Movies of 2018

While more films are being streamed on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and the like these days, I still prefer the experience of watching a film on a giant screen in the dark surrounded by strangers. As long as theaters continue to exist, I’ll continue to make the pilgrimage. Here are some of the movies that kept me going out to the cinema in 2018:

1. Sorry to Bother You - Boots Riley has always been a really interesting provocateur. His latest project really resonates with me as someone who spent years in low-paying menial work, laboring under bastard bosses. Riley’s style has more than a touch of Spike Lee to it; indeed, this is exactly the kind of movie that Spike should be doing now. Maybe they can get together on the next project?

2. Eighth Grade - Bo Burnham’s debut is a stunner, featuring Elsie Fisher as 13 year-old Kayla Day trying desperately to navigate the treacherous waters of middle school. She gets very little help from her hapless father Mark. The pool party scene where she walks the gauntlet in a bathing suit in front of her peers is one for the ages.

3. A Quiet Place - John Krasinski’s inventive new horror film, “A Quiet Place, is clearly inspired by Jordan Peele’s effort in “Get Out.” The hook in this one is that it’s almost entirely silent, with subtitled sign language. It also exists on a really small scale. Just one family headed by Krasinski and Emily Blunt who are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic period in which monsters who are blind and hunt by sound have taken over. The sheer contrast between the 80% of the film that is silent or quiet and the loud punctuations is truly terrifying - one of the really scary films I’ve seen recently.

4. Vice - Adam McKay’s new film is no mere standard biopic of Dick Cheney; is an agit prop tour de force that mirrors McKay’s last film, “The Big Short,” in its style and ambition. McKay’s efforts are aided mightily by a superlative cast highlighted by Christian Bale who absolutely inhabits Cheney’s persona and Sam Rockwell whose slapstick take on George W. Bush is a thing to behold. Conservatives will no doubt remain unconvinced by McKay’s take on the Bush era events, which the filmmaker ironically anticipates in an Easter Egg segment at the end of the credits. However, it’s a handy reminder to progressives at a time when some among us have grown sentimental about the Bush era figures in the Trump moment.

5. Puzzle - Marc Turteltaub’s indie film was marketed as a rom com, but it’s not really - not a lot of romance or comedy, to be fair - but just a small-scale drama about a bored housewife who takes up jigsaw puzzling with a partner she finds through an ad in a game store. The ingenious thing about the movie is that it never takes the obvious turns. Just when you think that you’re going to see romance blossom, for example, it doesn’t. Just when you think that you’ll see a triumphant tournament scene, they decide not to show it. That’s not really the point - the point is to show these lives in full focus. It’s a lovely film.

6. A Star is Born - Bradley Cooper was somehow miraculously able to squeeze something new out of a story that has now seen four iterations. Cooper is good as the aging rock star prone to excess, but it is Lady Gaga who carries the story from the moment she steps on screen belting out a version of Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose.” Cooper was right to insist that Gaga start the movie stripped of her usual artifice, which she later layers on in her 21st century pop idol guise. The musical numbers hold up and it’s a very entertaining evening at the movies.

7. A Simple Favor - I am a sucker for a good twisty thriller, and “A Simple Favor” is certainly that. Anna Kendrick plays an overambitious mom who puts the other moms in the PTA to shame. She attracts the interest of Blake Lively, a working mom who needs some extra help. From that simple premise, this noir spins off in a million different directions. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, Paul Feig goes in another direction.

8. Fahrenheit 11/9 - Michael Moore may not have the profile that he once had after back-to-back commercial successes with “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11.” However, he continues to make important, progressive agitprop documentary films. His latest takes its title from the numerical confluence of the WTC attacks and the Trump election. The most impressive material, as usual, concerns Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, his long time muse from the days of “Roger and Me.” Indeed, he might have been wiser to just make a documentary about the Flint water crisis and leave it at that.

9. The Death of Stalin - Is there any political satirist working now that is sharper than Armando Ianucci? The irascible Scots director assembled an all-star cast, including Michael Palin and Steve Buscemi, to play the Kremlin inner-circle in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet dictator’s death. Any resemblance to the current gang in the White House is purely coincidental, right?

10. Back to Burgundy - Cedric Klapisch’s lovely new film made me want to book a spring trip to Auxerre. It’s the story of three siblings raised on a vineyard in Burgundy who come together after the death of their father to keep the family business going. The harvest celebration alone is worth visiting with these characters for a couple of hours.

Notable Others:

• Black Panther
• Blockers
• The Book Club
• Get Me Roger Stone
• Hereditary
• Love, Simon
• Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
• Tag

Still to See:

• Black KKKlansman
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Can You Ever Forgive Me?
• Cold War
• The Favorite
• First Reformed
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Mary Queen of Scots
• Roma
• The Shoplifters

Disappointments:

Isle of Dogs - When Wes Anderson’s new film came out in the spring, I was reluctant to see it. I’ve never been much for animated films, even those intended for an adult audience. But, for Wes, I’m willing to give anything a try. Unfortunately, my initial impress was correct. Five minutes into the film, I had had it with the faux Japanese theme and the silly voiceover. I bailed out.

You Were Never Really Here - Joaquin Phoenix has become more of a goofball with every performance. I appreciate that he takes risks with roles but at this point he’s a bag of Method Acting tics.

I’d love to hear about the movies that you enjoyed this year.