Original-Cin's Best & Worst of 2018: What We Enjoyed... And What We Endured
By Original-Cin Staff
Each person’s opinion is as unique as a signature. Which is why, as 2018 comes mercifully to a close, we didn’t seek consensus on the year’s best and worst films. Instead, we assembled a sampling of Original-Cin contributors’ personal choices.
These are our best-of-times in a theatre… and, more humorously, our worst. Some of them are way off the well-beaten awards season path, but hey, we know what we like. Enjoy.
Liam Lacey
Best Films of 2018
The fourth feature from Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel (The Swamp, The Holy Girl, The Headless Woman) confirms her status as one of the essential directors of the new millennium with this visually stunning, bitterly comic Heart of Darkness-like tale. A military magistrate (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is stuck in an 18th century backwater South American colonial town, waiting for a transfer. When he can wait no longer, he decides to do something foolhardy and heroic by hunting down a notorious villain. From there, the movie moves from anxious stasis to an ecstasy of horror and madness.
See it! A scene from Burning.
The overused phrase “toxic masculinity” is given fresh meaning in director Lee Chang-dong’s mystery story of a lonely young writer (Yoo Ah-in) and alluring young woman (Jun Jong-seo) who dumps him for a wealthy rival (Steven Yuen). Adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story, which in turn was inspired by William Faulkner, Burning offers a shell-game of motives among the three characters while offering piercing perceptions about class, youth alienation, and disposable people in contemporary Korea.
Set in the badlands of South Dakota, Chinese-born director, Chloe Zhao’s The Rider follows rodeo rider Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau) of the Sioux Lakota Indian tribe, who suffers a head injury in competition. Slow, soulful, and emotionally nuanced, this beautiful film follows Brady’s struggle to get his brain, body, and spirit back in working order.
Honorable mentions: Minding the Gap, Foxtrot, The Wild Pear Tree, Sorry to Bother You, Support the Girls, Let the Sunshine In, First Man, The Favourite, At Eternity’s Gate, They Shall Not Grow Old, Marlina The Murderer in Four Acts, You Were Never Really Here.
Worst Films of 2018
In 2010, director Jeff Malmberg released a riveting documentary, Marwencol, about eccentric artist Mark Hogancamp who emerged from a vicious beating to create a new kind of photo art with action figures and dolls. Robert Zemeckis has taken that story and turned it into Hollywoodized disability schmaltz, combining creepy animated dolls, a love story and a Razzie-worthy puppy-eyed performance by Steve Carell.
Skip it! A scene from The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Disney’s latest shot at a seasonal cash cow used two directors to create this icky tottering wedding cake, layering E.T.A. Hoffman’s Nutcracker story with liberal borrowings from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the Narnia stories, and The Wizard of Oz. The sum is a who-could-possibly-care? scenario about a teen-aged Victorian-era girl going through a “magic portal” into fairy land, who gets into toy soldier fights and somehow saves the four indistinguishable “four realms” of Christmas.
Will Arnett’s louche persona can be hilarious (The Netflix animated series, BoJack Horseman) but his performance here, as a detective who goes undercover at a Vegas dog show with a talking Rotweiller (voiced by Ludacris) sniffs major dog butt. Manic and unfunny for adults, with too many jokes about squeezing dog balls to be child-appropriate (in response to parents’ protests, the studio recut the film after its opening weekend), this mash-up of Beverly Hills Chihuahua and a Jackass movie is one big rug-stain waiting to happen.
Dishonorable mentions: Truth or Dare, Red Sparrow, Winchester, The Bad Samaritan, Mortal Engines, 7 Days in Entebbe
Bonnie Laufer
Best Films of 2018
Being a huge fan of the Broadway musical Hamilton, I was excited to see this film written by the uber-talented Daveed Diggs and his pal Rafael Casal. The two also co-starred in this gritty, honest look at a range of racial, social and economic issues set in Oakland, California. I was moved and stunned by everything about this movie. I want MORE from these two talented young filmmakers.
A wonderful debut by writer/director Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade was a realistic look at a young girl’s painful and memorable summer before entering high school. Newcomer Elsie Fisher is someone we’ll be seeing for years to come. Her amazing performance will stay with you long after the credits roll.
