I saw 162 movies in theaters in 2018. Here is my full ranking.

I saw 162 movies in theaters in 2018, so about 3-4 visits per week. That's up from 140 movies in 2017 & 9 movies in 2016. I like to keep track/score/ticket stubs/etc for all of them. I rarely ever go for re-watches (only 3 times this year). I don't have MoviePass/A-List/Sinemia/etc. I use Regal Points quite a lot though. I regularly go to about 6-7 different local theaters depending on what they're showing. Here is my full year-end ranking from favorite to least favorite, including a few small reviews/thoughts/etc for some of them.

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The Favourite - 10/10 : One of 3 masterpieces this year IMO (along with Roma & Shoplifters). This was the funniest movie of the year and the best ensemble performance. Stone & Colman could both easily win/deserve the Oscar in their categories. The script is amazing. There's a unique shot/camera movement every 5 minutes. Lanthimos is pretty much my favorite active director and can do no wrong at this point with 5 hits in a row. So many memorable lines, and even a great, surprising performance from Nicholas Hoult. Awesome dry humor & surreal moments, in classic Lanthimos fashion. I don't think I've ever laughed more in a theater than during this movie. The only criticism I can think of is that the last 25% of the film definitely loses a bit of the momentum that was built up, but this is still easily my favorite film of the year.

Mid90s - 10/10

Shoplifters - 10/10 : A masterclass in humanism. Every single character is fleshed out to the point where it feels like you've known them for years. The perfect mix of ambiguity & realism. Kore-eda's best film, and that's obviously saying a lot. I could've watched 5 more hours of Shoplifters.

First Reformed - 9/10

The Death Of Stalin - 9/10

Summer 1993 - 9/10

Black Klansman - 9/10

They Shall Not Grow Old - 9/10

Damsel - 9/10 : My 'Hidden Gem' suggestion of the year. I went in completely blind for this movie and was blown away. Really goes into directions you don't expect, nice twists. Looks great. Mia Wasikowska is a total badass & Robert Pattinson plays an endearing doofus perfectly. You really feel for the guy. Surprisingly dark comedy. Really caps off a great year for Westerns. Easily stuck in my Top 10 throughout the entire year.

First Man - 9/10

Wildlife - 9/10 : Carey Mulligan & Jake Gyllenhaal both deserve awards attention for this movie. Just a perfect snapshot of rural 1960s America that you don't see often in movies. Feels more like a documentary than a movie at times. We were really spoiled with directorial debuts this year but Paul Dano had the most impactful one. I really want to watch this again without a shitty audience. Also, Bill Camp plays a creepy rich guy in a way only he can.

Loveless - 8/10

Leave No Trace - 8/10

Custody - 8/10 - The tension in this movie is pretty much indescribable. Didn't want to move from my seat after it ended. It reminded me a lot of Leviathan or Graduation. European 'real-life' cinema at its finest. Depressing in all the right ways, I guess.

Eighth Grade - 8/10

Blindspotting - 8/10

Thoroughbreds - 8/10

A Star Is Born - 8/10 : Great directing debut by Cooper. Awards-worthy performances by all 3 leads. Solid all around. Not much to say except it did everything well. I could definitely see this becoming a movie that reddit hates/calls overrated after it wins Best Picture though. It just fits that mold perfectly.

Disobedience - 8/10

Isle Of Dogs - 8/10

Lean On Pete - 8/10

Mission Impossible: Fallout - 8/10

The Sisters Brothers - 8/10 : This movie could've used more scenes with Riz Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal but that's my only nitpick. Really good Western.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post - 8/10

Beast - 8/10

Beautiful Boy - 8/10 : Insanely good performance by Timothee Chalamet, my pick for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Really believable, deep look into dependence & addiction. Amazon fucked up the release (because of course it did), so it won't get the credit it deserved. Steve Carell was pretty distracting in this though, he's had a pretty rough year.

Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse - 8/10 : Best comic book movie of year, for sure. Really unique, funny, well-written, relevant. Had a smile on my face the whole time. Sony's got a real winner here and I wouldn't mind 3-4 more of these. Less Emoji Movie, more Spiderverse. Rooting for this or Isle of Dogs to win the Oscar. I'd be happy with either. Both are a big step above Incredibles 2.

A Private War - 8/10

American Animals - 8/10

Won't You Be My Neighbor? - 8/10

Journey's End - 8/10

Green Book - 8/10 : It's weird seeing how much backlash this movie has gotten in the past couple months. Seems like there's a new controversy surrounding it every few weeks. Mortensen & Ali put in great performances and the story is solid. Pulls at your heart strings but never feels too manipulative. Yeah it feels obviously too clean & polished at times, but it's a solid movie.

A Quiet Place - 8/10

Free Solo - 8/10 : Sweaty Palms: The Movie. Perfectly tense. You never really understand/relate to the main subject of the documentary but I think that adds to the charm of it. Watching a achievement so mindblowing on the big screen was really worth it.

