Best Movies of 2018

I didn't see nearly as many new movies in 2018 as I wanted, but did see some truly stunning cinematic treasures. Out of the five movies below, you'll find the four best performances by a lead actress I saw all year, plus one jaw-dropping lead actor performance by a long-time screen legend. Four of the five qualify as horror, while the fifth is as tonally dark as any horror movie. Most importantly, all five are masterfully constructed and fully realized by visionary filmmakers.

There are so many new movies I wanted to see but they'll have to wait for video or streaming now, including Suspiria, Destroyer, A Star is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Eighth Grade, and The Ranger, to name a few. Of the movies I did see, though, here are five that left the biggest impression on me in 2018.

5. Hereditary (dir. Ari Aster)

Hereditary uses horror to dramatize the enormously damaging psychological and emotional trauma that a lifetime of familial dysfunction can inflict on us.There are several shocking, horrific scenes, the most powerful might've been during an otherwise innocuous group therapy scene early in the film. when Toni Collette delivers a haunting, searing indictment of both her deceased mother and their relationship. It's a stunning sequence, and it's all Collette, as she makes us fully understand just how much pain her mother caused her, and even still in death. Collette should win awards for this performance, for this scene.

The ending didn't land quite as strongly for me as the previous three-quarters of the film did, but it's the sort of ending that sticks with you and I have no doubt my appreciation for it and the movie will only grow with repeat viewings—which is something I could say for every film on this list.

4. Where Is Kyra? (dir. Andrew Dosunmu)*

Michelle Pfeiffer delivered a raw and utterly devastating performance in the small, under-the-radar indie film Where Is Kyra? One of these days I'll write more about it as part of the ongoing series celebrating her career, but for now just know that this is Michelle Pfeiffer like you've never seen her before, playing a desperate woman who's life is spiraling out of control. The film is dark, both figuratively and literally, at times so dimly lit you have to strain to see Pfeiffer and Keifer Sutherland (in a thoughtfully rendered supporting role), hidden in the shadows. It's a tragic, haunting performance, one of the strongest of her career. And make no mistake, she is the movie, appearing in almost every frame, often alone.

The movie has been largely unseen or ignored, which is a shame because Pfeiffer's work in it has garnered near-universal acclaim. Rightfully so, as she deserves all the accolades for this performance.

3. Revenge (dir. Coralie Fargeat)*

I've seen this called the best feminist rape-revenge film since Abel Ferrara's seminal Ms. 45 (1981). That's high praise, indeed, because Ferrara's film boast one of the genre's best-ever performances, from Zoe Tamerlis Lund. In Revenge, Matilda Lutz is exceptional as Jen, a party girl who is raped, assaulted, and left for dead in the desert, only to resurrect herself as a Rambo-style soldier hellbent on hunting down the three men responsible.

Director Coralie Fargeat deliberately plays with and subverts the male gaze. Early in the film, the camera lasciviously lingers over Jen's always half-naked body. After her transformation into a stealth killing machine, she still wears teeny-tiny booty shorts and a sports bra, while outfitted with guns and knives and bullet vests. The semiotics couldn't be more powerful, with the juxtaposition between Jen's male fantasy attire and various weapons of death and destruction strapped across her nearly-naked body. She is woman, hear her roar. And roar, she does.

2. Mandy (dir. Panos Cosmatos)**

Mandy is a phantasmagoria of terrifying imagery and haunting performances. It's stunningly beautiful visual aesthetic is comparable to black light posters, lava lamps, and 1970s prog-rock album covers.

In fact, a large part of the thrill of the movie is basking in its wildly imaginative visual splendor. It's one of the best-looking horror movies I've ever seen—hell, one of the best-looking movies, period.

Add to that some outstanding performances—especially from star Nicholas Cage—and absolutely gonzo levels of violence—there's a dueling chainsaw fight!—and you've got a movie that deserves repeat viewings. Cage is positively primal, delivering a scorched-earth performance as a broken man seeking revenge against a disturbingly creepy religious cult for the murder of his girlfriend, Mandy. Clearly, 2018 was a good year for revenge films.

1. Cam (dir. Daniel Goldhaber)**

Highly disturbing, darkly comic, and legitimately terrifying, Cam feels like a genuinely unique contribution to the horror/thriller genre. The film offers a thoughtful, compassionate look at the world of online sex workers, while still serving as a cautionary tale about how intertwined our online and offline selves are becoming. Where does one end and the other begin? In Cam—written with authority by a former camgirl, Isa Mazzei—that line is dangerously blurred, and eventually obliterated.

