My Top 10 Films of 2018

By Luke Jones

Blimey, it's that time of year again already? Here are the 10 films that I've had the most enjoyment with in the past year. As always I'm only counting films that I've seen, and they're arranged in alphabetical order rather than any sort of preference / cosmic force. 

Annihilation

If there was a theme to 2018 it was the growing dominance of streaming services, particularly Netflix, as distributors and producers of film and TV. Although released by Paramount in the US, Annihilation was unceremoniously (and controversially for director Alex Garland) sold to Netflix for international release after its disappointing Stateside performance. It’s a shame; Annihilations trippy visuals and sound deserve to be seen on a large canvas, though the nihilistic tone was always going to be a hard sell for the masses. Those who did seek it out were treated to one of the best hard sci-fi films since, well, Alex Garland’s last film, Ex Machina.

Avengers: Infinity War

Being the nineteenth Marvel release in ten years (and that’s not including X-Men and Spider-Man films, which are released by Fox and Sony respectively) 2018 was a banner year for the studio. Despite astronomical levels of hype, both Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War delivered, launching to critical and commercial success. If Ant-Man and the Wasp felt less essential, it was still less essential to the tune of around $600mat the box office. 

Avengers: Infinity War gets my nod because it’s a blockbuster that simply should not work. It has a cast of 40+ characters, a big purple computer-generated villain and needs to balance the knockabout comedy of Guardians of the Galaxy with the weightier pretences of Doctor Strange and everything in between. Yet the film feels effortless, zipping along a multitude of subplots that make a 149-minute runtime fly by. If you’ve already fallen off the Marvel wagon then there’s little here to win you back, but for fans this was a glorious celebration of everything that the studio has achieved over the past decade.

Coco

I haven’t seen Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse yet so it falls to Pixar to once again lead the way for Western animation. I could easily have swung for Incredibles 2, which was a worthy if slightly safe sequel, but the colourful charm of Coco wins out for me. It’s everything that Pixar does in their best films, mixing laughs, tears and adventure with cutting edge visuals and production design.

First Man

I’m a sucker for anything space race related, but I was still wowed by Damien Chazelle’s third classic in a row (this, Whiplash and La La Land isn’t a bad run to have on your CV before hitting your mid-thirties). Beautifully shot, it’s also quietly affecting in its study of grief and toll taken on both Neil Armstrong and his wife Janet.

I, Tonya

The most rock and roll film of 2018 felt overlooked at the Oscars, with only Alison Janney rewarded for her role as Tonya Harding’s domineering mother. Yet this really is Margot Robbie’s film, her version of Harding talking straight to camera as if in a sequinned version of House of Cards. The story of one of US sports oddest chapters, as well as being great fun it has a lot to say about privilege, subjectivity, and the role of the media in shaping public figures’ lives. 

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Look, A Star is Born is great, and will fully deserve the awards that are sure to be on their way in early 2019. But only one film this year had Cher singing Fernando while Andy Garcia demonstrated the full extent of acting talent in his eyebrows. Your mileage will vary depending on whether you a) like ABBA and b) enjoy films where actors sing ABBA with varying degrees of success, but Mamma Mia 2 was a tighter, better produced and, thanks to contributions from Richard Curtis, funnier film than the original. Easily one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a cinema all year, and My Love, My Life is an absolute belter of a climax.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Director Christopher McQuarrie cements his status as one of the true action greats with the continued reinvigoration of the Mission: Impossible franchise. If you were looking for value for money then Fallout was the film to catch in 2018, with an astonishing range of action sequences that saw Tom Cruise falling, running, flying and driving like no 56-year old should be able to.

Phantom Thread

Best comedy of the year? Daniel Day-Lewis bowed out (for the time being) with a British battle of the sexes that was worlds apart from his and director PT Anderson’s last collaboration, the brooding There Will be Blood. Beautifully lensed by Anderson himself, Phantom Thread was less about fashion and more about the romance / rivalry of designer Reynolds Woodcock (officially the finest name of 2018) and muse Alma. Oh, and I might have had a small hand in making this one...

A Quiet Place

2018 saw Jim from the Office show his dark side, with this nasty little B-movie thriller that felt like an extended Twilight Zone episode. While its success depended on who you were sharing a cinema with (the quiet tension is slightly reduced when your neighbour is working their way through a large popcorn) the scares were equally matched by a touching father-daughter subplot and a general theme of the importance of communication.

Solo

It was a difficult 12 months for Disney and Star Wars. The Last Jedi attracted the most divisive reviews of the series, and after a film every year since 2015s The Force Awakens, the bubble finally burst with Solo. Underperforming commercially (extensive reshoots prior to release meant that the $392m worldwide takings stung more than they might have), the films reception resulted in a drastic re-think of the franchise by Disney, with all other Star Wars films outside of Episode 9 delayed or cancelled outright. It’s a shame, because Solo is the most popcorn fun that the series has been since The Force Awakens, and far from the car crash that a Han Solo origin story should be. Much of this is because of the chemistry between Han and his loveable co-pilot, the weird bear that is Chewbacca; the beats might be predictable but they’re well done.