Andrew's Top 10 of 2018 - Films
Wow, 2018 was an amazing year for films, and I saw a ton of them. This year brought some especially strong animated films, especially from overseas, as well as lots of excellent indie and low-budget films. Today, I’ll be sharing my top 10 films of the year.
It’s possible your favorite films might not be on this list. To recap when I did this last year, this list only represents my opinion; these were my favorite films, not necessarily the best films. Additionally, there were a number of films I regrettably missed this year that very well could’ve made the list, including:
Rampage (I read/saw a lot of really positive reviews.)
…and many more
Honorable Mentions
Black Panther / Avengers: Infinity War
2017 was an absolutely killer year for Marvel, but 2018 was operating on another level. Black Panther wasn’t just a fantastic superhero film, but has become a cultural touchstone for black culture to a degree I almost couldn’t believe, while Avengers: Infinity War is one of the most ambitious film projects I’ve ever seen yet managed to be more excellent and coherent than I could’ve anticipated. That being said, 2018 was a tough year, and neither of these quite made it into my top 10, Avengers being a fun, exciting action movie and surprisingly well organized but not too much more than that, and Black Panther while amazingly introspective and culturally relevant suffers from having a less than stellar first and third act. Both films are still gorgeous to look at and constructed well, and I really love how Black Panther even has an inspired angle regarding the results of the world we live in via a history of colonialism, but like I said, it was a tough year.
The Incredibles 2
When I first saw it in theaters, The Incredibles 2 didn’t really work for me. But, on a second viewing I started enjoying it more. On the third viewing, I think the film hit its apex with me, and I started appreciating everything the film was trying to do. I still think it was stretched a little thin, but as a followup to The Incredibles, it’s actually pretty darn good.
Nanette
Okay, this is more a recorded performance than an actual film, and it’s a stand-up comedy performance at that. However, that didn’t stop Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette from being incredibly heartfelt and brilliantly insightful into the nature of comedy as a whole. While Nanette did cause a minor stir upon it’s initial release, I want to bring it up again because it’s a performance that doesn’t deserve to be so easily forgotten as it might be the most important set of stand-up since Tig Notaro’s Hello, how are you, I have cancer. For all those reasons and many, many more, I feel the need to highlight this…let’s say, “documentary.”
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
This six-story anthology about the American Frontier shows off all the goodness that has come to define the Coen Brothers over the years. Witty dialogue, strong framing, and an underlying sense of dark comedy allow the Coens to sew together a mean quilt of varying tapestries, with stories of heroism, greed, and the ever-presence of man made death always around the corner. Still, for all its charm, style, and pluck, I had a bit of a hard time fully enjoying Buster Scruggs as a cinema experience. The trick with anthology stories like these is they tend to be judged most by their best and worst story, highlighting only the extremes. At its best, Buster Scruggs is astonishing, brilliant and absolutely captivating, but at it’s worst its meandering and a bit pointless. It’s not a bad watch by any means, but I think a couple of the stories were lacking just a bit too much for the whole collection to break top 10 this year.
Mirai
Mirai is the latest film from Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl that Leapt through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast), and definitely the most personal item of his filmography. Mirai is a simple story about the toddler, Kun, turning jealous at all the attention given to his new baby sister, Mirai, with the twist of the film coming in a series of bizarre encounters Kun has with various members of his family across different points in time. Among these include a version of Mirai from the future, and iterations of his mother and grandfather from the past, all whose collective encounters with Kun help him to develop more as a child and come to terms with the presence of his new sister.
While the film is structured almost as an anthology of stories, they all contribute to a more congruous central narrative driven around Kun and his slow acceptance of Mirai, and as individual stories each is beautifully drawn and aesthetically pleasing if a little rough around the edges in overall pace. It definitely screams of personality, but at the cost of a greater sense of structure. Still, Mirai was an absolutely wonderful film and actually was my number 11 pick of the year, so I highly encourage giving it a watch, especially with family.
These films were all winners, but let’s get into the best of the best.
10 - Isle of Dogs
I really wish Wes Anderson did more stop motion films for a couple reasons. First, he’s obviously very good at it, between Isle of Dogs and his previous adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox he’s shown an overall general proficiency in the medium and even within it creates a unique energy, ambiance and charm to other stop motion films. Second, the medium seems to have a remarkably strong synergy with his general style of film making and pairs very well with his uniquely detailed and highly crafted worldbuilding. In a lot of ways, I feel that stop motion is the perfect medium for someone as meticulous and uniquely twee as Wes Anderson and his filmography.
