Best films of 2018

[zico]

No, not me trying to make Oscars predictions, just my random thoughts on films I saw last year.

Favourite film - 3 Billboards in Epping, Missouri. Drama with black comedy, clever writing and Oscar-winning performance (for 2018) from Frances McDormand.

Best of the rest - A Quiet Place. That rare beast - a film that's both genuinely original and good - which reminds me of a review probably by Oscar Wilde "This book is both brilliant and original. Unfortunately the brilliant parts aren't original, while the original parts aren't brilliant.

Really good films - "All the money in the world", "I, Tonya", "You were never really here", "Shape of Water", "Dunkirk", "Downsizing".
Best Marvel film - Ant Man & the Wasp
Best Comedy - Game Night
Most overhyped film - Black Panther
Best Animated film - Ralph Breaks the Internet. Much better than the original "Ralph" film.

No standout Worst Film in 2018.

[Howyoudoin]

Really enjoyed Dunkirk- beautifully shot & scored, tense in all the right places, nicely acted and evocative enough to overcome the familiar problem cliches of wartime. Probably gets my vote over 3 Billboards, but that was also an exceptionally fine work, quite original.

Great film but it came out in the Summer of 2017, so not eligible for this award.

HYD

[AF62]

Favourite film - 3 Billboards in Epping, Missouri. Drama with black comedy, clever writing and Oscar-winning performance (for 2018) from Frances McDormand.

Best of the rest - A Quiet Place. That rare beast - a film that's both genuinely original and good - which reminds me of a review probably by Oscar Wilde "This book is both brilliant and original. Unfortunately the brilliant parts aren't original, while the original parts aren't brilliant.

Really good films - "All the money in the world", "I, Tonya", "You were never really here", "Shape of Water", "Dunkirk", "Downsizing".
Best Marvel film - Ant Man & the Wasp
Best Comedy - Game Night
Most overhyped film - Black Panther
Best Animated film - Ralph Breaks the Internet. Much better than the original "Ralph" film.

No standout Worst Film in 2018.

Dipping into the eighty or so films I saw this year (I get value from my Cineworld Unlimited card!) - I mostly agree with your thoughts but for me "Downsizing" lost it in the last 1/3 and "Ant Man & the Wasp" was just a bit 'meh'.

Like you I really enjoyed "Game Night", going in with very low expectations but turned out to be surprisingly good. On the same lines "Tag".

For me the best animated film of 2018 was "The Breadwinner" narrowly beating "Isle of Dogs", and the best (not quite a) Marvel film "Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse".

Others I enjoyed not mentioned, "BlacKkKlansman", "A Simple Favour", "Thoroughbreds", "Breaking In", "Bad Times at the El Royale", and "Sully".

Disappointing films that really ought to have been better - "The Post", "The Girl in the Spider's Web", "First Man", and "The Old Man and the Gun".

Straightforward bad films - "Early Man", "Tomb Raider", "Robin Hood", "Adrift", "The Commuter", and "The Bookshop".

[zico]

You really have seen a lot of films!

I missed quite a few of your other favourite films, but will aim to catch them when they appear on Sky.
I liked 'A Simple Favour' too, and ranked it just below the ones I mentioned.
Agree 'Early Man' was disappointingly bad, and 'Gringo' was a bad film but it could have been so much better if just a bit of extra thought had been put into it.
Some rare praise from me to Mark Kermode for his review of 'The Commuter' detailing how ludicrous the plot was, which saved me wasting my time seeing it.

[AF62]

You really have seen a lot of films!

Helps having a Cineworld a few minutes drive away to go with the bargain value Unlimited card, so I tend to go see pretty much everything whether I think it will be any good or not. If it does turn out to be utter rubbish I can leave without it having really cost anything other than a little time, and does occasionally throw up a gem I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Aiming for triple figures this year, so far for 2019 "Bumblebee", "Mary Poppins Returns", "Colette", "The Favourite", and "The Front Runner", with tickets lined up for "Stan and Ollie", "Vice", and "Glass" next week.

As a result of the Unlimited card I did go and see several films twice this summer, not because they were great but because of the heatwave and the cinema had air-conditioning and I could get in for free!

[todthedog]

I really enjoyed

3 Billboards
A quiet place
Leave no trace


Quite enjoyed

Black panther
Favourite

Did not like

Shape of water