2018 Top Ten

10. You Were Never Really Here. The comparisons with Taxi Driver are obvious, Except Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is good at violence. He tries to do the right thing but is haunted with what he has seen. The violence is staged by director Lynne Ramsey in a way which gives no pleasure to the viewer. Kinda like in Taxi Driver.

9. The Hate U Give. Not just for Amandla Stenberg's star quality performance, but how the film so deftly shows how some African Americans have to nullify their attitudes to be accepted in a white dominated society.

8. A Quiet Place. Nothing intellectual here, just an acknowledgement that the theatrical experience was truly memorable. The creatures in the movie respond to sound, and you could hear a pin drop in the theater as no one wanted to make a sound.

7. Phantom Thread. Director Paul Thomas Anderson is an acquired taste, but he intrigues me every time. I was enraptured by his portrayal of a rigidly ordered man (Daniel Day Lewis) whose order collapses under the weight of his marriage.

6. Hearts Beat Loud. Just pure joy. Nick Offerman plays a record store owner who enjoys playing music with his daughter. Kiersey Clemons as the daughter is the discovery here, and the music is genuinely fun as well.

5. Leave No Trace. Director Debra Granik is best known for directing Winter's Bone, which was nominated for four Oscars. I think this is better. The portrayal of a father and daughter who live off the grid had an emotional pull that Winter's Bone did not quite achieve, and performances by Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie which pulled me in to the film.

4. Free Solo. The story of the first climb of a 3300 foot rock face in Yosemite with no safety equipment. The film is brilliant in getting the viewer to get to know the climber, Alex Honnold, and the climb, so that in the end when he makes the climb was more intense than any fictional action scene in years.

3. Won't You Be My Neighbor. If you love Mr. Rogers, this documentary of his life and philosophy will remind you why. You will need tissues.

2. A Star Is Born. The great showbiz tragedy with more life than I imagined. Holds up next to the 1937 and 1954 versions, which is saying a lot. You will need tissues.

1. Roma. It feels like an Italian neorealist classic. But there is amazing invisible use of effects to recreate 1970 Mexico City. The other films on this list are incredible. This is the one stone cold masterpiece. I have loved director Alfonso Cuaron's films before -- both Gravity and A Little Princess topped my lists of those years. Cuaron is at the absolute top of his game here, and at a level few directors ever reach.

2018 Top Ten (runners up)

Time to unveil my annual list of the best movies. As usual, my list is made up of movies which opened theatrically in 2018 in Columbus or Dayton. While all of this year's Oscar nominated best pictures actually opened in 2018, If Beale Street Could Talk and Cold War did not and will be eligible next year. Meanwhile, a Best Picture nominee and an Oscar winner from 2017 will be mentioned. Before listing my top ten, here are ten runners-up that just missed.

Annihilation. A truly unnerving film that takes its science fiction seriously.

BlacKkKlansman. Spike Lee delivers his best film since 4 Little Girls.

Black Panther. Marvel's best film to date.

Deadpool 2. The skydiving sequence was the loudest I laughed all year.

Eighth Grade. There is a reason this won the writers guild award for original screenplay.

A Fantastic Woman. Last year's Oscar winner for foreign film is the best treatment of transgenderism I have ever seen.

Juliet, Naked. I am a sucker for Nick Hornby's writing, and his continued look at men who haven't  quite grown up.

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Mission Impossible -- Fallout. The last 45 minutes were the best sustained action of the year.

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. Endlessly original and witty, Oscar got animated feature correct.

Three Identical Strangers. The most unique story in a documentary this year.