in its entirety.
18. Ant-Man and the Wasp
The first of FOUR Marvel movies to appear on this list, Ant-Man and the Wasp was the third movie released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2018 and the twentieth movie overall in the expanded universe. When compared to the two other releases from the MCU this year, this film does seem to take a more lower-stakes centred plot, mainly centring on an attempted rescue of Michelle Pfieffer’s Janet Van Dyne when compared with most superhero movies’ focus on a whole world at risk. This more relaxed plot allows this film to concentrate more on its starts, building up and developing the leads of the picture.
That’s not to say, however, that the film subverts the usual high-octane action that the MCU usual delivers, with many spectacular antics, action-packed sequences and humorous moments sprinkled throughout. The lighter tone, however, does allow for a wave of freshness to be presented, which Marvel seem to consistently do in a year that Marvel was expected to start feeling stale and unoriginal. Ant-Man and the Wasp is a welcome, light-hearted surprise to come from 2018, a welcome change of pace that still delivers on the expected spectacle form Marvel’s studios.
17. Ralph Breaks the Internet
It has become a common and expected stereotype that anything video-game based that is used to produce a movie will lead to a poor outcome, such as the Resident Evil franchise and the Doom and Assassin’s Creed movies. In 2018, the quality of video game movies did seem to pick up, with movies such as Tomb Raider and Rampage being the real first of these films to gain consistently fair-to-satisfactory reviews among critics, when excluding one example. That example is, of course, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, which got its follow-up in Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018.
There was a surprisingly high amount of clever humour worked throughout this movie, with clever references to video games and the internet sprinkled throughout. The main story is, itself, very well fleshed out and does actually deal with some quite mature and complex problems, for which the movie did garner criticism for being possibly being too complicated for children. However, when taken as a sum-of-its-parts, Ralph Breaks the Internet is a funny, intelligent and very thought-provoking film, from which everyone in the family can find something they will enjoy.
16. A Simple Favour
One of my favourite things about this film is that, according to what I’ve heard, when this film first came out, on the Odeon website, the genre read as ‘Error’, which is honestly one of the most accurate things to say about this train-wreck of a film. One moment it feels akin to a Hitchockian thriller, then it feels like a dark comedy, a light-hearted feel good film and everything in between. The film is a complete and utter mess, and that is honestly one of the reasons why this film is so fantastic.
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively act as fantastic leads for this film, with Lively’s mysterious Emily and Kendrick’s initially sweet and quiet Stephanie, who’s progression and evolution throughout the film makes it quite the entertaining watch. This film has many twists and turns in that you may never know what exactly will be around the corner, keeping the air of suspense and intrigue throughout, while managing to put in tendencies of humour, drama and passion throughout. While this movie is completely wild in its plot and pacing, it is certainly one of the biggest surprises of the year.
15. Game Night
Sometimes what it feels like the modern movie industry is missing is a consistent number of good, non-overly-vulgar, simple comedic movies, which is why Game Night feels so fresh and welcome. The movie follows a group of friends who meet regularly for game nights who find themselves entangled in a real-life mystery when the brother of one of them is kidnapped during one of the titular nights.
While the movie does take some time to get going, the comedic charm to this film can be seen throughout most of the movie, with great small gags and some absolutely brilliant sequences, both in the comedic sense and in the movie techniques applied to the comedic carnage that pops up during the course of it all. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams make great leads as genuinely likeable and relatable goofballs, while the supporting cast all get their time to shine in multiple hilarious side-plots. If you’re looking for a brilliantly funny movie that’s not massively vulgar and a lot of fun, then ‘Game Night’ is a movie that you’ll surely not want to miss.
14. Annihilation
Alex Garland is well-noted for his screen-writing, having penned such greats as 28 Days Later and Dredd. In 2014 he took a foray into directing as well with the incredible 2014 sci-fi flick Ex Machina. For his second feature, Garland wrote an adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer novel Annihilation, which follows an expedition of five female scientists into a mysterious zone, labelled as The Shimmer by most of the movie’s cast, where the rules of nature do not apply.
