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Film Discussion => News and Theory => Topic started by: Alethia on December 03, 2018, 01:58:24 PM

Title: Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Alethia on December 03, 2018, 01:58:24 PM
*UPDATED*

Still plenty to see, not sure how many I'll manage to get through before year's end (though try I will!), but based on what I've managed to consume so far, my numbers being shamefully down from the past few years, here's my rough top ten:

1. First Reformed - Paul Schrader
2. The Favourite - Yorgos Lanthimos
3. Golden Exits - Alex Ross Perry
4. Cold War - Pawel Pawlikowski
5. The House That Jack Built: Unrated Director's Cut - Lars von Trier
6. You Were Never Really Here - Lynne Ramsay
7. Vox Lux - Brady Corbet
8. Ready Player One - Steven Spielberg
9. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - The Coen Bros.
10. The Old Man & The Gun - David Lowery

Honorable Mentions:
Hereditary - Ari Aster
Private Life - Tamara Jenkins
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - Christopher McQuarrie
Roma - Alfonso Cuaron
Unsane - Steven Soderbergh
Wildlife - Paul Dano
Let the Sunshine In - Claire Denis
The Other Side of the Wind - Orson Welles
Widows - Steve McQueen
Halloween - David Gordon Green
The Great Buster - Peter Bogdanovich
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead - Morgan Neville

Worst of 2018:
A Quiet Place - John Krasinski

Best Theatrical Experience:

Andrei Rublev 4K Restoration @ Walter Reade
*tied with*
2001: A Space Odyssey on IMAX 70mm @ AMC Lincoln Square

Still Need to See:

High Life
Monrovia, Indiana
A Star Is Born
Madeline's Madeline
Mid 90s
Bohemian Rhapsody
Crazy Rich Asians
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
At Eternity's Gate
Shoplifters
Border
A Private War
The Wild Boys
Coincoin and the Extra Humans
Paul Sanchez est revenu!
On the Beach at Night Alone
Leto
Treasure Island
Blindspotting
A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold
A Bread Factory, Part Two: Walk With Me a While
Shirkers

TV: Only really watched The Haunting of Hill House and while I enjoyed more or less the first half of the season, it degenerates so rapidly in the latter half as to almost self-destruct (particularly the finale which was absolute fucking maudlin garbage).

Well, whaddya got?
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 03, 2018, 02:41:49 PM
Roma
Shirkers
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Cam
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Halloween

nope, haven't seen ten yet. lol at netflix titles being at the top. i did see Roma theatrically
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 03, 2018, 03:59:58 PM
JOHN WATERS on the Best Films of 2018 (https://www.artforum.com/print/201810/john-waters-77686)

1 JEANNETTE: THE CHILDHOOD OF JOAN OF ARC (Bruno Dumont) An insanely radical heavy-metal grade-school religious pageant that is sung in French from beginning to end. The actors themselves seem like they might burst out laughing, but this is no joke. It's the best movie of the year. You'll hate it.

2 AMERICAN ANIMALS (Bart Layton) A true-crime story with a brilliant ensemble cast and the real-life culprits and victims edited in, commenting throughout on the action. Adolescent group madness is a beautiful thing to watch.

3 NICO, 1988 (Susanna Nicchiarelli) A small, sad, fearless biopic that asks the question: "Is junkie dignity possible?" The answer is no. Trine Dyrholm as our heroin-loving heroine plunges headfirst into the despair of showbiz with fierce determination.

4 MOM AND DAD (Brian Taylor) A surprisingly scary, well-shot, pitch-black comedy about the day all parents in the United States decide to kill their own children. A laff riot!

5 BLINDSPOTTING (Carlos López Estrada) You'll squirm. You'll identify. You'll choke on your own gentrified excuses. The smartest and funniest film about race and class in a long, long time.

6 THE GREEN FOG (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson) An avant-garde ode to San Francisco, the most cinematic of cities, told entirely through clips of films shot there but with all the dialogue cut out so the parts of the movies that originally didn't matter now do. Abstractly clever, strangely compelling, and just about perfect.

7 CUSTODY (Xavier Legrand) Divorce, jealousy, misogyny, and physical abuse, topped off with psychological damage to children: This feel-bad movie of the year is so beautifully acted that it made me feel happy, happy, happy!

