My Top Films of 2018

Lists! Movies! Lists about movies! It's the end of 2018 and it's time for my yearly list of my top movies of the year. As usual, these are not necessarily the best films of the year (though I think a few of them are) but a list of my favorites. Films I loved and films I'll be revisiting many times in the future. There's still a few movies out there that I want to get my hands on, but for the most part I saw everything I wanted to see this year. If our lists differ, awesome! I want to know what your favorite movies of the year were!

I want to start by giving out my honorable mentions. These are films that I loved that I think are worth seeing, even if they didn't crack my top ten.Those are: Upgrade, Outlaw King, Thoroughbreds, The Favourite, A Star is Born, and Eighth Grade. And if you only choose to watch one of those, make sure its Eighth Grade. Bo Burnham really gave us something special with his directorial debut.

So let's get started!

Number 10: American Animals

One of the more interesting films I watched this year. Part documentary, part cinematic reenactment, American Animals tells the true story of four college guys in Lexington, Kentucky who attempt one of the most audacious art heists in the history of the United States. By intertwining interviews with the actual art thieves and a beautifully reenactment with some stellar performances, the film succeeds in taking you through this experience. That's why it has to end up on my top ten. I feel like I went through this experience with these guys. From the exciting hope, to the crushing anxiety, to the overwhelming sense of dread. It took me an hour and some calming music in order to restrain my own anxiety after this film. One of the most intense experiences I've had this year, and well worth the watch.

Number 9: Avengers: Infinity War.

Yeah yeah, I know. A Marvel superhero movie in a twenty somethings white guy's top ten list. But look, all film's subjective and the MCU has been a huge part of my life for the past 10 years. To watch it all pay off in the way this movie does was more than satisfying. I also think it has some interesting story decisions built within in. It's a classic Shakespearean tragedy, which is crazy to see in a summer blockbuster. But what really cemented its place in my top ten was the theater experience. This was by far my favorite theater of experience of 2018. Watching and cheering along with a theater full of people is the way these types of movies should be experienced.

Number 8: A Quiet Place

As soon as I walked out of the theater, I had a feeling I'd see it here on my top ten list. John Krasinski had one heck of a directorial debut. Easily one of the most original films of 2018 in both its concept and execution. Yet even with it's science fiction - horror elements, at its heart is a story about the length that parents go to to protect their children.  All of the characters are so well defined, which is incredible to think about given how little dialogue there is in this film. /That moment/ with Krasinski's character is one of my favorite moments this year. If you told me I'd leave the theater in tears after watching a horror film, I'd call you crazy, yet here we are.

Number 7: Lean On Pete

Yes, somehow the horse movie made my top ten. But don't get me wrong, this isn't your typical horse girl movie. This is one of the rawest, emotional films I saw this year. It would have been very easy for this to stray either too far into your typical horse flick or your typical melodrama, but Lean On Pete rides that line perfectly and ends up being extremely raw and human. Part of that success is the wonderful direction by Andrew Haigh, but most of that success belongs to newcomer Charlie Plummer. He delivers one of my favorite performances of the year and I can't wait to see his career flourish.

Number 6: Roma

This film is near perfect. I'm a huge fan of Alfonso Cuaron. He's given us the modern classics that is Children of Men, he's given us one of the best science fiction movies in Gravity, and he changed the Harry Potter universe forever with The Prisoner of Azkaban. But with Roma he delivers by far his most personal film yet. Roma is near flawless. It feels alive, it feels real, it feels human. The technical achievements are jaw dropping and I was in a state of constant awe. It's by far the most beautiful shot film of the year. And when my jaw wasn't on the floor, there were tears in my eyes. Roma is truly as good as it gets.

Number 5: Bad Times at the El Royale

With an all star cast, including Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, and Chris Hemsworth as the standout villain, Bad Times at the El Royale is one of the best thrillers in recent memory. With some of the best production design and cinematography this year, Drew Godard really establishes the El Royale as a real physical place that only adds to the intensity of the film. Add on top of all that with some themes of morality and religion, you've got basically the perfect "Collin movie." I'm going to be revisiting this one for years to come.

Number 4: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Into the Spiderverse is easily the best animated movie of the year. It's even the best superhero film of the year, and one of the best since The Dark Knight. Trust me when I say you haven't seen a film like this before. The animation itself is worth the price of admission, but the true heart of this film is in its beautifully crafted characters. This is the movie I'm going to show my future kids to not only introduce them to who spider-man is and the superhero genre in general, but introduce them to just how beautiful cinema can really be. This movie is a breath of fresh air, it's truly phenomenal. 

