Bad Times at the El Royale - A combination crime-thriller, retro-pile-up-of-conspiracy-theories and memory of the passing of the 1960s, this combines some great actors, great music and constantly twisting plot to make a film that kept me constantly delighted.
Blakklansman - I don't know whether this or "Do the Right Thing" is Spike Lee's best film, but I'm definitely glad he's playing at the top of his game in this clever bait-and-switch of a strange-but-true story about a black cop infiltrating the Klu Klux Klan - it plays right on the edge between drama and comedy before pulling the rug out ruthlessly to remind us that this isn't just history, this is a stain on the US that still holds true today.
Custody - A tense french thriller that builds and builds from what seems like a simple story of a father and son forced to be together on weekend custody into something far more insidious - a dense character study, and an examination of that thin line between love and destruction.
Isle of Dogs - Wes Anderson is, undoubtedly, a divisive figure, but for me the high styalisation is always matched by an equally strong emotional inner life to his stories as misfits struggle to find their place in the world. In this case it's the story of Bryan Cranston's Chief, a dog with very little time for humans who finds himself brought back into society despite his best intentions. It's visually lovely, plays nicely with its cross-cultural background (the world between the dogs and the humans) and it's more an act of love of Japanese culture than an insult or appropriation of it.
I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl's Story - This got a pretty tiny release despite being a great Australian-made documentary - looking at four different fangirls in four different eras through their fascinations with their respective idols - The Beatles, Take That, Backstreet Boys and One Direction. There's a warm heartedness here that allows the fangirl's passion to be fully explored from their own perspectives - and filming over multiple years allows us to see each of them have their relationship with their idols change and develop. It's a gently human documentary that has that great feeling of just watching life through a different perspective in a way that makes the heart feel larger.
See You Up There - This big French historical epic has heart and soul to go along with the incredible production design telling the story of two friends coming out of the final days of World War I and into the hedonistic 1920s - with a very personal sense of wit and whimsy that never lets the charm soften the rougher edges of the story. There's a dark story of loss and betrayal underneath that never gets lost even as the production design gets more and more beautiful - and there's great payoff at the end. Overlooked but spectacular.
The Shape of water - Yes, it's the year I think the Oscars actually got it right. Guillermo Del Toro's best english-language film and among his best overall, this is a romantic fairy tale with a bite and a twist to it, with an incredible cast (Richard Jenkins is my personal favourite for a performance that is full of heartbreak, but everybody is top of their game here). It's enchanting, scatological, somewhat insane, beautiful and adorable.
Sorry To Bother You - A knife-edged parody of corporate America, this is smart, savage, disturbing and brilliant. It's got a strong visual style that in some ways resembles Michel Gondry crossed with Karl Marx, and is provocative as hell. I loved it.
Upgrade - A great action movie that transforms as it progresses into an even better horror movie, this is an ever-escalating film that channels the feeling of pure pulp into a ruthless examination of the relationship between human and machine. Spectacular physicality, great twists and turns and a nice sense of ruthlessness make this a great watch.
Widows - This is a crime thriller on the level of LA Confidential or Heat, with a wonderfully stacked cast in a film that seems to have upset expectations by not having the expected female-bonding-and-light-caper-ness, but instead letting all the characters be spiky, tricky characters with their own independence and personal things to get through. It's emotional, political, thrilling and brutal when it needs to be, and I loved the hell out of it.
Honourable mentions go to a bunch of films that couldn't fit into the 10 but deserve a look anyway: Can You Ever Forgive Me, Climax, Halloween (2018) Hereditary, In the Fade, Lady Bird, Molly's Game, Three Identical Strangers, Shadow, A Simple Favour and Unsane.
And two that were streaming only releases that should be seen: Ballad of Buster Scruggs and The Night Comes For Us.
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