Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Top 10 of 2018

With another year over, it is time to reflect on my personal top 10 of the year. Keep in mind, this list does not reflect what everyone is thinking, but is my own favorites, and also I have not seen everything this year, so with all that in mind, let’s get started.

10. Searching – Picking the number 10 was really hard, as there are so many great movies I saw that could go here, but I decided to go with this movie. We have had found footage movies for a long time, and there are some that were well done and entertaining and intriguing to watch. However, I haven’t really had any that had an emotional impact on me, until this one. How this movie was crafted and put together, I was drawn in on the mystery of the movie and at those moments I thought I had it figured out, I learned I didn’t and it kept me on my toes. I won’t reveal the reveals at the end, but this movie left me satisfied.

9. First Man – For the longest time, I enjoyed movies that deal with space travel, even the ones that were super cheesy. This was on my radar because of the director and because of the subject matter. I am not familiar with the struggles of getting to the moon, except for the fact that they did make it to the moon. It was very intriguing to see the struggles on what it took to get there, including an aspect that I just didn’t think about beforehand, and that is the families that had to sit there wondering if their husbands would survive the trip. It really kept me interested, and I also got to see this on IMAX and when they make it to the moon, it was really breathtaking. Also, when I got home, I ended up watching Apollo 13.

8. Bumblebee – I was done with the Transformers movies after The Last Knight, I am certain others were done way before that though. When I first heard of the Bumblebee spinoff, I didn’t think too much about it, except it might be nice. However, once I learned who the director was, my intrigue grew. I was really surprised by the movie we got when I got to see it, the phrase I kept using was this movie had heart, and it really did, you really cared about the characters, and you could see Bumblebee’s emotional responses and could really feel for him. This was a big shock compared to the other ones. The action in the first 10 minutes is excellent, and in my opinion, along with the opinions of others, is the best in the series. But also, it took everything and simplified it and really gave us a story that mattered. Yes, there are similarities to ET and The Iron Giant, but I was really invested and really liked the movie a lot. It also had a great sountrack.

7. Ralph Breaks the Internet – This was a highly anticipated movie for me, and I was wondering if this would deliver. This delivered in a different way than I was anticipating, so this didn’t have the video game characters that I would have liked, but it did have great jokes in regards to the internet and how it’s used these days, and it also gave a great story and really focused on the development of the main characters. I was really surprised at the direction these characters went, and just how complicated things can get. Yes, a lot of the things in regards to the internet will more likely be out of date in the coming years, but the aspects of friendship that are presented in this move will not.

6. Won’t You Be My Neighbor – I kept hearing about this movie so I decided to check it out and see how it is. I was really surprised, I remember watching aspects of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, but I don’t remember too much beyond that, but watching this documentary made me appreciate the person that he was and the positive interactions that he strived to make with the children around him. This gave us a great perspective on the goals of the man and his show, if there came times I didn’t think much about his decisions when making the show, I would just reflect on this movie and realize what he was striving to do and doing very simple things that made the difference for all who would tune in and watch the show.

5. A Quiet Place – One of the more original movies of the year, A Quiet Place deals with monsters on Earth that are able to find people through sounds, and so this family learns to survive by staying very quiet, they learn to sign and they learn to be very quiet to avoid making any sound whatsoever. I am not someone that likes to go to horror movies, but this one I chose to make an exception because I was hearing very good things. The experience of being in the theater was very interesting, and it was a pretty busy theater, but within the first 15 minutes, when the family was getting around, you could hear the audience attempting to be very quiet, and that included trying not to make loud noises with their food or how they eat. This was a unique movie in the story it told and how it presented itself, and I found many cool things even after my first viewing.

4. Paddington 2 – Back in 2015, we were treated to a family movie called Paddington that I had no desire to see but then it got good reviews and so I decided to go see it, and I was really surprised by it. A sequel came out early in 2018, and I thought it wouldn’t reach the heights of the first as it was years since I saw it, and wow was I wrong. This movie was a great movie and I was spending time trying to recommend this movie to people as it featured so much good. Let me explain by what I mean by so much good, the main character attempts to find the good in those around him and attempts to try to do good that essentially brings out the good in others, how the small acts of an individual can make a difference in the community and how being there for those you love can bring people together and help do good for those in return, to see good happen to everyone in this movie. This is a family movie I strongly recommend checking out.

3. Mission Impossible Fallout – Just when you think that a sixth entry couldn’t be amazing, we are treated with Mission Impossible Fallout. The first trailer caught my attention in February and I knew I wanted to see it on the biggest screen possible, and then I was surprised to find myself really invested in the movie. First off the attempt to do the action sequences on location instead of green screen, where we are taken for these action set pieces is mind-blowing, and the cinematography was just stunning. Not only that, but it felt like the story was very intriguing, yes the action is the main focus here but I felt they tried to give us a good story and characters that you are drawn in on what happens. This was so much fun to watch and I continue to enjoy watching it.

2. Spider Man Into The Spiderverse – This is the Spider Man movie I didn’t know I wanted. The first teaser debuted in December of 2017 and I knew I wanted to see it, I didn’t know if it would hold up beyond the visuals, and I am glad to say that it totally it. Not only does it feature the most stunning and unique animation, it also features a great story and characters where you are really invested on what will happen to the characters and how they will make it out. There are so many different versions of Spider Man that you think it would collapse on itself, but it doesn’t even do that, every character’s involvement plays a role and makes the experience more rewarding, in fact, you will want to see their own movies afterwards, even Spider Ham. This is the most unique movie I have seen in a while, and I heard they spent time trying to get the animation right so it could look as great as it did, and I am so glad they spent that time trying to get the look right, I hope to see more of this kind of movie in the future.

1. Avengers Infinity War – This was my most anticipated movie of the summer and it just blew me out of the water, and it features the most gut punching ending that you would expect. That ending is the reason why Avengers Endgame is the most anticipated movie of 2019, but with all that aside, this movie earns my top spot for my personal top 10 for so much more. First off, the amount of characters in this movie, everyone’s favorite heroes (except for Ant Man and Hawkeye) play a role in this movie, from big to small, and seeing everyone come together from different franchises was just awesome, Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy working together was great, and even the little moments where Rocket approaches Bucky about the arm, just how everything is balanced in such a big epic movie is amazing and well worth the price of admission. As well, this movie features a very compelling villain, Thanos, who steals the show whenever he is on screen. The technology that aids the storytelling has come along so far and it’s amazing to see the payoff here. It’s awesome to think where we were 10 years ago with the MCU and now where we are at, this movie is one big payoff. Can’t wait to see how Avengers Endgame wraps everything up.

That is my personal top 10 of 2018, I hope that you enjoyed, and I look forward to sharing more with you in 2019.

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