First Reformed
unexpectedly the most acclaimed film of paul schrader's entire (directorial) career, starring ethan hawke. 2nd highest rated film of the year on the metacritic aggregate list, 4th on the RYM list, named the best film of the year by walter chaw, david ehrlich, sheila o'malley, k. austin collins, paste magazine and slant magazine.
You Were Never Really Here
directed by lynne ramsay (
Ratcatcher,
Morvern Callar,
We Need to Talk About Kevin) and starring joaquin phoenix. named film of the year by the playlist magazine and time out london. frequently compared to
Taxi Driver.
Hereditary
such a mixed reception for this one, seems very love/hate. comparisons to bergman, cassavetes, polanski,
The Babadook and
The Witch. toni collette getting a lot of praise for her performance. whatculture film of the year; they call it "
the most shocking, genuinely upsetting horror movie in some time".
Let the Sunshine In
directed by claire denis (
Beau Travail,
Trouble Every Day,
The Intruder), starring binoche and depardieu.
Ismael's Ghosts
directed by arnaud desplechin (
Kings and Queen,
A Christmas Tale), starring amalric, garrel, cotillard and gainsbourg.
Zama
lucrecia martel (
The Headless Woman,
La Cienaga) directs. seems to be in the top 10 of almost every tasteful critic, and named film of the year by film comment, little white lies, glenn kenny, glenn heath jr., melissa anderson. one of my acquaintances describes: "
Martel has found the missing link between "Aferim!", "Brazil", Herzog and Greenaway."
Western
directed by valeska grisebach.
Beau Travail comparisons.
The Favourite
new lanthimos (
Dogtooth,
The Lobster,
The Killing of a Sacred Deer), starring emma stone, rachel weisz and olivia colman. 3rd on metacritic's aggregate of critic lists.
Annihilation
garland's follow up to
Ex Machina. compared to
Stalker by fans, and
Arrival by (mostly) detractors. natalie portman, jennifer jason leigh and tessa thompson star.
The House That Jack Built
lars von trier's serial killer movie, very much
the most polarising film of 2018. a number of good critics' film of the year, whilst many others despise it. stars matt dillon, bruno ganz, uma thurman.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
the coens' anthology western, starring the likes of tom waits, james franco and liam neeson.
Burning
the long-awaited return of lee chang-dong (
Secret Sunshine,
Poetry,
Oasis). stars steven yeun from
The Walking Dead. the 4th most acclaimed film of the year according to metacritic, third on the RYM list. named FOTY by mike d'angelo, a.a. dowd and the AV club as a whole, where they say: "
A bone-dry comedy of class warfare. A perplexing missing-person mystery worthy of Hitchcock or Antonioni. An existential meditation on the little hungers and great hungers that drive us."
Unsane
steven soderbergh (
Sex, Lies and Videotape,
The Limey,
Traffic,
Oceans Trilogy,
Out of Sight) is back with a psychological thriller shot on iphone. stars claire foy, juno temple.
Madeline's Madeline
described as a fairly radical/experimental indie drama, an abstract, subjective sensory experience. about a mentally ill girl (helena howard) in an experimental theater troupe led by molly parker. directed by josephine decker (
Butter on the Latch,
Thou Wast Mild and Lovely), a breakout hit for her.
Leave No Trace
debra granik's long-awaited follow up to
Winter's Bone. stars ben foster. mark kermode's film of the year.
Golden Exits
latest alex ross perry (
The Color Wheel,
Listen up Philip) joint, an ensemble piece starring the likes of emily browning, mary-louise parker, jason schwartzman and chloe sevigny. hype for perry seems to have died down lately but the two aforementioned films give him a lot of cache in my book.
Support the Girls
new one from andrew bujalski (
Computer Chess,
Funny Ha Ha,
Mutual Appreciation). a realistic comedy set in a struggling bar and grill.
Eighth Grade
bo burnham's feature debut. a coming of age movie (yawn), but supposedly one with the cringe ramped up. 5th on the metacritic aggregate list.
Thunder Road
jody hill/danny mcbride comparisons here, a black comedy about a cop having a meltdown. jim cummings supposedly great in the lead role, and he directs himself.
