Favorite Films

[Avaitor]

1. Zootopia
2. The Lobster
3. Deadpool
4. Captain America: Civil War
5. ...Jungle Book?

I am seeing Kubo and the Two Strings tomorrow, though!

I forgot about Kung-Fu Panda 3! I'd definitely put it above The Jungle Book, which I'm pretty conflicted on.

I'll post about Kubo when I come home tonight.

[Avaitor]

I never really like making end of the year lists for films right as the year ends, since I still have a bunch of stuff to catch up on. I'll make my tentative list after I knock off a few more movies from my to-watch list (La La Land, Hell or High Water, Toni Erdmann). Until then, here's my final top 10 for 2015!


10- Son of Saul
9- It Follows
8- Macbeth
7- Phoenix
6- Boy and the World
5- The Hateful Eight
4- Tangerine
3- The Look of Silence
2- The Big Short
1- Mad Max: Fury Road

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Alright, here are my favorite films of 2018 (so far):

Honorable Mentions:

Molly's Game- I'm honestly not the biggest fan of Aaron Sorkin, as I find that he tends to write an absurd amount of dialogue for his characters in a vein attempt to make them sound smart, and generally has very basic plots to this stories that use such techniques to disguise how unspecial they are without those tricks of his. That said, I find that occasionally he can manage to make this technique work and while Molly's Game has several of the problems that I have with his other films, this one works much better than most of those for me. I think a big part of this has to do with the excellent cast, with Chastain and Elba in particular really carrying the film and doing a great job of selling Sorkin's normally very stilted dialogue. I also think that the emotional moments in this movie hit home a lot harder for that reason. It's not a favorite on the whole, but it's easily one of my favorite Sorkin movies, which to his credit is still a compliment coming from me.

Mission Impossible: Fallout- What's odd here is that I'm a fan of this series. I really enjoy these movies, with Ghost Protocol in particular being my favorite. That said, while I also immensely enjoyed this flick, the heaps of praise that it's getting is a bit ridiculous to me. Like any other MI movie, I think that the action scenes are spectacular and I tremendously appreciate Tom Cruise's dedication to putting himself through such dangerous stunts and intense choreography when there are actors less than half his age who can't even manage to put in a fraction of the effort that he does. I also love the iconic music and overall score of these movies, and I absolutely got my money's worth seeing it. That said, where it feels a tad overrated to me is when I see people describing these as the perfect modern action movies or using them as an example of a bar that should be set while nay-saying other blockbusters that come out these days. For one thing, can anyone even re-iterate the plot of any Mission Impossible movie to me? People remember the characters and setpieces, but the story has always been an afterthought, even more so than most Marvel movies or various other blockbuster franchises. Some of the emotional beats also feel rather forced due to not having much in the way of great build-up in story-lines or anything in the way of actual character development throughout these films. Most of these actors are portraying static personalities that are more primarily focused to move the story along and partake in breathtaking action scenes. That's fine since these movies know what they are, but I just don't get why so many people seem to hold these movies to a higher regard and forgive them for issues like this. Insinuating that they are really good action movies is one thing (and I'd agree with that). But to call them perfect or the best of the best: like, on par with or even better than stuff like The Raid or John Wick. Really? Well, maybe it's just me who doesn't quite see them that way. But, I regret sounding like I'm coming down on these movies too hard. As I've said, I enjoy them immensely and Fallout is no exception. They just aren't the top of the top for me.

Favorites (no particular order except for the last one listed):

Black Panther- This one went down a bit for me after the hype died down but I still hold it in pretty high regard and while I do have issues with some of the character beats for T'Challa and Killmonger, I can't deny that they make a pretty great hero-villain duo and on the whole this felt like a really inspired film in the MCU canon.

Hereditary- I can absolutely understand why this movie is so polarizing for so many people, but personally I found it to be spellbinding. It managed to capture my attention from the first frame and wouldn't let go until the credits rolled, and even then the experience lingered with me for longer than that. While I wouldn't necessarily call the movie scary, I didn't see it as a straight-up horror movie anyways. It feels more like a family drama with horror elements, and more than being scary I found the movie to be effectively disturbing. Definitely one of the most unique movie-going experiences of the year for me.

