And so 2018 has come and gone, and let me tell you, it's been a long year, Three Billboards and Darkest Hour seem so very long ago now. But I didn't waste this incredibly long year, well, I did, but I at least went to the cinema a bunch, this year it was 46, less than last year, but still enough to take at least a few months off my life expectancy. I wasn't so good with keeping up with reviewing them this year, in fact half of my top ten are films I didn't even review, but this year I'll also be doing something a little different. Usually I give three honourable mentions and one dishonourable mention, but since this year I saw a good few bad films, in addition to my favourite ten, this post will be about my five least favourite films of the year, five films that I wanted to like but ended up hating for one reason or another, so while I did watch Robin Hood, I didn't except to like it so it doesn't qualify sadly, rest assured though, it was wank, but fun in a get drunk and watch with your mates sort of way. A couple of these films are also technically not 2018 films, having had limited releases at the tail end of 2017, but since they didn't release in jolly little Britain until 2018, that makes them eligible for the list. And as usual, this is not an objective list, this is only the films I've seen this year and is purely based on how I felt about these films personally, whether or not I loved or hated them, so if you disagree with my choice of films or the order they go in, that's fine, this is just how I feel about these fifteen films, and with out of they way, let's start with some shit.
Second-raters: Pacific Rim: Uprising
I'm a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, I'm also a fan of kaiju movies, so I naturally adored the first Pacific Rim and was naturally very excited for the sequel. But that sequel, which wasn't directed by del Toro, really wasn't up to the standard that the first film set; it was visually appealing and had a cool finale with a giant super Kaiju, but the film was all just so corporate; it had the look of Pacific Rim but none of the passion, none of the soul. It lacked the fun, epic, adventurous tone of the first, with battles that lacked any sense of visual flare, a plot that made even less sense with a terribly executed twist, and a complete lack of personality in its Jaegers and pilots outside of Boyega, Spaeny and Eastwood. I said when it came out that it felt like a Pacific Rim knock off rather than a sequel, and I'm still of that opinion, it's a very underwhelming film.
Top Ten: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Of the Marvel movies I have seen, the first Ant-Man was one of my favourites, and Scott Lang is one of my favourite Marvel heroes, up there with Thor, Doctor Strange and the Guardians, and since I seem to be slowly creeping aboard the Marvel train in the wake of Infinity War, I watched and enjoyed Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is the first on the list that I didn't review, though I'm sure I will at some point, but I can say that while the film certainly lacked a lot of emotional depth, especially in the shadow of Infinity War, its light hearted tone and non-stop comedy kept me entertained for most of its runtime, and just like the first, I really enjoyed the action sequences and all the science mumbo jumbo, as little sense at it makes. Different films serve different situations and emotions, Ant-Man and the Wasp is the kind of film I'd watch if I just wanted to turn off my brain and have fun for two hours and not feel guilty about it at the end.
Top Ten: The Shape of Water
Our next film is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, The Shape of Water is the kind of film I'd watch if I wanted to watch a master of his craft, because it's a film where a woman fucks a fish, and it somehow wasn't creepy or funny. This is another film I didn't review, but it's del Toro, so you damn well know that I watched it, and I wasn't disappointed. It's not his best film, in fact a lot of things about it reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth, to the point that they're arguably the same film in some ways, but again, it's del Toro, even a bad del Toro is still leaps ahead of your average Hollywood film, and The Shape of Water was one of his better ones, not that I care about the Oscars, but del Toro has deserved the Best Director award for years, and I'm glad he won it.
Second-raters: The Predator
Oh you knew I wasn't done beating this one, surely if I was going to be revisiting the stinkers of the year, I'd inevitably dig up the corpse of this film that had absolutely no idea what it was doing. This Predator movie thought it was a great idea to be a comedy, a decision that cost this Predator movie any chance to be suspenseful or scary. This Predator movie decided it'd be great to make the Predators mad scientists, a decision that not only turned the entire film into a joke, but also hit a little too close to home for me when they revealed that the Predators wanted to take Autism, something that would have offended me a whole lot more if I hadn't already stopped taking the film seriously. And then that Predator 5 stinger where they get and Iron Man suit, it really is a damn shame that that film hasn't got a chance of being made, I mean, how will we survive in a world where that film never happens. This film was incredible for all the wrong reasons, and I honestly cannot believe it got made in the state it was in.
Top Ten: Black Panther
So who remembers this film, eh? It was just that little film that burned as hot at the box-office as it did on twitter, for some very good and some very bad reasons. I myself was nervous going into Black Panther because of what I feared the film could have been; a multi million-dollar virtue signal about racism and empowerment, but like Wonder Woman before it, it proved me very wrong, with the added twist that, far from reinforcing the victimhood narrative I feared it would propagate, it instead criticised those very ideas. But for all the normies who don't care or understand identity politics, firstly, I envy you, secondly, Black Panther is actually a very enjoyable film with a fun, albeit very Lion King-esque tale of Kings and family, with some decent drama and philosophy sprinkled among the (mostly) good action sequences, it's not your average Marvel movie, but this time that's a good thing.
