Monday 31 December 2018
Watch: Horror Comedy Short 'We Summoned a Demon' Shot in Austin
"Be cool, demon! Demon, be cool!" This is why you don't mess with black magic! One more creative, well-made, funny short film to end this year. We Summoned a Demon, from writer/director Chris McInroy, has played at over 120 film festivals since 2017 (including at Fantasia, FrightFest, HollyShorts) and is now available online. The short is about a couple of dudes who accidentally summon a demon, and don't want to admit their mistake. Starring Kirk Johnson, Carlos Larotta, and John Orr. This short is also the third and final in a sort-of linked trilogy of gory horror comedy shorts from McInroy, and it might just be the best.
Thanks to io9 for the tip on this one. Original description from Vimeo: "They just wanted to be cool. Instead, they got a demon." We Summoned a Demon is both written and directed by filmmaker Chris McInroy - follow him @chrismcinroy and find more of his work on Vimeo. Produced by Kris Phipps, co-produced by Denny Phillips. Featuring cinematography by E.J. Enriquez, and original music by Bird Peterson. This one finishes a quasi-trilogy of gory horror-comedy short films with Bad Guy #2 and Death Metal. It was filmed in/around Austin, TX. The film has played at over 120 film festivals. For more shorts, click here. Thoughts?
First Trailer for Victorian Supernatural Thriller 'The Isle' from Scotland
"This is a dead isle. We're only here because we've no choice." Great Point Media recently debuted the first official trailer for an indie horror thriller titled The Isle, set in 1846 on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Based loosely on Scottish ghostly folklore with inspiration from the Greek sirens, the film is about three survivors from a mysterious sinking of their merchant ship who find themselves stuck on a small isle, where the only inhabitants seem just as strange as the things that begin to happen. From director Matthew Butler-Hart, The Isle features Conleth Hill, Alex Hassell, Tori Butler-Hart, Fisayo Akinade, Alix Wilton Regan, Graham Butler, and Emma King. If you're in the mood for a misty, chilling Scottish isle supernatural horror, then this is just what you've been waiting to see. Looks like it has a few spooky scenes.
Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Matthew Butler-Hart's The Isle, direct from YouTube:
On a remote island off the west coast of Scotland in 1846 a heavy storm hits, causing a ship to sink. Three survivors row through a thick early morning mist, lost and disorientated. The mist begins to clear and The Isle appears before them. They soon discover that it is almost abandoned except for four sole residents: an old harbour man, a farmer, his niece and a young mad woman. Once rested and recovered the sailors are desperate to leave and return to the mainland, but the promised boat never appears. One of them starts to investigate and learns of a tragedy at sea that occurred five years previously causing several young men from the island to perish. When his two shipmates meet with accidents, the myth of a ghostly siren haunting the island leads him to uncover the truth whilst he battles to save his own life. The Isle is directed by English actor-filmmaker Matthew Butler-Hart, director of the films Miss in Her Teens and Two Down previously. The screenplay is written by Matthew Butler-Hart and Tori Butler-Hart. Great Point Media will release Butler-Hart's The Isle in select US theaters starting February 8th coming up. So who's interested?
‘Bird Box’ Appears to Have Had Best Movie Opening of All Time
For my last box office column of the year, I was going to look back on the hits and misses of 2018. But something happened in the last week that made for a much more interesting story. Even more interesting than the delayed successes of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Greatest Showman this time twelve months ago. This year’s late surprise is from a movie that isn’t even reporting box office numbers. Netflix dropped the bomb on Friday that their original release Bird Box, which debuted on the streaming service on December 21st, was viewed by more than 45 million accounts in its first seven days.
Took off my blindfold this morning to discover that 45,037,125 Netflix accounts have already watched Bird Box — best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film! pic.twitter.com/uorU3cSzHR
— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) December 28, 2018
First, let’s put this into Netflix’s own context. They state in the same tweet declaring this success (which many have been skeptical about since nobody outside of Netflix is privy to such data) that Bird Box‘s debut is the company’s greatest yet. Compare the movie to other hits Netflix has copped to, such as 2017’s Bright, which was said to be seen by 11 million people in the first few days, and The Cloverfield Paradox, which only streamed for about 2.8 million people in the same amount of time. One month ago, The Christmas Chronicles was viewed by 20 million people in its first week. As for TV series, Nielsen had reported the first episode of Stranger Things Part 2 reached 15.8 million Americans in three days. We don’t know Bird Box‘s first three days total, but with a per-day average of 6.4 million, three days is 19.3 million.
