The Best Films of 2018

My 2018 Ballot for The Georgia Film Critics Association:
(composed December 2018)
Georgia critics' WINNERS HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD TYPE

Best Picture
1. A STAR IS BORN (US, Bradley Cooper)
2. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (US, Barry Jenkins)
3. FIRST REFORMED (US, Paul Schrader)
4. VICE (US, Adam McKay)
5. LEAVE NO TRACE (US, Debra Granik)
6. ON CHESIL BEACH (UK, Dominic Cooke)
7. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (US, Morgan Neville)
8. ROMA (Mexico, Alfonso Cuaron)
9. EIGHTH GRADE (US, Bo Burnham)
10. HEREDITARY (US, Ari Aster)

Best Director
1. Bradley Cooper, A STAR IS BORN
2. Alfonso Cuaron, ROMA
3. Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
4. Adam McKay, VICE
5. Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE
6. Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
7. Lynne Ramsay, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
8. Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED
9. Spike Lee, BLACKKKLANSMAN 
10. Ari Aster, HEREDITARY

Best Actor
1. Christian Bale, VICE
2. Rami Malek, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
3. Joaquin Phoenix, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
4. Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
5. Bradley Cooper, A STAR IS BORN
6. Clint Eastwood, THE MULE
7. Stephan James, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
8. Steve Buscemi, THE DEATH OF STALIN
9. Willem Dafoe, AT ETERNITY'S GATE
10. Ben Foster, LEAVE NO TRACE

Best Actress
1 Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN
2. Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
3. Regina Hall, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
4. Saoirse Ronan, ON CHESIL BEACH
5. Toni Collette, HEREDITARY
6. Juliette Binoche, LET THE SUNSHINE IN
7. Kiki Layne, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
8. Carey Mulligan, WILDLIFE
9. Amandla Stenberg, THE HATE U GIVE
10. Eva Melander, BORDER

Best Supporting Actor
1. Sam Elliott, A STAR IS BORN
2. Mahershala Ali, GREEN BOOK
3. Sam Rockwell, VICE
4. Cedric Antonio Kyles, FIRST REFORMED
5. Josh Hamilton, EIGHTH GRADE
6. Steve Carrell, VICE
7. Colman Domingo, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
8. Casey Affleck, THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN
9. Bill Camp, WILDLIFE
10. Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN

Best Supporting Actress
1. Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
2. Rachel Weisz, THE FAVOURITE
3. Emma Stone, THE FAVOURITE
4. Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
5. Amanda Seyfried, FIRST REFORMED
6. Alia Shawkat, BLAZE
7. Amy Adams, VICE
8. Ann Dowd, HEREDITARY
9. Andrea Riseborough, THE DEATH OF STALIN
10. Haley Lu Richardson, SUPPORT THE GIRLS

Best Original Screenplay
1. Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED
2. Alfonso Cuaron, ROMA
3. Adam McKay, VICE
4. Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
5. Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, and John Krasinski, A QUIET PLACE
6. Andrew Bujalski, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
7. Ari Aster, HEREDITARY
8. Jonah Hill, MID90s
9. Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes, GREEN BOOK
10. Nicole Holofcener, THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
2. Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini, LEAVE NO TRACE
3. Audrey Wells, THE HATE U GIVE
4. Ian McEwan, ON CHESIL BEACH
5. Ali Abasi, Isabella Eklof, and John Ajvide Lindqvist, BORDER
6. Spike Lee, David Rabinowicz, Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel, BLACKKKLANSMAN
7. Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain, THE SISTERS BROTHERS
8. Armando Ianucci, David Schnieder, Ian Marin, Peter Fellows, THE DEATH OF STALIN
9. Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth, and Will Fetters, A STAR IS BORN
10. Brett Haley and Jim Shepard, AND THEN I GO

Best Cinematography
1. Alfonso Cuaron, ROMA
2. James Laxton, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
3. Matthew Libatique, A STAR IS BORN
4. Michael McDonough, LEAVE NO TRACE
5. Alexander Dynan, FIRST REFORMED
6. Benoit Debie, THE SISTERS BROTHERS
7. Joe Anderson, THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN
8. Diego Garcia, WILDLIFE
9. Pawel Pogorzelski, HEREDITARY
10. Robbie Ryan, THE FAVOURITE

