Rhoda's 2018 Year End Movie Wrap-Up Post!
Dec. 31st, 2018 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreHELLO! We made it to 2019 somehow! High-fives all around!
As usual, I'm recapping all the movies I saw in theaters in 2018. As a reminder, this is not a Top Ten, or a Rhoda's Faves list, but every single thing that I saw in theaters. I'm also including Netflix releases that I saw during the week of their initial release, or at least close to it, because well, "new" movies come in multiple formats and access points these days. Which I'm in favor of, by the way!
As is becoming more usual, I saw a few of these on my own this time. I'm slowly getting over my weird hangups about not wanting to go to the theater by myself, and my viewing experience is shinier for it. Huzzah! Actually, going through this list is making me want to rewatch a lot of things, because there were SO many good ones.
Without further ado. . .
The Ritual (Netflix original)
The "Let's take this short cut through the woods!" idea has never worked out well for people in movies. I've seen this plot dozens of times. But there's a reason the lost-in-the-woods trope is so popular, and so effective. The woods, as a storytelling archetype, aren't scary because they're dark and mysterious and you can get lost there; they're scary because they can reveal the darkness and secrets inside ourselves. And that's what happens in The Ritual. It helps that the group of friends who get stuck there have a better motivation than, "Let's go camping!" which seems to dominate this genre. They're grieving for someone and processing that loss by doing something together that he would've enjoyed--hiking. It's emotionally-driven, and that goes a long way towards making it memorable.
Black Panther
Nobody needs me to tell them this movie is awesome. You know it, I know it, the Golden Globes and the Oscars know it--it is KNOWN. Black Panther ruled so hard it was still in theaters when Infinity War came out. (We'll get to Infinity War in a minute.) Hell, it's probably still playing somewhere right now. There's lots I could say about this movie, but what I remember most is getting out and saying, "Okay, M'baku is definitely my favorite character. No wait--Shuri is my favorite. NO wait--Okoye. NO WAIT!" I still cannot decide. Since, for me, the most important part of any fictional story is the characters, that's just one of the many things that made Black Panther an instant and resounding classic. I hope it wins every category it's nominated for.
The Cloverfield Paradox (Netflix original)
One of the things I love about the Cloverfield franchise is the way its marketing and point of view keep shifting. Every film has a different set of characters, all dealing with the same disaster, but from a different place and with different skill sets to handle things. This one stars Gugu M'batha-raw, and it's IN SPACE! It plays out more like a long-form episode of a sci-fi television series than a standalone movie, presuming there's some knowledge of what happened before in its audience, and that there will be more later. Maybe this is what made it so divisive among viewers. While 10 Cloverfield Lane still ranks as a favorite for me, I'm in for the long haul on this franchise.
Annihilation
Based on the first book in Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation is a visually lush, thematically unnerving, and bleak story about ~Weird Things~ happening in this slowly encroaching slice of the environment that may or may not have come from space. The movie has little in common with the books, at least not the two that I've read. However, I'm not terribly bothered by that for the simple reason that this story could easily take place in the same fictional universe. There were several expeditions into the Southern Reach (called "The Shimmer" in the movie), and not much is known about what happened to the others. So if you're a fan of the books, I recommend imagining Natalie Portman's team is a different team from the one followed by Vandermeer, unearthing different idiosyncracies about the Shimmer, and traveling to different locales inside it. The best thing about the film is Tessa Thompson's quietly disarming performance as Josie, but there's plenty to appreciate about this trippy phantasmagoria.
A Wrinkle In Time
I reread Madeleine L'Engle's novel two years ago when I found out this movie was happening. I believe it's a huge improvement over its source material, which could sometimes get a little dry and repetitive. My mom and I went to see this together, and we were both sobbing when Storm Reid's Meg finally reunites with her father (played by Chris Pine). This story lends itself well to a visual medium, since so many of the locations are so otherworldly and imaginative. That said, I think director Ava DuVernay's decision to reimagine some of the book's iconic moments, most notably Meg's confrontation with IT in the finale, is part of what made this version so special. I think it's destined to be immortalized alongside other children's classics like The Neverending Story and The Secret of NIMH.
