Deliberate Noise Network

The Best o’ the Best Part 2

15. ANNIHILATION
I left Annihilation not sure how much I liked the film, but reasonably sure I did. It’s that kind of movie; one that may require some time to settle and get hashed out by your mind. This is especially true of the ending, which is trying too hard to be a 2001-style psychedelic spectacular, but very nearly works anyway. The preceding portions of the film were even more successful at being unnerving as the plot takes a group of military and civilian women into a phenomenon along the Florida coast called “The Shimmer,” within which they find increasingly strange combinations of life as they approach the center. Animals with hybrid traits, or plants and animals combined in one organism; things from the nightmares of an obsessive Monsanto-phobe . They also grow increasingly disoriented and paranoid. Without doubt it will be a cult favorite for those who enjoy partaking in hallucinogens, but its merits go beyond that towards some deeper philosophical questions, including how much of what we are comes from our biology, and what happens to that if we can’t be completely sure of our minds and bodies (or if they are even working against us) to be an excellent allegory for mental illness.

14. BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE
Drew Goddard made a splash with Cabin in the Woods, as he and Joss Whedon created a meta narrative which worked as both a horror film and a commentary on said same. He stays in that general wheelhouse with his new film, which is a more subtle nod/critique of the stylized crime thrillers which came to prominence in the mid-to-late 90s, reaching their zenith with the release of Pulp Fiction. Like Cabin, El Royale contains aspects of voyeurism and of a manipulative other, but the execution of the themes don’t have a lot of other overlap. Like Tarantino’s breakout film, El Royale is littered with cinematic touches that populated the 20-year-old style it seeks to reinvent; visual cues like titlecards which announce the perspective we will be following, a shuffled chronology, sudden outbursts of violence, a cultivated soundtrack… and yet, thanks to the setting and twists of the tale, it’s something new told in a familiar way. Of course, some people (especially those who’ve never watched anything older than 1982) accuse the film of being a rip-off of Tarantino, but if you know anything about how much Quentin lifts wholesale from the films he admires for his “remixes,” you know that’s a silly notion. Chris Hemsworth gives one of his best performances as a charismatic, Manson-like cult leader, and steals the film near the end, but the actors are largely excellent across the board. There are also some genuinely surprising revelations throughout the film which add context to everything which has come before. It adds up to an entertaining film that is far enough from what spawned it that it feels fresh again.

13. HEARTS BEAT LOUD
I’m glad that people have begun to figure out how to take advantage of Nick Offerman’s unique charisma in the wake of his incredible tenure as Ronald Ulysses Swanson on Parks and Recreation. One of the best instances of this is an independent comedy which uses him as a slightly cantankerous, sharp-witted, record store owner in Brooklyn, who still manages to get excited about making music with his daughter. Said daughter, a young woman on the verge of going to medical school on the other side of the country, is more reluctant. After some surprise success erupts from one of their home recordings, there is a lot of push and pull as he attempts to find a way to stay in her life and keep the special bond that music gives them, even as she tries to walk away from the artistic release that she needs to cope with the changes she is forcing in order to make the separation easier.  Between the character work and the catchy soundtrack, it’s a movie that charmed me throughout, featuring excellent turns from Ted Danson as a bartender and fellow business owner, Toni Collette as his landlady, and Kiersey Clemmons as his daughter, a role which could easily tip into obnoxious if she didn’t manage to coax a sympathetic portrayal throughout the film. Brett Haley, who’s film The Hero made my previous list, is quietly making some very solid films with some very good actors.

12. WIDOWS
Steve McQueen wrote and directed this film with Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, and their fingerprints are all over it. Are there a couple of glaring plot holes? Yes. Does it matter? Well, your mileage may vary, but for me, this Wire-like tale of double-crosses and political bosses manages to be a great character piece disguised as a heist movie. A somewhat sprawling exploration of crime and politics in Chicago (but I repeat myself), it weaves a tale about the widows of a team of career criminals who had robbed a gang boss, said boss and his enforcer brother, and the local power-broker family that said boss seeks to upend in a local election in order to go “legitimate.” As such, it isn’t some Ocean’s-style caper, but a look at broken people who relied on bad people, and the lengths they have to go to in order to free themselves after that bites them in the ass. The cast in uniformly good, but Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya is especially chilling, making good use of his limited screentime. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Debicki should be forgiven for any involvement in Cloverfield Paradox given how great she is here as someone who is learning self-respect (and the fine art of manipulation) for the first time. It may not be flawless, but it certainly is satisfying, as indicated by the shouts and hoots from the ladies in the audience at the screening I attended.

11. CREED II
The thing that stands out most in this follow-up to Ryan Coogler’s amazing 2015 Rocky sequel is that Creed and Rocky may well not even be the most interesting characters in it. Instead, that distinction belongs to Rocky IV’s Ivan Drago, the disgraced former hero of Russia and his son, Viktor, who he pushes to take up his mantle and get back what he lost when he fell to Rocky in the 80s. What was once a villainous cartoon in the 80s is now a rounded character with motivations, allowing Dolph Lundgren to actually show off his acting chops. While the story itself plays as more of a Rocky Frankenstein monster than its predecessor, splicing together things from most of the other films, Michael B. Jordan actually gets more to sink his teeth into; his success causing him to regress to a degree, and his wounded pride being as slow to heal as his broken body. For a fan of the series there is a hell of a payoff with Rocky, as the character’s past doesn’t just come back to haunt him, but forces him to take a good look at his relationships with the people in his life and what he has control over trying to fix. The filmmaking is solid, without a lot of over-the-top flash, which helps keep the story grounded. This is important when you’re dealing with what is essentially a sequel to a feature-length montage. If it were only judged in relation to Creed, it would certainly be stuck in its shadow, but as its own film, Creed II is an excellent addition to the Rocky franchise and deserves praise on its merits.