Natalie Portman and the cast alike have been praised for their work in this film that is honestly at times difficult to understand in its abstractness and with the ideas and philosophies it attempts to present to an audience that may not get or understand them. However, none of that takes away from the beautiful and at times mesmerising or disturbing imagery presented throughout this strange film that is still fundamentally entertaining and should be able to elicit an emotional response from you. What that response is will be is hard to say, as its probably likely to be at least somewhat slightly different.
13. Calibre
When Netflix announced its plans to release over 100 Netflix’s original movies over the course of 2018, sceptics, critics and fans alike all wondered and pondered at how the streaming service could release such a huge number of movies in such a short space and yet still provide variety and quality to their audience. While there have definitely been a number of misfires, such as Tau, Next Gen and The Kissing Booth, there have been some of notable quality, namely a simple but still very fun and remarkable rom-com in Set It Up, the heartfelt and funny To All the Boys I Loved Before and the thriller Calibre.
Calibre follows two friends who journey to an isolated Scottish Highlands village for a weekend hunting trip that quickly goes very wrong as they try and make sure of their escape and survival. Built on a solid and simple premise, the tension of this film keeps the viewer hooked throughout as you grow to like and hate the two central members and the world of isolation yet familial relations around them. Almost everything is this film and its best you go in just knowing that this smaller film is one of the most unique and interesting you’ll see this year.
12. The Old Man and the Gun
For almost 60 years, Robert Redford has spent his life dazzling cinema goers with such incredible features such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men. His swan song performance has come in the form of The Old Man and the Gun, the film that Redford intends to finish his career with.
The film returns some old traditions that have very rarely been seen in many major films nowadays, such as a simple, concise plot, very few characters and a run-time of only 90 minutes. While they may be seen as possible downsides, leading to a lesser movie of very little substance, but in no way is this simple feature poor.
Redford and Casey Affleck give fantastic performances in the lead roles of this half-chase, half-reflection-on-life story being presented here, with Redford’s charming and comical anti-hero bringing excitement, yet remorse to the movie while Affleck proceeds to ground the movie in a more realistic and relatable setting. This film is a suitable send off to a true silver-screen legend.
11. Avengers: Infinity War
In 2018, Marvel have released their 18th, 19th and 20th movies in their combined cinematic universe. It’s hard to argue that any film this year was more hyped up than Avengers: Infinity War and amazingly, it managed not only to meet expectations of fans and critics alike, but also exceed them. The 19th film in Marvel’s cinematic franchise shattered box office records and is possibly on route to becoming the highest grossing film of all time.
While fans may have only went to see their favourite superheroes once again, what they were met with was some of the best story, action scenes and new characters to the cinematic universe, especially Josh Brolin’s turn as the mad titan Thanos, who actually came to be a sympathetic and thought-provoking villain and probably the best part of this film. The Russo brothers managed to give each member of the Avengers that we have fallen in love with over the last 18 movies their moment to shine, and while some may have wished for more for their own personal picks, fans and movie-goers alike can walk away from this film, feeling satisfied, enthralled and even a little heart-broken.
10. First Man
There is little more exciting in this universe than, well, the universe itself. It may be a cliché to say so, but ever since man has looked up at the stars, he has wondered what lies among them. In 1958, Sputnik shook the world, being the first object placed into object, but when it comes to truly spectacular story of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin and, especially Neil Armstrong, whose story is fully fleshed out in First Man.
Surprising the story concentrates mainly on loss and how one deals and struggles with life after losing those that they love and proceeds to pull back some of the amazement and wonder of the space race, taking time to concentrate on the costs of the programmes to get man to the moon, both in terms of money and in terms of lives. Ryan Gosling and Clare Foy give outstanding lead performances as two people whose lives are wrapped around the space race and the fact that the former’s position in the space programme will most likely ultimately lead to his own demise. First Man isn’t scared to show the horrors of tragedy, yet still delivers on the promise of the wonder and spectacle that stellar travel brings.
