2018 Movies — The Best, The Worth Its, The Most Fun, and The Worst

This year I consumed 81 movies (full list below). That equates to approximately 162 hours, or 6.75 days, or 1 week, or 2% of my year, or 0.02% of my life. That’s right, I devoted 0.02% of my life to movies and it now culminates into this list — the BEST, the WORTH IT, the MOST FUN, and the WORST!

BEST

I define BEST as a movie that not only entertains with a solid story, but also makes you feel something. A movie that leaves you with something, and not quickly forgotten.

• The Promise — This one took me completely by surprise. Starring Christian Bale and Oscar Issac, this is a period piece during WW1 and looked to be a complete snooze. In fact, I had it ready to watch for month and was just waiting to run out of everything else to do on a plane. But after watching, it really resonated and almost got a single tear drop. Almost.
• Juliet, Naked — Starring Ethan Hawke and Rose Byrne, this little indie made me feel artsy and question my own relationships. I guess that’s a good thing?
• The Hero — Starring the voice of Sam Elliot, it’s a story of not giving up and second chances.
• Searching — All I can say is thankfully I don’t have a teenage daughter in this age of social media. Starring John Cho, i.e. Sulu, i.e. Harold.
• Black Panther & Crazy Rich Asians — Best part of these two movies is because of their large cast focusing primarily on a single race, they were able to have a lot more variety of personality, besides the stock black or asian character.

WORTH IT

I define WORTH IT as a movie that probably didn’t make the most money or get great reviews, but in my book, really hit the mark with what it was going for or delivered a refreshing surprise.

• What Happened to Monday (Netflix) — Man I love me some Willem Dafoe. In this movie, Noomi Rapace plays 7 characters, named for each day of the week. Great acting, great twists.
• Chasing Dragons — Starring two of the biggest Asian actors, Donnie Yen (Ip Man) and Andy Lau (Inferno Affairs), great crime drama that tests the limits of friendship.
• Death of Superman (DC Animated) — Could this story be told any more?! Yet, this movie somehow does a great job of making it feel original and, even, emotional.
• When We First Met (Netflix) — I’m not a fan of Adam Devine (Workaholics) but this rom-com was surprisingly original and had me along for the whole ride.
• Cloverfield Paradox (Netflix)- Alright, alright, calm down! Most people did not like this movie but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Who cares if it’s connected the the Cloverfield universe. As a standalone movie, it was fun with good acting and high quality.

MOST FUN

This category was tough to distinguish from the BEST category. Ultimately I enjoyed these movies immensely… yet it didn’t change my life.

• Mission Impossible Fallout — Tom Cruise running, ‘nuff said.
• Braven — Jason Momoa gives us a cookie-cutter bad-guys-threaten-his-family and he has to kickass. Very satisfying.
• Avengers Infinity War — You knew it would make my list. Despite so much expectation, the movie delivers. That alone makes it worthy.
• A Simple Favor — Blake Lively and Anna Kenrick gives us this… I don’t know what to make of it! Thriller, comedy, suspense? Who cares, it was fun.
• Outlaw King (Netflix) — Although it’s not connected to Braveheart, I considered this movie the follow-up to that as it continues where William Wallace left off. Chris Pine did a decent job without distracting me with his Scottish accent.

WORST

I define WORST as not only because they are practically unwatchable, but also because it could’ve/should’ve been good given the premise or star power.

• Mute (Netflix) — With Bladerunner aesthetics and starring Alexander Skarsgård and Paul Rudd, I really wanted to like this movie. Yet, it was just a meandering mess of a movie.
• Titan (Netflix) — I became a fan of Sam Worthington after Terminator Salvation, Avatar, and Clash of the Titans… but then everything else from him has been bad. This movie spends one hour with the setup when it should’ve been only 10 minutes max.
• Fahrenheit 451 (HBO) — I thought you couldn’t go wrong with two Michaels (Shannon and B. Jordan) and a classic story, yet it became dull very quickly.
• Ocean’s 8 — Not much beyond the gimmick, despite the star power.
• Downsizing — I should’ve believed the RottenTomato scores. And now I have to live with that regret.
• Roma — Hailed as a beautifully B&W shot movie focusing on the hardships of a Mexican maid and critically acclaimed, this movie is definitely for the high-brow art critics. I’ll stick with my Fast & Furious movies.

Complete List of Movies I Watched (sequential)

Cloverfield Paradox

Hostiles

Shape of Water

Foreigner

What Happened to Monday (Netflix)

Black Panther

The Hero — Starring San Elliott

How We First Met (Netflix)

Annihilation

I, Tonya

Mute (Netflix) — oh so terrible

Tomb Raider

Pacific Rim Uprising

Titan (Netflix) — terrible

Orbiter 9 (Netflix) — what a great premise

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Red Sparrow

Jungle — Daniel Radcliffe

Chasing Dragons

Rampage

Florida Project

Avengers Infinity War

Anon

Killing of the Sacred Deer

Quiet Place

Fahrenheit 451 (HBO)

Ocean’s 8

Incredibles 2

Tag

Lady Bird

Jurassic Park Fallen Kingdom

Braven — Great movie!

Ant Man and the Wasp

Blockers

Gook

Battle of the Sexes

How It Ends (Netflix) — Another great premise and boring execution

Skyscraper

Extinction (Netflix) — Another great twist and it barely manages to execute it properly.

Mission Impossible Fallout — Awesome throwback to the first MI movie!

Equalizer 2 — The first one was bad, this was almost worse.

Tully

Borg vs. McEnroe

Crazy Rich Asians

Mile 22

Bleach (Netflix)

The Tale

Death of Superman

Disobedience

Juliet, Naked — Fantastic movie by Ethan Hawke, despite him poo-poo’ing superhero movies

Woman Walks Behind

Blackkklansman

White Boy Rick

Searching

Pitch Perfect 3 — The acapella segments aren’t good enough.

King Lear (Amazon)

Fahrenheit 11/9

A Simple Favor

Mountain (documentary) — Beautiful and stunning

Hold the Dark (Netflix)

First Man

Venom

House with the Clocks in the Wall

A Star is Born

Mid90’s

Girl in the Spider’s Web

Outlaw King (Netflix)

Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald

Downsizing

First Reform

The Promise

Widows

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix, Coen Brothers)

Creed II

Mowgli (Netflix)

Mortal Engines

Roma (Netflix)

Damsel

Bumblebee

Sorry to Bother You

Aquaman