Top 10 Films of 2018

2018 has been an interesting year for films to say the least, from the increasingly political angry and relevant films, to actors careers being ruined due to previous allegations and scandals in a now toxic Hollywood. There's been good and bad films (Some very bad), Netflix has even made more good films than they usually do this year, which is a far cry from the barrage of garbage they gave us in 2017. This is also the year I got a new TV and started watching things in 4K, which has definitely been a huge improvement on my film watching. 2018 has also been the year I've seen the most new releases in quite some time, but also the least amount of films I've seen overall in the space of a year due to work and a variety of different things, but hey ho, here's my top 10 films I've seen from 2018. (All based on UK release dates)

Still to see: Mary Poppins Returns, Bumblebee, Bird Box, Upgrade, Eighth Grade Journeyman, Whitney.

Honourable mentions: Ladybird, Hereditary, Thoroughbreds, Widows, BlacKkKlansman, Annihilation, A Quiet Place, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sorry to Bother You, Mandy. 

10. Halloween

2018's Halloween had a lot of hard work to do, it had years of terrible sequels to undo and create a worthy sequel to John Carpenter's original and iconic slasher masterpiece, but they pulled it off masterfully, delivering one of best slashers I've seen in quite some time. It's dark, brutal and they've made Michael Myers scary again, and it was written by Danny McBride of all people. 

9. First Reformed

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Paul Schrader's First Reformed, I'd heard a lot of buzz, but I didn't even see a trailer before going in. What I got was an extremely tense and unsettling drama about faith that goes to some insane places while Ethan Hawke delivers possibly the best performance of his career. This is one I'll definitely be revisiting to get more out of.

8. The Shape of Water

There's a lot of expectations going into a film after it wins the best picture Oscar, which is unfair. Thankfully, I watched it before I even knew it had Oscar chances and I absolutely adored it. A gorgeous and sweet fantasy romance filled with quirky touches and a beautiful message about acceptance. An Oscar deserved.

7. Phantom Thread

On paper Phantom Thread really isn't my bad, a period romance about a dressmaker? Thankfully Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece is something I really should have had more faith in, it's a deeply twisted, hilarious and surprising drama with an expectedly amazing performance from Daniel Day Lewis. 

6. The House That Jack Built

Lars Von Trier is a director who's never really clicked with me until The House That Jack Built, I find a lot of his films I've seen to just be try hard, edgy and pretentious nonsense that's there to push boundaries and not a lot more. Yes, The House That Jack Built is edgy and boundary pushing, but it just clicked with me. Despite how horrific the acts of violence are (I still need to see the uncut version) towards women and children, this is still one of the funniest films of the year and it's 2 and a half hour run-time flew by. Plus it's final shot is one of the best of year. Fame.

5. Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace is a film that came out of nowhere for me and it's a shame more people aren't talking about it, because it's easily the most depressing, powerful and heartbreaking indie films of year. A beautifully shot tale about a soldier with PTSD and his daughter adjusting to the real life after living in the woods, it subverts expectations and makes for insanely effective viewing. Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie should both be talked about for Oscar season.

4. Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri 

A morally complex black comedy about one woman's struggle with the justice system after the police fail to find the person who raped and killed her daughter. It took me a couple of watches to truly love Three Billboards, but I am fully on board with it now, compelling and powerful with an insane cast lead by an outstanding Frances McDormand. Coen Brothers vibes throughout are also very welcome.

3. Mission: Impossible - Fallout 

No one, including myself had any idea that the sixth film in the Mission: Impossible franchise would be anywhere close to the top of this list, but they once again pulled it off to deliver not just the best action film of the year, but one of the best action films ever made. Every single set-piece feels like something a film would save for it's finale, but Fallout just tops it every few scenes and even gets deeper into Cruise's Ethan Hunt than we've ever done before. Tom Cruise nearly dies for our entertainment on a regular basis and it continues to be worth it. The main is a saint.

2. You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here is Taxi Driver for a new generation. A brutal, unforgettable ride of the art-house genre. In another universe this is a grind-house action film with Joaquin Phoenix as a hammer wielding paedophile hunter, but what we got is far more meaningful, beautiful and just harrowing to watch. Art-house cinema rarely gets better than this.

