DrogeMiester's Top 10 BEST Movies of 2021

It’s time again for my top 10 favorite movies of the year, which is always my favorite post to do. Each year always provides its own unique set of circumstances, but with COVID still raging on that definitely has made the last couple of years especially unique. The result was an indie-heavy list in 2020 as those smaller films were the only movies that came out. Most of the major blockbusters scheduled for 2020 got pushed into… 2021, meaning we kinda doubled up on the bigger films this year while the box office was in recovery. In compiling my list this year, it felt like I had twice the usual options, which is not necessarily a bad problem to have.

On top of that, the last two years have been a unique year for the awards season. Specifically, the Oscars extended their eligibility for the 2020 season through February 2021. Some have chosen with their lists to follow the Oscar calendar year. And that’s fine. I have chosen to stick with the normal calendar year, which means half of the best picture nominees from last year’s ceremony are 2021 films in my book, not 2020 films. Yeah, it’s a bit of an ambiguous judgment call, but that’s what I’ve decided on. That’s the fun thing of having your own site. You can set your own rules. Real quick, I don’t count festival releases or any sort of special release like that. And I don’t count Oscar-qualifying runs. If a movie is released in limited release one year, then is expanded into wide release the next year, I’ll count the year that it hit limited release, but that’s different than Oscar-qualifying run. I can elaborate later if you’re curious.

I don’t usually spend that much time elaborating on that, but in this case those parameters will be very critical for this specific list. Outside that, per usual, I have not seen every movie from 2021. There are a few major ones, like “Mass” and “King Richard,” that I missed, as well as a few like “Drive My Car” that I count as 2021 films, but have not yet expanded far enough for me to see them. And that’s OK. In the past I’ve been a lot more worried about that. And while I try to see everything I can, I’ve accepted the fact that I will never see everything and that this list each year is merely a snapshot in time of what I was feeling in the moment. If my favorite movie ends up changing over time or I find a new movie that would’ve made the list, that’s perfectly fine. That was definitely the case when I put together my decades list the other year. It’s fun to go back and re-evaluate or look back on what I was feeling in the moment. But anyways, with all those formalities out of the way, let’s dive into the list proper!

10- Free Guy

This final spot on the list that we’re starting with was probably the hardest. Mainly because I was certain that “Free Guy,” “The Suicide Squad” and “Shang-Chi” were all sure-fire entries on this list, ones that would be much higher as well. But given the large number of options, as explained above, I simple ran out of space and was devastated that I could only include one of those three. All three are highly entertaining blockbuster films that I could watch many times over, but the ever so slight edge goes to “Free Guy,” mainly for its high level of creativity. Conceptually it was a very high risk film that turned into a fantastic high reward. It’s Ryan Reynolds being Ryan Reynolds, but sometimes that shtick works perfectly and this was the right vehicle for it. Moreover, this felt like such a fun, unique concept, a bit of a breath of fresh air from our usual Blockbuster affair. It also seems to prove to me that the best video game movies are not the video game movies that are based on a specific IP, but are original concepts that feel like video games, with this and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” being two great examples. I’m glad this caught fire because I’m ready for more from this world.

9- The Mauritanian

The what? Here’s the first potential surprise on this list. Perhaps because this is one of the movies that was eligible for the 2020 Oscars, but also because, out of all of last year’s awards contenders, this is one that slipped right under the radar and wound up being completely ignored. After I watched it, I was a bit upset and floored at this for not getting more attention. Because, yeah, this was way better than most of last year’s nominees. It’s in the vein of a “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a strong honorable mention for this list, in that it’s a historical piece you watch for the sake of education and not entertainment. In both cases, the American government is the antagonist of the film. In this case, the story revolves around one Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was imprisoned for being suspected of being involved in the 9/11 attacks. He was detained for years and years… without even being officially charged. The lawyers involved in his case were portrayed as horrible villains by the media for even attempting to stick up for him. Yet the guy was 100 percent innocent in one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice that I’ve seen. Jodie Foster, Shailene Woodley, and Tahar Rahim gave performances that all should’ve been nominated last year, but weren’t. Given that awards mean nothing, I encourage you to watch this and decide for yourself.

8- tick, tick… BOOM!

Musicals were a big trend of 2021. And there were a handful that could’ve qualified for this list, as well as a few that could be contenders for the worst nonsense of the year, but of the ones that I really enjoyed, “tick, tick… BOOM!” was the one that I felt elevated itself above the rest for not simply being a flashy, gorgeously choreographed showcase of music and dance, but for being a whole lot more. First off, the construction of this musical is fascinating. It’s based on the Broadway play of the same name, which is loosely based on the life of playwright Jonathan Larson – as written and directed by Jonathan Larson himself before he died. But the movie is more of a look on Jonathan Larson’s life, while also showcases the performance of the musical inside of the musical. And if that all sounds confusing, it makes more sense in my brain than when I type it out. But mostly I gravitated to the story of Jonathan Larson, who had a rather tragic life that is depressingly relatable. The second you think it’s going the way it should, the floor gets ripped out from under him and stabs the audiences in the heart because his road feels all too familiar. An emotional gut-punch of a film with a stand-out performance from Andrew Garfield that is among his best in a great year for him.

7- Last Night in Soho

This will probably go down as the other major surprise. The other choices on this list are ones you’ve probably seen on other lists. I highly doubt you’ve seen “Last Night in Soho” on anyone’s list. And if you have, then it’s still unique nonetheless. I heard all the mixed reviews before going in and had to thus temper my expectations a bit. But I was blown away and it’s not because this was better than I was expecting. It’s because this is genuinely a fantastic film that is a lot more in line with the quality of all the other Edgar Wright movies than pretty much anyone is giving it credit for. The retro 60s horror was a lot of fun, but I was mostly completely drawn in by the dual story arcs going on that were juxtaposed to a certain extent. Thomasin McKenzie plays a young fashion designer in the modern world who is obsessed with the past. Yet when she sees visions and dreams of a woman from the past, a singer and model from the 60s played by Anya Taylor-Joy, she becomes slowly horrified that her dreams of the past are perhaps not as rainbows and butterflies as she would hope. The descent into madness on both fronts is incredible and the final act that most people are hating on is a bonkers one that I absolutely loved. I guess it’s not for everyone, but I don’t care. It was perfect for me.

6- Nobody

With the recent emergence of “John Wick” as perhaps the best modern action franchise, there are a so many studios and filmmakers who are desperately trying to cash in on that trend and become the next “John Wick.” And while some have been entertaining and many have failed, it was Universal that struck gold with “Nobody,” using Bob Odenkirk as their lead star and “Hardcore Henry” director Ilya Naishuller as the director. An unlikely combination that works like a charm. Bob Odenkirk, who plays Saul Goodman in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” is not one who you’d expect to step right into an action star role, but that’s the point of this movie. He’s a regular husband and father, trying to live a normal life. But nothing is normal about how his past has gone and said past comes back to haunt him and forces him to defend himself and his family. Keanu Reeves is one who has had a history of being an action star, so his turn as John Wick wasn’t surprising, but Bob Odenkirk doing this did seemingly come out of nowhere, but I was absolutely here for it. If you need to scratch the action itch, this one will do the job better than most action movies out there today.

