(FROM THE ARCHIVE) BEST MOVIES OF 2018

To kind of fill up my blog thing before I really start kicking, and centralize my stuff, I am going to be posting my best of lists from the past few years. I am going to copy and paste them froom my Facebook Notes, without editing. So some opinions have definitely changed, but these were my thoughts at the time.

Enjoy!

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This is my best of 2018, finally, over a month into 2019! I don’t get to see all the ‘prestige movies’ on time so this is what happens. Even with the delay, and watching 202 2018 releases, I still couldn’t fit them all in. Just some of the movies on my list that I didn’t catch up with: Happy as Lazzaro; Dogman; Border; Never Look Away; Hale County, This Morning This Evening; Museo, Ash is the Purest White; Cold Hell; Mary and the Witch’s Flower; The Day After; Mug; The Heiress; Sunday’s Illness; Have a Nice Day; Gauguin; Claire’s Camera; On the Basis of Sex; The Green Fog; Consequences; Bisbee ’17; Yomeddine; Capharnaum, Vox Lux, everything after Marrowbone starts getting creepy, and many more.

This was a weird year, there were only a couple of movies that I really loved, but a ton that I liked a lot. Just a boatload of really good performances though, especially for lead actress. The honourable mentions are in no particular order, they’re all performances that I thought were great.

Enjoy!

Best Picture

1. First Reformed

2. Can You Ever Forgive Me?

3. Blackkklansman 4. The Death of Stalin

5. The Favourite 6. Blindspotting

7. Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse

8. Minding the Gap

9. If Beale Street Could Talk

10. Hereditary

11. Eighth Grade

12. Mid90s

13. Shoplifters

14. Shirkers

15. Suspiria

16. Upgrade

17. Thoroughbreds

18. Support the Girls

19. The Rider

20. Black Panther

Honourable Mentions: The Other Side of the Wind, Skate Kitchen, Love After Love, The Tale, Avengers: Infinity War; Juliet, Naked; The Night Eats the World; The Ritual; Leave No Trace; Free Solo, and Private Life

Best Actor

1. Ethan Hawke – First Reformed

2. Timothée Chalamet – Beautiful Boy

3. Rami Malek – Bohemian Rapsody

4. Christian Bale – Vice

5. Joaquin Phoenix – Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot

6. Lakeith Stanfield – Sorry to Bother You

7. Steve Buscemi – The Death of Stalin

8. Daveed Diggs – Blindspotting 9. John Huston – The Other Side of the Wind

10. Jonathan Pryce – The Wife

Honourable Mentions: Paul Giamatti – Private Life, Lily Franky and Jyo Kairi – Shoplifters, Chris O’Dowd – Love After Love, Stephan James – If Beale Street Could Talk, Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born, Sonny Suljic – Mid90s, Anders Danielsen Lie – The Night Eats the World, Brady Jandreau – The Rider, John Cho – Searching, Sam Claflin – Journey’s End, Jason Clarke – Chappaquiddick, Steve Carell – Beautiful Boy, Christian Bale – Hostiles, Ben Mendelsohn – The Land of Steady Habits, Lucas Hedges – Ben is Back and Boy Erased, Denis Ménochet and Thomas Gioria – Custody, Daniel Gimenez Cacho – Zama, and Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here

Best Actress

1. Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2. Olivia Coleman – The Favourite

3. Sakura Ando – Shoplifters 4. Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade

5. Toni Collette – Hereditary 6. Regina Hall – Support the Girls

7. Katheryn Hahn – Private Life

8. Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

9. Juliette Binoche – Let the Sunshine In

10. Thomasin Mackenzie – Leave No Trace

Honourable Mentions: Olivia Cooke – Thoroughbreds, Laura. Dern – The Tale, Emma Stone – The Favourite, Julianne Nicholson – Who We Are Now, Andrea Risebrorough – Nancy, Andie MacDowell – Love After Love, Glen Close – The Wife, Helena Howard – Madeline’s Madeline, Kiki Layne – If Beale Street Could Talk, Rosamund Pike – A Private War, Julia Roberts – Ben is Back, Keira Knightley – Collette, Edie Falco – The Land of Steady Habits, Anya Taylor-Joy – Thoroughbreds, Rose Byrne – Juliet, Naked, Tiffany Haddish – The Oath, Rachel Weisz – Disobedience, Lana Condor – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Rachelle Vinberg – Skate Kitchen, Kiersey Clemons – Hearts Beat Loud, and Millicent Simmonds – A Quiet Place