Avengers: Infinity War- Can't speak for anyone else, but I got the kind of climactic culmination film that I wanted, and I couldn't be happier with it. And I did really consider this one and waited for the hype to die down a bit. I've seen it five full times since its release and I stand by my opinion that it's the best MCU film of the year and easily one of my top 5 favorites overall. It actually kind of annoys me how many people want to try and act like this isn't a real movie and shouldn't be considered in any high regard simply because it's a popcorn flick and isn't a standalone story. The thing is, the MCU has done its own thing and created a more serialized form of story-telling, but that doesn't dismiss the merits and quality of any given chapter within that series even if it does coast off of other movies in order for you to understand it's characters' motivations and backstories and have that investment in what goes down in this affair. In that case I suppose we can't really consider The Godfather Part II, The Empire Strikes Back, or The Return of the King to be great movies either because they require pre-knowledge of other movies to get the most out of them. That logic just strikes me as absurd. For my money, the way that the Russo brothers managed to juggle so many characters in such a streamlined and easy to follow way and pay off so many ongoing plot lines in a coherent and satisfying way is nothing short of an amazing achievement. I view this movie in the same way that I view a great story arc that has been built up to for years. Like, the Magnostadt arc from Magi, or the Marineford arc from One Piece, this movie is in itself the ultimate payoff to several preceding story arcs, and it certainly didn't disappoint me in the least.

BlackkKlansman- Admittedly, I'm not as well-versed in Spike Lee's filmography as I probably should be, but like last year's Get Out, this flick is easily this year's go to social and political satire that really managed to both tell an entertaining story on the surface while maintaining powerful subtext underneath it all. The performances are great across the board, and the movie is legitimately funny too.

Isle of Dogs- Hands down my favorite movie of the year so far, animated or otherwise, and I'm not expecting it to be topped anytime soon. Wes Anderson, much like Spike Lee, is another director who I need to see more movies from, though I've loved the ones that I've seen so far, with The Grand Budapest Hotel being my particular favorite. I also loved The Fantastic Mr. Fox and this movie has convinced me that I desperately need to re-watch that one as soon as I can. Still, Isle of Dogs is easily my favorite of the two for while I loved Fox, I found that this one not only had a stronger sense of identity to it but also had messages and themes that really struck home with me a lot stronger than the other movie (though, again, with all of the love and due respect for Fox). In particular I think that Bryan Cranston killed it as Chief (though Edward Norton as Rex is easily my favorite secondary character of the movie), and I for one really appreciated the decision to leave the Japanese dialogue untranslated as it served the purpose of putting us in the perspective of the dogs since the they didn't understand what was being said either and had to infer what the human characters meant by certain key words or actions. The soundtrack to this movie is also hands down my favorite of the year as well. At the end of the day, I'm also just such a huge sucker for stop motion which I find to be a sadly underrated art-form. What gives this movie and edge, though, even over other such films is the glorious shot composition and keen attention to detail, in a style that already pretty much required as much attention to detail as possible, which is really saying something when this film managed to push it even further. This is the kind of movie that I buy on Blu-ray, watch over and over again, and then try and force my friends and family to watch. It's just that good.

As for other movies, I have seen numerous others this year, but the ones listed above are what really stood out to me so far. There are other critically praised films that I saw such as A Quiet Place and Upgrade, but if I'm to be honest while I generally enjoyed both experiences I walked out with more problems and complaints about those movies than actual strong points. They are both movies that do certain things well but fail for me in other critical areas, which is why I don't quite regard them as highly as many others do.

[Avaitor]

I was actually a little underwhelmed with Isle of Dogs. I thought that despite its ambition, it came off as a little colder than I would have liked. The animation is beyond impressive, however, and I don't regret seeing it in theaters.

