Movies I've Seen in 2018

[shadowfireflame]

A guide for me to keep track of everything. Please ask if you’re interested in any of them! :)

Previous years: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017



::: Animation :::

• Boss Baby (very sweet and fun movie about sibling rivalry)


• Coco (great exploration of culture and family values)


• Hotel Transylvania 3 (disappointing, dramatic drop in quality from the first two)


• Isle of Dogs (finally, a Wes Anderson movie I really enjoyed! His style translates very well to make Japan just as quirky a setting as those in his other films)


• Perfect Blue (twisty thriller anime about an idol with a seriously creepy stalker, very well done and distressing, warning for rape scene)


• Watership Down (well-done Netflix mini-series about rabbit wars, based on the classic novel. Quite moving)

::: Documentaries :::

• Fyre Fraud (Hulu documentary, great!)


• FYRE: the Greatest Party that Never Happened (Netflix documentary, great!)


• Overnight (about the writer-director of Boondock Saints and his failure to make a career in Hollywood)


• You Are Here: A Come From Away Story (really moving story about the people of Newfoundland when they unexpectedly hosted people in planes forced to ground on 9/11

::: In-Theater Movies :::

• Annihilation (beautiful and metaphorical symbolic exploration of cancer, but could have been more obviously about the human condition to put it at Arrival-tier; this director’s Ex Machina was better)


• Ant Man and the Wasp (enjoyable, I liked it better than the first one)


• Avengers: Infinity War (very well-made and entertaining; I loved how they personified the universe-killer villain Thanos and made him relatable)


• Black Panther (amazingly intelligent and well-made, though it could have been more emotionally resonant)


• Bohemian Rhapsody (a bit by-the-numbers for a Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic, but I loved it and found it totally enjoyable)


• Burn the Stage (a Korean documentary about my beloved K-pop group BTS! This was a lighter companion piece to their Youtube Red series, fun and touching)


• Crazy Rich Asians (wonderfully sweet and fresh; I loved Michelle Yeoh’s understated take on her character)


• Deadpool 2 (I actually loved it! I liked the first one, but loved this one. So funny with cutting wit but also a point to make)


• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (better than the first one, but still a narrative mess)


• The House with a Clock in its Walls (weird but entertaining enough, Cate Blanchett was really nice)


• I Feel Pretty (falls flat in certain parts but overall fun)


• Incredibles 2 (I LOVED THIS, even better than the first one. Timely, positive messages about family and feminism)


• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Jack Black steals the show by playing a confident teenage girl in this light and entertaining movie)


• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (extreme plot holes but still fun, wish they’d stayed on Isla Nublar longer)


• The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (bad, flat screenplay with several plot holes and no story to tell, though the acting and effects were good)


• Oceans 8 (a bit underwhelming, but still lots of fun with terrific casting)


• Pacific Rim Uprising (suuuch a disappointment after the incredible first one; this had no atmosphere or rising sense of urgency at all)


• Solo: A Star Wars Film (had some inspired parts like Lando and the droid L3, but overall just sort of meh)


• A Wrinkle in Time (a cheesy mess, but worth seeing anyway for its ambition and emotionality)

::: Other Films :::

• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (series of 5 short Western films by the Coen brothers. Some are silly, others are incredibly sad. There were missed opportunities to make the stories more powerful and realistic.)


• The Darkest Hour (superb, with acting/makeup so sublime you forget Gary Oldman is acting and not just Churchill)


• Game Over, Man (has occasional funny moments, but overall very silly and with strangely homophobic running themes)


• The Girl with All the Gifts (really well-made zombie drama)


• The Greatest Showman (genuinely bad movie but some good songs)


• Lady Bird (well-crafted, very realistic and thoughtful relationship between a mother and daughter)


• Lion (moving story about a little boy in India who was lost thousands of miles away from his home and ended up adopted in Australia)


• Phantom Thread (fascinating portrayal of a BSDM relationship)


• Point Break (2017 version, silly of course but cool extreme sports bromances)


• Rampage (so bad it became funny)


• Tulip Fever (too much sex and not enough about the economics of the Dutch tulip craze in 1636)


• The Zookeeper’s Wife (a very interesting story about how the Warsaw Zoo in Poland secretly sheltered over 300 Jewish people during WWII)

::: Film (Non-English) :::

• Bluebeard (a twisty Korean serial killer drama)
• Kedi (Turkey, a beautiful documentary that follows the lives of the many cats in Istanbul)

::: TV / Drama :::

• Teen Titans GO! (binge-watched all of this and loved it all)