After another fantastic year at the movies, 2018 has finally come to a close. This year saw the release of long-awaited blockbusters like the decades in the making movies Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2 in addition to the usual suspects of Solo, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Deadpool 2 to name a few. The major studios had a few surprises up their sleeves. Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Game Night and Bumblebee wowed critics and audiences.
This year also marked a very exciting year for first feature filmmakers. Boots Riley, Bradley Cooper, Ari Aster, Aneesh Chaganty, Bo Burnham, Paul Dano, Carlos Lopez Estrada, John Krasinski, and Kay Cannon all made their directorial debut with Sorry to Bother You, A Star is Born, Hereditary, Searching, Eighth Grade, Wildlife, Blindspotting, A Quiet Place, and Blockers respectively.
In between big tentpole films, some of Hollywood’s most notable auteur directors brought their A-game to new and adapted stories. Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, The Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Alex Garland’s Annihilation, Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite are a few that immediately stand out.
With so many notable movies being released in 2018, which were the cream of the crop that we’ll remember most fondly? To close out the year, a few members of the Cinematropolis team chime in with their top 5 films of 2018.
Jacob Burns’s Top 5 of 2018
Tim Blake Nelson in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
5. Madeline’s Madeline
Some movies don’t care what you think a film should be. Instead, they find their own path and lead you somewhere uncharted. Sometimes it can lead to catastrophe, but often it leads to something unique and amazing. Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline is absolutely the latter. Built around a mesmerizing and visceral lead performance by newcomer Helena Howard and supporting turns by Molly Parker and Miranda July, the film is unlike any other. I’m having trouble finding the words to describe it. For example, IMDB’s plot synopsis states, “A theatre director’s latest project takes on a life of its own when her young star takes her performance too seriously,” but that seems too simplistic. Madeline’s Madeline possesses a minimal plot, yet absurd amounts of depth, character, and atmosphere. At times it has a naturalistic, almost documentary style, though elsewhere it’s surreal and hypnotic. This isn’t a film to watch; it’s a film to experience.
4. Skate Kitchen
Some movies just stick with you. I saw Crystal Moselle’s Skate Kitchen months ago, and I don’t think a day has gone by without it crossing my mind. Moselle masterfully utilized her documentary skills to create a narrative about a posse of young skateboarders in NYC who dub themselves the film’s namesake. The straightforward plot allows us the opportunity to really get a feel for these young women, their relationships, the atmosphere, and their scene. While the film is fictional, the skateboarders are real, and the improvisational style allows each of their unique personalities to shine. This one snuck up on me and has fallen a bit under the radar, so please seek it out!
3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
I have to admit, I was a little concerned when I first heard about this film. Even though I consider myself a huge Coen brothers fan, anthology films are a tricky beast. I worried they may have finally met their match. But once again, they tackled something that could easily be bland or uneven and spun it into something only they could create. From the Looney Tunes-inspired opener to the philosophical dialogue-driven conclusion, Joel and Ethan reiterate they are absolute masters of their craft.
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
I don’t think I’ve ever cried during a film as much as I did during Won’t You Be My Neighbor?. I went into this film expecting a fairly standard but delightful trip through nostalgia. I left it shaken to my core. I could go on and on, but… I already have!
1. First Reformed
First Reformed is not only my favorite film but my favorite theater-going experience of the year as well. Nobody in that auditorium, myself included, had any clue what we were getting into. The collective gasps as the film came to an end, however, revealed that we were all enthralled from the first frame to the last by Paul Schrader’s latest masterpiece. Ethan Hawke’s performance as Toller, a man of faith struggling to reconcile the horrors of humanity with his own beliefs left me unsettled in ways that will haunt me indefinitely. First Reformed may not be a movie for everybody, but it was definitely a movie for me.
–Jacob Leighton Burns
Zachary Burn’s Top 5 Films of 2018
5. Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
For years I have been waiting for Hollywood to make an animated film that steps away from the Pixar-esque style dominating animation since the first Toy Story. With Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, they have finally delivered and made the finest superhero film of the year while doing so. I know, I know, we’ve had SO MANY Spider-man films in the last few years but trust me, this one is special. Mixing things up from the get-go, this spider-film follows Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), as opposed to the typical Peter Parker, as he struggles to navigate high school in a world already acquainted with Spider-Man. After getting bitten by a radioactive spider of his own, the universe is torn asunder, spewing several renditions of the web-slinger in the process. It’s a visually stunning and innovative picture with a resonating message. I can’t imagine how directors Bod Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman alongside producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were able to put this film together, but I also can’t wait to see it again.