As for your other points, I think the hype for the Mission Impossible movies partly come from the franchise becoming inexplicably better with the second trilogy. The first and third movies are decent if nothing special, and the second is an all-around turd, while Ghost Protocol on are a lot of fun to sit through, solidifying its cast and adding a lot of great action scenes together. It's taken a passable-at-best franchise into its best possible self, and has better action sequences than other big action franchises of the day, like Fast and Furious, Star Wars, and MCU, although not as well as the John Wick movies or Fury Road.

Granted, I'm still kind of Marvel trash, but I don't really go to the movies for their fight scenes- my enjoyment from them generally comes from the characters, strong humor, and their not fussy plots, which I'll admit the average MCU picture does better than MI does with those elements even now.

And I was similarly slightly underwhelmed with A Quiet Place. I enjoyed it for the most part, but maybe I'm just feeling too spoiled with the rest of the modern indie horror renaissance, but I got a much bigger thrill out of a lot of other recent films, like Green Room, Get Out, Raw, The Witch, The Babadook, etc. The concept also left me somewhat indifferent overall.

So far, I think my favorite movie of the year is honestly Paddington 2. I know that internet film buffs can be kind of obnoxious with their overpraising of these movies, and I'll admit that they can be a little ridiculous even for a movie about a clumsy little bear, and some of the actors (primarily Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi) get a little muggy. But these movies are just so sweet and cleverly crafted that they're hard to not fall for. The second one in particular has some of the best slapstick since Chaplin and Lloyd's heyday, as well as visual cues that would drive Wes Anderson crazy to top. And Paddington's irresistible charm and his effect on everyone he meets is infectious and ernest. I really do love these movies. And there's nothing Christopher Robin can do that can top them.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I was actually a little underwhelmed with Isle of Dogs. I thought that despite its ambition, it came off as a little colder than I would have liked. The animation is beyond impressive, however, and I don't regret seeing it in theaters.

I can respect that opinion, but to be fair if it feels a bit colder that's clearly by intentional design. This one definitely wasn't made for kids even if you could theoretically show it to a kid. I personally felt that the tone of the movie fits its themes, and I've re-watched it twice already and always appreciate it more each time I watch it and pick up on more of its nuances. I suppose it's just a really refreshing animated feature for me in a mostly family friendly Disney-dominated market (not that I consider that to be a bad thing, necessarily).

Granted, I'm still kind of Marvel trash, but I don't really go to the movies for their fight scenes- my enjoyment from them generally comes from the characters, strong humor, and their not fussy plots, which I'll admit the average MCU picture does better than MI does with those elements even now.

Keep in mind that I do enjoy these movies, even the older ones (sans 2, but even that has an unintentionally hilarious sort of appeal to it), and it wasn't really my intention to come down on them that hard. It's just that the over-praising of them can get a tad overblown at times.

Like, Marvel movies get rightfully criticized for having weak and generic villains on most occasions and formulaic stories, but the MI franchise is just as guilty of doing the same thing (can you even tell me the name of one villain from the franchise without having to look it up first?) yet inexplicably gets a free pass for it from most critics. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that people enjoy them and so do I, but I just find it kind of ludicrous that other blockbusters that excel in their own ways while failing at similar things as the MI franchise get relegated to guilty pleasures while MI gets passed off as perfection of the genre. Again, I really liked Fallout, but I also do agree with the few critics who said it's 2 1/2 hour run time felt really padded out and slow at times, whereas at least half an hour's worth of content could have easily been trimmed off of the film. Again, it doesn't take away from the genuinely great parts of the movie, but I can also say the same thing about any great Marvel movie, yet one gets treated more leniently than the other.

And I've already stated how much I appreciate the action scenes and stuntwork in these movies, but stuff like John Wick and Fury Road are equally as impressive in that regard and they also manage to feel less formulaic and more evenly paced. My point being that there are better examples of well-done films in the genre, so putting MI on a pedestal doesn't make much sense to me.

And I was similarly slightly underwhelmed with A Quiet Place. I enjoyed it for the most part, but maybe I'm just feeling too spoiled with the rest of the modern indie horror renaissance, but I got a much bigger thrill out of a lot of other recent films, like Green Room, Get Out, Raw, The Witch, The Babadook, etc. The concept also left me somewhat indifferent overall.

