The Best Films of 2018

From coming-of-agers to classy horror to everything in between, here are the best films of 2018, or rather, my favorite films of 2018, preceded by an Honorable Mention list.

Honorable Mentions: Anna and the Apocalypse; Bad Times at the El Royale; Ben Is Back; BlacKkKlansman; Black Panther; Blindspotting; Burning; Can You Ever Forgive Me?; The Clovehitch Killer; The Favourite; First Reformed; Game Night; Green Book; Halloween; If Beale Street Could Talk; Incredibles 2; Love, Gilda; Madeline's Madeline; Mission: Impossible - Fallout; Paddington 2; Private Life; Pyewacket; A Quiet Place; Ralph Breaks the Internet; Revenge; Roma; Searching; A Simple Favor; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; The Strangers: Prey at Night; Thoroughbreds; Tully; What Keeps You Alive; What They Had; Where Is Kyra?; Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

10) A Star Is Born - 2018’s “A Story Is Born” is the fourth (or fifth, if 1932’s “What Price Hollywood?” counts) incarnation of a well-worn standard as old as Hollywood, this time with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Rather than live in the shadows of its predecessors, this is an impassioned, intimate, and unusually fresh romantic drama made modern but remaining timeless about the cycle of show business and fame in which one-half of the couple’s rise is the other’s fall. Two stars end up being born in “A Star Is Born”—Lady Gaga in her first starring role and Bradley Cooper as a first-time director—and they’re both dynamite. Together, Gaga and Cooper are such generous scene partners, giving as much as they take and creating an electric, unfakable chemistry as their relationship blossoms. Honest, bittersweet, and alive, “A Star Is Born” tackles addiction with hard-hitting truth and no easy recovery but also digs into matters of the heart and the sacrifice a couple in the limelight must face when their careers are taking opposite trajectories. Destined to get audiences swooning and sobbing, a soulful iteration of an oft-told story has been born.

9) The Hate U Give - Based on Angie Thomas’ best-selling 2017 YA novel, “The Hate U Give” is a vital, empathetic drama about the black experience in today’s America. Very of the moment, it is a valuable message movie about racial injustice and growing up to realize how broken the system can be. Instructional without ever coming off heavy-handed or too didactic like a medicinal Public Service Announcement that’s good for you, “The Hate U Give” is filmic activism with topical subject matter that never loses sight of the human beings involved and their points of view. With her fully authentic, down-to-earth presence and chameleonic ways in how she must portray 16-year-old Starr Carter and the different versions of herself, the poised Amandla Stenberg is exceptional as a self-possessed teenager who has now lost two of her friends to violence and wants to use her voice but doesn't yet know how. “The Hate U Give” deeply resonates as a powerful, enraging, uncomfortable conversation starter that makes one want to be even more socially woke.

8) Love, Simon - Remarkably, “Love, Simon” is the first of its kind: a gay coming-of-age dramedy being distributed by a major studio and hitting mainstream multiplexes. Shattering the glass ceiling and representing the LGBTQ community on 2,400 screens, the film is unprecedented but also happens to be wonderful, wearing its tender, open heart on its sleeve for the world to see. Based upon Becky Albertalli’s novel “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” “Love, Simon” is intimate and deeply felt both as a slice-of-high-school-life and a portrait of a closeted teenage boy ready to live his truth. It’s sensitive and sincere without ever coming off corny, beautifully written and unforced without ever reaching for the violins or turning into a Freeform Original Movie, and if he were still alive today and more aware of political correctness, John Hughes probably would have written and directed it. A joyous, celebratory poster child for love and acceptance, the film remains true to itself. It’s the kind of special cinematic treasure one will wish he or she had to turn to when figuring themselves out at 17, and that a LGBTQ story is getting a mainstream release, “Love, Simon” is a miracle and a major step forward.

7) Widows - Applying his tremendous artistry to what could have been merely a genre picture, director Steve McQueen composes his most commercial film with maturity. Based on a 1983 six-part miniseries, “Widows” is intricately paced as it is sprawlingly designed with a wide narrative scope and an ambitiously meaty yet tight script by Gillian Flynn. Living alone with her cotton-balled Westie in her sleek penthouse after husband Harry (Liam Neeson) and his team all die in a heist, Veronica Rawlins (Viola Davis) corrals the other wives—Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki)—to carry out their husbands’ final job. Even if some characters could have afforded more room to breathe in the grand scheme of things, the picture never feels overstuffed, as “Widows” explores the world in which these characters live, from their personal lives to the Chicago political corruption and rivalry between alderman Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell) and criminal politico Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry). In her second film this year with a sizable ensemble, Cynthia Erivo (2018’s “Bad Times at the El Royale”) is a force to be reckoned with as Belle, a single mother who comes late into the film as the driver, and when it does come time for the heist itself, it is a breathless thrill. A highbrow, socially conscious heist drama that has much more on its mind without coming across self-important, “Widows” is intoxicating and exquisitely made with stylistic precision and phenomenal performances from its A-list cast.