Hearts Beat Loud - 8/10

McQueen - 8/10

Love, Simon - 8/10

In The Fade - 8/10

In Between - 8/10

The Rider - 7/10 : When using amateur actor goes right. Really grounded, beautiful, believable neo-Western.

Old Man & The Gun - 7/10

You Were Never Really Here - 7/10

Foxtrot - 7/10

Goldstone - 7/10 : The Australian Wind River. Great crime-drama that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Unique setting, great characters.

Upgrade - 7/10

Overlord - 7/10

The Guilty - 7/10

What They Had - 7/10 : Solid character-driven family-drama with an awesome performance from Michael Shannon. The dialogue reminded me a bit of Aaron Sorkin. Taissa Farmiga is great.

Game Night - 7/10

Black Panther - 7/10

Ready Player One - 7/10

Avengers: Infinity War - 7/10

The Cakemaker - 7/10

The Insult - 7/10

Creed II - 7/10

Tully - 7/10

Deadpool 2 - 7/10

Support the Girls - 7/10

Solo: A Star Wars Story - 7/10

Incredibles 2 - 7/10

Searching - 7/10

Vice - 7/10 : Most disappointing movie of the year for me. This was all over the place and unfocused. Adam McKay tried to do way too much and it really backfired. The narration was sloppy and the actual story jumped around too much, it was impossible to focus in. He tried to replicate the lighting-in-a-bottle he caught with The Big Short but it didn't work out at all. Christian Bale was great but that's about it. I was really hyped for this but walked out underwhelmed.

Boy Erased - 7/10

Colette - 7/10

Crazy Rich Asians - 7/10

Widows - 7/10

Vox Lux - 7/10 : There's a reallllly good film hidden in here somewhere. Brady Corbet & Lol Crowley are absolutely a director & cinematographer to watch out for. They did some really 'out-there' and risky stuff with this one and a lot of it landed really well (...some not so much). It's just the ending that completely deflated the movie, and some awkward pacing throughout. This had the potential of a 9/10, just completely ruined with the ending. Could've used some more editing/cutting.

Mary, Queen of Scots - 7/10

Unsane - 7/10

A Fantastic Woman - 7/10

The Night Eats The World - 7/10 : Fresh take on the zombie genre. It's more about survival than actual zombie fighting, which I really liked. It's how I imagine a world-ending zombie apocalypse would actually go. It's a real slow-burn so it's definitely not for everyone. Not much actually happens for most of the movie.

Bumblebee - 7/10

Chappaquiddick - 7/10

Adrift - 7/10

Bag Of Marbles - 7/10

Puzzle - 7/10

Three Identical Strangers - 7/10

The Wife - 7/10

Instant Family - 7/10

Red Sparrow - 7/10 : I actually don't think this was as bad as most other people thought. Jennifer Lawrence puts in a great performance and I'm a sucker for Cold War-era spy-thrillers. The biggest problem was the runtime. This really needed to be cut down by at least 20 minutes, preferably even 30 minutes. There is absolutely no excuse for this movie being almost 2.5 hours.

Tag - 7/10

After Auschwitz - 7/10

Can You Ever Forgive Me? - 6/10 : I went into it expecting to be blown away but it was just kind of a middling biopic with 2 great performances. Nothing really stood out and the characters really didn't evolve much. One of the more disappointing movies of the year for me, based on all the buzz it had.

Aquaman - 6/10

Ben Is Back - 6/10

Flower - 6/10

Paddington 2 - 6/10 : Mods pls don't ban for the low score. It was fine, the hype is a bit overstated to me though. Cute/10

Den Of Thieves - 6/10

The Front Runner - 6/10

Back To Burgundy - 6/10 : If you've always wanted to know the inner-workings of France's wine-industry mixed with intense family-drama, this is the movie for you.

Bad Times at the El Royale - 6/10

Tomb Raider - 6/10

The Mule - 6/10: Clint Eastwood Scowls & Growls: The Movie

7 Days In Entebbe - 6/10

1945 - 6/10

Anna & the Apocalypse - 6/10 : I'm not usually a fan of musicals but this was decent. The songs are catchy and the characters are likeable. The practical effects were convincing and still was a well-made, bright, zombie movie.

Alpha - 6/10

On Chesil Beach - 6/10

Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool - 6/10

Pacific Rim: Uprising - 6/10

The Third Murder - 6/10 : Needlessly convoluted. Way too many twists & turns. The plot gets very sloppy. It went from 'solid legal thriller' to 'messy & unfocused' really quickly. Again, a movie that needed to be a lot shorter. Surprisingly weak for Hirokazu Kore-eda.

The Seagull - 6/10

Blockers - 6/10

Christopher Robin - 6/10

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story - 6/10

Ant-Man & The Wasp - 5/10

Sorry To Bother You - 5/10

At Eternity's Gate - 5/10 : Willem Dafoe was awesome in this but it doesn't have much else going for it. It was way too artsy for it's own good. Felt like an off-brand Terrence Malick film. This feels too mean, but I actually liked the trailer a lot more than the movie itself.