Top Ten: Solo: A Star Wars Story
It's hard to believe this film came out in 2018, it feels like such a long time ago, and after watching it back when and thoroughly disliking L3-37 and her rebellious zeal, I didn't think 2018's Star Wars release would be on my top ten, and yet, even with L3, even with Enfys Nest, even with Solo not getting the girl in the end, I must admit, I still have a bit of a soft spot for this film. I still really love this film's Chewbacca, I enjoy the film's numerous chases and laser battles, and that entire Kessel run sequence was just the tits. Like The Last Jedi before it, I still enjoyed watching Solo, and no matter how mediocre Episode 9 ends up being, I'll probably have a soft spot for that too, I guess the Force Awakens dream never really died for me like it did for so many others.
Second-raters: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
That's right, I didn't like a Godzilla film, though if you actually read my reviews, you'd know that, also I love you, please don't leave. Planet of the Monsters had so much potential; an animated Godzilla film set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, a film that juggles the harrowing, existential themes of its narrative with some of the most visually striking action in the series. But Planet of the Monsters wasn't that at all, in fact it was a boring, joyless grind of a film with cheap, ugly visuals, uncompelling characters, a wasted world, and a preposterous lack of Monsters, most importantly of all being Godzilla, who might as well be a tree for his complete lack of personality and energy, a rather fitting analogy since they turned him into a plant, a metal plant. The more I think about this film and its sequel, the more I think that they just didn't care about the franchise, while they were taking that franchise into a genre it'd had never ventured into before, a genre it would probably be really awesome in if it didn't suck.
Top Ten: Deadpool 2
Another film I didn't review, one that came out in a very busy time in the same window has two of the biggest blockbusters of the year, well, one of them. Deadpool 2 was great though, it didn't reinvent itself or become a radically different film, aside from noticeably having double the production budget, which is very understandable given the Earth-shattering box-office success the first film was. Its action was ace, the comedy was a little less on point for me personally, but Deadpool was still an absurdly likable arsehole, and his friends, both old and new made this film a lot of fun to watch, especially Cable, because how can you not love a time traveling cyborg.
Top Ten: Avengers: Infinity War
The longer I thought about Infinity War, the more I went back to watch it, the higher my opinion of it became, because it really isn't often that a film like this comes along. Infinity War was a film with no clear main character, no defined plot, and an ending where the heroes lose, and yet somehow it was still a ridiculous amount of fun, with a massive collection of lovable heroes throwing down in exciting battles with Thanos, arguably the best villain of the year. And despite the heroes losing and two thirds of them dying, the film has such an energy to it, it's so much fun to watch, and has a decade of emotional weight behind it, I can respect that even as someone who hasn't seen that much of the MCU. Avengers: Endgame is going to be a fascinating film to watch when it releases, and that's all because of how successful Infinity War was.
Second-raters: Halloween (2018)
This year I fell in love with a little Horror film called Halloween, a suspenseful, violent thriller about a group of babysitters and a masked murderer that refused to be stopped. That wasn't this film though, because this one true sequel ended up pissing me off, really pissing me off. The film kept constantly being great with scenes of suspense and horror that rival and even surpass the original, but then that brilliance would disappear back beneath a boring family drama with a wasted hero, a wasted villain, and desperate attempts at heart and humour. There was a point in this film that I genuinely considered just getting up and leaving, and from that point I just couldn't enjoy this film anymore, I hated it. Even though there's one more bad film left to discuss, this film pissed me off more than any other film this year, and that maybe because of these films I ended up hating, I wanted to love this one the most, who knows, maybe I'll warm to it in time, but that remains to be seen.
Top Ten: Ralph Breaks the Internet
Double bill now, two films I didn't review, the first of which is the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph however, a film I also haven't reviewed, so you won't know that it's a film I very much enjoy, one with a great sense of humour, a solid heart, and a Toy Story with video games concept that has literally limitless potential. The sequel then pulls a bit of a Ghostbusters 2 and is basically the same movie, with the same basic formula and emotional beats, but like Ghostbusters 2, I love it every bit as much as the first. The heart's still there, the comedy's still awesome, my concerns of it being like The Emoji Movie because of its new setting weren't founded in reality, thank god, and the film had a surprisingly creepy and incredibly heart felt finale that I loved, Ralph Breaks The Internet was good, and when I comes out on Blu Ray, I might actually get off my arse and review it.