8 SOLLERS POINT (Matthew Porterfield) Can a heterosexual director worship his male lead on film just as much as Paul Morrissey obviously did Joe Dallesandro in Trash? Sure looks that way. McCaul Lombardi is a blazing star in this small-scale but beautiful drama about a young parolee's struggle to reenter lower-middle-class life in Baltimore.

9 LET IT FALL: LOS ANGELES 1982–1992 (John Ridley) A superb documentary about the Rodney King riots that first makes you hate cops, then white people, then racist African Americans, then racist Korean people, and then yourself for forgetting all the details of this tragedy. I cried.

10 PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT (Dennis Cooper, Zac Farley) A slow, quiet, sexual cinematic poem on mopey teenage beauties who love making bombs and wish they could explode themselves.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Alethia on December 03, 2018, 04:42:10 PM
Damn, more to see, so little time...
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: wilder on December 03, 2018, 05:03:06 PM
First Reformed
Burning
Transit
The House That Jack Built
The Other Side of the Wind

"The Assassination of Gianni Versace"


Liked:

Isle of Dogs
Cam
mid90s
Unsane
Custody
Lean on Pete
First Man's space sequences


Yet to see: Jeannette, Cold War, The Wild Boys, Pin Cushion, Let the Sunshine In
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 03, 2018, 05:27:09 PM
oh i see Border is a thing. it's currently playing here. moving it from "never heard about it" into "missing out on it," which is clearly separate from the category of "deliberately ignoring it."
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: putneyswipe on December 04, 2018, 08:23:06 PM
A year of several "good but not great" movies IMO, though I suspect Burning might be up there on a rewatch. How I'm feeling now...

4/5

Burning

3.5/5

Sorry to Bother You
First Reformed
The Favourite

3/5

Roma
Annihilation

2.5/5

Hereditary
Blindspotting
A Star is Born
Incredibles 2

Still on watchlist:

If Beale Street Could Talk
Mid 90s
Vox Lux
Shoplifters
High Life
The House That Jack Built
A Quiet Place
Bohemian Rhapsody
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: samsong on December 05, 2018, 04:13:03 PM
1. burning
2. the ballad of buster scruggs
3. let the sunshine in
4. paddington 2
5. zama
6. the day after
7. the sisters brothers
8. golden exits
9. you were never really here
10. shoplifters
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 05, 2018, 04:29:01 PM
Hong sangsoo's recent output was impresssive even based on Hong sangsoo standards
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Nails9 on December 05, 2018, 07:09:24 PM
TOP 9:
First Reformed
Madeline's Madeline
Hereditary
Suspiria
Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
Blindspotting
Annihilation
Mission Impossible 6, or 7 or whatever 1 it was.
You Were Never Really Here

Ones I've missed that will throw this whole thing off:
Burning
Bodied
Border
Roma
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Widows
House That Jack Built
Overlord
The Favorite

Favorite old film I saw for the first time this year and am kicking myself for being so stupid:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: samsong on December 05, 2018, 08:17:09 PM
Quote from: wilder on December 03, 2018, 05:03:06 PM
First Reformed
Burning
Transit
The House That Jack Built
The Other Side of the Wind

"The Assassination of Gianni Versace"


Liked:

Isle of Dogs
Cam
Unsane
Custody
Lean on Pete
First Man's space sequences


Yet to see: Roma, Jeannette, Cold War, mid90s, The Wild Boys, Pin Cushion, Let the Sunshine In

how'd you see Transit?  wasnt aware of its existence, have something to look forward to in march.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: wilder on December 05, 2018, 08:32:28 PM
NYFF. Definitely something to look forward to, it's dense and thought-provoking. Almost made a post about it the other day but one viewing feels insufficient.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: pete on December 06, 2018, 06:34:21 PM
Roma
O Lucy!
Beale Street
Widows
Eighth Grade
Blindspotting
On Her Shoulders
American Animals
Science Fair
Won't You Be My Neighbor

Really liked Damsel, Private Life, and that movie about the brothers going back to the cult they escaped from
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 06, 2018, 07:34:15 PM
Quote from: pete on December 06, 2018, 06:34:21 PM
and that movie about the brothers going back to the cult they escaped from

The Endless is almost definitely a top 10 of the year for me, but man I wish they had figured out something more interesting to do with the ending.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: pete on December 07, 2018, 01:43:46 AM
I was happy with the ending. So many indie sci-fis build their scripts like a twist is coming and then nothing. With this one I was very happy when they said there was going to a revelation that there actually was one.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 07, 2018, 02:09:52 AM
Quote from: pete on December 07, 2018, 01:43:46 AM
I was happy with the ending. So many indie sci-fis build their scripts like a twist is coming and then nothing. With this one I was very happy when they said there was going to a revelation that there actually was one.

