Top 10 Movies of 2018

People of the Face: The Academy sucks: Here is my ranking of the top 10 movies from 2018 I saw so far that I would recommend: 

1. Roma
2. Sorry To Bother You
3. Ballad of Buster Scruggs
4. Annihilation
5. Death of Stalin
6. Widows
7. The Favourite
8. Blackkklansman
9. If Beale Street Could Talk
10. First Reformed 

I still want to see: Burning, Hale County, Shoplifters, Vice, Paddington 2

Other movies that were good but flawed: Black Panther, Other Side of the Wind, First Man

Movies I will never, ever see: Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Mary Queen of Poppins 2: The Revenge

UPDATED Ranking of Coen Brother's Movies

My UPDATED list of Coen Brother's movies ranked as of this moment:

1. Miller's Crossing
2. Fargo
3. Raising Arizona 
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Barton Fink
6. A Serious Man
7. The Hudsucker Proxy
8. The Big Lebowski
9. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
10. Hail Caesar!
11. Blood Simple 
12. True Grit
13. O Brother Where Art Thou 
14. No Country For Old Men 
15. The Man Who Wasn't There
16. Burn After Reading

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17. Intolerable Cruelty*
18. Ladykillers*

*I've only seen the bottom two once, years ago

Top 10 Movies of the 2010s

In honor of the late Sam Ike, here’s the undisputed Top 10 movies of the 2010s (that I saw), the 10 next, and some honorable mentions. If a movie is on this list that means I thought it was great, something that really struck me as different or new, left me thinking about it for days after, or was just really friggin entertaining. If it’s not on this list, that means I either forgot it or it wasn’t great; hard to tell, really

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Paterson
3. Mother!
4. Florida Project
5. Get Out
6. Margaret
7. Moonlight
8. Killing of a Sacred Deer
9. Inherent Vice
10. Ida

The Next 10: Annihilation!, Boyhood, Edge of Tomorrow, I am not Your Negro, Manchester by the Sea, The Master, Melancholia, Parasite, Roma, Stories We Tell

Honourable Mentions: A Marriage Story, Before Midnight, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Cold War, Death of Stalin, Dogtooth, Ex Machina, The Favourite, First Reformed, Go For Sisters, Grand Budapest Hotel, Her, If Beale Street Could Talk, Inception, The Irishman, The Lobster, Mad Max: Fury Road, Midsommar, OJ Made in America (not really a movie, if it was it would be in my top 10), Phantom Thread, Sorry to Bother You, Into the Spiderverse, The Trip, True Grit, Twin Peaks - The Return (also not really a movie) Under the Skin, Us, Winter’s Bone, Widows

UNDISPUTED Ranking of Star Wars Films

People of the Internet: I just saw the hopefully last (but probably not) Star Wars. It's a perfectly fine popcorn movie, a decent sequel to the first new star wars rehash, but completely contemptuous of the improvements in the narrative the Last Jedi attempted. The lack of ambition in these corporate Disneyfied sequels is depressing. Instead of exploring the complex world Lucas built, JJ Abarms chose to simply recycle all the same storylines and villians from the original series. More Death Stars! More Empires and Emperors and dudes that look like Darth Vader! More Skywalkers! Carrie Fisher is dead? Too bad, lets exhume her edited syllable by syllable for a "performance" almost as distracting as CGI Leia. Abrams also completely dropped the ball on the few interesting changes from the first new movie: what if a stormtrooper escaped, what would that character be like? Finn ended up as a complete bore, not to mention his super close relationship with Rose was completely ignored (apparently because it made the Star Wars man-children angry) so they gave him an unnecessary new girlfriend who rides horses in space. To be fair, 10 year old me would've loved it, but that kid is dead.

In sum, the only good new movie was still Rogue One. Here's my FINAL ranking of Star Wars movies:

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Rogue One
4. The Last Jedi
5. Revenge of the Jedi

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Equally good/bad: JJ Abrams Star Wars: The Rehash Vols 1 & 2

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Just bad: Prequel Star Wars: We discovered CGI but not human dialogue Vols 1-3 ( But the Darth Maul light sabre fight is amazing)

Definitive List of Best Movies I Saw from 2019

People of the Face: Hey, I don't want to think about politics today, so here's a top ten list of movies I saw in the 2019 season. It was a great year for cinema.

1. Parasite - Not much more to say about this. The only movie I can think of in the last 10 years that deserved all the Oscars. Peak Hitchcock while going for something deeper.
2. A Marriage Story - Great directing + great acting + human story = Great movie. Heartbreaking without feeling manipulative.
3. Last Black Man in SF - Surreal, unique vision of a complicated story of gentrification that still makes you want to move to San Francisco
4. Portrait of a Lady on FI-RRRREEEUH! I can't remember a better filmed love story in the past decade. From the great opening scene there's a forward momentum that sucks you into the narrative and pulls you through without a wasted scene. The director does a brilliant job of making you feel the growing attraction of the two leads and showing the obstacles they face both in their relationship and daily life as two 18th century women without unnecessary exposition. In fact, there's so little dialogue that you almost don't need the subtitles. The camerawork in this film is about as perfect as can be.
5. Little Women - A great twist on a story told many times before, but never as well as Gerwig did here. Love the Adaptation ending. Florence Pugh /Saoirse Ronan for president
6. Uncut Gems - Butt still clenched
7. Knives Out - Destined to be one of those classics they show on TV ad infinitim. Even better than the movies it was riffing on like Murder on the Orient Express and Sleuth. Jamie Lee Curtis for Secretary of Defense
8. Us - Scary as hell, funny, ambitious, disturbing, might've been ranked higher if I hadn't seen it so long ago.
9. Midsommar - Even if I told you every shocking thing that happens in this movie ahead of time, you'd still be shocked. Some things in this movie hit a little too close to home for me (ritual murder)
10. Rolling Thunder Revue - The musical performances in this alone are worth the price of admission. Compelling evidence that Bob Dylan was a powerhouse performer. Strong Patty Smith and Joanie Mitchell scenes. Bonus: lots of early 70's man on the street Massholes
11. High Flying Bird - A smart, fast-paced, well-written movie centered on the racial politics of sport. Soderbergh shot it with an iphone, but he didn't skimp on cinematography

Honorable mentions: Apollo 11, The Lighthouse, Atlantiques, The Irishman

Not bad/worth seeing: The Dead Don't Die, Jojo Rabbit, 1917, Ad Astra, The Farewell, Hustlers