Those end-of-year best-movies-of lists
Decades ago—before videos, before Netflix, before all the myriad alternative ways to see movies—I used to go out to movie theaters quite a bit and I ended up seeing all the big movies every year and many of the smaller ones as well. But I never was what you’d call a movie buff, although I had my favorites and enthusiasms. And as a child I adored certain old movies on TV, what we now might call the classics.
But somewhere along the line I stopped going to the movies much if at all, although I still kept up with the big ones through rentals and/or streaming. But I found myself liking fewer and fewer of them, and at this point it’s extremely rare for me to want to see them at all.
No doubt this is just another sign of my getting older or maybe even Getting Old.
So I care very very little about those lists that appear at the end of every year—this person or that person’s list of the very best must-see movies of the year. But I thought I’d look at one anyway, and the list I chose (rather arbitrarily) was this at Vox. Turns out I’ve not only not seen any of the movies on the list, I’ve never even heard of any of them.
Perhaps I shouldn’t admit that; it makes me seem even more out of it than I’d realized. It’s quite possible, too, that if I saw some of them I’d actually like them. But in recent years I’ve so often gone to highly-recommended and reviewed films and been either unimpressed or downright bored and/or annoyed that I’ve gotten out of the habit of trusting reviews at all.
That’s where you come in, dear readers. Seen any good films lately? Maybe I’ll even watch one, if you make a good case for it.
the spider-verse movie was spectacular and definitely worth the price of admission!
I’m a movie guy and I haven’t heard of any of them. Many of the self-styled cultural elite have fetishized this kind of list. If you don’t know anything on it, you don’t belong.
Not that most would want to belong.
“They Shall Not Grow Old” is the best. We saw “Dunkirk”and “American Assassin” which had a lead character who looked like a transsexual. Dunkirk was good although there were a few odd moments.
I have a large collection of old movies on DVD.
The Mule and Mary Poppins Returns are showing now. Both are excellent.
I saw #7 on the Vox list. Truly horrible. And as Neo knows, I know movies.
The list is all identity politics.
We need a good comedy!
Obama had Vox’s #7 as his #14.
His number one song was “Apeshit” by The Carters. I’m not making this up.
I rarely go to the movies. My last ones were Dunkirk and The Darkest Hour. Most American films are dubbed over here, which I also don’t like. Most of the movies on the Vox list seemed like brainwash for people who have never had any real life experiences.
I usually try to defend “the movies” against those who hold up the impossible standard of the golden age of film. But this time, I have to admit that 2018 was the worst year in my memory. I’m sure we’ll soon be greeted by a string of sordid satires about “the age of Trump.” That’ll turn things around.
For me anyway, film has become like fiction: watching (or reading) the latest thing feels like embracing aesthetic poverty. And it’s no fun.
I have not heard of a single one of them and have not felt impoverished as a result. Maybe “Eighth Grade” or “Roma” would be worth watching, but I’ll carefully check out the user reviews first.
As for movie recommendations, here’s one that is not recent by any means but that I found enchanting: “Together” [2001], a Swedish movie about what happens to some idealistic people and their children who live in a commune. The Amazon description makes it sound more political than it is. Just an endearing glimpse into some human lives, with particularly fine performances by the children.
Mr Whatsit says I should also tell you about “The Little Death” [Australia 2015], which is not the sort of movie Mrs Whatsit ordinarily feels comfortable recommending, but which was unexpected, original and fun, with a particularly great vignette involving a sign language interpreter for a video relay service. Available on Amazon.
And, this isn’t a movie, but have you watched the BBC series “The Detectorists,” with three seasons available on Amazon? If I tell you it’s about a pair of metal detector enthusiasts, you won’t watch it (which is why I ignored it when Mr W first found it). But if I say it’s an exploration of what people dream of and why, and what happens when they don’t get it — or when they do — well then, that makes it more appealing, doesn’t it? With extraordinary performances by, among others, Diana Rigg’s daughter.
OK, I violated my rule to never give Vox, HuffPo, or WaPo my clicks.
