As the New Year approaches, as is tradition, comes the time to reflect on the year that has passed and pick out my favourite films of 2018.
It is often very difficult to narrow the list down to ten, particularly in a year that has been superb for the horror genre, so the list will feature twenty titles.
So relax, grab your popcorn and enjoy this walk down the cinematic memory lane... well, given the list, the Netflix and Chill memory lane!
Special Mention: Secret Cinema presents Blade Runner: The Final Cut
While not technically a 2018 cinema release, the Secret Cinema presentation of Blade Runner was honestly one of the greatest cinematic experiences I have ever been a part of. Not only was the technical presentation top notch but the chance to become part of that world, albeit briefly, is something that will stay with me forever, not to be washed away like tears in rain.
We have reached the halfway point of the year and now is as good a time as any to reflect back on the films that have stood out as we patiently wait for Ant-Man and the Wasp to be released here in the UK.
As always the list will only feature films which have had a UK theatrical or Netflix release by 30th June 2018. Hence why many of the films viewed at the Edinburgh & Glasgow Film Festivals, and Incredibles 2 are not on the list.
So without further adieu...
While there will be some people who just don't get it, there will be some who find it akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey in its themes and messages about humanity. They will spread the word and build up its cult status for years to come. Potentially even organising underground guerrilla screenings.
It's legacy on the science fiction genre certainly won't be annihilated. If anything, this is just the beginning!
Exiting the cinema in a complete daze, utterly shell-shocked by what one has just seen, don't lose your head. Just keep repeating "It's only a 5 star movie, it's only a 5 star movie, it's only a 5 star movie".
Read the full review here.
In A Quiet Place, silence is not only golden, it's survival. However it is safe to say that audiences and critics won't stay silent after watching it and this will turn into the breakout horror film of the year.
Just like someone holding a complete Infinity Gauntlet, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is virtually unstoppable at this point and Avengers Infinity War is their finest hour so far... but one expects, as a time stone would tell, the best is yet to come.
Deftly walking the tightrope of Eastern and Western influences, Anderson has bred a film of the highest pedigree that must already be one of the favourites to win the Best Animated Film at next year’s Oscars.
Grinding Nemo is one of the most beautiful, stunning, moving fairy tales ever to grace the silver screen and it is deserving of so many superlatives that, just as the lead character, one struggles to find the words to describe how fantastic it truly is.
Read the full review here.
Joe is a tortured anti-hero, at times literally hammering the point home, and his relationship with Nina mirrors that of Travis and Iris in Taxi Driver, hinting that an escape and redemption might be possible for both of them. Yet like Bickle, it is left open to interpretation as to whether he is the rain that washes the scum of the streets or is ultimately another one of the animals that come out at night.
With her debut feature film as writer-director, Greta Gerwig proves that a beautiful Lady Bird is just waiting to emerge from the cocoon of the cover girl for manic, hipster pixie girls.
To be honest, I went back and forth on this final entry. Ultimately I struggled to come up with ten films that would make the cut so decided to go for a slice of Event Cinema to fill the final slot. Sorry Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman Sing-A-Long was very close but this just pipped it.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've watched a sea of people dancing under umbrellas in the Los Angeles acid rain. I watched Roy Batty take down a squad of Blade Runners without breaking a sweat. Without being able to take photos at Secret Cinema, all these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain..."
Annihilation is a film about a team of scientists who enter "the Shimmer", an environmental disaster area of unknown origin, unsure if they will emerge from the other side.
Writer-Director Alex Garland must have felt a bit like that during the post-production process, wondering if the finished film would ever see the light of day.
The much publicised studio stories claim executives at Paramount felt the film was "too intellectual" and wanted Garland to make changes.
He refused and this resulted in them giving it a small, short theatrical run in America but giving Netflix the international rights.
Now this once again opens up the argument over the audience benefits of a non-theatrical release.
Some are outraged that they cannot watch it on a cinema screen as the director intended. Others claim that by releasing on the streaming service, more people will watch it there than ever would in a cinematic environment.
Who is right? Well, in this particular case, both are right in some ways.
Following his Oscar-winning Ex_Machina, Garland has moved up in terms of scale from a theatrical three-way chamber piece on what it means to be human, to a much grander (wo)men on a mission story where a group of people (possibly literally) meet their maker.
Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist who's soldier husband (Oscar Isaac) has been missing in action for over a year. Consumed by grief, she is all but lost when one day he returns to her dazed and confused. Falling ill he is taking to a military base where she learns he is the only person to have returned from "the Shimmer". Wanting to know what happened to her husband, Lena volunteers to join a team heading in to find the source of the Phenomenon.
Inside the all-female team find plant and animal life that should not exist in nature, along with very real and dangerous threats to their existence, including each other. For the deeper they venture in to the area, the more their connection to reality starts to slip. Annihilation is a film that was shot to be experienced on the big screen. It has some of the most stunning and visually arresting images you will see all year and some of the impact will understandably be lost if watching it on a laptop or iPhone for example. But its power is in no way diminished and the film's imagery and story will stay with audiences days after watching it.
