Here it is.  The Top 25 WORST Movies of 2018.  I was uncertain what was going to be number one on this list until just recently when one film leaped dramatically to the top of the list.

As always, when I compile these lists, my original star rating/score is only one of the considerations I take to determine the final placement.  Movies change over time.  Some get better and some get worse upon reflection.  Those star ratings are only used to help formulate a general placement.

As all movies are subjective, you may disagree with some of my choices.  That is fine.  I wouldn’t expect anything less.  This is my list.

And, of course, I do not include those films that I have not seen.  One major film was missing: Gotti.  It never came around here in the cinema and I just did not want to pay for it on streaming services or iTunes.  So if it is a terrible movie and you do not see it here, I may not have seen it.

Dishonorable Mention:  Night School, Red Sparrow, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Top 25 Worst Movies of 2018

#25.  Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.  Confusing and dull.  Worst than the original that I did not like that much.

#24.  The Predator.  Wow, when you hear Shane Black was doing a new Predator movie, you start to expect goodness.  Unfortunately there is no goodness to be had.

#23.  Mile 22.  Mark Wahlberg plays a rotten person who is a big time jerk, but you are supposed to cheer for him on this mission to take this guy to the airport, 22 miles away.  I hated the character and the film was pretty dull as well.

#22.  Nobody’s Fool.  Tiffany Haddish in a unfunny comedy that spiraled off into way too many directions.  Whoopi Goldberg gives a good performance in this stinker.

#21.  Mortal Engines.  London on wheels!  A sci-fi futuristic movie that is way too boring despite some interesting concepts.  The characters are wastes and I did not care for much of anything.

#20.  The Darkest Minds.  They are not the X-Men!  A YA adaptation of a young group of heroes with powers that are being chased by the government because they were dangers.  The film is bad and truly wishes for it to be full of mutants.

#19.  Forever My Girl.  Sappy film about a country music star who comes back home to discover that his old girlfriend had given birth to his daughter and never told him.  Predictable and cruel-spirited.

#18.  Dog Days.  Manipulation using dogs is not a new concept and this won’t be the last time we see it. There are like five or six stories going on in this movie and have characters that have no chance of being real.  The dialogue is ridiculous.  So is the movie.

#17.  Gringo.  David Oyelowo is Harold and he is a middle management man and he is sent to Mexico by his crooked bosses on business.  While there, David gets kidnapped and it becomes a slapstick “comedy.”  Stupid and unfunny.

#16.  Best F(r)iends.  As a movie this is really bad, but it falls into the category, like The Room, of Tommy Wiseau films so bad it is fun.  The second part of this movie (yes, it was two parts) was shown this year and it was amazingly head-shakingly bad.

#15.  Death Wish.  Bruce Willis, on full auto pilot, in a remake that had no need to be done of a film that the original was not one of my favorites anyway.  This came out in a time when the gun violence may not be the best message to provide.

#14.  Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare.  One of the bad horror movies of the year.  There is so many dumb things going on here that it is hard to even put it into words.  Don’t play truth or dare because you will die.  The characters are so stupid it is hard to care if any of them survived.

#13.  Winchester.  Another bad horror movie, this time about the real haunted Winchester mansion.  The awesome Helen Mirren is here but totally wasted as Sarah Winchester and the scares are lesser than it should be.  A film that could have been so much better than it was.

#12.  The 15:17 to Paris.  Clint Eastwood cast the real life people who were involved in this incident as the leads of his film.  These people may be heroes, but they are not actors.  The story itself is strung out too long and then Eastwood wants to focus on the characters and asks too much.  Pretty boring.

#11.  Hotel Transylvania 3.  I am not a fan of Adam Sandler films and this just falls into the same category as the others.  It is predictable and stupid.  I suppose it might be fine for the young children, but I like the animation that raises the level for kids instead of playing down to them.

#10.  Fifty Shades Freed.  The final film of the trilogy and I had to debate if I wanted to go to it.  I decided to finish the trilogy instead of skipping this.  This was bad, but on the positive, it was not the worst of the three.  It was much better than the last one.

#9.  Nutcracker and the Four Realms.  This was so boring.  It had one of the classic stories of Christmastime and it had to try to make it into a fantasy film in the vein of Narnia or Alice in Wonderland.  Terrible.