While I do think that Alissa Wilkinson’s list has much PC stuff in it, it’s not completely terrible. I also scanned Imdb’s top (most popular?) 100 movies this year, and boy it is pretty grim. Should we blame Hollywood or millennials, or our generally old age here?
As to the Vox list:
I’ve seen The Death of Stalin, A Quiet Place, and Private Life, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
The first is a nice black satire with good acting, and I commend the filmmakers for giving the topic attention. But it is just OK.
A Quiet Place is nominally a space alien invasion story told from the point of view of a youngish farming family in the country side. Sounds terrible? The husband/wife team John Krasinski and Emily Blunt put this together and their acting is fine.
The hook here is that the bad guy creatures have exquisitely sensitive hearing, and the human survivors have learned not to make any sounds, especially speaking. There are maybe a few dozen words of dialog in total, so the film relies on visual story telling. If that doesn’t pique your interest, skip it. If it does, it’s not bad.
Private Life is about the extreme efforts of an infertile couple to have a child. There are also several very strong personality types within the extended family that clash with each other and the fertility story. It might have been intended to be fun in parts, but it’s not. It’s mostly the opposite, though the personality clashes are sometimes interesting.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a disconnected series of period western vignettes. Over the long career of the Ethan and Joel Coen’s writing and directing career they have come up with an number of interesting story ideas that never amounted to a feature length story. These vignettes are those. Think black comedic irony. If you like their work, check it out.
I recently bought a Criterion Collection blu-ray copy of the Coen’s “Blood Simple” made in the 80’s. If you like noir, it’s a fabulous script and a very good realization. The story is much more complex than it appears on the first or second viewing. Be forewarned, it set something of a record on the gruesome scale at the time.
Roma is supposed to be the modern equivalent of The Grapes of Wrath (the one with Henry Fonda). Left wing no doubt. I’m a bit interested, but haven’t seen it.
First Man is about the Apollo moon landing. I have been hostile to the idea of eliminating U.S. politics from the film, but I think the filmmaker Damien Chazelle wants to focus on the men and their direct experiences, to the exclusion of all else. I think Chazelle is a serious talent. I haven’t seen it, but likely will.
A bunch of film critics that I don’t hate, really liked the last two.
MikeK is right. “They Shall Not Grow Old” is an amazing, outstanding film/documentary. Peter Jackson of “Hobbit” did this film about WWI. It really grips you. The last half hour when he is explain how it was done has to be watched too. I have actually been to one of the places shown on the film, the Sunken Road. It was limited release but will be more generally released next yr. Please, please go see. It is really worth you time and money.
And speaking of money, movies cost way too much to waste on some really bad movies.
If you find visual story telling in cinema, and/or Alfred Hitchcock’s style interesting, then you may have made an effort to see Brian De Palma’s films over the years. If so, then the documentary called “De Palma,” by Noah Baumbach is very interesting. It’s a few years old, but popped up on Netflix recently.
De Palma discusses the crushing amount of work and management required for a big budget special effects film like “Mission to Mars.” He then comments that the difficulty and expense required for most CGI effects has caused the CGI pros (like ILM) to create a series of canned effects stored in their computers. So when the filmmaker comes along, he or she can pick one from column A and two from column B. De Palma says these canned effects are “visual clichés,” which is why these films are so bad.
I’ve only heard of “Black Panther” and “A Quiet Place.” I might see the latter. The rest sound mostly dreadful. I don’t think I’ve seen any 2018 films.
I saw “Dunkirk” (2017) and disliked it a great deal. The director, Christopher Nolan, created intense battle scenes, but the characters seemed silly and doomed. There was almost no historical context. Everything fell into place when I saw an interview with Nolan in which he explained that the “Alien” films were the template for “Dunkirk”!
I mostly watch films before 2000. The Nineties looks like the Golden Age of Film compared to the swill since.