4. The Rider
A quiet but surprisingly-affecting film that sneaks up on you, Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is a touching and bittersweet modern western. This film stars real cowboys and rodeo riders as they recall young rodeo bronc rider Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau) struggling to find his place in life after suffering a near-fatal head injury, forcing his retirement from riding. It was about halfway through this film before I realized how deeply it was getting to me – the filmmaking and the expert craft put into this film by Zhao, cinematographer Joshua James Richards, and editor Alex O’Finn is so subtle you don’t realize the cumulative effect it has on you until, struck by an overwhelming wave, you do.
3. Mandy
From the moment I first laid eyes on the poster for Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy
(I mean, just look at this thing!), it immediately became one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Let me tell you, friends, this film did not disappoint. Despite being set somewhere in the pacific northwest of 1983, Mandy feels like a film outside of time and even reality. Nicolas Cage plays Red, a stoic lumberjack who lives in a secluded cabin in the woods with Mandy (Andrea Riseborough). Suddenly their idyllic life is shattered by the cult leader and aspiring musician, Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). At the hands of Cosmatos, utilizing a perfectly unhinged Nicolas Cage, Mandy elevates what could be a simple and forgettable revenge thriller into new psychedelic heights. If you’ve ever seen the album cover of pretty much any metal band and thought, “man, I wish that was a movie,” then do yourself a favor a strap in for Mandy.
2. Annihilation
Alex Garland’s Annihilation was released way back in February of this year and I’ve hardly stopped thinking about it since. It’s an existential trip exploring the intertwining relationship between life and death, nature and mankind, depression and so much more all in a sci-fi package. The film follows biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) on a secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t quite apply. This is a film that both inspired awe and terrified me (I still have nightmares of a particular bear). With a powerhouse performance from Natalie Portman and supporting players Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriquez, and Tuva Novotny, this is not a film to be missed. Do yourself a favor and take the trip into the Shimmer.
1. First Reformed
You never know what you’re gonna get from a film by Paul Schrader, which is what often makes him so exciting. With First Reformed, we got what is without question my favorite film of 2018. First Reformed features Ethan Hawke at his best as Reverend Ernst Toller, the troubled priest of the historic First Reformed Church in upstate New York. Throughout the film, he grapples with mounting despair brought on by a recent tragedy and increasing obsession with the devastating effects of global warming. The film is so simply put together but is by no means dull. Grappling with themes of faith, purpose, personal responsibility, grief, and righteousness while housing best-of-their-career performances from both Amanda Seyfried and Cedric the Entertainer (credited for the first time as Cedric Antonio Kyles), this film has rarely left my mind since I first saw it. I didn’t watch First Reformed so much as I felt it. This is an essential film for the religious and secular alike.
–Zachary Burns
Laron Chapman’s Top 5 Films of 2018
Kiki Layne and Stephan James in If Beale Street Could Talk
5. Hereditary
If there is any justice in the world Toni Collette would be a frontrunner for this year’s Best Actress. However, the world is a cruel and unfair place, just like the portrait painted in Ari Aster‘s brilliant horror drama. Not since William Friedkin’s The Exorcist has a horror movie got under my skin and assaulted my senses so mercilessly. Haunting imagery, suffocating suspense, beautiful set design, and mesmerizing performances all rooted in human drama make Hereditary the stuff of nightmares and then some.
Listen to Laron’s full review of Hereditary on The Cinematic Schematic.
4. Eighth Grade
Not since last year’s criminally underrated The Florida Project has a film captured the horror and nuance of adolescence. It’s a deeply insightful, eerily authentic, and consistently engaging coming-of-age drama that is made particularly fascinating by its feminine gaze and sexual frankness. It’s refreshing to see a film less focused on the yesteryears and more focused on how the evolution of technology and social media has culturally crafted a new breed of youth whose self-esteem and socialization is rigidly hinged upon. Lead actress Elsie Fisher is stunning and relatable in a film brimming with heart, humor, and humanity.
3. If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins‘ followup to his Best Picture-winning Moonlight is indescribably beautiful. Set against a 70s-80s racially divided Harlem, the film is lush, romantic, poetic, heartbreaking, and lyrical. James Baldwin’s haunting words interpreted through Jenkin’s careful direction and embodied by a stellar cast – most notably a remarkable Regina King – combine to create one of the year’s most indelible films.
