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Let's get to the big one that riled me up the most: What the hell happened in Best Documentary?! I couldn't believe that Won't You Be My Neighbor? was not nominated. Also out was the sleeper hit Three Identical Strangers. In their stead is: Hale County This Morning, This Evening, an unknown documentary I never heard about because I like everyone didn't pay attention to the majority of last year's Sundance lineup; Of Fathers and Sons, which I don't really mind too much; and the commercially successful but critically shrugged RBG. I get it, we all love Ruth Bader Ginsburg and all but it should have been left off. That goes double for somehow getting a nom for Best Song.
Well, Netflix finally did it. They got their first Best Picture nomination with Roma. Also congrats to Ryan Coogler and Marvel for keeping the hype train up for Black Panther and earning a nom in the biggest category of the season.
Not so keen on the Best Pic love for Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, and Vice. I have only seen one of the three (that would be Bohemian Rhapsody) but they all seem to fit the same build of an okay movie that is getting way too much love than it really deserves outside of the acting field.
God it would really, really suck if Spike Lee had to see another banal crowdpleaser about racial relations win Best Picture.
Paweł Pawlikowski getting the extra special foreigner slot in Best Director was a total shock.
Seriously, Adam McKay over Bradley Cooper? At least Peter Farrelly didn't get in.
I just knew Ryan Gosling would be left off Best Actor but no Ethan Hawke? I had Willem Dafoe to be the sacrificial lamb for either Hawke or John David Washington but he was able to pull it off for Oscar voters.
Best Actress was totally obvious to predict but what a showdown come Oscar night.
Another big shocker: Marina de Tavira getting a Best Supporting Actress nom for her work as the matriarch in Roma. I enjoyed her in that great movie but not just quite enough but hey who cares about some online critic when your name is now etched in Oscar history.
Paul Schrader finally received his very first Best Original Screenplay nom, despite his huge history of acclaimed films and scripts.
No Burning in Best Foreign Language Film. Wow. I predicted the other four but not that snub. Was it too long and too impenetrable for the Oscar folks? In its stead is Never Look Away from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who already has an Oscar in this very category with The Lives of Others and who has not made a film since the disaster that was The Tourist.
I'm overjoyed that Mirai got in for Best Animated Film and that the Oscar voters weren't too snobby to exclude Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. I now have to pray every day and night that the Disney publicity machine doesn't let either of its two disappointing efforts last year steal the golden man away from Mamoru Hosoda, Lord & Miller, or Wes Anderson.
Bao needs to win. Period. (No, I'm not also talking about that brilliantly titled Short Subject Documentary nom)
Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson. All are now Academy Award nominated artists thanks to the efforts for Best Original Song. It seems the Academy really does want to let an actual pop song win this year!
Man, those Oscar voters must have really loved the weird anime-looking characters of Ready Player One in order to give it a nom for Best Visual Effects.
First Man really got screwed. No to Gosling. No to Claire Foy. No to Justin Hurwitz. No to Tom Cross. No to Linus Sandgren. No to Damien Chazelle. Just noms in the two sound categories and one for Best Production Design. It seems the backlash to La La Land is strong within the Academy.
Other major snubs: Emily Blunt, Michael B. Jordan, Margot Robbie, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Elizabeth Debicki, Eighth Grade, Leave No Trace and Crazy Rich Asians.
That's all I can muster right now. Tune in next month for my predictions which I will obviously fail at.
Oh, and if you're somehow wondering about my reactions to last night's Razzies noms, don't hold your breath. Those losers did exactly what I loathe about them.