Best Supporting Actor

1. Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2. Simon Russel Beale – The Death of Stalin

3. Mahershala Ali - Green Book

4. Ben Foster – Leave No Trace

5. Sam Elliott – A Star is Born 6. Jonah Hill – Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot 7. Lucas Hedges – Mid90s 8. Rafael Casal – Blindspotting 9. Chris O’Dowd – Juliet, Naked 10. Bill Heck – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Honourable Mentions: Michael Shannon – What They Had, Evan Peters – American Animals, Anton Yelchin – Thoroughbreds, Hugh Grant – Paddington 2, Peter Bogdanovich – The Other Side of the Wind, Jake Gyllenhaal – The Sisters Brothers, Robert Forster – What They Had, Nicholas Hoult, James Smith, and Joe Alwyn – The Favourite, Alessandro Nivola – Disobedience, Tom Waits – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Tony Shaloub and Geoffrey Rush – Final Portrait, Na-kel Smith – Mid90s, Adam Driver – Blackklansman, Russel Hornsby – The Hate U Give, James Badge Dale – Hold the Dark, Forrest Goodluck – The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Chris Hemsworth – Avengers: Infinity War, Mamoudou Athie – The Front Runner, Billy Magnussen – The Oath, Jonathan Majors – White Boy Rick, Josh Hamilton – Eighth Grade, Paul Bettany – Journey’s End, Bruno Ganz – The Party, Julian Black Antelope – Hold the Dark, and Michael B. Jordan – Black Panther

Best Supporting Actress

1. Tilda Swinton – Suspiria

2. Regina Hall – If Beale Street Could Talk

3. Margot Robbie – Mary Queen of Scots 4. Michelle Yeoh – Crazy Rich Asians

5. Blake Lively – A Simple Favor 6. Dolly Wells – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

7. Katherine Waterston – Mid90s

8. Isabelle Nelisse – The Tale 9. Kayli Carter – Private Life

10. Haley Lu Richardson – Support the Girls

Honourable Mentions: Jasmine Cephas – Blindspotting, Rachel McAdams – Disobedience, Molly Parker – Madeline’s Madeline, Gemma Chan – Crazy Rich Asians, Patricia Clarkson – The Party, Betty Gabriel – Upgrade. J. Smith-Cameron – Nancy, Teyonah Parris – If Beale Street Could Talk, Jane Curtin – Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Sasha Lane – The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Hearts Beat Loud, Emma Roberts – Who We Are Now, Cherry Jones – The Party, Tessa Thompson – Sorry to Bother You and Annihilation, Emily Blunt – A Quiet Place, Anne Dowd – Hereditary and American Animals, Ramona Young – Blockers, Zoe Kazan and Tyne Daly – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Marina de Tavira and Veronica Garcia – Roma, and Sylvie Testud – The Final Portrait

Best Director

1. Paul Schrader – First Reformed

2. Marielle Heller – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

3. Spike Lee – Blackkklansman 4. Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite

5. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman – Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse

6. Armando Iannucci – The Death of Stalin

7. Carlos Lopez Estrada – Blindspotting 8. Ari Aster – Hereditary 9. Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade

10. Tamara Jenkins – Private Life

Honourable Mentions: Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk, Jonah Hill – Mid90s, Matthew Heineman – A Private War, Hirokazu Koreeda – Shoplifters, Chloé Zhao – The Rider, Dominique Rocher – The Night Eats the World, Leigh Whannel – Upgrade, Paul King – Paddington 2, Cory Finley – Thoroughbreds, Xavier Legrand – Custody, and Debra Granik – Leave No Trace