1. A Star is Born

I know, I didn't expect this either. My film of the year is a music drama starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but it works far better than it had any right to. A human and deeply depressing story about a fading musician meeting an up and comer while her career begins to shadow his as he struggles with alcohol addiction. Cooper and Gaga both give powerful performances while Cooper also delivers a beautiful shot film with a ton of energy and sadness. Pure cinema. I can't wait to see what Cooper directs next.

So that's it, my top 10 films of 2018 locked in forever. I won't be doing a bottom 10 list this year, but I will be doing my 10 most anticipated of 2019. here's to another year of films. God bless.

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Aquaman (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written December 13th, 2018*

It's no secret the DCEU (Or whatever it's called) is in a weird place. After the disaster that was the truly awful Justice League (A film I was far too easy on), it was clear Warner Bros needed something to refresh the slate and while many people were hoping this was more in line with Wonder Woman, it's sadly, it's streets ahead of Justice League, but at the end of the day its just another very middling and overblown superhero origin story that's more boring than exciting.

We go through very familiar ground that's been touched on countless times before in superhero films. There's the painfully dull flashbacks of Arthur learning to use his powers which includes one of the worst acting performances I've ever seen with the kid who plays him as a teenager and the de-aging effects on a wasted Willem Dafoe are truly awful. Which is no excuse seeing as Disney are able to do such amazing jobs on de-aging actors on screen.

I'm not really too sure how I feel about Jason Moama as Aquaman, his "Dude-bro" look and attitude gets very annoying at times, but for the most part he certainly has charisma and manages to more or less carry the basic plot. There's room for improvement here and he definitely shines more than he did in Justice League, but that annoying cocky attitude is still grating. His character arc is also so very basic and uninteresting, boy who doesn't want to be king slowly learns he must take up the responsibility and overthrow the current maniac holding the crown. Yawn.  

For a film with a cast this huge, it was so disappointing to see them all universally wasted. Patrick Wilson is truly awful as the current King of Atlantis/Aquaman's half brother, hamming it up every second he's on screen with some poorly handled motivation. What is up with all these blockbuster films this year with an environmental message? I mean, if you're gonna go that route, at least commit to it, not just have it as some preachy after-thought. The other minor villain "Manta" at least has some decent motivation due to a surprisingly cold, but justified moment from Aquaman in the opening moments of the film. They just don't really do a lot with these character aside from tease him for further films. Oh, and I hated how goofy and stupid his costume looked.

Amber Heard manages to be part of some of the solid action scenes, but really she's just reduced to a predictable and forced love interest that goes exactly where you think it will. It was bizarre to see Dolph Lundgren here too in a small, thankless role. I've seen two big Hollywood films within the space of two weeks with Dolph Lundgren part of the main cast. What year am I living in? Have I time travelled to the '80s? Nicole Kidman rounds off the cast as the lost mother of Aquaman and she's absolutely fine. There's just so little to say about the cast here.

Where Aquaman does at least shine is within James Wan's direction and action scenes. Nothing reaches the insane heights he's reached previously in his career, but the final act here is utterly insane, a vibrant and gorgeous underwater Lord of the Rings filled with weird and interesting creature designs. I just wish the action in the opening 2 hours were as cool as what happens at the end. A lot of action has its moments, but it's let down by some excessive slow-mo, despite flashes of kinetic energy there.

While there is some excellent visual effects and cinematography, there is also a lot of messy CGI that is downright ugly and feels unfinished at times. Seeing as every shot of this film probably has some CGI in it, it must have been a tough job, but they really do bring Atlantis to life and make it work for the most part. It's certainly a lot nice to look that than DC's much more murky and dark films. 


I don't know how Aquaman will hold up on future watches, but for now it's just a brutally overlong, uninspired mess of a film that has some of James Wan's creative action and flourishes, but fails to bring anything new to the genre. More or less another miss from DC, but it's still a lot better than Justice League. 

5/10 Dans

Aquaman is out now in cinemas in the UK
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The Equalizer (2014) - 4K UHD Review

Review:

*Originally written December 12th, 2018*

After seeing The Equalizer 2 I was worried that it might impact my opinion of the original Equalizer, a film I'd always quite liked, despite it's problems. After stupidly buying the 4K steelbook for the second film, I realised I had yet to own this on 4K, so here we are. I was pretty pleased to discover that despite it's problems, The Equalizer is still very solid, violent and stylish action film in its own right.