Isle of Dogs isn’t quite as strong as Fantastic Mr. Fox, but the film is still unbelievably well constructed, wonderfully shot and surprising in its tonal extremity. This is a bit of a gutsy film, not just in content and story but also in overall feeling. It’s rough, its dirty, and has a tendency to be sharp to the touch, but the handcrafted nature adds a tremendous amount of charm and the story at the heart of things is very basic and human. If I were to compare it to earlier Anderson works, I’d say it’s most like Moonrise Kingdom in that the story is very childlike in ideology and logical progression while still approached in a serious adult tone, but there is a general lack of emotional current throughout the work that feels a bit missed and prevents this from reaching higher on my list. It’s not the easiest film to watch, but I feel there’s a lot to it, and it further exemplifies the sheer talent and vision that Wes Anderson has at his disposal.
9 - Annihilation
Talk about a misleading trailer, this is not an action film…
I think my favorite aspect of Annihilation is that it feels impossible not to analyze it after watching. At its core, Annihilation is a simple hero’s journey narrative about a group of scientists that travel into an unstable phenomenon caused by a recent meteorite crash at a lighthouse in the Florida panhandle, described as “the shimmer” from the way it heavily distorts light around it. Once inside, said scientists begin to notice in what ways the shimmer has drastically changed the environment and all living things within it, slowly including themselves. Part of the driving force of the film is that each of the scientists has some level of emotional baggage that in various allegorical ways manifest themselves within the shimmer, and underlay the narrative with an overall theme of transformation and transition. It ultimately asks important questions, namely “is it possible to really enact meaningful change in your life without annihilating who you are in the process?”
There’s a lot to unpack with Annihilation, much in the way of message and metaphor, and its all wrapped in the package of an excellently constructed film with a killer all-female cast and excellently haunting, just slowly creeping aesthetic. If I had one major complaint about Annihilation, it would be one of bluntness. The film is certainly smart, but it’s not the most clever, with all of its symbolism and metaphor and strong messages very clearly at the forefront and not even slightly hidden. I feel it’s unfair to fault it on those fronts, but it does leave Annihilation in an awkward position in terms of audience. The average consumer will probably get bored of it, rejecting the high concept thinking presented, and the advanced viewer would too easily deconstruct it, reaping all of its worth in a single strong viewing. Still, I don’t say this to dissuade or diminish the value of the film; Annihilation is a thought-provoking sleeping monster of a film, and an excellent callback to an earlier time of strong high concept sci-fi found in other treasures like Moon, Arrival, Ex-Machina and possibly Sunshine.
8 - Mutafukaz
Geez, I don’t even know where to start with this one, even though I briefly mentioned it in passing a few months ago. Mutafukaz (or MFKZ in the US) is a film about a few young dudes growing up in Dark Meat City, a horrendous crime-ridden ghetto, who soon find themselves swept into a bizarre and violent conspiracy. The film is a co-production between Ankama Animation (most known for their fantasy works Wakfu and Dofus) and Studio 4C (Tekkonkinkreet, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, and many others), and each one brings their absolute a-game to the table in this absolutely over the top production. If Mutafukaz succeeds anywhere, it’s on the visual front; design and animation offer a nice variety of simplicity for its younger characters, grit for its adults, and painfully vivid detail at every setting. As animated worlds go, Mutafukaz is easily one of the most lived in I’ve ever seen, oozing beauty in all the most . And aside from this year’s number 1 pick, this film was definitely the best to just look at all year.
The characters are lively and interesting and the visuals are phenomenal, but the story itself is a little bit of a mess. I think there’s an clear understanding on the hand of the creative team that knows the story is a bit of a mess and plays around with that, but it does mean that the film is a little unwieldy. The insane adventure the main characters get stuck on don’t have a tremendous amount of weight towards the overall procession of events, with the resolution of greater evils happening largely in the background and as a side story. Still, despite the core narrative feeling a bit sidetracked, its still an amazingly fun ride from start to finish and definitely worth a watch.
7 - Eighth Grade
Bo Burnham has a pretty strong career as a comedian, so it’s really surprising that this would be his theatrical debut. I mean, it’s funny on occasion, but its not a comedy. This is one of the strongest dramas of the year, grounded as a slice of life, brimming with personality and plump in perspective. Eighth Grade centers on young girl Kayla during her last week in junior high, about to jump into high school. The story here is mostly light, with Kayla spending her last week generally disliking everything about school, dealing with identity and anxiety issues, and ultimately trying to finish off Eighth Grade and grow up the way she thinks she’s supposed to only to be betrayed by reality. But this isn’t a depressing film either, if anything it’s strangely affirming.
The story is light, but there’s no shortage of important details. Kayla spends her time making motivational videos on Youtube, all of which get basically no views and reflect a side of Kayla that she finds herself unable to execute in her own life. Kayla and just about all of her classmates spend all of their time on social media, just as much of the film is displayed through her contextualizing of the world through it, and without being outright negative Eighth Grade is able to display that harrowing connection young people have with it and shows in what way it changes the overall social experience. There’s plenty more for sure, but I feel most of this is better witnessed then recanted.