5- The Mitchells vs. the Machines

A solid year for animation in 2021. And a tip of my hat to Disney for “Encanto” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” both of which I really enjoyed, but the best animated movie of the year is not even a question. From producers Lord and Miller, the duo responsible for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “The LEGO Movie,” and directors Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, who worked on “Gravity Falls,” comes a movie that is definitely on par with all of those things. That’s some pretty high praise, but well deserved praise in my mind. This is wacky and zany and fun. It’ll easily entertaining your kids and perhaps have them watching it on repeat for years. But it’ll also entertain adults and people of all ages as well. One of those prime examples of how we don’t need to give crappy animated a pass simply because “the kids loved it.” Because movies like this exist that entertain both. It throws everything at the wall and all of it sticks. It’ll have you laughing hysterically the entire run. It’ll have you in awe of the animation and all the little things thrown in, much like “Spider-Verse.” But it’ll also have you in a puddle of tears by the end with how emotional and powerful it gets. Animated movies don’t get much better than this. And if you haven’t checked it out, it’s right there on Netflix for you to fix that.

4- Pig

Speaking of John Wick action movies that are trying to cash in on the trend, this is… NOT one of them. Despite it seeming like that when you watch the trailers and read the premise. Nicolas Cage as a lonely man who is out for vengeance when someone steals his beloved pig? I mean, I would be fully on board with that if that was in fact what it was, another zany Nicolas Cage performance that goes all out in its wackiness, making him the next John Wick. But what you get instead is a very slow, well-paced drama about a man with a dark past whose last real connection, his pet pig, gets ripped away from him and leaves him broken and scarred even more. You expect to go in having a lot of fun with this, yet you wind up bawling your face off if you’ve ever experienced the special connection of human and pet, whether it be a dog, a cat, or whatever. I’ve always said that Nicolas Cage is a great actor who can give a great performance when he wants to. He won an Oscar for a reason. But he mostly chooses to have fun with the roles he picks and I’m totally fine with that. But in “Pig” he brings that acting prowess back to the forefront and shows that he’s still got it. If it were up to me, he would 100 percent be getting his second Oscar win. No one in 2021 was better than him.

 3- Spider-Man: No Way Home

Sometimes in life, the most popular movie of the year is also one of the best ones. Spider-Man movies will always make a lot of money, regardless of their quality. But this is the Spider-Man of all Spider-Man movies. The “Avengers: Endgame” of the franchise, if you will. And while I will still claim “Spider-Man 2” as my favorite Spider-Man movie, you get why I am making that comparison. This movie is one of the top five highest grossing domestic releases ever and is the most successful Sony release and most successful Spider-Man movie, even when you adjust for ticket price inflation. So you’ve likely all seen it and there’s a very big reason why it has become so massive. It’s one of those rare movies where the hype was through the roof and it somehow managed to live up to all the hype and perhaps exceed it. It was 100 percent pure fan service, but every piece of fan service was there for a reason and had a critical part of the film. It not only provided a fantastic arc for Tom Holland in this recent trilogy, but also provided a lot of closure and satisfaction for other things and characters. Y’all know what I mean, but I’m still not going to spoil it here. I wrote a giant spoiler review if you haven’t checked that out, though. I’ve seen it three times now and it gets better each time. And not just for the entertainment value, but the emotional peaks of the movie still got me, even though I knew they were coming.

2- CODA

From really big to really small. A Sundance film initially that went straight to Apple TV+, a streaming service that not as many have. But yet I’ve been very pleased that it has remained in conversations all year and has even been picking up steam in awards season, to the point where this is one of the films that could theoretically win best picture. By some people’s parameters this would be my No. 1 of the year as some might disqualify my actual No. 1. We’ll get to that in a second here. And it would be a deserving of that title and I hope it wins best picture. CODA stands for “children of deaf adults.” The movie is a coming of age story about a girl who can hear, but whose parents and siblings are deaf, played by actual deaf actors. The plot might go in a direction that you expect it to go, but this proves you can take a familiar concept and still make an incredible movie if your execution is done well, which this movie is done to perfection. Because the emotion is intense and the feel-good moments throughout are off the charts. As a frosting on the cake, actual people from the deaf community have responded very well to this. I had a friend from said community who reached out to me and was blown away by how perfect this movie was in representing the deaf community and the challenges that CODAs go through. And that knowledge just makes it all better.  

1- The Father

Yes, the reason why I put so much emphasis in the intro of this post describing the parameters of what I consider a 2021 film is because my No. 1 film is one that many have labeled as a 2020 film. To me it’s a 2021 film and I will argue that case for those who dispute it. And it’s one of the most emotionally powerful films that I’ve seen as of late. It’s about a man suffering from dementia. And sure, we’ve seen many movies like that before, but how many of them have looked at dementia from the vantage point of the person going through that? Anthony Hopkins is the central focus of the movie and everything around him keeps changing. He suddenly turns around and is in different locations that he’s not used to. People tell him stories that are different than what he remembers them saying. And the emotion and frustration is so intense because no one can seem to understand. His reality is not reality, but to him it very much is. And we as an audience are never clued in as to what is real and what isn’t, which makes the experience that much more surreal. If you’ve ever known a grandparent or other elderly person in your life who has gone through dementia or another similar mental illness, this movie will connect with you in ways that no other film can. Anthony Hopkins, in controversial fashion, won best actor for this role last year. And he absolutely deserved it.

 

Honorable Mentions

With the list proper complete, here are some honorable mentions. Nos. 11 - 25 on my list. All of which were deserving of making the cut. But, as explained, there were just so many options this year, all things considered. Even this full 25 is not all-inclusive of everything I enjoyed watching this year. No detailed explanation for each, but if you’re curious for one or perhaps why another movie didn’t show up, comment and let me know. And, as always, I’d be curious to know what your top 2021 movies are, with whatever parameters you choose. 

11- The Suicide Squad
12- The Night House
13- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
14- The Green Knight
15- The Last Duel
16- In the Heights
17- Encanto
18- Judas and the Black Messiah
19- The Power of the Dog
20- F9: The Fast Saga
21- Raya and the Last Dragon
22- A Quiet Place Part II
23- Fear Street Part 1: 1994
24- Malignant
25- Lamb

DrogeMiester's Top 10 BEST Movies of 2020

It's time to pick up this blog from off the shelf, dust it off, and fire it up. Because it's time for an end of year list! And what a strange year this is to do an end of year list on. The whole world was thrown off its groove with COVID. And while there are much bigger problems to worry about than movies getting postponed and theaters shutting down, that was nevertheless a major part of my routine that got taken from me. The consequence of that is me not spending much time on this blog in 2020. But I promise that once things go back to normal with the movie industry, I'll get back into the groove of things. Believe it or not, though, movies actually did come out this year. And I did see a lot of them. And not just in the first two months. Yeah, most of the major blockbusters that we were expecting all got shoved into 2021 and beyond, but streaming got thrown in the spotlight, with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other services becoming the center of the movie universe. And that let a lot of the smaller, independent films get more attention than they normally would've. All things considered, there are so many disclaimers and stipulations that could be said about how this list ended up, but I'm not going to dive into all of them. You understand. So let's just dive in!   

10- Horse Girl

If you take one look at the title of this film without knowing anything about it, you might think it's a Disney-esque family drama about a girl and her horse, like Secretariat or Seabiscuit. Nope. That couldn't be further from the truth. This is about a shy, awkward young woman who starts having dreams about being abducted by aliens and suddenly begins to think that she's a clone of her grandmother. But is she just going crazy or is she the only sane one around? The movie is so bizarre and up to your own interpretation that it kinda becomes a choose your own adventure thing. Is it a psychological drama about mental illness or is it a sci-fi movie with aliens and time loops, akin to Netflix's series "Dark"? You decide. Although I do think there is a definitive answer. It just requires watching the film, thinking about it, then watching it again to pick up clues that were secretly left behind. It also provides an interesting social experiment. Did you enjoy this movie and try hard to understand it because you knew it was a Sundance film? Or did you toss it aside after the first watch because you assumed it was dumb Netflix original? One's expectations of a film can go a long ways in determining one's level of enjoyment. Just some food for thought for you.   