The revelation/twist was great, I'm just talking about how it resorts to them outrunning a thing in a car like the climax of Hurricane Heist. Don't get me wrong, I loved Hurricane Heist, but the scene fit that movie a lot better than this one.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 07, 2018, 03:38:21 PM
Not kidding about Hurricane Heist, by the way. That is a movie that knows exactly what it is, and fulfills its expectations with complete abandon. It's not quite to the level of Emmerich's "2012", but it's damn close. Probably not top ten of the year, but certainly deserves an honorable mention.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Sleepless on December 10, 2018, 12:32:00 PM
Of course I still have more I want to see than I actually have. I signed up for Film Independent membership last week, so hopefully I'll get screeners of some of these which will make things easier.

Loved
Leave No Trace
The Kindergarten Teacher
Paddington 2
The Old Man & The Gun

Disliked
Ready Player One
A Quiet Place
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Also watched
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
First Reformed
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
You Were Never Really Here
Hereditary
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Game Night
Ocean's Eight
Next Gen
Tomb Raider
Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks The Internet

Still want to see
Isle of Dogs
Annihilation
Aquaman
The Favourite
Wildlife
Roma
Vox Lux
If Beale Street Could Talk
Shoplifters
Border
BlacKkKlansman
The Sisters Brothers
Suspiria
Eighth Grade
Free Solo
Sorry To Bother You
The Image Book

BONUS: Best non-2018 films watched for the first time in 2018
Homeland: Iraq Year Zero
Clouds of Sils Maria
A Ghost Story
The Square
Lovers of the Arctic Circle
East Side Sushi
Blind Mountain
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on December 10, 2018, 07:36:27 PM
Major spoilers for Annihilation. Minor spoilers for others. But please do watch if you haven't seen this yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IEwiU4cfX8&feature=youtu.be


The version on Vimeo is higher quality:

https://vimeo.com/304064569
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 11, 2018, 01:26:50 AM
All-horror edition

Top Ten-ish (unsorted)
Cold Hell
Ghost Stories
Mandy
Hereditary
Apostle
Upgrade
Revenge
Overlord
Veronica
The Endless
Cam

Honorable Mention:
Hold the Dark
Mom and Dad
Incident in a Ghostland
What Keeps You Alive
The Ritual
Terrified
The Clovehitch Killer
Thoroughbreds

Yet to See:
Suspiria
Halloween
The Night Eats the World
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Alethia on December 11, 2018, 06:20:03 AM
Damn, I gotta up my horror intake.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Sleepless on December 11, 2018, 08:10:48 AM
I forgot about Ghost Stories. Add it to my want to watch list.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 11, 2018, 12:36:05 PM
It's really good.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 13, 2018, 02:33:42 PM
Cahiers du Cinéma (http://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/cahiers-du-cinema-top-ten-films-of-2018)

The Wild Boys — Bertrand Mandico
Coincoin and the Extra-Humans — Bruno Dumont
Phantom Thread — Paul Thomas Anderson
Burning — Lee Chang-dong
Paul Sanchez is Back! — Patricia Mazuy
The Post — Steven Spielberg
On the Beach at Night Alone — Hong Sang-soo
The House That Jack Built — Lars von Trier
Leto — Kirill Serebrennikov
Treasure Island — Guillaume Brac

Sight & Sound (http://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/sight-sound-poll-best-films-of-2018)