Arizona
and here's another movie with an apparently similar vibe, this time actually starring danny mcbride.
The Other Side of the Wind
a posthumous reconstruction of an unfinished film by the great orson welles (
Citizen Kane,
F For Fake,
Touch of Evil), forty years after it began development. i love that crazy motherfucker and i'm quite excited about this. dennis hopper, john huston and peter bogdanovich star. like
f for fake, seems pretty meta- (the premise: A Hollywood director emerges from semi-exile with plans to complete work on an innovative motion picture.) ignatiy vishnevetsky's film of the year.
Sorry to Bother You
crazy indie comedy thing directed by boots riley. uproxx film of the year; they say: "
No other movie this year felt so much like not only a fresh, new film, but an entirely new approach to filmmaking... ...Sets the bar for all future political satires."
Gemini
a 'drone-y L.A. mumblenoir' from aaron katz (
Cold Weather,
Dancy Party, USA,
Quiet City).
A Star is Born
bradley cooper's directorial debut, starring himself and lady gaga. probably don't need to say anything about this. it's currently favourite to win best picture at the oscars.
Roma
alfonso cuaron's (
Children of Men,
Gravity,
Y Tu Mama Tambien) new one. easily the most acclaimed film of the year, and the other half of the two-horse race for best picture. has the highest metacritic rating since
Moonlight, and was named film of the year by sight and sound, the guardian, the independent, rogerebert.com, rolling stone, screen anarchy and many more. winner of this year's golden lion. 2nd on RYM's 2018 list.
The First Man
damien chazelle's follow up to
Whiplash is a neil armstrong biopic starring ryan gosling. neil bahadur's film of the year.
The Night Comes For Us
indonesian action movie. matt lynch says: "
Prepare yourself for a litany of bodily harm that will make you wonder if maybe the RAID movies are for cowards."
The Night Eats the World
a zombie movie that's actually about depression or something. stars anders danielsen lie (whose turn in
Oslo August 31st may still be performance of the decade).
Death Wish
eli roth (
Hostel,
Cabin Fever) remake. has a surprising amount of passionate defenders.
Suspiria
guadagigno's follow-up to
Call Me By Your Name. another one with an intensely mixed reception, but it actually seems to be the giallo/argento sluts who have mostly fallen in love with it despite it being a very different proposition to the original, which isn't what you might expect.
Halloween
david gordon green (
George Washington,
All the Real Girls) remake. very weird director choice has me somewhat intrigued. reviews have mostly been middling, but matt christman says: "
The filmmakers are fully aware of the absurdity of modern reboot/sequel culture and use that self-consciousness to play with the audience's expectations and pay winking homage to the original films without being smarmy or obnoxious about it."
Revenge
a gory and intense rape/revenge+exploitation movie that's very hyped by the genre buffs on my feeds.
The Day After
hong sang-soo's still churning out his great, deceptively ambitious low-key dramedies multiple times a year.
Claire's Camera
see above. this time isabelle huppert's back as well.
Mandy
cosmatos' follow up to
Beyond the Black Rainbow, starring nic cage. it's become cliche to describe this movie as "metal as fuck".
Upgrade
great looking sci-fi B-movie by leigh whannell.
Unfriended: Dark Web
sequel to an interesting failure i discussed in this thread not long ago. this is another one with some vehement supporters.
The Devil's Doorway
supposedly a rare good found footage movie.
BlacKKKlansman
new spike lee, typically divisive. won the grand prix award at cannes.
Black Panther
polarising marvel joint. directed by ryan coogler (
Fruitvale Station,
Creed), starring michael b. jordan, chadwick boseman, lupita nyong'o.
Widows
distaff crime film by steve mcqueen (
12 Years A Slave,
Hunger,
Shame), containing viola davis, elizabeth debicki, michelle rodriguez, liam neeson, robert duvall, colin farrell. i've seen people compare this to michael mann.
Bohemian Rhapsody
queen biopic. got slated by critics pretty much everywhere, but audiences loved it.
Wildlife
paul dano's directing debut, starring carey mulligan and jake gyllenhaal. looks kind of sundancey to me but it has its fans.