Antoine Fuqua is a director that gets a lot of flack in my opinion. It's true his career peaked over a decade ago with the excellent Training Day, but ever since then he's released a series of solid action films that arguably take themselves far too seriously, but they're all great fun for the most part. In fact the only film I've never liked of his is Brooklyn's Finest, but I'm far due a rewatch on that. 

Anyone, The Equalizer is the Hollywood reboot of some '80s TV show I've never watched. It's Denzel Washington as an ex-special ops, OCD, lonely and highly capable man who gets involved in taking down the Russian mob after he avenges the brutal beating of a teenage prostitute. It's basic, surface level stuff that really doesn't earn its bloated run-time.

The biggest problems here are its length and over-seriousness of what an absurd, cliched plot this is. Denzel's Robert McCall is well developed and we learn just enough about him through visual cues and the way he acts, but sometimes the dialogue just tries so hard to sound meaningful, but can just come off as a little pretentious. It's a dumb action film that desperately doesn't what to be one. Which is actually most of Antoine Fuqua's career thinking about it.

Denzel does manage to make this work though. He plays bad-ass pretty effortlessly, much like he has through his entire career and he has enough to work with to make McCall feel like a real human being despite the moments of highly stylised action. I kinda just wish the script was a little tighter and more focused and decided whether it wanted to be a dumb action film or a character piece, but instead we get a messy mix of both. 

I think that's where the tone clashes the most is within the action scenes. This wants to be a real human drama about a man sticking up for the people who can't defend themselves, but then descends into becoming a borderline superhero film when McCall's Sherlock Holmes like powers come into play. Part of me really likes the brief moments of McCall's ridiculous powers, but then I sort of hate them for blatantly ripping of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes thing he does much better.

 When it's not ripping off Ritchie's style, Fuqua really brings some insane brutality to the action. I forgot how nasty some of this film was and it was nice to it finally uncut in the UK in the now 18 rated 4K (Which is a great transfer too. With a film this dark, the HDR really helped make the night scenes more detailed and easier to make it while retained a gorgeous dark look). 

It's also refreshing to see an action film that takes a more creative approach to its violence. The finale in the home depot store is glorious and turns McCall into a slasher film villain as he brutally wipes out a squad of mercenaries using DIY equipment and setting up a series of demented, Home Alone style traps. We also get to see the biggest douchebag in the world Dan Bilzerian get lynched by barbed wire while we slowly watch him bleed and get choked out. Beautiful.


It's a slow burn to get to the action scenes for the most part, but it's definitely worth it for the most part. I just feel there's an excellent film here if it was just a bit more focused and cut down by a good 20 minutes or so. For better or worse it's another solid action film from Antoine Fuqua and seeing Denzel slaughter faceless Russians in increasingly brutal ways is always fun to watch. I just wish the sequel was as entertaining as this one.

7/10 Dans

The Equalizer is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Mortal Engines (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written December 10th, 2018*

For better or worse, Mortal Engines is both better than I expected and exactly what I expected it to be. If that makes sense? It's just another overblown, over-budget entry in the quickly dying young-adult genre that is clearly made to start a franchise, but it's just not gonna happen. I guess what's most disappointing is that this is from Peter Jackson to an extent, a man who has crafted one of the best and most creative trilogies of all-time and is now seem to hit a point of CGI heavy and soulless blockbusters. Which is a great shame.

This certainly had its potential. I'd never read the books, but the idea of a post-apocalyptic steampunk world where giant cities devour each other in a wasteland has certain shades of Mad Max to it, so I was interested. Sadly, it rarely lives up to its original premise, the world-building and ins and outs of this concept are rarely explored in favour of a bland "Chosen one" YA story that we've seen countless times. There was so much potential to explore here and they just wasted it.

That's not to say the film doesn't look great, they definitely made the most of that risky $100 million budget. The world is impressive, ugly and some of the action has its moments, but it really lacking in any sort of creative punch. I did love the look of the movies cities, especially the giant main one, There's nothing visually horrible by any means, it all just feels competent, but completely flavourless. 