Best Production Design
1. Black Panther
2. A Star is Born
3. If Beale Street Could Talk
4. The Sisters Brothers
5. Bohemian Rhapsody 
6. Wildlife
7. Hereditary
8. Beautiful Boy
9. The Favourite
10. At Eternity's Gate

Best Original Score
1. Daniel Hart, THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN
2. Nicholas Britell, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
3. Alexandre Desplat, THE SISTERS BROTHERS
4. Marco Beltrami, A QUIET PLACE
5 Terrence Blanchard, BLACKKKLANSMAN6. 
6. Colin Stetson, HEREDITARY.
7. Luther Goransson, BLACK PANTHER
8. Alexandre Desplat, ISLE OF DOGS. 
9. Jason Hurwitz, FIRST MAN

Best Original Song
1. "The Shallow" from A STAR IS BORN (Music and lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt
2. "Maybe It's Time" from A STAR IS BORN (Music and lyrics by Jason Isbell) 
3. "Always Remember Us This Way" from A STAR IS BORN (Music and lyrics by Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsay, and Lori McKenna) 
4. "I'll Never Love Again" from A STAR IS BORN (Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsay, and Aaron Rasitiere) 
5. "Suspirium” from SUSPIRIA (Music and lyrics by Thom Yorke)
6. "The Big Unknown" from WIDOWS (Music and lyrics by Sade) 
7. "Is That Alright" from A STAR IS BORN (Music and lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, Paul Blair, Lucas Nelson, and Aaron Raitiere) 
8. "We Won't Move" from THE HATE U GIVE (Music and lyrics by Jessica Karpov, Arlissa, Kevin White, and Mike Woods) 
9. "Girl in the Movies" from DUMPLIN' (Music and lyrics by Dolly Parton) 
10. "A Place Called Slaughter Race” from RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (Music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Phil Johnston and Tom MacDougall

Best Documentary Feature
1. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (US, Morgan Neville)
2. THE KING (US, Eugene Jarecki)
3. FILMWORKER (US, Tony Zierra)
4. DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES (US, Alexis Bloom)
5. SCIENCE FAIR (US, Christina Constantini and Derren Foster)
6. HAL (US, Amy Scott)
7. LOVE GILDA (US, Lisa Dapoliri)
8. DARK MONEY (US, Kimberly Reed)
9. THEY'LL LOVE ME WHEN I'M DEAD (US, Morgan Neville) 
10. THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (US/New Zealand, Peter Jackson) 

Best Foreign Language Film
1. ROMA (Mexico, Alfonso Cuaron) 
2. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (France, Claire Denis) 
3. SHOPLIFTERS (Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda)
4. 22 JULY (UK/Iceland, Paul Greengrass)
5. BORDER (Sweden, Ali Abasi)
6. COLD WAR (Poland, Pawel Pawelkowski)
(I wish I could mention more titles but there are fewer and fewer non-English-language films making it to American screens, sad to say)

Best Animated Feature
1. RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (US, Phil Johnson and Rich Moore)
2. ISLE OF DOGS (US, Wes Anderson)
3. EARLY MAN (UK, Nick Park) 
4. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (US, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman

Best Ensemble
1. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Aunjanue Ellis, Michael Beach, Ebony Obsidian, Dominique Thorne, Bryan Tyree Henry, Dave Franco) 
2. VICE (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemons, Allison Pill, Bill Camp, Eddie Marsan, Lily Rabe, Lisa Gay Hamilton) 
3. FIRST REFORMED (Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Antonio Kyles, Victoria Hill, 
4. THE DEATH OF STALIN (Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Michael Palin, Jeffery Tambor, Andrea Riseborough, Paddy Considine, Olga Kurylenko) 
5. A STAR IS BORN (Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Rafi Gavron, Anthony Ramon, Ron Rifkin)
6. SUPPORT THE GIRLS (Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, Dylan Gelula, Zoe Graham, Ann McCasky, Elizabeth Trieu, Krista Hayes, James Le Gros)
7. LEAVE NO TRACE (Ben Foster, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Dale Dickey, Dana Millican, Jeff Kober).
8, WILDLIFE (Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Camp, Ed Oxenbould)
9. 22 JULY (Entire cast)
10. ROMA (Entire cast) 
WINNER: THE FAVOURITE