#8.  Slenderman.  Beware the Slenderman, because there will be a jump scare.  It is not that scary and it is a huge step down from the documentary of the real life situation that was way more tense and suspenseful than this film was.

#7.  The Possession of Hannah Grace.  A dead body creeping around a morgue and it really does not have anything to do with a possession outside of the first scene.  A less creepy version of The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

#6.  The Hurricane Heist.  A group of stupid people decided to use a hurricane to cover their robbery.  There are so many plot holes in this film that you have to suspend disbelief so much that it is hard to do.  This was very dumb.

#5.  The Nun.  A spin off from the Conjuring series, but it is so bad.  Similar to the first Annabelle movie, the Nun is a poor film with dumb people doing dumb things.  We really do not see the Nun that much and it is not that scary.  Since it made money and we will certainly see a sequel, hopefully the sequel to this will be as good as the sequel to Annabelle was.

#4.  Early Man.  I hated this movie ten minutes in.  I regretted my decision to go to it immediately and I waited for the animated movie to end. It was an early year leader for the worst film of the year.  Soccer playing cavemen. Ugh

#3.  Action Point.  Johnny Knoxville doing his stupid Jack-Ass routine in a scripted film where he is trying to re-open an old amusement park.  The incompetent and immature characters were our heroes here and I really just wanted it to be over.

#2.  Robin Hood.  Or should we call him “Rob?”  Taron Egerton is the new Rob and his story is terrible.  Jamie Foxx is collecting a paycheck.  Ben Mendelsohn is over acting as the Sheriff of Nottingham to an nth degree.  This was Robin Hood as a war movie and the fact that we got a machine gun bow and arrow should tell you all you need to know.

And the worst movie of 2018….

#1.  Holmes and Watson.  I just saw this movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly just the other day and it immediately sprung to the top of this list.  It was so terrible that Columbia kept the screenings away from critics so that they would not be able to tell the public how bad it is.  It currently sits at 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and, even more telling, has 27% of audience score.  There have been stories of people walking out of Holmes and Watson showings.  It is so unfunny and ridiculous (and not in the good way).  It screws with iconic characters and damages them.  There was a moment during the film that I was thinking that I might give this zero stars.  I wrote in my review that the best part of the film was my bathroom break.  Holmes and Watson is so bad I have it in the same category as Movie 43, Batman and Robin and Transformers: The Last Knight.  Easily the worst of the year.

In honor of EYG Hall of Famer Peter Sellers, we named the Best Actor category The Strangelove.  We have some great nominees this year for the prestigious award.

Previous Winners:  James McAvoy (Split), Denzel Washington (Fences), Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Michael Keaton (Birdman), Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Ryan Gosling (Drive)

#10.  Steve Carell (Beautiful Boy)

#9.  John David Washington (BlackKKlansman)

#8.  Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther)

#7.  John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)

#6.  John Cho (Searching)

#5.  Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War)

#4.  Christian Bale (Vice)

#3.  Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)

#2.  Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

And the WINNER of the 2018 Strangelove Award for Best Actor goes to…

#1. Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Five of these top ten actors are playing real people.  Rami Malek completely becomes Freddie Mercury.  It was not just an impression of the rock star, but Malek is absolutely amazing.  The Live Aid scene would have been enough.  Christian Bale has every little motion or twitch for Dick Chaney down to a tee.  Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip brought a true humanity to what could have been a stereotypical character.  Steve Carell is being overshadowed by his scene mate Timothee Chalamet in many people’s eyes, but his performance as the father in Beautiful Boy is just as tragic.  John David Washington stepped out of the “Denzel’s son” shadow with a wonderful dramatic and comedic performance in Blackkklansman.  Josh Brolin is not getting enough credit for what he did with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.  He brought the Mad Titan to life and yet created someone that you could relate to despite his psychosis.  John Krasinski‘s scene in A Quiet Place with his kids and the monsters is one of the scariest and heartbreaking scenes of the year.  It brought tears to my eyes.  John Cho was so outstanding in a film that caught everyone off guard.  Searching really is a fantastic film anchored by his stunning work.  Chadwick Boseman became T’Challa and led the world to the theater to see Black Panther.  Bradley Cooper is a front runner for the Oscar and he does a great job singing, playing guitar, acting and directing this movie.  He was a real quadruple threat.

