I'm not going to begin this first blog with an introductory post. I have no time for that and neither do you. So, cutting to the chase, we just had an entire year's worth of films that require my thoughts and I saw everything but The Wife. That's not my fault, that's The Wife's fault. Come on, Sony Pictures Classics, you could have released The Wife in 4,000+ screens in IMAX 3D and you chose not to, meaning I had to wait for a small window of time for it to screen at my nearby theatre for a week only for me to have car troubles that prevented me from going. My bad, movie. And yet, Glenn Close is still winning major televised awards and good for her. The last time a major acting Oscar contender had a film release this small to still be a threat at an Oscar win was Julianne Moore in Still Alice, which was a release so limited, I had to watch an illegal Oscar screener download on my on-its-last-breath dying 2005 Macbook. Here's some advice, SPC, when your film starts getting major recognition, RELEASE YOUR MOVIE TO US. Sorry we couldn't catch it in the one theatre you played it in last summer when we were on our fifth viewing of Mission: Impossible- Fallout. Give it an extra wide release or put it up on streaming already. How can we root for a movie we haven't seen (unless we have a friend of a friend that's a SAG member that has a screener sitting untouched on their dusty bookshelf)? And that's my review of The Wife.
Here's a list of films I saw from this year that I believe deserve thoughts. Not everything I saw, but notable films from this year in alphabetical order that I would feel guilty not mentioning. This isn't a best of the year list (that is at the bottom), this is just a recap of the films that defined 2018. Reminder, I don't see A LOT of shitty films. I have a life. I have air to breathe. I don't have the time or patience for some films. I'm a much healthier person because of that. But there are some stinkers I would like to address starting with...
Annihilation. Just kidding. Annihilation was fantastic. I'm not a prude. Annihilation is as good a follow-up for Alex Garland as we could have hoped for. It's brimming with ideas, constructs, character depth, and existentialism. It gets even better the more it lingers on the brain. It's not as good as Ex Machina in my humble opinion, only because the plot seems like it tries to juggle too much weighty thought for it's own good. Following in the footsteps of high-brow science fiction like 2001: A Space Odyssey (the ultimate goal example for literally every artsy sci-fi film in the past decade) it chooses to show and not tell, which for visual storytelling is definitely a refreshing plus, although at times I wonder if the film even has it's own grasp at what it's trying to tell it's audience. I don't think I'm a dumb person, but I had to really over-explain my analyzation on this film's message when I discussed the film with others to the point where I wondered if I was even remotely correct. But I get the core concepts and it contains one of the scariest scenes I've seen in years, which gives it major brownie points. Also Natalie Portman is a queen.
Avengers: Infinity War. What a big ass movie. It's pretty much the cinematic equivalent of going to Disney California Adventure and not getting to go on every ride you wanted and you have to wait until your next vacation to complete the experience. It's less a concrete film with a three-act story and more just a Comic-Con wet dream come true, which in this case, is exactly what it should be. It's a mammoth of a film, with a scope bigger than most film epics since Return of the King. It's also a film that people only talk about because of the dower cliffhanger ending. Had everything concluded nice and tidy, it still would be a massively fun epic, but the ending gives it its signature punch (or snap). How it gets concluded (or you know, if we're being obvious, "reversed") in the next chapter is something we'll just have to wait and see in April.
BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee's best film, in my personal opinion. Whereas his films have ranged from really good to painfully misguided, from overlong and self-indulgent to intimate and energetic, BlacKkKlansman truly felt like his most accomplished piece of filmmaking. His direction is flashy, but controlled. The script is engagingly suspenseful and comedic. The performances are multi-layered and at times, perfectly humorously self-aware. It's a melding of all of the best elements of great vintage cinema that Lee harnesses with lavishly cool wit yet horrifyingly thought-provoking commentary on our modern history with racism that even still lingers today.
