This is a tradition that I like to uphold if I can. 2018 has been a busy year for me and no doubt 2019 will be a busier one. I hope to continue the List for as long as I can, even if the posts become a little bit less frequent than they used to be. I am hoping to finish rewatching Rosa today and a review for that episode will be out hopefully today as well.
But without further a do, here is a ranking of the 11 films that I have been lucky enough to go to the cinema and watch this year
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Unfortunately this has to go here by default almost because it is Star Wars. Solo was not a bad film by any means, obviously as I have ranked it number 1 but it was the weakest for the Star Wars saga. That may be a surprise to many, particularly the prequel haters out there but for me it felt like a check list of all things Han Solo related. I found it such as coincidence that almost everything important that happened to Solo before we saw him in A New Hope happened in the space of a few days. It was fun, filled with a bit of hit and miss humor but an enjoyable film in the Star Wars saga. Releasing it in May was also a mistake for me because it meant that I hadn't got on the hype wagon. A December release would have done the film more justice in my eyes
2. Darkest Hour - the very first film that I saw in 2018. It was a corker. Gary Oldham was outstanding as Winston Churchill. It was a stellar film that portrayed the harrowing that the British had from the Germans and that good will always prevail. The 'Never Surrender speech' was one of the finest moments in cinematic history, as well as perhaps one of the greatest speeches made in the history of not just the United Kingdom but the world
3. Mission Impossible Fallout - The Mission Impossible series is one of the few where each film improves on the next and this was competing that trend. The film was not only full of excellent action sequences but was also tense with twists and an excellent plot. It wasn't a mundane story line, it was different and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4. Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom - For some this film had established itself too much as a horror film but I felt this was a proper on the edge film and I really enjoyed, more so than the first of the reboot series
5. Mamma Mia, Here we Go Again! - A return of a classic film from one of Britain's Greatest writers, Richard Curtis. This film was a great film full of classic songs and really uplifting.
6. Johnny English Strikes Again - This was a very funny film and I laughed out loud many a time. It is the weakest of the trilogy I believe and I think it wasn't necessary but it was very funny and that's the important thing. Rowan Atkinson is a terrific actor and he showed himself to be that once more in this film
7. Avengers: Infinity War - This was an exciting film with literally everybody from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in it. It was definitely the biggest film of the year there is no doubt about that, so why I have I ranked 6 films above it? For me if you took out the excitement the plot is, in my opinion, a bit bare. It is full of action but take away everyone meeting each other and it looses some elements. It was however a great film don't get me wrong and I am very interested to see where they go with the fourth installment of this series.
8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald - If this film didn't have the exciting Harry Potter references I have to be incredibly honest and say I don't think I would have enjoyed it. The plot was very confusing, even for someone like me who is used to Steven Moffat plots! It felt like it was spending to much time setting up future films. It had a great performance from Jude Law as Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Grindlewald. A few things did bug me though. Professor McGonagall was in it, even though by the book canon she isn't born for another 8 years so I do have an issue with that. Secondly I do have a problem with the children of Hogwarts, they acted very 21st century, more so than the students that we saw in Harry Potter which was set in the 1990's but equally made in the same century as this film. If you compare the behaviour of Tom Riddle (in his attitude to teachers not his murderous traits) in the flashbacks of The Chamber of Secrets, to the behaviour of the student here, it doesn't make quite much sense. I enjoyed the cameo from Nicholas Flammel however!
9. Incredibles 2 - This was a good film and enjoyable and funny childish moments (no surprise as it is a children's film) but it was slow to get going
10. Ready Player One - This film was good but I just wasn't invested in the characters or the stories and due to my age I only got a few references that it was making to the 1980's
11. Black Panther - This must be a surprise to you all. Not a bad film don't get me wrong but it was so generic for a super hero film. The enemy is someone who has similar powers to the main hero, they have to defend their city. It wasn't anything special in my mind. It was still good though.
And there you have it. A ranking of the 11 films that I have seen this year. All were good and I don't regret seeing any of them.
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