2. The Favourite
I admired every absurd, grotesque, deliciously nasty, elaborately designed, and luridly entertaining inch of this film. It’s an opulent provocation with a lot on its mind bolstered by a trio of sensational female performances. It is by turns an extravagant costume piece, a high-spirited dark comedy, a twisted tale of revenge, and a thoughtful exploration into the burden of power and influence.
1. First Reformed
This is probably the most uncompromising explorations of faith and human frailty that I’ve seen in a film. It’s gorgeous, challenging, meditative, gripping, and introspective. It presents complex themes and asks difficult questions, but offers no easy solution. Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried are exceptional. I can’t stop thinking about it, as it shook and haunted me to my core.
–Laron Chapman
Daniel Bokemper’s Top 5 Films of 2018
5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
In the shadows of The Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, it felt unlikely any other superhero film would rise above the skyline in 2018. Swinging in among the final films of the year, however, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse struck with the revolutionary and experimental bite the genre desperately needed. With a quivering animation style that echoes the uncertainty of late adolescence, Into the Spider-Verse’s thematic maturity was leveraged by its visceral comedy, a feat the likes of Deadpool and Thor: Ragnarok painfully struggled to achieve. Given Venom from October is likely the worst derivative of Spider-Man, it’s comforting we close the year with a gem effectively mending Spidey’s cinematic web.
4. Annihilation
In a conversation with CNET in February, Alex Garland likened his adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 novel, Annihilation, to a “memory of the book.” The notion of an emotional adaptation almost sabotaged the picture’s theatrical release, criticized by distributors as too convoluted and abstract for a widespread audience. Yet somehow, one of 2018’s earliest releases remains one of its most powerful offerings. The bulk of the film’s setting, a biology-warping anomaly known as “the Shimmer,” yields some of the most intricately-crafted and harrowing set design in recent cinema. Natalie Portman’s performance conveys a sense determination and fear, two intentions that grow convoluted as the Shimmer takes its kaleidoscopic toll. The composition of Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow bookend this film with a score that will continue to haunt viewers for years to come. Adaptation, as Garland proved, is far from static.
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
There are very few personalities as emblematic of empathy and understanding as Fred Rogers. Similarly, there are few documentaries that capture the spirit of their subject quite like Morgan Neville in Won’t You Be My Neighbor?. Unlike many documentaries, however, it’s not the in-depth analysis or even the candid comments of those close to Rogers that make this picture truly move. Those things, of course, help build a greater whole, but at the documentary’s core are simply the scenes of Rogers at work that push it to something with resonance. B-rolls of Rogers behind-the-scenes or even of him doing something like swimming breathe life into the figure, breaking down the veneer of an icon and presenting an individual deeply-concerned with the development of others. As Jacob Burns concluded in his essay over the piece, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? encourages us to “remember what it’s like to have the dreams, struggles, hopes, and fears of being a child.” There’s little more an audience could request of a documentary.
2. The Favourite
Dogtooth and Alps challenged the ideas of family and love, where Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster dissected the institutions outright. Though the filmmaker suffered an arguable lull with last year’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, he has placed himself firmly within the realm of contemporary auteurs with The Favourite. By far his most accessible work and possibly his most engaging, this year marks the director’s shift from fringe provocateur to a household name. However, Lanthimos’s transformation would likely still pass unnoticed if it were not for the contributions of The Favourite’s leads, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. Though it is still up in the air as to which actor may have truly “led” the film, it is undeniable their unique approaches equally compose the film’s soul.
1. Eighth Grade
Eighth Grade is far from a perfect film. In fact, there are numerous works from this year far exceeding in execution. Being a film of the year, however, sometimes isn’t quite about being the best. In rare occasions, a bit of sloppiness lends itself to naturalism, which in turn can lend itself to endearment, which finally (and hopefully) catalyzes growth. In this way, Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade is both a landmark of development and of the way we frame modern youth and film. Discourse, though still awkward and stuttering in the way many young adults are, is liberated. Burnham considers the small dialogues we have with ourselves as an adolescent but also digs deep into the way we and our youth curate our own lives in the twenty-first century. Many of 2018’s films are powerful, and will likely continue to be so within their time. Eighth Grade, however, is the ignition of a movement in storytelling.