9- Clouds

The story of Zach Sobiech and his song "Clouds" is one that I have a strong personal connection with. Zach was a high school student who got diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. In 2012, he learned that the cancer was terminal and only had a few months to live. So he wrote the song "Clouds." Zach passed away in May 2013 and that's when the song went viral. Zach's song and story really meant a lot to me because my younger brother passed away in January 2013. I used the song to help me through a lot of rough times. So when I learned that Disney+ was releasing an original film based on Zach's experiences, I knew I was in for a bit of an emotionally traumatizing ride. And that's exactly what I got. I feel like a bit of a dork because I know the real story well enough to notice that they manipulated the facts a bit to turn this into a teen romance like "The Fault in Our Stars." But the director here does know the family and the screenplay is based on a memoir written by Zach's mother. So the movie doesn't do anything too crazy. What they certainly nail is the emotion behind the story and why it means so much to a lot of people. So if you're in the mood for a good cry, fire up your Disney+ because this is one of the best original films that they've released.  

8- The Invisible Man

When I started to think about creating this list, my initial thought was that I was going to end up with a list full of indie films that no one has heard of. And I was totally fine with that. But then I went through my list of movies that I'd seen and I was like, "Oh yeah, that was this year!" This was one of the final movies to get released before COVID struck in the United States. That means life was normal when I saw this in a theater. That feels like such a long time ago. There were a lot more mainstream horror films that were supposed to come out. And I was really excited for a lot of them. But this is a solid representation of mainstream horror. There's nothing deep or metaphorical about this movie. Just a really solidly executed scare-fest and perfect example of what a remake should do. This wasn't an attempt to recreate the old classic. It takes that premise and does something completely modern and unique with it. A girl's boyfriend fakes his death, figures out a way to become invisible, and terrorizes the poor girl while making everyone else think she's crazy. Much of the horror comes in the idea that the guy could be present in any scene. If more of these Universal Monster remakes were like this, maybe the new Dark Universe would've worked out. 

7- Relic

Of all the movies on this list, I'm predicting that this is the top candidate for movie you've never heard of. This is a Sundance film. One of four of them that made this list and one of two that I actually saw at Sundance as me and a friend decided to purchase tickets to a few showings. And I was really hoping that this would be a movie that would breakout like "The Witch" or "Hereditary," two other indie horror films that initially premiered at Sundance in past years. But then COVID hit and they chose to release this in drive-in theaters during the summer. That means it probably flew right under everyone's radar, but if you like "The Babadook," you need to check this one out, too. Different studio, different filmmakers, but the two movies are pretty much cousins. "The Babadook" is a metaphorical horror film tackling mental illness. "Relic" is a metaphorical horror film that tackles dementia. Perhaps it's not quite as good as "The Babadook," but it's still extremely effective. A movie that you need to check out if you're a fan of good indie horror. Much of the film is vague, leaving it up to your own interpretation. Unless you're fancy like me and the director walks out and explains the whole thing. Perhaps that's cheating, but it did make me appreciate it even more.  

6- Onward

Pixar made two solid original animated films in 2020, "Onward" and "Soul." And while it might be the slightly less popular opinion, for me it was "Onward" that was the better of the two. In fact, at this point in time, "Onward" is my pick for best animated movie of the year. Although I do have to add the disclaimer there that I haven't seen "Wolfwalkers," mainly because I don't have Apple TV+. And I'm waiting until March to get my free trial so I can see a few more Oscar films at the same time. I'll keep you posted on that. Back to "Onward," though, the great thing about Pixar is that they are so good at tugging at the heartstrings. And they're always good at going at it at different angles, meaning all of their films manages to hit someone in the feels in a personal way. "Onward" was that for me. And it goes back to my paragraph about "Clouds." My younger brother passed away in 2013. And even though "Onward" came out seven years later, a Pixar movie about the relationship between two brothers who realize how important they are to each other completely wrecked me. Plus, on top of that, it was a super nerdy film with a lot of fantasy and adventure. Maybe that caused it to fly over some people's heads. But that's OK. Pixar has something for everyone, right?  

5- I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Going into this movie, the title made me assume this was a movie about suicide. I braced myself and dove in. Only to find out that the title refers to the girl thinking of ending things... with her boyfriend. It's simple at first. They've been dating for a month or so and they're finally going to meet his parents. He thinks things are going very well, but she's a lot more unsure about it. But lest you think this is some sort of simple romance, this is a Charlie Kaufman film. His niche is writing or directing challenging films that make you think. He's probably most well known for writing "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," if you want a film comparison. But this one starts to get weirder and weirder until at the end it has gone completely bonkers and off the rails. It's one of those movies where you have to immediately dive into internet theories about what it all means, spend some time thinking about it, then watch it again. Each viewing gives you more clues about what it is until eventually the movie completely transforms into something much different. Once it connects, the full picture of it is quite the amazing work of art. And it's on Netflix, so multiple viewings is very doable. Just beware, if you prefer your movies to be simple, this is a movie to stay clear of.

4- The Half of It

Boy loves Girl A. Girl A doesn't acknowledge Boy. Boy goes to Girl B for advice on how to win the heart of Girl A. Typical teen romance, right? One might expect Boy to eventually fall in love with Girl B and for them to live happily ever after. But that's not what this movie does. It subverts your expectations for this type of teen romance and instead has Girl B also falling in love with Girl A, while she's giving Boy advice on how to win over Girl A. Girl A is the popular, attractive type. Girl B is the nerdy, unattractive type, who not only has to deal with her lack of confidence, but also the pressure of what her family and society will think if she comes out as being attracted to girls. Thus this is a very real and messy teen romance film that included my favorite quote of the year: "Love isn't patient and kind and humble. Love is messy and horrible and selfish... and bold. It's not finding your perfect half. It's trying and reaching and failing. Love is being willing to ruin your good painting for the chance at a great one." As this is another Netflix film, once I heard that line, I paused the film and wrote it down in my notes on my phone. And I rarely do that. But this is truly a special teen romance film that is superior to most. And that quote is one that I will always remember and refer to.  

3- Kajillionaire 

The third of four films on this list to come from Sundance. And the second of two on this list that I actually saw at Sundance, the other being "Relic." For a while I thought this was going to be my No. 1 film of the year. The Sundance experience combined with a film I loved and a movie industry that screeched to a halt due to COVID nearly resulted in this winning by default. But further thought this week resulted in me putting it at No. 3, which is still really good. This is a quirky comedy about a paranoid, compulsive family of three who commit a bunch of small cons to make a living. The result is their 26-year-old daughter being highly uncultured when it comes to the world around her. In my initial Sundance viewing, I was completely caught off guard with the humor and the quirkiness because I literally had no idea what to expect. Upon a deeper exploration a year later, it's the drama and emotion that stood out. The daughter develops a desire of wanting to be cared for, then feels quite empty when she realizes that her parents refuse to satisfy that desire. Thus the movie becomes extremely well-rounded. This came out in select theaters in September following its January Sundance premier, then to PVOD in October. You can rent it for $6 right now. I think that's worth it!

