My Top Ten Favourite Movies 2018

1. The Shape Of Water

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

3. Phantom Thread

4. A Quiet Place

5. Thoroughbreds

6. Leave No Trace

7. In The Fade

8. Cold War

9. Widows

10. Wildlife

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Movie of the Month: August 2018

I have been a little selective with my movie going this month, I could have seen a lot more.  On the whole I chose well with three fantastic films that will be in contention for my year end top ten.  A couple of really solid and enjoyable films.  One disappointing but still not bad sequel.  The weakest film was the one I expected least from, the latest YA dystopian yarn, that provides further proof that the genre ran out of ideas a long time ago.  Here are the contenders:

Ant-Man and the Wasp – Lighter and more comedic than the rest of the MCU, Ant man is never going to be the best of the franchise but it is always fun.  Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are both excellent in their own right, but have little to no chemistry together.  Walton Goggins is as great as ever, but seems to be in a different movie to everyone else.  Michelle Pfeiffer is underused.  Michael Peña offers his usual comic relief.  Rising star, Hannah John-Kamen provides an interesting and compelling antagonist. 

Pandora’s Box – Seminal Louise Brooks movie, the masterpiece of director G W Pabst.  Screened thanks to the BFI in what they call a “New 2K DCP of the 2009 restoration of Munich Film Museum’s definitive cut, with score by Peer Raben”.  Telling of the rise and fall of desirable and seductive but naive young dancer Lulu (Brooks).  It still stands up as a mesmerising film nearly 90 years on with simple modern storytelling, you soon forget you are watching a silent film and just appreciate it as a film. 

The Equalizer 2 – Denzel Washington’s first ever sequel see’s him returning as Robert McCall, the character inspired by the 1980’s Edward Woodward TV show.  The set pieces are all excellent, but the story that links them is disjointed and inconsistent.  Not as good as the first film, but not without enjoyable moments. 

In The Fade – If you exclude Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, this is Diane Kruger’s first German-language film.  I went into it having read a synopsis and heard a brief review; this is too much information, as it gave me an impression of what to expect, a false impression. A stunning film largely thanks to Diane Kruger amazing performance.

A Prayer Before Dawn – The true story of Billy Moore based on his book A Prayer Before Dawn: A Nightmare in Thailand; a British boxer who finds himself in a brutal prison in Thailand. Much of the dialogue is in Thai without subtitles leaving the audience only understanding as much as Billy, a disconcerting but effective choice.  Often hard to watch, it is an unforgettable film that will haunt your mind for days after seeing it, Joe Cole, best known for Peaky Blinders is exceptional.  

Unfriended: Dark Web – A sequel to Unfriended (2014) dips its toe into the burky world of the dark web.  As before, all the action takes place on a computer screen.  Effective but unoriginal horror. An interesting idea, I understand there are two different endings. 

The Darkest Minds – The latest in endless stream of YA dystopian future set movies.  Totally derivative of everything that has gone before particularly Divergent and the Maze Runner.  Amandla Stenberg (who was in the first Hunger Games movie when she was 13) makes a likeable lead. 

BlacKkKlansman – Spike Lee is back on form with the true story of a African-American policeman who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970’s.  John David Washington has all the charisma of his famous farther and is well supported by the always excellent Adam Driver.  Lee’s attempt to juxtapose the narrative with recent events isn’t subtle, but it is extremely effective. 

The Children Act – This is the second film the year with a screenplay from Ian McEwan based on on his own book.  Despite excellent performances the inner monologue of On Chesil Beach failed to translate to the screen.  The Children Act centres around Emma Thompson as a family court judge forced to make life changing decisions for other people while seemingly oblivious to the crumbing state of her own marriage.  Thompson is outstanding in the lead elevating the film way above what it could have been, she works best when playing against Stanley Tucci as her husband, who is also brilliant in a smaller supporting role.

I don’t include re-releases in contention for movie of the month, that rules out Pandora’s Box leaving a straight fight between: In The Fade, A Prayer Before Dawn, and BlacKkKlansman.  As well as being the best films of the month, they are also the hardest hitting and most memorable, films that you will still be thinking about days or weeks later.  The movie of the month is:

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