–Daniel Bokemper
Caleb Masters’s Top 5 Films of 2018
5. Annihilation
When considering my favorite films of the year. Annihilation was an immediate contender. I said it once and I’ll say it again, Alex Garland’s follow up to 2015’s beloved Ex Machina is visually stunning, oftentimes unnerving, and filled with rich ideas of self-rediscovery and the ongoing battle against personal trauma and depression. Every piece of this production, be it the sharp cinematography, the breathtaking set design, or nightmarish creatures (I’m still losing sleep over that bear), is absolutely stellar. Annihilation contains an unfamiliar otherworldly vibe that makes it feel unlike any big screen science fiction we’ve seen recently. It hasn’t let go of my psyche since sinking its teeth into my imagination last February and looking back, I have no issue calling Annihilation the finest piece of science fiction filmmaking I witnessed in 2018.
4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
The sixth entry of the Tom Cruise’s action vehicle franchise, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, is better than any sixth entry in an action movie series should be. And yet, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie followed up his already outstanding work on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation with an even more ambitious idea. He set out to bring together elements of every previous entry of the franchise for a satisfying conclusion in the most daring chapter the series has seen yet. Add Henry Cavill, Sean Harris’s deliciously villainous Solomon Lane, and Lorne Balfe’s exceptional score into the mix and you get one of the most unforgettable action masterpieces of the 2010s decade.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is one of the year’s finest filmgoing experiences because it consistently entertains and delights while remaining dedicated to the practical special effects, incredible craftsmanship and high production value required to make Tom Cruise’s absurd death-defying stunts stand among the most impressive work done in action cinema.
Also, how could we forget this:
Listen to Caleb’s full review of Mission: Impossible-Fallout on The Cinematic Schematic.
Listen to Caleb and Alexandra Bohannon’s interview with Lorne Balfe on Sound Trek.
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is not only the web slinger’s best film to date, but also quite possibly the best superhero movie ever made. This statement may sound hyperbolic, but Spider-Verse‘s successfully stylish experiment in animation, electrifying energy from the script, and clear passion for the character of Spider-Man and what he represents outside of just Peter Parker leads to a tale that is fresh, inspiring, and downright entertaining.
With the incredible origin story of Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, has set the new bar cinematic superhero stories will strive to beat in the years to come.
2. BlacKkKlansman
Despite seeing a number of incredible films since Labor Day, my top two films of the year haven’t shifted. In September I wrote:
“History is stranger than fiction in this outrageously hilarious tale full of biting commentary reminding us that despite the way we talk about race in America, not all that much has really changed since the 1970s. Released exactly one year after the tragic “unite the right” 2017 rally in Charlottesville, BlacKkKlansman includes one of the boldest endings I’ve seen in cinema in recent memory by laying all of its cards on the table and you won’t soon forget it.”
Spike Lee’s sharp and pointed sense of humor matched with the film’s unapologetically didactic ending created one of the most powerful and memorable moviegoing experiences of the year. BlacKkKlansman is culturally significant and represents cinema at its most potent because of its unique place at the intersection of quality entertainment, current politics, and passionate activism.
1. First Reformed
In its finest and most effective form, a film has the power to challenge worldviews, generate empathy for cultures unlike our own, and cause the viewer to stop and reflect on their own lives and perspectives. No movie has moved me more deeply this year than Paul Schrader’s First Reformed. The introspective exploration of Reverand Ernst Toller’s (Ethan Hawke) descent into complete despair tells the story of a broken man filled with doubt in the face of a church culture that is radically changing into something more “comfortable” at the cost of theological honesty and God’s creation. First Reformed also has the dubious honor of being one of the most difficult films of 2018 to emotionally and intellectually process, but the sadness is not for nothing; Schrader’s somber tale reveals many significant, upsetting, and complex truths haunting the American church and many Christians in 2018.
First Reformed features a career-defining performance from Ethan Hawke and Schrader’s most impactful film in at least a decade. Though the principles of the church and personal faith examined lead to mostly bleak, yet ambiguous conclusions, I found the raw honesty expressed to be cathartic and telling of the world we’re living in today. As the son of a pastor who often experienced deep depression and even despair in my household growing up, the dark journey of Reverand Toller reminded me that these crises of faith affect believers of a higher power in all walks of life. This film edges out the others on this list as my top film of the year because since I first saw the film in March, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how Toeller’s complicated relationship with his faith and the church reflects where so many believers, myself included, are today.
–Caleb Masters