However, I have liked and binge-watched many of the long-arc TV shows, “The Man in the High Castle” turned out much better than I expected. (I loved the original Philip K. Dick novel about the Axis winning WW II and worried the show would make a hash of it.) “The Americans” series was about a married American couple with a picture-perfect suburban family life who are actually long-term Soviet agents.
Gotta recommend “Medal of Honor” on Netflix. It’s a documentary series that chronicles the Medal of Honor recipients from Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan. While they interview the living ones, it’s the reenactments produced by filmmaker Robert Zemeckis that are top drawer. Most episodes portray completely astonishing levels of heroism.
Over the holidays I watched Ron Howard’s “Eight Days a Week” (2016), a documentary about the Beatles’ years as a touring band.
It’s solidly enjoyable and includes much footage I haven’t seen plus touching, gushing reminiscences by Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg as childhood Beatles fans. The film really takes you back to how special the Beatles were.
Otherwise I’m drawing a blank on good recent films. Too many films seem to be created according to an intersectional template. Can a radical black lesbian skateboarder, who is on a terrorist watchlist, find love with a Pakistani amputee trans-man?
Have pretty much given up on movies, and practically all the current day’s worthless, moronic, and/or repellent TV as well–seemingly unavoidable this week has been a series of commercials for the “reality” TV show, “My 600 Pound life.”
Moreover, a lot of the time you might as well be watching straight propaganda TV from the old U.S.S.R.
Say, once or twice a year a likely film will come along that looks like it might be/is somewhat interesting.
But, in general, quality and watchability have taken a steep nosedive, and it’s pretty much all uninteresting crap.
The dismal “Christmas Blockbuster” choices this week at our local Cinema include Marvel Comic spinoff Aquaman, ditto Into The Spiderman Universe, the Bumblebee, Doctor Suess’ the Grinch, Mary Poppins Returns, yet another take on Holmes & Watson, etc., etc.
It’s unwatchable drivel, and flash vs. substance CGI, while sometimes interesting, just can’t drag a load of crap across the finish line for a win.
A great movie to watch is Wind River. Also saw Leave No Trace that was on the list and I thought it was interesting and worth watching. As far as other movies on the list I cannot comment. I was an avid movie guy for many years but quit going once Hollywood starting making everything so political. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with these films. Especially Wind River.
Did you see the documentary “Free Solo”? I recall that you posted about Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of El Capitan. It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year.
I’ll put in a good word for Mary Poppins Returns. Here’s what I said on Facebook about it:
“I’m a little surprised to be able to say that Mary Poppins Returns is very good. I would think anyone who likes the original would at minimum not object to it. I’m not all that big a fan of the original–I mean, I enjoy it, but it’s not one of my favorites–and am not all that big a fan of musicals in general. But I enjoyed it very much.”
And then in response to a friend who said he’d heard it was so-so:
“I should mention that I rarely go to see anything in the theater–last one I think was Blade Runner 2049. We only went to this one because we wanted something different to do with the local grandchildren. So I didn’t have very high expectations. It may be that people who really love the original are more likely to find this one disappointing. I was at first just relieved that they didn’t trash it up–include a sex scene, have the children cuss a lot, etc., as Hollywood often does. Then I realized that I was actively enjoying it. Expectations exceeded, in short. My guess, knowing you, is that you’d probably enjoy it. As for the songs…yeah, there’s no “Chim-chiminee” and the like. “Okay” would be my verdict on them, but it did cross my mind that they might improve with another hearing or two.”
Yeah, it’s slight, but enjoyable, and not twisted, which is something these days.
I didn’t care much for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. I am not a big Coen Bros. enthusiast though I like some of their stuff.
I saw a headline somewhere a week or so ago that said The Endless is the kind of low-budget sci-fi we need more of. So I gave it a try. It’s not exactly sci-fi, but it’s a super-creepy story of supernatural goings-on at a sort of commune somewhere in the west. Involves some perceptive stuff about the relationship between two brothers. Very effective if you like that sort of thing. No gore.
I’ve heard of a few on the Vox list, seen none.
I’ll second Mr Dyke’s nomination of Wind River.