Roma — Alfonso Cuaron
Phantom Thread — Paul Thomas Anderson
Burning — Lee Chang-dong
Cold War — Pawel Pawlikowski
First Reformed — Paul Schrader
Leave No Trace — Debra Granik
The Favourite — Yorgos Lanthimos
[tie] You Were Never Really Here — Lynne Ramsay
Happy as Lazzaro — Alice Rohrwacher
[tie] Zama — Lucrecia Martel
The Image Book — Jean-Luc Godard
If Beale Street Could Talk — Barry Jenkins
BlacKkKlansman — Spike Lee
The Other Side of the Wind — Orson Welles
[tie] Shirkers — Sandi Tan
[tie] Shoplifters — Hirokazu Kore-eda
Sorry to Bother You — Boots Riley
Faces Places — Agnès Varda and JR
[tie] The Rider — Chloé Zhao
[tie] Western — Valeska Grisebach

Film Comment (http://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/film-comment-best-films-of-2018)

Zama — Lucrecia Martel
Burning — Lee Chang-dong
First Reformed — Paul Schrader
Roma — Alfonso Cuaron
Western — Valeska Grisebach
Shoplifters — Hirokazu Kore-eda
Let the Sunshine In — Claire Denis
The Other Side of the Wind — Orson Welles
Happy as Lazzaro — Alice Rohrwacher
Hale County This Morning, This Evening — RaMell Ross
Sorry to Bother You — Boots Riley
If Beale Street Could Talk — Barry Jenkins
The Rider — Chloé Zhao
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs — Joel & Ethan Coen
Support the Girls — Andrew Bujalski
You Were Never Really Here — Lynne Ramsay
Monrovia, Indiana — Frederick Wiseman
Personal Problems — Bill Gunn
The Favourite — Yorgos Lanthimos
BlacKkKlansman — Spike Lee

Richard Brody (http://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/richard-brody-the-best-movies-of-2018)

Madeline's Madeline — Josephine Decker
Let the Sunshine In — Claire Denis
Zama — Lucrecia Martel
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? — Travis Wilkerson
Sorry to Bother You — Boots Riley
BlacKkKlansman — Spike Lee
Werewolf — Ashley McKenzie
Mrs. Hyde — Serge Bozon
The Old Man & the Gun — David Lowery
Shirkers — Sandi Tan
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc — Bruno Dumont
Claire's Camera — Hong Sang-soo
Infinite Football — Corneliu Porumboiu
Monrovia, Indiana — Frederick Wiseman
Support the Girls — Andrew Bujalski
Sollers Point — Matthew Porterfield
Isle of Dogs — Wes Anderson
Golden Exits — Alex Ross Perry
Can You Ever Forgive Me? — Marielle Heller
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs — Joel & Ethan Coen
I Am Not a Witch — Rungano Nyoni
A Bread Factory — Patrick Wang
The 15:17 to Paris — Clint Eastwood
The Rest I Make Up — Michelle Morgan
If Beale Street Could Talk — Barry Jenkins
Bisbee '17 — Robert Greene
First Reformed — Paul Schrader
Gavagai — Rob Tregenza
Black Panther — Ryan Coogler
Hale County This Morning, This Evening — RaMell Ross
Minding the Gap — Bing Liu
Notes on an Appearance — Ricky D'Ambrose
The Other Side of Everything — Mila Turajlic
The Spy Who Dumped Me — Susanna Fogel
Scarred Hearts — Radu Jude
Pow Wow — Robinson Devor
A Season in France — Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable — Sasha Waters Freyer
The Hate U Give — George Tillman Jr.
The Waldheim Waltz — Ruth Beckermann
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 17, 2018, 06:23:02 PM
it's titles listed above, i think the indiewire poll (https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/best-movies-2018-critics-films-performances-roma-first-reformed-the-favourite-1202027901/2/) does a nice job of summarizing the 2018 indie scene

Quote"Roma" (1,086 points, 26% of first-place votes)

"First Reformed" (599, 6.7%)

"Burning" (548, 7.1%)

"The Favourite" (520, 2.9%)

"Cold War" (493, 2.9%)

"Shoplifters" (401, 1%)

"BlacKkKlansman" (391, 2.9%)

"Zama" (333, 4.2%)

"You Were Never Really Here" (329, 2.5%)