A Quiet Place
(This was a big year for adaptations, good lord.) Based loosely on the novel The Silence by Tim Lebbon, this turned out to be the last film I reviewed for the now dead Belladonna Horror Magazine. May it rest in peace. Like A Wrinkle In Time, it's a vast improvement on the source material, which is scattered all over the place narratively, more in the journalistic style of Max Brooks' World War Z, which, for the record, I did not enjoy. I need characters to latch onto in order to care what happens to them, and A Quiet Place definitely has them. It's worth mentioning that although we're seeing more films with disabled characters, or with a particular subject like deafness or ASL as a focal point in the story, overwhelmingly these movies (see also: Hush and The Shape of Water) are still very clearly designed for a hearing audience. I still loved this movie. In my case, it was preceded by a kick-ass dream of monsters attacking the house and myself panicking until Emily Blunt showed up and yelled at me to either pick up a crossbow or get out of the way. I responded, "Yes ma'am!" and we took them out together. There's a plot bunny in there somewhere.
Avengers: Infinity War (SPOILERS in case you haven't seen it yet)
As one exceeding clever Twitter user put it: "Oh, snap!" Here's what I said about this monster back in May. I am still very much in my feelings over this one. I saw it twice, partly to see Mom's face when the final reel played, but partly because I wanted to revisit what the hell actually happened here. To say I was not prepared would be a massive understatement. I had a feeling that there would be some fallout, and that my favorite character, Loki, would probably be at the end of his redemption arc, and because he started as a villain there was only one way that could end. But I was not prepared to lose him in the very first scene. I was not prepared to hear his neck go *crunch.* I was not prepared to lose ALL OF MY OTHER FAVES by the finale. It made me angry, and heartbroken, and impressed, and I both appreciate and resent that about it. Not as much as I resent all the "Thanos was right!" thinkpieces that erupted in its wake, but that's par for the course for comic book movies these days, unfortunately. I still haven't watched the trailer for Endgame yet, because I just can't, but I have been feverishly working on a fix-it fic that I hope will be finished before the next movie comes out.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
In my introduction, I almost wrote that this was the first year since I started doing these wrap-up posts that I didn't have a Star War to talk about. But I did see a Star War this year! It was just weird because it was slap in the middle of summer instead of during the Winter holidays. I've been a fan of Alden Ehrenreich for years, and I thought he did a fantastic job embodying the young Han Solo: reckless, impulsive, somewhat ineffectual, but burdened with an abundance of heart. I really ought to do a retrospective on that guy sometime. Also loved Donald Glover as young Lando Calrissian. I would 100% read his memoirs, if anyone in the EU wants to do something with that. Was less thrilled with the way Thandie Newton's character was handled, and I didn't hate Emilia Clarke here, but she was kinda boring. Overall, I enjoyed Solo, but it probably says something about this movie that I clean forgot about it until I went down my list.
Hereditary
God, this movie. I'm not sure what to call this new sub-genre of horror movies that go to some exceedingly dark places and carve audience reactions up to splinters (see also: mother!, Suspiria), but I *like* it. This one in particular seemed to have an affect on its viewership where people are debating whether the demons in this story are "real" or metaphors for something, and in the latter case what those metaphors even are. I have my own ideas, which speak to my own fears and personal demons. So does one of my favorite YouTubers, Nyx Fears, so check out her take on it when you have the chance. I reviewed this one when it came out, but I haven't had the courage to rewatch it. (Yet.)
