Top 10 Best Movies of 2018
What a bad year.
Honestly though, what an underwhelming experience 2018 has been. So much garbage. So many disappointing projects. Making a top 10 worst would be a piece of cake, but we respect filmmakers too much to do that this year.
So here are the 10 best movies of 2018, according to OurMovieLife. Yes, 2018 was not a great year for film – but here are the chosen few that managed to impress us.
Honorary mentions: Tag, Sorry to Bother You, Deadpool 2
10. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
Something surprising right off the bat. This list doesn’t include five Best Picture nominees, but we do have Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. And we stand by it. This sequel was the summer surprise. It’s miles better than the original Mamma Mia, it’s very fun, has a lot of heart, is just the right amount of cheesy, and Lily James shocks us with a truly fantastic performance. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is a quality entertaining flick – and we don’t see many of those nowadays.
9. Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Poppins Returns stood as an honorary mention for a while on our list, but we realized we like it more and more with every passing day. Emily Blunt does her best work ever and arguably gives us one of the best performances of the whole year. The songs are beautiful, the choreography behind them impressive, the production design is a feast for the eyes, the costumes, the make-up, the colors – it’s all very visually enjoyable. More importantly, after watching Mary Poppins Returns, people leave the theater with a big smile on their faces, feeling cleansed from their day to day worries; and really, for what more may we ask.
8. Bad Times at the El Royale
A lot of critics found this underwhelming, especially considering the director’s (Drew Goddard) last film was Cabin in the Woods. We beg to differ. Bad Times at the El Royale is, above all, a good story. Yes, it doesn’t deeply explore important topics, but the theme should come from within the story – not the story from withing the theme. And a film telling a great story is always better than a film exploring a great theme. Plus, we’re suckers for the whole different-strangers-gather-in-one-location shenanigans.
7. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
The best animation of the year, surely. One of the best animations of the past 10 years, in fact. The directing is great, the pacing is flawless, the characters are driven and developed; and visually, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The style of animation is out of this world. Plus, the film could have easily had a mediocre plot and counted on its visuals pushing it through, but no, it has both. Surely worth of admiration.
6. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Don’t judge us. This was a revolution. For those of you who don’t know, Bandersnatch is the first interactive choose-your-own-adventure film to hit theaters. Or, well, Netflix. And yes, the characters weren’t great, and yes, there were some general plot problems. But this is the first film of all time to intertwine the narrative method and the story. We were expecting just a normal choose-your-own adventure story. But they decided to make the fact that this is a choose-your-own-adventure narrative the whole plot of the film. And that is absolutely brilliant.
5. Avengers: Infinity War
Ten years in the making. And we definitely weren’t disappointed. Fast paced, action packed, and wildly shocking, Avengers: Infinity War was something more than a movie; rather, an experience. Marvel created the first cinematic universe. They took their time, they were patient and smart and out of that something fantastic came. Thus, making our most anticipated film of 2019 to be Avengers: Endgame.
4. The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos doesn’t disappoint yet again. The Favourite is gritty, provoking, and different. Technically, this is without a doubt the best film of the year. The production design, the costumes, the make-up ad hair-styling, the cinematography, the editing – it’s all absolutely beautiful. The Favourite gives us an unusual story and does so in an unusual way; and it also does it well.
3. A Star Is Born
We’ve talked a lot about A Star Is Born on OurMovieLife for the past couple of months. And while in the beginning we were underwhelmed, that feeling quickly went away after a second viewing and after the film simmered in our minds for a bit. A Star is Born may not be the most original film of all time, but it’s good. It does well what so many before it have tried and failed to achieve. It’s a beautiful story, a heartbreaking one, too, accompanied with strong direction and brilliant performances. And the soundtrack is out of this world.
2. Annihilation
Yes, we’ve talked about Annihilation a lot, too. This was the most snubbed film throughout this year’s award’s season. Annihilation may not be Best Picture material in most people’s eyes (why? we’ve got no idea.), but no one can deny that technically, Alex Garner’s creation is a masterpiece. The colors, the cinematography, the sound mixing – these are only some of the many things that make Annihilation shine. This is a gritty movie. One that leaves people with that unusual feeling of unease after it ends. The viewer goes out of Annihilation not cleansed, but rather: questioned and questioning.
1. Green Book
For many months, Annihilation was our favorite movie of 2018. And as we progressed through the year, we were almost certain that nothing would come on top of that.
Until two weeks prior to this article coming out. Greek Book finally hit theaters here in the UK. It’s brilliant.
People seem to underestimate this film simply because it’s cool to hate on the popular Oscar contenders. But Greek Book is actually amazing. It actually deserves the praise. It deserves to be talked about. Why? The story. There is really not much else, to be honest; but the plot, and the narrative behind it, make us absolutely adore this film. Flawless from start to finish, accompanied with amazing performances by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, and relying on one of the strongest scripts of the year, Greek Book really blew us away. It won our hearts.
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Do you agree with our ranking? What are your best movies of 2018? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, please. Also, don’t forget to LIKE and SHARE this article if you enjoyed it and SUBSCRIBE to Our Movie Life.
Pouty Boy
Thank you for including Bandersnatch! I was starting to feel alone in the camp of movie fans who loved it.