Loosely based on the real life story of the 1962 tour of the Jim Crow South by an African-American musician and his Italian-American driver, Green Book delivered all the feels and brilliant award-worthy performances by Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. Who cares if the story might have been predictable. It left me with a big smile on my face and a whole new respect for Viggo’s unlimited talent as an actor.
See it! Green Book.
Worst Films of 2018
What’s to be said about this completely unnecessary and unneeded take on Robin Hood and his Merry Men other than to skip it? Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton (who I AM looking forward to when he portrays Elton John next year in Rocketman) must have not read the script and only saw the dollar signs before signing onto this pile of garbage.
I seriously do not get the hype over Tiffany Haddish. Put her together with Tyler Perry who wrote and directed this R-rated mess about an ex-con who interferes in her sister’s love life and you’ve got one big awful movie. ‘What were they thinking?’ is all I was thinking for the duration of this movie.
Plain and simple – the Deadpool franchise gives me a massive headache. As much as I love and root for our Canadian boy Ryan Reynolds, I urge him to stop making these movies. His portrayal of the foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool) is getting tired and redundant. We get it Ryan - now move on, please.
Jim Slotek
Best Films of 2018
Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev and Jeffrey Tambor as Malenkov in The Death of Stalin
The scabrously hilarious political satire of Armand Iannucci is an all-too-rare pleasure (the Oscar-nominated In The Loop, the TV series VEEP and Britain’s The Thick Of It). And this is his darkest, bar none the best-written movie of the year, about the craven jostling for power in the hours after Stalin’s fatal stroke in 1953. The focus is on Steve Buscemi as Khruschev, but Jeffrey Tambor’s ineffectual “heir apparent” Malenkov and Jason Isaac’s vainglorious Gen. Zhukov are also terrifically farcical amid bouts of violence and butchery.
You know you’re having a truly different theatrical experience when the entire theatre is utterly, raptly quiet (except for that guy in the far end of the theatre whose popcorn munching, under the circumstances, seems as loud as a jackhammer). Emily Blunt is getting her due as Mary Poppins right now, but a performance that calls for her to quietly give birth is not to be ignored. John Krasinski’s directorial debut didn’t get awards love, but horror films and comedies (like Death of Stalin) are routinely short-changed as “unimportant.”
This is for all the touching, heartfelt and worthwhile movies that flew under the radar this year – a good-hearted character drama with emphasis on the characters and a surprisingly low-key drama level. Nick Offerman is a failed rocker and Brooklyn vinyl store owner whose delusions reignite when a just-for-fun late night jam session with his talented daughter (Kiersey Clemons) ends up a minor hit on Spotify. Trouble is, she wants to go to medical school, not chase her dad’s unicorn dreams. No major meltdowns. Just a father and daughter trying to understand each other.
Worst Films of 2018
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Who’d have thought the Harry Potter legacy would devolve into a movie that’s two-thirds people yakking about genealogy? There’s also a dearth of actual fantastic beasts in this overstuffed sophomore screenwriting effort by J.K. Rowling herself. And Johnny Depp, surprisingly, isn’t giving Voldemort a run for his villainy just yet. Audiences everywhere left theatres raving, “What the heck was that about?”
Here’s an idea: let’s make an R-rated noir Muppet movie with murders and sex and silly string for, y’know, climax scenes, a movie where the humour is generally at the “A—holes say ‘what?’” – “What?” level, below where even Adam Sandler would go. Director Brian Henson (Jim Henson’s son) actually seemed intent on defiling his father’s legacy with this misbegotten, gimmicky, bad idea.
The good news: this worst-ever entry in the first-thing-we-do-in-a-dystopian-world-is-kill-teenagers genre (The Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner) bombed so badly, it might actually mark the death of this overplayed oeuvre. Like so many of them, even the premise beggars belief. (A virus kills most of children on the planet, and the survivors now have super-powers and so must be imprisoned or killed).
Kim Hughes
Best Films of 2018
A completely winning film with a bit of everything: hilarity, heartbreak, history, snappy one-liners, powerful themes and sensational performances from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, brought to you by Peter Farrelly, the director of Dumb and Dumber (and Dumb and Dumber To). Beat that.