2- Da 5 Bloods

This is the choice that I surprised myself the most with in terms of how high up it wound up being on my list. But when I compared it to all the other options, there just simply wasn't much question in regards to how superior it is to many of the other 2020 films. This comes from Spike Lee, a filmmaker who most definitely is not afraid to express exactly what he is feeling. Most of his films are very socially relevant and speak to issues that he is passionate about. I'm not a Spike Lee expert by any means, but I don't think I've heard of a casually entertaining Spike Lee film. That's not what he does. With "Da 5 Bloods," the topic at hand is the Vietnam War, specifically the experiences of some black Vietnam War vets years later in their life. They not only have to deal with racism, but also the negative reactions from other towards people who served in the war. There's a lot of conflicting emotions for them and a lot of trauma that has built up for years. The plot follows them returning to their old war grounds to search for treasure that they hid. I'll admit that it's a bit slow to begin, but once it hits, it hits hard. The entire second half of the film left me speechless in a way that perhaps only Spike Lee can accomplish. It's the type of film that sticks with you long after you watch it.   

1- Promising Young Woman 

And here we are. My award for the best movie of the bizarre year that was 2020 goes to "Promising Young Woman." This is the fourth Sundance film on this list. I didn't see it at Sundance, but I did spend 11 months listening to people rant and rave about it. After finally seeing shortly after its Christmas release, I was left stunned. Carrying the whole film is a legendary performance by Carey Mulligan, who is left broken and scarred by a past I will not reveal because that's kinda the point. What happened to her to cause her to drop out of a potentially successful career path in order to go on a revenge tour towards those who wronged her? And lest you think this is going where you think it's going, this movie will spend its entire runtime blindsiding you at every turn. And that's all I'll say. My only critique is that it leans a little too much on shock value at times, but it was rather effective in the moment. "Gone Girl" is my movie comparison. Both are extremely effective, female-led thrillers that cause your jaw to hit the floor. I haven't watched all the Oscar contenders. Some haven't yet been released due to special Oscar rules this year, but at the moment I hope they shower this with all the awards. At the very least, give Carey Mulligan her well-deserved Oscar.

DrogeMiester's Top 10 BEST Movies of 2019

We have come to the end of another year, which means it's time to reveal my favorite list I do each year. My personal favorite movies of the year. No room for objectivity here. There's no system or formula for how I rank these. This is just my completely biased, subjective favorites. And as I've said when I've come to the end of the last several years, this list was hard to make because there were so many good movies that came out. Although what made this year a bit unique is that it was the last three months where we got bombarded with a whole ton of quality movies. Prior to October, I had only given out one perfect score and things were seeming like they were pretty quiet. There were still plenty of good movies from the first nine months, but the flood gates opened in the final three months and it almost became too much for me to handle. Because of this, there were a lot of unfortunate movies that got left on the chopping block. You'll be quite shocked at some choices that I was raving about that didn't make it. There were around 50 movies I considered for this list and well over 25 that deserved a spot in the top 10. My list of honorable mentions would make a solid top 10 on its own right. But there could only be 10 and after much deliberation, here are those final 10.

10- Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

The Academy loves movies about movies, which is why "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" walked away with 10 Oscar nominations and is one of the two or three movies with a legit shot at actually winning best picture on February 9. And I will admit that the retro 60s Hollywood vibe was rather entertaining, led by great performances from Leo and Brad Pitt, the latter of whom is about to win an Oscar for essentially being himself in a movie, which I'm cool with. But despite all this, it's not the retro 60's Hollywood stuff that caused me to fall in love with this. It's a bit of a hard thing to describe without it sounding a bit strange, but I have a fascination with studying serial killers and "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" is all about the Manson Family. The more you know about them and what they did in the late 60s, the better this experience will be. I've talked to a lot of people who were confused about why Brad Pitt was hanging out with hippies or who Sharon Tate even was and thus a large portion of this movie was lost on them. Meanwhile, I was sitting back in my chair, loving every minute of it. I was more than a bit nervous about how Tarantino was going to handle all of this, but the final 30 minutes of this movie was absolutely phenomenal and even therapeutic.

9- Rocketman

After getting burned hard by "Bohemian Rhapsody" in late 2018, I was not ready for "Rocketman." Even when the movie started getting a lot of hype, I wasn't sold because "Bohemian Rhapsody" just got nominated for best picture and that movie was a smelly pile of overrated junk. Yet it didn't take me long at all to be completely won over by "Rocketman." It had nothing to do with any sort of attachment I had to Elton John, which is honestly not very much. I know and love Queen a whole lot more. I think what it comes down to here is narrative structure. This wasn't some sort of generic highlight reel of Elton John's life. This was a fascinating film with a lot of depth and emotion. It's a movie where you can know nothing about Elton John and walk out being very moved as the movie chooses to focus on specific themes from Elton John's life rather than choosing to do a two hour synopsis of everything that happened to happen. It's also one of the most entertaining and unique films I've seen. Yes, it is a musical biopic, but it's also equally a musical fantasy as well as a straight-up musical at times. In a strange way, it reminded me more of "Mama Mia!" than "Bohemian Rhapsody" as it built a musical around the songs. Elton John just happened to be the subject matter.

8- Shazam!

After a rough start to the DCEU where DC spent their entire focus trying to copy Marvel rather than do their own thing, DC is now on fire. The key moment here is when DC stopped trying to set up a cinematic universe and started simply making movies. Yes, their timeline is now all sorts of screwed up, but I don't even care because the individual movies are stellar. I hope they continue to simply hire directors who have a vision to make individual movies and are given the creative freedom to do so. Because then we get wildly entertaining movies like "Shazam!," a character whose history is too long and complicated for me to go over right now, but is nevertheless one of the earliest superheros created. And this film adaptation is absolutely hilarious, led by an excellent performance from Zachary Levi, who perfectly encapsulates what it would feel like if a young teenager was given superhero powers and could transform into the body of an adult male in the process. With that comes a lot of honesty with Billy Batson acting in a very immature way as he's forced to learn the hard way what life is like and what his priorities should be like. The movie cuts deep when it delves into themes of family, making it emotional powerful while also being off-the-wall hilarious.

7- Avengers: Endgame

You all know that "Avengers: Endgame" was going to be on this list. The big surprise here is how high it isn't. "Avengers: Infinity War" was easily my favorite movie of 2018 and this finale was the perfect cap to a 10-year, 22-movie story arc with this Infinity Saga. "Avengers: Endgame" is the ultimate fan experience as it rewards people like me, and thousands of others, who have been on the bandwagon from day one. Because of this, the movie has some of the best moments in cinema history, or at least in comic book movie history, with the likes of the "Avengers Assemble!" moment, Iron Man's heroics and Steve Rogers' dance. It also gave us some emotional farewells to characters we have come to absolutely love. But in ranking this movie among the movies of 2019, I had a hard time placing it because I'm not ranking and rewarding the entire Infinity Saga. I didn't want to do a lifetime achievement award. I'm just ranking the final movie in said saga. And if I'm being bluntly honest, it's not as polished as an individual movie as the likes of "Avengers: Infinity War" or even "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" or the original "Avengers." It's a very long movie that can drag at times and has no idea how to properly do time travel. But it still belongs on this list.