If that was the attendance for a theatrical feature, we’d be looking at Bird Box being one of the top-grossing blockbusters of all time. There are 18 movies total that sold at least 19.3 million tickets in its first three days of release. The 18th is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The rest include a lot of superhero movies, and sequels within the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic World, and Star Wars franchises — the last topping the list with a 28.5 million ticket opening for The Force Awakens. Of course, all theatrical releases have frontloaded box office, at least for their first seven days. Weekends see more attendance than weekdays. So, the best seven-day box office total of all time isn’t 66.5 million. No, Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ record is for just 44.9 million tickets sold in one week.
That’s right, Bird Box was streamed by more Netflix accounts than there were tickets sold for The Force Awakens in the same amount of time. And consider this: those 45 million accounts could have been shared by groups of people, whole families, that watched the movie together or separately. There is no way to tell how many people exactly have seen Bird Box. But there was no way to tell how many people actually went to see Black Panther either since its total — and even its opening weekend — attendance was surely made up of repeat business. And Black Panther has itself been on Netflix for the last four months. Maybe Black Panther has been seen by more individuals than Bird Box. That’s probably true.
Again, though, we’re looking at Bird Box achieving something in just seven days that no other movie has ever seemed to done. Black Panther, which is the top-grossing movie domestically, sold 31.9 million tickets in its first seven days and then reached 76.3 million tickets before it left theaters. Only three other movies even sold more than 45 million tickets in their entire run in North America this year: Avengers: Infinity War (72.4 million), Incredibles 2 (66.3 million), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (45.8 million). Last year, only three movies “outsold” the Bird Box number. Same with the prior two years. And not one movie in 2014 reached 45 million tickets in its whole domestic release.
Okay, but here’s where I have to point out some very important technicalities. The least of which is the fact that Bird Box didn’t exactly “open” on December 21st with its Netflix premiere. The movie, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Josh Malerman that is helmed by Susanne Bier and stars Sandra Bullock, received a limited exclusive theatrical release beginning on December 13th. Bird Box‘s true opening week was that theatrical run, though Netflix doesn’t report box office numbers so nobody knows how many tickets were sold or how much money the movie made that week. But it wasn’t on many screens, only playing in locations in three American cities.
The other big technicality is that, while Netflix doesn’t clarify in the tweet, the 45 million are most definitely a worldwide figure. Bird Box likely debuted in all 190 countries where Netflix is available. That’s a bigger reach than box office reporting sites like Box Office Mojo and The Numbers offer, by a lot. Also, nobody breaks down estimates of attendance or ticket sales for foreign territories the way Box Office Mojo does for domestic releases. So, there’s not quite a way to properly compare Netflix’s claim about Bird Box with any movie’s global theatrical success.
But let’s look at this year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which broke the all-time record for best worldwide opening, partly helped by inflation and partly by ever-increasing foreign distribution. We can see an estimate of 27.5 million tickets sold domestically in its first three days. We also know that made up only 40% of its global first-weekend gross, meaning there’s a chance another 41.3 million tickets could have been sold overseas in the same amount of time. That’s if ticket price averages were comparable. For its whole first week, though, Infinity War surely sold more than 45 million tickets (and now it’s on Netflix being seen by many more people). But it’s not that far off, and that’s a huge superhero epic, Bird Box a smallish sci-fi horror film.
One thing we definitely can’t do is act like Bird Box would have sold 45 million tickets in a single week or an entire theatrical run all around the world. Obviously, there’s an ease and a lack of monetary consideration with 45 million people clicking on Bird Box and streaming any amount of it through their subscription to Netflix. It doesn’t matter what percentage stuck with the movie until the end because box office figures don’t cover that minor situation either (though it’s easier to stop streaming than walk out of a theater and try for a ticket refund). But there is no way a large fraction of home viewers of Bird Box would have rushed out to pay an average of $9 to see it on the big screen.