Breakthrough Award
1. Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE (actor)
2. Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN (actor)
3. Kiki Layne,  IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (actor) 
4. Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE (actor)
5. Amandla Stenberg, THE HATE U GIVE (actor)
6. Ari Aster. HEREDITARY (writer/director)
7. Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE (writer/director)
8. Dominic Cooke, ON CHESIL BEACH (director)
9. Jonah Hill, MID90s (writer/director)
10. Arman Darbo, AND THEN I GO (actor)

The Oglethorpe Award
for Excellence in Georgia Cinema
1. THE HATE U GIVE
2. POOR JANE (Dir: Katie Orr)
3. BLACK PANTHER
4. Burt Reynolds (special award)


My 40 BEST of 2018: 

1 A STAR IS BORN (US, Bradley Cooper)

2. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (US, Barry Jenkins)



3. FIRST REFORMED (US, Paul Schrader)

4. VICE (US, Adam McKay)

5. LEAVE NO TRACE (US, Debra Granik)

6. ON CHESIL BEACH (UK, Dominic Cooke)

7. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (US, Morgan Neville)

8. EIGHTH GRADE (US, Bo Burnham)

9. ROMA (Mexico, Alfonso Cuaron)

10. HEREDITARY (US, Ari Aster)

11. THE KING (US, Eugene Jarecki)

12. THE HATE U GIVE (US, George Tillaman Jr.)

13. FILMWORKER (US/UK, Tony Zierra)

14. BLACKKKLANSMAN (US, Spike Lee)

15. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (UK, Lynne Ramsay)

16. THE MULE (US, Clint Eastwood)

17. SHOPLIFTERS (Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

18. THE DEATH OF STALIN (UK, Armando Ianucci)

19. SUPPORT THE GIRLS (US, Andrew Bujalski)

20. 22 JULY (UK/Norway, Paul Greengrass)

21. BORDER (Sweden, Ali Abasi)

22. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (France, Claire Denis)

23. MID90s (US, Jonah Hill)

24. AND THEN I GO (US, Vincent Grashaw)

25. THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS (US, Nicole Holofcener)

26. THE SISTERS BROTHERS (US/France, Jacques Audiard)

27. DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES (US, Alexis Bloom)

28. LOVE GILDA (US, Lisa Dapolito)

29. SCIENCE FAIR (US, Christina Constantini and Darren Foster)
    

30.     WILDLIFE (US, Paul Dano)

31.   BLINDSPOTTING (US, Carlos Lopez Estrada)

32. HAL (US, Amy Scott)

33. A QUIET PLACE (US, John Krasinski)

34. GAME NIGHT (US, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein)

35. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (US, Bryan Singer)

36. 1/1 (US, Jeremy Phillips

37.     BLAZE (US, Ethan Hawke)

  38. THEY'LL LOVE ME WHEN I'M DEAD (US, Morgan Neville)

39.   THE FAVOURITE (US/UK/Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos)

40. DARK MONEY (US, Kimberly Reed)

OF NOTE: Poor Jane, Farenheit 11/8, Private Life, The Old Man and The Gun, Boy Erased, What They Had, Ben is Back, Ready Player One, Dina, The Polka King, The Bleeding Edge, Nancy, They Shall Not Grow Old

OKAY: Swing State, Flower, Itzhak, Prison Logic, Anything, Book Club, The Seagull, Kodachrome, Incredibles 2, The Bookshop, Don't Worry He Won't Get Far on Foot, Scotty and The Secret History of Hollywood, 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie, Widows, Disobedience, Three Identical Strangers, Free Solo, Under the Tree, Seeing Allred, Creed II, The Last Movie Star, Still, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Mary Queen of Scots

BLAH: Mom and Dad, Unsane, In This Gray Place, First Man, The Wife, Sorry to Bother You, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Isle of Dogs, The Ballad of Buster Skruggs, Crazy Rich Asians, Colette, Dumplin', The Kindergarten Teacher, Roxanne Roxanne, The Catcher Was a Spy

WORST: Krystal, Lean on Pete, Summer 1993, Destroyer, Tigre  93

SHORT FILMS: To Pluto, Cells, Broke, Nevada

DISCOVERED (the best pre-2018 movies I saw for the first time this year):