It is certainly not a film that everyone will appreciate on an initial viewing. The trailer entices audiences in with a brief set up of the story and focuses on certain moments of action and horror but in reality the film has much more in common with films like Arrival and Under The Skin, with a hint of Event Horizon.
That is music to the ears of some film fans to be sure. Arrival and Under The Skin are both five star classics (even if Skin took a few viewings to truly appreciate) and Event Horizon is now a cult classic. However these are not instantly accessible films that found big audiences at the cinema. For Event Horizon in particular, it was the home video market where it truly came alive and that is where Annihilation has the opportunity to grow its potential fanbase.
While there will be some people who just don't get it, there will be some who find it akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey in its themes and messages about humanity. They will spread the word and build up its cult status for years to come. Potentially even organising underground guerilla screenings.
It's legacy on the science fiction genre certainly won't be annihilated. If anything, this is just the beginning! 5 stars
With the Golden Globes now behind us, the BAFTA nominations just announced and the Oscars heading our way, it is safe to say that we are firmly in the grip of Awards season in the cinematic calendar.
But what about when the dust settles and the last award is handed out... *whispers* to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. What then? What do we all have to look forward to in 2018 at the cinema? Or indeed at home with original content on Netflix et all?
I have looked through the 2018 film slate on Launching Films UK, a great website for anyone looking for confirmed release dates for films getting a cinema release in the UK, and kept tabs on Netflix Originals and have come up with 18 films to tantalise your cinematic tastebuds this year.
(The only stipulation is that they cannot have been nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA or Oscar as the majority of them are released in January or early February. Hence why Three Billboards and The Shape Of Water are not on the list).
NB: The list is in chronological order of UK release date.
Black Panther (13/2/18)
The MCU is always taking risks. Remember the time when they had a space adventure headlined by a talking raccoon and tree monster soundtracked to the hits of the seventies? Marvel Studios have now done Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Political Thriller, Heist Movie and Comedy. True, they still haven’t done a female led movie but now it is Blaxploitation time with Black Panther.
When the first trailer hit, you could split the audience demographic into two groups: the ones who saw a LOTR reunion of Bilbo and Gollum (aka white people) and everyone else!
The risk has paid off with Panther selling more advance tickets than Civil War. 2018 is the year of #BlackMoviesMatter.
Annihilation (23/2/18)
There is still some confusion over the UK release of Annihilation as to whether it will be on Netflix or a cinematic release through Paramount but Alex Garland’s follow up to his Oscar-winning Ex_Machina looks like it should be experienced on the big screen if possible.
Assembling an all-star cast with Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson and Natalie
Portman as the biologist who signs up for a exploration mission to discover what happened to her
husband. Anyone who has ever watched a sci-fi film with this premise will know that when it comes to
describing how the mission goes, the likely answer is: not well. Not well for the characters but great for
the audience.
Mute (23/2/18)
This film was actually on my most anticipated list of 2017 but it finally looks as if though Netflix are ready to screen Duncan Jones’s spiritual sequel to Moon and loving ode to films like Blade Runner and Casablanca to the masses.
Duncan recently announced on Twitter that after 14 years of trying to get it made, audiences will finally get to see his vision realised on the big screen (well I say "big", it really depends on the size of your TV screen to be honest) on the 23rd February.
The Meg (2/3/18)
Definitely the most ridiculous film on this list, The Meg’s inclusion here can be summed up in five words: The Stath versus Giant Shark! Cue Futurama Shut Up And Take My Money meme!
Thoroughbreds (9/3/18)
Anya Taylor-Joy is a star on the rise and this film has a great Millenial Heathers vibe to it with the added bonus of the opportunity to see Anton Yelchin’s last on-screen performance following his tragic death in 2016.
You Were Never Really Here (9/3/18)
Joaquin Phoenix as a New York-set action hero in the vein of Taken and John Wick but directed by Lynne Ramsay and scored by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood? Say no more.
Isle Of Dogs (30/3/18)
A new Wes Anderson film is always reason for excitement but when it is another stop motion animation in the vein of the wonderful adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox and it’s announced that it will open the Glasgow Film Festival on 21st February, excitement levels reach a huge Ca-Nine out of Ten.
Journeyman (30/3/18)
When it comes to this sports drama, it certainly won’t be the British Rocky but more akin to the Southpaw or Warrior in terms of the effect that the sport can have on a family.
Paddy Considine directs and stars in this film which has apparently had critics weeping in the aisles during the credits and it is no real surprise given the talent shown with his equally hard-hitting directorial debut Tyrannosaur.
Ready Player One (30/3/18)
As a child of the Eighties, the novel Ready Player One was tailor-made to appeal to me and I loved the story which was the “Holy Grail of Pop Culture references” so I’m interested in seeing how it translates to the big screen. It has the most iconic film director of the Eighties at the helm in the form of Steven Spielberg but given he has taken out all the references to his own films (and there were many) it is likely to differ quite heavily from the source material and that could be a ultimately be a good thing when it comes to making a VR quest more cinematic.