This might be the most difficult list of all of these because there are so many amazing performances from lead actresses this year.  Let’s see how this goes…

Previous Winners:  Frances McDormand (3 Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri), Viola Davis (Fences), Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), Rosemund Pike (Gone Girl), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

#10.  Claire Foy (Unseen)

#9.  Saoirse Ronan (Mary, Queen of Scots)

#8.  Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give)

#7.  Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)

#6.  Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

#5. Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)

#4.  Lady Gaga (A Star is Born)

#3.  Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

#2.  Toni Collette (Hereditary)

And the 2018 Liz Award for Best Actress goes to….

#1.  Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)

What a great year for female leads.  I can remember years where I struggled to find 5 for this category and now I bet I could have kept going.  Yalitza Aparicio blew me away with her soulful performance in Roma.  Watching some of those horrific scenes dealing with her pregnancy were just heart-wrenching.  Lady Gaga is fresh and epic in A Star is Born and she does more than just play herself as some critics claim.  Toni Collette should not be overlooked when come Oscar time as she was just transcendent in Hereditary.  Great year for Emily Blunt and she capped it off as the iconic Mary Poppins.  I really considered Olivia Colman for the win in this category after seeing The Favourite.  Her performance elevated that movie.  Two great young actresses arrived this year with Elsie Fisher and Amandla Stenberg.  Melissa McCarthy showed us she could do more than dumb comedies.  Her turn as Lee Israel was note perfect.  I felt that Saoirse Ronan was the clear reason to see Mary, Queen of Scots.  Claire Foy had a great year too as she was a huge surprise in the great Unseen.

Here are the Top 10 lists of the Best Supporting Actor and Actresses from the movies of 2018.

Best Supporting Actresses

Previous Winners:  Dafne Keene (Logan), Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Emma Stone (Birdman), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses)

#10.  Ann Dowd (American Animals)

#9.  Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians)

#8.  Cynthia Erivo (Widows)

#7.  Danai Gurira (Black Panther)

#6.  Nicole Kidman (Boy Erased)

#5.  Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

#4.  Emma Stone (The Favourite)

#3.  Amy Adams (Vice)

#2.  Claire Foy (First Man)

#1.  Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)

There are some actresses here that I kind of think should be lead actresses, but we placed them here because that is what they are up for in the Oscar consideration.  Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are two of those that are really the lead characters of The Favourite.  Ann Dowd was great as the library worker tortured by the thieves in American Animals. Nicole Kidman was heart-breaking in Boy Erased as the mother who kept quiet despite her better judgement.  First Man‘s Claire Foy really stole all of her scenes as the wife of Neil Armstrong.  Several real life women being portrayed here.  Dowd, Kidmon and Foy are all real people as was Amy Adams as Lynne Chaney.  Emily Blunt, who had a great year, was just amazing in A Quiet Place. The scene where she gives birth in the bathtub was as suspenseful as you get.

Supporting Actor

Previous Winners:  Patrick Stewart (Logan), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Sylvester Stallone (Creed), Edward Norton (Birdman), Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

#10.  Sam Elliot (A Star is Born).

#9.  Josh Hamilton (Eighth Grade)

#8.  Sam Rockwell (Vice)

#7.  Adam Driver (BlacKKKlansman)

#6.  Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)

#5.  Topher Grace (BlacKKKlansman)

#4.  Chris Hemsworth (Bad Times at the El Royale)

#3.  Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther)

#2. Mahershala Ali (Green Room)

#1.  Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Lots of great performances from these gentlemen.  Richard E. Grant had amazing chemistry with Melissa McCarthy and played a fascinating person.  Michael B. Jordan almost stole Black Panther from Black Panther.  Many people understood where Killmonger was coming from.  Sam Elliot is getting a lot of love from award shows, but honestly, he is just playing Sam Elliot.  Chris Hemsworth has amazing comedic timing and now we know he can be sinister from his cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale.  While Adam Driver was great in BlackKKlansman, Topher Grace as David Duke was unbelievable.  Mahershala Ali continues his streak of brilliance in Green Book.  His chemistry with Viggo Mortensen is off the charts.  Timothee Chalamet was powerful in his drug addiction story and Josh Hamilton is the best father you could hope for.  Sam Rockwell could have been higher on this list had he been in Vice more.  He was great in what we saw of him as George W. Bush.

Here is the Top 10 directors for 2018.

#10.  Aneesh Chaganty (Searching).