6 months after the devastation of Metropolis by Doomsday and the death of Superman in well THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN, four individual superheroes each calling themselves the real or the new Supes seek to take up the throne. The latest of the DC Animated Movie Universe, REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN is given a special one-night-only release across America as part of a Fathom Events double bill screening with the previous film. And quite frankly, that's pretty much the best way to watch and enjoy this film, with it being seen immediately after THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN or, fingers cross, when a possible stitched together cut a la THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS comes to video later down the line. Similar to the same criticism levied against the Marvel films, the movie doesn't help new viewers ease in or even truly understand what is going on. Average Joe and Jane will not be "blown away" by the reveal of who Cyborg Superman or The Eradicator really are, because they never really set it up well or lay even a quick "previously on" montage, and they especially will be scratching their heads when a certain big heavyweight villain from one of the first films of the DC Animated Movie Universe pops up as the true evil mastermind. The story is geninuely fine, more so if you have fond memories of the comic book event it's adapting, but as often with the other DCAMU movies it just feels like television fare blown up to feature length. I was dismayed at the lack of characterization for John Henry Irons but the film does kind of make up for it with its heavy focus on Superboy, his dysfunctional business/familial relationship with Lex Luthor, and his struggles to man up against the other Supermen. That's good and all but great Caesar's ghost, screenwriters Tim Sheridan and Jim Krieg practically ruin the picture with their hilariously awful way to remove the Justice League from the proceedings; Batman, the so-called greatest detective of all time, and The Flash, the fastest man alive, are both unable to look up and see a very dangerous thing crashing above their heads. And boy howdy, try not to chuckle once the President steps into the crossfire between superheroes and supervillians. The voice acting is serviceable all around but I'm still not hot on Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane. Patrick Fabian, who plays Cyborg Superman, at least gets to flex his muscles and gnash away on some delicious meat towards the end. The animation is the same standard, drab, low budget look as previous DCAMU movies with little to no pizzazz save for the stupid necklace that Lois is supposed to be wearing. Seriously, the animators couldn't draw a simple line to connect the pendants? Whether its some still linger 90s nostalgia in your heart or your love for the animation side of DC Comics, REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN is a fun enough watch. Just try not to set it up as anything truly earthshaking; after all, the rebirth of a certain someone doesn't have much impact when it was just done in live action form two years ago.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
These are all of the movies I have watched throughout last year and were qualified to be judged for my awards.
If I didn't watch a film at all or in its entirety, it is disqualified and ineligible. There were a ton of movies that I couldn't get access to and/or make the time for. A few examples of films I wanted to see but couldn't before the mandated deadline were The Favourite, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace, Eighth Grade, Burning, You Were Never Really There, First Reformed, Blindspotting, Paddington 2, Tully, The Endless, Support The Girls, To All The Boys I Loved Before, Hearts Beat Loud, Green Book and Bird Box.
Action Point
Annihilation
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Bees Make Honey
Big Fish and Begonia
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
Borg vs. McEnroe
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
China Salesman
Crazy Rich Asians
Creed II
Day of the Dead: Bloodline
Deadpool 2
The Death Of Stalin
Death Wish
Early Man
Filmworker
Fireworks
First Man
Game Night
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Gotti
The Grinch
Halloween
The Happytime Murders
Hereditary
Holmes & Watson
The Hurricane Heist
Incredibles 2
Isle Of Dogs
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Let The Corpses Tan
Lu Over The Wall
Making Fun: The Story of Funko
Mandy
Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Mazinger Z: Infinity
McQueen
The Meg
MFKZ
Mirai
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
My Uncle John is a Zombie!
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
Padmaavat
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us
The Predator
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
A Quiet Place
Ralph Breaks The Internet
Rampage
Ready Player One
Revenge
The Rider
Roma
Samson
Sheep & Wolves
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Sorry To Bother You
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
A Star Is Born
Summer of 84
Suspiria
Thoroughbreds
Upgrade
Venom
Whitney
Widows
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Overall Count: 74 Films
Best Film Experience of the Year: A Star Is Born (White trash lady who sat a seat away from me, would not stop casually talking out loud during the opening scenes until I had to vulgarly tell her to keep quiet, only to then loudly smack her gum during the many quietly emotional scenes in the last third.)
2nd Best Film Experience of the Year: Action Point (White trash douche who during "The Twenty/First Look" segment watched an old Achmed The Dead Terrorist routine on his phone at high volume and put his bare dirty feet on the seat in front of him.)
3rd Best Film Experience of the Year: Mandy (A dumb kid who missed the entire point of the movie and declared "Hail Satan!" when the film cut to black.)