6- Jojo Rabbit

On the surface it might seem like a movie that makes light of Hitler and Nazi Germany is inappropriate and uncalled for. Which is why I was a bit skeptical going in because I didn't even know what this movie was. Now I'm no German or Jew, but in my American perspective, I think Taika Waititi has created one of the most genius pieces of film that approaches the subject of Nazi Germany. Obviously Hitler was one of the worst men to walk this Earth, but would a brainwashed 10-year-old boy know that? The reason why this movie is so genius is that it looks at Nazi Germany from the perspective of this young boy who has been raised up thinking that Nazis are the good guys and Hitler is the ultimate hero. And instead of taking a dark and dreary tone like most Nazi Germany movies,  the tone in this movie parallels that of what the boy is going through. It's not afraid to be lighthearted and comedic when the boy thinks Hitler is his hero. But Taika Waititi has proven time and again that he knows how to properly shift tones drastically. When our young protagonist takes an honest does or reality, the movie takes a dagger and jabs it into the hearts of everyone watching this movie as it suddenly becomes one of the most heart-wrenching films of the year.

5- Little Women 

If you had told me at the beginning of 2019 that I would end up putting "Little Women" ahead of "Avengers: Endgame" on this year-end list, I would tell you... duh. This is Gretta freaking Gerwig and she's brought my girl Saoirse Ronan along with her yet again. The combination of the two elevated the 2017 film "Lady Bird" above every movie that year in my eyes. So of course I was excited for this follow-up. And I knew absolutely nothing about "Little Women" as I had not read the book or seen any of the 10,000 adaptations. And as of this moment, this is still the only "Little Women" exposure I've had, but it was a phenomenal ride. I saw this in a sold-out screen wherein 99 percent of the people were female and they were all sobbing the entire time. And so was I along with them. Based on this movie and this movie alone, "Little Women" is not a girly chick flick about four sisters searching for their husbands. It's a movie about life wherein Greta juxtaposes the fantasies of childhood with the reality of adulthood in a beautifully edited and directed film that takes the two timelines and scrambles them together in a way that squeezes out every drop of emotion. With "Lady Bird" and "Little Women," Greta has proven herself to be a powerful force to be reckoned with.

4- Marriage Story

Scarlett Johansson had quite the year in 2019. Without giving too much away, between this, "Avengers: Endgame" and "Jojo Rabbit," let's just say I'm ready for Scar-Jo to be in a movie where she's given a happily ever after. And that's absolutely not the case here in "Marriage Story" as this is one of the most traumatizing films of the year. Starring right alongside Scar-Jo is Adam Driver himself and the two of them are the absolute perfect couple who know and love each other so well. And I wanted nothing more than for them to talk things out and become a happy family. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I like marriages to work out. I want people to be happy, especially when their oozing in positive chemistry. But that's just not the reality of life sometimes and "Marriage Story" is one of those films that decides to tread down the honest and brutal part of life as Adam Driver and Scar-Jo are going through a bitter divorce. Now I haven't gone through a divorce before. I haven't even done the marriage thing yet. But I imagine that this might be a bit too real for those who have gone through a divorce. Even without that experience, I finished this movie feeling absolutely shaken. I was a complete emotional wreck. For accomplishing that, of course I give this major props.

3- 1917

Here's a movie that exploded onto the scene last second. Due to it getting a limited release in December, I didn't even see this until the year was already 2020 and it was an absolute surreal experience. There's been nearly a countless number of war films, but "1917" immediately puts itself into the top echelon of this genre as it delivers a surreal experience like none other. There's been a few movies that have used the camera trick of stitching scenes together to give the illusion that it was filmed in one shot, but "1917" might be the most effective use of this as doing so immediately inserts the audience into the film. You're not just watching these two young men sneak their way through enemy territory during World War I to deliver an important message, you're walking along with them in a movie that feels like it's done in virtual reality. And that adds a whole new level to the horrors of war, especially when it comes to how brutal that first world war was. But "1917" is not only a movie with wizardry camera work, magical editing and stunning cinematography, it's also a movie that gives you a deep emotional connection to our two leads, which I think is a key element to a successful war film. All in all, this is a movie that deserves to be seen. Preferably on the biggest screen possible.

2- Parasite

When Bong Joon Ho, director of "Parasite," won the award for best foreign language film at the Golden Globes, he gave a speech that I think is one of the most memorable speeches I've heard at an awards show. And his message is very simple. If you can overcome the one-inch barrier of subtitles, then you'll be introduced to a whole new world of opportunity when it comes to cinema. As crazy as it may seem, the United States isn't the only country making movies. If you're sick of that status quo here, then you need to go outside your comfort zone and watch some of these foreign films. If you absolutely refuse to read subtitles, one of the experiences you'll be missing out on is "Parasite," which is an absolute stunning work of art with so much to say and so many different elements to it. The movie starts out as a heist film or a con film with a poor family taking advantage of a rich family in a very amusing and entertaining way. But halfway through, the tables turn in an extreme manner that I don't even want to get into. I was on the edge of my seat for nearly the entire second half of the movie as it became a super intense thriller, excellently acted and perfectly paced. I don't know if this is about to make history at the Oscars for a foreign film, but if it does, it's well deserved.

1- Joker

As I said before, DC is on fire. And as one who's always been more of a DC fan when it comes to the comic book world (although I don't know why we can't enjoy both), this has made me extremely happy. The concept behind this film was an extremely risky one. The Joker is arguably the most iconic villain in the history of comics. Part of the reason why he works so well is that is past is shrouded in mystery and he's just an agent of chaos in Batman's world. Yet we're going to take this and give the Joker an origin story? Yep. That's what they did. In this case, high risk becomes high reward as Todd Phillips created a beautiful and haunting picture of a man who was completely rejected by society, despite trying his hardest to fit in and make things work. Yet time and time again, he gets completely betrayed and thrown to the curb that he just snaps. And as he snaps, he gains a level of confidence and poise that he hadn't previously attained, turning him into the monster that is the Joker while inspiring a whole new level of crime and violence in Gotham. But in this case, is it really his fault? As one who loves psychological movies and DC comics, this was the perfect blend for me. In an extremely competitive field in 2019, "Joker" rather easily took the crown.

DrogeMiester's Top 10 WORST Movies of 2018

Just recently I revealed my list of my personal favorite movies of 2018. And now to officially close off the year, it's time to dive into my least favorite movies. As I briefly mentioned in my best of 2018 list, I saw fewer movies in 2018 than I have in previous years. I could dive into the reasons for that. It was a bit of a strange year for me. But nevertheless, I do not use this blog as a personal journal, so the specifics of that aren't important. However, I detail that a little more here because the consequences are more prevalent in this worst of the year list. Despite me not seeing as many movies, I tried to catch as many positive highlights as I could, which is why I feel quite comfortable with what I came up with, even if there still might be some gems that I missed that could've made the list. However, the movies I sacrificed most often were the bad movies. Yes, I do like doing my due diligence by informing my friends of why movies were bad. Those can be fun reviews, even if they weren't fun movie-watching experiences. But there was a lot of them this year where I saw all of the reaction and simply decided to pass. Some of them I meant to catch up on later, but I just never did. And that makes this specific list a bit tricky, so I'm going to do something slightly different.