Best Original Screenplay

1. Paul Schrader – First Reformed

2. Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara – The Favourite

3. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal – Blindspotting 4. Hirokazu Koreeda – Shoplifters 5. Jennifer Fox – The Tale

6. Paul King and Simon Farnaby – Paddington 2

7. Cory Finley – Thoroughbreds

8. Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade

9. Boots Reilly – Sorry to Bother You

10. Tamara Jenkins – Private Life

Honourable Mentions: Andrew Bujalski – Support the Girls, Russell Harbaugh and Eric Mendelsohn – Love After Love, Rungano Nyoni – I am Not a Witch, Leigh Whannell – Upgrade, Bart Layton – American Animals, Jonah Hill - Mid90s, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan – Wildlife, and Wes Anderson – Ilse of Dogs

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, and Peter Fellows – The Death of Stalin

2. Nicole Holofcener and Simon Farnaby – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

3. Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman – Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse

4. Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk

5. Joel and Ethan Coen – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

6. Spike Lee, Kevin Willmott, David Rabinowitz, and Charlie Watchel – Blackkklansman 7. David Kajganich – Suspiria 8. Luke Davies and Felix Van Goeningen – Beautiful Boy

9. Evgenia Peretz, Jim Taylor, and Tamara Jenkins – Juliet, Naked

10. Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole – Black Panther

Honourable Mention: Alex Garland – Annihilation, Jeremie Guez, Gus Van Sant – Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Francois Ozon – Double Lover, Guillaume Lemans, and Dominique Rocher – The Night Eats the World, Joe Barton – The Ritual, Sofia Alvarez – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely – Avengers: Infinity War, Sebastian Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz – Disobedience, and Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini – Leave No Trace

Best Cinematography

1. James Laxton – If Beale Street Could Talk

2. Robbie Ryan – The Favourite

3. Alexander Dynan – First Reformed

4. Chayse Irvin – Blackkklansman 5. Christopher Blauvelt – Mid90s

6. Lukasz Zal – Cold War 7. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – Suspiria 8. Bruno Delbonnel – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

9. Danny Cohen – Disobedience 10. Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin, and Mikey Schaefer – Free Solo

Honourable Mention: Pawel Pogorzelski – Hereditary, Joshua James Richards – The Rider, Manuel Dacosse – Let the Corpses Tan and Double Lover, Kyung-pyo Hong – Burning, Adam Stone – Damsel, Robert Richardson – A Private War, Robby Baumgartner – Blindspotting, Laurie Rose – Journey’s End, Mathhew Libatique – A Star is Born, Christopher Blauvelt – Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Tom Townend – You Were Never Really Here, Peter Matjasko – In the Aisle, Juan Sebastian Baron, Nicholas D. Johnson, and Will Merrick – Searching, Matt Flannery – Apostle, Benjamin Loeb – Mandy, Steeve Desrosiers – Les Affamées, Magnus Nordenhof Jonck – Hold the Dark, Trent Opaloch – Avengers: Infinity War, Rob Hardy – Annihilation, Rachel Morrison – Black Panther, Maryse Alberti – Chappaquiddick, Hagen Bogdanski – Papillon, Rui Pocas – Zama, Stefan Duscio – Upgrade, and Lyle Vincent – Thoroughbreds

Best Editing

1. Barry Alexander Brown – Blackkklansman

2. Yorgos Mavropsaridis – The Favourite

3. Robert Fisher Jr. – Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse

4. Gabriel Fleming – Blindspotting 5. Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick – Searching

6. Lucian Johnston and Jennifer Lame – Hereditary

7. Jeffrey Ford and Matthew Schmidt – Avengers: Infinity War

8. Bernard Beets – Let the Corpses Tan

9. Benjamin Rodriguez Jr. – First Reformed

10. Walter Fasano - Suspiria

Honourable Mentions: Joi McMillion and Nat Sanders – If Beale Street Could Talk, Peter Lambert – The Death of Stalin, Laure Gardette - Double Lover, Nick Houy – Mid90s, Isabelle Manquillet – The Night Eats the World, Andy Canny – Upgrade, and Louise Ford - Thoroughbreds

