The Best Movies Of 2018 So Far
In surveying all that 2018 has given and taken from us
so far, at least one patch of blue sky hangs overhead: It has been a
dynamite year for movies.
This list of the best includes every genre and mode of
filmmaking. It has blockbusters, a rollicking comedy, a documentary, an
avant-garde race satire, a few horror and sci-fi thrill rides,
melancholy indies and lots of horses. (Truly. So many horses!)
July is as good a time as any to take stock of the must-see gems
that have graced our screens, a few of which could still have legs come
Oscar season. If American life is as alarming in the second half of the
year as it was in the first, at least we have these respites to help us
escape the horrific headlines.
Spanning January through the first week of July, these are my favorite movies so far.
15 "Blockers"
Which of 2018's tomfoolery-riddled comedies is right
for you? You could pick "Game Night," "I Feel Pretty," "Life of the
Party," "Overboard" or "Tag," but you'd be wrong. The answer is
"Blockers," Kay Cannon's well-calibrated lark about three parents trying
to stop their college-bound teenagers from losing their virginity on
prom night. No lengths are too extreme, including butt-chugging beer.
It's what Vin Diesel would do, right?
14 "Tully"
It makes all too much sense that 2018 is loaded with
movies about depression. "You Were Never Really Here" and "First
Reformed" offered stylized sprees through the minds of a hit man and a
reverend, respectively, while "Tully" gives us a fatigued mother longing
for youth's insouciance. It's the second collaboration (after "Young
Adult") involving actress Charlize Theron, director Jason Reitman and
writer Diablo Cody, a triumvirate whose sharp-edged humor and graceful
melancholy underscore stories so abundant they feel like little morsels
of honesty.
13 "Black Panther"
Marvel and DC aren't always known for prizing their
directors' visions, but the former let Ryan Coogler's acumen blaze all
over "Black Panther," easily the superhero factory's politically
thorniest and aesthetically richest outing yet. There's no such thing as
unquestioned heroism in Wakanda, an African land that has isolated
itself from the world to create an ostensible utopia. Chadwick Boseman
and Michael B. Jordan make excellent figureheads for the first black
cast to headline a comic-book spectacle, and "Black Panther" earns its
rightful place as 2018's biggest cultural phenomenon. Good things are
still possible!
12 "Where Is Kyra?"
With Michelle Pfeiffer's first lead role in almost a
decade, "Where Is Kyra?" proves we can't let her go so long without
another. Pfeiffer plays an unemployed Brooklynite who cashes her late
mother's pension checks as her age keeps her from one job after another.
To see an actress so poised and beautiful disappear behind a drama that
steals her famed dignity is astonishing. The final shot rests on her
lonely face, reminding us that Pfeiffer has long satisfied Hollywood's
need for someone who exists in the delicate space between ingenue and
sage. She'll get more attention this year for "Ant-Man and the Wasp,"
but it's "Where Is Kyra?" that plays to her strengths.
11 "A Quiet Place"
By a small miracle, "A Quiet Place" marched loudly into
the cultural zeitgeist in a way that few nonfranchise flicks manage
these days. It solidified John Krasinski as a bona fide director — his
previous efforts, 2009's "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" and 2016's
"The Hollars," didn't help his case — and duped the world into savoring a
nearly silent film co-starring his wife (Emily Blunt, masterly). You
can prod the plot holes in "A Quiet Place," but why do that when the
whole is so much greater than its parts? This tense, apocalyptic
thriller about an isolated family evading monsters turns into a
meditation on parenting, living on the margins and being muzzled by
forces greater than yourself.
10 "Hereditary"
See "Hereditary" twice. Or maybe three times, if you
can stomach its tension for that long. Ari Aster's family drama turns
into a horror fantasia that borrows the genre's art-house stylings
before turning into a blissfully traditional mystic thriller. Along the
way, Aster plants clues that congeal using what he calls "nightmare
logic." But we should all be so lucky to awaken from a nightmare that
features a career-defining Toni Collette running about in a duster to
figure out what the hell is going on with her imploding home life.
9 "The Rider"
"The Rider" is the first of three horse movies on this
list. It's the smallest of the bunch, which should by no means be a
deterrent. Director Chloé Zhao cast nonprofessional actors to portray
barren heartlanders whose lives revolve around the rodeo. The lead,
Brady Jandreau, plays a version of himself, suffering a vital injury and
processing what it means for his already confined future. Zhao's
minimalistic elegance peeks at an unadorned corner of the country where
an open field is the only thing a person needs to find fulfillment.
