Qt3 Movie Podcast: the top ten of 2018

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 :).

That’s cool @sinnick.

Beautiful.

I was curious about this. Now I need to see it.

I can only assume none of y’all saw Border or Burning.

I need some Sisters Brothers in my days, stat.

Yeah, I made the same mental comparison while I was watching it. That’s why I was nonplussed by Tom’s (I’m sure half joking) reaction. You really liked The Florida Project, didn’t you?

Anyway, half a dozen movies added to my rental queue. Maybe I can finally participate in this thread in six months.

I also had a great time watching this goof. I don’t even like the Marvel movies that much but for various reasons I ended up seeing this a whopping three times in theaters. I might never watch it again, but it was enjoyable for what it was.

A selection for the game Good Writing/Great Writing.

As far as I know it hasn’t had any sizable US release yet.

-Tom

Oh, I’ll definitely see Roma. But it’s got to compete with whatever lame-ass horror movie on Netflix happens to grab my eye.

Both Border and Burning were in very limited release, and I didn’t make it to either one, unfortunately. Now they’re gone. :(

-Tom

Roma has the second scariest -REDACTED- scene after -REDACTED-.

I just came up with a biggest surprise: Boy Erased. It’s solid and effective for what it is. Hit me much more than I expected without doing anything particularly annoying. And if you like a Fat Russell Crowe this might just be the Fattest Russell Crowe.

My Top 10 of 2018:

• 10) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• 09) Paddington 2
• 08) Sorry to Bother You
• 07) Isle of Dogs
• 06) The Death of Stalin
• 05) Lean on Pete
• 04) Hereditary
• 03) You Were Never Really Here
• 02) The Favourite
• 01) First Man

Honorary mention to Widows and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which I both really enjoyed, but ended up being nudged off the bottom.

Least favorite film of the year: Sicaro: Day of the Soldado. I didn’t like this at all when I first saw it, and my dislike has just grown and simmered. “Hate” may be too strong of a word, but boy am I irritated now just thinking about it.

Most forgettable film of the year: Ant-Man and the Wasp. The only reason I remembered that I saw this during the year is because it’s on my Fandango purchase history.

I was fortunate enough to spend about 4 hours with Debra Granik last year. It sounds like she’s pretty over working with method actors like Ben Foster. She told me that he so frequently ignored her direction that it got to the point where Granik would tell her D.P. what she wanted and get him to tell Foster what to do. Still, you can see any of that unpleasantness in the movie, which was effortlessly heartfelt. Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie’s going to be a huge star.

@tomchick Tom, I haven’t listened to the podcast quite yet, but I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts on this. It’s only been a day since I saw it so I’m not sure what my final take will be, but it left a deep mark that I’m still trying to assess and understand.

Thelma was released in my country in 2017 and I might have made my worst movie-going choice when I chose to see Justice League instead. I wasn’t really in the mood for slow-burn horror :)

In fact I only saw Hereditary of your lists but I blame limited international releases.

Damn, somehow I missed the request for listener submissions. The groans of disgust I could’ve provoked! Annihilation, on a best of the year list? Really? Really.

This list is more arbitrary than usual in that unlike the last couple of years I don’t have some hands-down favourite(s) I could point to, but the top half/bottom half divide is pretty solid.

10: Isle of dogs

It feels kinda weird to realize there was a time I didn’t look forward to another Wes Andersson movie. I should go back to the earlier pre-Moonlight Kingdom ones and see if it’s me or him that’s changed.

Anyway. I thought this was charming and delightful .

9: Mission Impossible: Fallout

Tom Cruise is a crazy man who’s going to kill himself entertaining people, and Christopher McQuarrie knows how to assemble the best old-school action craft.

8: The Phantom Thread

The best horror movie disguised as a romance of the year.

7: Hereditary

The best compliment I can pay Hereditary is that there’s a moment during the first half of the movie where a very unfortunate event happens that I was looking at it through my fingers going “what the fuck is happening this is not okay”.

That tapers off as it reveals its hand, but the bits where it does just raw, horrifying emotional damage are just terrific.

6: The Death of Stalin

The best comedy ever that I didn’t laugh very much at, because the humour is so fucking black you could easily classify it as horror.

5: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards Into The Spider-Verse being one of the best superhero movies ever.

Aesthetically it’s terrific, the story juggles a million things, being irreverent and heartfelt at the same time, and the leap of faith moment is just chef kiss

I thought this was a pure delight.

4: Annihilation

It’s a terrific sci-fi movie about trauma, self-destruction and cancer as a for both. It’s one of the best looking and sounding movies of the year, and has one of the most terrifying sequences of the year. What kind of philistine would I be to not have it on my list?

3: The Night Comes For Us

Look. Sometimes I want things like plot, character arcs, or themes.

And other times I just want a situation and sketches of characters going at each other at 100mph in intensely well-choreographed violence.

It’s basically a Hong Kong Blood Opera, the sort of thing Johnny To would turn into a series of classy and tense gun battles. But because it’s an Indonesian Fight Movie directed by Timo Tjahjanto, it turns into the most bloody, savage take on that possible, and one where every new kill is better than the last.

If Into The Spider-Verse gave me the most unadulterated delight of the year, the savage throat-stabbings and femur-murders of The Night Comes For Us gave me even more adulterated joy.

And from now on, my sexuality is blood-stained Julie Estelle in one-sleeved all-black matter of factly tearing off one her fingers.

2: Widows

There’s so much going on where in terms of performance and themes, but it also manages to be a roolickg good, taut, crime thriller to boot,

And between this and Bad Times at the El Royale, Cynthia Erivo went from “who?” to must watch:

1: Mandy

Panos Cosmatos continues to bat a hundred in my book.

He’s batting a hundred? Send him back to single A, he stinks!

Wait, isn’t that what they say when people touchdown the puck into the net?

Bullseye.

I see what you did there.