I’ll post my list with quotes. And add some thoughts that I didn’t hear get touched on:
10: Avengers: Infinity War
“Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine”
“Yeah, but the kid’s seen more movies.”
I fully admit that this is not a “good” movie. But it was my favourite movie-watching experience of the year. My work booked a private screening and let us all invite our families, so I watched it in a theater filled with my friends, sitting next to my two nine-year-old sons. It’s a giant, swirling, silly spectacle and it was so much fun to see it in that place at that time.
9. The Land of Steady Habits
“Are you in my bed, making fun of my books? You’re mean!”
Ben Mendelsohn plays a privileged scruffy asshole and Nicole Holofcener sees him for what he is. But also, if not empathizes with him, at least humanizes him. It’s the first movie I’ve seen that explores the immaturity inherent in the middle-aged fantasy of quitting your job and divorcing your wife so that you can fuck around and have “freedom” … and having it not quite work out the way you expected. Also, it has Connie Britton.
8. Mission Impossible: Fallout
“Hope is not a strategy”
7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
“That pan-covered son of a bitch back at the bank don’t hardly fight fair, in my opinion.”
A meditation on existentialism filtered through the language of western movie tropes. Only the Coens could get away with that. Also, it is probably some of Bruno Delbonnel’s best work.
6. Black Panther
“In times of crisis, the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.”
Now what kind of foolish leader would build barriers?
5. The Death of Stalin
“When I said ‘No Problem’ what I meant was 'No. Problem!”
4. Hereditary
“What language is even that?”
It’s great for all the reasons Tom mentioned, but I also loved the subtext about intense, bottled-up rage in the face of tragedy. Toni Colette’s performance during that dinner scene is magnificent.
3. Roma
“We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone.”
Guys, this is not as slow and boring as either Dingus or Brian made it sound. Remember how lush and sensory the scenes in Children of Men were? How you could feel the wetness of the grass and ground outside Chiwetel Ejiofor’s house, or the smokey cooking smells of Michael Caine’s forest home? Roma is like that. The film I’d compare it to from last year is The Florida Project. It’s a lush, gorgeous depiction of a particular time and place.
2. Eighth Grade
“No, it’s fine that you were being quiet. Just don’t be weird and quiet.”
The most stressful movie I’ve seen this year, the one which made me cringe the most, feel more uncomfortable and generally was like living a nightmare. I haven’t seen a movie that better captures the panic of being a shy, awkward pre-teen, forced to interact with popular kids, and I recognize (with horror) my own middle-school behaviour in her. The sheer emotional impact of the movie is almost overwhelming, and the backdrop of being in that existence in a world of social media and school shootings takes it to a completely different level. I think this should be required viewing for all parents.
1. Widows
“No one thinks we have the balls to pull this off.”
It’s great. See it :).