Jeff Siniard’s 2018 In Movies
2018 was a big year in film. Resident Cinephile Jeff Siniard breaks down his top movies of the year, dives into some golden oldies, and lets you know the first film he is excited to watch in 2019
This year, I saw 58 movies which were new releases and/or movies I watched for the first time. On a scale of 0–100, 2018’s releases averaged 68.61.
I saw three films this year which I think are legitimate masterpieces (or near-masterpieces), one of which was released this year. There were lots of great films to watch, and still many more to catch up with. Let’s get to it. Unlike traditional reviews, there’s no spoilers here.
My Favorite Movies Released in 2018
I don’t like top 10 lists, as I usually have multiple films with identical scores. With that in mind, I have my 10 favorites from 2018 ranked in tiers:
Tier 1:
Annihilation. Directed by Alex Garland.
I wrote about Annihilation earlier this year for my blog Chasing the Damn Cat. I found it mesmerizing, beautiful, intimate, and unsettling. Seemingly about an extraterrestrial phenomenon landing on Earth, but focuses much more on the horror of change and how much of ourselves we can lose before we don’t recognize what we’ve become. The cast is terrific, and the camera/effects work is beautiful and restrained. Both poignant and terrifying in near-equal measure, with a mind-bending final act. This was the 2018 film I saw which I’d consider a masterpiece (or near masterpiece).
Tier 2:
BlackKklansman. Directed by Spike Lee.
Entertaining dramatization of the true story of a black Colorado Springs police officer who infiltrated the KKK during the 1970s serves as a counter-myth to the racist and falsely romanticized histories of classic films such as Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind. Infuriating, hilarious, and tense in equal measure. The cast is uniformly wonderful.
First Reformed. Directed by Paul Schrader.
Riveting and despairing look at a priest torn between the commercial survival of his church and what he increasingly sees as God calling him to take direct action against monstrous evil. Ethan Hawke is brilliant and without artifice as Reverend Ernst Toller. The film feels like a cry of righteous, impotent anger against a massive, faceless, uncaring machine.
The Rider. Directed by Chloe Zhao.
Immersive, intimate, authentic. Camerawork lingers gently, giving weight to landscapes, faces, and animals with equal respect. Performances, led by a strong Brady Jandreau, are always sincere. Few films probe a “redneck” phenomenon like the modern Midwest rodeo circuit without pandering or condescending; The Rider has tremendous empathy for those who are defined and then destroyed by the thing they love most.
Hold The Dark. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier.
Bleak, melancholic, stark, deliberate, and beautiful. The scenery, set in the wilds of Alaska, is stunning. The small villages at the edge of humanity where much of the story is set (both in Alaska and momentarily in Iraq) act as humanity’s lone and failing bulwark against savagery. The violence is horrific, realistic, and staged for maximum impact — the set piece in the middle of the film is the most realistic and terrifying action sequence I saw in 2018.
Tier 3:
Black Panther. Directed by Ryan Coogler.
Vivid and colorful fantasy world unlike anything seen previously in a blockbuster, though the action scenes are sometimes a little choppy & show-offish. Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger is the most compelling villain thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and serves as a conduit of complicated ideas. In other words — how do you oppose the bad guy when you know in your heart that he’s right?
The Death of Stalin. Directed by Armando Iannucci.
I reviewed this film earlier this year. The pitch-black comedy looks at the bureaucratic chaos/personal grudges of Stalin’s inner circle and mines it for lots of laughs, though those laughs don’t always mesh well with the real atrocities shown and discussed. Tremendous performances and writing on display.
Free Solo. Directed by Jimmy Chen & Elizabeth Vasarhelyi.
The photography is simply jaw-dropping. Free climber Alex Honnold makes for a weirdly compelling yet elusive figure. The story following his love of climbing and his practice in Yosemite (and elsewhere around the world) moves quickly and lucidly. The last 20 minutes showing Honnold’s free solo of El Capitan is the most vertiginous and nerve-shreddingly tense sequence I saw in a theater in 2018.
Widows. Directed by Steve McQueen.
What would otherwise be an entertaining potboiler about 3 widows pulling off a heist is surprisingly much more interested in complicated ideas about race, legacy, gender, and community in Chicago. Violence is brief but bracing. Few films are as specific about their setting or as genuinely interested in how communities tie together.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.
