Any best-of list is a highly subjective endeavor, a combination of tastes, standards, beliefs, memory, autobiography and who knows what else. From where I sit there were a whole lot of good movies in 2018, if few great ones. So my usual Top 10 list has transformed into a Top 25 list, plus a few honorable mentions. I tend to reward films that take chances and do something different, but I like a good popcorn movie, too. And if it makes you feel any better, you can be sure I forgot something that should be here.
A note on streaming services: There are a lot of them. Netflix, iTunes and Amazon Prime are among the most popular. A quick internet search should provide you with available options.
1. You Were Never Really Here - Lynne Ramsay is the reigning master of making you feel every feel every blow and hear every sound. Here she puts us inside the head of Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a damaged avenging angel who specializes in retrieving kids from predators. Individual sin leads to systemic rot as Joe gets in over his head, like a feral updating of Chinatown's Jake Gittes. Jonny Greenwood's pulsating score only accentuates the immersion. (On DVD and streaming services.)
2. Roma - Come for the unblinking story of a middle-class family and their maid in early-'70s Mexico City; stay for director/cinematographer Alfonso Cuarón's mastery of the long take, the moving camera and composition in depth. Roma excels on every level - dramatic, technical, emotional, thematic. Cuarón captures a city and an era as only one who was there could. Newcomer and nonprofessional actor Yalitza Aparicio is a revelation as Cleo, a dutiful maid who becomes her own person before our eyes. Do yourself a favor and see it on the big screen. (At the Magnolia and on Netflix.)
3. Vice - Former Saturday Night Live head writer Adam McKay (The Big Short) has quietly become an audaciously experimental director of mainstream movies that blur comedy and tragedy and provide fiery insight into recent history. Christian Bale loses himself in Dick Cheney, an artful accumulator of power depicted here as the de facto president of the second Bush administration. Sam Rockwell brings a backslapping bonhomie to George W. Bush, which doesn't diminish the outrage that runs just below the surface of the film. (In theaters Christmas Day.)
4. Burning - There are several ways to appreciate this gem: as a social commentary on contemporary South Korea; as a study of toxic misogyny; as a breakout platform for Steven Yuen. For me it's primarily an unshakable portrait of alienation that masters of ennui like Antonioni would appreciate. At the core is a jagged love triangle that comes in and out of focus, between characters who, as T.S. Eliot once wrote, can connect nothing to nothing. (On DVD in March and streaming services in January.)
5. Blindspotting - Co-writers and stars Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal plumb the ins, outs and overwhelming force of gentrification in their story of a young black man trying to keep straight in the finals days of probation and his knucklehead white buddy, who seems intent on creating trouble. It's a troubled love letter to Oakland, but it has the vigor, the humor, and the ear to the streets that defined the rise of New Yorker Spike Lee. (On DVD and streaming services.)
6. They Shall Not Grow Old - Combing through hundreds of hours of World War I footage and restoring the best parts, Peter Jackson has crafted a miracle of film preservation and restoration. The film, narrated by English veterans of the war, doesn't just recount the battles. It puts you inside the experience, from training to combat, bloodshed to peace. And it never feels like a gimmick: the subtly colorized sequences leap to life. (In theaters Dec. 17 and Dec. 21; longer run starts Feb. 1.)
7. First Reformed - Paul Schrader's best film in years is a movie about faith as a trial in a world of environmental catastrophe and mega-church platitudes. Ethan Hawke gives a pinched, perfectly calibrated performance as a minister in a small upstate New York church beset by doubts and confronted by his own morality. Imagine Taxi Driver with a script polish from Ingmar Bergman. (On DVD and streaming services.)
8. Leave No Trace - A father (Ben Foster) and his 13-year-old daughter (bright newcomer Thomasin McKenzie) live off the grid, in a park outside of Portland - until they're forced back into civilization. The film's emotional power comes from what happens next between a loving but distrustful man who chooses to turn his back on society and an adolescent who wants to live among other people. Verdant, carefully paced, brilliantly acted and directed (by Debra Granik), Leave No Trace is a deeply felt drama of civilization and its discontents. (On DVD and streaming services.)
9. Madeline's Madeline - The unreliable narrator approach gets a disorienting jolt in the latest film from Highland Park's Josephine Decker. A young mentally ill actress (a breakout performance from Helena Howard) navigates rehearsals with her director (Molly Parker) and confrontations with her mom (Miranda July). We're never really sure what's real and what's performance. Like You Were Never Really Here, Madeline has a tactile quality that immerses you thorough sound and image and keeps you off balance. (On DVD and streaming services.)
10. A Star is Born - Proof that a big Hollywood entertainment can still be made with smarts, style, top-to-bottom great performances and, of course, fine songcraft. Bradley Cooper, who seemingly did everything but cater the production, infuses an old story - this is the fourth Star iteration to hit the big screen - with effortlessly modern touches, including the casting of Lady Gaga, who acts like she's been doing it her whole life. (In a sense, she has.) (In theaters.)
11. Eighth Grade - Bo Burnham's directorial debut is a compassionate blast furnace of adolescent anxiety. (On DVD and streaming services.)
12.. The Death of Stalin - Armando Iannucci's latest dose of realpolitik plays like Veep with gulags. (On DVD and streaming services.)
13. If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) brings out all the gritty lyricism of James Baldwin's novel. (In theaters Christmas Day.)
14. Black Panther - A welcome standout amid the glut of superhero movies. (On DVD and streaming services.)
15. Foxtrot - A stinging Israeli drama that nails the absurdity of war. (On streaming services.)
16. Widows - The crime genre gets a woke jolt from director Steve McQueen and a stellar cast. (In theaters.)
17. Annihilation - A color-blasted sci-fi/action trip that tickles the eyes and the brain. (On DVD and streaming services.)
18. Won't You Be My Neighbor? - An elegantly structured argument for why the world could really use another Mr. Rogers. (On DVD and streaming services.)
19. BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee's tale of an unlikely law enforcement venture is his most satisfying film in many a moon. (On DVD and streaming services.)
20. Shoplifters - Hirokazu Kore-eda's grim call for love and understanding reminds us he is today's answer to Ozu. (At the Magnolia Dec. 21.)
21. Can You Ever Forgive Me? - A delicious tale of literary deceit with prime performances by Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. (At the Magnolia.)
22. The Hate U Give - A YA adaptation that couldn't be timelier. (In theaters.)
23. Angels Wear White - The system is rotten in a China seaside town, where officials work overtime to cover up a sex scandal. (On DVD and streaming services.)
24. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - This Coen Bros. anthology acknowledges that death is a constant shadow in the Western. (On Netflix.)
25. The Mule - If this sturdy tale of an unlikely drug runner is Clint Eastwood's last hurrah, it's a fine way to go out. (In theaters.)
Honorable mention: 1985, Creed II, The Favourite, First Man, Mid90s, Thoroughbreds