Sorry to Bother You
This is such a fabulously inventive acid trip of a movie. I could write reams of analysis about Detroit's earrings ALONE. Boots Riley's directorial debut deserves to be seen with as little background knowledge as you can get away with, although I attempted a spoiler-free review when I saw it. To put it as vaguely as possible, it's about a guy working at a call center (LaKeith Stanfield), and then things get ~Weird. The fact that it got as much buzz as it did, mostly on nebulous word of mouth that amounted to, "It's amazing, go watch it," is remarkable by itself, as is the way fans managed to keep so many of its jaw-dropping secrets under wraps to keep things fresh and mind-blowing for the next viewer. I feel like the phrase "instant cult classic" is thrown around a little generously nowadays, but this is one case where it definitely applies. In other words: it's amazing. Go watch it.
The Meg
Woo, Designated Summer Shark Movie! Every year has one, and this time I made the effort to see it in theaters. It's every bit as ridiculous as you think it is. There's a giant shark, there's a team of "experts" assigned to deal with the shark, there's a branch of military people also designated to deal with the shark, and a whole lotta red shirts. The biggest disappointment for us was that the shark didn't jump out of the water and take a bite out of the helicopter in one scene. If you can believe it, this is *also* based on a book: Meg by Steve Alten. Honestly, I was only here for Ruby Rose.
Tau (Netflix original)
Okay, so the most interesting part of this locked-in-the-house thriller about Maika Monroe being held prisoner by an evil rich guy with an AI murder-bot is also a huge spoiler, so unfortunately I can't get into it too much. I will say it went in a very different direction than I was expecting when I saw the trailer. That is, I was expecting an action-packed, high-tech thriller with a lot of sci-fi violence and an awesome lady protagonist getting herself out of trouble by being smarter and awesome-er than the evil rich guy keeping her captive, and that *is* kind of what happens, but it happened in a way that I have not seen in this genre before. It was really cool. But it is quite violent, so just be ready for that.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
I went into this movie not knowing much about it except it looked pretty, and would probably work as a take-the-fam-out-to-get-into-the-holiday-spirit movie. It certainly delivered on that front. Visually dazzling, gorgeous music from Tchaikovsky's ballet, and a few (too few!) intercut performances of dancer Misty Copeland at her most stunning. Despite deviating from the original story, it is somewhat predictable and simple. Your basic Chosen One narrative with a twist at the end. While I like the idea of Clara being a more active protagonist, transferring so much of the plot responsibility onto her gives the titular Nutcracker precious little to do. Where creative retellings of The Nutcracker are concerned, I'd recommend Leigh Bardugo's "Kerch, the Soldier Prince" (from the devastatingly beautiful The Language of Thorns) over this. Still, it's lovely and compelling and accessible enough to watch with a younger audience. And it has been FAR too long since I've seen Keira Knightley in a big-budget fantasy film.
Mary Poppins Returns
This one got in just under the wire--I took the fam out to see it this Saturday--so it's still very fresh in my mind. I was a touch skeptical going in, because I had heard mostly good things about it, but you never know how it's going to be when Disney is recycling its old properties. (They've been doing that a lot these days.) This is definitely one of the good ones. It is technically a sequel, as in it takes place about a generation after the original film with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, but it's very true to the spirit of that movie. It feels like the old, classic movie musicals of the 1950s and '60s, all spectacle and whimsy. I haven't seen anything like this in a very long time, and didn't even realize how much I'd missed it. There's a big theme of not forgetting the sense of magic and wonder you had as a child here, and using a lot of old film and animation techniques to get that idea across worked amazingly well. Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda were fabulous of course, and there are a couple of cameos that I won't spoil for you.
Overall, this was a really interesting year. Solidly entertaining the whole way through. I don't think there's a single thing I regret seeing in the theaters--and more than a few that are still on my list. So, goodbye 2018! I hope everyone else made it through in one piece, and that you got to at least see some good entertainment on the way through!