This anthology of six stories is by turns absurd, hilarious, violent, unsettling, melancholy and beautiful, each of which take turns paying tribute to the Western genre while simultaneously savaging Western iconography. For me, all but the sixth story work with the clockwork precision I expect from the Coen brothers.
Other 2018 Movies I Liked
- Avengers: Infinity War. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
- Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster. I wrote about Hereditary here.
- The Incredibles 2. Directed by Brad Bird.
- Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. I wrote about Fallout here.
- A Star Is Born. Directed by Bradley Cooper.
- Game Night. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.
- Filmworker. Directed by Tony Zierra.
- Aquaman. Directed by James Wan.
- Love, Simon. Directed by Greg Berlanti.
- Ready Player One. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
- Crazy Rich Asians. Directed by Jon M. Chu.
- Revenge. Directed by Coralie Fargeat.
Movies Released in 2018 I Still Want to See
- Roma
- First Man
- If Beale Street Could Talk
- Mandy
- Halloween
- Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
- The Favourite
- Eighth Grade
5 Favorite Movies I Saw in 2018 — Regardless of Release Date and not already mentioned above.
The Tree of Life (2011). Directed by Terrence Malick.
This is the other film I saw for the 1st time this year which qualifies for masterpiece status. Stunning imagery assembled like a meditation combines childhood in 1950s Texas with the origins of the universe and life on Earth. All of the actors are terrific, and the film effortlessly conveys the fraught relationships of fathers and sons. No film I saw this year was more emotionally affecting for me than this one was. A mesmerizing, transcendent experience.
Blow Out (1981). Directed by Brian De Palma.
Masterfully crafted to play like a dark joke of America, post John F. Kennedy’s assassination, though you feel De Palma’s rage and sadness at the state of the nation and how easily it allows itself to be fed fairy tales by awful people with awful agendas. John Travolta & Nancy Allen are utterly heartbreaking as images of American earnestness and innocence shattered.
Halloween (1978). Directed by John Carpenter.
This is kind of a cheat — I‘d seen Halloween before, but not in many years. Upon this re-watch, what astonishes me most is the ruthless economy. Carpenter tells you nothing more than what you need to know, and shows you nothing you don’t need to see — both in terms of gore or in explaining Michael Myers. The performances are all highly naturalistic.
Lady Bird (2017). Directed by Greta Gerwig.
Lovely, effortless writing, acting, and directing tell this coming of age story of a young woman in Sacramento in 2002. Unpretentious, observant, and one of few films with real affection for its setting. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are sensational as a daughter and mother whose love comes through most when they’re fighting each other.
Under the Skin (2013). Directed by Jonathan Glazer.
Eerie, unsettling mood accompanies viewing of Earth from an alien’s point of view. Scarlett Johannson is terrific at evoking the other and simultaneously suggesting something human-like. Plays with gender, power, identity questions without ever telegraphing to the audience how to feel.
Worst Movie I Saw in 2018
Tag. Directed by Jeff Tomsic.
Mildly amusing performances and comedic moments don’t offset the laziness in the storytelling and characters. Also, the film is more than a bit mean-spirited in how the characters make awful decisions based on an “ends justify the means” basis. Honestly, the performers are too good for the material.
Most Frustrating Movie I Saw in 2018
A Quiet Place. Directed by John Krasinski.
I went into more detail about A Quiet Place here. It’s an effectively directed and well-acted film with a premise which falls apart under even the slightest scrutiny. If the set-up and story were worthy of the direction and performances, it really could have been a genre classic.
Classic Films I Got to See In Theaters in 2018
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Directed by Stanley Kubrick. The third masterpiece I saw this year, and still the best film I’ve ever seen.
1st 2019 Movie I’m Really Looking Forward To
Ad Astra. Directed by James Gray.
Gray directed my favorite film of 2017, The Lost City of Z. Here, he has Brad Pitt as an astronaut on a mission to Neptune to save the Earth and find his father. With a supporting cast including Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland, I’m hoping Gray can bring his vivid, hypnotic storytelling to science fiction and give us something unique.
What do you think got left off the list of best films of 2018? To get more thoughts from Jeff Siniard and his extensive love for movies, you can follow him @JeffSiniard and read his blog over at chasingthedamncat.blogspot.com