Black Panther is The Lion King meets Skyfall in a Marvel film that feels confident in breaking the mold of traditional basic superhero storytelling and audiences agreed. It says a lot with how this movie connected with the masses given it's the third highest-grossing domestic release of all time. But regardless of how the world reacted to this film, and more locked down to my personal feelings, I just think it's a carefully constructed, well-written epic tale of family and conflict of societal issues that felt beautifully Shakespearean, with great honor towards cultural appreciation, and while there are rough visual moments and shaky dialogue, the entire effect of the film as a whole stands as a great piece of blockbuster entertainment.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a colorful, electric, rock concert of a film and not much more. It says a lot that a musical biopic such as itself managed to snag the hearts of so many audiences, as well as almost $800 million worldwide. A lot of people that find the film merely adequate or mediocre or "offensively bad" may question its popularity. I don't believe it's a bad film at all, rather it just glides along its history with ease and whether or not that appeals to you or if you desired a more in-depth, grimy, darker, and less glossy version of Freddie Mercury's story. It's a bright and breazy film that feels rather conventional and basic for a while before picking up steam in its second half when the focus is more on Freddie's complications with his sexuality rather than the "how the band got together" setup. All arguments for and against Bohemian Rhapsody, in my opinion, are valid. Despite its flaws, I couldn't help but enjoy the film, but regardless of my opinion, the film proved to be an intriguing case of divided opinions and a talking point for discussions and that at the very least should be noted.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a tale of two very unlikable, self-righteous people that form an unlikely bond and unexpectedly earn our hearts. What works here beyond the relationship between Melissa McCarthy (stripped down and raw with conviction) and Richard E. Grant (full of vigor and relishing in flavorful flamboyancy with a touch of untrustworthy persuasiveness) is how these characters never try to be what they are not to the audience. We understand their willingness to make the immoral choices they do and honor their right to commit to their deceptiveness because they riot for respect in a world that never respected them in the first place. As a character piece, Marielle Heller's film is a carefully examined and sharply written portrayal of the "middle-age misfit".
Eighth Grade is as scary a film as Hereditary (discussed below) but for radically different reasons. It traps us inside the mind of eighth grader Kayla Day (a dynamite Elsie Fischer) and forces us to relive that nightmarish time in our youth. Yet throughout its achingly painful realism, writer-director Bo Burnham still manages to find the humor and the heart, as well as documenting a time-capsule film of what the current generation of youth culture is actually like in the technological age while still being able to relate to all generations that have experienced the same thoughts and feelings that Kayla goes through. It's uncomfortable, but it's also tender and nurturing.
The Favourite is a stunning showcase for three supremely talented actresses to flex every raw, dirty, kinky, vivacious, evil, despicable, and conniving muscle they have. Queen Anne (a brash and hilariously shouty, yet tragic Olivia Colman), Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz, as biting and cold-blooded as a snake), and Abigail (a flirtatiously comedic Emma Stone) all prove to be perfect foils for one another. Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos sets this wickedly sharp script in his own funhouse of absurdist and dark fish-eyed lensed direction, which may come off too off-putting and weird for some, but for the right audience, enhances the comedic beats and perfectly blends the hyper-sexual vicious dialogue with the hellishly dark historical setting of Queen Anne's castle, where nothing is as "professional" as the carefully woven, high-contrast dresses and fluffy wigs would suggest.
Hereditary is a massively impressive debut for director Ari Aster who knows exactly how to frame a shot perfectly to provide us with the most unsettling scares. There is almost a sly sense of knowing humor woven throughout the unnerving storyline as though Aster is giggling behind the camera, catching us off-guard, making us drop our jaws, knowing what scares us, and succeeding. It's a master craft in storytelling, with every scene keeping us at the edge of our seats, holding us in suspense with every new bit of information he gives us scene to scene. It leaves us shaken and stirred by the end, but much of what works about Aster's film is squarely on the shoulders of Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, both of them giving Oscar-caliber performances, perfectly portraying the horror of grief and terror as a mother and son discovering their own personal demons amongst their own real haunting.
If Beale Street Could Talk proves that Barry Jenkins is a true talent in the art of filmmaking. While not exactly eclipsing his previous Best Picture Oscar-winner Moonlight, he still manages to bless us with a riveting, yet beautifully soft-spoken tale of love conquers all. Filling our sensations with emotive color backed with the swelling sounds of Nicholas Britell's score, Jenkins once again gives us characters we immediately attach ourselves to (Stephen James and Kiki Layne both powerful and heartfelt, Regina King commanding her screen time) and pray finally find the solace their characters deserve. It's a searingly poetic testament to the power of love.
Leave No Trace is a powerhouse of two raw acting talents (one, the ever reliable Ben Foster, stern yet fragile, and the other, newcomer Thomasin McKenzie, a eye-catching young natural) doing their absolute best to honor a powerful and intimate father-daughter tale of love shielding complicated conflicts between the two. Both have separate needs but feel too strong a bond to separate. The fragile and raw nature of the performances and Debra Granik's writing and direction pack a wallop of an emotional punch and is an example of how much weight such a small film can carry on its back.
