Assassination Nation
Something of a mixture of Heathers and Spring Breakers, this boldly in-your-face satire is about a group of girls (Odessa Young, Abra, Suki Waterhouse, and Hari Nef) who are brutally slut shamed by their community after their (and everyone else’s) dirty little secrets are exposed by an online hacker. Assassination Nation is a viciously comical and feminist attack on White Male America that was written and directed by a white man with endless potential named Sam Levinson. It is a powerfully sincere and endlessly fascinating examination of our hypocritically judgmental and information-overloaded times.
GRADE: A
Aquaman
This highly successful DCEU entry owes all of its praises and profits to director James Wan. The tone is pure fun, the action is executed with precision and innovation, and the jaw-dropping effects make for the most visually beautiful spectacle of 2018.
Jason Momoa and Amber Heard exhibit a magnificent and playful chemistry that should serve future films in the franchise well. While the film’s overly long runtime, silly humor, and cluttered script occasionally cause it to sputter, Aquaman still succeeds, overall, as a playfully entertaining viewing experience.
GRADE: B+
Asher
Ron Perlman stars in this leisurely-paced, character-driven comedy/drama/thriller about a hitman who has to protect himself and the woman he loves (Famke Janssen) after a job goes south. The action is secondary to character study in the hands of director Michael Caton-Jones. The best set pieces are when some great actors (Perlman, Janssen, Jacqueline Bisset, Richard Dreyfuss) stand or sit around while talking to one another.
Though Asher’s story is a bit tired and bland, its execution is refreshingly and intimately human. Fans of Perlman, in particular, will enjoy seeing him in a perfectly suited role that allows for him to excel.
GRADE: B+
Bad Times at the El Royale
Great writing (by its noteworthy director Drew Goddard), a great cast (Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Lewis Pullman), and disciplined, innovative filmmaking make for the most rewarding and engrossing film of 2018.
The lives of several desperate souls intertwine at a seedy motel on the California/Nevada border. As the plot unravels, it turns into something completely unpredictable and boldly haywire. Bad Times at the El Royale is a beautifully made thriller with fully drawn characters and a story that keeps every minute as joyously unexpected as the next.
GRADE: A
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Coen Brothers’ first foray into the straight-to-VOD market is an anthology of stories that examine the Wild West. It has heart, a darkly quirky sense of humor, and no regard for traditional narrative structure. In other words, it’s the kind of movie that the Coens haven’t made for a while—at least not as well as they used to—and is a welcomed reminder of how exciting their work can be when they throw caution into the wind.
Though its pacing is sometimes too slow for its own good and it ends on a rather anticlimactic note, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is still essential viewing from two of the most uniquely talented filmmakers of their time.
GRADE: A-
Beautiful Boy
Steve Carrell and Timothee Chalamet are flawless in their portrayals of a father and son torn apart by the son’s drug addiction. Beautiful Boy is exceedingly well-made and executed. Director/co-writer Felix von Groeningen explores how deeply addiction affects everyone—not just the individual directly suffering from it.
There have been plenty of other films made about similar subject matter, however, and there’s nothing particularly revelatory about this one to make it noticeably stand out. Beautiful Boy hints at addiction being a mere symptom of larger problems, but it ultimately dwells too heavily on its direct effects to offer much insight on anything else. Despite its lack of originality, however, the film is still a powerful and thoughtful depiction of an addict’s desperate and destructive nature.
GRADE: B
Bird Box
This made-for-Netflix horror/thriller has a clever concept in which aliens invade us but can only harm those who look at them. It also has an interestingly non-linear structure and a number of great performances (Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich chief amongst them). These elements aid the film’s quality and make it somewhat forgivable that it goes on too long and is more exhausting than suspenseful by the time it reaches its climax.
GRADE: B-
Boy Erased
Examining homosexual conversion therapy in the early 2000s, this highly informative, if somewhat dramatically underwhelming, film from actor/adapter/director Joel Edgerton is well-intentioned, beautifully acted, and skillfully executed. Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Edgerton are all flawless in their performances.
The subject matter is highly relevant, but the story could have used a bit more fire to drive its point home. It feels as if the filmmakers felt pressure to soften the film’s presentation and compromise its overall impact. Boy Erased is a polite tap on the shoulder—albeit a much-needed one—that should have been a lunge for the jugular.
