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Water Bottle's Top 25 Movies of the Year and Other Awards (2018)

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After matching last year's 70 movies seen, I am ready to announce my top 25 of the year.

 

I will also do the following pop culture honors:

Best TV Drama

Best TV Comedy

Best Computer Game

Best Xbox One Game

Best Nintendo Switch Game

Best Nintendo 3DS Game

Best PS4 Game

Honorable Mentions

Worst Movies

Most Anticipated 2019 Blockbuster

 

Will your favorite movies make it on my list? Who knows!?

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8 hours ago, Slambros said:

The Equalizer 2 is underrated. I thought it was very well done. Ashton Sanders is a talent; he deserves good roles in the future.

 

The big problem with the movie is that it promises an epic action set piece in the end with the hurricane but because of budget reasons, they couldn't deliver. So it's kind of underwhelming lol. But otherwise Denzel is pretty good, the script is solid, and it's pretty entertaining. The car action scene remains a highlight for the whole year.

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Best PS4 Game

 

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God of War

 

I have yet to beat God of War despite owning the game since launch. This is primarily because when I finally gave myself the time to spend it playing, I got so engrossed into the universe I just had to go back to the original games and go through them first. I still feel comfortable giving this game that award: the gameplay works well, the visuals are amazing, the writing has been rock solid. This new God of War game hopefully launches a new trilogy that can keep expanding what works really well in this game.

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Most Anticipated 2019 Blockbuster

 

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Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

 

Wait a minute a live-action high budget Pokemon movie that looks good!? The video game it's based on has a decent story but I love how it made the world come alive. I mean, really, I'm such a big Pokemon fan I still play the video game on a consistent basis to this day. I even recently completed the Pokedex on Gen I on the Virtual Console on my Nintendo 3DS! Finally, a new movie big-budget IP launched in the 2010s? I guess better late than never.  

 

 

Other Contenders: Endgame, It: Chapter Two, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Star Wars Episode 9

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Best Nintendo 3DS Game

 

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Pokemon Crystal

 

I really should retire this award since did the 3DS actually have a new game this year? Nonetheless, Pokemon Crystal actually came out for the Virtual Console in 2018 and it's such an amazing game, why not give it an award? It expands further on the additions of Silver/Gold in many ways (growing the story, battle tower, letting you pick gender) but the best part of the Virtual Console remake?  You can get the GS ticket to get a Celebi with every copy. That's a rare chance to catch a Mythical Pokemon.

 

Next up will be the top 5 worst movies of 2018. There's two comic book movies on there. So maybe that will generate some controversy. Or not.

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The Worst 5 Movies of the Year

 

#5

 

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A Wrinkle in Time

 

What can I say? Its bad acting was more reminiscent of a terrible '90s kids movies than a 2018 modern day blockbuster. It needed more Chris Pine but even he couldn't save this movie. It was just one big mess and while it has a really good message, who cares when the movie is just so unbearably bad? I like the book series but I wonder if it's just one of those novels where it's better in the reader's head than on the big screen. 

 

#4

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Venom

 

Come for Tom Hardy acting in a completely different movie than everyone else but stay...for what? Generic action scenes? A predictable story? A villain turned anti-hero? The only reason this movie is worth checking out is that any movie Tom Hardy is casted in is worth checking out. But it has nothing else to offer. I mean, really, it's like a bad Deadpool. I really wanted to like this movie but I left the theater thinking that really this movie just didn't do anything for me.

 

#3

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The Predator 

 

The new Predator movie seemed like it had so much promise based on the trailers that seeing it in theaters it became such a let-down. Jacob Tremblay is in this movie and he plays a kid with autism. Okay, fine, but then the movie posits his autism as somehow key to him being the next version of warriors? And then there's an evil and a good predator but none of it works really well? And then the bad predator tries to take the kid and almost gets away with it but his dad is able to rescue him. Really? I mean, I was actually interested in a sequel where the kid comes back to Earth as a bad-ass Predator or maybe his dad had to rescue him from Predator society somehow. But no instead the cliff-hanger is now humans have Predator technology. Really? That's the best hook you could come up with? The whole point of the movies is we're up against aliens with more advanced technology who hunt us down for fun. So what's the point of the movies going forward? Just a bad step in general for the franchise.

 

#2

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The 15:17 to Paris

 

Okay, so maybe I can excuse the bad acting from the male leads because they are the actual heroes playing themselves. Not an easy task, really, but I get it. But what's with the bad acting from the professional actors and actresses? What's with building up to the big "action" scene of them stopping the terrorist on the train but it is so short and anti-climatic? What's with the long scenes where the characters just travel around Europe talking to girls and drinking beer? Why does the script feel like it was written by the heroes rather than a professional screenwriter? In general, not a very compelling product.