9. Love, Simon
Even if Love, Simon didn’t end up being a good film or even one of the worst films ever made, the teenage romance picture would still be one thing: culturally significant, being the first film of its kind to present a homosexual relationship plot line as the focus of the film. Thankfully Love, Simon proved itself to not only be significant for that reason alone and stands on its own among the best of the genre.
Nick Robinson should be praised as an outstanding lead who acts as a great focal point for this story to follow. Every character in this film is played to pretty much perfection in an emotional rollercoaster, which while have you laughing and cheering for Simon one moment, cringing the next, and then crying, either with joy or sadness the next. Many of the members of the LGBT+ society have come out praising the movie as realistic to their own struggles with coming out and raising awareness to issues within the community. Love, Simon is a tour de force in both quality and pioneering forward.
8. Isle of Dogs
Visionary director Wes Anderson is known for his unique style and quirkiness in all the pictures he has produced from the mad The Grand Budapest Hotel to the quality adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. His latest feature is his second foray into stop-motion animation with the lovable Isle of Dogs.
Isle of Dogs is in every sense a beautiful move. It is beautifully shot, beautifully created and has one of the most beautiful stories. The movie follows Akira as he searches for his beloved helper dog Spots after all dogs are banished from Japan after a mysterious canine flu sweeps over the country.
The main cast is full of stellar voice performances from very familiar voices such as Edward Norton, Bill Murray and an incredible lead by Brian Cranston. The film is also basically a moving painting as the cinematography of this film is truly stunning, so much so that every frame looks it could be framed and hung up in a gallery. Isle of Dogs works as both a visual spectacle and a brilliant movie for all the family and film lovers to enjoy.
7. BlacKkKlansman
This is a film that will make you angry, filled with rage and fire. This is a film that will make you giggle, laugh and make your ribs ache with joy. This is a film that will make you feel worried, saddened and ashamed. What Spike Lee has managed to create withBlacKkKlansman is a true insight into the massive issue of racism that prevailed throughout the United States’ history and even today, feeling more prominent than ever after events such as Charlottesville, while also bringing about one of the funniest and most entertaining movies of the year.
The story of Ron Stallworth, the first African American police officer in Colorado Springs and his fight against the local sect of the Ku Klux Klan is a surprising, provocative, gripping and ultimately troubling true story, showing the very worst of humanity, even on both sides and that the equal rights movements have problems of their own, which is something Lee should be commended for. For a film that is truly hilarious, BlacKkKlansman is also very direct, shining a light on our own problems and showing us how our actions, our hate and our negligence can lead to massive problems that affect many more, much worse.
6. A Quiet Place
It would be fair to say not many people would’ve known what to expect when it came to the quality of A Quiet Place, a unique premise for horror where a world has been invaded and over-run by extra-terrestrials that are unable to see but hunt using an incredible sense of hearing, coming from a director whose most famous work is from the latter seasons of the US’s version of The Office. However, just as Jordan Peele’s Get Out surprised and delighted audiences worldwide, so has this tense, terrifying masterpiece.
Emily Blunt stands out in possibly the best performance of her career as she struggles with keeping her family safe alongside her husband, who is played by John Krasinski who also directs the piece. The best part definitely comes from the tension placed upon the audience during the 90-minute runtime, with remarkable stories of entire cinemas falling absolutely dead silent, fearing, alongside the characters on screen that the smallest sound would cause their untimely demise. A Quiet Place will be remembered as a unique horror-thriller that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats and fear any slight, sudden noises for a while after.
5. Black Panther
It would be fair to expect with the high volume of superhero films, with a total of six major pictures and quite a few indie films in 2017 alone that the superhero genre would start to feel stagnant as writers run out of ideas and general interest in the franchises to diminish. Thankfully, for Marvel and fans alike, this has not happened, as Black Panther presents one of the most fresh, innovative and important superhero films of all time.
