10 Best Films 2018 – The Editor’s Selections
2018 has well and truly been a phenomenal year for film. We have seen returns for great directors like Lynne Ramsay and Spike Lee, fine films by many of the game’s other big names including Alfonso Cuarón, Steve McQueen and Damien Chazelle, comic book movies progress even further in terms of quality, and we’ve even seen somewhat of a renaissance for rom-coms.
From abroad, the likes of Roma, Shoplifters, Dogman and Cold War have proven to popular, while documentaries like Free Solo have earned larger audiences than in recent years on the back of overwhelmingly positive reviews. Even the streaming services are getting involved, with Netflix leading the way regarding high quality exclusives for the year and truly placing themselves in the conversation for the upcoming North American and Western European awards season.
For this article, I’ve collated my thoughts on all 63 feature-length releases I’ve seen in 2018 and decided upon a final Top 10 that I’ll be offering to you today.
Please note: I’m taking under consideration only the films that have been released in the UK in 2018 (whether that be in cinemas or via streaming services), so many of this year’s hotly anticipated Oscar contenders – Green Book, Beautiful Boy, etc. – will be absent from this list as they have yet to come out. As such, some 2017 North American releases will also be a part of this list despite being a part of last Oscar season.
10. Hereditary
Simply one of the most satisfying start-to-finish journeys in all of cinema in 2018, Ari Aster’s supernatural horror Hereditary was like a tidal wave of tension wrapped in layered, well informed metaphor.
On screen, Toni Collette offered one of the performances of the year, while visually the film was different and beautiful in equal measure, the tragic centre of the piece and presentations of misinformation working to leave us feeling unbalanced and on edge at all times. It made for a truly chilling experience filled with twists and turns that only become more rich with every watch.
Recommended for you: 50 Unmissable Horror Movies
9. Widows
The atmospheric savagery of American capitalism was the heart and soul of Steve McQueen’s latest gorgeously photographed piece of cinematic excellence, Widows.
A heist movie that had the same tension and never-subsiding pace of the likes of Heat and The Dark Knight, McQueen’s movie was like its most prominently used song “wild is the wind” come to life, the undertone of the entire story being one of desperation and tragedy. In tackling a more popular and less critically beloved genre such as the heist movie, the impact of Widows may have lessened in comparison to some of McQueen’s other releases, but it remains must watch cinema from one of the very best.