Le Trou (France, 1960, Jacques Becker)



Samsara (US/China, 2011, Ron Fricke)

Farewell My Lovely (US, 1975, Dick Richards) 

The Edge of the World (UK, 1937, Michael Powell)

Bloody Sunday (UK/Northern Ireland, 2002, Paul Greengrass)

Jindabyne (Australia, 2006, Ray Lawrence) 

Eat a Bowl of Tea (US, 1989, Wayne Wang)

The Gunfighter (US, 1950, Henry King)

The Devils (UK, 1971, Ken Russell)

The Solid Gold Cadillac (US, 1956, Richard Quine)

Lad: A Yorkshire Story (UK, 2013, Dan Hartley)

Colossus: The Forbin Project (US, 1970, Joseph Sargent)

The Paperboy (US, 2012, Lee Daniels) 

Black Dynamite (US, 2009, Scott Sanders)

Novitiate (US, 2017, Maggie Betts)

Friends (UK, 1971, Lewis Gilbert)

The Big Sleep (UK, 1978, Michael Winner)

Into the Night (US, 1985, John Landis)

Piranha (US, 1978, Joe Dante)

Snatch (UK, 2000, Guy Richie)

Mr. Brooks (US, 2007, Bruce A. Evans)

Chicken Ranch (UK/US, 1983, Nick Broomfield and Sandi Sissel)

Hombre (US, 1967, Martin Ritt) 

The Racket (US, 1951, John Cromwell)

Homicidal (US, 1961, William Castle)

The Crater Lake Monster (US, 1977, William R. Stromberg)

Hidden in America (US, 1996, Martin Bell)

The Most Dangerous Game (US, 1932, Ernest B. Schoedsack)

Zandy's Bride (US/Sweden, 1974, Jan Troell)

The Sterile Cuckoo (US, 1969, Alan J. Pakula)

The Browning Version (UK, 1988, Mike Figgis)

The Atlantan (US, 2015, Andrew Treglia)

Wrong is Right (US, 1982, Richard Brooks)

Sad Vacation (US, 2016, Danny Garcia)


MORE FINE MOVIES FROM THE PAST: Vigilante, Cromwell, Who Are You People?, The Actress, The Lawless (1950), Gilbert, Malibu Beach, The Van, The Last American Hero, Songwriter, Being Awesome, Heckler, Religulous, Thursday's Game (Gene Wilder), The Sons of Katie Elder, Galaxy of Terror, The Being, Tension, Where Danger Lives, Act of Love (Ron Howard), Cavedweller, Winter Kills, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Creeping Garden, David Lynch: The Art Life, Dear Mr. Wonderful, 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, What Doesn't Kill You, Without Warning: The James Brady Story, Management, Perfect Bid, The Prisoner (Alec Guinness), No Surrender, The Greatest 67

BLAH FROM THE PAST: Bridge to the Sun, Capricorn One, The Phantom Creeps. Dirty Shield, Bandolero!, Sunlight Jr., The Deadly Affair, The Beach Girls, Click, ...tick...tick...tick..., Toys in the Attic, Sweet Bird of Youth, Firecreek, Random Harvest, Cannery Row, The Cassandra Crossing, The War Between Men and Women, Dreamer, Eye for an Eye (Sally Field), The Thing Called Love, Milk Money, With Friends Like These, The Alien Factor, The Reluctant Astronaut, The Two Jakes, Blood Salvage, The Five Heartbeats, Nickelodeon, Dead of Winter, A Wedding, The Donner Party, Takers (my last Netflix movie) 25