Top Ten: Incredibles 2
Don't count on me reviewing Ralph Breaks the Internet, because this film came out on Blu Ray months ago and I still haven't reviewed it, though, like another pick of 2018, Ant-Man and the Wasp, I was in the process of reviewing it, just never finished and published it. Bao deserves to be brought up because it was one of the weirdest and yet most lovable things I've seen this year, and while I don't think it's Pixar's best short, that still goes to Piper, it's up there for sure. Incredibles 2 however was a very enjoyable super hero film, one with a few really fun action sequences and lots of funky super powers. But what I remember most from the film was the Incredibles themselves, the Parr family were so incredibly lovable, and the film making Bob a stay at home dad while Helen goes out and stops baddies was one of the funniest things I've seen all year. Incredibles 2 does have a bit of a shit villain however, one that has nothing on Syndrome, with a much more muddled and poorly developed motives and a convoluted plan that didn't really make sense, the film's strengths are in in the family, who are all out of their comfort zone in one way or another in this film, that's where the fun is in this film, and there's a lot to be had.
Second-raters: Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle
Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle may not be the most disappointing film of the year, and it certainly isn't the worst film I've seen this year, but it is possibly the worst Godzilla film I've seen, which for me is even less forgivable. Everything I hated about the first film stayed for the sequel, but this film made the mistake of bringing in Mechagodzilla, a monster that they subsequently ruined by turning him into a city. Turn Godzilla into an unthinking plant, turn Mechagodzilla into an unthinking bunch of buildings, neither of which have any personality at all, and neither of which are visually interesting enough to keep me from wanting to fall asleep, what a recipe for success. What could have been one of the coolest battles in the series ended up being a lazy, shameless recycling of the first film, one that kept insisting it was brilliant and a work of genius. It's the only film I've discussed today that I wouldn't willingly watch again, because it was just so painful and boring and lifeless, I'm definitely watching The Planet Eater, but my expectations for it are very, very low, because if they could fuck up Mechagodzilla this much, god only knows what they're going to do to Ghidorah.
Top Ten: Overlord
I'm definitely giving my top two too much credit this year, since neither of them are masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination, but as I said at the beginning, this is based on how I feel about these films, and of all the films I've seen in 2018, Overlord kicks the second most arse for me. There really isn't much explaining to be done with this one, it's a War film about Paratroopers finding a Nazi lab where they're making Zombies, the film from that point on is exactly what you think it's going to be, and it's as awesome as it sounds. This film was violent, intense, gory, exciting and absurd, it was everything I wanted it to be, and when my local Odeon were giving away their old promotional material for charity, I donated £10 and snatched up their Overlord poster, it barely fits in my room but I put it up anyway because this film deserves that love, god knows it didn't get much at the box-office, but I can absolutely see Overlord getting a following in the years to come, and that'll be very exciting to see.
Top Ten: Bumblebee
Given how absolutely infatuated with this film I've become, is it any wonder that it'd be my favourite film of the year. Last year IT fired up a full blown obsession for me, I loved that film so, so much, watched it six times in the cinema, framed a poster of it and put it on the wall, and going into December this year, while I was beginning to dream up my top ten, I was saddened that no film in 2018 had grabbed me quite like IT had. Then I saw Bumblebee, and I got that film, Bumblebee didn't just surprise me, it blew me away, even I didn't expect a Transformers film to be this good, and I've been a Transformers fan for ten years. No film in 2018 has made me feel this good; it's just so warm and fun to watch, and like IT last year, I really could watch this film a dozen times and never get tired of it, for god's sake, I've probably listened to the song Back to Life by Hailee Steinfeld a hundred times by now and I'm still not tired of it. I pray to god that Bumblebee does well financially, because this film has given the Transformers movie franchise a second wind, and if the series goes in the direction Bumblebee appears to be taking it, I'll be a very, very happy man.
And so ends another year, and like I said at the beginning, 2018's been a long year, many things have happened, some good, some bad, some very bad. But if I could branch out from films for a second, 2018's been a really fun year, all things considered, it started on a bad note for me personally, but with 2019 just around the corner, I'm going into it in a very good mood, I've been happier in the past couple of months than I have been for the last three years. And who knows, 2019 might end up being every bit as fun as 2018 was, or it could end up being the end of everything since a lot of bad real world things are coming to a head in the coming months, but if I'm still legally allowed to, I'll be continuing to spew my thoughts out into the void on this blog, and with any luck, I'll still be a happy little creature ranting away in his sad little corner of the internet. And while I'm sure I'll be watching a lot of films next year, I got a bad feeling that I already know what my favourite of the year will be, that's assuming it's good, but if it is, 2019 will indeed be a great year.
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