My Favorite Films of 2018

Ten films that stood out the most in a year full of cinematic achievements. 

By: Josh McCormack

Well here it is. The hardest end of year list I've ever written thus far. 2018 was a year full of unique and exciting films from both indie filmmakers and big studio conglomerates and it pains me having to leave so many by the wayside (pour one out for 'Sorry to Bother You'). However, after much self-debate, these are the ten films that proved to leave the most impact on me throughout the year.

Keep in mind there are also plenty of films I didn't get around to seeing (i.e. 'Widows', 'Vice', 'First Man') and many others that just haven't been playing in my neck of the woods. I'm looking at you, 'If Beale Street Could Talk'!

10. Creed II

Truth be told, I wanted to hate 'Creed II'. As a 'Rocky' fanboy, 2015's 'Creed' was such an emotional and satisfying experience that I felt a sequel would only lessen its impact as many of the 'Rocky' sequels had for the original 1976 film. I became even more trepidatious when I heard that Stallone was bringing back one of the franchise's most over the top villains, Ivan Drago, in an attempt to exact revenge.

All of my worries faded away within the opening minutes of 'Creed II'. What could have been a passably entertaining sequel winds up being a wonderful tale of the dualities of fathers and sons. Director Steven Caple Jr. doesn't make a film that's quite as fresh as the first, but it never falls into self-parody, it stays true to its convictions and honors the 42 year old franchise, while still being able to form its own path.

The performances are all incredible with Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson lighting the screen up again with their chemistry. Sylvester Stallone, in what is said to be his last turn as the iconic Rocky Balboa, kills it once again. And most surprisingly, Dolph Lundgren and newcomer Florian Munteanu give wonderfully nuanced and even heartbreaking performances as Ivan and Viktor Drago. 

Perhaps 'Creed II' doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it delivers on everything a good 'Rocky'/'Creed' film should and gives you just a little bit more than you might be expecting. 

9. Hereditary

About half an hour into Ari Aster's debut feature, 'Hereditary', I had to literally turn away from the screen for about ten to fifteen seconds because of how deeply haunting I found a certain image. This is coming from someone who considers himself a horror buff. 'Hereditary' got under my skin like no other horror movie I've ever seen. 

Toni Collette, as I expected, has been completely ignored by the awards circles this season which is frankly ridiculous.  Perhaps with the exception of the three leads in 'The Favourite', no one is more deserving of an Oscar this year than Collette. She is surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast (Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd), but this is her movie from beginning to end. A dinner table sequence alone in which she finally bursts out in fury against her son is one of the most intense showcases of acting I've seen in cinemas all year. 

Perhaps 'Hereditary' does lose a bit of its footing in the final act, but even then it's still so unique and truly unsettling. In a great year for horror, 'Hereditary' was one of the best. 

8. First Reformed

After a slew of failures that came dangerously close to destroying any goodwill Paul Schrader received in the 70s and 80s, the writer/director comes back swinging with his timely and hauntingly poignant film, 'First Reformed'.

If this film is a spiritual sequel to Schrader's 'Taxi Driver' script, then Ethan Hawke's Father Toller is our Travis Bickle. While both characters couldn't seem to be further apart at first glance, their journeys are both very similar. A fear for the dying world (in Toller's case, this is literal) leads them to take extreme measures in order to be noticed. Both are stories of fear and isolation, but what I wound up really loving about 'First Reformed' was how after all its darkness, there's hope. It's as if Schrader himself is looking at the world today and knows full well how difficult times are for everyone and yet still feels that it's never too late to find a light at the end of the tunnel. 

A very dark, yet ultimately optimistic portrait of the world. 

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

There was some heavy competition this year for best animated film. Both 'Incredibles 2' and 'Isle of Dogs' were fantastic films. However, 'Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse' blew both of them out of the water.

After over 15 years of non-stop cinematic Spidey adventures, 'Spiderverse' finally takes the concept in a fresh, new direction propelled by a wonderful lead character and a uniquely kinetic animation style. With influences from comic book panels, anime and even Chuck Jones-style 'Looney Tunes' animation, the film is a gorgeous feast for the eyes, even for those who aren't superhero fans. 

The case can now be made for animation as being the primary medium to tell superhero stories. As the MCU movies become more and more barraged by CGI, I can't help but wonder if they should just go fully animated.

6. Roma

Shot in gorgeous black and white, 'Roma' is a 135 minute personal epic. An intimate story told on a grand scale. 

Alfonso Cuaron has crafted a film that is both heartbreaking and sometimes disturbing, but still full of love and impossible to turn away from. The film is set in Mexico City in the early 1970s. A time of political turmoil that I, regretfully, did not know enough about before watching the film. But Cuaron uses the setting as more of a backdrop to the personal drama that is in the forefront.