 

#1

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Aquaman

 

Yes, the worst movie of the year in my view is Aquaman. Not very good, convincing performances. A storyline we've seen a hundred times before but with absolutely zero attempts to actually make you care about anything. Silly costumes from Atlantis and very fake looking haircuts. Like seriously, a lot of the movie felt very Flash Gordon cheap imitation rather than a major massive DC blockbuster. Worst of all: it is very, very boring.

 

The Tommy Wiseau Award

Sure Aquaman might be bad....but this award is given to a movie where nothing works right and you watch not to be entertained by the movie but to be entertained by the mess that it became. This year the award goes to...

 

The Cloverfield Paradox

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Bad acting, bad blocking in general, badly executed every single time. The set was fine and so were the costumes but man was everything else in this movie a mess. It feels like they just kept throwing ideas to the wall to see what would stick but not a single idea actually stuck. It's amazing how badly made this movie turned out...which is why you should watch it. It's even on Netflix!

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Best Nintendo Switch Game

 

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Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu

 

The last time Pokemon should make this awards but I mean come on: this updated take on Kanto is very successful. It simplifies the game to attract a new audience but adds a lot of post-game challenges that should keep even veteran Pokemon masters entertained. The lack of wild random battles (instead you see wild Pokemon in the field and can only attempt to catch them) works well for this game: it keeps things brisk and there's something fun about throwing the Pokeball the right way. The changes to the story it made are pretty excellent as well: if there's a sequel in Johto I hope they give me more opportunities to take over my partner Pokemon. This was a great first real Pokemon adventure game for the Switch.

 

Also considered: Octopath Traveler, Super Smash Bros Ultimate

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Time to begin the list. 

 

#25

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Avengers: Infinity War

 

It's hard to truly judge Infinity War when it's really Part One of the epic conclusion that twenty movies have been building up to. In many ways, it's already delivered a lot. Thanos is clearly one tough guy that even a team-up of multiple characters taking him on by himself isn't enough to win even if they came close. He was able to basically punch the Hulk out of contention for the rest of the movie. While the Earth scenes didn't work as well as the galaxy scenes, the movie did juggle multiple tones and it's huge cast pretty well. It does help keep the movie epic even if the big battle on Earth is more a skirmish than anything. The conclusion is pretty exciting and makes you want to see the sequel immediately. 

 

#24

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Revenge

 

A bad-ass epic story about a girl who struggles to survive in the wilderness while having to kill the men to survive? Yes, please! This movie doesn't hold back in its violence and when she finally gets her revenge it feels extremely satisfying. It's very well done, properly paced even if the beginning is a bit slow, and the images pop out. This is a pretty fantastic little gem from last year that was worth the price of admission. 

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I feel like Predator is a much more broken film than Cloverfield Paradox. I thought it was stunning that such a big budget tentpole film could be so broken, an absolute shambles that makes no sense and horrificly stitched together.

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Water Bottle said:

 Infinity War when it's really Part One

hot take. :jeb!:

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Best Xbox One Game

 

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Madden 19

 

Sure the story mode took a step back compared to last year's startling single-player campaign but the real player motion system was I think a huge success. Running was the big beneficiary as now it really pays to look for holes and it made it more difficult to get big runs out of the gate. The small franchise mode improvement was a bit nice but it could use more work especially when it comes to giving us seasonal statistics. Madden 19 was still a big step forward for the franchise.

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Revenge was really good. I dont usually like these Rape-and-Revenge flicks at all but that one stuck with me. Great, great color palette and very good acting all around.

 

Aquaman i cant agree with. Had such a blast watching it, but it was definetly flawed as hell. I can see why many people would have big problems with it.

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#23

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Bad Times at El Royale

 

My favorite Quentin Tarantino movie is actually the Hateful Eight. There's just something about sticking a bunch of larger than life characters in the same location for different reasons each dangerous in their own way. Each cast member is perfect, each character compelling and interesting in their own way, beautifully directed and wonderfully paced. Is it a little crazy? Yes. Is it a lot of fun? Yes. This one was really on my wavelength.

 

#22

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Overlord

 

From the amazing opening sequence to the fitting end, Overlord is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie. Seriously, the hook of this movie is soldiers fighting crazy experiments by Nazis during World War II. It's a perfect B-movie category pitch and yet it's so much better than that. The cinematography and action scenes are excellent but you really do come to care for the characters. The movie doesn't depend on the creatures to create tension: so many moments had you biting your nails simply because the movie never forgets these characters are also in the middle of a warzone. Overlord is a triumph.