Yeah, whereas those other movies have more substance to back up their gimmicks, A Quiet Place seems to cost far too hard on hoping that it's premise wows you more than it's actual content. From a story-telling perspective, though, it's poorly written when you reassess the details, and while I do give the cinematographers on this movie major props, the acting and direction definitely left a lot to be desired, IMO.

[Foggle]

My list is pretty different from yours, mostly because I haven't seen any of those movies yet! I really want to watch all of them though, especially Blackkklansman and Hereditary. I will say that I totally agree with Avaitor on Paddington 2 being one of the year's best. I liked the original a lot but I wasn't as taken with it as many seemed to be; the sequel, though? Pure class. A truly wonderful film. The prison scenes were such a joy to watch, Brendan Gleeson is always incredible. My other favorites were:

Annihilation - Loved this to bits. I know I might be the only one here to hold this opinion but I think Alex Garland is a genius. 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Ex Machina are all favorites of mine; Annihilation joins that list but I think I liked it the most out of them all. The cast is fantastic - I really like the recent trajectory of Natalie Portman's career, Jennifer Jason Leigh continues to be great in her resurgence, Tessa Thompson is always a pleasure to see on screen, and my love for Oscar Isaac cannot be overstated (even with his corny fake accent in this movie). I could watch the final 30 or so minutes of this over and over, I love them so much.

Deadpool 2 - I have my issues with this one since the jokes don't always hit as well as they did in the original and seeing or hearing TJ Miller in any capacity makes me physically recoil, but I had a blast seeing this in the cinema. The X-Force scene is comedy gold and all of Domino's fights are so, so good. I really hope she gets a solo film. Ryan Reynolds' confidence in the role and willingness to make fun of himself continue to impress me as a huge fan of the comics. This probably isn't the Deadpool sequel I would have made but I still loved it.

First Reformed - What a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking film. Ethan Hawke delivers an immensely powerful performance and Amanda Seyfried is incredible too, I can't believe people are still sleeping on her. It's heavy shit from beginning to end, quite slow and definitely won't appeal to everyone, but the perfect film for 2018 in so many ways. I was horrified by how much I found myself relating to several of the characters in it.

Game Night - I didn't expect to love this one but oh boy did I. It's like mainlining an entire season of a great sitcom at once, I pretty much never stopped laughing throughout the whole thing. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are both effortlessly funny and I wish they got more good roles instead of just agreeing to be in schlock all the time.

Love Simon - This is a really sweet film and the perfect counter to all the sad gay movies that win awards every year (not that I have anything against them - Moonlight in particular was a masterpiece). Some nice heartwarming viewing, I would straight up murder that one kid though. You know who I mean if you've seen it.

Sorry To Bother You - Boots Riley has been one of my heroes ever since I started listening to his music a few years ago. His film shows great confidence and surprising prowess for a debut while making the most of its tiny budget.  An awesome sense of humor, a great positive message for 2018, an electrifying original soundtrack, and one of the most bizarre plot twists in recent memory. Lakeith Stanfield's comedic timing is legendary and hearing David Cross' voice come out of his mouth never stops being funny. Tessa Thompson's in this one too!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I really wanted to watch Sorry to Bother You, but unfortunately my local theater wasn't playing it and I'm kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't another mainstream theater for quite a distance. I'll get around to it sometime later this year, though.

And somehow I totally forgot to mention Deadpool 2, which now that I think about it could pretty much match up with Black Panther for me, albeit for different reasons.

[Foggle]

Yeah, STBY wasn't a huge release unfortunately. They still haven't been able to get overseas distribution for it either. It's done incredibly well given its circumstances though, and Boots has already been offered another movie deal as well as a TV one.

I feel like a lot of people have already forgotten about Deadpool 2, I guess the R-rated superhero comedy novelty has worn off. Not me, though - I can't get enough of the character or that David Leitch action! Still so bummed that the animated series was canceled.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'm also pleasantly surprised by the Paddington movies. Last year before I watched either one, I thought it was just meant to sell teddy bears to children, but it's so much more than that. So many tiny details added in that I don't think many kids would even notice. It's all a delight.