Best Film Title of the Year: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
Worst Film Title of the Year: 6 Balloons
The Greatest Film Title of All Time (That Happens To Be Released Last Year): The Wife
Most Accurate Film Title: Borg vs. McEnroe (Runner-Up: The Death Of Stalin)
Same Dress, Different Hairstyle: RBG and On The Basis Of Sex
The Kathryn Morris Award for "What's The Deal With This Person?": Carrie Coon in Widows
The Enough Already Award for the Most Egregious Overuse of Something in Movies: Non-remake movies that share the exact same name as a previously known film (Life Itself, Truth Or Dare, Ravenous, The Day After, Beautiful Boy etc.)
2nd Place of the Enough Already Award: Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" used as a concluding song
Best Dog: Olivia in Game Night and Widows (Runner-Up: Bradley Cooper's real-life dog in A Star Is Born)
Best Cat: Tib in Mary and the Witch's Flower
Best Pig: Hognob in Early Man
Worst Alligator: The mutant one in Annihilation
Worst Bear: The screaming mutant one in Annihilation
Best Kill: The shocking decapitation in Hereditary
Worst Kill: Sterling K. Brown's murder(?)/suicide(?) in The Predator
Best Reason to Fast-Forward to the End: Live Aid in Bohemian Rhapsody
Most Incestuous Film: The Happytime Murders
Actor with the Biggest Open Schedule of the Year: Brian Tyree Henry
The Jai Courtney Award for The Biggest Failure to Jump to Stardom: Alden Ehrenreich
The Lorraine Bracco Award for The Biggest Failure to Jump to Stardom: Hera Hilmar
Best Cameos in an Action Movie: Brigitte Nielsen and Milo Ventimiglia in Creed II
Best Cameo in a Superhero Movie: Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2
2nd Best Cameo in a Superhero Movie: Godzilla in My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
Worst Cameos in an Action Movie: Sway and the other radio hosts in Death Wish
Best Use of Subtitles: Suspiria
Worst Use of CGI: The animals and warriors in Padmaavat
Best Food: Tater tots in Venom
2nd Best Food: Vanillite-shaped ice cream cones in Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us
3rd Best Food: Cheddar Goblin Mac 'n Cheese in Mandy
Worst Food: Rotten chicken in Venom
2nd Worst Food: Raw onions in Holmes & Watson
Best Beer: Schlitz in Action Point
Best Wine: Imitation Denki Bran in The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
Best Product Placement: Monopoly in A Quiet Place
Worst Product Placement: Nissan in Mazinger Z: Infinity
Most Butt-tastic Poster: The Miracle Season
Worst Spoiler Poster: Death Wish
Worst Spoiler Trailer: Death Wish
Laziest Poster of All Time: Death Wish
Most WTF Poster: Distorted
The Poster That Just Pissed Me Off So Much For Some Reason: I Feel Pretty
BEST BREAKTHROUGH: Letitia Wright
Honorable Mentions: John David Washington, Winston Duke, Brian Tyree Henry, Yalitza Aparicio, Cynthia Erivo, Hannah John-Kamen, Henry Golding, Millicent Simmonds, Zazie Beetz, Awkwafina, Florian "Big Nasty" Munteanu, Milly Shapiro
BEST ENSEMBLE: Widows
Honorable Mentions: Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, BlacKkKlansman, The Death Of Stalin, Game Night, A Star Is Born, A Quiet Place, Hereditary, Avengers: Infinity War
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
Honorable Mentions: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Boots Riley (Sorry To Bother You), John Krasinski (A Quiet Place), Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Let The Corpses Tan), Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor?), Steve McQueen (Widows), Ari Aster (Hereditary), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Armando Iannucci (The Death Of Stalin), Chloé Zhao (The Rider), Leigh Whannell (Upgrade), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Padmaavat)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows - The Death Of Stalin
Honorable Mentions: Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen (Widows), Boots Riley (Sorry To Bother You), Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Mark Perez (Game Night), Leigh Whannell (Upgrade), Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters (A Star Is Born)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