10. THE MULE
Clint Eastwood has created something of a bookend to Gran Torino by positing a man with similar characteristics, but facing much different circumstances. In The Mule, he’s alone because he has managed to alienate everyone in his life. He starts with his family, ignoring them in favor of a society of similar characters who mostly grow flowers and sit in hotel bars. Then he loses the respect and adoration of that community when he fails to adapt his business to changing times. Finding himself with nothing, he begins working for a cartel, running drugs. At the same time, he finds himself with a desire to make amends as his life winds down, putting these two parts of his life on a collision course with wackiness. It boasts a strong supporting cast, including Eastwood regular Bradley Cooper heading up a DEA effort to find the titular mule who is sneaking cocaine into Chicago under their noses. It’s one of Eastwood’s odder films, with several grace notes to show how this 90-plus-year-old guy is still learning and adapting after his whole life changes, and that’s what really makes it work as a character piece. Old-fashioned as it may be, he puts a real arc into the character over the course of the film. Eastwood’s direction over the last few years has been an odd mix, but The Mule is definitely a winning effort. I can only hope I’m still doing something as interesting and vital when I’m his age.

9. PADDINGTON 2
I watched the two Paddington movies over the course of two days, and doggone it, every frame of these things is charming. They’re like atomic bombs of pleasant greatness. For me, that’s kind of a big deal because charming isn’t really a thing anymore for most movies. Yes, there’s a little bit of bodily function humor, but it never slips into Nickelodeon fart joke territory. The physical comedy works really well, and the heightened reality that makes things just on the side of being like a children’s storybook are well done, bringing you an idealized London that you imagine if you’ve never actually been there. It’s almost like if Wes Anderson was a little less idiosyncratic and a little more populist, and not in a bad way. Director Paul King has mostly done stuff like The Mighty Boosh, and he has a fantastic sensibility here, taking what could be a mawkish cash-in and truly doing something worthy of the stories. I was completely enchanted.

8. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS
This documentary is touted as being an incredible true story, and this is one of the rare cases of truth in advertising. Three identical brothers, separated at birth, are reunited when they find each other as adults. That sort of “real life is stranger than fiction” tale would be enough to carry a feature, but that’s nowhere near the end of the story, and it takes some dark turns before the end. To say much else would be criminal, because it’s best to go into this film as cold as possible and I would rather just indicate that it’s highly recommended. Strangers may be guilty of manipulating things a little too much for a doc instead of maintaining a passive voice, but it’s still one hell of a narrative that will make you question the degree of control you have over your own life.

7. INCREDIBLES 2
No, it isn’t as good as the first one overall, but then what is? The Incredibles, which blew away audiences in the nascent days of the superhero boom, is a near perfect film. But there are parts of this long-awaited sequel which are actually better than anything in the first one, which is an achievement in and of itself. It seems obvious that Brad Bird’s interests as a filmmaker in returning to this world after 14 years lay with the potential of the family itself. I say this because a solid, if perfunctory, A-plot involving Elastigirl is overshadowed by everything having to do with Bob “Mr. Incredible” Parr trying to maintain the household, and everything involving Mr. Incredible is pure gold. When baby Jack Jack becomes the super-powered handful of all handfuls, the inspired lunacy that ensues ranks among the best things I have ever seen in a film, animated or otherwise. Even then though, the Elastigirl sections are fun to watch, and would be strong enough to dominate most other films. This sequel also has a more on its mind than even a lot of other Pixar films. When was the last time you saw a family action comedy have a discussion about the moral obligation to defy unjust laws, even if it tries to play both sides of the argument to avoid bogging down the story?  Boy-oh-boy is it an ungodly gorgeous film to boot, bordering on pornography for those of us who are mid-century modern design fans. It takes the wonderful aesthetic of the first film and finds a great balance in updating its sleek look with the increasing quality of computer animation over the last 15 years, while still keeping everything recognizable.

6. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
I feel totally justified in putting something in my top 10 based completely upon enjoying it to an absurd degree. If there’s one overarching reason for me not being taken seriously as a film critic, this might be it. I’m not sure why though, since it’s not like Star Wars has made every “best movies of all time” list because it was a thoughtful documentary on the Crimean War. Regardless, that’s what I did last year with the fantastic, pulpy, Kong: Skull Island, and that’s what I’m doing this year with Peyton Reed’s follow-up to 2015’s Ant-Man. It may be even better than that movie, which has grown on me with each subsequent viewing. *rimshot* I think a great deal of well-made movies that up my giddy, as evidenced by the fact that there are several popcorn films in my list, and this may have been the most fun of anything I saw this year. Paul Rudd’s charm carries the film a long way towards that, but what cements it is his chemistry with the entire cast, most notably Evangeline Lilly as the titular Wasp, who truly deserves to share the billing. It builds upon Rudd’s scene-stealing appearance in Captain America: Civil War to show a Scott Lang torn between the love of his daughter and his desire to do the right thing for his mentor and desired partner. Hopefully, following Infinity War, we can leave the dour Sokovia Accord malarkey in the dust, but in the meantime, this film makes good use of it and ends up being one of the funniest comedies of the year. Somehow this goofy character has stealthily risen to become one of the best “mini-franchises” in superhero cinema canon.

<Top 16-25 of 2018………………………………………………………..Top 1-5 of 2018>