Netflix boasting about their numbers for Bird Box isn’t something to shrug off, though, and it’s nothing to deny. You can be skeptical of the unverified figure, but not what such data would mean if true. Netflix likes to remind us that their reach is greater than most theatrical releases. Even with their further attempts at longer theatrical runs in the US for the respect of cinephiles and recognition from Academy voters, they still don’t like to play by the usual rules, including the idea of box office gross reporting. If anything, they’re proving to filmmakers, if not film geeks, that Netflix is the best platform if the goal is to actually be watched by a lot of people.
Then again, there’s a ton of hype there, as well. Not all of Netflix’s originals do anywhere close to as well as Bird Box did. Not all of them have the appeal of Sandra Bullock as the star. Not all of them gain awareness through memes, whether its real people or Netflix’s marketing team secretly doing it themselves. Not a lot of them have a big push at all. And almost none of them have their numbers revealed let alone championed by the company. Really, the reveal of Bird Box‘s success mainly helps Bird Box, as many more people are going to need to see it for themselves now. And shareholders will see a boost. And Netflix’s reputation for success is greater at the moment.
As someone who thinks Bird Box is mostly worth seeing, particularly for Bullock’s performance in a familiar kind of scenario, I’m glad to see it’s been watched by so many, even if on the small screen (I got to screen the movie in a theater as part of a double feature with Roma). It’s about as good as Netflix gets on a regular basis — as with most of their originals, it’s far from its auteur director’s best work. On the other side of the coin, I would like to see more of these kinds of numbers more regularly. And not just for Netflix’s own stuff. How many accounts have streamed Black Panther anyway?
The post ‘Bird Box’ Appears to Have Had Best Movie Opening of All Time appeared first on Film School Rejects.
Sunday 30 December 2018
The 50 Best Movies of 2018
As an editorial team, we’re very proud of the work we do here. We have loads of fun writing articles here on FSR, curating the beautiful and interesting over on One Perfect Shot, and we like keeping it real with Nonfics. To keep all of these things running independently, it takes a village. It requires a team of dedicated curators, columnists, contributors, editors, interns, and even the occasional guest. In 2018, our gang of nerds grew considerably and has become considerably more diverse. Which means that our taste — insomuch as a diverse group of people can have a singular taste — has evolved. As our team got a little younger and more diverse this year, the kinds of movies we gravitate toward have changed, as well. It makes for a very interesting list of the 50 Best Movies of the year, which you’ve undoubtedly already begun skimming below.
Before you get to the big list, here are some recommendations to maximize your enjoyment of the experience:
- Remember that this is our list. It’s probably different than your list. And that’s okay.
- This list was compiled using a survey of 23 of our contributors. All the ones who didn’t take off early for the holiday. We then run it through a complex algorithm and a rigorous editorial review process to ultimately arrive at the ranked list.
- Remember, this is our list. It’s definitely different than your list. It’s still okay.
- This list wasn’t made by bots or on a content farm, it was hand-crafted by us, for you. Our hope is that it inspires you to seek out some of the lesser-known films on the list. We also hope that you can use it as a starting point for discussions with people in your life about the best movies you saw in the last year.
- It’s possible that we missed something. We’re a big group that includes at least a few people who have seen north of 300 new theatrical releases this year, but even we can’t see everything. We’d love to hear from you on Twitter if you’d like to make the case for your favorite movie that we missed. Just remember: it’s telling the world why you liked it that really matters. We try to do that for our picks below.
- There were too many honorable mentions to list. We very much enjoy movies.
- While we appreciate all the feedback we’ll receive, please also note that this list is not subject to change. Attempts to convince us that we’re wrong are futile, but again, we’d love to hear what would be on your list and why.
We had a wonderful year at the movies. We hope you did, too. Here’s the best of what we saw.