Life Itself is a film that thinks its smarter than it's audience when in fact it's about as dumb as a box of rocks. Not every film in this recap of the year is meant to be praised. In fact, I think it's important to include my worst film of the year to note just where rock bottom in filmmaking landed this year. It has a first act so painfully up its own ass, shockingly unaware of it's own stupidity, a second act with hints of promise but ultimately a drag, and a third act that rings out its melodrama like a soggy rag. Filled with revelations that are supposed to make us "ooh" and "ahh" instead have us rolling our eyes so hard we can see our brains (all hopefully filled with smarter "thought" than what was put into the script of this film). An absolute waste of a talented cast, it makes Oscar Isaac annoying and hits Annette Bening with a bus all in the first five minutes. It's a cornucopia of rotten ideas all hodge-podged into one overlong baffling mess of pretentiousness.
Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again was to myself the guiltiest of guilty pleasures I had all year. It is almost medicinal in its laid-back approach to let us as the audience kick back, relax, and be lost in the swaying and poppy discography of ABBA. What made this film special, though, is the way it sneaks up on you in a way that not even the first could accomplish. Whereas Phillida Lloyd's direction in the original came off a bit sloppy and the editing and camerawork not entirely on-beat, Ol Parker's direction for the sequel feels far more confident, giving the film a more assured, clean, and sunny look and his script (with story by him, Richard Curtis, and Catherine Johnson) is filled with snappy zingers and a satisfying parallel structure that finds plenty of emotional beats to tug at our heartstrings with. In the end, throughout all the smiles and laughs, the film ends on a very resonant note that feels incredibly earned and the "you'll laugh, you'll cry" phrase has rarely applied in any film this year more.
Misson: Impossible- Fallout is an insanely operatic display of technical brilliance and a sheer magnitude of displaying the best in what action films can provide. While I believe Christopher McQuarie's direction has slightly lacked the energetic underdog spirit of J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird, his boldness in constructing deftly jaw-dropping sequences and his partnership with Tom Cruise providing us with a stunt-a-minute performance of commitment create fireworks, proving that a sixth film in a franchise can still stand head and shoulders above most movies in its own genre.
Paddington 2 represents the best in what family entertainment can provide. It's a story so earnest in its conviction to tell a story of kindness and love, there is barely a flaw in it. It's comedic elements are perfectly treading the line between innocent sweet slapstick and adult wit and charm. It's heart is always in the right place. But the film isn't just about spreading it's message, it's also a display of amazing filmmaking craft with a warm and cozy palette of bright and intricate visual design, break-neck pacing, tuneful music, creating a package that delights the ears, the eyes, and the heart. Ben Wishaw's soft and tender voicework as the titular bear continues to engage us and Hugh Grant's perfect comic performance ranks as one of the most delightful showcase villain roles in the last decade.
Roma is a work of beauty from a filmmaker so immersed in the art of constructing a film while also so immersed in spreading a story to audiences so near and dear to his heart. Alfonso Cuaron, a master filmmaker of the last two decades (who in his own right has carved his name alongside the Kubrick's and the Fellini's of the modern filmmaking era) astonishes us with breathtaking, visceral filmmaking and shines a stunning personal portrayal of honest and fragile emotional conflict through the eyes of an ordinary woman, dealing with a very intimate issue, in the midst of a harrowingly complicated world of riots and violence surrounding her. Roma is an absolute knockout of filmmaking proportions that will be studied in film classics alongside the greats.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a feast of visual phantasmagoria and comic book-like imagery that is an experience for the eyes alone beyond just being a very good story. Revolutionary in its 2D/3D blend of crisply animated characters amongst beautifully designed backgrounds of wondrous depth, the thing that is most shocking about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, coming from the same studio that gave us The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Venom, is that you can tell that the script came first above everything else. The film is wise with the materials at its disposal. It pulls all the right bits from the mythos of Spider-Man (all interpretations new and old) to construct a story that gives its characters rich depth, pathos, and strong motivations and layers it all with a cool blast of sharp humor, sometimes hitting you so fast, only repeat viewings can you really appreciate every joke.
A Star Is Born is the fourth interpretation of this specific story of one person's loss of respect is another person's gain (and the millionth interpretation of this overall idea) and yet for a story so familiar, director-star Bradley Cooper pulls off a magic trick of cinema in making this tale feel fresh again. Cooper understood the heart of this story in a way that the previous Streisand version could not grasp and that is allowing us to dig deep inside both our leads rather than just the titular starlet. In that, Cooper presents us with a devastatingly powerful and personal story of addiction, regrets, manipulation, honesty, love, heartbreak about two people that desperately need each other. Lady Gaga has a surprise movie-star presence, the soundtrack is instantly memorable, but Cooper as an actor gives the performance of the year, ripping his fragile heart out in front of us and showing us every ounce of his vulnerability.