Before I give you the final results of my worst movies of the year, here is a long list of "dishonorable mentions." Movies that would've been strong candidates for this list, but didn't make the cut because I chose not to see them. I have them listed in alphabetical order:

- "The 15:17 to Paris"
- "Action Point"
- "The Darkest Minds"
- "Fifty Shades Freed"
- "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness"
- "Gotti"
- "The Happytime Murders"
- "Holmes & Watson"
- "Mortal Engines"
- "Peter Rabbit"
- "The Possession of Hannah Grace"
- "The Predator"
- "Red Sparrow"
- "Robin Hood"
- "Sherlock Gnomes"
- "Show Dogs"
- "Slender Man"
- "Strangers: Prey at Night"
- "Truth or Dare"
- "Welcome to Marwen"
- "Winchester"

Yeah, that's some pretty awful trash there, based on what I've heard from critics and audiences alike. It seems like most of those are the bottom of the barrel films from 2018. So with none of those making this list, what does that turn this list into? Well, essentially this is more or less a list of the most disappointing movies of 2018. I could have that reflected in the title of this blog, but for the sake of branding, I'm going to keep the title the same as I've had it since 2013. Just know that the movies that made this list are those that I chose to give a chance to for one reason or another, but they ended up breaking my heart. And oftentimes that can be a worse experience than knowing a movie is bad going into it.

10- Ocean's 8

I'm coming out swinging with this one, sure to already offend half of my friends with just the first entry on this list. So let me make this clear. I love the idea of more female representation in Hollywood. But I'm not going to give a movie an automatic pass just because it was progressive, especially when this was such a lazy attempt to cash in on progressive trends. You can't just copy and paste the screenplay for "Ocean's Eleven," with the only real difference being female characters instead of male characters, and expect me to be pleased just because there were females on the screen. Yeah, sure, our ladies were having a lot of fun with the movie, but I was somewhat bored to tears because there was no substance. The heist genre is one that's been done a lot and I can enjoy a good heist movie, but you've gotta at least try to be unique and original. Give me good characters. Give me solid motivation. Give me suspense. Make me believe that they might not pull this off. Throw in some twists and turns that I didn't see coming. In other words, give me the movie "Widows." Because, yes, that was a female-led heist movie from 2018 that was fantastic, yet sadly didn't get nearly enough attention. It made me completely justify throwing "Ocean's 8" out to the dogs where it belongs.

9- The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Sometimes I think Disney comes up with good ideas as to what will make a great movie. Other times I think they're just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. If they turn everything they can get their hands on into a live-action movie, some of them are going to work, giving Disney things to ride with. "The Nutcracker" was not one of those things that stuck. No one asked for this movie. No one wanted it to happen. No one was excited when the trailers were released. No one saw it when it came out. I find it interesting to note that "The Nutcracker" ballet was not an initial success, but it ended up catching on because the music that went with it was a huge success. And I think that kinda holds true to today. Sure, there are exceptions, but if you asked a random person on the street to sing "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies," I'm sure they could do it without thinking too hard. But if you asked that same person to then recount the story behind the song, could they do it? Probably not. Because no one cares. And would it really mean anything if you were to tell people that Disney was making a sequel to the original "Nutcracker" story? Nope. Especially when it comes off as a crossover between "Chronicles of Narnia" meets "Alice in Wonderland," but significantly worse than both.

8- Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Here's of the winner of the "Wait.... THAT came out this year?" award. Because, seriously, does anyone even remember that they finished off the "Maze Runner" franchise in 2018? I didn't. For some reason it felt like this movie came out two or three years ago, but then when I saw it on my list from this year, I was like, REALLY? I had to go back and read my initial review to remember what I even thought about this movie and I was rather amused by the fact that I predicted in said review that I would completely forget about this movie. There's one prediction that I actually got right. Apparently I claimed in said review that there were entertaining moments scattered throughout the movie, but the fact that we're now about a year later and nearly the whole movie is just gone from my memory I think is quite telling. I remember enjoying "The Maze Runner," too. Or at least the first two-thirds of it. But then the ending of it was super disappointing and it was followed up by two sequels that just do not stick in my brain at all. Because, yeah, does anyone remember the "Scorch Trials," either? I don't. There's a reason why this dystopian genre has died off. No one was able to figure out how to make fresh content and thus the world simply stopped caring.

7- Bird Box

I read a story in my local news where a Utah girl crashed her car because she was participating in the "Bird Box" challenge. Because there are apparently real people all over Earth who think driving blindfolded is a good idea in order to get their 10 seconds of internet fame. This is worse than the Tide Pod challenge in my book because at least when you eat Tide Pods, the only person you are putting in danger is yourself as opposed to you and everyone around you. So yeah, this story just did it for me. The whole "Bird Box" phenomenon is one of the worst things to happen to 2018. Granted, I can't blame Netflix themselves for the challenge or the non-stop internet memes, but I can blame them for distributing a really stupid horror movie. The movie sets up a lot of bizarre scenarios, but I don't think the filmmakers even knew how to answer them. So they didn't. This movie leaves just about every story thread unresolved because I don't think there ever was a resolution. I left the movie feeling super confused as to what the whole point was. It was also not scary at all, so I don't even think it qualifies for the horror genre. And there are zero thrills, so I can't call it a thriller either. It's just a festering piece of garbage that exists and is causing teens to potentially kill themselves.

6- Dr. Seuss' The Grinch

I bet you all knew this was coming. The second I heard that Illumination was making an animated Grinch movie, my heart immediately sunk. And this was several years ago. Never once did I even think this was going to be a good idea. Then the trailers came out and all I saw was a bunch of childish slapstick humor that didn't make me laugh. As it turns out, said humor is the funniest and most creative elements of the movie. And they weren't the least bit funny and creative. Personally I'm a huge fan of the Jim Carrey Grinch movie. They took a short story and brilliantly expanded it into a feature length film with great characters, lots of humor, tons of emotion and a huge shot of Christmas spirit. Illuminations Grinch takes a short story and drags their feet for the entire run time as it was apparent that they had no idea how to convert this into a full length movie. So half the movie is Cindy Lue Who scheming to trap Santa Claus so she can tell him in person about how great her mother is. The other half is the Grinch scheming to steal Christmas. You know, the sequence that is told in a three-minute montage in the other ones? This is the most boring, pointless piece of Christmas garbage out there. Let's please not let this become a holiday classic.

5- The Ritual

In case you didn't notice, I included a Netflix original in this list with "Bird Box." Given that streaming is the future of cinema, Netflix counts in my book for either of these lists. I try not to get too carried away with including them on here, but I had to include a second one on this list because this one was a really confusing experience for me. And it was a movie from TIFF that was released theatrically in the U.K. in 2017 before Netflix put it out in the U.S. in February 2018. So that totally counts, right? I like myself a well-made horror film and this one had a lot of positive buzz coming with it from people who are legitimate fans of horror. So I rather excitedly checked it out because I was expecting this to be a hidden gem that I could brag about to my friends who are also horror fans. But I got nothing. Four friends go on a hike because a fifth friend recently got shot and killed and he had suggested they go on a hike. So they go on this hike to honor his memory. And what we're given is four people all making cliche, horror movie mistakes as they wander into a dark forest in order to take a "shortcut." We've seen this a thousand times before, executed much better in many of those instances. To top it off, the ending was really stupid, which is something everyone seems to agree on.

4- The Nun

"The Conjuring" franchise is one that I have slightly mixed feelings on. The two movies in the main saga are excellently crafted horror films, but annoy me slightly because they try way too hard to shove the true story angle down my throat when in reality the whole thing is hogwash. but despite that, I still mostly enjoyed both movies. Although I skipped "Annabelle" because no one on Earth claimed it was worth seeing, the prequel "Annabelle: Creation" was a lot of fun. So I expected a decent horror film out of "The Nun," especially since the demon Nun character was one of the best parts of "The Conjuring 2." I don't know what went wrong, though, because nothing about this movie worked. Said demon Nun barely shows up in her own movie and when she did, she made me laugh instead of being scared. The rest of the movie is boring demon mythology that shows less creativity than a filler episode of "Supernatural," topped with unexplained occurrences that hinted that the filmmakers didn't know the rules of the own movie and lots of pathetic jump scares or loud noises. It's a hollow movie with a great setup, but no substance whatsoever. It made me sad that a movie in "The Conjuring" franchise would be this lazy and dull, forgetting everything that made "The Conjuring" movies good. 

