Saturday, January 5, 2019

2018 At The Movies

Every year, I like to put together a list of all the movies I saw in the previous year.

A small number of movies on the 2018 list were released in December 2017, but I watched them in 2018. Some of them were released in the US earlier than December, but I saw them in the theater in Japan in 2018. Many American movies released in Japan come out several months after their US premieres. So, even though Coco was released in mid-November in the US, I saw it in its second week of release in Japan in February.

This year, I am trying something new and am creating a second list of movies that were released before 2018. This list contains any movie that I saw for the first time in 2018 (or saw for the first time as an adult in 2018) in addition to the new release movies I saw last year.

Movies I saw on a plane may not have been seen in the best of possible circumstances. I used movies to keep awake for the flights so the jetlag wouldn't be as bad. Maybe these movies are better than I thought? I was particularly tired when I watched the movies that are ranked lower on my lists. Because of this, I have noted these movies with a (+).

As always, the movies are ranked on a scale from zero to four stars.


(Movies of 2018)

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse **** (Why haven't you seen this yet? It's amazing! I've seen it in theaters twice already!)

The Death of Stalin **** (+)


Mission: Impossible – Fallout ***½

Deadpool 2 ***½

The Disaster Artist ***½ (+)


Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ***½ (+)

Incredibles 2 ***½

Coco ***½


Ralph Breaks the Internet ***

Ant-Man and the Wasp ***


Halloween (2018) ***

First Man ***

Ready Player One ***

The Greatest Showman ***

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ***

Aquaman ***

The Post *** (+)


Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom **½

A Futile and Stupid Gesture **½

Darkest Hour **½ (+)

All the Money in the World **½ (+)


Avengers: Age of Ultron **

Mary Poppins Returns **

The Happytime Murders **

Christopher Robin **


Nutcracker and the Four Realms ½


(Other movies I saw for the first time in 2018)


Poltergeist (1982) ****

Gone with the Wind (1939) ****

The Walk (2015) ****

Arthur (1981) **** (+)

Soapdish (1991) ****

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) **** (I saw this in 2017, but it somehow didn’t make it on the list for that year)

The Women (1939) ****

The Imitation Game (2014) ****


Vivacious Lady (1938) ***½

What About Bob? (1991) ***½ (+)

Goon (2011) ***½

Backdraft (1991) ***½ 

The Conjuring (2013) ***½

The Blair Witch Project (1999) ***½

Marshall (2017) ***½

It Should Happen to You (1954) ***½

Walk, Don’t Run (1966) ***½

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) ***½ (+)


War Dogs (2016) ***

High Society (1956) ***

Trick ‘r Treat (2007) ***

American Hustle (2013) ***

Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) ***

Summer Stock (1950) ***

Sully (2016) ***

Pillow Talk (1959) ***

Keanu (2016) ***

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) ***

Dunkirk (2017) *** (+)

Father of the Bride (1950) ***


The House (2017) **½

Father’s Little Dividend (1951) **½

The French Connection (1971) **½ (+)

Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017) **½


Brainstorm (1983) **

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) **

X Men: Apocalypse (2016) ** (+)

The Rock (1996) ** (+)


Brigadoon (1954) *½

Antz (1998) *½


The Black Hole (1979) ½


The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark (1980) [zero stars]


I love talking about movies, so I would be happy to hear how I am wrong! Let me know.