A Quiet Place (6/4/18)
A Quiet Place is a film, ironically enough, that I had heard nothing about until a trailer dropped at the end of last year. A wonderfully atmospheric teaser of a family living in a cabin in the woods and forced to live in silence for fear of an unseen terror. It is a fantastic concept along the lines of 2016’s Don’t Breathe but the real draw of this is the pairing of real-life husband and wife team of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. Plus the added shock at the end of the trailer to find it has been written and directed by Krasinski himself.
As Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained would say “You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention!”
Ghost Stories (20/4/18)
A great horror movie experienced in a cinema with a receptive crowd that responds to the will of the filmmaker and jump, scream and shout as intended is a marvellous thing to be a part of.
So if the film adaptation of Ghost Stories plays anywhere as near as well as it does on stage, then this could be THE breakout British horror film of the year.
Expecting that certain elements of the storytelling will change for the medium of cinema but very, very excited to see this play at the Glasgow Film Festival in February.
Avengers: Infinity War (27/4/18)
In a year with no shortage of superhero films (The New Mutants, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Ant-Man & The Wasp and Aquaman), the daddy of them all is Infinity War.
This is the film that the MCU has been building too ever since Nick Fury told Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative back in the post-credit sting of Iron Man in 2008.
Also excited to see the Scarlet Witch/Vision storyline set in Edinburgh on the big screen having visited the city during filming and witnessed some of the action being shot on the Royal Mile and Waverley Railway Station.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (8/6/18)
Yes, the first trailer which features the team returning to the island to round up the dinosaurs to take them back to the mainland makes it seem very similar to The Lost World but the director has made assurances that everything in the trailer takes place in the first 50 minutes and it will go to places you won’t expect.
I for one really enjoyed Jurassic World and the real excitement for the film for me, is the director J.A. Bayona who has made the incredible The Orphanage and The Impossible. I will be running in high heels to the cinema to see this one.
Ocean's 8 (22/6/18)
This is going to be one of the most interesting film releases of 2018 without a doubt. With the current movement in Hollywood towards equality for women in terms of opportunity and pay, there will be a lot of focus on how this all-female sequel/reboot of Ocean’s Eleven will do at the box office.
For there is the spectre of the female Ghostbusters reboot hanging over the film (however I don’t think the male fanbase for Ocean’s Eleven is as vocal or as nasty and mysogynistic). On the flip side, Sandra Bullock is a proven box office draw and despite what Hollywood claims about what audiences want to watch, the Top 3 films at the US Box Office in 2017 had female leads (Star Wars, Beauty & The Beast and Wonder Woman).
Sicario 2: Soldado (29/6/18)
The original Sicario is a film that stands alone as a five star classic (I will continue to say that Denis Villeuneuve, from Prisoners to Blade Runner 2049, has never delivered anything less than a 5 star classic. With streak of 5 films and counting that no other director can currently match).
At the end of the film, I don’t think anyone came out of it saying “I need the sequel now”.
The real drugs war in America however is still continuing and may never be truly over and so the studio have decided to continue the Sicario universe. Emily Blunt was the main character and entry into this world in the original but the sequel focuses on the supporting characters of Josh Brolin’s CIA agent and Benicio Del Toro’s Oscar nominated assassin and with Taylor Sheridan (Hell And High Water, Wind River) returning to script detail, anticipation is as high as the people on the drugs they are trying to eliminate.
The Predator (3/8/18)
I am going to come out and say it. There has not been a good Alien or Predator film since 1992. In fact, there has not been a great Predator film since 1987. Even more specifically, the only great Predator film starred Shane Black. And the fact that Shane Black has written and directed The Predator does give me hope for this sequel because I absolutely loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys. If he can generate the same level of camaraderie and dialogue from his films and put that into the Predator universe along with some terrific action sequences, we might have reason to shout “RUN, GO. GET TO THE CINEMA!”
Halloween (19/10/18)
I didn’t expect to have a reboot/remake on this list, especially a remake of one of the most greatest and most influential horror films of all time but this one has me rather intrigued.
When David Gordon Green and Danny McBride (the people behind Your Highness) announced they were making a sequel/reboot of Halloween was announced, there was much eye-rolling and snobbery on Twitter.
However when it was announced that this would be a sequel to Halloween II and would forget the other films, eyebrows were raised. Then they announced Jamie Lee Curtis was returning as Laurie Strode and John Carpenter himself would score the film, this suddenly peaked my interest and am genuinely looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
Holmes & Watson (9/11/18)
Full disclaimer: I am a HUGE fan of Step Brothers, so any opportunity to see Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play off each other on screen is an immediate date in my diary, even if the world isn't screaming out for another adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. But add in support from Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Laurie (who can both do comedy), then this could be one of the surprises of 2018… or it could be another Anchorman 2. The game is afoot!