50. Love, Simon
The history of mainstream YA movies and romcoms is filled with releases that are accessible, entertaining, and a little bit sappy. These movies aim to capture the awkwardness of growing up and finding young love in a way that’s easy to digest and fun. However, Love, Simon was monumental because it was the first film of this kind to be told from a queer point-of-view. Here we have a story about a teenage boy coming out that presents being gay as normal and something that should be celebrated. As it should be. We need more LGBTQ movies that are designed to make audiences leave the theater feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Love, Simon is a crowd-pleaser, but it’s an important movie that will hopefully inspire many more in the same vein. (Kieran Fisher)
Available on:
49. Support The Girls
It was a good year if your name is Regina. We’ll undoubtedly mention Regina King before this list is up. Even Regina George got a dope podcast episode by our fave Shea Serrano. This is about Regina Hall, who has been solving the dry-eyes epidemic the festival circuit with several consecutive efforts. You should watch her in 2015’s People Places Things. But first, watch her performance in Andrew Bujalski’s Support The Girls. It’s among the best you’ll see all year. Plus, with this one, you get a lively supporting cast and an honest story about people just trying to make it in a very real modern American situation. (Neil Miller)
Available on:
48. Borg vs. McEnroe
Sports movies are as ubiquitous a subgenre as you’ll find, but no matter the sport they typically focus on one underdog team or performer as the preferred champion. In addition to being a rare film about tennis, Borg vs McEnroe also dares to suggest we should be cheering for both sides. Both players give the sport their all, and as the film moves between their respective childhoods and adult lives intercut with their first championship match together we can’t help but root for what each of them brings to the sport itself. (Rob Hunter)
Available on:
47. The Endless
The UFO suicide-cult film The Endless is a career culmination for multi-hyphenates Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead. Written, directed, shot, and starring themselves the movie interweaves the duos past work with their present to create a daringly personal cross-genre film, stretching the boundaries of conventional narrative storytelling. Resolution and Spring were underground cult hits embraced by the horror community, but now with The Endless, the pair are finally getting the wide acclaim they’ve worked so hard for. Their approach of distilling larger, headier concepts through the emotional realism of their characters is electrifyingly fresh and the perfect example of why prestige horror ruled 2018. (Jacob Trussell)
Available on:
46. Let The Sunshine In
No one expected Claire Denis to follow up her 2013 film Bastards with a romantic comedy, but that’s one of the reasons that Let The Sunshine In works as well as it does. The French master explores new territory with this story of Isabelle (Juliette Binoche), a divorced artist who is going from relationship to relationship searching for a real, true love that has so far evaded her. Each romantic tryst briefly satisfies Isabelle, but nothing truly fulfills her. Denis works humor into the story, but at its core Let The Sunshine In feels deeply tragic. Not the tragedy of a love lost but the tragedy of a love never found. The film is melodic, melancholic, and as one would expect from Denis, utterly incomparable. (Anna Swanson)
Available on:
45. Night Comes On
In turn as dark as the night it promises and as tentatively hopeful as the break of dawn, Night Comes On is the best movie you didn’t see in 2018. A poetic powerhouse and a drama presented with the lightest of touches, Jordana Spiro’s feature directorial debut is about as stunningly raw as a movie can get. The movie stars inimitable young actress Dominique Fishback as Angel, a single-minded, emotionally distant young woman who leaves juvenile detention with revenge on her mind. After she tracks down her sister (Tatum Marilyn Hall, funny and perfectly cast) in foster care, Angel begins a mission to find and kill her father. Despite the description, this isn’t a bloody revenge flick, but instead a solemn girl’s odyssey through an unforgiving world. With the emotional honesty of Moonlight, the insight and empathy of Short Term 12, and a journey all its own, Night Comes On is a can’t-miss story. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
Available on:
44. A Simple Favor
After his superb spoof of spy movies with Spy, you’d expect Paul Feig to make a much broader and laugh out loud lampoon of Gone Girl type movies even while working from a similar, serious novel. Instead, his adaptation of A Simple Favor is a mix of comedy and crime thriller that shouldn’t work but ultimately comes out on top. Part of its success is that it piles twist on top of twist and offers some terrific red herrings (or are they?) and plays cliches straight yet knowingly, allowing fans of the genre to delight in both the surprises and their correct predictions. Another thing in its simple favor is the casting. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are almost too perfect for their parts as the enigmatic beauty and the suspiciously straight-laced woman. It’s also a stunningly stylish film but one where the martinis you drink while you watch are more fittingly dirty with a twist than overly precise and fancy. (Christopher Campbell)