6) You Were Never Really Here - Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” as filtered through an art film, “You Were Never Really Here” is an arresting, disturbing, visceral, altogether haunting knockout. As written and directed by Lynne Ramsay, the film, based on a novella by Jonathan Ames, could have just stuck to the beats of a pulpy, standard-issue revenge noir-thriller, but it is more of a to-the-bone character study in tune to psychological struggles and closer to beautifully crafted, anxiety-fueled visual poetry. Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a psychologically tortured veteran who has the weight of the world on his shoulders, caring for his elderly mother and making a living out of rescuing girls from the sex trade. In his latest job as a hired gun, he must retrieve a senator's 13-year-old daughter. Joaquin Phoenix is incapable of giving a mediocre, false, or one-dimensional performance and has played his share of damaged characters. His Joe, haunted by an abusive childhood and traumatic memories on the battlefield, is yet another damaged figure chillingly brought to life by Phoenix, who fully inhabits the tormented pain and scary capabilities of the character, and yet there is a gentle sensitivity to him. The violence is intense and brutal but hardly sensationalized. Like a horror film that cares more about suggestion, the viewer feels like he or she sees more violence than they really do, as a hammer to the head is just suggested or only the aftermath is seen. Going a long way into putting the viewer into the disoriented head of Joe is Jonny Greenwood's piercing, jarringly dissonant score and immersive, cacophonous sound design. Leanly stripped down to its barest essentials and traversing one man’s depth of emotional sadness, "You Were Never Really Here" is staggering to watch, artistically alive, and never without feeling.

5) Suspiria - Luca Guadagnino’s rebirth of Dario Argento’s stylishly kaleidoscopic 1977 giallo “Suspiria” is nothing short of audacious, going its own singular way, reinventing itself, and avoiding comparison altogether with a grimmer, daringly transgressive vision. Almost defiantly, Guadagnino's film differs visually, narratively, and emotionally from Argento’s phantasmagoria, and it is far more thematically dense and heady with a 152-minute running time but nearly just as artfully hypnotic and sure to be extremely divisive. Instead of imitating or being beholden to a masterwork, director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich expand upon the source in a post-World War II Germany historical context and confront how guilt and shame fit into power struggles between leaders and followers, all while still spinning a story about a coven of witches running a dance academy, led by a mesmerizing Tilda Swinton (who plays a total of three roles). Requiring deeper consideration after one has mentally processed what has just been experienced and even repeat viewings to rediscover new takeaways, it cannot be dismissed or denied for its unmistakable craft and rattling, spellbinding power. As the film reaches its sixth act and heads toward an unsparing, splatter-laden Grand Guignol climax that of a ritualistic sabbath, it simultaneously takes mercy with an epilogue so unexpectedly cathartic and quietly heartbreaking; it turns out there might be a shred of humanity in even the darkest corners of witchcraft after all. For those willing to give oneself over to it, “Suspiria” casts an inescapable spell as if conjured through dark, inexplicable alchemy.

4) Annihilation - Based on the 2014 novel by Jeff VanderMeer, Alex Garland’s “Annihilation” is about venturing into the unknown and the beginning of something new, despite the title referring to the end of mankind. The thing about the unknown is that there are no tidily packaged answers, just a lot to debate and ponder, and Garland never pulls from that notion in what is a stunner of cinematic strangeness. Natalie Portman is superb as Lena, a biology professor who served in the Army for seven years and is still reeling from her military husband (Oscar Isaac) being presumed dead after he left for a top-secret mission; with a coterie of other female specialists, Lena must embark on the same mission that has never seen any survivors. Those hoping for genre chills and thrills will still get their fill, but the third act, in particular, becomes such a hypnotic humdinger of a nightmare that takes on an ethereal, avant-garde quality. Like the entire film, it is absolutely spellbinding and not like anything seen in recent memory. Audiences will stumble out of the theater dazed and confused, questioning what it is exactly they have just seen. With that said, the trippy, thrillingly unpredictable and unsuspectingly audacious “Annihilation” requires patience, full engagement and an open mind from an audience that does not need easily fed information meant to be beyond basic human understanding. 

