My Year in Movies: 2018

Years can be measured in minutes, strife, cups of coffee, or...movies. Here are all of the films I saw for the first time in 2018. 

All the movies I watched for the first time in 2018:

1. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

Pulp Fiction is one of my favorites and my friends and I decided to watch both Kill Bill parts, starting at 2 am. Tarantino's films are so different from everything else, I instantly loved it. 

2. Thoroughbreds

After a spa day with my friends, we didn't want the day to end so decided to go see Thoroughbreds, a movie we thought was about cliquey WASPs. Before the movie, I thought, "Why are the only trailers playing before this horror films? Oh no." Five minutes in with no music but sparse dialogue and a creepy occasional plucky sound effect I knew that the movie wasn't what we thought we were seeing. ​

3. Oceans' 8

Was this as good as the George Clooney Ocean's films? No. But Sandra Bullock is arguably peaking in her career the last 10-15 years and I'm here for it. My friends and I saw this in theaters when it came out.

4. Ingrid Goes West

This dark comedy is probably the best parodies of the Instagram influencer lifestyle. Unhinged girl Ingrid takes the money her mom left her after passing away and moves to California to become best friends with her favorite influencer. It works...until it doesn't.

5. A Simple Favor

Blake Lively is like That Girl in high school that's not necessarily popular just insanely beautiful and looks good in absolutely everything. And her character is supposed to be inexplicably beautiful so you don't even question her. Who else could play this but Lively? 

6. A Star is Born

I guess A Star is Born was to me in 2018 was what La La Land was to me in 2017 in that I saw it in theaters more than once. Three to be exact. It wasn't because I was obsessed (that was La La Land) but different people wanted to see it and I wanted to share the experience with them. I did love it a lot though.

7. Scarface

What's to say about Scarface that hasn't been said before? It's a goddamn masterpiece. I watched it for the first time this year and was in awe.

8. Casino

I had no idea what this movie was about. I saw casinos and I saw Scorsese, but god this one was intense. My favorite line was Stone having a breakdown over her marriage. "I never should have married him. He's a Gemini."

9. Risky Business

Everyone knows the couch jumping scene but I was shocked to watch this and find out it's about a high schooler getting involved in a prostitution ring? 

10. Crazy Rich Asians

I saw this in theaters in Brooklyn decidedly last-last minute on a Saturday night while my friend and I were having drinks at Esquina. All of our friends had been raving about it, so we happened to look up showtimes, saw one was starting in five minutes, got the bill and ran several blocks to the theater. ​

11. Hot Summer Nights

Hot Summer Nights has to be the most boring movie involving a drug ring ever made. The barely-existent plot was a bad Timothee Chalamet follow-up to Call Me By Your Name. 

12. Leaving Las Vegas

This was one of the most heart-wrenching films I've ever seen, disturbing on levels like Requiem for a Dream. It's the best Cage has ever been and the saddest parts with the little details. Pay attention to what his character eats in the film. He manages an ice chip at a big dinner, just like real late-stage alcoholics.

13. Blue Velvet

By all accounts, I should like this movie. I'm into totally oddball ones like Eyes Wide Shut, but Blue Velvet is without a doubt the weirdest movie I've ever seen and one that seem to drag on for about four hours. I was so committed to seeing this classic that I didn't give up and shut it off, just so I could say I've seen it. But I wish I hadn't.

14. Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

I hated Mamma Mia! and yet somehow got talked into seeing the sequel in theaters and didn't nearly hate it as much as the first one. Dare I say I actually caught myself singing along and listening to the soundtrack during subway commutes for several weeks after? It's so harmless and summery I couldn't' say no and sometimes you just need things to not be deep.
​

15. Call Me By Your Name

Nothing stuck with me at the end of CMBYN than the final scene of Elio just staring straight at the camera, crying. My friend that I watched this with, said, "What everyone is missing is that Elio isn't gay. Not at all. He just found someone that he was in love with, that was his person. It didn't matter who he was."