Film Recommendations from 2018
Although 2018 had some fantastic films, some of them weren’t that well marketed. Here I will show you the few that may have slipped through your radar. As this article will be used for recommending movies you either didn’t get round to watching or maybe even never heard of, I will try to include as few spoilers as possible.
The Commuter starts off my list as a spy thriller filmed mostly within a train. The premise is that a regular commuter is told to do a simple task to earn a lot of money. It quickly descends into madness and we get an interesting ‘one room’-like film. It isn’t a revolutionary piece, but it’s well paced and has a great cast to support the story. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks and Sam Neill.
I was quite excited in the lead up to Black Panther’s release and wow I was not disappointed. Great themes and character building throughout. Includes one of the best Marvel villains in the MCU so far. Also an amazing soundtrack blending styles of music from around the world by Ludwig Göransson and some great tracks from Kendrick Lamar. I did an article last year on this film’s impact against Infinity War, take a read if you wish. Directed by Ryan Coogler, Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.
I was expecting Annihilation to be a little artsy as the film is directed by Alex Garland who also directed Ex Machina. Though the film takes it above what I was expecting and creates a bizarre world with its own bizarre rules. There’s not much else that I can describe about its story and characters without getting into spoilers, but the visual and sound design of this film is enough of a reason to go and see it. Weird but wonderful. Directed by Alex Garland, Starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny and Benedict Wong.
Isle of Dogs has some great cinematography along with the traditional tropes of any Wes Anderson film. If anything, this is what stops the film from becoming one of the best films of the year. I enjoyed it, and would suggest that you go and watch it for yourself, but it is over stylised leading to unnecessary sequences and visuals. If it only tuned everything down and focused more on the fantastic characters and character arcs it had created, it probably would end up being the best film of the year. Though I must emphasise again, it is a great film and I highly recommend that people check it out. Directed by Wes Anderson, Starring Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe and Liev Schreiber.
From every poster I saw, A Quiet Place didn’t look any different to the multitude of horror films out there. However, the film works incredibly well with its use of sound. The story, characters and threats the characters face are all perfectly linked with the use, or in this case the absence, of sound. Never has the cinema been so quiet when major story details are unfolding. Not only great technical work, but the film also incorporates the story and its characters in very well. Directed by John Krasinski, Starring John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe.
I actually talked about Avengers: Infinity War in two separate articles I wrote which go into more depth about my thoughts on this, but to give a short explanation here: The film surprised me with how much they focused on Thanos and his personal journey through the film while also managing to incorporate a lot of the characters in the MCU into it. Good fun with a weird but heartwarming central relationship at its core made it as my favourite film of 2018. Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Josh Brolin.
Revenge is what you think it is, a simple revenge story. It’s not the best film in its genre, nor is it the best in its genre for the last five years, but it stands out as one of the films this year to try out. It gives you great action along with some excellent camerawork and a distinct, strong visual identity. Quite a graphic film, so I wouldn’t watch if you are easily put off by gore and extreme violence as it makes you feel each and every ounce of pain. Subtle soundtrack. Directed by Coralie Fargeat, Starring Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchède and Jean-Louis Tribes.
Deadpool 2 comes back at us with more of the same from the first Deadpool. But it did it fantastically without a dull moment in the film. It’s a good sign that the writing hasn’t got formulaic and that, for now, Deadpool sequels can work. If you want to read whether I think it can stay that way, you can read the article I wrote about Deadpool 2. Directed by David Leitch, Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller and Brianna Hildebrand.
Although Solo: A Star Wars Story got a lot of criticism, even leading to Disney pulling or delaying other projects, I still think it is a film worth watching. It’s definitely not up to the same standard of other Star Wars films, but it is fun and the cast makes up superbly for the mediocre storyline. Again, I did a review on it which you can read here. Directed by Ron Howard, Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo and Paul Bettany.
American Animals mixes the genres of documentary and heist films to give us quite a unique drama experience. Based on the real life events of a robbery of rare books from a library in Transylvania University, it switches between scenes of actors depicting events that happened and the real people involved telling their side of the story. It uses great techniques to show that the story isn’t one hundred percent known and that, like any story involving multiple people, there are many different variations of what happened. Heavily underrated and something you might not have ever heard of. Directed by Bart Layton, Starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson and Ann Dowd.