What really didn't help is how dull and uninteresting the characters are. Hera Hilmar isn't an actress I'd ever heard of before this, but it's hard to tell if she's a good actress when the character she's playing is this boring. She's just another Chosen One in a dystopian future as she tries to avenge the murder of her mother. The closest thing to interesting was the relationship between her and Stephen Lang's Shrike, an undead soldier who takes in Hilmar and raises her after the death of her mother. 

I must say I was actually surprised by how freaky and unsettling that look of Shrike was, the design clearly has shades of the White Walkers from Game of Thrones, but with a clockwork, steampunk aesthetic that reminded of the Dishonoured series. In fact, quite a lot here reminded me of Dishonoured, given this is also a steampunk portrayal of London. 

I also don't know what Hugo Weaving was doing here. He's doing a villain we've seen countless of times before, a power-hungry bad guy with connections to the lead character (With a mind blowingly obvious twist). I was reminded far too much of Christoph Waltz and Ben Mendelsohn's recent villain performances that are just extremely by the numbers and forgettable.

There's also just really weird humour shoved in here. Somehow they manage to shove in a visual gag to Minions (I shit you not), it was just pretty brutal and unfunny. The only genuine laughs I got out of this were at some of the insanely poor and on the nose dialogue that comes out the script. It did this annoying thing where the characters spell something out for you and you understand what they're talking about or feeling, then they felt the need to just blatantly say it rather than let the actors portray it, it got a little frustrating.

Then I laughed out loud at some of the character deaths towards the end where they do that thing that I just love. You know when a character they have barely given us enough to work with to care about them, but then to proceed to kill them off like it's a huge deal and we should care? Brace yourself for that....



Mortal Engines is another failed YA adaptation that will fail to kick-start a franchise and will most likely just go down in history as one of the biggest box-office bombs of recent years. It's a shame too, as there is a really interesting world here of giant cities eating each other, but it's just so wasted with a bland story we've seen countless times before.

5/10 Dans

Mortal Engines is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written December 9th, 2018*

Damn, no way was this meant to happen. Spider-Man has had a rough ride in terms of consistent quality with its films, there was a long stretch after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 when we didn't even get a good one for 13 years with the excellent Spider-Man: Homecoming. After many false starts and uncertainty with what Sony is doing with the franchise, I never expected Into the Spider-Verse to not only be as good as it was, but also the best Spider-Man film we've had yet. 

While superhero films are becoming quite stale at the moment, often walking a line between mediocrity and excellence (The MCU delivers some of the most serviceable, but vanilla films in the past decade), Into the Spider-Verse comes along and derails everything in a self-aware piece of gorgeous animation that has more in common with The Lego Batman Movie than anything that's come before it. 

I'm not that big into comics, but I know Miles Morales is someone everyone has wanted to see in a film as Spider-Man for years and I can see why. He's both similar to Peter Parker in some ways, but is also a very different person with a different origin story and personal life. From the opening moments he's a very likeable character that's easy to get behind, forced into an elite school by his father where he feels he doesn't belong, only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. But that gets turned upside down as he sees Kingpin murder his universe's Peter Parker and open a portal that sends several different variations of Spider-Man into Mile's life.

Each one of these Spider-Man's has their own unique tone and style that works perfectly. Jake Johnson is an actor I usually find very irritating, but his voice work here as a more lazy and faded Spider-Man is equal parts pathetic and likeable. Then Nicolas Cage as "Noir Spider-Man" might just be the best version of the character available, a black and white coloured, private detective from the 1930's filled with lines that spoof the Noir genre cliches we know and love.

Hailee Steinfeld's Gwen Stacy is also infinitely more interesting than Emma Stone's take on the character from the Andrew Garfield films. She plays a great part in the dynamic and brings a lot of character to the role. The two more throwaway and sillier Spider-Men I possibly could have done without, but they were there for some serviceable comic-relief and it was fine.

From the trailers I was very excited by the unique animation style that Into the Spider-Verse takes on and it was even better as an actual film. It's hard to describe, it's sort of like cell-shaded, but stop-motion. It might be a bit off-putting for people who've never seen stuff like this, but it is absolutely gorgeous to look at. A bright, vibrant and colourful comic-book brought to life and being an animation makes it easier for some of the bigger and more cartoonish stuff that would be hard to do in live-action work. 