Honorable Mentions: Pawel Pogorzelski (Hereditary), Matthew Libatique (A Star Is Born), Benjamin Loeb (Mandy), Charlotte Bruus Christensen (A Quiet Place), Linus Sandgren (First Man), Robrecht Heyvaert (Revenge), Sean Bobbitt (Widows), Rob Hardy (Annihilation), Lyle Vincent (Thoroughbreds), Manu Dacosse (Let The Corpses Tan), Sudeep Chatterjee (Padmaavat)
BEST EDITING: Bernard Beets - Let The Corpses Tan
Honorable Mentions: Jeff Malmberg and Aaron Wickenden (Won't You Be My Neighbor?), Jay Cassidy (A Star Is Born), Christopher Tellefsen (A Quiet Place), Coralie Fargeat, Bruno Safar and Jérôme Eltabet (Revenge), Jennifer Lame and Lucian Johnston (Hereditary), Joe Walker (Widows), Terel Gibson (Sorry To Bother You), Sam Rice-Edwards (Whitney), Andy Canny (Upgrade), Peter Lambert (The Death Of Stalin), Alfonso Cuarón and Adam Gough (Roma)
BEST SCORE: Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy
Honorable Mentions: Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), Alexandre Desplat (Isle Of Dogs),Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow (Annihilation), Hans Zimmer (Widows), Marco Beltrami (A Quiet Place), Kiyoshi Yoshida (Big Fish and Begonia), Tyler Bates (Deadpool 2), Justin Hurwitz (First Man), Takatsugu Muramatsu (Mary and the Witch's Flower)
BEST SONG: "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born
Honorable Mentions: "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), "I Will Go To War" by Tessa Thompson (Creed II), "The Big Unknown" by Sade (Widows), "All The Stars" by Kendrick Lamar and SZA (Black Panther), "Ghoomar" by Shreya Ghoshal and Swaroop Khan (Padmaavat), "I'll Never Love Again" by Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), "Ashes" by Céline Dion (Deadpool 2), "Mirai no Theme" by Tatsuro Yamashita (Mirai), "Spidey-Bells (A Hero's Lament)" by Chris Pine (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
BEST PREEXISTING SONG: "Radio Ga Ga (Live Aid)" by Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Honorable Mentions: "Helplessly Hoping" by Crosby Stills & Nash (Annihilation), "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young (A Quiet Place), "Quando Quando Quando" by Engelbert Humperdinck (Game Night)
BEST OPENING CREDITS: Roma
Honorable Mentions: Upgrade, Deadpool 2, Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, Let The Corpses Tan
BEST ENDING CREDITS: Game Night
Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Whitney
BEST STINGER: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Honorable Mentions: Deadpool 2, Game Night
BEST POSTER ART: BlacKkKlansman
Honorable Mentions: Overlord, Suspiria, Game Night, Let The Corpses Tan, First Man (Moon Helmet), Creed II (Teaser), Incredibles 2 (Teaser), Isle of Dogs, Deadpool 2 (Teaser), Free Solo, A Simple Favor
BEST TRAILER: A Star Is Born
Honorable Mentions: Hereditary, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Creed II, Action Point
BEST ACTION FILM: Creed II
Honorable Mentions: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Let The Corpses Tan, The Hurricane Heist
BEST ANIMATED FILM: The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Isle Of Dogs, Mary and the Witch's Flower, Mirai, Big Fish & Begonia, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, Early Man
BEST COMEDY FILM: Game Night
Honorable Mentions: Sorry To Bother You, Deadpool 2, The Death Of Stalin, Crazy Rich Asians
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Honorable Mentions: Whitney, Filmworker, Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, McQueen
BEST HORROR FILM: A Quiet Place
Honorable Mentions: Hereditary, Summer of 84
BEST SCI-FI FILM: Upgrade
Honorable Mentions: Annihilation
BEST GUILTY PLEASURE: Ready Player One
FUTURE CULT AND APPRECIATION
Films that I feel will grow on me beyond my initial expectations and opinions and become the great films that they sought to be.
Annihilation
Mandy
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
Thoroughbreds
UNDERRATED AND UNDERAPPRECIATED
Actors and actresses that gave great performances in bad films and/or in roles with little material and screen time.