GRADE: B+
Bumblebee
Set in 1987, this spinoff of The Transformers movies doesn’t just feel like it takes place in the past, it feels like it was made back then, too. The movie may be after a feeling of nostalgia, but it winds up celebrating the vapidity of the 80s more than anything else. Bumblebee is a gimmicky movie that feels like E.T. with robots if it were written by Zack Morris and directed by ALF.
Kids and Transformers fans may love it, but most others will most likely feel otherwise. The movie doesn’t get you invested in its characters or storyline, and the endless action/spectacle is ineffective as a result. It tries to be entertaining, but the visually busy and obnoxiously loud film just ends up being a numbingly exhausting waste of time.
GRADE: C-
The Christmas Chronicles
This surprisingly enjoyable made-for-Netflix Christmas fable centers on Santa Claus as he experiences a set of misadventures while delivering presents on Christmas Eve. Kurt Russell plays Claus with boundless energy and effervescent charm. Fast, funny, and clever, The Christmas Chronicles is destined to become a Christmastime classic.
GRADE: B+
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
This second part of the prequel series to the Harry Potter franchise is an entertaining spectacle that tries to be as accessible as possible to those who aren’t scholars of J.K. Rowling’s ever-expanding universe. Though it is only partially successful at this, the film still manages to captivate its audience with a number of great performances (Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston develop their already-likable wizard characters), fun set pieces, and some predictably excellent visual effects.
GRADE: B
The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow-up to his ingeniously bizarre The Killing of a Sacred Deer is another enthralling and strange effort that only he could execute. Set in 18th century England, the story centers on two women (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) who are mercilessly competing for the affections of a mentally deranged Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) for their own personal gain. Wickedly comedic and darkly uncompromising, The Favourite is another instant classic by one of the most interesting and unique directors of his time.
GRADE: A
First Man
First Man, Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to La La Land, deserves all the award-winning praise that the director’s previous film received. The film centers on Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) while he prepares for the first expedition to the moon. Since it refuses to sensationalize or melodramatize historical events, the movie is not exactly exciting, but it’s by no means boring, either. It works as well as it does because its extraordinary events are depicted with realism and simplicity.
Gosling is effortlessly natural and intensely focused as Armstrong. Externally stoic and internally complex, his performance is a fascinatingly human depiction of an American icon. The film is just as much about Armstrong’s character as it is about space travel, and Gosling makes him someone we want to know and watch. Simply put, First Man is a moving, intelligent, and artful character study that just happens to be about the first man who ever made it to the moon.
GRADE: A
Galveston
Melanie Laurent’s first American directorial effort is a skillfully executed marriage of tension and character drama. Ben Foster gives a wonderful performance as a terminally ill hitman who takes a teenage prostitute (a heartbreaking Elle Fanning) under his wing.
Based on the book by True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto, Galveston was given a bad reputation out of the gate due to the perfectionist writer’s insistence on having his name removed from the screenplay adaptation that he also wrote. Whatever his issues with the finished film may be, it’s still a wonderful representation of his book and his style that also manages to have an intensity, voice, and beauty that is wholly its own.
GRADE: A
Green Book
Co-writer/director Peter Farrelly’s Green Book is the kind of movie that critics love to love or love to hate. White people tackling the subject of racism can be tricky. Even when their heart is in the right place, the topic can easily be over-simplified with its more disturbing realities taking a backseat to feel-good contrivances in the form of unrealistic white saviors and other such atrocities.
Green Book somehow manages to face its subject matter honestly while still staying within the confines of a feel-good, mostly sanitized, comedic buddy/road movie designed to reach mass audiences. Miraculously, it works, aided by Farrelly’s heart and intelligence and by two lead performances (Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali) that are amongst the best of 2018.
GRADE: A-
Halloween
With co-writer/director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride’s involvement, this reboot of the beloved horror series should have been more unique. However, Halloween is still the best-made and, thanks to Green’s skills and talents, the most suspenseful slasher movie released in quite some time. Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak headline the stellar cast. The film may not offer much new, but it’s still what hardcore John Carpenter fans have wanted for years: a worthy and direct sequel to his 1978 classic.
