Just looking back at the best movies I saw over the year, a serious diversity is evident, even if thematic elements tie them together in some intriguing way. From a love story told with Hollywood panache ("A Star is Born") to a long-lost gem from a master like Orson Welles ("The Other Side of the Wind"), this year's top flicks glowed with an impressive variety.
More and more, the means of distribution comes into play with new movies as online platforms like Netflix and Hulu wield power with original content. In fact, the most critically acclaimed film of the year-as judged by topping the critics' Top 10 lists-is "Roma," which received a small release in cinemas before its mid-December launch on Netflix.
Not only that, but Netflix has the power to release a film, the "Black Mirror" movie spinoff "Bandersnatch," that smashes our narrative expectations in a choose-your-own-ending manner.
Films like "Black Panther" and "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" show how superhero flicks retain longevity when it comes to quality storytelling and vibrant visuals, while recent Oscar winners like Barry Jenkins (of "Moonlight" fame), Adam McKay ("The Big Short") and Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave") returned with excellent cinema fare.
Here's a very personal Top 10 movies of 2018, submitted with the caveat that not every movie on my to-see list has been seen yet ("If Beale Street Could Talk" and "Vice," for example). Nevertheless, this Top 10 is quality, presented in order:
1. "Roma"-Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" somehow contains both the sweep of an epic and the intimacy of a diary. It's a positively majestic film, gorgeous in its non-nostalgic use of black-and-white cinematography, and it delightfully finds poetry in the everyday lives of its characters. Cuaron's intensely personal story arrives in the form of Cleo, a domestic worker for a Mexico City family circa early 1970s; she's based on Cuaron's own nanny. We see the world through Cleo's eyes, and her life's troubles build tension through the film. But we know her within the rich tapestry of family, a family that feels turbulent and real. In Cleo, Cuaron created a character for the ages with a star turn by non-professional actress Yalitza Aparicio. By far, "Roma" is the best film of the year.
2. "Shirkers"-Imagine realizing a youthful dream and making a movie-as just a teenager-but then seeing it disappear in the hands of a trusted adult. Imagine finding it decades later, but the process of this discovery becomes the more important story, in a sense. That's "Shirkers," a fascinating, multi-layered documentary from writer and filmmaker Sandi Tan, who, along with two friends (Jasmine Ng and Sophie Siddique), made a movie called "Shirkers," only to find that a film teacher absconded with the reels. The film provides an interesting look at the director's native Singapore, as well as the nature of creativity and our relationships to all we create. Particular kudos are deserved for its look at a strong female friendship between the three young, zine-making, movie-making teens.
3. "Eighth Grade"-It's hard to think of a movie that confronts the painful awkwardness of being a teenager with as much unflinching honesty as "Eighth Grade," which explores one girl's final week of school before she graduates to high school. Our heroine, Kayla, has a lot to say on her YouTube videos, but it's quickly apparent that such know-how is more in her mind than in her reality. Day to day, her life is filled with anxiety. She's played with deadpan genius by Elsie Fisher, whose empathetic performance perfectly captures all the weirdness in this character. This perceptive, enjoyable coming-of-age tale has something real to say and says it with heart.
4. "Sorry to Bother You"-Lakeith Stanfield has some kind of skill picking great material, or maybe it's the reverse that's true. In 2017, he made for a memorable supporting turn in "Get Out," one of the year's best films, while this past year he was at the acting forefront of "Sorry to Bother You," perhaps the most inventive film of the year and also one of the best in class. Directed by Boots Riley, "Sorry to Bother You" takes its satirical scalpel not only to everyday racism in the workforce, but also to capitalism's many corporate excesses and undying ability to twist dreams for profit-making ends. Stanfield stars as Cassius "Cash" Green, a black telemarketer who discovers that sounding "white" makes him more money.
5. "BlacKkKlansman"-Like "Roma," "BlacKkKlansman" goes back to the 1970s, in this instance for an amazing true-to-life story about a black police officer who, in a sense, "joins" the Ku Klux Klan. Well, Detective Ron Stallworth (as played by John David Washington) is the voice, while Detective Philip "Flip" Zimmerman (Adam Driver) is the new Klan member in the flesh. Director Spike Lee proves he's just as relevant as ever. This is the Lee with the confidence and vision he flashed in "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X," here exploring race relations in a story that's as meaningful today as it's ever been, unfortunately, a point Lee makes directly.
6. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"-An anthology film released on Netflix in mid-November, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" sees film geniuses Joel and Ethan Coen take on the American West in six distinct vignettes, each of which shows their felicity at handling the mythology of the frontier mentality in a unique and fascinating way. Some of these vignettes are stronger than others, but all are weird in a satisfying way. The title vignette, with the woefully under-appreciated Tim Blake Nelson as a happy-go-lucky singing outlaw, and seeing Tom Waits play a grizzled gold prospector are particularly memorable.
7. "Black Panther"-It seems like ages ago that this wildly popular, groundbreaking film was released. Well, it was nearly a year ago, but "Black Panther" became one of the top grossing movies of all time during its run. Directed by Ryan Coogler, "Black Panther" amassed a huge following in part because it ventured where big-budget superhero films rarely went before, making the experience of its black characters from the fictional African nation of Wakanda central to everything in the film. The result was one of the most acclaimed of Marvel's movies with a stellar, likable cast that includes Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong'o.
8. "The Other Side of the Wind"-Add another satire to this list, this time in the form of a "new" Orson Welles film. If anyone told me such a film would make my Top 10 of 2018 list before the year started I would have laughed, but such is the case with this long-hidden project that finally found a home on Netflix. A wild, meta-textual, mockumentary-style movie about a movie, "The Other Side of the Wind" chronicles the final meanderings undertaken by famous Hollywood director Jake Hannaford (John Huston), who brings his entourage to the desert to watch his latest movie. "Other Side of the Wind" is a mess, but an ever-lively, beautiful one.
9. "A Star is Born"-A big hit with a Texarkana connection, "A Star is Born" shows that Bradley Cooper is plenty capable in the director's seat, and in the movie itself he and Lady Gaga forge a remarkable chemistry. Gaga, in particular, does well in a role that's a bit half-baked and underwritten in the latter half, but her naturalness makes her turn as Ally, an aspiring singer, compelling nonetheless. As a musician whose life has gone awry, Cooper plays Jackson Maine with gritty heart. Benjamin Rice, a Texarkana native, co-produced the soundtrack, and his work is already up for a potential Grammy. An Oscar nomination may not be far behind.
10. "Bandersnatch"-It feels funny to include a movie that's likely different for everyone, but that's sort of the point and speaks to why it's included. "Bandersnatch," a "Black Mirror" movie that allows viewers to make plot choices large and small and thereby affect the movie's outcome, is a bold move in storytelling expectations. Here, in the hands of writer and sci-fi anthology series co-creator Charlie Brooker, it doesn't feel like a gimmick. It's more of an organic mind-twist in his hands, and the result has something to say about the nature of choice and time. This Top 10 selection is perhaps more about the moviegoing experience than the end result, but as a harbinger of what may come it's all sorts of fascinating.