#9.  Adam McKai (Vice)

#8.  Spike Lee (BlackKKlansman)

#7.  Damian Chazelle (First Man)

#6.  Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade)

#5.  Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)

#4.  The Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War)

#3.  John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)

#2.  Ryan Coogler (Black Panther)

The winner of the “All right, Mr. Deville, I’m ready for my close up” Director of the Year is….

#1.  Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)

Alfonso Cuarón’s work on Netflix’s Roma is masterful.  Yes, there are some issues with the story, but the direction of this film is so beautiful and near perfect.

Here are the Awards for the worst..the Awards for awfulness… the Awards for Crap!  It is The Batman and Robin Awards for Rotteness.

Worst Movie: [SPOILER for Top 25 Worst List] This is easily the worst movie of the year.  It is one of the worst of all time, especially for a wide release in theaters.  Don’t see this travesty.

Worst Actor:  Will Ferrell, Homes and Watson.  He takes everything that is wrong with Will Ferrell as an actor and multiplies it X100.  Ruining a character like Sherlock Holmes make this even worse.

Worst Actress:  Dakota Johnson, Fifty Shade Freed.  What can I say?  She certainly raises her acting to the level of material.  That explains this performance.

Worst CGI:  Robin Hood.  It is laughable in many spots.  You wouldn’t think this would be hard… and yet… here is Robin Hood.

Worst Trailer: A Dog’s Way Home.  This is everything wrong with trailers.  Why do I need to go see this movie now?  I basically saw the entire story in this trailer.  It was already going to be a manipulative film, but I can’t even wonder if the dog finds its way home.

Worst Sequel:  Hotel Transylvania 3.  I know some did not mind this, but I found the entire trilogy to be terrible.  Predictable.  Dumb.  Boring.

Worst Super Hero Movie:  Venom. This was a good year for super hero movies because there were none that were terrible.  I almost gave this to Once Upon a Deadpool, but the Fred Savage stuff save it.  Venom was not a horrible film, but it was not great, especially in comparison.

Best Performance in a Bad Movie.  Whoopi Goldberg, Nobody’s Fool.  I thought Whoopi was the standout performance of this film that was stupid and made no sense.  Whoopi is always entertaining and she easily had the best lines of this film.

Most Overrated: Alpha.  Hate this movie, but most people liked it.  It is at 79% at Rotten Tomatoes and I have to wonder why.  Is it that boy and his dog vibe?

Favorite “Rotten” Movie:  Tag.  Originally I was going to give this to Happytime Murders, which has a real low Tomatometer score, but I then discovered that Tag was at 57% and I will have that movie on my Top 30 best list.  While the Tomatometer score was not that low, this was a very fun movie.

Worst Movie I did not see:  Gotti.  I avoided this like the plague.  When Dan Murrell ripped it a new one on Screen Junkies, I decided it was not worth the time or money.

Cashing a Paycheck:  Mark Wahlberg, Mile 22.  Wahlberg has done these types of films before, but I had hoped that he learned his lesson.  I guess not.

Worst Directorial Decision:  15:17 to Paris.  Director Clint Eastwood decided to put the real life people involved with the incident into this movie, not just as extras, but as the leads.  These guys did their best, but they are not actors and it showed.

No, Really… The Book was Better:  Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.  A real step down from an enjoyable original film… read the Goosebumps books instead.  They are much better.

Worst Reboot/Remake:  Death Wish.  Bruce Willis was in competition for Worst Actor this year with this horrid film.  And the original Death Wish is not that great either, but in comparison to this one, the original is a cinematic masterpiece.

Most Unintentionally Funny Movie:  Best F(r)iends.  The second part to the new collaboration between Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero (from The Room) can’t help but get big laughs.

Most Successful Bad Movie: The Nun.  This made money.  This even made a bunch of money, but it is so bad.  Why does it make so much money when good films do not?  This horror movie is not even scary and the jump scares are everywhere.

There were several disappointments in the cinema world in 2018.  Since we already have the John Carter Memorial Award, this disappointment is not considered monetary.  This is a disappointment in quality.