3- Pacific Rim Uprising

When it comes to action films, I feel that this movie was the easiest to get right. "Pacific Rim" is undoubtedly a really stupid movie. But it's also extremely self-aware and thus becomes one of the best bad movies because Guillermo del Toro knows how to harness your inner 9-year-old as you enjoy watching giant robots fight giant monsters all movie. All I wanted with the sequel was more giant robots fighting giant monsters. But since Guillermo del Toro was too busy winning best picture with "The Shape of Water," they hired Steven DeKnight, who had never worked on a feature length film, to take the reigns and he showed complete incompetence. The Kaiju don't even show up in this movie until 1 hour 20 minutes into the movie and the run time is only 1 hour 51 minutes to begin with. Said final battle is not that interesting and most of it was shown in the trailers, anyways. The rest of this movie is over an hour of horrendously awful characters and terrible plot. Poor John Boyega was trapped in a movie where no one else seemed to care and not even he was able to do anything to save it. All I wanted with this movie was an enjoyably dumb experience. But there was nothing was nothing enjoyable about this. Just a really dumb movie that left me sad. 

2- A Wrinkle in Time

I almost feel really bad putting "A Wrinkle in Time" at No. 2 on this list. When I first put this together, I sat and looked at "A Wrinkle in Time" almost being my least favorite movie of the year and I didn't seem right at first glance. But then I did my best to recall my viewing experience, I re-read my review on it, and I examined all the movies around it on the list. And yeah, it's strange, but this is exactly where this belongs. "A Wrinkle in Time" doesn't make me angry when I think about it. It's not offensive at all. It just has no soul and no life. The setup is as basic as you can get. The journey we went on was part boring, part weird. There was a lot of things that just happened for the sake of them happening and it didn't seem like the writers or director really kept track of the rules of this universe because a lot of it was rather inconsistent. The visual effects were good at times. But then there were times where it looked like a weather man standing in front of a green screen And on top of all this, young Storm Reid and Chris Pine are the only two actors that seemed to care. This is a perplexing disaster because with the cast and crew on board, this should've at least been passable. But it's just an all around mess that makes me think that no one involved even cared about this.

1- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Or as I like to call it, "Jurassic World: A Fallen Franchise." As I've made rather well known in this post, there's a lot of bad movies that I skipped. However, despite all of that, I am rather confident that even if I had seen every movie that came out in 2018, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" would still remain my least favorite movie of the year. Are there movies out there that might be more poorly made on a technical scale with worse acting and what not? Perhaps. But "Fallen Kingdom" is a movie that made me completely give up on a franchise that I once called a personal favorite of mine. After seeing this, I threw in the towel and I now hereby publicly renounce my fandom from the "Jurassic" franchise. Saying that hurts me. I feel betrayed. I feel sad. I feel my blood boiling when I think of this movie and what it did to me. Colin Trevorow took something that was so near and dear to my heart, spit in its face, crumbled it up and threw it in the trash with his two "Jurassic World" movies and I'm left standing here feeling like I got stabbed in the back. And for that I feel that this is well worth the worst of the year honor. "But Adam... DINOSAURS!!!!!!" Do you know what? I don't care. The novelty of seeing a dinosaur on screen has worn off. I need some substance to go with it. "Fallen Kingdom" takes a once glorious franchise and transforms it into a complete joke.

DrogeMiester's Top 10 BEST Movies of 2018

It's time for my favorite time of year on this blog. The big reveal of my personal favorite movies of 2018! Compiling this list was pretty fun this year because I spent very little time in 2018 thinking about what my top 10 list would look like. That means if you've been curious as to what my list would look like, so have I. Sure, I had a general idea of what movies might be on there, but I had no idea how it was going to end up. As it turns out, the final results here make for quite the killer list. I saw my final results and I was quite proud, so I'm excited to finally share this with you. I did mean to get this out a bit earlier in the month, but life got busy. Better late than never, though, right? And that gave me a bit of extra time to think about things, so all is well? A few quick items of business. No, I did not see every movie this year. In fact, I saw a lot less this year than in the past. But that will effect the worst of list more than this one. And when it comes to grades I give to movies, I completely ignore them when making this list. So if you're one who pays attention to what grade I give to each movie, don't be too confused. Could this list be different in the future? Sure. But I like to view these lists as a snapshot in time. So as of this moment, here's my favorite movies of 2018.

10- Paddington 2

If you haven't jumped on board with the "Paddington" movies yet, then my question to you is what are you waiting for? I absolutely adored the first "Paddington" movie, even without having a deep knowledge of the original British source material. Paddington himself has such a lovable innocence to him, which will make your heart explode with how charming he is as well as make you roll around with laughter with all the good-natured humor that comes with an anthropomorphic bear who has no idea how everything works in the human world of London. Despite how much I loved the original movie, "Paddington 2" somehow managed to be even better. All Paddington wanted to do in this movie was get a gift for his aunt's 100th birthday. Yet this ends up leading him to prison as he's convicted of a crime he didn't commit. So what does he do? He makes the best out of whatever situation he's put in, leading to some absolutely hilarious prison sequences, some shockingly incredible action scenes, all topped off with the charm Paddington brings to the table. It's the perfect family film. And if you don't believe me, it got a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes with 220 reviews counted, making it arguably the best reviewed film EVER on Rotten Tomatoes.

9- Crazy Rich Asians

Surprised that a romance film made my top 10 list? Don't be. "Crazy Rich Asians" is the new gold standard when it comes to romance films. These sappy love stories are the type of movie that I'm often the most harsh on. They're usually just so stupid and formulaic. Yet "Crazy Rich Asians" proves to me that I'm justified in doing so because you CAN do it right. And whenever a movie does it wrong, I will now point directly to this movie to show why they failed. Not only is this a gorgeous film in every sense of that word, but I fell head over heels for our main couple. Constance Wu and Henry Goulding give phenomenal performances. The look they gave each other when Kina Grannis' version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" was playing at the cousin's wedding melted my heart and nearly made me bawl my eyes out. BOTH times I watched. The second time being within the last month. I just loved them and I felt their pain when cultural differences threatened to keep them apart. The comedy in the movie was good icing on the cake, especially with Awkwafina cracking me up constantly, but it was the love story here that I fell madly in love with. Praise does have to be given for this being a progressive film, but even more praise has to be given for this being a great film.

8- A Star is Born

It was a wildly emotional journey for me as I dove into the world of "A Star is Born." I made sure to catch up on all three previous versions before diving into this new one. I'm glad I did because, even though the 70's version was pure trash, both the 1937 and the 1954 versions were absolute masterpieces in my eyes. If you haven't seen those movies and you loved this year's version of "A Star is Born," I'm begging you to check those two out. While on a technical scale, this 2018 version is the most complete and well-made film, it doesn't quite hit the emotional heights of those two predecessors, especially Judy Garland's sadly biographical take in the 1954 movie. That's why this movie isn't slightly higher on this list. But even so, it still belongs here. It's almost unfair how talented Bradly Cooper is as he directed, co-wrote, starred in, and even sang in the movie. And he doesn't just regurgitate a story we've seen three previous times. He manages to craft a film that takes the story and implements a lot of modern themes, especially in regards to today's music industry. Lady Gaga also shines in this movie, proving that she has an acting career ahead of her if she wants it. But make no mistake, this is Bradley Cooper's film and I give him a resounding applause.