Three Identical Strangers is a story that uses it's immediate charm to draw you in and then grabs you by the throat and strangles you. The world is not what it seems and sometimes truth and stranger than fiction. It is a film of shocking discoveries about the manipulation of innocent human beings and how people with power over others that can make decisions to benefit their own personal needs, yet bring devastation and heartbreak to those that don't deserve it. See this film with no research and let this story present its reveals to you on its own. The results are powerfully thought-provoking in a documentary that is an absorbing, briskly paced bread-crumb trail of deception and the desire for taking back a life that was stolen from our three leads.
Venom is in a similar situation with Bohemian Rhapsody as a film that stood firmly against its critical backlash to position itself as a massive success. Thankfully for Venom, its approach to its source material proved to be the perfect candy box for audiences with a sweet tooth for a wacky, darkly comedic, gonzo version of this Marvel character. Good for those audiences, but despite its audience appeal, Venom, in my humble opinion, was simply trash. Filled with a handful of clever ideas and a committed Tom Hardy performance, Venom just feels like a studio desperate to throw everything they can at a wall without giving us a story that provides any substance. It was possible for Venom to have its silly fun and provide good characterization, decent dialogue, and a story worth telling that isn't the same old-same old, it just simply isn't interested in doing so, and that, to me, makes it uninteresting. There is an embarrassment of riches for a special kind of audience with this film, but for myself, it's just an embarrassment.
Won't You Be My Neighbor? is a film that we desperately need, which I believe personally is rare for a piece of art. Most movies shouldn't be required, given they are just artistic interpretations of different points of view, but this is a story that is beneficial to the soul, to understand how our kindness and generosity can affect others. No film has really tapped the gooiest centers of the human heart quite like it. For a film that could have been cloying and saccharine, Morgan Neville's film uses Fred Roger's story as a bridge to connect to audiences of all kinds at once, capable of capturing everyone's attention, even the coldest of personalities, to possibly strive to be better, because we can all be better in some way.
Now that I've recapped 20 films from the year, here are my TOP 10 Best Films of the year, as well as my TOP 5 in each Academy-Award style category:
TOP 10 OF THE YEAR
1. Roma
2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
3. Three Identical Strangers
4. A Star Is Born
5. Paddington 2
6. The Favourite
7. BlacKkKlansman
8. If Beale Street Could Talk
9. Eighth Grade
10. Leave No Trace
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
1. Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
2. Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
3. Wes Anderson, Isle of Dogs
4. Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
5. Ari Aster, Hereditary
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Toni Colette, Hereditary
2. Charlize Theron, Tully
3. Elsie Fischer, Eighth Grade
4. Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
5. Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
2. Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
4. Christian Bale, Vice
5. Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Tilda Swinton, Suspiria
2. Olivia Colman, The Favourite
3. Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
5. Blake Lively, A Simple Favor
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
2. Alex Wolff, Hereditary
3. Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
4. Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
5. Russell Hornsby, The Hate U Give
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. The Favourite
2. Eighth Grade
3. Hereditary
4. Sorry to Bother You
5. Roma
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. BlacKkKlansman
2. Paddington 2
3. Leave No Trace
4. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
BEST EDITING
1. American Animals
2. Searching
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
4. Isle of Dogs
5. Sorry to Bother You
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Mandy
2. Roma
3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
4. Thoroughbreds
5. Bad Times at the El Royale
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1. Isle of Dogs
2. The Favourite
3. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald
4. Aquaman
5. Mary Poppins Returns
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
1. Black Panther
2. The Favourite
3. Mary Poppins Returns
4. Mary, Queen of Scots
5. Ocean's 8
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
1. Suspiria
2. Vice
3. Black Panther
4. Deadpool 2
5. Mary, Queen of Scots
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
1. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Ant-Man and the Wasp
4. Ready Player One
5. Isle of Dogs
BEST SOUND MIXING
1. First Man
2. Roma
3. A Quiet Place
4. A Star Is Born
5. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
BEST SOUND EDITING
1. First Man
2. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
3. Roma
4. A Quiet Place
5. Suspiria
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Mary Poppins Returns
3. First Man
4. Isle of Dogs
5. BlacKkKlansman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
1. A Star Is Born, "Shallow"
2. Mary Poppins Returns, "Trip A Little Light Fantastic"
3. Suspiria, "Suspirium"
4. A Star Is Born, "I'll Never Love Again"
5. Anna and the Apocalypse, "Turning My Life Around"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2. Incredibles 2
3. Isle of Dogs
4. Ralph Breaks the Internet
5. Early Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Minding the Gap
4. Free Solo
5. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
2019 is here to bless us with hopefully better or possibly worse films on the horizon. Welcome to the blog while you're here and I hope you enjoy further content as I spew out my pretentious thoughts and judge everything. That wasn't supposed to be a clever line to end this article on, I'm being serious. This could get annoying.Have you seen The Wife? Comment below.