"If Beale Street Could Talk" (316, 1.7%%)

i was like okay okay okay and finally ordered First Reformed on blu-ray. Burning comes out March 5, 2019
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: jenkins on December 17, 2018, 11:25:24 PM
videos via av club's The best film scenes of 2018 (https://film.avclub.com/the-best-film-scenes-of-2018-1830925785)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtgZvEaZb4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKmEidxrzoA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh_oOd5JGpU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwyoKJiB9Vk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG0Y1p9_vwY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruA8IwDyFko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0isJhUwLBtM
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on December 18, 2018, 05:11:13 PM
I forgot how well executed that pool scene from Strangers: Prey at Night was, and it only makes me more disappointed in the film as a whole. The music dropping in and out whenever the camera dipped under the water...  :notworthy:
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: polkablues on January 07, 2019, 10:45:52 PM
Quote from: polkablues on December 11, 2018, 01:26:50 AM
All-horror edition

Top Ten-ish (unsorted)
Cold Hell
Ghost Stories
Mandy
Hereditary
Apostle
Upgrade
Revenge
Overlord
Veronica
The Endless
Cam

Honorable Mention:
Hold the Dark
Mom and Dad
Incident in a Ghostland
What Keeps You Alive
The Ritual
Terrified
The Clovehitch Killer
Thoroughbreds

I rewatched What Keeps You Alive, and it officially leapfrogged its way up into my top ten, bumping... let's say... Apostle. What Keeps You Alive is the real deal, guys. And JB, it would make a hell of a double-feature with Revenge.

EDIT: I can't emphasize this enough -- DO NOT WATCH A TRAILER BEFORE YOU SEE THE MOVIE. The trailers essentially give up the game, and would absolutely obliterate a big chunk of the film's impact.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: raptoroblivion on January 23, 2019, 08:20:56 AM
1. First Reformed
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. Sorry to Bother You
4. Paddington 2
5. The Death of Stalin
6. Annihilation
7. Game Night
8. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse
9. Love, Simon
10. Isle of Dogs

Worst Film:
Suspiria
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: WorldForgot on January 26, 2019, 07:45:24 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/L8I0mCC.jpg)
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Sleepless on January 28, 2019, 11:09:57 AM
Seen 99% of what I wanted to now, so I think this safe to consider my definitive top 5 in no order other than alphabetical:

*still need to see Shoplifters and Beale Street
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Alethia on January 28, 2019, 10:40:02 PM
Goddamn, still gotta see both these Paddington movies.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Robyn on January 28, 2019, 11:17:22 PM
I'll probably just skip the first Paddington because I'm not sure I need to watch it to be able to understand the second one, hehe.

Anyway, I just finished Climax, so here's my top 5, I guess:
1. Climax
2. Burning
3. Suspiria
4. Isle of Dogs
5. Shoplifters

Worst film:
Mandy

There's still a lot I haven't seen yet though.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: WorldForgot on January 31, 2019, 02:19:59 AM
imo Paddington 1 > 2 but 2 is great fun.
Title: Re: (Tentative) Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Sleepless on February 08, 2019, 02:54:03 PM
Quote from: eward on December 03, 2018, 01:58:24 PM
A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold
A Bread Factory, Part Two: Walk With Me a While

Watched this week. Really good! Not sure I completely got (or the film needed) some of the "performances" of Part Two, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. I think Tyne Daly might get my vote for best supporting actress.
Title: Re: Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on February 25, 2019, 01:21:34 AM
1. Eighth Grade
2. Annihilation
3. Leave No Trace
4. The House That Jack Built
5. You Were Never Really Here
6. The Favourite
7. Bad Times At The El Royale
8. Widows
9. Revenge
10. First Reformed


Honorable mentions: Game Night, Sorry To Bother You, Spiderverse, Mandy, Hereditary.

Still need to see: Burning, Beale Street, Destroyer.
Title: Re: Top 10 of 2018
Post by: wilberfan on February 25, 2019, 08:45:56 PM
Nice to see Leave No Trace and Game Night on there.  I will be in the minority by saying that the rest honestly didn't impress me much.  (I seem to have become quite the Cinema Curmudgeon.)
Title: Re: Top 10 of 2018
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on February 25, 2019, 09:41:41 PM
I can see that. 2018 wasn't a year for GREAT movies. Only feel very strongly about the top 3-4.

By contrast, looking at last year's list (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=13851.0), I would be comfortable calling 1 through 9 masterpieces.