'Roma' is a difficult film to watch and even more difficult to try and rank on a list such as this. The final half-hour is so devastating and emotionally draining that I'm not sure I could ever watch it in its entirety again. Perhaps it is for this reason why I could not place it higher on this list, but it would be absolutely blasphemous not to give it a spot. 

5. Suspiria

Luca Guadagnino's remake of the Italian horror classic, 'Suspiria', is a story of rebirth. It's the tale of an age-old society falling apart at the hands of a radically new presence. One of its main characters is forced to live with the consequences of their political ignorance. While set in 1978, this film could not be more current. 

As someone who has always been a horror fan, but only discovered the original 'Suspiria' more recently in life, I didn't feel that Argento's original film was sacred in the way many of my fellow horror fans do. Therefore, a reimagining by a filmmaker as accomplished as the guy who made 'Call Me By Your Name' was something I was welcome to. At 150 minutes, the film is a horror epic and one that held my attention with wonderfully nasty gore effects, a unique Thom Yorke score and a surprisingly loving dynamic between Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson.

It's certainly proven to not be for everyone, but 'Suspiria' provided everything I could ask for from an arthouse horror flick.

4. The Favourite

Writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos has always been a director I've admired, but his films leave me with such a strange taste in my mouth that I never feel truly comfortable considering them the best movies of their respective years. However, with 'The Favourite', Lanthimos has crafted his masterpiece.

Set in early 18th century England, 'The Favourite' both indulges in and mocks the lavish costume and set design of period pieces. With three fantastic female leads at the front, the film puts the burden of ridiculous wigs and makeup onto the male characters, letting them look like eccentric set dressing to the more interesting, female-driven drama.

'The Favourite' provides three incredible lead performances for the price of one, but it's Olivia Colman who blew me away the most. From childish pouting to shameless glee and eventually utter sadness, it is in her performance that you can track the state of the film as it goes from absurd comedy to tragedy.

3. Won't You Be My Neighbor 

'Won't You Be My Neighbor' is director Morgan Neville's plea for kindness in the form of cinematic art. It is a documentary about Fred Rogers and his television neighborhood that goes far beyond the man or his tv show. 

Over the course of the documentary, we hear from those closest to Mr. Rogers and it not only speaks about his accomplishments for children's education, but it reminds us of the human being we should all aspire to be. In a world where it seems everyone is at each other's throat and the highest power in the world is promoting hatred, the movie shows that it really isn't that hard to be kind.

Walking out of the theater and back into the real world after seeing 'Won't You Be My Neighbor' made me want to look at the world with the same loving eyes that Fred Rogers did.

But then some asshole cut me off in traffic and I realized I could never be that good. 

2. Eighth Grade

Bo Burnham's directorial debut has the confidence of a seasoned director, but the sensibilities of a director who could only do this at a younger age.

'Eighth Grade' is often compared to John Hughes classics, but I honestly think that's a slap in the face to what this film has accomplished. Where John Hughes films spoke to a generation of teens with their absurd comedy, Burnham's film forces you to spend almost two hours in their shoes and more specifically in the shoes of someone who looks at middle school as a living hell.

Just as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking, 'Eighth Grade' leaves audiences with one of the most blistering and accurate representations of adolescence in the social media era, all led by an incredible performance from Elsie Fisher. 

1. Mandy

'Mandy' is an axe to the head of independent cinema. It is a blood soaked vision of horror and revenge that takes aesthetics of the past and bends them to its will. It is both a neon bathed love story that indulges in silence that slowly turns into a vengeful scream as loud as that of a battered Nicolas Cage wailing in a bathroom while chugging down vodka. It is the story of a man's personal slice of heaven being taken away and turned into his own hell. And in his attempt to regain control of his own narrative, he finds no solace in the violence he has indulged in. 

Panos Cosmatos has directed a revenge film wherein the revenge isn't dealt until the final 45 minutes. Unlike other movies of this type, 'Mandy' makes you sit with Nicolas Cage's Red Miller and Andrea Riseborough's titular Mandy as they live their loving and secluded life together in 1983's Pacific Northwest.  The dialogue is sparse and rather non-consequential (aside from a monologue about Starlings), but their relationship is built on feelings. Feelings that are accomplished from the gorgeous red and blue lighting and Johann Johannson's gorgeous final film score. 

When the villainous Jeremiah Sand (played wonderfully by Linus Roache) kills Mandy, inciting the film's action packed and hallucinatory final act, you feel the life that he has taken away from Red, because you've spent so long indulging in their lifestyle. Her presence is always felt, even after she is gone, making our protagonist's turn into a blood-soaked, stoned murderer all the more impactful.

'Mandy' is not style over substance. Its style IS the substance. Film is a visual medium and all to often directors feel the need to reach dramatic revelations with pages upon pages of dialogue. But 'Mandy' uses its style to tell a unique, head trip of a revenge tale that would not work in the hands of any other director. 

'Mandy' is heartbreaking, darkly funny, crudely violent and the best film of 2018.