Here's a list of films I saw from this year that I believe deserve thoughts. Not everything I saw, but notable films from this year in alphabetical order that I would feel guilty not mentioning. This isn't a best of the year list (that is at the bottom), this is just a recap of the films that defined 2018. Reminder, I don't see A LOT of shitty films. I have a life. I have air to breathe. I don't have the time or patience for some films. I'm a much healthier person because of that. But there are some stinkers I would like to address starting with...
Annihilation. Just kidding. Annihilation was fantastic. I'm not a prude. Annihilation is as good a follow-up for Alex Garland as we could have hoped for. It's brimming with ideas, constructs, character depth, and existentialism. It gets even better the more it lingers on the brain. It's not as good as Ex Machina in my humble opinion, only because the plot seems like it tries to juggle too much weighty thought for it's own good. Following in the footsteps of high-brow science fiction like 2001: A Space Odyssey (the ultimate goal example for literally every artsy sci-fi film in the past decade) it chooses to show and not tell, which for visual storytelling is definitely a refreshing plus, although at times I wonder if the film even has it's own grasp at what it's trying to tell it's audience. I don't think I'm a dumb person, but I had to really over-explain my analyzation on this film's message when I discussed the film with others to the point where I wondered if I was even remotely correct. But I get the core concepts and it contains one of the scariest scenes I've seen in years, which gives it major brownie points. Also Natalie Portman is a queen.
Avengers: Infinity War. What a big ass movie. It's pretty much the cinematic equivalent of going to Disney California Adventure and not getting to go on every ride you wanted and you have to wait until your next vacation to complete the experience. It's less a concrete film with a three-act story and more just a Comic-Con wet dream come true, which in this case, is exactly what it should be. It's a mammoth of a film, with a scope bigger than most film epics since Return of the King. It's also a film that people only talk about because of the dower cliffhanger ending. Had everything concluded nice and tidy, it still would be a massively fun epic, but the ending gives it its signature punch (or snap). How it gets concluded (or you know, if we're being obvious, "reversed") in the next chapter is something we'll just have to wait and see in April.
BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee's best film, in my personal opinion. Whereas his films have ranged from really good to painfully misguided, from overlong and self-indulgent to intimate and energetic, BlacKkKlansman truly felt like his most accomplished piece of filmmaking. His direction is flashy, but controlled. The script is engagingly suspenseful and comedic. The performances are multi-layered and at times, perfectly humorously self-aware. It's a melding of all of the best elements of great vintage cinema that Lee harnesses with lavishly cool wit yet horrifyingly thought-provoking commentary on our modern history with racism that even still lingers today.
Black Panther is The Lion King meets Skyfall in a Marvel film that feels confident in breaking the mold of traditional basic superhero storytelling and audiences agreed. It says a lot with how this movie connected with the masses given it's the third highest-grossing domestic release of all time. But regardless of how the world reacted to this film, and more locked down to my personal feelings, I just think it's a carefully constructed, well-written epic tale of family and conflict of societal issues that felt beautifully Shakespearean, with great honor towards cultural appreciation, and while there are rough visual moments and shaky dialogue, the entire effect of the film as a whole stands as a great piece of blockbuster entertainment.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a colorful, electric, rock concert of a film and not much more. It says a lot that a musical biopic such as itself managed to snag the hearts of so many audiences, as well as almost $800 million worldwide. A lot of people that find the film merely adequate or mediocre or "offensively bad" may question its popularity. I don't believe it's a bad film at all, rather it just glides along its history with ease and whether or not that appeals to you or if you desired a more in-depth, grimy, darker, and less glossy version of Freddie Mercury's story. It's a bright and breazy film that feels rather conventional and basic for a while before picking up steam in its second half when the focus is more on Freddie's complications with his sexuality rather than the "how the band got together" setup. All arguments for and against Bohemian Rhapsody, in my opinion, are valid. Despite its flaws, I couldn't help but enjoy the film, but regardless of my opinion, the film proved to be an intriguing case of divided opinions and a talking point for discussions and that at the very least should be noted.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a tale of two very unlikable, self-righteous people that form an unlikely bond and unexpectedly earn our hearts. What works here beyond the relationship between Melissa McCarthy (stripped down and raw with conviction) and Richard E. Grant (full of vigor and relishing in flavorful flamboyancy with a touch of untrustworthy persuasiveness) is how these characters never try to be what they are not to the audience. We understand their willingness to make the immoral choices they do and honor their right to commit to their deceptiveness because they riot for respect in a world that never respected them in the first place. As a character piece, Marielle Heller's film is a carefully examined and sharply written portrayal of the "middle-age misfit".