Eighth Grade is a film that asks us to think of all the stuff that’s going on, the stuff we’re growing on, and come to terms with it in our own way. Watching Kayla go through this awkward yet intense journey from one crucial stage of life to another is hard to watch, but also invigorating. It’s great to watch her tunnel out the other side so much stronger.
6 - Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Studio Ponoc’s debut film makes a surprisingly powerful statement: We’re not Studio Ghibli, and we don’t need to be.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower tells a story about a young girl who stumbles upon a mysterious plant whose berry grants her temporary magic power, which in turn wraps her up in a wild adventure that takes place at a prestigious magic academy. The initial setup seems pretty cut and dry as storytelling goes, but this film takes it in a slightly different direction, none of which I feel great in spoiling. I can easily say that it’s one of the finest animated films of the year, and is loaded with terrific energy, emotion and a wonderfully grounded protagonist and easily understood story. I found the whole thing exciting and incredibly charming, and the film is still available on Netflix so I’d highly recommend giving it a watch.
But the film at hand tells an interesting story within the context of its creators as well. Studio Ponoc is a new animation studio made of former members of Studio Ghibli, arguably the most famous/important animation studio in all of Asia. For the team’s debut film, they tell a story about a mostly ordinary person suddenly being seen as the world’s most powerful magician, all unaware that there’s nothing especially remarkable about her. Yet despite being unremarkable, she goes on to do remarkable things, choosing to do so by outright rejecting the title and association she had built at the start. From a meta perspective, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, a film created by a team largely associated as “the successors to Studio Ghibli”, is a statement by that team saying that they have their own stories, their own style, and that they have every intention to set themselves apart from their legacy. Mary and the Witch’s Flower boldly claims “we’re not Studio Ghibli, and we don’t need to be. And for what its worth, I agree, this film definitely feels like a Studio Ghibli film but also feels unique in its own way, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
5 - BLACKkKLANSMAN
It feels weird to say, but this was the funniest film I saw all year. It’s definitely off-putting in some really bizarre ways, and the situation that drives the film is dangerous, tense and occasionally downright disgusting, but the absurdity of all is just too damn hilarious. That there was a time in US history when a black police officer successfully infiltrated a white supremacist outfit through what I can only describe as “an amazingly elaborate phone prank” is not only kind of beautiful and absolutely hilarious, but actively leaves me in a uniquely elated state. Spike Lee, this is a freaking gem of a film.
It feels crazy to think that BLACKkKLANSMAN is so completely different than almost any other film I’ve seen, and surprising that it could be told with such a strong style and an unrelenting divisiveness. It’s also making solid statements about racism that go a lot further beyond “it’s bad” into territory like “why its bad” and “here’s how much damage it can cause.” Obviously there’s a lot of parallels to things that are happening today, and the film has absolutely no intention of lightly tapping that kind of subject matter. Everything Spike Lee is saying here is 100% clear as crystal, and it’s great that he was able to pair his perspective with such an entertaining story as well.
4 - Searching
I feel like I’ve already said everything I need about Searching, but it’s worth reiterating that this was one of the most clever films of the year. A completely stale premise attached to an overused story, overcome and ultimately complimented with amazing execution and one of the most interesting screenplays I’ve ever read. Searching had to rely on a great many unconventional techniques to achieve a similar emotional connection as other dramas and mysteries, and it succeeds at every single opportunity.
3 - Roma
One thing I find remarkable about Roma is that it’s largely pretty unremarkable. The film centers on a middle class family in Mexico City in 1970, narrowing in on a family maid named Cleo. The story is very light, mostly just chronicling various events of the family’s life against the backdrop of Mexico City’s poiltical/cultural state in 1970, including a couple of particularly harrowing events. Yet, despite the lack of a hard structure, Roma managed to be one of the fullest emotional experiences I had all year.
The loose story allows the film to focus primarily on two things: atmosphere, and performance. Alfonso Cuaron already has an impressive pedigree with such atmospheric treasures as Children of Men and Gravity, and Roma continues to showcase his incredible cinematic prowess with fantastic environmental shots, excellent camera tracking and a nuanced methodical execution of the carousel technique (camera is rooted in place, but rotates along one axis, great for spacial shots). As for performance, Roma struck me as one of the most genuine films in recent time, a feat achieved through a combination of refined screenplay and sequential shooting (scenes filmed in order from start to finish), and through Cuaron’s insistence on hidden information. Cuaron hid a lot of information from his actors until it proved necessary, allowing revelations to be experienced fully and the performances to be all the more genuine. By all accounts, Roma is an absolute treasure and deserves to be cherished; if you have Netflix, I think you owe it to yourself to watch it.