7- Isle of Dogs

This is the point in the list where things get tricky. Each end of year list has a unique challenge in putting it together. This year's list was very challenging with the middle section. The top two spots were locked in months ago, but each of the five movies that wound up from No. 3 to No. 7 are films that I seriously considered for the No. 3 spot. Half of the reason why I took so long to get this out is because I couldn't decide what the proper order should be. With no real fault of its own, "Isle of Dogs" ended up in the caboose of all that. The reasoning there has more to do with the strength of the movies ahead of it rather than "Isle of Dogs" falling short. This is Wes Anderson at his greatest with my personal favorite movie of his that I've seen thus far. Not only am I astounded with the amount of work that went into constructing this stop motion film, but Wes Anderson managed to take advantage of his cooky style to give us one of the more thought-provoking films of the year. This is not just a cute movie about cats vs. dogs. This is a deeply metaphorical film that has a lot to say about the current state of our society, especially in regards to the political travesty that is the United States at this current moment. It also gets kudos for being my favorite title of the year.

6- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

From the studio that brought us "The Emoji Movie," comes one of the best Spider-Man movies ever made? Yeah, that surprises me, too. Especially because I've been a huge Spider-Man fan since I was a kid and am also one of the few that will adamantly defend both "Amazing Spider-Man" films. Yet if it wasn't for "Spider-Man 2," this would completely take the cake. Even though I know a lot about Spider-Man, I'm most knowledgeable when it comes to Peter Parker. I didn't know much about Miles Morales. Like with "Crazy Rich Asians," I didn't love this solely because it's progressive, but because it was a progressive idea done well. I was completely captivated with this Miles Morales origin story. It was so packed with emotion that made for such a beautiful arc for a lot of characters, but especially Miles. Combine that with a brilliant plot that implements the multiverse, a comic book idea that I think is genius, and this is one heck of a movie that's quite the ride. Topping it all off is some of the best animation that I've seen as it seamlessly combines several different animation styles with each of the various Spider-Characters that are introduced. It's truly a marvel to behold that opens up so many different doors for Sony that I'm genuinely excited to explore.

5- Hereditary

Out of all of the movies on this list, "Hereditary" was the most difficult one to place. On repeat viewings, this is not a horror film that holds up quite as well as movies like "The Witch" and "The Babadook," two movies that I have watched almost countless times now as they get better with time. Once the shock value has worn off, there's legitimate things to nit-pick here. However, I still have to give this movie massive amounts of praise for being a horror film that completely messed me up. I've become pretty thick-skinned when it comes to horror. A monster jumping out of the corner or a sudden loud sound out of nowhere doesn't effect me at all. But the shock value of "Hereditary" is so strong that it made me cower in my seat for the whole run time, making for quite the theatrical experience. It's one of those movies that's tricky to talk about because I don't want to ruin the experience for those who haven't seen it, but the chemistry between all the members of this family is incredible, making this a devastating ride as their past comes back to haunt them, slowly tearing them apart. Toni Collette as the mother gives one of my favorite performances of the year, especially for an actress. Because of that, I'm legitimately upset that she got robbed of an Oscar nomination.

4- BlacKkKlansman

This movie is here because it is perhaps the most important movie of the year. It's the "Spotlight" of 2018, so to speak. It's not what you would call entertaining necessarily. But it's extremely informative. There were a lot of movies that addressed racism in 2018, but none of them did things as effectively as "BlacKkKlansman." Despite all the various political opinions around right now, I think we can all agree that the KKK is an evil organization. It was horrific to see a first person glance at just how despicable they were in the 70's, even though under their cowardly masks they were regular people like me and you. And it was fun seeing John David Washington and Adam Driver play this duo who pretended to be one man, resulting in a black police officer infiltrating the KKK and exposing them. But the kicker was the very end wherein Spike Lee held back no punches in showcasing that today's political atmosphere is no different than what it was back then. And that's when my jaw dropped so hard that it got close to hitting the floor. In fact, this movie is so brutally honest that I walked out of the theater thinking that Trump supporters are probably going to hate this movie. As an unashamedly loud Trump hater myself, that made me super happy. I hope the country paid attention.

3- Annihilation

Director Alex Garland is now two for two with his movies. His directorial debut, "Ex Machina," completely floored me. Even though the premise of man vs. technology had been done a thousand times, the way Garland constructed that film made it feel mesmerizing and fresh. And now with "Annihilation," he's given us a thinking man's sci-fi film that grabbed my attention from the very first scene and never let go. The movie leans very heavily on the visual effects and the score to keep you reeled in, which is an extremely effective tactic. The visual effects are some of the best of the year and the score is something that I've listened to so many times this year that it might be impossible to keep track. But those aren't the only things going in this movie's favor. This is a very layered film with so many themes to it that make this the type of film you can discuss with your friends for hours. In my extremely vague review that I wrote for the film back in February, I had a hard time giving it a score because I felt like I needed to give it time to marinate. Well, it's been nearly a year now and the movie still hasn't left my mind. So I feel like I can now comfortably call this movie a masterpiece. I own the movie and its going to be one that I will watch repeatedly for years to come.

2- Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Now that we've made it through the crazy web that was No. 3 through No. 7, all of which are very much interchangeable, it's time for the big two. The one-two punch that has been my runaway favorites to top this list since July. Obviously I kept my mind open for potential spoilers, but this year none came. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" is a movie that gave me such a powerful kick of adrenaline. In my mind, it's a perfectly constructed action film that can be watched over and over and never get old. Like "Mad Max: Fury Road," this is an action film that I'm going to be turning to many times over the years and I have a feeling that I'm going to be thoroughly entertained every single time. But the success of this individual film isn't the only reason why I loved this movie so much. I walked out of the theater with the feeling that I had witnessed something truly special as the "Mission: Impossible" franchise has achieved the pinnacle of cinematic success. The first movie debuted in 1996 and since then the franchise has only gotten better. And now 22 years later, the sixth movie in the franchise is the best one yet. And they didn't even have to reboot or recast since Tom Cruise found the fountain of youth. Thus this has to be considered one of the all-time great franchises.

1- Avengers: Infinity War

This might be the easiest No. 1 I've come up with on this blog as this has been practically pre-determined since April. And no, I'm not one of those comic book fans that still drools all over himself when he sees a superhero on the big screen. The novelty has worn off and I consistently am searching for an increase in quality. But "Infinity War" is the exact moment that the MCU has been building towards ever since they began. Thanos first appeared in the end credits scene of the original "Avengers" movie in 2012. Because of that, I went into this movie feeling that Marvel needed to do something different here. This movie needed stakes. It needed to be dark. It needed to be the "Empire Strikes Back" of the MCU. And Thanos needed to be the Darth Vader of this franchise. I wanted him to mop the floor with the Avengers because I knew this was only part one of this story. Quite frankly, I didn't think they could do it. I went in expecting to be disappointed. But instead I was beyond stunned by this film. Because they did it. And all I can do is sit back and marvel at this grand achievement. With all the build-up leading to a fantastic pre-finale, Marvel has made one of the best superhero films ever made. One that's probably only topped by "The Dark Knight."