REDISCOVERED: The Dead, Dunkirk, The 400 Blows, Paths of Glory (4 times), mother!, Brawl in Cell Block 99, The Master, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Paper Moon (4 times), Kedi, Sweet Smell of Success, Altered States, Harry and Tonto, Real Life, Written on the Wind, Wait Until Dark, Night Moves, Day of the Outlaw, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Children's Hour, Million Dollar Baby, Macbeth, The Pianist, Kagemusha, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, The Slender Thread, Prince of the City, The Godfather Part II, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, A Fish Called Wanda, MASH, Amadeus, Running on Empty, Seems Like Old Times, The Loved One, The Piano Teacher, A Separation, An Officer and a Gentleman, Dog Day Afternoon, The Good The Bad and the Ugly, The Verdict, The Poseidon Adventure, Between the Lines, Megan Leavey, Birdman of Alcatraz, Stop Making Sense (3 times), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!, Freaks and Geeks, Logan's Run, Marathon Man, The Elephant Man, The Big Combo, The Changeling, Life Stinks, Murder on the Orient Express (74), Laserblast, Dark Star, Kentucky Fried Movie, Sharky's Machine, Some Kind of Hero, Best Friends, Testament, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Muppet Movie, Judgment at Nuremberg, Sid and Nancy, Paper Moon, The Longest Yard (74), Our Town (77), Missing, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, HEAD, The Jerk, A Passage to India, Little Children, Moonlight, The Graduate, Inside Moves, Psycho, Stardust Memories, Walk the Line, Three Amigos, Aloha Bobby and Rose, Yellow Submarine, Woody Allen: A Documentary, Barbarosa, Tales from the Crypt, The Cowboys, High Plains Drifter, An Unmarried Woman, Who'll Stop the Rain?, The Amityville Horror, Raging Bull, Lover Come Back, P'tang Yang Kipperbang, Outland, The Escape Artist, Smash Palace, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Naked Spur, The In-Laws (79), Kiss Me Deadly, Big Top Pee Wee, Thirteen Days, In The Heat of the Night, Jacob's Ladder, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78), The Great Escape, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Chopping Mall. The Hoodlum Priest, No Time for Sergeants, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Hope and Glory, Soylent Green, Old Enough, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, The Apartment, Going in Style (79), Deliverance, Nashville, I Remember Mama, 12 Angry Men (57) (twice), Jason and the Argonauts, The Straight Story, Happy New Year, Bunny Lake is Missing, Gideon's Trumpet, Lenny, Star 80, Network, Heart Like a Wheel, The Omega Man, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, Fame, Klute, The Illusionist, Westworld (73), The Man Who Would Be King, Q The Winged Serpent, The Lion Who Thought He Was People, Creator, Charlotte's Web, Donnie Darko, Find Me Guilty, Elephant (89), Old Enough, The Man Who Loved Women (83), Hair, Monster's Ball, Limbo, Ragtime (3 times), City of Hope, I Never Sang for My Father, A Star is Born (37), Election, Full Metal Jacket, Trees Lounge, Five, The Stepford Wives (75), The Score, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78), All That Heaven Allows, Cool Hand Luke, Margin Call, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, A Little Romance, Stop Making Sense (4 times), My Favorite Year, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Party Girl, 2 Days in the Valley, All That Jazz 190

GREAT TV: Review, The End of the Fucking World, Crashing, Our Cartoon President, Waco, Real Time with Bill Maher, Masterchef Australia, The Americans, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Black Books, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Andy Griffith Show, Gidget (tv), Gleason (tv film), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Corner Gas (Canadian tv), The Prisoner (UK TV), Appropriate Adult (UK TV), The Paper Chase (TV, 1st and 2nd seasons), The Honeymooners (1st season), MASH (TV),

BLAH TV: A Tale of Two Coreys, Mosaic, Cobra Kai (Karate Kid web series),

STARTED BUT DIDN'T FINISH: Steelyard Blues, Plunder Road, The Pumpkin Eater, The Film Critic, Gravity, Violent Playground, Gay Purr-ee, Le Doulos, The Parallax View, Anne of the Thousand Days, Young Winston, The Attack, Mississippi Burning, Possessed (Joan Crawford), The Congress, Carny, The Entity, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Trailer Made, Johnny Tough, Go For It, Who Killed the British Film Industry?, Wild Rovers, Robot Carnival, Los Olvidados. Bobby Deerfield, Love Jones, 10 Rillington Place, The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell, It Happened to Jane, 3, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Other Side of the Wind, The Private Eyes, Pornocracy, Ismael's Ghost, Slab Boys, Atlas Shrugged, Movie Movie, Chatterbox, The Humbling, Belladonna of Sadness, Hollywood Shuffle, Support Your Local Sherriff, The House That Jack Built

ROUGHLY 420 FILMS WATCHED AND REVIEWED THIS YEAR