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Best Computer Game

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Surviving Mars

 

Can you build a colony on Mars? It's not an easy task with natural disasters, limited resources, and a small population of humans/droids. Surviving Mars gives you that challenge and trust me, it's a lot of fun building up a colony successfully despite these challenges. You can set how difficult the game is going to be at launch based on location and the company launching the mission. There's a nice sense of humor too: the little animation of the droids recharging remains a highlight of video gaming humor of 2018 for me. It's a versatile game that can be as casual or as intense as you want it to be: to me that's a huge strength. Its post-launch support has been pretty great as well. If you haven't played this game yet, I recommend giving it a shot.

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#21

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The Old Man and the Gun

 

Does Robert Redford kill it in this movie or what? He finished this movie, saw what he did, and decided it was better to finish on top. That's exactly what he did at least in terms of quality. I'm sure the marketing team would have learned he would retire when they could have taken advantage of it to sell more tickets but alas it probably wouldn't have grossed that much more. This is a movie where Redford captures the attention of the audience so that even in the slow moments you never lose interest. It's very well-paced and put together so that in the end, this little movie becomes a perfect swan song for a legendary actor.

 

#20

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First Man

 

Whether it's putting you, the audience member, in the seat of the space shuttle as you go through space or whether it's the brief shots of the moon that really make you feel like you are there, First Man is worth every penny to see it in IMAX. Heck, I wish I could have done 4-D to have my chair move with the space shuttle! Those scenes are intense but beyond those, this movie is also a personal journey for Neil Armstrong. He's not a perfect man, nor is he portrayed as such. Instead, we see a father obsessed with his work while grieving the loss of his daughter. It's beautiful. But more than that, First Man raises the question of whether the price we pay for progress is ever really worth it. The lives lost, the money we spent that could have gone elsewhere, the time we spent just to put some men on the moon for a few hours...the film might not actually answer the question but that's okay. Because raising the question is enough. 

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Best TV Comedy

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The Kids Are Alright

 

This was a tough award to give out but frankly, the Kids Are Alright is having a really strong freshman season. Its family dynamic was extremely strong out of the gate: each boy felt from the beginning to be incredibly well-defined. The '70s time period sets it apart from ABC's abundance of family comedies. That the family members are often conspiring against each other really helps create a lot of very funny comedic beats: watching the mother try to step ahead of her conniving children is really a highlight of each episode.  I'm not sure this show is for everyone but right now I look forward to this comedy more than any other.

 

Other Considerations: Barry, The Good Place, Young Sheldon, Mom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

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#19

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Ant-Man and the Wasp

 

Michael Pena. Paul Rudd. Put those two in a movie and I'm almost guaranteed to really like it. The two are really great at what they do and I think Michael Pena might be the most underrated actor in all of Hollywood. Seriously, he can make a bad movie watchable. Paul Rudd meanwhile has killer comic instincts and a charm about him that makes him likable. And then the movie went ahead and added Randall Park. That's just cheating filmmakers! Add in a plot that doesn't feature a traditional villain to fight at the end and you get a pretty enjoyable couple hours. It's light, funny, and has a cast you just can't beat. 

 

(This I believe is the highest ranked comic book movie this year.)

 

#18

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A Quiet Place

 

Stupid decisions by characters aside, A Quiet Place is a cinematic triumph. Sounds is such an important part of movies nowadays and the filmmakers got that a great way to generate tension was through forced silence. Establish that any sound a character makes can make their untimely demise then create opportunities for characters to accidentally make a sound....that's how you get an atmospheric horror movie. There is very little actual exposition and the backstory we get is more hinted at than anything but that only makes it better. So, sure, we can argue that maybe having sex and getting knocked up in a world where any sound can attract deadly predators is a bad move. But I mean...this movie is a bonafide theatrical experience. Who needs smart characters when you can grip the audience with your smart premise?

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Best TV Drama

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The Expanse

 

The Expanse had a thrilling third season where the tension simply kept climbing-even the time jump didn't really hurt the momentum the season started with. There's smart drama, great consistent character writing, and a pretty good story where you just aren't sure where it's going to go most of the time (unless of course, you read the books). The Expanse is science fiction at it's finest: exploring who we are as a people while setting it in a pretty fantastic backdrop. If you haven't seen it, I believe there's time to catch up on Amazon Prime before the new season starts on....Amazon.

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