I saw 167 films in 2018, down slightly on last year (172), but still a respectable showing. 103 of them were new to me, the full list is down the bottom of the page. 69 films were repeat viewings for me. This year I had multiple days that for various reasons I spent on the sofa with either some lego or a jigsaw and just watched nice safe, back to back movies, often 6 or even 7 in a day. Bliss.
There were 37 cinema trips; film is my escape from the real world, and the cinema is the ultimate escape to me – switch off the outside world, so I’m not going to think about how much all those tickets cost. Slightly cheaper are the 45 on Netflix and 49 on Amazon. I’ve been particularly impressed about the new releases coming through these channels, not just the popular stuff but some really very high quality and even experimental films.
Short story – my top films of 2018 (in no particular order):
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A Quiet Place Black Mirror: Bandersnatch I, Tonya Incredibles 2 Lady Bird |
Love, Simon Avengers: Infinity War Black Panther Isle of Dogs Journeyman |
57 of the films I watched were new releases in the UK, which is a slightly higher percentage than last year and I think that’s due to several films being released by Netflix or Amazon. When I started writing this, I was thinking it had been a slightly underwhelming year, but the more I think about it, I think that’s because I was comparing the lists that the critics were putting out of ‘best films of the year’ and I disagreed with their choices. But really, there have been plenty of films I’ve been impressed by, they’re just not the same as other people’s. I am (apparently) a difficult and contrary person to impress when it comes to film. I am more likely to be satisfied by a simple idea done well; while critics far worthier than I than I are praising big ambitions, and understated subtlety I will be gushing over something that just delivers a straightforward story in a compelling way.
That was certainly highlighted in Jan/Feb when I was underwhelmed by almost all the films that everyone else was gushing about and were coming out as major award contenders. Maybe in fairness if I hadn’t gone into them expecting outstanding, I wouldn’t have been so harsh, but I was disappointed over and over again – Darkest Hour (great performance, mediocre film), Three Billboards (doesn’t flow), The Shape of Water (not immersive), Phantom Thread (boring) and Call Me By Your Name (insufferable).
Of the main 2017 award nominees it was the one that I didn’t see at the time that actually impressed me most – Lady Bird; the very definition of a simple thing (the characters and relationship between a young woman and her mother) done incredibly well. I, Tonya, Molly’s Game
and The Post also stood out for me as very solidly made films that were maybe not pushing any boundaries of film making, but were interesting and entertaining. I may be simple, but I like films that are entertaining, I don’t go to the cinema to be bored.
Other films that impressed me this year tend to fall into the category of “doing what they do well” – Cargo (zombies), Set It Up (romcom), Ready Player One (popcorn adventure), The Cloverfield Paradox (scifi disaster). Most outstanding though I think is A Quiet Place which is a horror film starting from a simple idea (sound summons monster) and building it to a completely rounded package. The performances, cinematography and particularly the sound design are outstanding and I was utterly gripped from start to finish. Even if there are a couple of credibility problems in the background story, it’s so pleasing an experience that I happily overlook them.
There are a handful of films this years that broke barriers. Each of these films should just be assessed as what they are, good examples of their genres with the usual niggles that each genre has. But each breaks a barrier that seems ridiculous to exist in 2019. Love, Simon had the usual problems of the teenage coming of age story where the actors are too old and no one does any school work, but it also proved that a mainstream film could focus on a gay teenager – as if that actually needed proving. Black Panther was a superb superhero film that delivered a huge box office with a black and African focus, and Ocean’s Eight was a solid heist movie starring a crew of (mostly) women. I wish I’d seen Crazy, Rich, Asians so I could add that to this list. It’s laughable that it be seen as necessary to ‘prove’ that these can be successful, but prove it they did.
It’s telling that Black Panther is probably the biggest superhero film of the year, even when the year contained the immense juggernaut of Avengers: Infinity War, which may have its problems but is an astonishing juggling act. Although I think I probably enjoyed the much smaller (pardon the pun) Ant-Man and the Wasp. I was underwelmed by other franchises unfortunately. Solo: A Star Wars Story just didn’t work for me; Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was a jumbled mess; Mission Impossible: Fallout had great stunts but lacked anything to bond them together. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was the only one of these that actually fully managed to hold my attention, and surprisingly, so did Tomb Raider which felt like a fresh approach that kept the heart of the game.
There were a couple of other surprises from films I watched almost randomly. I find Wes Anderson a bit hit and miss, and the trailer for Isle of Dogs was distinctly odd, but the film worked and utterly charmed me. As did animation The Breadwinner telling the story of a young girl growing up in Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Journeyman was a pure character piece, that did little more than give Paddy Considine and Jodie Whittaker a platform to shine, and shine they did. I’m not sure whether Black Mirror: Bandersnatch should actually count as a film or a tv episode, but it took me over 2 hours to watch, so I’m listing it here. The mechanism of choosing the direction the character went was clever, but what surprised me was how I became completely emotionally engaged as a participant in the story – I didn’t WANT to chose sometimes, even though I wanted to see the different outcomes, I didn’t WANT to be in control. It said and demonstrated something incredibly powerful that really impressed me.
Except for the wonderful Incredibles 2, it was a bit of a dreary year for Disney films with Ralph Breaks the Internet, Coco and Christopher Robin all failing to work for me. Although in fairness, I failed to catch Mary Poppins Returns until Jan 1st 2019 and that was an absolute triumph that redeemed the house of mouse.
There are a fair number of films this year that I just don’t see what everyone else is raving about, or rather maybe, how those people don’t see the flaws. A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody and Widows had some amazing performances in them and may have been good fun to watch, but all had problems with story, tone and believability that stopped them being outstanding. I could also group First Man in there as I struggled with the film making around the central performances and ended up being disappointed, but I do concede that may be a personal issue. I’ve had a very poor year for watching foreign films. I found the much praised Roma utterly boring. Clunky, pretentious and going nowhere; I may have hated it less if it hadn’t been in black and white which automatically sets my teeth on edge, but fundamentally there wasn’t enough meat to this film.
I think the only other film I’d label as ‘bad’ was Annihilation which was just a complete mess. There are plenty of films that weren’t very good, mostly because they got muddled over what they were trying to do (Funny Cow, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Downsizing, Winchester) but they all still had some merit in them even if the flaws were quite substantial.
New to me
Of the remaining 49 films that were new to me, roughly half of them were from 2017 with the rest scattered over previous decades. There are some gems in this list that would likely have made my films of the year list if I’d seen them last year. Logan and God’s Own Country are both stunning pieces of film making, beautiful in sight and heart, entertaining to watch and with enough substance to keep it in mind long after the credits finish. The fact that one is ‘just’ a superhero film is irrelevant.
The Intern was a little comedy film that really surprised me – whenever it could have made the ‘easy’ joke about old people, or women bosses, it stepped sideways and remained charming and fun. Colossal and Spider-Man: Homecoming
both had the same idea at heart, giving a ‘normal’ person superpowers and be completely realistic about how they’d handle them. Misery and Soylent Green are both classics that exceeds the spoofs they’ve spawned, and of all the films you’ve never heard of 84 Charing Cross Road is just delightful.
On the flip side, worst film of the year award goes to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, honestly how many people and how much money went into making such a mess? At least Plan 9 from Outer Space had some excuse and is a classic of sorts.
All 2018 films (in quality order)
The rest
Narrative Devices 