Green Book
peter farrelly (
Dumb and Dumber,
There's Something About Mary,
Me, Myself and Irene) tries to win an oscar (currently third favourite for best picture) with an interracial drama starring viggo mortensen. won the people's choice award at TIFF. it's tradition for me to watch every best picture nomination - i like to think this will at least be better than
Vice.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
sequel to the villeneuve film, bringing back writer taylor sheridan (
Sicario,
Wind River,
Hell or High Water) and some of the same characters, but a different director and no emily blunt.
Incredibles 2
brad bird finally helms a pixar film again for the first time since
Ratatouille, with a sequel to his 14 year old classic.
Ralph Breaks the Internet
sequel to the nearly great
Wreck it Ralph.
Hold the Dark
jeremy saulnier (
Green Room,
Blue Ruin) returns with a thriller set in the alaskan wilderness.
24 Frames
the swansong of the legendary abbas kiarostami (
Close-Up,
Taste of Cherry,
Certified Copy), released posthumously.
The Green Fog
guy maddin (
My Winnipeg,
The Saddest Music in the World,
Brand Upon the Brain!) makes a tribute to san francisco and
Vertigo.
Ray Meets Helen
romance from alan rudolph (
Choose Me,
The Moderns,
Breakfast of Champions). keith carradine stars, naturally.
Private Life
tamara jenkins returns 11 years after directing
The Savages with a film about a couple trying to have a baby. stars kathryn hahn and paul giamatti. made chaw's top 3 of the year.
The Rider
this western/drama from chloe zhao has bagged her an upcoming marvel gig.
The Wild Pear Tree
ceylan's follow-up to the palme d'or winning
Winter Sleep.
Have A Nice Day
a chinese animated crime comedy, rec'd by chaw.
The Avengers: Infinity War
pompey claims this is significantly better than the previous two.
Winter Brothers
i've seen this compared to paul thomas anderson, wes anderson, lanthimos, kaurismaki, korine, bonello, the farrelly brothers,
Napoleon Dynamite and
Eastern Promises. go figure.
Night Pulse
AKA
Fatal Pulse, a new film from damon packard (
Reflections of Evil). one of my letterboxd friends says "
If you, like me, are suffering from Twin Peaks: The Return withdrawal, this is probably the closest thing one can find to fill the void."
Dim the Fluorescents
a low budget indie a few people are drooling over.
Before We Vanish
new sci-fi from kiyoshi kurosawa (
Pulse,
Cure,
Tokyo Sonata). IMDB plot keywords:
slender legs|
short skirt uniform|
sexy legs|
pretty legs|
creamy thighs
Caniba
new doc from paravel and castaing-taylor (
Leviathan,
Sweetgrass), a "sensory portrait" of japanese cannibal celebrity issei sagawa. seems to have garnered equal measures of praise and disgust.
Aquaman
matt lynch says: "
one of the most insanely dumb, totally fucking dorky things I've ever seen, frankly exhausting, and I basically loved it." chaw calls it "
the Thor: Ragnarok of the DCEU and here well ahead of schedule."
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
unexpectedly this was almost unanimously loved by the good (IMO) critics. as i type this, it's RYM's film of the year - RYM generally dislikes superhero movies so that's fairly notable. choice quote from my letterboxd feed: "
the best super hero film in a decade. Between DC's failed swings for art or rap rock trash, the MCU's slow lurch into the worst of serializations tendencies (gems like Black Panther aside), and lets just forget Sony's other attempts, it's refreshing to get a film that's in tune with its source on every formal and scripted level." chaw exalted: "
a game-changer. It's American anime, essentially, an Akira moment for our film art that will sooner or later be identified as the definitive event where everything tilted forward."
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
john waters' film of the year: "
An insanely radical heavy-metal grade-school religious pageant that is sung in French from beginning to end."
The Old Man & The Gun
david lowery's follow-up to
A Ghost Story, about forrest tucker. check out this cast: robert redford, sissy spacek, casey affleck, danny glover, tom waits, elizabeth moss, keith carradine.
Game Night
consensus is that modern comedies suck and this is the exception that proves the rule. jason bateman and rachel mcadams star.