Available on:
43. A Star is Born
Even beyond the official remakes, the premise of A Star is Born is one of the most basic stories in cinema. The well-established celebrity actor or singer discovers a new face/voice and as the fresh talent rises in success and fame, the mentor falls out of favor. So simple, you don’t really have to put much effort into making another copy, especially if you have a big name on the bill like Lady Gaga. Music icons rarely get to star in masterpieces. And yet, Bradley Cooper, in his feature directorial debut, has made another version of A Star is Born that feels like it’s a one of a kind original. It’s the care he puts into his new craft, showing an immediate knack for incredibly economic storytelling. Despite being a fictional story, the main characters in this melodrama feel more like real people than most choppy rock biopics, such as Bohemian Rhapsody. Cooper uses shorthand and trusts that audiences will find some familiarity in the film’s plot to cut unnecessary fat. Oh, and then on top of all that, Lady Gaga is sensational, giving one of the best performances of the year. (Christopher Campbell)
Pre-order on:
42. The Tale
The Tale, an autobiographical film from director Jennifer Fox, is undoubtedly 2018’s bravest work. Laura Dern plays Fox, and the film entails her re-examination of the sexual abuse she endured as a child. Eventually, she comes to terms with the way she was preyed upon by adults she trusted, and how those experiences have continued to affect her life in insidious ways ever since. The brilliance of the film can be exemplified by one small directorial decision from Fox. At the beginning of the movie, when Fox still considers her abuse simply a relationship she once had with an older man, the flashbacks depict the 13-year-old Jenny as young, but still quite sophisticated looking. However, as the current day Jennifer begins to interpret that time in her life in a new way, the actress playing young Jenny in the flashback scenes is suddenly replaced by an actress who looks much more like a 13-year-old: innocent and childlike. It is a haunting and powerful choice which allows Fox to create an incredibly profound exploration of memory and trauma. She accomplishes something impressive and difficult by making viewers experience some fraction of the emotions she must have felt as she made these intense discoveries. The Tale is a must see 2018 film –Fox’s fearlessness in telling this deeply personal story is simply unparalleled. (Madison Brek)
Available on:
41. Upgrade
In a world of Venoms, be Upgrade. No offense to the Tom Hardy Spider-verse film, but Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade takes a similar premise and upturns it with sharp writing, a quasi-believable futuristic setting and, almost most importantly, visceral gore. The blood-drenched action sequences pulsate with perfect precision and inventive camera work where you feel every gouge of a knife or break of an arm. With a visual flourish that harkens to nostalgia-drenched memories of Robocop and Blade Runner, Whannell’s genre mashup is just as exhilaratingly fun as anything it reminds us of. We’ve seen the future of science fiction, and it’s Upgrade. (Jacob Trussell)
Available on:
The post The 50 Best Movies of 2018 appeared first on Film School Rejects.
Saturday 29 December 2018
Filmmaker of the Year: Netflix
Filmmaker of the year is a distinction we bestow here with a bit more flexibility than the rest of our end of year coverage. The best movies are limited specifically to films, best performers to the standout actors, and so on. “Filmmaker,” though, is a bit more fluid of a term. Past years have seen us honor producers like Megan Ellison, directors like Ava DuVernay, and studios like A24, and there’s no reason why an actor or composer couldn’t earn the accolade in years to come. There were numerous talents in the running this year, but we ultimately settled on a somewhat atypical choice.
Netflix had a pretty spectacular 2018 by any conceivable metric. They increased their already staggering subscriber base, they upped the number of original movies and began premiering some in limited theatrical runs, they continued to attract big names as creators and directors, they wisely passed on the opportunity to pick up the disastrous Holmes & Watson, and they made great strides towards being a reputable content producer capable of delivering Oscar-worthy films. And on February 24th of next year, they’re going to win an Academy Award (or three) for their Netflix Original film, Roma. That’s no small potatoes.
Netflix has been a fixture in most movie-goers’ lives since 1998 when they began their DVD mail-order rental business with a mere 925 titles available, but seven years later they were a behemoth entertainment option home to 35,000 movies. They were a massive success in an industry with a ticking clock, and they wisely stayed ahead of the game with their shift to online streaming in 2007 that cemented their place in homes around the world. How many homes? As of October 2018, their subscriber base numbered over 137 million users worldwide — and I do mean worldwide as the only countries they’re not officially available in are China, North Korea, Syria, and Crimea. That’s an impressive foothold on our movie-watching time, and if 2018 showed anything it’s that they can only continue to rise from there.