Paul Bettany (Solo: A Star Wars Story)
Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther, The Predator)
Nicolas Cage (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Andrew "Dice" Clay (A Star Is Born)
Carrie Coon (Widows, Avengers: Infinity War)
Bill Duke (Mandy)
Kimiko Glenn (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Omari Hardwick (Sorry To Bother You)
Oscar Isaac (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Lily James (Sorry To Bother You)
Latin Lover (Roma)
John Mulaney (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Liam Neeson (Widows)
Thandie Newton (Solo: A Star Wars Story)
Chris Pine (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Trevante Rhodes (The Predator)
Lily Tomlin (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
Alan Tudyk (Ralph Breaks The Internet)
Jacki Weaver (Widows)
2018 may have been the year of "it's fine" but amid the mediocrity and drama there were some greatness to behold. Oakland was the main city for many of the biggest and most talked about films of the year. Netflix continued their ascension into being America's favorite movie distributor, thanks to its easy-access streaming platform, expanding their acquisition of critical and festival favorites, and producing several titles that had America buzzing up a storm. Documentaries were all the rage, focusing on a variety of subjects including showbiz personalities, forgotten film footage, and a curious case of crossing paths. Several prominent coming-of-age stories revolved around the joy and agony of skateboarding. Two indie directors runged all of the tears and emotions out of their audiences by exploring the lives of damaged men and their relationship to horses. Film scores greatly outshone song-filled soundtracks. And despite the quick effort of trying to turn it into an online joke, the movie-going public was still traumatized all year by a single finger snap. From all of these movies and more, I rounded up the twenty films that stayed with me for days, played with my emotions so elegantly and made me want to watch them again and again.
These are the films I have deemed the best of 2018. Though I put them in list format, I was equally entertained and moved by all of these films.
Now comes the usual disclaimer that everyone forgets to remember: This list is of my own opinion, not the general public nor the Internet consensus. If I didn't see the film at all or in its entirety, it isn't counted or considered to be included.
(EDIT: I didn't get this article up in time on 1/7/2019 nor did I completely fully. I apologize for it not being up to my usual standard for a Best Films list. As much as I'm mad at myself for it, I still want to preserve it as a time capsule rather than toss the entire article out. Please enjoy.)
TOP TEN BEST FILMS
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
I said during the opening statements of my Worst of list that 2018 essentially didn't effect me as much as 2017. But really I'm only human, of flesh and blood and made, and throughout last year I was often emotionally crushed by the cynicism, the horrors, the corruption, and all of the blind eyes. If I need any proof of this, I can just look at my writing input on this very website. Despite these setbacks, I still pursued my love for film and even ventured out more often to my local cinemas, including one movie that took a toll on me even when the trailer was playing on the big screen. Morgan Neville's documentary on beloved television icon Fred Rogers perfectly encapsulate what 2018 really was while also crafting a never-cloying, always fair examination at a modern man that could very well have been a real angel in disguise. The movie turned me into a sobbing mess even before the halfway point; all of the love, compassion, and honest discourse he gave to the people around him and the kids watching at home during troubling times (whether personal or societal) made my heart grow like a beanstalk and broke the control wheel off of my tear ducts. And to cap it all off, Neville uses Roger's last college commencement speech to weave an unbelievably immaculate conclusion.
2. Upgrade
Leigh Whannell certainly hasn't been one of my recent favorites, often squandering the goodwill he had with writing the original Insidious. I honestly sneered when I first saw this sleeper being advertised. But holy shit, he made me eat my hat, shoe, and words with this excellent cyberpunk thriller.
3. The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
5. Roma
6. Let The Corpses Tan
7. Game Night
8. BlackKkKlansman
9. Whitney
10. Sorry To Bother You
THE NEXT TEN
11. Hereditary
12. Widows
13. A Quiet Place
14. Mirai
15. Deadpool 2
It may not be as great as the first one but I had so much fun with its vulgar superhero hilarity. And dig that mid-credits stinger that absolutely slays the audience.
16. The Death Of Stalin
17. Padmaavat
In a vast sea of cinema where nearly every movie has a running time of two and a half hours, none of them can fly by faster than this Bollywood epic. Extravagant production design and a brilliant lead performance by Ranveer Singh.
18. Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us
19. Avengers: Infinity War
20. Isle Of Dogs
Next Up: The Worst Performances of 2018