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing spider-man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman

Runners-Up:  I was so looking forward to Widows.  Unfortunately, I only liked the film and I found it pretty disappointing.  I loved the original and I like Shane Black a lot, so when The Predator was released, it was nowhere near what I had hoped.  Even Oprah couldn’t save A Wrinkle in Time from disappointing.  The Cloverfield Paradox had a remarkable promotion with the trailer during the Super Bowl and I had so much excitement to watch the Netflix show after the game was over.  Then I saw it.  Then, I was so excited about the new version of Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis. but it was, at best, passable and I was so disappointed with that.  The second half of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom really wasted what had been started.  Sicario: Day of the Soldado was pretty dull and not as good as the first one, which I had rewatched and liked more the second time.  And… Solo: A Star Wars Story.  Nuff said.

The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year goes to….

Christopher Robin 

I know a lot of people like this move, but I was so excited about this film and I found it terribly disappointing.  The film did not understand the Winnie the Pooh story and took away the imagination in the story.  The second half of the movie is as bad as any this year.  Ewan McGregor is fine as an adult Christopher Robin, but this film basically turned into a remake of Hook.  I loved Pooh and this was such a letdown.

Next up in the Year in Review is the Gomer Award.  This is the award given to the movie that was the biggest surprise of the year.  A film that I had little or no expectations for but turned out to be great.

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil.

Runners-Up:  There were actually quite a few choices this year for the Gomer.  Overlord was a film that I did not know much about and had zero expectations only to find out that it was awesome. Instant Family was absolutely going to be just like Daddy’s Home and then, shockingly, it wasn’t and it was so much better and more emotional and real. The film A Simple Favor was outstanding and showed a type of film that I did not expect.  The promotional material looked to be surprised by it too.  John Cho’s Searching had no chance of being great, and yet it was one of the best of the year.  I found Eighth Grade to be as real of a film as I could have ever seen.  As a middle school teacher, these were characters that I have seen on a daily basis.  I walked out of Sorry to Bother You with my jaw dragging from the weirdness and originality.  I was sure that the basketball comedy Uncle Drew would be a travesty and, yet, I actually enjoyed it.  I ignored the remake of Overboard for weeks because I was sure I would hate it, but I did not.  It was decent.  And then Blockers had no reason to be anything but crude, unfunny humor but the film had a real heart and was funny.

The 2018 Gomer Award winner is….

Bumblebee

The last Transformers movie was The Last Knight, and it was one of my least favorite movies ever.  I would put it in the conversation with Movie 43, Batman and Robin etc.  There was no way that any Transformers movie could wash the stench off of itself from that travesty to be good. And yet, Bumblebee did it.  It was a great film, with a ton of heart and some wonderful storytelling.  This is the Transformers movie that we have all waited for and never expected that we would receive.

The biggest surprise of 2018

Pop culture has become the world of the Geek in recent years so there are more and more stories and moments that resonates with the EYG crowd.  Here are the top 12 from 2018.

#12.  Disney +.  Disney announced they were beginning their own streaming service and they dropped a couple of huge bombs with it.  One, there would be two Star Wars shows on the service (The Mandalorian, untitled prequel to Rogue One) and two, there would be Marvel series featuring MCU characters such as Scarlet Witch and Loki played by Elizabeth Olson and Tom Hiddleston.  Disney will be mentioned again on this list.

#11.  Roseanne dropped from her show.  The ABC sitcom Roseanne returned for an update this year only to see its star Roseanne Barr post a racist tweet about Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarrett.  ABC/Disney moved quickly and cancelled “Roseanne,” despite solid ratings.  Then, ABC brought the show back, calling it “The Conners,” and killed off the Roseanne character.

#10.  Weird Al gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Good news!  The indelible musician and parodist, Weird Al Yankovic was rewarded this year with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Weird Al has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been a leader in Demented music for the last 30+ years.  At the ceremony, Al asked, “Please, please don’t pickaxe my star,”- a reference to the vandalism done to the star of Donald Trump.

#9.  Tweetstorms.  Speaking of Donald Trump, one of the most entertaining aspects of Twitter is to watch the President of the United States, tweet up a storm at 3 in the morning. caring not one bit for grammar, capitalization, spelling or cohesive thought.  President Trump provided so much ammunition for the late night comedians such as Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Samantha Bee from his tweets one had to wonder if he was doing it on purpose to distract the public from other subjects the media should be talking about.  FAKE NEWS. WITCH HUNT.

#8.  The Royal Wedding.  The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took place on May 19 of this year and the country was enthralled.  I am not sure why the country is so fascinated by the weddings of the Royal Family of England, but the pomp and circumstance was everywhere.