GRADE: B+
Hold the Dark
This Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room) directorial effort is a tense, bleak, and moody mystery/thriller that is as strange as it is unrelenting. Actor Jeffrey Wright gives credibility and integrity to his character, portraying a writer who is brought to the Alaskan wilderness to help a mother track down her missing child who has seemingly been taken and killed by wolves. Uncompromisingly dark and grisly, Hold the Dark is an unpredictable, and rather hopeless, descent into the freezing depths of Alaskan hell.
GRADE: A-
The House That Jack Built
Director Lars Von Trier’s film is a character study that follows a serial killer (played with a dangerous affability by Matt Dillon) as he recounts his most notable victims. The film is exactly what you would expect given the subject matter and the filmmaker’s track record: disturbing, mean, surreal, brilliantly executed, and highly engrossing. Thankfully, Trier doesn’t appear to be slowing down or softening with time.
GRADE: A
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Hostel director Eli Roth’s first non-R-rated effort is a clever and fun throwback to 80s classics by the likes of Spielberg and Burton. It’s a family-friendly horror film presented with creativity, heart, and skill. Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, and Kyle MacLachlan all fit the world nicely, delivering comically heightened performances that are equally entertaining and committed.
GRADE: B+
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel further proves that he is one of the freshest and most exciting filmmakers of his time. If Beale Street Could Talk takes on a number of grand-scale themes (racism, the judicial system, sexual assault) but does so without distracting grandiosity or simpleminded preaching. It beautifully communicates the emotional realities of its characters’ lives and refreshingly trusts its audience members to know how to feel and think for themselves.
KiKi Layne and Regina King stand out from one of the most impressive ensemble casts of 2018.
GRADE: A
Leave No Trace
Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik outdoes herself with this character-driven drama about a man (an outstanding Ben Foster) who is unable to change despite his efforts to do so for the good of his daughter (an equally outstanding Thomasin McKenzie). The film follows the two characters who, after years of living on their own in an Oregon national park, are forced back into society after they’re caught by law officials. The results are as fascinating as they are unavoidably and movingly heartbreaking.
GRADE: A
Mandy
It takes repeat viewings to fully appreciate the brilliance of this surreal, acid-soaked revenge flick starring Nicolas Cage. Is it greatness incarnate or is it simply a standard genre movie elevated to greater heights by some indisputably genius filmmaking? The only thing to be certain of is that it doesn’t matter. There is much to love about Mandy and its brash insanity, grotesque beauty, and unapologetically singular vision.
The balls-out opera of rage and brutality that is Cage’s performance makes it one of the absolute best of his career.
GRADE: A
Mid90s
Jonah Hill’s feature-length writing/directing debut is the kind of movie we haven’t seen much of since, well, the 90s. The film is a slice-of-life tale about a thirteen-year-old boy (played with vulnerability and well-conveyed adolescent angst by Sunny Suljic) who becomes obsessed with skateboarding and falls in with the wrong (yet oh-so-right) crowd.
Mid90s is a period piece that sheds light on details of the skateboarding subculture. Hill’s observational, non-judgmental approach avoids heavy sentiment, but the film’s heart and the director’s obvious love for its characters also keep it from dwelling too heavily on the darker aspects of its subject matter. Hill is a powerful, thoughtful, and assured presence behind the camera.
GRADE: A
The Mule
While it’s not one of director/icon Clint Eastwood’s best works, The Mule is still an entertaining crime caper/character study about a crusty and horny old man (played by a frail but alert Eastwood) who decides to become a drug mule in order to pay off his debts. It’s impressive to see the late-80s Eastwood deliver, well, anything comprehensible at his age, but the movie also has the edge of a butter knife and increasingly unravels at a pace that defines “geriatric”. It’s still worth checking out, though, if for no other reason than to see America’s favorite cowboy still at it, alive and somewhat kicking.
GRADE: B-
The Old Man & the Gun
This is a charming and well-made film about an aging bank robber (Robert Redford) who, for better or for worse, cannot change his ways. Redford, Sissy Spacek, and Casey Affleck are all excellent in their lead and supporting lead roles. While there is nothing monumentally special about The Old Man & the Gun, it is still nice to see some major talents do what they do best for a nice and relaxing couple of hours.
GRADE: B
Overlord
Overlord is an entertaining, narratively ambitious film that starts off as a hard-hitting World War II story and ends up as a mad scientist/zombie flick. Director Julius Avery shows a good deal of promise with the film’s blend of well-executed action, well-developed characters, and great performances (Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell chief among them). Like many young filmmakers, however, his storytelling abilities aren’t quite finessed enough yet to fully carry out his bigger ideas.