Eighth Grade is as scary a film as Hereditary (discussed below) but for radically different reasons. It traps us inside the mind of eighth grader Kayla Day (a dynamite Elsie Fischer) and forces us to relive that nightmarish time in our youth. Yet throughout its achingly painful realism, writer-director Bo Burnham still manages to find the humor and the heart, as well as documenting a time-capsule film of what the current generation of youth culture is actually like in the technological age while still being able to relate to all generations that have experienced the same thoughts and feelings that Kayla goes through. It's uncomfortable, but it's also tender and nurturing.
The Favourite is a stunning showcase for three supremely talented actresses to flex every raw, dirty, kinky, vivacious, evil, despicable, and conniving muscle they have. Queen Anne (a brash and hilariously shouty, yet tragic Olivia Colman), Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz, as biting and cold-blooded as a snake), and Abigail (a flirtatiously comedic Emma Stone) all prove to be perfect foils for one another. Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos sets this wickedly sharp script in his own funhouse of absurdist and dark fish-eyed lensed direction, which may come off too off-putting and weird for some, but for the right audience, enhances the comedic beats and perfectly blends the hyper-sexual vicious dialogue with the hellishly dark historical setting of Queen Anne's castle, where nothing is as "professional" as the carefully woven, high-contrast dresses and fluffy wigs would suggest.
Hereditary is a massively impressive debut for director Ari Aster who knows exactly how to frame a shot perfectly to provide us with the most unsettling scares. There is almost a sly sense of knowing humor woven throughout the unnerving storyline as though Aster is giggling behind the camera, catching us off-guard, making us drop our jaws, knowing what scares us, and succeeding. It's a master craft in storytelling, with every scene keeping us at the edge of our seats, holding us in suspense with every new bit of information he gives us scene to scene. It leaves us shaken and stirred by the end, but much of what works about Aster's film is squarely on the shoulders of Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, both of them giving Oscar-caliber performances, perfectly portraying the horror of grief and terror as a mother and son discovering their own personal demons amongst their own real haunting.
If Beale Street Could Talk proves that Barry Jenkins is a true talent in the art of filmmaking. While not exactly eclipsing his previous Best Picture Oscar-winner Moonlight, he still manages to bless us with a riveting, yet beautifully soft-spoken tale of love conquers all. Filling our sensations with emotive color backed with the swelling sounds of Nicholas Britell's score, Jenkins once again gives us characters we immediately attach ourselves to (Stephen James and Kiki Layne both powerful and heartfelt, Regina King commanding her screen time) and pray finally find the solace their characters deserve. It's a searingly poetic testament to the power of love.
Leave No Trace is a powerhouse of two raw acting talents (one, the ever reliable Ben Foster, stern yet fragile, and the other, newcomer Thomasin McKenzie, a eye-catching young natural) doing their absolute best to honor a powerful and intimate father-daughter tale of love shielding complicated conflicts between the two. Both have separate needs but feel too strong a bond to separate. The fragile and raw nature of the performances and Debra Granik's writing and direction pack a wallop of an emotional punch and is an example of how much weight such a small film can carry on its back.
Life Itself is a film that thinks its smarter than it's audience when in fact it's about as dumb as a box of rocks. Not every film in this recap of the year is meant to be praised. In fact, I think it's important to include my worst film of the year to note just where rock bottom in filmmaking landed this year. It has a first act so painfully up its own ass, shockingly unaware of it's own stupidity, a second act with hints of promise but ultimately a drag, and a third act that rings out its melodrama like a soggy rag. Filled with revelations that are supposed to make us "ooh" and "ahh" instead have us rolling our eyes so hard we can see our brains (all hopefully filled with smarter "thought" than what was put into the script of this film). An absolute waste of a talented cast, it makes Oscar Isaac annoying and hits Annette Bening with a bus all in the first five minutes. It's a cornucopia of rotten ideas all hodge-podged into one overlong baffling mess of pretentiousness.
Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again was to myself the guiltiest of guilty pleasures I had all year. It is almost medicinal in its laid-back approach to let us as the audience kick back, relax, and be lost in the swaying and poppy discography of ABBA. What made this film special, though, is the way it sneaks up on you in a way that not even the first could accomplish. Whereas Phillida Lloyd's direction in the original came off a bit sloppy and the editing and camerawork not entirely on-beat, Ol Parker's direction for the sequel feels far more confident, giving the film a more assured, clean, and sunny look and his script (with story by him, Richard Curtis, and Catherine Johnson) is filled with snappy zingers and a satisfying parallel structure that finds plenty of emotional beats to tug at our heartstrings with. In the end, throughout all the smiles and laughs, the film ends on a very resonant note that feels incredibly earned and the "you'll laugh, you'll cry" phrase has rarely applied in any film this year more.
Misson: Impossible- Fallout is an insanely operatic display of technical brilliance and a sheer magnitude of displaying the best in what action films can provide. While I believe Christopher McQuarie's direction has slightly lacked the energetic underdog spirit of J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird, his boldness in constructing deftly jaw-dropping sequences and his partnership with Tom Cruise providing us with a stunt-a-minute performance of commitment create fireworks, proving that a sixth film in a franchise can still stand head and shoulders above most movies in its own genre.
Paddington 2 represents the best in what family entertainment can provide. It's a story so earnest in its conviction to tell a story of kindness and love, there is barely a flaw in it. It's comedic elements are perfectly treading the line between innocent sweet slapstick and adult wit and charm. It's heart is always in the right place. But the film isn't just about spreading it's message, it's also a display of amazing filmmaking craft with a warm and cozy palette of bright and intricate visual design, break-neck pacing, tuneful music, creating a package that delights the ears, the eyes, and the heart. Ben Wishaw's soft and tender voicework as the titular bear continues to engage us and Hugh Grant's perfect comic performance ranks as one of the most delightful showcase villain roles in the last decade.
Roma is a work of beauty from a filmmaker so immersed in the art of constructing a film while also so immersed in spreading a story to audiences so near and dear to his heart. Alfonso Cuaron, a master filmmaker of the last two decades (who in his own right has carved his name alongside the Kubrick's and the Fellini's of the modern filmmaking era) astonishes us with breathtaking, visceral filmmaking and shines a stunning personal portrayal of honest and fragile emotional conflict through the eyes of an ordinary woman, dealing with a very intimate issue, in the midst of a harrowingly complicated world of riots and violence surrounding her. Roma is an absolute knockout of filmmaking proportions that will be studied in film classics alongside the greats.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a feast of visual phantasmagoria and comic book-like imagery that is an experience for the eyes alone beyond just being a very good story. Revolutionary in its 2D/3D blend of crisply animated characters amongst beautifully designed backgrounds of wondrous depth, the thing that is most shocking about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, coming from the same studio that gave us The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Venom, is that you can tell that the script came first above everything else. The film is wise with the materials at its disposal. It pulls all the right bits from the mythos of Spider-Man (all interpretations new and old) to construct a story that gives its characters rich depth, pathos, and strong motivations and layers it all with a cool blast of sharp humor, sometimes hitting you so fast, only repeat viewings can you really appreciate every joke.
A Star Is Born is the fourth interpretation of this specific story of one person's loss of respect is another person's gain (and the millionth interpretation of this overall idea) and yet for a story so familiar, director-star Bradley Cooper pulls off a magic trick of cinema in making this tale feel fresh again. Cooper understood the heart of this story in a way that the previous Streisand version could not grasp and that is allowing us to dig deep inside both our leads rather than just the titular starlet. In that, Cooper presents us with a devastatingly powerful and personal story of addiction, regrets, manipulation, honesty, love, heartbreak about two people that desperately need each other. Lady Gaga has a surprise movie-star presence, the soundtrack is instantly memorable, but Cooper as an actor gives the performance of the year, ripping his fragile heart out in front of us and showing us every ounce of his vulnerability.
Three Identical Strangers is a story that uses it's immediate charm to draw you in and then grabs you by the throat and strangles you. The world is not what it seems and sometimes truth and stranger than fiction. It is a film of shocking discoveries about the manipulation of innocent human beings and how people with power over others that can make decisions to benefit their own personal needs, yet bring devastation and heartbreak to those that don't deserve it. See this film with no research and let this story present its reveals to you on its own. The results are powerfully thought-provoking in a documentary that is an absorbing, briskly paced bread-crumb trail of deception and the desire for taking back a life that was stolen from our three leads.
