From thought-provoking superhero flicks to the resurgence of romantic comedies and popularization of indie films, 2018 was a good year for anyone who loves to watch movies. There were so many movies I watched and loved all for different reasons—some I loved simply because they were a “feel good” movie and I loved other movies because they fostered discussion well after walking out of the theatre. Overall the most popular 2018 films showed what the future of the entertainment industry could look like if Hollywood continued the trend of producing movies with fresh revolutionary ideas. As we head into the new year and into the awards season, here are the top movies that stuck with me.
Black Panther
While my reasoning for Black Panther being included on my list for the top movies of 2018 is the shortest of the five explanations, it is simply because Black Panther has already been the topic of much critical claim, audience praise, video essays, Reddit discussions, and scholarly lectures over the past year. The very fact that the film is still a critic, fan, and awards season favorite despite being released in early 2018 is an impressive feat on its own. Perhaps more importantly, the legacy of Black Panther is that the film not only proved that representation matters but is a money maker. Black Panther made over $1.3 billion dollars at the global box office which is a win for all underrepresented groups. Its complex themes of the racial versus national identity, community, and responsibility communicated through the film’s characters, symbols, and plot proved that tentpole blockbuster movies can be as artful and engaging as so-called indie movies.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
While there have been six different Spider-Man films in the last sixteen years, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is set apart from the previous renditions because of its characters and medium. It’s an animated comic book superhero film and it proves that there can be a difference between a comic book and superhero movie. Comic book movies such as this film replicate and honor the style of a traditional paper comic book whereas superhero films such as the live action Marvel movies take the superheroes originally created for comic books and place them into action movies. The filmmakers (directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord who have had experience creating innovative animated films by directors of The Lego Movie) created wanted audiences watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to feel like they were walking into a comic book. The animators achieved this unique style by using specific comic book techniques such as half-toning, action lines, text boxes on screen, and CMYK offsetting motion blur to create a 3D effect. As a result every single frame of the film looks like a piece of framed expensive art and each frame could be a paper comic book panel. Additionally, the story is centered around Miles Morales, a Black-Latino teenager from Brooklyn. Ultimately, the animation of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is different from standardized CGI animation films that have been popular for the last twenty years. Just as Toy Story changed the animation genre in 1996 with its use of CGI, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a game changer for both superhero movies and animated movies.
Crazy Rich Asians
If black actors ruled the superhero film genre in 2018, then Asian actors revitalized the romantic comedy genre. From Netflix’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Set Up to Crazy Rich Asians, Asian actors not only broke out of the stereotypical tropes Asian characters have been stuck in but proved they could be money makers. Crazy Rich Asians made an impressive $238 million worldwide making the film the sixth highest grossing romantic comedy film. While the film had a classic romantic comedy plot structure, Crazy Rich Asians also discussed what it means to be Asian American in contrast to Asian living in Asia. Comprised of a star-studded cast from up-and-coming stars such as Awkwafina to legendary Asian actors like Michelle Yeoh, Crazy Rich Asians paved the way for more Asian representation in Hollywood. The 2018 Asian August effect (dubbed by Hollywood due to the massive success of films such as Crazy Rich Asians, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Searching) is already ripping through Hollywood. Recently, Kevin Feige announced that Marvel is fast-tracking the studio’s first Asian superhero film. The highest grossing DCEU movie Aquaman, who has made $1 billion at the box office includes Asian talent in front of and behind the camera. The film is directed by James Wan who is of Malaysian Chinese descent and stars Asian Pacific Islander actor Jason Maoma. This years’ success of Asian talent in the entertainment industry will help fuel more Asian and Asian Pacific Islander representation in the future.
Eighth Grade
While there are many coming-of-age films set in during the pre-teen years, Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade truly captures how eighth grade can be the most dramatic, miserable, yet simultaneously uneventful time in your life. Eighth Grade is an honest and relatable take on growing up. The film is almost hard to watch at times because you are reminded of how painful middle school was. Despite this Eighth Grade does an excellent job of making you feel and root for the protagonist. It embraces the fact that middle school is the cringe-worthiest time of your life. Director Bo Burnham perfectly captures the teenage phase with awkward close-ups and the camera focused on Kayla, showing her isolation. Not only is Eighth Grade a brutally honest depiction of how uneventful and awkward eighth grade can be, but actress Elsie Fisher is actually the same age as typical eighth graders and has the appearance of middle schoolers–horrible fashion choice to acne and everything in between. Other coming of age films star college aged kids or older with perfect skin, hair, and expensive outfits. The inaccurate casting contributes to the unrealistic projection of a person’s teenage years. In addition to the accurate casting of Elsie Fisher, Fisher is such an incredible actress that I completely forgot she was acting. The film’s themes of the effect of social media on social life, mental health, sexuality, and consent perfectly capture the differences in growing up today versus even 15 years ago. Yet, the magic of this film is that while it is a story of how Generation Z experiences middle school, the themes of peer pressure, social anxiety, and isolation makes this film relatable to every audience member no matter if you attended middle school in the 1960s or 2018.
A Quiet Place
While A Quiet Place has all of the elements that make it an amazing horror movie in a traditional sense (such as suspense, monsters, fear of death and the dark), A Quiet Place is a superior horror film because it goes beyond the traditional horror movie genre tropes. At the heart of the film is the theme of family and a celebration of how our differences make us stronger. The plot of the film (a dystopian world in which survivors have to stay silent to survive) makes A Quiet Place an interesting film to watch in the theaters as a typical horror film screening would include lots of noise and audience reaction. A Quiet Place continues what the 2018 horror film Get Out set in motion: the fact that horror movies can be “intellectually” challenging films. Netflix’s Bird Box and Bandersnatch, which were released in December 2018, as well as 2019’s Us follows this trend. Consequently, by making horror films multi-layered the audience for horror movies has increased.
If I could describe the 2018 film industry in one word it would be “promising”. Despite the seemingly endless remakes, reboots, and sequels planned for 2019 and beyond, the most popular movies released in 2018 proved that Hollywood can still make original game-changing movies. From movies that pushed the boundaries of what animation could achieve to tentpole blockbuster films that proved audiences will spend big money to see themselves represented on screen may the movies released in 2019 and beyond be as revolutionary as the top movies of 2018.