baumer Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 I thought I'd beat the rest of you to the punch. We all love reading lists and making lists. And since the summer season is now over I feel like it's prudent enough to make a list now. I realize there are two films left in the summer...one being KIN which I will probably never see and the other being Operation Finale, which I probably won't see until next week. So I think it's fair to say that I've seen just about everything in order to qualify them for this list. How do I choose the films for this list? Simple. Are they well made, entertaining and or films that I loved or liked. I'm not interested in films like Phantom Thread that are supposedly well made but boring as fuck. Bottom line is was I entertained or edified or better yet, both. 10) Den of Thieves: Gerard Butler returns in fine form as the leader of a shady tactical unit in charge of taking down the bad guys. He's a force to be reckoned with both as a character and as an actor in this film. O' Shea Jackson does his best Verbal Kint impression and director Christian Gudegast (son of iconic soap star Eric Braden) keeps everything tight and tense. You never really figure out what's going on until the end. This is a fantastic film that gets its inspiration from HEAT and other films of it's ilk. 9) Book Club: Hilarious from start to finish and 4 legendary actors in the lead roles. Then you add the male actors and this film has a cast to rival any film. Jane Fonda is the headliner here but it's Diane Keaton that steals the show. Her and Andy Garcia are terrific as two older people who find love with one another. It's funny to think that 28 years ago, Garcia was just starting out and Keaton played his aunt in Godfather III and now they are romantically linked in this film. It'as light, it's observant and it'll make you smile. 8] Ready Player One: Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, the Delorean, The Overlook Hotel, Batman, Superman, Chucky and so many more. They all make an appearance in this film and for this reason alone, it entertained the hell out of me. 7) Mission Impossible Fallout: Betrayal, face switching, plot changing, the movie contains more than a lot of similarities and tricks from previous MI movies. However it still told an amazing spy story, breathtaking scenes, HALO jump, chopper chasing; the building jump and other small scenes shows that Hunt can still do today what he did 10 years ago. I'm not sure if this is the best MI movie, but it's pretty close. 6) The Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1: A film that we know has a bullshit ending. But getting there was so much fun. Seeing Spider-man and Ironman and Dr. Strange and the Guardians all share screen time was just awesome. The year of Josh Brolin started with this movie. 5) Adrift: A film that starts off as part survival adventure, part Nicholas Sparks love story. At first I began to question why they made the choice to inter cut between the present and then the past...how they met, fell in love and ultimately accepted an offer to sail a boat from Tahiti to San Diego. But then near the end, it all comes together and if it wasn't hard enough watching the movie, fearing the worse for Richard, then the one small twist just destroyed me, left in puddles. Shaileen owns the movie. She's simply a rock. Her range of emotions are incredible and she has to carry the film most of the way. Claflin is good too but Woodley has much more to do. I love her performance and I really hope she gets a nomination this year. She's simply brilliant. 5B) Won't You be My Neighbor: Simply one of the best documentaries ever made. We should all strive to be more like Mr. rogers. The world would be a better place. 4) Unsane: Simply brilliant from start to finish and it genuinely left me feeling shaken and disturbed. I felt very similar to the way I felt when I watched the original Last House on the Left. It's a kind of thriller where you see what's going to happen in some instances and yet you pray that it doesn't. I simply love this film. I gave it a 9.5 out of ten....the only reason it didn't get a 10 is because of the ending. I was hoping we would have gotten maybe two minutes where they show how they find her after she's been Paul Sheldoned in the woods and she's crawling around for help. 3) Little Italy: A charming Canadian film about two young friends who have rekindled their potential relationship after 5 years apart. It takes place in Toronto and it stars Emma Roberts, Hayden Chrsitiansen, Danny Aiello and Andrea Martin. Funny, touching and endearing. I hope it finds a bigger platform for people to see it. 2) Upgrade: My second favourite movie of the year so far. And one of my all time faves already. An absolutely mind blowing action film, especially for the budget. Leigh Whannell has just become one of my favourite directors. This starts fast, stays fast and has one of the ballsiest endings. I just simply love this film. 1) Blackkklansman: The best film of the year for me so far. It educates and makes you laugh in some parts and then makes you cringe and feel ashamed at being a human being in other parts. My favourite part of the film, and perhaps the most harrowing section of the whole film is the juxtaposition of the two gatherings at the end. The Klan welcoming their new members and the planning of the bombing and them the black power gathering where Harry Belafonte tells the story of the young black man convicted of raping a white woman by an all white jury in less than 4 minutes. This story and the telling of it almost brought me to tears. Belafonte tells it in a calm manner, the complete opposite of the first speaker at the beginning of the movie. This scene is like the final fight in a Rocky movie or the final act in a Mission Impossible film. The whole film is building to this one moment and it's the crescendo. It shows how far we haven't come. This is a film that takes place in the 70's and yet it could be about events that happened yesterday. The leader of the "free world" comes off as racist, you have young and elderly black folk being gunned down by the police, you have rallies where racist inbreds are carrying confederate flags and so on. This movie takes place 40 years ago and yet we see a lot of the same stuff on the news today. The acting in this is top notch from everyone. John David Washington was simply hypnotic. He was funny yet serious, vulnerable yet strong and just made me forget his was an actor playing a role. Adam driver was his normal terrific self and even the smaller roles from actors like Topher Grace and Michel Buscemi were very well played. I think this would have been a hard film to make for an actor, I really do. Some of the lines that they had to recite would have been difficult to say but credit all the actors and of course director Spike Lee for getting it all out of them. As for Spike, he is hit and miss for me. He's done some brilliant films like Malcolm X and do the Right Thing and he's had some that just didn't connect with me. I'm not sure if this is his best because Malcolm X is in my top 100 but it certainly is in the same conversation. I hope this is mentioned at the end of the year when it comes to Oscar. It's a topical film and one that should be seen by everyone, at least in North America. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stingray Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 My faves: 1 Hereditary 2 You Were Never Really Here 3 Annihilation 4 First Reformed 5 Upgrade 6 Unsane 7 The Strangers: Prey at Night 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 BlacKkKlansman is definitely my favorite film of the year so far as well. What an excellently made film. It better not be shoved out of the awards season circuit. 1. BlacKkKlansman 2. Won't You Be My Neighbor? 3. Hereditary 4. Mission: Impossible - Fallout 5. Avengers: Infinity War 6. Eighth Grade 7. Sorry to Bother You 8. Love, Simon 9. Incredibles 2 10. A Quiet Place 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baumer Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 I didn't mean to leave off Won't You Be My Neighbor. That is definitely in my top ten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fancyarcher Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 Nice list. Seeing Blackkklansman over the weekend. Looking forward to it. Every reliable source I know says it's all great. I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed Book Club, it's really sweet and funny 1. Won't You Be My Neighbor? 2. Upgrade 3. Avengers: Infinity War 4. Black Panther 5. The Incredibles 2 6. Hereditary 7. The Rider 8. Annihilation 9. Mission Impossible: Fallout 10. Ready Player One Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daxtreme Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 Haven't seen Upgrade yet would you recommend it for the fights baumer? (of course it's not the only thing I'm looking for but you know!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baumer Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Yes!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Good List! Mine are: 1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? 2. Love, Simon 3. Black Panther 4. Avengers: Infinity War (Best Ending Ever 😘) 5. Blockers 6. Ocean’s Eight 7. Crazy Rich Asians 8. Ant-Man and The Wasp 9. RBG 10. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