Madeline Brewer gives what might be my favorite performance of the year. As Alice IRL/Lola online, she pursues the top camgirl ranking with single-minded determination—from faking her own suicide to riding an orgasm machine for dangerous lengths of time.

When her online identity is hijacked, her obsession intensifies and shifts to finding the hacker and regaining her "identity." Needless to say, Alice's descent into the online void is increasingly dark and perilous.

Cam thoughtfully presents the very real, positive aspects of online communities while also asking, if we become too obsessed with the online versions of ourselves, are we in danger of losing our "real" selves—or is there no discernible delineation between the two anyway?

* Where Is Kyra? and Revenge technically premiered at film festivals in 2017, but I'm considering them 2018 movies because, outside of some critics and festival-goers, no one saw them until their wider release this year.

** Mandy and Cam are basically tied at number one but I'm giving slight edge to Cam.

Comments

All I Want For Christmas: Phoebe Cates's Monologue in Gremlins

Joe Dante's 1980s classic Gremlins will always be a subversive Christmas favorite. From Spike exploding in the microwave to Mrs. Daigle's "stairlift to hell", the movie is packed with deliciously transgressive moments that turn the holly jolly season right on its ear. None are more memorable, though, than Phoebe Cates delivering her legendary "worst thing that ever happened to me on Christmas" monologue. It's a jaw-dropping, tour-de-force moment, a truly horrific story that's also one of the most darkly comic moments in Christmas movie history. Cates really shines during this scene. There's no denying just how seminal that scene of hers in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was for a generation of young people, but her speech in Gremlins is equally important and a wonderful showcase for her serious and comedic acting skills. Here's the speech, in its entirety. No Christmas season is complete without at least one viewing

Blowing in the Wind: Marilyn Monroe and That Iconic White Dress

This month marks sixty-five years since one of the most iconic moments in twentieth-century popular culture: Marilyn Monroe’s angelic white dress being blown sky high by wind rushing up from a subway grate beneath her feet in the film The Seven Year Itch . Billy Wilder shot multiple takes, while Sam Shaw snapped photo after photo for what had to be the biggest publicity stunt ever staged at the time. Marilyn wore two pairs of underwear for the shot, yet, as noted in Lois Banner's critical biography Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox (2012), "a dark blotch of pubic hair" remained visible to the 100 male photographers and over 1,500 male spectators, all of whom crowded eagerly around the set to gawk and drool. Due to strict 1950s movie censorship laws, photos had to be doctored to white out the offending blotch, but those in attendance saw it, over and over, shot after shot. Marilyn's husband at the time, the extremely old fashioned Joe DiMaggio, stormed off th

It Came From the '90s: Kelly Bundy and the Alternative Family Ideal

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. Very few television series in the 1990s were as polarizing as Married...with Children . People either loved it or they loathed it. TV critics and good upstanding Catholic families like mine fell into the latter category. Soon after it debuted during my first year of junior high in 1987 (not quite the '90s, but on the brink), my parents made it clear that we would not be watching. I believe the words they used were "vulgar," "unfunny," and, one of their perennial favorites, "risque." Of course, this meant it immediately took on a prurient appeal for me. Parents can never win, honestly. Kelly Bundy—the talented Christina Applegate, who never gets enough credit for elevating the blonde airhead trope into an art form—only further piqued my interest. She was like the girls in school with the absurdly voluminous hair and ridiculously sh

"That girl looks just like Pat Benatar"

Linda, that girl looks just like Pat Benatar. I know. Wait, there are three girls here at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look. I was just a kid when Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened in 1982. Still though, even at the tender young age of seven, I knew who Pat Benatar was, because a.) her music was all over the radio and even then I recognized the utter awesomeness of her vocal talent in songs like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and b.) some of the older girls around town were obviously cribbing their looks—clothes, hair, makeup, strut—from Benatar's own style. Benatar was ubiquitous. So, when I see or hear vintage-era Benatar now, I think of Fast Times , but mostly I remember that ubiquity—of both the performer and her legion of young imitators. I know it's not true, but when I recollect those years I swear every older girl looked like either Benatar, Juice Newton, or Joan Jett. It's easy to forget, years later, that

