Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
So, I've been seeing all kinds of year end lists with people selecting whatever they feel are the best pictures of 2018.
2018 to me at this point will be, sort of, a sad year for film in my mind. It marks the year where it really feels like somebody drove a spike through the heart of adult films being wide release pictures shown in cinemas. It is the year that Netflix became the primary place people would see a Coen Brothers picture, a great film from Alex Garland, and the likely primary landing spot where most people will watch the next Scorsese film.
All that said there were some excellent films released this year and I will try to add to my list as I think of things or get to see some of the pictures I have yet to see this year.
In no particular order here are some of the pictures that come to mind as great films I saw in 2018:
Annihilation: This did get a limited release in US cinemas but the rest of the world apparently watched this on Netflix. Truth is most people in the US probably watched this on Netflix as well. I sat in a nearly empty cinema watching what to me seemed like some of the most beautiful head trip science fiction since 2001 but I have to say if 2001 was actually being released now it also would likely be sent directly to a streaming service. Alex Garland delivers a gorgeous piece of science fiction for the thinking person. Also in the year of Me Too his film features a cast loaded with bad ass women as they are the ones that journey into the mysterious zone to discover what is happening there. In a better world this film would have been a smash hit that left people talking as they walked out of the cinema and for years afterward.
First Reformed: Paul Schrader proves he can still make outstanding cinema that is both emotional and makes you think. Not only that but the subject matter is timely and he gets an outstanding performance from Ethan Hawke. This picture is classic Schrader with an intense male main character that seems to be losing the battle to contain the madness within him, which is driven by what he sees as the ills of the world.
Mandy: A truly crazed cinematic experience that again...most people probably did not get to see in a cinema. Gorgeously shot and wonderfully conceived on what is basically a shoe string budget these days. Pano Cosmatos brings us a unique piece of horror that plays like a tone poem that is trying to bring 1970s album covers to life one moment and then shifts into a crazed gore fest the next , where two guys might do battle with chainsaws. There is probably no good way to explain what you will see in this film...it is something you just have to experience...and we get so few pictures like this these days. I don't think it is meant to make sense as much as it is to just draw emotions out of the viewer. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll say "Holy shit!" and if you are like me at the end you'll want to go back and watch it all again.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Yes, the Coen Brothers are back...and on Netflix. This also got a limited run in select theaters but chances are most people watched it on Netflix. Once again they deliver. Beautiful photography and blackly comic dialogue that was instantly recognizable as coming from the Coens, as well as wonderful performances from all the actors. I see this film as a comedy built around the gruesome ways people could get killed off in the Old West but some people find it harrowing and a real gut punch. Particularly the segment titled Meal Ticket. When I saw this was playing at a cinema near me I pretty much ran there to get in line. Sadly, I don't think many people got that chance.
I'll leave off there for now as there are still things I want to watch but those are four pictures that have remained with me since I watched them.
So, what are the best pictures you've seen so far in 2018?
2018 to me at this point will be, sort of, a sad year for film in my mind. It marks the year where it really feels like somebody drove a spike through the heart of adult films being wide release pictures shown in cinemas. It is the year that Netflix became the primary place people would see a Coen Brothers picture, a great film from Alex Garland, and the likely primary landing spot where most people will watch the next Scorsese film.
All that said there were some excellent films released this year and I will try to add to my list as I think of things or get to see some of the pictures I have yet to see this year.
In no particular order here are some of the pictures that come to mind as great films I saw in 2018:
Annihilation: This did get a limited release in US cinemas but the rest of the world apparently watched this on Netflix. Truth is most people in the US probably watched this on Netflix as well. I sat in a nearly empty cinema watching what to me seemed like some of the most beautiful head trip science fiction since 2001 but I have to say if 2001 was actually being released now it also would likely be sent directly to a streaming service. Alex Garland delivers a gorgeous piece of science fiction for the thinking person. Also in the year of Me Too his film features a cast loaded with bad ass women as they are the ones that journey into the mysterious zone to discover what is happening there. In a better world this film would have been a smash hit that left people talking as they walked out of the cinema and for years afterward.
First Reformed: Paul Schrader proves he can still make outstanding cinema that is both emotional and makes you think. Not only that but the subject matter is timely and he gets an outstanding performance from Ethan Hawke. This picture is classic Schrader with an intense male main character that seems to be losing the battle to contain the madness within him, which is driven by what he sees as the ills of the world.
Mandy: A truly crazed cinematic experience that again...most people probably did not get to see in a cinema. Gorgeously shot and wonderfully conceived on what is basically a shoe string budget these days. Pano Cosmatos brings us a unique piece of horror that plays like a tone poem that is trying to bring 1970s album covers to life one moment and then shifts into a crazed gore fest the next , where two guys might do battle with chainsaws. There is probably no good way to explain what you will see in this film...it is something you just have to experience...and we get so few pictures like this these days. I don't think it is meant to make sense as much as it is to just draw emotions out of the viewer. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll say "Holy shit!" and if you are like me at the end you'll want to go back and watch it all again.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Yes, the Coen Brothers are back...and on Netflix. This also got a limited run in select theaters but chances are most people watched it on Netflix. Once again they deliver. Beautiful photography and blackly comic dialogue that was instantly recognizable as coming from the Coens, as well as wonderful performances from all the actors. I see this film as a comedy built around the gruesome ways people could get killed off in the Old West but some people find it harrowing and a real gut punch. Particularly the segment titled Meal Ticket. When I saw this was playing at a cinema near me I pretty much ran there to get in line. Sadly, I don't think many people got that chance.
I'll leave off there for now as there are still things I want to watch but those are four pictures that have remained with me since I watched them.
So, what are the best pictures you've seen so far in 2018?
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