It’s one thing to offer access to existing movies, and it’s another to actually acquire, fund, and produce them directly. It’s here where Netflix earns the “filmmaker” moniker as 2018 saw them give a home to numerous directors and creators both established and fresh behind the ears. For every commentator or critic lamenting the service’s “replacement” of the traditional theater-going experience, there’s a director or writer praising Netflix for giving them the money and freedom to make the film they wanted to make. A short list of 2018’s more notable releases includes Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, the Coens’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Paul Greengrass’ 22 July, Gareth Evans’ Apostle, Duncan Jones’ Mute, and Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark. Even the previously dead Orson Welles jumped at the chance to work with Netflix and delivered The Other Side of the Wind.
The first three of those titles were also given a limited theatrical opening which, while small, is an important step towards rebuffing one of the service’s biggest complaints. If it pays off for Netflix, and as stated above it most definitely will when Roma wins the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (or Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, etc), we can expect an even more notable effort going forward. They’ve already received past Emmy nominations/wins for shows like House of Cards, The Crown, and Stranger Things, and last year Netflix won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for Icarus. Roma‘s inevitable win will see the floodgates open further as they invest in more quality cinema — and continue to actually release it to the cinemas.
Not all of their Original Films have been winners, of course, but for every Adam Sandler comedy, we get something smaller, riskier, or unexpected. Cam is a smartly compelling and sex-positive thriller about cam girls and identity. The Night Comes for Us delivered 2018’s best action movie directly into our veins where we could experience again as many times as possible. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before shared the headlines with the big screen’s Crazy Rich Asians as part of the year’s long overdue “Asian summer.”
The past week alone has seen Netflix make more strides with two new titles. Susanne Bier’s Bird Box, an adaptation of the best-selling novel starring Sandra Bullock, played to 45 million subscribers in just seven days. That’s their biggest premiere week ever for an original film. They also debuted a new feature-length episode of Black Mirror called Bandersnatch, and while that’s significant enough the damn thing is a legitimate “Choose Your Own Adventure” movie with viewers controlling the path of the story through onscreen choices. The latter film shows Netflix as continually moving forward with their ambitions, and 2019 is already stacking up to be another banner year.
Netflix has inked production deals with Mark Millar, Shonda Rhimes, Kenya Barris, Harlan Coben, and more writers and creators promising multiple titles from each across the next few years, and the films they already have on tap for 2019 are immensely exciting and promising. We’re getting J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier, Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw, Ciaran Foy’s Eli, Michael Bay’s 6 Underground, David Michod’s The King, Dee Rees’ The Last Thing He Wanted, Vincenzo Natali’s In the Tall Grass, Joe Lynch’s Point Blank, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. Hell, we’re also getting not one but two new films from Steven Soderbergh with High Flying Bird and The Laundromat. This is an embarrassment of potential riches, and the success they’ve had in 2018 is integral in allowing Netflix to keep their original content going into next year and beyond.
An October 2018 report showed that 15% of all internet bandwidth around the world consists of Netflix users streaming content into their homes. That’s an astounding number revealing just how big the Netflix phenomenon truly is. There’s plenty to criticize about Netflix, from nitpicks to legitimate concerns, but it’s disingenuous and maybe a little snobbish to discount the effort they’re making to give other filmmakers a home. They could easily rest on their laurels and on reliable content like popular sitcoms from the 90s to carry them towards increased profitability, but they’ve instead shown a real interest in turning that money around and investing in creating new content — that you can then watch alongside every episode of Friends.
The post Filmmaker of the Year: Netflix appeared first on Film School Rejects.
Critic’s Picks: The Best Movies of 2018
2018 saw some talking heads opine the dearth of good movies, but while it feels like a lazy contrarian take it’s more likely just an ill-informed one. This year, like every year, saw dozens of great films and even more good ones, and if anything the real struggle was narrowing them down to a limited and ranked list. But I did it… because I care.