Oh Lucy! - 5/10

Beirut - 5/10

Hotel Artemis - 5/10

Mortal Engines - 5/10 : The special effects in this were actually really good but it's brought down by a very predictable, by-the-numbers, generic story. Really hammy & distracting performance by Hugo Weaving. The dialogue is laughably bad and the stars are forgettable.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure - 5/10

Rampage - 5/10

Death Wish - 5/10

The Equalizer 2 - 5/10

The Meg - 5/10 : You get what you pay for. Jason Statham fights a shark, cheesy one-liners and cliche characters follow. It's an okay movie if you don't care too much and don't ask any questions. The definition of a Redbox movie, really.

Operation Finale - 5/10

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - 4/10

Final Portrait - 4/10

Sicario 2 - 4/10

Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot - 4/10 : This was a sloppy mess. Really low-tier Van Sant. The only redeeming factor was Jonah Hill. Probably the most underrated performance of the year, absolutely awards worthy. Comparable to Claire Foy in First Man. It didn't get any recognition because the rest of the movie sucked and Amazon sucks at releasing/promoting movies. Disappointing.

The Girl in Spider's Web - 4/10

Bohemian Rhapsody - 4/10

The Little Stranger - 4/10 : This is a great movie if you want to take a nap. Absolute snooze-fest, slow, gothic-lite, non-thriller. The highlight was being completely alone at a 7:00 PM opening night showing at my local theater's biggest room (200+ seats). That's always fun. The redeeming factors are the set designs & Ruth Wilson.

Annihilation - 3/10

Mary & The Witch's Flower - 3/10

The Party - 3/10

Early Man - 3/10

12 Strong - 3/10 : I was honestly expecting something better based on the cast alone but this is really just a glorified Army recruitment ad. Really felt heavy-handed and unrealistic. Pointless movie.

Skyscraper - 3/10

The Commuter - 3/10

Leisure Seeker - 3/10

Gringo - 3/10

Arizona - 3/10 : Five years too late. Godawful script and the violence is really off-putting for some reason. I don't usually mind gratuitous violence, but this was awkward/unnecessary.

Gemini - 3/10

Submission - 3/10

L'Amant Double - 3/10

Humor Me - 3/10

Bye Bye Germany - 3/10

Uncle Drew - 3/10 : Who knew that an entire feature-length film based on a bad commercial would result in a sub-par, uninspired, sell-out product?

The Catcher Was A Spy - 2/10

Venom - 2/10

Winchester - 2/10

Boundaries - 2/10

Mile 22 - 2/10

Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald - 2/10: It looked good I guess? The only real positive. It spends way too much time on characters we don't care about, love triangles that are irrelevant to the main arc, and pointless storylines. Feels like we start at Point A, and 2+ hours later we are still at Point A. Nothing really happens, whole movie feels like lame sequelbait. This franchise took a real bad turn, tough to see how it can recover.

Nostalgia - 2/10

Ocean's 8 - 2/10 : Winner of 2018's "Most Unnecessary Sequel' Award. It was in a very close race with Sicario 2.

A Wrinkle In Time - 2/10

The Predator - 1/10 : The best description for this movie: Gross & awkward. All the jokes feel dated and overcooked. Feels like 20 people contributed to the script. The character are all super unlikeable and everything reeks of studio interference. Shane Black can do a lot better than this. Really disappointing follow-up to The Nice Guys.

Happy End - 1/10

Let The Sunshine In - 1/10

15:17 To Paris - 0/10

Proud Mary - 0/10 : Undisputed worst film of the year for me. This was really amateur film making. Shit script, shit direction, horrendous acting. They straight up re-used some shots several times. Action scenes feel like a John Wick movie made by a freshman college student on a $1000 budget, and that college student also happened to be blind. I regret spending $11.00 on this so much. I don't know what I was thinking.

The Misandrists - N/A - Walked out after ~10 minutes. No Score.

The Ballad Of Lefty Brown - N/A - Walked out after ~30 minutes. No Score.

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Notable movies that I haven't seen yet but will see in the next few weeks:

• 22 July
• Burning
• Border
• Capernaum
• Cargo
• Cold War
• Destroyer
• Hale County: This Morning, This Evening
• The House That Jack Built
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Minding the Gap
• On The Basis of Sex
• The Other Side of the Wind
• Stan & Ollie

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Movies that I saw outside of theaters, not included in the list:

• Roma - 9/10
• Private Life - 9/10
• The Night Comes For Us - 8/10
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - 7/10
• Kindergarten Teacher - 7/10
• Outlaw King - 6/10
• Apostle - 6/10
• Bird Box - 4/10
• Hold The Dark - 3/10

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Movies that I saw in theaters in 2018, but are not included in the list due to original release date:

• Phantom Thread - 9/10
• Hostiles - 9/10
  
• I, Tonya - 8/10
  
• Molly's Game - 8/10
• The Post - 6/10
  

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So that's that, no complaints about this year, solid all-around. Looking forward to 2019. My wallet is not.

Submitted December 30, 2018 at 08:43PM by BunyipPouch http://bit.ly/2LHuxQu