As usual, I'm recapping all the movies I saw in theaters in 2018. As a reminder, this is not a Top Ten, or a Rhoda's Faves list, but every single thing that I saw in theaters. I'm also including Netflix releases that I saw during the week of their initial release, or at least close to it, because well, "new" movies come in multiple formats and access points these days. Which I'm in favor of, by the way!
As is becoming more usual, I saw a few of these on my own this time. I'm slowly getting over my weird hangups about not wanting to go to the theater by myself, and my viewing experience is shinier for it. Huzzah! Actually, going through this list is making me want to rewatch a lot of things, because there were SO many good ones.
Without further ado. . .
The Ritual (Netflix original)
The "Let's take this short cut through the woods!" idea has never worked out well for people in movies. I've seen this plot dozens of times. But there's a reason the lost-in-the-woods trope is so popular, and so effective. The woods, as a storytelling archetype, aren't scary because they're dark and mysterious and you can get lost there; they're scary because they can reveal the darkness and secrets inside ourselves. And that's what happens in The Ritual. It helps that the group of friends who get stuck there have a better motivation than, "Let's go camping!" which seems to dominate this genre. They're grieving for someone and processing that loss by doing something together that he would've enjoyed--hiking. It's emotionally-driven, and that goes a long way towards making it memorable.
Black Panther
Nobody needs me to tell them this movie is awesome. You know it, I know it, the Golden Globes and the Oscars know it--it is KNOWN. Black Panther ruled so hard it was still in theaters when Infinity War came out. (We'll get to Infinity War in a minute.) Hell, it's probably still playing somewhere right now. There's lots I could say about this movie, but what I remember most is getting out and saying, "Okay, M'baku is definitely my favorite character. No wait--Shuri is my favorite. NO wait--Okoye. NO WAIT!" I still cannot decide. Since, for me, the most important part of any fictional story is the characters, that's just one of the many things that made Black Panther an instant and resounding classic. I hope it wins every category it's nominated for.
The Cloverfield Paradox (Netflix original)
One of the things I love about the Cloverfield franchise is the way its marketing and point of view keep shifting. Every film has a different set of characters, all dealing with the same disaster, but from a different place and with different skill sets to handle things. This one stars Gugu M'batha-raw, and it's IN SPACE! It plays out more like a long-form episode of a sci-fi television series than a standalone movie, presuming there's some knowledge of what happened before in its audience, and that there will be more later. Maybe this is what made it so divisive among viewers. While 10 Cloverfield Lane still ranks as a favorite for me, I'm in for the long haul on this franchise.
Annihilation
Based on the first book in Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation is a visually lush, thematically unnerving, and bleak story about ~Weird Things~ happening in this slowly encroaching slice of the environment that may or may not have come from space. The movie has little in common with the books, at least not the two that I've read. However, I'm not terribly bothered by that for the simple reason that this story could easily take place in the same fictional universe. There were several expeditions into the Southern Reach (called "The Shimmer" in the movie), and not much is known about what happened to the others. So if you're a fan of the books, I recommend imagining Natalie Portman's team is a different team from the one followed by Vandermeer, unearthing different idiosyncracies about the Shimmer, and traveling to different locales inside it. The best thing about the film is Tessa Thompson's quietly disarming performance as Josie, but there's plenty to appreciate about this trippy phantasmagoria.
A Wrinkle In Time
I reread Madeleine L'Engle's novel two years ago when I found out this movie was happening. I believe it's a huge improvement over its source material, which could sometimes get a little dry and repetitive. My mom and I went to see this together, and we were both sobbing when Storm Reid's Meg finally reunites with her father (played by Chris Pine). This story lends itself well to a visual medium, since so many of the locations are so otherworldly and imaginative. That said, I think director Ava DuVernay's decision to reimagine some of the book's iconic moments, most notably Meg's confrontation with IT in the finale, is part of what made this version so special. I think it's destined to be immortalized alongside other children's classics like The Neverending Story and The Secret of NIMH.
