Oh, and I'm gonna throw out a few titles that didn't make the cut, but I'll save those for the end. So maybe your favorite just barely missed the cut. Or I hated it. That's also quite possible, since I pretty much find myself disagreeing with most everyone on what makes for a movie good anymore. Now list.
22. Upgrade
I forgot to mention I cheat when I make lists sometimes. Just go with it, since this list just wouldn't quite feel right without these other two, which I pretty much put on the same level as my #20, but for far different reasons. An over-the-top action/sci-fi movie with very obvious and predictable twists, Upgrade doesn't do much to expand genres, but works as a fun and well-shot and choreographed B-movie with a solid performance by the guy from The Invitation whose name escapes me and some cool cinematography. Nothing mindblowing, but definitely noteworthy.
21. Eighth Grade
I'm pretty well worn out on coming-of-age movies, but since I'm practically 30 that might just be part of me getting old. Either way, I found this one really genuinely endearing, funny, and about as awkward as the subject matter could allow without it going into some pretty extremely twisted directions. Great performances by the lead and her dad, who have a great on-screen relationship that felt about as real as the movie was cringeworthy.
20. The Endless
A pretty low budget and dark horror/fantasy from the director(s) of Spring from a few years back, this time a little more cerebral and Lovecraftian. Cosmic horror is very difficult to make work on-screen, and especially for a movie that clearly didn't have the funds to go any further with the visuals than it already did, but it worked wonderfully here. It's got weird cults, mind-bending time-loops, tons of atmosphere, and cool visuals.
19. Searching
It's hard to picture Harold from Harold and Kumar as a loving father who can carry a movie dramatically, but he does just that here -- and all from the POV of a computer screen. While the presentation may seem like nothing more than a gimmick, it's utilized properly here and allows for some solid dramatic/comedic punchlines. The screenplay could have easily been disastrous with how many plot twists, red herrings, and fake-outs they throw at you every 5 minutes, but it all came together nicely with a very satisfying conclusion.
18. Apostle
A folk horror movie by the guy who did The Raid movies, and while it wasn't the masterpiece I was deeply hoping for, it did turn out to be pretty awesome. Full of dark and creepy moments, the unsettling and uneasy atmosphere never really lets up over the nearly two and a half hour runtime. Maybe not paced incredibly well, as it does feel it's length, but the overall impression it's left on me has been very positive.
17. Blindspotting
I'm mostly burnt out on racial movies at this point (the 2010s has been a very full decade of this), but when they're presented in such a genuine, non-exploitative way and from such a distinct viewpoint, it's hard for me not to find the subject enjoyable. A perfect blend of comedy and drama, Blindspotting has two fantastic lead performances, a great approach to the subject of race, and dialogue that's just clever enough to make for great entertainment but not so much so that it loses its realism.
16. November
A folksy fantasy/horrorish movie (folk horror being a subgenre I'm very excited to see make a comeback), this one ticks two of the major pretentious movie snob boxes: its both foreign and black and white. But not only does it look amazing and make dumb people think you're smart for being able to read, there are actually some crazy and creative things that happen here. Tons of surreal imagery and supernatural elements are at play here, giving the whole thing a somewhat comedic vibe that was relatively unexpected. It has great visuals, atmosphere, and felt like an actually unique experience. I couldn't have expected any better from it, really.
15. American Animals
Rented this one on a whim as I recalled hearing vaguely positive things about it and I was led to believe the rental would be free (the latter being a shameful, vicious lie), making this one of the most surprising and pleasant movies of the whole year for me. A semi-documentary that hilariously blends fact with fiction and never shies away from giving the real-life characters plenty of opportunity to comment on the absurdity of their story, but never sacrifices the flow of the narrative to do so. Both incredibly funny and tense, this was a pretty great heist movie that I wish more people were made aware of.
14. An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn
Following up on a movie as incredible as The Greasy Strangler is an impossible task for any writer/director, and while this comes nowhere near that one in terms of entertainment value and quotability, there's a quirky charm to this weird little movie that I still found very hard not to be drawn in by. A lot less John Waters and more Wes Anderson than I expected, if that makes any sense. The cast is fun and memorable, and the mystery that shrouds the titular Beverly Luff Linn keeps you guessing throughout. Funny, oddball, and surprisingly sweet by the end.
13. Bad Times At The El Royale
In spite of flying off the rails somewhat in its final act, this is a worthy follow-up to Goddard's previous directorial effort, The Cabin In The Woods, which was similarly a sort of deconstructive script that spent a great deal of time setting up something interesting to have the payoff be pretty much just straight up bonkers. Great acting, some really cool overlapping storylines, a memorable setting, blah blah blah. It's a movie I enjoyed quite a bit -- even though the ending was abrupt and out of place. And I forgot to mention how much I loved Jon Hamm here. He needs to be in more good movies.
12. Annihilation
To get it out of the way, this movie felt a lot like a Russian movie from the 1970s. It was called Stalker, and it's much better than this. Still, this is one of the better sci/fi movies of the decade. The cast is nothing too special, but everything else works so well that doesn't even matter. The bizarre rules of the story and atmospheric tension keep your interest, while the trippy, beautiful visuals and memorable music escalate the whole experience. It's not groundbreaking, but it does set itself apart from most others, in spite of the similarities it shares to the aforementioned Tarkovsky film.
11. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
The trailer for this movie gave away about 95% of the plot, and the fact it was all based on a true story that can easily be researched made sure there were no surprises to be had with this movie from a plot perspective. Yet there still was a great deal of surprise to be had when it came to just how good it would be. Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant both received and earned Oscar nominations for their performances here, but it's how they play together that makes them so terrific. Funny, dramatic, tense, and a pretty great peek at a person down on their luck who got a little too good at the wrong thing.
