Movie buffs have had a great time in 2018, with some great movies coming out, both on the commercial and the indie level! It’s also been an incredible year for comic-based movies. The wealth of great features has made it very difficult to narrow this list down, but we’ve tried anyway. As part of our Roundup 2018, here are our picks for the top movies of the year.
This movie came out of nowhere and is a remake of the old Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson original from 1976. The first movie was never rated that highly, but it defied the odds and somehow became a classic. The remake features Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and has been incredibly well-received, amazing viewers and critics alike. It turns out that Lady Gaga really can act, and, perhaps more surprisingly, Bradley Cooper can sing!
Despite being the first black superhero when he was first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in 1966, Black Panther was never regarded as one of Marvel’s heavy hitters. This all changed in 2018, under the helm of director Ryan Coogler. Black Panther came almost out of nowhere and made an incredible mark on box office records worldwide! Wakanda, the fictional homeland of T’Challa, is now better known than many real-world countries, and that’s no small feat.
Hot on the heels of Black Panther, Marvel went ahead and crushed our collective souls with Avengers: Infinity War, in which we get to see almost half of our favourite super-heroes…dusted. Tying with Black Panther in second place, Infinity War provided a compelling villain with Thanos and truly felt like the epic yarn Marvel has been building up towards for 18 movies! Ever since we first saw Robert Downey Jr. craft and then don his Iron Man suit we’ve seen the MCU universe expanding mercilessly. Infinity War tied everything together.
The mystery of the Infinity Stones was explained! The sane/insane ambitions of Thanos the Titan were finally laid bare! The cosmic space adventures of the Guardians of the Galaxy merged with the rest of the MCU! The mysticism introduced with Dr. Strange and the sheer might of the Avengers came together! We also saw a reconciliation of sorts between Captain America and Tony Stark after they’d been torn apart by the events of Civil War.
Marvel has perfected their formula for the MCU, and the Russo brothers have managed to tell an epic tale without forgetting the moments that make us care for this massive cast of characters. So yes, we’re all just sitting on the edge of the edge of our seats, waiting for Avengers: Endgame!
For years, we’ve seen Hollywood fail abysmally at portraying social media in movies. This year two movies nailed it; Searching, which is entirely shot on computer monitors (and pulls it off!) and Eighth Grade, about a young girl trying to fit into her world. We highly recommend that you watch both if you haven’t already, but we’re giving this position to Eighth Grade. Not only did Eighth Grade nail social media, but it also nailed the agonies and struggles of a teenage girl just trying to make it past her disastrous eighth-grade. Heartfelt, sincere, and with an incredible career-making performance by Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade is at times heart-crushing and at times hilarious.
At last, a sequel to the 2004 Pixar classic that borrowed heavily from the Fantastic Four but still managed to be a hilarious superhero movie. Like the first one, Incredibles 2 was also written and directed by Brad Bird and blasts on all cylinders. The action sequences are incredible, the graphics are joyous and colourful, the art direction is superb, and the jokes keep coming. Fun for both kids and adults, some of whom might’ve been kids when the first one came out! Also – if you enjoy this don’t forget to watch the incredible (I see what you did there – ed) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse unless you’re suffering Marvel fatigue!
More an anomaly than a film, only time will tell how critics will end up feeling about The Other Side of the Wind. This movie was directed by Orson Welles, a cinematic legend whose movie ‘Citizen Kane’ was shot without any previous directorial experience. Despite that, Kane remains one of the most highly regarded movies in history with an unblemished 100 rating on Metacritic. The Other Side of the Wind was only completed this year, more than 40 years after it first went into production, and long after Welles’ death.
In a strange twist of fate, the movie is about a Hollywood director emerging from semi-exile with plans to complete work on an innovative motion picture. The very fact that this movie exists at all is a wonder and a testament to the enduring influence of Orson Welles and the power that Netflix now wields. Regardless of how you feel about Orson Welles or Citizen Kane, this movie is a historic event that you’ll need to see if you want to keep your cinema buff cred intact!