A Quiet Place
(This was a big year for adaptations, good lord.) Based loosely on the novel The Silence by Tim Lebbon, this turned out to be the last film I reviewed for the now dead Belladonna Horror Magazine. May it rest in peace. Like A Wrinkle In Time, it's a vast improvement on the source material, which is scattered all over the place narratively, more in the journalistic style of Max Brooks' World War Z, which, for the record, I did not enjoy. I need characters to latch onto in order to care what happens to them, and A Quiet Place definitely has them. It's worth mentioning that although we're seeing more films with disabled characters, or with a particular subject like deafness or ASL as a focal point in the story, overwhelmingly these movies (see also: Hush and The Shape of Water) are still very clearly designed for a hearing audience. I still loved this movie. In my case, it was preceded by a kick-ass dream of monsters attacking the house and myself panicking until Emily Blunt showed up and yelled at me to either pick up a crossbow or get out of the way. I responded, "Yes ma'am!" and we took them out together. There's a plot bunny in there somewhere.
Avengers: Infinity War (SPOILERS in case you haven't seen it yet)
As one exceeding clever Twitter user put it: "Oh, snap!" Here's what I said about this monster back in May. I am still very much in my feelings over this one. I saw it twice, partly to see Mom's face when the final reel played, but partly because I wanted to revisit what the hell actually happened here. To say I was not prepared would be a massive understatement. I had a feeling that there would be some fallout, and that my favorite character, Loki, would probably be at the end of his redemption arc, and because he started as a villain there was only one way that could end. But I was not prepared to lose him in the very first scene. I was not prepared to hear his neck go *crunch.* I was not prepared to lose ALL OF MY OTHER FAVES by the finale. It made me angry, and heartbroken, and impressed, and I both appreciate and resent that about it. Not as much as I resent all the "Thanos was right!" thinkpieces that erupted in its wake, but that's par for the course for comic book movies these days, unfortunately. I still haven't watched the trailer for Endgame yet, because I just can't, but I have been feverishly working on a fix-it fic that I hope will be finished before the next movie comes out.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
In my introduction, I almost wrote that this was the first year since I started doing these wrap-up posts that I didn't have a Star War to talk about. But I did see a Star War this year! It was just weird because it was slap in the middle of summer instead of during the Winter holidays. I've been a fan of Alden Ehrenreich for years, and I thought he did a fantastic job embodying the young Han Solo: reckless, impulsive, somewhat ineffectual, but burdened with an abundance of heart. I really ought to do a retrospective on that guy sometime. Also loved Donald Glover as young Lando Calrissian. I would 100% read his memoirs, if anyone in the EU wants to do something with that. Was less thrilled with the way Thandie Newton's character was handled, and I didn't hate Emilia Clarke here, but she was kinda boring. Overall, I enjoyed Solo, but it probably says something about this movie that I clean forgot about it until I went down my list.
Hereditary
God, this movie. I'm not sure what to call this new sub-genre of horror movies that go to some exceedingly dark places and carve audience reactions up to splinters (see also: mother!, Suspiria), but I *like* it. This one in particular seemed to have an affect on its viewership where people are debating whether the demons in this story are "real" or metaphors for something, and in the latter case what those metaphors even are. I have my own ideas, which speak to my own fears and personal demons. So does one of my favorite YouTubers, Nyx Fears, so check out her take on it when you have the chance. I reviewed this one when it came out, but I haven't had the courage to rewatch it. (Yet.)
Sorry to Bother You
This is such a fabulously inventive acid trip of a movie. I could write reams of analysis about Detroit's earrings ALONE. Boots Riley's directorial debut deserves to be seen with as little background knowledge as you can get away with, although I attempted a spoiler-free review when I saw it. To put it as vaguely as possible, it's about a guy working at a call center (LaKeith Stanfield), and then things get ~Weird. The fact that it got as much buzz as it did, mostly on nebulous word of mouth that amounted to, "It's amazing, go watch it," is remarkable by itself, as is the way fans managed to keep so many of its jaw-dropping secrets under wraps to keep things fresh and mind-blowing for the next viewer. I feel like the phrase "instant cult classic" is thrown around a little generously nowadays, but this is one case where it definitely applies. In other words: it's amazing. Go watch it.