3) Boy Erased - Adapted from Gerrard Conley’s memoir, “Boy Erased” is a study in empathy without ever becoming preachy or a weepy melodrama. Never merely coasting on good intentions to tell this story, writer-director Joel Edgerton instead sheds unflinching light on the enraging existence of gay conversion therapy and paints a sensitive, nuanced picture of a teenager struggling to come out and be accepted by devoutly religious, narrow-minded people who happen to be family. It would be easy and far less interesting if the script reduced certain characters to caricatures and villains, but “Boy Erased” is delicate in tone and performance without placing heavy judgment on anyone. Beautifully played by Lucas Hedges, Jared Eamons is the son of Arkansas Baptist minister Marshall Eamons (Russell Crowe) and his devout wife Nancy (Nicole Kidman). Marshall prides himself on having an upstanding family, until he believes Jared has just “lost his way” by coming out as a gay young man. Jared is enlisted in “Love In Action,” a twelve-day Christian “ex-gay” conversation therapy camp run by therapist Victor Sykes (Joel Edgerton). Writer-director Edgerton employs a free-floating structure to tell his story, beginning with Jared on his first day at Love In Action and then eventually flashing back to reveal how he got there. Highly recognizable thespians don’t always disappear into the skins of their roles, but that is not the case here with the strong, sneakily nuanced work by Nicole Kidman, as Nancy, who comes to her senses, and Russell Crowe, as Marshall, who cannot be wavered in his belief that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God. How the film concludes could have felt clichéd by employing a cinematic stand-by of one rolling their hand in the wind while driving—Andy Samberg spoofed this years ago—but it’s rather cathartic and poignant. Without stamping Oscar Bait on every frame, “Boy Erased” is deeply moving and important.

2) Eighth Grade - Surviving middle school was rough enough, and one can’t even imagine reliving it now in 2018 (not to date oneself), but the universal ways in which Bo Burnham’s rewarding writing-directing debut “Eighth Grade” explores that agonizing stage in one socially awkward teenage girl’s life—self-doubt and insecurities, social anxiety and the approval one seeks from the popular crowd, all magnified by social media eternally at one’s fingertips—are painfully honest, bittersweet, and often quite funny. Elsie Fisher turns in a remarkable breakthrough performance of vulnerability and all-around relatability as Kayla Day. A lived-in, zits-and-all slice-of-life that amounts to small victories and a traceable, fully earned arc for Kayla, “Eighth Grade” keenly observes its wallflower protagonist clamber through social situations until she finds her voice and confidence. Without being a doctumentary, it is so accurate and identifiable that it might as well be one, as viewers will cringe and wish he or she were watching through a pin hole in a shoebox. Burnham is kind to Kayla but still lets her make mistakes and feel embarrassment, or else, how would she grow and learn anything? The viewer loves spending time with Kayla and wants to break down the barrier of the screen to tell her that middle school is the worst, but yes, it does get better. What will seem low-stakes to an adult viewer is rendered as a sensitive, life-or-death snapshot of the here and now in “Eighth Grade,” and it is a special, momentous achievement for all to see. Gucci!

1) Hereditary - For a horror fan, being more discriminating and patient to wait for a great film can be rewarding. With that said, Ari Aster’s electrifying feature debut “Hereditary” is honest-to-God, face-melting, gut-level horror, the cinematic equivalent of a nervous breakdown into madness fueled by loss and grief. Never underestimate a first-time writer-director like Aster, whose attention to detail is meticulous and loaded with suggestion, his pacing so masterfully assured, and his narrative profoundly disturbing, risk-taking and thematically rich. One immediately knows that he or she is in the hands of a veritable filmmaking craftsman with the know-how to transcend any genre to the level of intoxicating art. A deeply raw and unflinchingly harrowing domestic drama at its core, "Hereditary" has one invested in the plight of the vulnerable Graham family well before they disintegrate into a hopeless, irreversible hell beyond their control. Further highlighted by astounding performances by Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, this is an elegantly helmed slow burn with a tangible sense of foreboding and bursts of unsparing, heart-stopping horror that come in unexpected places and indelibly horrific imagery that instantly burns into one’s retinas. For anyone who thinks they know where the film is going, all bets are off, but everything is part of Aster’s insidious, soundly constructed master plan. When the film begins curdling into a take-no-prisoners nightmare and reaches an unforgettably distressing boil, it’s like watching a fiery vehicle with faulty brakes careen down a hill toward a cliff.  “Hereditary” knocks you on your ass, festers under your skin, and leaves one haunted long after the end credits. Brace yourselves.