One film I struggle as to whether I should place on this list is Hereditary. For all the hype and glory surrounding the picture, I was most definitely disappointed. However, that’s not to say it is a bad film. The whole thing was constructed well and kept things enough in the dark and reveals some of them at the right times. The characters and acting was at least an above average quality, and some of the cinematography was outstanding. But the thing that nearly stopped me from including it in my recommendations was that everytime the film did something horrific, a common reaction from me was laughter. Maybe I’ve gone mad myself, but some of the ‘horror’ they show is presented bizarrely or with actors pulling weird faces. Either way, I came to the conclusion that it’s something you should at least give a chance. Directed by Ari Aster, Starring Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne and Ann Dowd. (No, that’s not a mistake).
Incredibles 2 easily lives up to the success of its predecessor. It’s fun, funny and gives you reasonable character arcs to follow. I can’t remember if the first one was particularly funny (going to have to go back to it at some point), but this one had me laughing all the way through. Nothing too amazing, but consistently amusing. One of the only downsides to the film is that the story is incredibly (no pun intended) easy to predict. Not surprising, and easily forgivable, since it is a film intended for younger audiences. But I happily sat through it and enjoyed it nonetheless. Directed by Brad Bird, Starring Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huckleberry Milner, Samuel L. Jackson, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, Brad Bird, Jonathan Banks and Eli Fucile.
Ant-Man and the Wasp took what the original had and turned it up to eleven. Story and characters are either better or on the same level as they were in the first film, the comedy had the same highs as the first but kept hitting that high on a much more consistent basis. Visuals, especially costume design, were great and on a much more appropriate colour scale. The visual identity of the first was a little lacking for me, using way more muted colours than a film of this style should. Great fun, and a nice breather considering the last MCU film released was the great dusting of Avengers: Infinity War. Directed by Peyton Reed, Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Douglas.
The most bizarre and surreal film this year has to go to Sorry to Bother You. It tracks Cassius Green as he quickly ascends the telemarketing world. But as he ascends through the ranks, he has to choose between making a decent living or standing up for what he believes is right. The film has very surreal scenes using great storytelling techniques, but also manages to keep the film at a very human level. Sorry to Bother You asks great questions, and, although it doesn’t answer many of them, it gives very good food for thought as well as being an insane ride to take. Directed by Boots Riley, Starring Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, Armie Hammer and Kate Berlant as well as voice roles from David Cross, Lily James, Patton Oswalt and Rosario Dawson.
Eighth Grade not only perfectly encapsulates what being a fourteen-year-old school kid is like, but also goes deep into some of the more disturbing and crazy stuff that kids can go through or experience due to being in that bizarre place of awkwardness and starting to be given responsibility that they aren’t ready for. Bo Burnham starts off strong with this directorial debut, including some great ways to integrate technology. Also includes a great soundtrack. Directed by Bo Burnham, Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Catherine Oliviere, Jake Ryan and Luke Prael.
Spike Lee is a great director, but sometimes his films can fall very flat. Luckily, BlacKkKlansman is not one of those times. It tells the true story of a black police officer who infiltrated the KKK. The film is typical good Spike Lee. It has great characters, a killer soundtrack, fantastic editing and some nice non-linear story sections. And even though it’s telling a story of a very tense and serious nature, Lee manages to sneak in his usual wit through dialogue. Good fun while also being a serious story. Directed by Spike Lee, Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Pääkkönen and Ryan Eggold.
Operation Finale is a biopic on the capture of Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the holocaust. The film follows a group of Israeli intelligence officers as they initially uncover Eichmann’s location, capture him and attempt to escape with him out of Argentina so they can trial him in Israel. Like most biopics, there’s nothing particularly exciting or experimental about the cinematography or sound design, but it gives a good focus on the people who carried out the apprehension and their struggle to not simply kill him before he stands trial. Directed by Chris Weitz, Starring Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, Joe Alwyn, Michael Aronov, Ohad Knoller, Greg Hill, Torben Liebrecht and Pêpê Rapazote.