The Meg
Woo, Designated Summer Shark Movie! Every year has one, and this time I made the effort to see it in theaters. It's every bit as ridiculous as you think it is. There's a giant shark, there's a team of "experts" assigned to deal with the shark, there's a branch of military people also designated to deal with the shark, and a whole lotta red shirts. The biggest disappointment for us was that the shark didn't jump out of the water and take a bite out of the helicopter in one scene. If you can believe it, this is *also* based on a book: Meg by Steve Alten. Honestly, I was only here for Ruby Rose.
Tau (Netflix original)
Okay, so the most interesting part of this locked-in-the-house thriller about Maika Monroe being held prisoner by an evil rich guy with an AI murder-bot is also a huge spoiler, so unfortunately I can't get into it too much. I will say it went in a very different direction than I was expecting when I saw the trailer. That is, I was expecting an action-packed, high-tech thriller with a lot of sci-fi violence and an awesome lady protagonist getting herself out of trouble by being smarter and awesome-er than the evil rich guy keeping her captive, and that *is* kind of what happens, but it happened in a way that I have not seen in this genre before. It was really cool. But it is quite violent, so just be ready for that.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
I went into this movie not knowing much about it except it looked pretty, and would probably work as a take-the-fam-out-to-get-into-the-holiday-spirit movie. It certainly delivered on that front. Visually dazzling, gorgeous music from Tchaikovsky's ballet, and a few (too few!) intercut performances of dancer Misty Copeland at her most stunning. Despite deviating from the original story, it is somewhat predictable and simple. Your basic Chosen One narrative with a twist at the end. While I like the idea of Clara being a more active protagonist, transferring so much of the plot responsibility onto her gives the titular Nutcracker precious little to do. Where creative retellings of The Nutcracker are concerned, I'd recommend Leigh Bardugo's "Kerch, the Soldier Prince" (from the devastatingly beautiful The Language of Thorns) over this. Still, it's lovely and compelling and accessible enough to watch with a younger audience. And it has been FAR too long since I've seen Keira Knightley in a big-budget fantasy film.
Mary Poppins Returns
This one got in just under the wire--I took the fam out to see it this Saturday--so it's still very fresh in my mind. I was a touch skeptical going in, because I had heard mostly good things about it, but you never know how it's going to be when Disney is recycling its old properties. (They've been doing that a lot these days.) This is definitely one of the good ones. It is technically a sequel, as in it takes place about a generation after the original film with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, but it's very true to the spirit of that movie. It feels like the old, classic movie musicals of the 1950s and '60s, all spectacle and whimsy. I haven't seen anything like this in a very long time, and didn't even realize how much I'd missed it. There's a big theme of not forgetting the sense of magic and wonder you had as a child here, and using a lot of old film and animation techniques to get that idea across worked amazingly well. Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda were fabulous of course, and there are a couple of cameos that I won't spoil for you.
Overall, this was a really interesting year. Solidly entertaining the whole way through. I don't think there's a single thing I regret seeing in the theaters--and more than a few that are still on my list. So, goodbye 2018! I hope everyone else made it through in one piece, and that you got to at least see some good entertainment on the way through!
no subject
Date: 2019-01-03 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 02:08 am (UTC)OH! But also Bad Times At the El Royale JUST came in at the library, which is one of the ones I wanted to catch up on, so I'm excited!
no subject
Date: 2019-01-06 05:26 am (UTC)Oh my gosh, that's another movie to add to The List. (Mostly for Hemsworth, I will shamelessly admit.)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-07 03:09 am (UTC)