8 "Thoroughbreds"
The most delicious of the horse movies is
"Thoroughbreds," a sleek psychodrama about two suburban teen girls (Anya
Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke) who hatch a murderous scheme to distract
from their troubled affluence. The comedy bites and the horror cuts in
Cory Finley's directorial debut, best described as "Heathers" meets
"Persona."
7 "Leave No Trace"
Debra Granik makes some of Hollywood's most homespun
movies, embedding herself in underrepresented locales to tell stories
about forgotten American communities. Her previous feature, "Winter's
Bone," tracks the meth trade in the impoverished Ozarks. In "Leave No
Trace," she turns her attention to the Pacific Northwest, where a
PTSD-stricken veteran (Ben Foster) and his daughter (promising newcomer
Thomasin McKenzie) elect to live off the grid. Granik reveals their
circumstances with a slow drip, letting us soak in the nature
surrounding the duo as we grasp the complexities of their kinship. By
the time we do, our hearts are ripped open on their behalf.
6 "Three Identical Strangers"
The allure of "Three Identical Strangers" is obvious.
Who wouldn't take to a shadowy, shocking documentary about triplets
separated at birth under mysterious circumstances? But the film's real
achievement lies in its adept storytelling. British documentarian Tim
Wardle weaves together a byzantine human-interest saga involving a
sketchy adoption agency, science's everlasting nature-versus-nurture
debate and the very essence of family psychology. Amid its relentless
twists, the movie's most surprising revelation is just how emotionally
invested you'll be in its stranger-than-fiction proceedings.
5 "Paddington 2"
No movie this year is as lovely as "Paddington 2," the
rare caper that doesn't let adrenaline get in the way of its heart. With
or without our political miasma, there's a lot to be said for the power
of watching nice people (and bears) do nice things — but Paul King's
sequel goes one step further. Its intricate plot and ornate sight gags
(Paddington gets thrown in jail, and it's too delightful) disguise a
humanistic dramedy as an antics-clad blockbuster. No superheroes needed.
4 "Lean on Pete"
The best of the horse movies is "Lean on Pete," an
exceptionally sad (that's a good thing!) travelogue about an orphan (the
miraculous Charlie Plummer) seeking solace with his equestrian
companion. No writer-director working today is better at capturing the
gray areas of relationships than Andrew Haigh, who has hit consistent
home runs with "Weekend," "45 Years" and HBO's "Looking." Here, he
trains his gifts on a coming-of-age tale that evokes "The 400 Blows" and
"Boyhood" with a tender resolve often reserved for female protagonists.
It's a wonder.
3 "Annihiliation"
Paramount Pictures botched the release of
"Annihilation," worried the movie was too cerebral and angry that
director Alex Garland wouldn't re-edit it based on studio executives'
notes. As a result, a film that should have sailed to $100 million
stalled at less than half that. But Garland, who made a name for himself
with "Ex Machina" in 2015, knew what he was doing in adapting Jeff
VanderMeer's trippy book about female scientists exploring the Shimmer,
an enigmatic threshold where species meld, alien doppelgangers appear
and a Kubrickian phantasmagoria unfolds. Man up, Paramount.
2 "The Tale"
"The Tale" designs one of the richest narratives we'll
see on-screen this year. Its director, documentarian Jennifer Fox,
dramatizes a critical chapter of her life with a cross-stitched story in
which her adult self (portrayed by Laura Dern) and her teenage self
(Isabelle Nélisse) interact. Together, they process a sexually abusive
episode that Fox experienced at age 13, creating a lyrical kaleidoscope
that drifts from the recesses of their memories. It's at once searing
and revitalizing — and you don't even have to leave your house to
witness it. HBO bought "The Tale" at Sundance, providing an apt home for
this difficult but beautiful memoir.
1 "Sorry to Bother You"
Nestled in a nondescript Oakland telemarketing agency
is — what else? — a dystopian corporate labyrinth where the best
salespeople ascend to absurdist depths. They can sell their souls, sort
of, for boatloads of cash, rails of cocaine and a host of oddities best
left unmentioned. Will Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield), who has been
taught to use his "white voice" to succeed, take his scummy boss' (Armie
Hammer) bait? Not if his activist girlfriend (Tessa Thompson) and her
statement earrings have anything to say about it.
"Sorry to
Bother You" is a satire about race, class, bureaucracy, capitalism, art
and social mores, filtered through the avant-garde lens of Boots Riley,
who turns the so-called American dream into a punchline. The rapper is
making his directorial debut with a film so bold and enterprising it's
like discovering Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman through "Being John
Malkovich." This is the funhouse spin on a reality that is neither just
nor logical — the perfect chaser for the Fourth of July.
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