All of these films were released in the US this year, and while they didn’t all find an audience they sure as hell deserve to. Keep reading for a look at the 18 best movies of 2018.
18. The House That Jack Built
Lars von Trier’s films have never really connected with me as I’ve never felt their intent to be supported by an engaging artistry, but that changes with his latest, boldest, and best film. Presented as a series of vignettes highlighting a serial killer’s accomplishments, the film sees a man defending his “art” against judgment beyond his control. What von Trier lacks in subtlety he celebrates in audacity through Jack’s kills and his subsequent journey into hell. It’s a wickedly entertaining descent.
17. Suspiria
Remaking something like Dario Argento’s Suspiria is a fool’s errand on the face of it as it’s a memorable horror classic due exclusively to the sensory experience of watching and hearing it unfold. Luca Guadagnino wisely tackles a redo with a focus on story that he pairs with his own approach to beauty both in cinematography and score. It’s a sumptuous feast that brings the genre goods, some historical context, and a searing call to arms for the women of the world.
16. Hereditary
Writer/director Ari Aster’s feature debut is a stunner of tension and tone as it follows a dysfunctional family’s struggle with some devilish situations. Fantastic performances (by Alex Wolff and Toni Collette in particular) and smart writing pull viewers in close before the script slowly starts squeezing characters and viewers alike in its vicious grip. The film touches on familiar genre threads but weaves them into an experience of its own design. It’s paced like 2015’s The Witch, but it also delivers with similarly intense and horrifying bursts of terror.
15. Can You Ever Forgive Me
Melissa McCarthy plays a writer who’s no longer commercially viable and forced to make ends meet by any means necessary, and those means are forgery. This is a true story about one woman’s epic scam on the literary world, and it’s told with warmth, wit, and an honest eye. McCarthy is fantastic, and she’s matched beat for beat by a brilliant Richard E. Grant. The film offers a glimpse into the life of an ornery woman with talent and without scruples, and it’s a terrific watch.
14. BlacKkKlansman
We’re used to Spike Lee’s pointed attacks against America’s racist past and present, but his latest film holds that mirror up to a story too ridiculous to be true but true all the same. It’s the story of two police officers in Colorado — a black man and a Jew — who together infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee plays it unavoidably as a comedy but the laughs are punctuated with reminders of how serious it all is for America, and the film ends with an extended dose of reality driving all of its points home in stark fashion. It’s Lee at his angriest and most creative.
13. The Favourite
England’s Queen Anne has seen better days, but rarely has she seen as engaging a portrait as the one presented her by director Yorgos Lanthimos. His latest pits the mentally frail ruler against two women vying for her attention and power, and the results are funny, sad, and deliciously thrilling. It’s a beguiling rendering of royalty brought to wicked life by a trio of perfect performances from Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone.
12. Game Night
As I mentioned on another list recapping the year’s best films this studio comedy has no business being as sharp, creative, and beautifully crafted as it is. The laughs are big and frequent, but the craftsmanship is even more impressive from the set-pieces down to the cinematography that leaves certain scenes resembling a game board. It’s one of the year’s most purely enjoyable watches with a cast fully up to the task at hand including a terrifically comic turn by Rachel McAdams.
11. Annihilation
Grief and loss are powerful forces capable of turning our worlds upside down, and while the themes can devastate in a straight drama they’re no less destructive in a sci-fi/horror scenario. Alex Garland’s latest drops five women into the unknown in search of answers, and what they find strikes at the very heart of our existence as humans. Beyond the heady ideas, the film offers up glorious visuals and thrilling set-pieces striking enough to thrill any genre fan. The bonus is the thought-provoking nature of its conclusion.
10. The Tale
Sexual assault is an ugly reality that gets even uglier when it involves a minor, but writer/director Jennifer Fox’s brutally honest tale of reflection crafts a story about it with such creativity and raw power as to be utterly mesmerizing. It still hurts to watch, but smart writing and a structure that sees a woman talking to her younger self as memories arise from the haze of time and shame bring its sadly relevant truths to the surface in powerful ways. Laura Dern, Elizabeth Debicki, and an equally brave Jason Ritter all shine.
The post Critic’s Picks: The Best Movies of 2018 appeared first on Film School Rejects.
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