2 - Assassination Nation
I think my biggest regret of cinema this year was that about 3/4’s of the way through my theater viewing of Assassination Nation, I absolutely had to use the bathroom. I probably only missed about 5 minutes, and I highly doubt I missed anything too important, but given how absolutely invested I was by that point, I was still upset. I didn’t want to stop watching for any reason other than the credits.
Assassination Nation is an absolutely insane film, and to be honest I’m not really sure how to talk about it. I did share some of my opinions about the “mass hysteria” story that the film explores a few months ago, but there’s a lot more Assassination Nation reaches for than just “The Purge on steroids.” We’re talking about a film that has some harsh words to be said about the almost all-consuming nature of what social media is and especially on the nature of spectator culture, but there’s also such a vicious statement of intent for Generation Z women and LBGTQ communities to fight back against the toxic racism and masculinity of “Trump’s America” it could almost be considered a declaration of war. It’s all pretty nuts and definitely far reaching, but it’s also remarkably genuine and completely serious. All this, along with powerful style, a few knockout shots, and a third act that left me on the edge of my seat. This one is bold, brash, and horrendously brutal, but at its core lies a powerful plight and swaying statement.
It was incredibly hard to watch this film, but I absolutely feel I must see it again.
1 - Spiderman: Enter the Spiderverse
2018 was pretty awesome for webheads. Spiderman was considered one of the best video games of the year by a whole lot of people, the character showed up as a prominent role in Avengers: Infinity War, and he also got to blow everyone’s mind in Spiderman: Enter the Spiderverse. I don’t have enough room here to talk about this movie, so here’s some small things.
Spiderman was the most impressive animated film of the year. Visually, the film is radical in its experimentation and successfully captures a vintage comic book style. The film is animated in 3D, but it’s also completely unlike every other 3D film I’ve ever seen, using countless programs and techniques to create a vicarious presentation unlike any other in the medium. Heavily stylized environments and characters mixed with literal comic book paneling and presentation create one of the first comic book movies that very closely captures the feeling and style of its source material. Spiderman is also telling the strongest overall story any Spiderman film, possibly any superhero film has told: “Anyone can wear the mask.” The entire film is serving a platter of fun action, exciting motion, and a mountain of well integrated fan service, but nothing can beat just how powerfully they handled the character of Miles Morales, a teenager who already struggles with his own sense of identity and purpose before becoming the next Spiderman. He literally spends almost the entire film dressed up in a street vendor Spiderman costume for lack of the real thing, which is the film saying he doesn’t value himself as anything higher than an imitation of greater expectations. As superhero films go, this one is bold and gutsy in its direction and choices, and in almost every case from the visuals to the narrative to the music and sound design, every choice was made entirely for impact. There are several interviews with the various co-directors of this film, and there was a key driving force behind this movie that stood out: “If it’s not broke, BREAK IT.” Consider how low the bar is for this movie going into production. There hasn’t been a great Spiderman movie since Sam Rainey’s Spiderman 2 (2004), and while Spiderman: Homecoming was mostly just alright it also became the public face for Spiderman going forward. How do you compete with that? Not to mention, you’re Sony Pictures Animation and the last original film you released was The Emoji Movie, followed by such gems as Hotel Transylvania 3 and Peter Rabbit. What do you even do here?
Well, you basically decide to do everything different. We’ll make a movie not about Peter Parker, but Miles Morales aka the first African-American Spiderman. We’ll make it animated in 3D, but design it to look more hand-drawn. We’ll put actual comic book presentation into it, from the rendering techniques to hand editing through Photoshop. We’ll make it a huge Spiderman universe crossover, and bring in alternate things like Spider-Gwen and middle-aged Peter Parker. We’ll give the whole thing a street feel with hip-hop music and colorful visuals. I think any one of these ideas would’ve been enough to draw a few beads of sweat from any suit-and-tie kind of guys in the vicinity, but this team just says “okay, let’s do all of those.” I mean come on, how do you just do that? How the heck can you know this is going to work?
Well, you don’t. It’s a leap of faith. And they took it, again and again, and crafted the most incredible work of the year.
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse isn’t just a great movie, or a landmark film for new animation techniques, or possibly the best superhero movie to come out of this 10+ year resurgence of the genre. It’s all of those things, and from a studio that everyone associated with no expectations. Sony Pictures Animation stepped up, walked boldly out there, and showed everyone that yes, anyone can put on the mask. For all those reasons and many more, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse was my favorite film of 2018.
And that’s my list. I was utterly devestated trying to put this list together, as 2018 was bursting at the seams with enough strength to punch a hole through a dam. I felt so many amazing new sensations this year through the language that film offers. Not to mention there’s the constantly improving ability for audiences to access these films with the burgeoning future of online streaming, so 2019 just leaves me excited and ready for more. But hey, I’m just one person. What were your favorite films of the year? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to donate to our Patreon. That’s all for 2018, and here’s to hoping 2019 can match it.