I almost never go to the cinema but a spare afternoon and the prospect of Wyoming scenery and setting drew me in and my expectations were exceeded.
If another spare afternoon yields the opportunity I’ll try and see Cold War. The director’s Ida is also on my to watch list.
In my previous job, which I left some eleven years ago, I had lots of time off, which I was not allowed to bank. For many years I would go to the movies at least once a week, and more when taking those vacation days. Sixty films a year was not unusual. When I changed jobs I had to stop that and find that I don’t really miss it. I see maybe four to six films a year in the theater any more, but I still keep up with what’s out there. That being said, of the top ten films on the Vox list I myself have only heard of Eighth Grade, and only, I suspect, because I like Bo Burnham’s stand-up. I’d heard of several more in the top twenty, but only Death of Stalin got my money this year. I would recommend it as a wicked comedy that plays only a little loosely with the real events that inspired it.
The only movie reviewer I trust is Joe Morgenstern of the WSJ. The Weekly Standard had good movie reviews but it is closed.
My wife wanted to see Free Solo but we decided to order the DVD. Dunkirk was OK, but had a few quirks. The Spitfire glided a very long way and the holes in the beached ship appeared with no ricochets inside.
We saw the Darkest Hour and I am not that enthusiastic about “The Mule,” as the topic seems grim.
I was concerned that Black Panther would be a preachy excuse for a lot of white history bashing. I was pleased that it was not, and so, if you enjoy the “emptiness” of super-hero/comic book films, it’s decent. There are a few jibes (referring to Euros as “Colonialists”, for example) but it’s kept close to the vest. If you’re looking for a thought piece, it ain’t that.
Mind you, Avengers – Infinity War is an awesome cinematic work, but does kinda-sorta need to view at least a half-dozen earlier films, if only to introduce characters and provide back story — that or you’ll need a fan with you to pause the movie and explain a lot of stuff to you… better to just see the preceding half-dozen films if you intend to. But AIW is impressive. It truly tells a massive story in a very small space. It reminds me if classic post-WWII Will Eisner Spirit comics, which had exactly 8 pages (one of which was a splash-intro page) to tell a story, and managed to tell A LOT of story in those pages. AIW feels like that because the story advances in a series of vignettes which remind me of panels on a comic book page, each 5-15 minutes long.
And, if you’re into comic books, then the other three things to see are The Incredibles 2, Deadpool 2, and Into the Spideyverse.
ALL of these are fun, escape movies, of course.
I haven’t seen any of the films on the list, but this, above, by Cornhead:
I saw #7 on the Vox list. Truly horrible. And as Neo knows, I know movies.
The list is all identity politics.
We need a good comedy!
Strikes me as probably correct.
P.S., Aquaman isn’t too bad, either. As with Wonder Woman, it’s almost as much amazing that DC actually didn’t make an awful movie as that it’s really good.
Looked at as much of the preview for Holmes & Watson as I could stand, and can see why, as reported, a lot of people are just walking out of the theater part way through it.
From what I saw in the trailer–and those clips contain what I assume the movie makers thought were the highlights of this film–to call this movie moronic would be to give it far too much credit.
GREEN BOOK! Green Book is an excellent movie. The two male leads BOTH deserve an Oscar. Takes place in 1962.
A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
Hard to find anything worth looking at on TV, but my wife ended up looking again at the 2003 Hugh Grant Comedy, “Love Actually,” and thinking about this movie, which we originally saw when it came out, as is, it could never be made today.
We had to split the grandkids at the multiplex.
Mary Poppins won the girl vote, and Spidey-verse won the boy vote (and grandma’s).
We loved the reproduction “feel” of the original classic comics, even though the “cast” was created much later in the rather bizarre series of alternate universes.
The story was well told.
“The Death of Stalin” is very funny — and very dark (mining laughs from the grotesque power struggles to succeed Stalin).
I’m eager to see “Cold War” (love story behind the Iron Curtain) and “Amazing Grace” (who doesn’t want to see an Aretha Franklin concert movie?).
Green Book was also excellent.