By trying to be two different movies, Overlord never fully succeeds at being a complete one—though it does have one hell of a good time trying.
GRADE: B
Peppermint
Jennifer Gardner is a badass and should be one of the biggest movie stars in the world. All she needs now is an agent who won’t settle on scripts as scattered and contrived as the one for Peppermint. It should have been a simple reimagining of Death Wish, only with a woman instead of a man exacting revenge against those who killed her family. Unfortunately, the film is a convoluted, unfocused mess that haphazardly skips from one joyless subplot to the next. Far too complicated for its own good, Peppermint never takes full advantage of its greatest and simplest asset: Jennifer Garner is a badass.
GRADE: C-
The Predator
The Predator is a shaky entry to the classic, entertaining, and somewhat inconsistent franchise about aliens who hunt humans for sport. The most interesting concept in the film (The Predator coming to modern-day American suburbia) is, unfortunately, never given the exploration it deserves. A subplot involving a small boy (Jacob Tremblay) getting ahold of The Predator’s outfit and becoming its target comes off a bit too Spielberg-y, which doesn’t fit the tone of the franchise (or the rest of this film) particularly well.
Despite its imperfections, however, the film does have a lot of positive qualities. The cast (Tremblay, Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane) is amazing and the script (by director Shane Black and Fred Dekker) has many clever (though often underdeveloped) ideas and entertaining dialogue exchanges. There are also plenty of thrilling moments and some cool, well-designed monsters to be found in the film. The Predator is an undeniably flawed movie, but it’s one that was made with skill by some highly talented people.
GRADE: B-
Roma
Director Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white, 70s-set drama centers on a Mexican family and their young, recently pregnant housemaid (portrayed by Yalitza Aparicio with naturalistic grace). Beautifully photographed by Cuaron himself, the film is observational and unobtrusive in its approach, allowing the reality of its characters to unfold in front of us without a heavy hand or manipulative emotional guidance. Roma is a quietly powerful and highly unforgettable film.
GRADE: A
A Simple Favor
Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy) delivers some of his best, most refined work with this nasty little thriller/dark comedy that feels more like an indie than the slickly produced studio vehicle that it actually is. Anna Kendrick stars as a well-intentioned, depressed, and widowed suburban mom who takes it on herself to find her friend (Blake Lively) after she mysteriously vanishes.
Kendrick and Lively are both perfectly cast and deliver performances that rank amongst the best in their careers. Wholly captivating, A Simple Favor is one of the most viciously entertaining major studio productions of its time.
GRADE: A
The Sisters Brothers
This character-driven western benefits from all-around great performances (John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Allison Tolman), beautiful cinematography by the great Benoit Debie, and a disciplined, classical filmmaking style courtesy of director Jacques Audiard. At its best, the film is quirky, alive, and heartfelt–particularly in its quieter, more intimate scenes. Its pacing, however, drags and its script chooses to dwell on a rather uninteresting and prolonged last act that makes the movie, despite all its quality, conclude with a forgettable and flat thud.
GRADE: B-
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
From an animation standpoint, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of the most groundbreaking achievements of its time. Simply put, the film is a comic book in motion with painstakingly minute details filling every beautiful frame.
Story-wise, however, the film is a little underwhelming because it puts too much emphasis on yet another origin story featuring Spider-Man. Though this one has a clever storyline that features different Spider-Men from alternate dimensions coming together, none of the characters are given enough focus or screen time to truly stand out. However, Nicolas Cage voicing the character of Spider-Man Noir does give the film a significant push in the right direction.
GRADE: B+
A Star is Born
Needless to say, the music in this fourth interpretation of A Star is Born is the main attraction. Bradley Cooper, as both a musician and an actor, is perfection incarnate. Lady Gaga’s music is as great and soaring as ever, but her performance as an actress only shows promise. She is, by no means, bad, but she is misdirected (by Cooper) to overact so heavily in the film’s first act that it mars her entire performance. While the film (along with Gaga’s acting) gets better as it moves along, it never fully survives the fact that it’s a bit of an outdated story that doesn’t have much of a point beyond gluing together several show-stopping musical numbers.