Mandy is another fantastic revenge flick from this year. While the previously mentioned Revenge made you feel every ounce of pain the characters experience in the picture, this one amps the violence itself to an almost comical level. The story is incredibly simple, like most revenge flicks, but the calibre of acting in the film reduces the need for a complicated plot line. Great visual identity; bizarre feel to the film but it results in a fantastic two hours. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, Starring Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Bill Duke, Richard Brake, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Line Pillet, Clément Baronnet, Alexis Julemont, Ivailo Dimitrov, Kalin Kerin and Tamás Hagyuó.
Although I’m loving current MCU, Venom brought a nice change from the chain of their films. The start of a planned Venom series of films, it gives us a reasonable story with some okay action and surprisingly great comedy value. It’s another one of those okay but super fun films you need to sit back and simply enjoy. I go further into detail in my review I posted last week. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Starring Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate and Scott Haze.
First Man is a biopic telling the story of Neil Armstrong and the lead up to the Apollo 11 moon landing. For many americans, the story and most of its details are probably common knowledge. But for us outside of the US, the film gives us some additional details to make a compelling film from the point of view of the first man on the moon. Story and character wise, nothing in particular stands out, but then it is a true story. However, the visuals for this film are great. Not only the scenes of the moon, but also some of the visual storytelling the filmmakers use in this picture. A good film for all to see. Directed by Damien Chazelle, Starring Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Pablo Schreiber, Patrick Fugit, Lukas Haas and Ciarán Hinds.
Not only does Bad Times at the El Royale have an outstanding visual identity, great cinematography and a killer soundtrack. The film is also pumped with a fantastic non-linear storyline along with a mix of great characters. All of them are staying at the El Royale hotel with completely separate intentions for their night there, but all of them end up fighting to survive. Quite underrated, easily one of my favourite films of the year. Some dark undertones but overall a tense story with some unexpected twists. Directed by Drew Goddard, Starring Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth and Nick Offerman.
Bohemian Rhapsody can hardly go wrong while tracking Freddie Mercury’s time through Queen up until the Live Aid concert. It goes without saying that the soundtrack is fantastic, featuring many of the band’s hits. Although there are apparently a few inaccuracies in the film, the story and characters make sense and fit well with their real life counterparts. If you are a fan of Queen, you’re a fan of this film. Plain and simple. Directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher, Starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers and Aaron McCusker.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald wasn’t as bad as I had heard. It gives us a reasonable story centred around Grindelwald and Credence from the previous film in the series. Although there are numerous great moments and story decisions, the amount of characters and subplots they journey on throughout the film suffocate the whole thing, causing the film to be a bit of a mess. I certainly hope that the further sequels we end up getting focus on a smaller number of plotlines, especially around the characters of Grindelwald and Dumbledore. To be honest, I’d rather the film series be focused around them entirely and remove the idea of Newt being the main character in these films altogether. I like Newt, and a film series that is actually based around him would be good, but this series is turning into the Dumbledore films rather than the Newt films, and I feel this will end up making all future films have no direction and identity. However, I enjoyed myself while watching the film, and am incredibly excited to see more screen time for both Grindelwald and Dumbledore. Directed by David Yates, Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Jude Law and Johnny Depp.
Green Book is another biopic from the year about bouncer at the Copacabana Club who ends up driving pianist Dr. Don Shirley around as he performs his tour around the southern states of America. The film has a very warm heart to it, using the lens of race relations in sixties America to tell a story about friendship and empathy. A solid main cast brings the film up quite a few notches than it would have been without the standard of acting presented here. Directed by Peter Farrelly, Starring Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini, Dimeter Marinov and Mike Hatton.
And that wraps up 2018. Lots of potentially great films coming out next year, including: Glass, Serenity, Happy Death Day 2U, Captain Marvel, Us, Pet Sematary, Hellboy, Avengers: Endgame, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Dark Phoenix (finally), Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Lion King, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The New Mutants, It: Chapter Two, Joker, Zombieland 2 and Star Wars: Episode IX. Though for this year, a few good ones slipped through a few people’s fingers.
I hope they remember you.
-Boad
Originally published at bodaciousboad.wordpress.com on January 28, 2019.
