Movies of 2018

My top 25 best....

1. Avengers: Infinity War
Arguably the crowning achievement to this point of the MCU. I've seen it like a dozen times so far.and it holds up, even knowing what's coming. Countless unforgettable moments. I'd frankly be surprised if Endgame can top it.

2. Black Panther
Ranks right at the top of the MCU's best solo films.

3. Blindspotting
Criminally underseen and seemingly forgotten. Like the work of a young Spike Lee, only on the west coast. The climactic scene floored me.

4. Mid 90s
Jonah Hill of all people directs a film that felt indeed like it would have fit right in with all those iconic indies of the titular time period.

5. A Quiet Place
One of the best horror films maybe ever. It takes a cool premise and does everything right to make it work.

6. Vice
Probably the best biopic since The Wolf of Wall Street, and done in a similar style. Madly entertaining. Christian Bale is absolutely incredible as Cheney.

7. Creed 2
Could have just been kind of a fan service sequel bringing in Drago. Instead it kind of bridges both incarnations of the franchise in the  best way.

8. Isle Of Dogs
Not quite as great as Fantastic Mr. Fox, but I could watch Wes Anderson do these quirky animated movies forever.

9. BlacKKKlansman
Speaking of Spike Lee, one of the highlights of the year was him delivering easily his best movie in well over a decade.

10. Instant Family
The surprise of the year. Who knew the Mark Wahlberg adoption comedy would be the kind of throwback to when studios could easily do these kind of mainstream comedies with laughs and heart.

11.The Hate U Give
Could have easily been a movie of the week message mess. Instead it took all these different hot button issues and made them.personal and relatable.

12. Hotel Artemis
Just a fantastic dark comedy with an amazing cast and my favorite Jodie Foster performance in ages.

13. Assassination Nation
Mean Girls meets Spring Breakers meets The Purge. An absolutely bizarre but kind of brilliant home run swing.

14. Beautiful Boy
Kind of a strangely ignored Oscar bait-y movie. I thought it really hit. Steve Carell continues to be just a shockingly great dramatic actor.

15. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
The Mr. Rogers documentary that almost made you cry with how genuinely good this guy was.

16. Love, Simon
An incredibly charming and sweet comedy. And the latest in a string of really good high school set movies.

17. Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Wasn't a huge fan of the 1st one. But this one really worked for me. It was more about the characters than the plot twists this time.

18. Fahrenheit 11/9
More of a 2nd tier Michael Moore film. The best stuff here was what had little or nothing to do with Trump.

19. Free Solo
Rather fascinating doc about a guy whose life's passion is doing rock climbing without safety equipment.

20. Eighth Grade
Really authentic and funny and tough to watch sometimes.

21. Deadpool 2
I liked this more than the 1st one. Better jokes, better villain, better supporting cast.

22. Juliet, Naked
Super charming romantic comedy with Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke that kind of got ignored.

23. Annihilation
Really cool sci fi flick led by Natalie Portman. Some of the coolest visuals in recent memory.

24. Bumblebee
I don't hate the other Transformers flicks, but yeah this is probably the best of them. Hailee Steinfeld ftw!

25. Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse
Visually one of the most.amazing movies I've ever seen. The story is a little mundane, or else this would be higher on the list.

Some near misses/honorable mentions....

Upgrade was a better version of Venom.
Ready Player One was a lot of fun.
Thoroughbreds was a great dark comedy with Olivia Cooke muh baby.
Ant Man and the Wasp was probably a smidge better than the 1st.
Crazy Rich Asians was a fun movie.
A Star Is Born had an amazing 1st half, then kind of was by the.numbers in the back half.
First Man was a fine addition to the catalog of space race films.
Bohemian Rhapsody was formulaic but man that Live Aid finale was incredible in IMAX.
Boy Erased and The Miseducation Of Cameron Post were both really well done gay conversion therapy movies that Mike Pence should be forced to watch.
The Favourite had amazing performances.

The 10 worst movies of the year...

10. Halloween
This was hyped up so much as the 1st REAL sequel, then proceeded to just do all the same stupid slasher movie crap all the other bad sequels did.

9. The Spy Who Dumped Me
Just a really tired unfunny comedy that wasted Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis.

8. Breaking In
Gabrielle Union finally gets a lead role in a movie and it's this piece of junk?

7. Truth Or Dare
Pretty sure the Madonna movie of the same name was a lot scarier.

6. Lizzie
Why make a movie about the Lizzie Borden killings and make it so unspeakably dull?

5. Vox Lux
This hurts. Natalie Portman is legitimately terrible in this. And the movie overall is just an incoherent mess.

4. Fifty Shades Freed
I'll say this for this one: this at least leans into the softcoreness. But NOTHING happens in this movie. They have to create some weird kidnapping just to have a 3rd act.

3. The 15:17 To Paris
The worst movie Clint Eastwood has ever made. So many wrong decisions here. Like devoting a 90 minute movie to an event that lasted about a minute. Like casting the real guys, who can't act at all, then spending most of the movie having them recreate their European vacation. This movie makes Fifty Shades Freed seem eventful.

2. Suspiria
An unbearable 2 1/2 hour, super pretentious art house horror movie. Some people loved it. I don't think I would get along with those people.

1. Action Point
I had to blog about this one after I saw it. I knew then it would top this list. This was not even a movie. I don't know how it was deemed releasable.

Some near misses/DIShonorable mentions....

Chappaquiddick was like if Fox News made a Ted Kennedy biopic.
Death Wish was impossibly tone deaf.
Aquaman was a brutal sensory assault...and it's gonna make.a billion dollars.
Hereditary was this year's installment of beloved new horror.classic that I didn't like.