Black was very different in its methods, inviting us to the fantastic environment of Wakanda, the country itself almost acting as a central character with amazing development and detail. Chadwick Boseman is fantastic as the central lead, and yet he gets almost completely overshadowed by his supporting cast, mainly the woman of Wakanda in Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and the breakout success of Letitia Wright as Shuri. This is all not mentioning the fantastic story and moral dilemmas brought by the central villain, Erik Killmonger, played fantastically by Michael B. Jordan. The intelligent design of almost every aspect of this movie, alongside all the fresh, new ideas and the massive cultural impact, makes the film possibly the most significant of the year.
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Would it be cheap to call this film a total marvel to watch? Nonetheless, when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was announced earlier in the year, it was surprising met with very little fanfare, especially after the abhorrent display of Sony Pictures Animation’s previous effort, The Emoji Movie. Thankfully, due to a huge concentration on both style and substance from the talented animators working on this production, the film came out with a huge, surprising bang which seems to delight all who see it.
The look into the extended Marvel universe on screen makes this a must see for hardcore and long-time fans of the Marvel and Spider-Man franchises, however the film in no way alienates newcomers either, with a simple, yet very in-depth, action-packed and fun story. Every member of the cast is played and animated to near perfection, with laughs and entertainment to be found within the run-time. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ not only hold the title for the best animated film of 2018, but also, as unexpected as it may sound, the best Marvel movie of the year.
3. They Shall Not Grow Old
2018 marked the centenary of armistice day; 100 years since the end of the First World War. Throughout the world, many tributes and commemorative services were held to honour those who sacrificed so much over those four bloody years. One such example of this commemoration is the Peter Jackson directed documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which included updated and newly uncovered footage of the Great War.
This documentary can be seen as a monumental cinematic achievement due to its ability to express the true lives and feelings of those who fought during the war, by using accounts from soldiers on the front-lines of battle and new colouring technology, which made the grainy footage of the 1910s seem like something that is produced in this day-and-age. The film blends together the expected senses of pride and sorrow and yet also allows for other, somewhat unexpected feelings, such as joy and humour. This work will stand as a true and beautiful tribute to those, who, as the title says, will not grow old from our memories and be forgotten.
2. A Star Is Born
A Star is Born is the fourth time this story has been adapted for the big screen, this time with Bradley Cooper, taking the lead behind the camera as well as in front of it alongside Lady Gaga in the starring roles, telling the story of a musician helping a younger singer find fame as his fame begins to fade away from him. What was delivered, was a bitterly-sweet and beautiful modern masterpiece that will surely go down in the annuls of history as a future classic.
Gaga’s first performance has rightly been massively praised, alongside a huge number of awards predictions for her near flawless portrayal of the lead, Ally, who is supported by a well-fleshed out and fantastic ensemble behind her. As is to be expected, the soundtrack is varied and a true delight, and is easily one that one would not mind hearing on repeat again and again with his melodic highs and emotional lows. The true victory of A Star is Born is not only its ability to do justice to the fantastic renditions that have become before, but to also surpass them in so many ways to become the definitive version of the story.
1. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Not only is Mission: Impossible – Fallout the best action movie of the year, with great intensity, story, characters, set-pieces and everything in between, but it takes the top place as my Best Movie of 2018. The sixth entry in this franchise revitalises the somewhat tired franchise which has now been running for 22 years, as Tom Cruise returns to the role he has so greatly portrayed throughout the series’ history, as he continues to put himself through the mill to see what else he is capable of in these movies.
The central rival dynamic between Cruise and Henry Cavhill is done brilliantly throughout, with a good mix of action spectacles and natural feeling humour throughout, something that most modern action films fail to get the mix correctly for. The whole film is one breath-holding sequence after another, as the true splendour of what is being shown is never not satisfying. Sometimes a simplistic formula executed well makes the best crafts, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout exceeds with flying colours.
Lee Smallwood