10. The Favourite
Back to the Oscar talk, I accurately predicted directly after watching this movie several months back that it would get nominations in the double digits. This doesn't mean anything, I just wanted y'all to know how much of a know-it-all Dick I can be. As far as the movie goes, there really isn't anything original I can produce on the subject. I said it after I watched it and I'll say it again: this was a really good movie in pretty much every way, but doesn't leave much room for discussion. This isn't to say it's dull or generic or anything of the sort, but I really have no insights on it that don't just end with "[insert thing about the movie] was really good".
9. Mandy
The son of the guy who directed Tombstone follows up his trippy experimental sci/fi thriller Beyond The Black Rainbow with a revenge fantasy horror movie starring Nicolas Cage as a guy who gets into a chainsaw fight with a dude. If that sentence doesn't intrigue or appeal to you, there's no need to look any further into this movie, but I was looking forward to this one for months and the result was just about exactly what I expected. Definitely not something I could recommend to fans of more traditional movies, but to those of us who love our entertainment a little more bizarre and off the beaten path, this one really scratches that itch.
8. Three Identical Strangers
rDocumentaries rarely find their way onto my countdowns, so that should tell you just how much of an emotional roller coaster and memorable experience this really was. Sweet and serendipitous to start, it morphs into the story of the way fame transformed the lives of three brothers, which quickly turns dark, tragic, and twisted in the most surprising and upsetting way possible by the end. It's rare for a documentary to have such a compelling arc and narrative, but the result is more powerful than any traditional movie on the subject could ever be.
7. Hereditary
I liked this movie a lot when I walked out of the theater, but apart from a few lingering nitpicks (particularly the performance by the son, which I found unintentionally funny at times) it's only gotten better as it's stirred in my mind. Toni Collette gives a ridiculously strong performance that I still think deserved tons of awards, and that creepy little girl comes close to giving Collette a run for her money. This movie creeped me out a lot, and did it in ways that stuck with me. This isn't pop horror, and it's bound to be seen as boring by general audiences, but for people who get tired of incessant jump scares and stagnant horror serieses, it's a breath of fresh air.
6. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
The Coen Brothers are probably my favorite living directors, and I have a particular fondness for anthologies, so I was bound to find this one enjoyable. Uneven by nature, but so successful at covering all the basics of the western genre while still adding that oddball Coen spin to it, there wasn't a point where I found myself bored or hoping for the current segment to end and the next one to start. The large cast never overshadows the stories, and the briskness of the segmented storytelling keeps everything quick and to the point. It's fast, sharp, entertaining at times and haunting at others. It doesn't get much better than this.
5. Avengers: Infinity War
I'm about as bored of superhero movies as I am with racial ones, so I'm as surprised by this as anyone. But honestly even after two viewings it still hits like a hammer (no puns here, dammit) and features a shockingly balanced screenplay that handles about 100 characters, multiple genres, a dozen storylines, and does it all like it's no big deal. The Scarlet Witch and Vision stuff still sucks ass, but really, they're easy enough to ignore, and Josh Brolin/Thanos is more than enough to make up for those minor faults. Thanos is legitimately one of the best movie villains of the decade. Even the stuff surrounding Black Panther works better here than in the Black Panther movie. It's a fantastic culmination for the franchise, and even though it's about to fall apart and crumble in on itself, it's still pretty wonderful to be around at a time when [insert characters] are technically dead. Good stuff.
4. Isle Of Dogs
Beverly Luff Linn may have been an enjoyable approximation of a Wes Anderson movie, but it still doesn't come close to the real deal. Stop motion is my favorite form of animation, the Japanese aesthetic is beautiful, the voice cast is terrific, and all the same stuff I would normally compliment one of his movies with is also on display here. While it's not as good as Fantastic Mr. Fox (something few movies have ever been able to claim), it's still damn good and my favorite animated movie in several years.
3. Green Book
And as bored as I may be with racial movies, I never really get tired of movies that find the perfect balance between comedy and drama, star two amazing actors at their best, and give you that pleasant feeling inside that doesn't dissipate the moment you walk away. I don't give a crap if people have decided they don't like this one now that it won the Oscar, because I very much found myself enjoying it, as cliche as it may be. Instead of just playing out like the usual '60s race drama, it finds a way to make the characters relatable and humorous, giving Mortensen and Ali plenty of opportunities to play off each other and find common ground in all the right ways. It's not a game-changing movie, but it tells a story well, with humor, and gives you a nice lasting feeling long after its over.
2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
I didn't grow up with Mr. Rogers, I always preferred cartoons over puppets and live-action shows. I think that's important to clarify before I come across as someone who's viewing the subject through a nostalgic lens when I say this movie was a very emotional experience for me, and made me care more about the subject than ever before. It's a fairly traditional documentary in a lot of ways, so it wasn't something that broke any ground, but worked really well at painting a clear picture of the kind of person Fred Rogers was. This was just a lovely thing to watch.
1. The Death Of Stalin
Armando Iannucci isn't a name most people are familiar with, but fans of really clever comedy over the last several decades are familiar with his work. One of the main creators of the Alan Partridge character/shows, Veep, The Thick Of It and it's accompanying feature In The Loop, Iannucci has given us some of the sharpest, wittiest comedy shows and movies around. And while there's some stiff competition for his best work so far, I think my favorite just might be The Death Of Stalin. A black comedy of the darkest variety, this movie finds humor in a very tumultuous time thanks to a fantastic script and an amazing cast. Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin, and most of all Jason Isaacs are just perfect. You wouldn't think a movie about Soviet power struggles following the death of a dictator could be this entertaining, but it is. Best comedy of the year and the best movie of the year.
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