Blindspotting
getting hailed as akin to when spike lee burst onto the scene; a big crazy angry mess. john waters calls it "
The smartest and funniest film about race and class in a long, long time."
Mrs. Hyde
AKA
Madame Hyde. new serge bozon, starring isabelle huppert.
Shoplifters
2018's palme d'or winner, from hirokazu kore-eda (
Nobody Knows,
Like Father Like Son,
Still Walking) AKA the japanese ken loach.
Werewolf
praised junkies in love thing.
Cold War
pawel pawlikowski's follow up to
Ida. won best director at cannes.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
won the grand prize at sundance.
Minding the Gap
hyped skateboarding culture documentary.
Skate Kitchen
see above.
Milla
a lot of the critics i follow closely are hailing this as a masterpiece, albeit of the arthouse kind. been compared to costa and akerman.
Ready Player One
spielberg's latest.
Dead Souls
any wang bing film is an event, even though i doubt anyone here (including me) is gonna watch an 8 hour documentary about survivors of re-education camps haha.
Happy as Lazzaro
won best screenplay at cannes.
Let the Corpses Tan
new film from cattet and forzani (
Amer,
The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears). matt lynch: "
A narrative so stripped into one glorious tactile insert after another that the only way to interact with it is via osmosis. DJANGO KILL meets PIERROT LE FOU. Not an homage, not a critique, just a kink. It's beautiful."
Vox Lux
one of the most polarising films of the year from brady corbet. natalie portman, jude law and willem dafoe in the cast.
The 15:17 To Paris
first of two clint eastwood films this year. dude is 88 years old, he never stops.
The Mule
the second, and seemingly better regarded, eastwood film. he stars in this one, and it seems like a very personal self-reckoning in the face of impending death. a film that'll probably hit harder after he croaks.
El Mar La Mar
"
An immersive experience of the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border."
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
a documentary which begins with the line “
In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it.”
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
"
an emotive impression of the Historic South"
Mission Impossible - Fallout
one i've seen already, and which i would recommend for some stellar action scenes. critics are jerking hard over this.
Shirkers
"
In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore’s first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ vanishing footprints."
A Quiet Place
john krasinski (AKA jim from the office) directs and stars in this post-apocalyptic horror movie, also starring emily blunt.
Kaala
people familiar with indian cinema are calling this 2018's unknown masterpiece, and i don't think i've seen a single negative review of it.
Psychokinesis
yeon sang-ho's follow-up to
Train of Busan.
Climax
everyone hates this, but i'll always watch anything gaspar noe makes.
Dirty Computer
janelle monae's film accompanying her latest album. people comparing it to bowie and prince for its weirdness and ambition.
Bodied
a rap battle movie by the guy who made
Detention.
If Beale Street Could Talk
barry jenkins' follow up to
Moonlight. 6th on the metacritic aggregate list.
Vice
adam mckay (
Anchorman,
Step Brothers,
The Big Short) film about dick cheney. christian bale, amy adams, sam rockwell, steve carell star.
Bisbee '17
probably the documentary i'm most hyped for, courtesy of robert greene (
Actress,
Kate Plays Christine).
The Act of Killing echoes.
The Tale
speaking of which, ehrlich calls this "
a landmark cine-memoir that’s as powerful and profoundly upsetting as any film since The Act of Killing"
. laura dern stars.
Paddington 2
a beloved sequel which hearkens back to silent legends like chaplin and keaton at times, and stars hugh grant as a wacky villain. the praise is a bit overboard IMO but it's very nice.
Isle of Dogs
new wes anderson, his second stop-motion effort after
Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The Death of Stalin
armando iannucci's second attempt at a feature film after
In the Loop, and it fares a little better i suppose. i still vastly prefer his TV work. steve buscemi stars among many others.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
ron howard directs.
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
i only really became aware of this because it spent half the year at the top of the RYM charts (it's still as high as 5th). fred rogers biopic.
Twisted Pair
neil breen is supposedly the tommy wiseau of the 2010s, and is slowly gathering a similarly large cult following.
Mom and Dad
jake cole: "
Skeletally thin plot works perfectly to set up the most demented and best Cage showcase in possibly two decades. Slot it with Vampire's Kiss for the best time of your life."