[Mustang]

Can't believe I haven't done this list yet. You also have to forgive me because I'm a little pissed off from work so I'll need a bit to calm down (No explanations today).

I also have to note that I'm an action guy (mostly martial arts movies) especially these days. I've become so narrow minded to movies nowadays because nothing else really does it for me.

01. Pulp Fiction
02. Back to the Future
03. Captain America: Civil War
04. Batman: The Dark Knight
05. Rocky 3
06. Predator
07. Way of the Dragon
08. Five Deadly Venoms
09. Tombstone
10. Ip Man
11. Game of Death
12. Fist of Fury
13. Ten Tigers from Kwangtung
14. The Raid
15. Bourne Identity
16. Ocean's Eleven
17. Beetlejuice
18. Once Upon a Time in China
19. Wheels on Meals
20. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
21. The Crow
22. Big Trouble in Little China
23. Desperado
24. Bad Boys 2
25. We Are the Titans

[GregX]

I'm sure this has been posted before but has changed since... but that tends to be the nature of such lists. Our feelings are always fluid.

Top Ten Favorite Films... per usual, I'll let you decide what this says about me.

1. Casablanca
2. Pulp Fiction
3. The Lord of the Rings (Extended Edition)
4. Raging Bull
5. The Godfather
6. Alien
7. Heat
8. On the Waterfront
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. Sleeping Beauty

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ghostbusters (1984), Jaws, The Godfather Part II, Inglourious Basterds, Amadeus, In the Heat of the Night, The Great Mouse Detective, From Russia With Love, Goodfellas, BlacKkKlansman, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Enter the Dragon, Citizen Kane, Gojira, Lawrence of Arabia, Up, Princess Mononoke, Macbeth (1948), Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, Seven Samurai, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

[Avaitor]

I like or love every movie that you named. I could go one by one going through each of them... and I might later.

Not sure what my list would look like nowadays, though. I haven't really been in much of a ranking mood lately, and I don't tend to do many rewatchs nowadays, either.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

My favorite movie from every year since I was born:

1989: Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone)
1990: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
1991: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron)
1992: The Player (Robert Altman)
1993: Tombstone (George P. Cosmatos/Kevin Jarre)
1994: Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
1995: 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam)
1996: Fargo (Ethan and Joel Coen)
1997: Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
1998: Pleasantville (Gary Ross)
1999: Audition (Takashi Miike)
2000: Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan)
2001: Training Day (Antoine Fuqua)
2002: The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman)
2003: The Lord of The Rings* (Peter Jackson)
2004: Collateral (Michael Mann)
2005: Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman)
2006: The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald)
2007: Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
2008: The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
2009: Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
2010: Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
2011: Headhunters (Morten Tyldum)
2012: Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
2013: Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho)
2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2015: Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler)
2016: The Nice Guys (Shane Black)
2017: The Death of Stalin (Armando Lanucci)
2018: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Peter Ramsey/Bob Persichetti/Rodney Rothman)
2019: Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
2020: The Night House (David Bruckner)
2021: Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

*I'm counting the whole trilogy as one movie, in this case.

[Foggle]

1997: Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

1999: Audition (Takashi Miike)

2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2015: Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler)
2016: The Nice Guys (Shane Black)

Hell yeahhhh

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

1997: Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

1999: Audition (Takashi Miike)

2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2015: Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler)
2016: The Nice Guys (Shane Black)

Hell yeahhhh

You can tell that I have a love for horror/psychological thrillers. In fact 2014 originally had The Babadook as my top pick, and while it's still definitely up there, I find myself going back to Grand Budapest a bit more often. Bone Tomahawk combines two genres I really love, Westerns and Horror. You could argue that The Hateful Eight sort of did a similar thing that year (and also starred Kurt Russell to boot), but while I really like that movie, BT is just in a niche of it's own that's completely up my alley.

I was also considering Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang for 2006, but it got edged out. That said, The Nice Guys is still peak Shane Black as far as I'm concerned and an easy favorite for that year given my tastes.