Best Production Design

1. Annihilation

2. Black Panther

3. The Favourite

4. Paddington 2

5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

6. Shoplifters

7. A Private War

8. Zama 9. Journey’s End

10. The Night Eats the World

Honourable Mentions: Avengers: Infinity War, The Ritual, Apostle, A Wrinkle in Time, Mon Mon Mon Monsters, Upgrade, Mandy, and I Am Not a Witch

Best Costume

1. The Death of Stalin

2. The Favourite

3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Paddington 2

6. Zama

7. Collette

8. At Eternity’s Gate

9. Crazy Rich Asians

10. The Sisters Brothers

Honourable Mentions: Avengers: Infinity War, Damsel, Aquaman, A Wrinkle in Time, Bomb City, Mid90s, Skate Kitchen, Journey’s End, and Shoplifters

Best Make Up and Hair

1. The Favourite

2. Mon Mon Mon Monsters

3. Can You Ever Forgive Me?

4. Vice

5. If Beale Street Could Talk

6. Shoplifters

7. Black Panther

8. The Sisters Brothers

9. Hereditary

10. Beautiful Boy

Honourable Mentions: The Night Eats the World, A Private War, Sorry to Bother You, Zama, Mandy, Avengers: Infinity War, Papillon, At Eternity’s Gate, On Chesil Beach, and I Am Not a Witch

Best Original Score

1. Nicholas Britell – If Beale Street Could Talk2. Ludwig Goransson – Black Panther 3. Terence Blanchard – Blackkklansman 4. Carter Burwell – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 5. Matthew Herbert – Disobedience 6. Anna Meridith – Eighth Grade 7. Erik Friedlander – Throroughbreds 8. Thom Yorke – Suspiria 9. Johnny Greenwood – You Were Never Really Here 10. Alexandre Desplat – Isle of Dogs

Honourable Mentions: Daniel Pemberton – Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse, Johann Johannsson – Mandy, Nater Heller - Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Keegan Dewitt – Hearts Beat Loud, Alan Silvestri – Avengers: Infinity War, Marco Beltrami – Free Solo, Ishai Adar – Shirkers, Christopher Willis – The Death of Stalin, Brook and Will Blair – Hold the Dark, Ben Lovett – The Ritual, David Gubitsch – The Night Eats the World, Nathan Halpern – The Rider, Jed Palmer – Upgrade, Garth Stevenson – Chappaquiddick, Colin Stetson – Hereditary, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Mid90s, Caroline Shaw – Madeline’s Madeline, and David Buckley – Papillon

Best Use of Non-Original Music

1. Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse2. The Favourite 3. Blindspotting 4. Mid90s 5. Eighth Grade 6. Thoroughbreds 7. Can You Ever Forgive Me? 8. American Animals 9. Blackkklansman10. Bohemian Rapsody

Honourable Mentions: Isle of Dogs, Beautiful Boy, Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Best Visual Effects

1. Avengers: Infinity War 2. Overlord 3. Paddington 24. Annihilation 5. Mission Impossible: Fallout6. Deadpool 2 7. Alpha8. Upgrade9. Christopher Robin 10. First Man

Honourable Mentions: A Private War, Solo, and Bumblebee

Best Sound Effects and Editing

1. Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse

2. Annihilation

3. Avengers: Infinity War

4. The Night Eats the World

5. Let the Corpses Tan

6. Overlord

7. Bohemian Rapsody

8. Hereditary

9. Madeline’s Madeline

10. Pacifc Rim 2

Honourable Mentions: Apostle, The Ravenous, American Animals, Mid90s, Eighth Grade, Searching, and Isle of Dogs