The smaller, quieter moments between Gaga and Cooper in the film’s mid-section are, along with the music, some of the best moments the film has to offer. The true star of the show, however, is Sam Elliot with an Oscar-deserving portrayal of Cooper’s tired, older, and hopelessly faithful brother.
GRADE: B-
Suspiria
This artfully crafted remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian cult classic is an intriguing head-scratcher. It expands upon and deters from its predecessor quite heavily while still remaining true to its heart (despite what Argento himself has stated in the press). Director Luca Guadagnino skillfully delivers tension and atmosphere that would make Kubrick or Lynch jealous. This is the kind of moody, cerebral horror movie that doesn’t want to scare you as much as it wants to disturb you, get under your skin, and infect you at the core of your being.
Overall, the film excels with its intentions, though it does become somewhat exhausting by the time it reaches the end of its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. That being said, the Suspiria remake is perfect for when you want to watch something fascinating and disturbing, then have it run through your mind long after it’s over.
GRADE: A-
Venom
Tom Hardy stars in this interpretation of the Spider-Man comic book villain sans Spider-Man. Despite the film’s existence being completely forced and unnecessary, director Ruben Fleischer somehow manages to deliver an exciting and humorous movie that showcases one of the best actors of our time further proving that he can do just about anything. For such a shamelessly money-grubbing effort, Venom is a surprisingly entertaining and fun movie.
GRADE: B
Vice
Vice boasts a great cast (Christian Bale deserves his praise but it’s truly Amy Adams’ show), good intentions, and a clever style that swings for the fences with its ambition. Unfortunately, it’s also a bit of a mess that tries so hard to make too many points that it forgets to dramatically involve us, particularly in its last half.
The film makes it clear up front that no one knows who its subject, Dick Cheney (Bale), really is. While Vice is an educational film that is not without its value, what writer/director Adam McKay is trying to convey with it would have been better serviced in a non-fiction documentary format. The film’s primary fault is that there is not enough information provided (or available) about Cheney, this amoral ghost of a man, to make an emotionally satisfying narrative film with him as the main character.
GRADE: B-
Welcome to Marwen
Welcome to Marwen is a human story told with equal amounts of heart and spectacle by its exceptionally talented co-writer/director, Robert Zemeckis. The film centers on an artist (Steve Carell, in his best dramatic work to date) who survived a vicious attack and copes with his post-traumatic stress by retreating into a fantasy world inspired by his collection of vintage dolls. Welcome to Marwen is a unique and hopeful film that successfully communicates many powerful emotions while still providing some great entertainment and truly innovative visual effects.
GRADE: A
White Boy Rick
Matthew McConaughey is as solid as ever in this reality-based film. He portrays Rick Wershe, Sr., the father of Rick Wershe, Jr., also known as White Boy Rick. Rick, Jr. is an undercover teenage informant for the FBI who is literally trained to deal drugs, something for which he is eventually sentenced to life in prison.
As Rick, Jr., newcomer Richie Merrit carries the film with an inherent integrity that makes him equally watchable and sympathetic. The character, however misguided, is full of heart, compassion, and tragic innocence. The film also showcases such qualities, making for an intelligent, funny, and emotionally moving experience that sheds a little light on the lack of true justice in our judicial system.
GRADE: A-
Widows
Director Steve McQueen’s follow-up to 12 Years a Slave is probably the biggest disappointment of 2018. Co-written by McQueen and Gone Girl novelist/screenwriter Gillian Flynn, the film features one of the most impressive ensemble casts assembled for a film in recent years. Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Carrie Coon, John Bernthal, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daniel Kaluuya all deliver unquestionably solid work. Sadly, they are all overshadowed by a script that is frustratingly unfocused, tangential, and contrived.
The film’s primary story centers around three widows (Davis, Debicki, and Rodriguez) whose husbands die in a robbery. The women are then threatened by and forced to pay back the criminals who had their money stolen. It’s a great premise that could have and should have been the sole focus of the movie. It isn’t, however, as the film tries to fit in too many subplots (prostitution, police shootings, a racially-charged political race, etc.) with too little screen time to properly develop any one of them. Unfortunately, McQueen’s ambition and lack of focus hinder the audience’s empathy towards his and Flynn’s characters. By trying to say far too much, Widows ultimately ends up communicating very little.
GRADE: C+