Misspent Youth: Joanne Whalley

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. One of the most famous and oft-quoted Seinfeld scenes involves Bobka and Jerry's discovery of the existence of Cinnamon Bobka. After Elaine scoffs at the notion of such a thing, even calling it a "lesser Bobka," Jerry unleashes one of the great defenses of a freshly ground spice ever delivered: People love cinnamon. It should be on tables at restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, "Oh This is so good. What's in it?" The answer invariably comes back, Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Again and again. Joanne Whalley is like Cinnamon. Yes, I just compulsively double-checked my DVD copy and it's the unrated version, thank you very much. Let me explain. You see, during the formative years of my misspent youth, if I stumbled on a movie featuring the doe-eyed, petite, beautiful English actress, invariably I'd feel like Jerry does about Cin

Misspent Youth: Randi Brooks

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. ***** A note on the series and this site: This might be the final post in the "Misspent Youth" series - at least here. Maybe it'll eventually move with me. Oh, right, I buried the lede: I've moved, and would love for you to come visit me at my new site, The Starfire Lounge ! Moving forward, this site will likely cease to be updated, but will remain around for posterity and your continued reading pleasure. I have a few more things to post here over the coming days or weeks as a sort of "everything must go" send-off to the old girl. I also plan to write a final farewell post to my main online home for the last five years. Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading. ***** It's no surprise that the talented but now mostly forgotten Randi Brooks would make an appearance in the Misspent Youth series. She may not be a household name, but her resume

Margot Kidder and the Childhood Crush That Will Never Die

"I dream about sex, flying, and being chased by Nazis." — Margot Kidder, Rolling Stone , "The Education of Margot Kidder", 1981 ***** File that quote under, "Reasons why I love Margot Kidder." Last month, Margot hopped a one-way flight with old pal Chris Reeve off into the stars and beyond, where they could reenact their iconic moment from Superman (1978), for all eternity. I wrote a little about Margot, here and here , trying to explain why this particular actress meant so much to me as a kid growing up in the 1980s. I thought that would be enough. It wasn't.* Those posts were my fumbling attempts to sort out just how large an impact Margot had on my young life, and, to my present-day surprise, how much she still means to me now. Before news of her death, I hadn't thought of her in ages. I assumed the early childhood crush I harbored for my Lois Lane had dwindled and faded. Ha! I was a fool. My crush on Margot was very

It Came From the '90s: My Secret Crush on The Nanny

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. For six seasons in the 1990s, The Nanny made many of us laugh. At times, it could be downright hilarious . At others, well, not so much . This isn't a review of a '90s sitcom staple, though. No. This is simply an excuse to come clean about something I've kept buried deep inside for over two decades now: I had a secret crush on The Nanny herself, Fran Drescher. The unadulterated nineties-ness of this is practically blinding. And I love it. While The Nanny was sometimes quite funny, thanks largely to Drescher's spunky charisma and wholehearted commitment, the show was never considered hip. People my parents age seemed to love it, but my friends preferred, well, Friends . That smile! Those legs! That dress! It's all overloading my circuits. I watched Friends with my friends, but I also thoroughly enjoyed The Nanny , to

"Opium Wars" by Zoe Lund

She wants there to be more of her. More space taken by her body, More decibels conquered by her voice, More time by her wakefulness, More equations by her addition. She wants more, I want less. Her blade is rusty, musty, sweaty and vain. I like it clean and sharp and dark-bright. She traffics in surplus, I bare my essentials. Her world is elastic but brittle. Mine is bony but moonlit. Hers flows, she ebbs. Mine ebbs, I flow. She dies in life, I live in death. —Zoe Lund, “Opium Wars”

Misspent Youth: Morgan Fairchild

Looking back at the movies, music, television, and other pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. Once I decided that Morgan Fairchild would be the subject of the next installment in this series, I did what I usually do and researched online for a bit, just to refresh my memory on details that might've previously been lost to time. Morgan Fairchild was legitimately one of the most potent sex symbols of the 1970s and '80s. Not that I needed much refresher when it came to Fairchild. Born Patsy Ann McClenny in Dallas, Texas, February 3, 1950, the American actress was everywhere during those oh-so-crucial formative years of my pop culture obsession. She loomed large in the growing ranks of proto-haughty glamour queens, a trope that was hot on prime time TV in the 1980s. The characters she was most well-known for were drop-dead gorgeous and didn't suffer fools lightly. Really, few ever did it better than Fairchild. The shirt do

Words Seem Out Of Place

Search This Blog