Number 3: Mission Impossible: Fallout

If you injected this movie straight into my veins for the rest of my life, I'd never need to sleep again. This is the best action film of the year, and the second best of this past decade (right before Fury Road.) Tom Cruise is a mad man, I'll never get over seeing that HALO jump for the first time. It's the absolute best version of this film that could possibly exist. It knows what it is and executes it flawlessly. Not only does this film stand on its own, but it's also a love letter to all the ones to come before it. Plus watching Henry Cavill's shotgun arms is one of the purest cinematic pleasures of 2018.

Number 2: Paddington 2

Speaking of purest cinematic pleasures, a purer movie doesn't exist than Paddington 2. I believe whole heartedly, if everyone watched this movie the world would be a better place. The performances across the board are all wonderful, and this is by far Hugh Grants best performance to date. This movie hits every beat flawlessly and left me crying happy tears at the end. I'll be re-watching this movie until I die.

Number 1: First Man

Damien Chazelle has made two of my favorite films of all time. La La Land never fails to bring me joy, and Whiplash is a film that will be remembered as a classic, I'm sure of it. Somehow Chazelle does it again with First Man. I love this movie with all my heart. This movie takes a big risk. Instead of making a film about the moon landing itself, it chooses to show it through the subjective and emotional point of view of Niel Armstrong. It starts with him joining NASA, and ends with him returning to his wife. I won't spoil anything, but the emotional through line of this movie is paid off in such a way that left me floored. The technical achievements are astounding. Damien Chazelle decides to play everything from a subjective perspective. You're inside the spacecraft everytime, I don't believe you're ever outside of it while its in flight. It feels like you're right there with them. Let me tell you, the first shot on the moon took my breath away. Ryan Gosling is brilliant as usual and Claire Foy is the truly the anchor this movie needed. Chazelle took me to the moon and my little space boy heart can never repay him for it.

Judging a Film Within its Context: Avengers Infinity War

           

 

              I was 14 when Captain America: The First Avenger first came to theaters. It was one of the first films that I remember getting super excited about seeing in the theater. (For most of my childhood, I hated the theater; sorry mom and dad.) So excited in fact, that I made my very own Captain America shield out of cardboard and duct tape. I remember being completely exhilarated and unashamed, as a cute girl asked for a picture with me, or the manager of the movie theater walking by and complimenting my efforts and hoping that I enjoyed the film.

                I’ve grown up with the Avengers. The first Iron Man came out when I was 11 years old. I’m 21 now, so for all intents and purposes that’s half my lifetime. They started coming out right when I started to really get into movies. The First Avenger really gave me my first look into a movie that had ideas of morality and right and wrong that I as a kid could understand and digest.

                Here I am, 7 years later, a little older, a little wiser, and a few different Avengers movies sitting on my movie shelf to my right. My movie taste has grown with me. I’ve started to go past surface level and really dig deep into what makes a movie great. No longer am I purely enraptured by the action or seeing my favorite superhero on screen, but I’m entranced by good story telling.

                Good storytelling. 19 different movies, different stories, are now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each movie interconnected with the next and each movie pushes the narrative of the universe as a whole. That’s unprecedented in film history.

                That leaves me with a bit of a problem. Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of 10 years of film. It’s impossible to judge it based on just the film itself, and there’s a large part of me that think it needs to be. It needs to be judged as a singular entity, just like every other movie out there. I want to treat it like I would La La Land, or Get Out, or Mad Max: Fury Road. I want to think through it and review like I would any other film that I go see in the theater.

                But here’s the thing: context matters. Every film is surrounded by outside context. Would Get Out have been so successful and so incredible if it didn’t come out when it did? Even Fury Road has context, desire it being a removed sequel, being released during 2015 during a resurgence of the feminist movement. Outside influences will always affect how we view films. That can be socially or personally. La La Land doesn’t affect everyone like it affects me, sadly.
                Any movie I’ve ever seen won’t be judged purely on its own merits. There will always be outside contexts that will affect how I view a film.

                This leads me back to Avengers: Infinity War. The fact remains, that it is the culmination of 10 years, 19 different films. It’s not fair to judge it out of that context, just like it would be unfair to Get Out to judge it out of its context. Whether or not you’re tired of the context is a different story altogether, but Infinity War needs to be seen as the end game of the MCU. It’s unfair to it to be seen as anything else.

                So I’ll be there at 7 PM, my butt in the theater, incredibly excited for the end of this chapter. There will be plenty of laughing, plenty of shocked expressions, and plenty of tears I’m sure. (There will be open weeping if Cap dies.) I’m going to go and enjoy this movie for what it is: the culmination of my childhood.