I was also taken back by how mature and emotional some of the character arcs and story could be at times. Morales arc of being who he wants to be was oddly touching and some of the big reveals towards the end actually worked and I didn't see coming, which is rare for a film like this. Some of the beats towards the end could actually Pixar a run for its money too, I'd even argue this is better than anything Disney or Pixar have released in years.

While going to some dark places and hitting emotional highs, they still manage to balance its comedy and self-aware tone very well. I'm sure there's a whole load of references to the comics that I didn't get, but there is an amazing jab at Spider-Man 3's emo/dance scene that I absolutely loved. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an incredible achievement for the franchise and Spider-Man in general who has already had an insanely strong year already (Avengers: Infinity War and the PS4 game), but this incredible little animated film has managed to top them all and not only become the best Spider-Man film yet, but one of the best superhero films ever. A huge surprise and easily the best comic-book film of they year in an already very good year for the genre.


Who would have thought the future of Spider-Man was in animation? I know there's a sequel to this and several spin-offs in development, I just hope one of them is Nicolas Cage's Noir Spider-Man. 

9/10 Dans

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is out in cinemas in the UK on December 12th
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Creed 2 (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:
*Originally written December 9th, 2018*

When it was announced that Creed 2 would be losing Ryan Coogler as a director and continuing on from the events of Rocky IV and bring back the Drago family looking to rematch the Creed name, alarm bells who ringing. Don't get me wrong, I like Rocky IV a lot, but I much prefer the grounded and real take the series thrives on for me, so bringing back these dangerously '80s cartoon characters just seemed like a terrible idea on paper. Somehow though, it managed to work very well. 

Creed 2 finds Adonis Creed a bit more arrogant and cocky, dealing with being the heavyweight champion of the world and the relationship with his girlfriend. This all comes crashing down when Ivan Drago (The man who killed Adonis's father in a boxing match) comes to Philadelphia to challenge Adonis to a boxing match with his son to reclaim the Drago name after Rocky defeated him in the events of the fourth film. 

There was something inherently sad and pathetic about Ivan Drago this time round. He's not the one dimensional cartoon character we knew from the '80s, he's instead a broken man rejected by his country after his defeat. Coldly raising his son with overbearing and brutal training regimes and fights in order to make the Drago name mean something again. I was so surprised to find the highlight of a film featuring Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone to be overshadowed by Dolph Lundgren's cold and restrained performance that completely reinvents the character. 

That's not say Adonis and Rocky don't have their own compelling arcs in Creed 2, they do. It's a bit predictable and by the formula we all know by this point, but it works. Adonis is once again struggling to live in his father's shadow and instantly takes the chance to fight Drago to initially disastrous results. Michael B Jordan continues to absolutely fierce and committed in the role, he's doing that angry, emo thing he did in the first Creed and Black Panther, but it's still very effective.

When it comes to the physical side of things, the boxing is always the least interesting thing about this series for me, I care about the characters foremost, but Steven Caple Jr. does a solid job filming the fights in their brutality, especially the first match between Drago and Creed. Florian Munteanu is a complete beast as Viktor Drago, being his only acting role to date, I had my reservations, but his physical performance is very strong and he's a great addition to franchise.

I was a bit disappointed by the smaller role Rocky takes on this time as Adonis's trainer. After Stallone got an Oscar nomination for his surprisingly powerful role in the first Creed, I was maybe expecting a little too much here. Stallone is still perfect in the role, playing the right amount of possibly mentally challenged, humble and likeable, even making way for some sweet moments (I could watch him to to Adrian at her grave for a whole film). It was just a shame how he disappears for large portions of the film and if this is truly Stallone's last time playing Rocky, then it leaves it on a hopeful and happy note for the iconic character. 

I'm just not entirely sure I want to see this franchise continue without the inclusion of Rocky Balboa. It's clear they want to pass on the torch to Michael B Jordan to continue the series, but if I'm honest, I'm here for Rocky mostly, even though Adonis is a very good character on his own. 


Creed 2 hits the formula we've seen countless times, but it shows that with a strong cast, characters and storytelling that everything can come together to work. Not as great as the first Creed, but another excellent entry to the Rocky franchise that only has one bad film to its name so far. 

8/10 Dans

Creed 2 is out now in cinemas in the UK with a 4K UHD Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV now
Watch the trailer below:

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