2018: Movies


Terrible year for the world; terrific year for movies, which is some small consolation. Though we needn't overextend the supposed correlation of bad times/good art, the year's best film might've merely been one among many very good ones if not for its galvanizing present-day coda. Of course, I'd trade a great movie for an inferior one together with less harrowing current circumstances, and I'm sure Spike Lee would too, but here we are. Radical resistance art par excellence –– or torridly making out with Amanda Seyfried –– might be all we've got as things stand.

01. BlacKkKlansman (Lee)
02. Zama (Martel)
03. First Reformed (Schrader)
04. Transit (Petzold)
05. Burning (Lee)
06. Roma (Cuarón)
07. Hereditary (Aster)
08. The Favourite (Lanthimos)
09. Microhabitat (Jeon)
10. Ash Is Purest White (Jia)

11. Lush Reeds (Yang)
12. The Image Book (Godard)
13. The Death of Stalin (Ianucci)
14. Support the Girls (Bujalski)
15. Shoplifters (Koreeda)
16. The Third Murder (Koreeda)
17. On Happiness Road (Sung)
18. Mirai (Hosoda)
19. Three Faces (Panahi)
20. Mid90s (Hill)

21. If Beale Street Could Talk (Jenkins)
22. Fausto (Bussmann)
23. Edge of the Knife (Edenshaw/Haig-Brown)
24. Hold the Dark (Saulnier)
25. Grass (Hong)
26. Cam (Goldhaber)
27. Oh Lucy! (Hirayanagi)
28. The Darling (Lee)
29. You Were Never Really Here (Ramsay)
30. Paddington 2 (King)

31. Spider-Man: Into Spider-verse (Persichetti/Ramsey/Rothman)
32. A Land Imagined (Yeow)
33. Leave No Trace (Granik)
34. The Museum of Forgotten Triumphs (Bodružić)
35. Father to Son (Hsiao)
36. Non-Fiction (Assayas)
37. Sorry to Bother You (Riley)
38. May the Devil Take You (Tjahjanto)
39. Unsane (Soderbergh)
40. Cargo (Howling/Ramke)

41. Verónica (Plaza)
42. Calibre (Palmer)
43. Diane (Jones)
44. Crazy Rich Asians (Chu)
45. Searching (Chaganty)
46. A Quiet Place (Krasinski)
47. Paul, Apostle of Christ (Hyatt)
48. Ralph Breaks the Internet (Moore/Johnston)
49. The Incredibles 2 (Bird)
50. The Endless (Benson/Moorhead)

Holiday complaints dept.


The Raptors, with a league-best record and one of the top five players in the league, not getting a Xmas-day game this year is ridiculous and just plain poor decision-making. Instead, we get the shitty Knicks sans Porzingis getting (inevitably) obliterated by Milwaukee, ugh. Raptors–Bucks (Kawhi vs. Giannis!) would've made for an infinitely superior game for anyone who cares about great basketball, including discerning New Yorkers. Or, for narrative: Raptors at Spurs as a much better late-slot match-up than Portland–Utah––both small-market teams with no legitimate superstar save Dame; Donovan Mitchell's not quite there yet, and as much as I like and respect Rudy Gobert, I strongly doubt that many kids outside Utah, and maybe northern France, unwrapped Gobert jerseys this morning.

2018: Music


ALBUMS
01. Mount Eerie, Now Only
02. Robyn, Honey
03. Prince, Piano & a Microphone 1983
04. Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy
05. The Carters, Everything Is Love
06. Ariana Grande, Sweetener
07. Soccer Mommy, Clean
08. Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer
09. Mitski, Be the Cowboy
10. Lykke Li, so sad, so sexy

SINGLES
01. Drake, "Nice for What"
02. Soccer Mommy, "Your Dog"
03. The Carters, "Apeshit"
04. Ariana Grande, "Thank U, Next"
05. Robyn, "Missing U"
06. Childish Gambino, "This Is America"
07. Drake, "God's Plan"
08. Travis Scott, "Sicko Mode"
09. Cardi B, "I Like It"
10. Miley Cyrus & Mark Ronson, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart"

Your car's a dump and you're broke

(Does Borders still exist?)

2018: 50 Performances


There are still some ostensibly key things I haven't seen yet, so I'm holding off on a year-end films list, but here's this for now; subject to revision, but really solid as is. (updated Jan. 30)

01. Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
02. Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate
03. Jeffrey Wright, Hold the Dark
04. Regina Hall, Support the Girls
05. Mary Kay Place, Diane
06. Zhao Tao, Ash Is Purest White
07. Toni Collette, Hereditary
08. Steven Yeun, Burning
09. Michael Jq Huang, Father to Son
10. Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
11. Olivia Colman, The Favourite
12. Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
13. Emma Stone, The Favourite
14. Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
15. Sakura Ando, Shoplifters
16. Jeon Jong-seo, Burning
17. Madeline Brewer, Cam
18. John Cho, Searching
19. Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
20. Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
21. Koji Yakusho, The Third Murder
22. Marina de Tavira, Roma
23. Juliette Binoche, Non-Fiction
24. Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace
25. Topher Grace, BlackKklansman
26. Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
27. Cedric Kyles, First Reformed
28. Amanda Seyfried, First Reformed
29. James Faulkner, Paul, Apostle of Christ
30. Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
31. Steve Buscemi, The Death of Stalin
32. Na-kel Smith, Mid90s
33. Martin Freeman, Cargo
34. Kim Min-hee, Grass
35. Bryan Tyree Henry, If Beale Street Could Talk
36. Ben Foster, Leave No Trace
37. Kirin Kiki, Shoplifters
38. Esom, Microhabitat
39. Jang Jieun, The Darling
40. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Zama
41. Jay Pharoah, Unsane
42. Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place
43. Josh Hartnett, Oh Lucy!
44. Gabriel Byrne, Hereditary
45. John David Washington, BlakKklansman
46. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Annihilation
47. Armie Hammer, Sorry to Bother You
48. Christian Bale, Vice
49. Steve Carrell, Vice
50. John Malkovich, Bird Box

CABIN BOY!

This is eerily ominous –– and in itself just plain awful news.

At long last...


The real Wellesian event of the year is on Criterion, not Netflix.

(Now, please – if anyone reading this has any sway – put out beautiful Blu-rays of Beau Travail and The House of Mirth!)