Not only is this jet-black dramedy about the opportunistic forgeries of real-life writer Lee Israel wildly entertaining, it finally provides Melissa McCarthy with a role broad enough to leverage her amazing range. Wintery in soul and in look — and hugely abetted by co-star Richard E. Grant — the film buzzes from the first frame.
See it@! Can You Ever Forgive Me?
With just a handful of characters, Irish directors Andy Tohill and Ryan Tohill summon a full chorus in this dark, slow-boil thriller about small-town bonds, which screened at TIFF. After serving 15 years for the murder of a local woman, sad-eyed Callahan (Moe Dunford, note the name for future reference) returns home to find his victim’s broken-hearted father obsessively digging for the never-recovered remains. Callahan joins the grim search as the village around him unravels. Weird, sad, and propelled by a genuinely stunning twist.
Worst Films of 2018
I was tempted to write “crap on a crust covered with cheese” about this spectacularly lame rom-com chronicling warring pizza businesses in Toronto, but that seemed too charitable. Watching the riotously bad and product placement–driven Little Italy — funded by all three levels of government — it was hard to know whether to feel more impoverished as a viewer or as a taxpayer. Pathetic by any metric you apply.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Jack Black is no stranger to the cinematic dog. Yet even he looked embarrassed to be making a cameo in this unwanted and unnecessary sequel to the 2015 breakaway hit, which starred… wait for it… Jack Black. How awful is Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween? It advances the back story of Slappy, an evil talking puppet with mommy issues. Step right up, folks.
Like worms on a hook, Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish were put out as bait for this knuckleheaded mess. A stereotypical group of zany but loveable misfits seeking to earn their high-school equivalency diplomas are thrown together under the tutelage of a brassy but dedicated teacher and learn, amid pratfalls and DOA jokes, that you really can accomplish anything you set your mind to! Sound like something you want to spend two hours watching? Didn’t think so.
Karen Gordon
Best Films of 2018
One of the most satisfying movies I saw this year was Japan’s writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda’s quiet movie that won the Palme d’Or. Several generations of a family live together in one space, getting by working as petty thieves. They take in a young neglected girl to get her out of the cold for a night. But something sticks and that turns into something more permanent. Shoplifters is beautiful storytelling that adds up to something more complex.
Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographically inspired film, shot in beautiful black and white, is another small-scale movie about day-to-day life that ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Cuarón says it’s an homage to his nanny. But for me it seemed like a movie about the bonds between women as they go through tough times, and about the simple rhythms of ordinary life and familial love.
Damien Chazelle’s movie about Neil Armstrong and the Apollo program had me literally sitting on the edge of my seat. Chazelle accomplishes so much with this movie. You get a profile of Armstrong, beautifully played by Ryan Gosling as a quiet, focused man with internalized grief over the loss of a child. And you get the incredible story of the Apollo mission itself and the bravery of those astronauts, crammed into tiny space capsules, fired into the unknown territory of space. In the final launch scene, Chazelle’s focus on the intensity of the burn, as the rockets below the capsule fire-up to shoot the capsule into orbit, is one of the simultaneously most terrifying and thrilling sequences I saw at the movies this year.
See it! A scene from First Man.
Leave No Trace/The Rider
I’m cheating here by going to four films. But I wanted to acknowledge these two small movies by two accomplished American women directors, who are deliberately working in the world of independent films. Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace is about a soldier with PTSD raising his teenaged daughter off the grid. Superb performances by Ben Foster and a new discovery Thomasin McKenzie anchor one of the most compassionate movies you’ll see his year. Chloe Zhao used non-actors in The Rider, built around Brady Jandreau, a young rodeo rider who dealt with injuries that might have ended his career. Again quiet, sweet, powerful and satisfying movies.
Worst Films of 2018
It appears the filmmakers wanted to begin a franchise for Robin Hood, based on the superhero mold. And so, you have a bloated screenplay that seems pasted together by ideas from other hit films like The Hunger Games, and any number of movies set in the Middle East. It appears to focus more on art direction and costume design than on stories or characters. It has a terrific cast, mostly misused.
Maybe this idea looked good on paper: A Muppet film noir movie with a porny edge. But it was pretty much a disaster from stem to stern.