Venom is in a similar situation with Bohemian Rhapsody as a film that stood firmly against its critical backlash to position itself as a massive success. Thankfully for Venom, its approach to its source material proved to be the perfect candy box for audiences with a sweet tooth for a wacky, darkly comedic, gonzo version of this Marvel character. Good for those audiences, but despite its audience appeal, Venom, in my humble opinion, was simply trash. Filled with a handful of clever ideas and a committed Tom Hardy performance, Venom just feels like a studio desperate to throw everything they can at a wall without giving us a story that provides any substance. It was possible for Venom to have its silly fun and provide good characterization, decent dialogue, and a story worth telling that isn't the same old-same old, it just simply isn't interested in doing so, and that, to me, makes it uninteresting. There is an embarrassment of riches for a special kind of audience with this film, but for myself, it's just an embarrassment.
Won't You Be My Neighbor? is a film that we desperately need, which I believe personally is rare for a piece of art. Most movies shouldn't be required, given they are just artistic interpretations of different points of view, but this is a story that is beneficial to the soul, to understand how our kindness and generosity can affect others. No film has really tapped the gooiest centers of the human heart quite like it. For a film that could have been cloying and saccharine, Morgan Neville's film uses Fred Roger's story as a bridge to connect to audiences of all kinds at once, capable of capturing everyone's attention, even the coldest of personalities, to possibly strive to be better, because we can all be better in some way.
Now that I've recapped 20 films from the year, here are my TOP 10 Best Films of the year, as well as my TOP 5 in each Academy-Award style category:
TOP 10 OF THE YEAR
1. Roma
2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
3. Three Identical Strangers
4. A Star Is Born
5. Paddington 2
6. The Favourite
7. BlacKkKlansman
8. If Beale Street Could Talk
9. Eighth Grade
10. Leave No Trace
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
1. Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
2. Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
3. Wes Anderson, Isle of Dogs
4. Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
5. Ari Aster, Hereditary
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Toni Colette, Hereditary
2. Charlize Theron, Tully
3. Elsie Fischer, Eighth Grade
4. Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
5. Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
2. Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
4. Christian Bale, Vice
5. Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Tilda Swinton, Suspiria
2. Olivia Colman, The Favourite
3. Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
5. Blake Lively, A Simple Favor
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
2. Alex Wolff, Hereditary
3. Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
4. Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
5. Russell Hornsby, The Hate U Give
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. The Favourite
2. Eighth Grade
3. Hereditary
4. Sorry to Bother You
5. Roma
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. BlacKkKlansman
2. Paddington 2
3. Leave No Trace
4. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
BEST EDITING
1. American Animals
2. Searching
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
4. Isle of Dogs
5. Sorry to Bother You
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Mandy
2. Roma
3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
4. Thoroughbreds
5. Bad Times at the El Royale
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1. Isle of Dogs
2. The Favourite
3. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald
4. Aquaman
5. Mary Poppins Returns
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
1. Black Panther
2. The Favourite
3. Mary Poppins Returns
4. Mary, Queen of Scots
5. Ocean's 8
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
1. Suspiria
2. Vice
3. Black Panther
4. Deadpool 2
5. Mary, Queen of Scots
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
1. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Ant-Man and the Wasp
4. Ready Player One
5. Isle of Dogs
BEST SOUND MIXING
1. First Man
2. Roma
3. A Quiet Place
4. A Star Is Born
5. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
BEST SOUND EDITING
1. First Man
2. Mission: Impossible- Fallout
3. Roma
4. A Quiet Place
5. Suspiria
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Mary Poppins Returns
3. First Man
4. Isle of Dogs
5. BlacKkKlansman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
1. A Star Is Born, "Shallow"
2. Mary Poppins Returns, "Trip A Little Light Fantastic"
3. Suspiria, "Suspirium"
4. A Star Is Born, "I'll Never Love Again"
5. Anna and the Apocalypse, "Turning My Life Around"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2. Incredibles 2
3. Isle of Dogs
4. Ralph Breaks the Internet
5. Early Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Minding the Gap
4. Free Solo
5. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
2019 is here to bless us with hopefully better or possibly worse films on the horizon. Welcome to the blog while you're here and I hope you enjoy further content as I spew out my pretentious thoughts and judge everything. That wasn't supposed to be a clever line to end this article on, I'm being serious. This could get annoying.Have you seen The Wife? Comment below.
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