#7.  Netflix brought the axe!  The streaming service severed its ties with much of the Marvel Universe as Netflix cancelled Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Daredevil.  One wonders the fate of the upcoming The Punisher season two and Jessica Jones season three.  But Marvel was not the only show to go as the wonderful American Vandal went too.  Netflix appears to be keeping those IPs that they own instead of leasing.  This may be a specific response to Disney + and all the other streaming services that have been springing up recently.

#6.  Disney/Fox merge is approved.  The merger of 20th Century Fox with Disney is coming closer and closer to being reality.  This year the government gave its okey-dokey to the merger, a major hurdle crossed.  It is believed that the merger will be completed in early 2019 as Disney continues to own just about everything in the world.  Our Mouse Overlord Master continues to strengthen its grip on pop culture.  Plus, Fantastic Four and X-Men are heading back to Marvel Studios.

#5.  #MeToo.  The hashtag movement continued this year as big name actors, heads of companies and others were accused and brought down by the movement.  The behaviors in Hollywood and elsewhere toward women is long overdue for an overhaul and the MeToo movement has gotten the ball rolling.  Giving voice to those who felt powerless is an important step in making this a better world.

#4.  James Gunn fired from Disney.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was heading along for production when old tweets from director/writer James Gunn’s past were brought up by a right-wing pundit around the San Diego Comic Con this year.  Disney responded very quickly and fired Gunn from the project.  This caused a huge backlash among the online nation, but, despite backlash and unanimous support from the cast of Guardians (and rumored support from Marvel Studios), Disney never succumb to the pressure.  Gunn has since been linked to the sequel for Suicide Squad and Dave Bautista expressed his displeasure with the situation anywhere he could bringing his future as Drax into question.

#3.  The Snap.  Avengers: Infinity War became a massive hit, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend of any domestic movie, at over 250 million dollars. The biggest shock of the film was when Thanos finished compiling the Infinity Gauntlet and snapped his fingers, causing half of the population of the universe to go to dust.  This included, to the disbelief of all the audience members, Spider-man, Black Panther, Falcon, most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Winter Soldier, Nick Fury among others.  With the film ending as a victory for Thanos, the appetite for Avengers: Endgame is all the greater.

#2.  Black Panther.  Black Panther made over $700 million domestically and went over $1.3 billion worldwide.  The cultural significance of Black Panther could not be questioned as the African-American community came out in full force to make this the most successful stand alone Marvel Studios film ever.  It is still significant as speculation is saying that Black Panther may be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, making it the first comic book movie to receive such an honor.

#1. Stan Lee passes away.  A sad number one this year as “The Man” Stan Lee died at the end of November, leaving behind a legacy of comic book characters unlike anyone ever had.  With the help of such artists as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Stan Lee created the Marvel Universe and brought us character such as Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, Dr. Strange, Thor, Hulk, Black Panther, the X-Men, Dr. Doom, Ant man, the Wasp, Black Widow, Iron Man, Groot, Daredevil, Hawkeye, Loki, Punisher, Nick Fury, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and many others.  Stan Lee was a beloved figure and everyone shared their memories of Stan and how he inspired them to do what they were doing.  Stan Lee inspired me as well, giving me my moral compass through Spider-Man and my imagination through his wondrous characters and stories.  Excelsior!  Nuff Said.

2018 was a big year for cinema and most of the potential winners of the Star of the Year is from the big screen.

Previous Winners:  Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams.

#5.  Mahershala Ali.  Mahershala has had a strong year and he is prepared for an even bigger 2019 as the third season of True Detective is primed to be released on HBO and Ali is front and center.

#4.  Lady Gaga.  Her star turn in A Star is Born should net Lady Gaga her first Academy Award nomination, if not win.  She is one of the most amazing performers worldwide.

#3.  Chadwick Boseman.  As T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman became the symbol of a cultural movement that allowed young children to finally see the representation of themselves on the big screen.  He starred in two of the biggest movies of the year.

#2.  Emily Blunt.  She was unbelievable in the film, A Quiet Place and then she capped it off as the iconic Mary Poppins in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns.

And the EYG Star of the Year….

#1. Josh Brolin.  He was Thanos.  He was Cable.  He returned in Sicario.  He was great in all three (even if Sicario wasn’t as good as the original).  He was at the center of pop culture in 2018 and deserves this spot.