In no particular order (except the first one I list), these are the movies that I am anticipating the most from 2019.

Avengers: Endgame.  This one is an obvious one.  I cannot wait to see how the MCU continues after the snap and the first teaser trailer really did a great job of stoking that flame of my anticipation.

Captain Marvel.  The first female MCU led film features Carol Danvers and should lead directly into the Endgame.  I love Brie Larson and this looks tremendous.

Shazam.  Honestly, this has made me pretty excited about this film.  It looks like a film unlike the others in the DC Movie Universe and hopefully this will find that proper tone.

It: Chapter Two.  The return of Pennywise and the conclusion of the Stephen King It remake.  If this is anything like the first film, we are in for something great.

Lion King.  Live action is a relative term when looking at the new Lion King, but the film is astonishing in its CGI.  One of the greatest animated films of all time getting the Jon Favreau treatment.

Dumbo.  Everything about this looks great.  Dumbo may not be the favorite animated movie, but this live action adaptation looks to be checking all the boxes.

Spider-man: Far From Home.  Do you think this has any chance of being anywhere near as good as Into the Spider-verse?  Never doubt the MCU.

Brightburn.  Produced by James Gunn, this looks to be an evil Superman story and how awesome would that be?  That first trailer was off the charts.

Glass.  The sequel to Split and Unbreakable is just a few weeks away and could be January’s biggest hit.

Toy Story 4.  Not sure I needed this or wanted this, but it is coming anyway so I expect it will be brilliant, just like the others.

Star Wars Episode IX.  We do not know a title yet, but I can’t wait to see how the Star Wars fans will react.  Hopefully there won’t be near the vitriol as there was with the Last Jedi or Solo.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  I’ll be Godzilla’s pet.  The trailers for this look amazing.  Can’t wait.

Joker.  This looks fascinating and, if done right, could really be a fantastic film.  It could be a car wreck too.  Great cast.

Okay, here is the list.  The Top 30 best movies of the year.  It was a really good year in movies too as, after I had narrowed my list down, I had 38 films to choose from and it was really tough to cut off some of the bottom of the list.  There were some films that are now in the honorable mentions that I wanted in the Top 30.

There were also some in the 20s that I would have guessed would have been higher up the list, but had slipped down. That was because there were some great films that moved up the list.

Remember, as I said with the worst list, my original star ratings are tossed out for the final list.  They help me choose the films at first, but after that, they do not matter.   The thing is film is subjective and sometimes a movie, on retrospect and reflection, become better or worse from my initial thought.

Again, it depends on if I had seen a specific movie.  There are some new films such as Stan & Ollie or If Beale Street Could Talk that I haven’t seen yet.  They’ll probably wind up on next year’s Best 2018 in 19 list.

Honorable Mentions:  Vice, Teen Titans Go to the Movies, Roma, RBG, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Other Side of the Wind, A Simple Favor, Blockers, Bumblebee

Top 30 Best Films of 2018

#30.  Tag.  I fought to keep this one on the list because I really enjoyed it.  I loved the premise of a group of friends playing a game of tag and the heights that they take it to keep playing.  It was creative and funny and I wanted it in the Top 30.

#29.  Love, Simon.  Another one that held on to the list from the onslaught of those films dropped is this great coming of age story of a young gay boy finding a way to come out of the closet.  It is funny, touching and remarkably creative.  A wonderful coming of age film.

#28.  Incredibles 2. The is one that slipped way down the list from where I thought it might be, but as I compiled it, there were films that I just wanted to be higher than this one.  It is still great and one of the best animated films of the year from Pixar.   The Jack-Jack vs. the raccoon scene is one of the year’s best.

#27.  Creed II.  This is another one that I would have guessed ended higher than it did.  I loved it and thought it was a worthy sequel to Creed.  I loved the inclusion of the Drago family and I loved how the film gave them personality outside of Russian killers.  Creed II was a great film.

#26.  Blackkklansman.  It is a running theme of movies in the twenties that I would have thought would rank higher.  I loved Blackkklansman a lot and found Spike Lee’s new film to be funny, poignant and full of important messages.  Just goes to show how good of a year in cinema is was.

#25.  Paddington 2.  Paddington returns for more fun.  In the original, I thought there was no way Paddington would be a good movie and then it turned out great.  I thought that the sequel had no chance of being a good sequel and it was great.  I should stop underestimating the goodness of Paddington.

#24.  Overlord.  This is a film that, on original score, was a little lower than some, but, in retrospect, really raises its stock.  I really enjoyed this film and its creativity and its use of Nazis and Zombies in ways that we hadn’t seen before.  It knew exactly what kind of film it was and that is important.

#23.  Deadpool 2. I think my memories of this was damaged by Once Upon A Deadpool because I liked this a lot, and it wound up lower than I expected.  The new film highlighted the weaker parts of this movie and put them in the front of my brain.  The rated R version is a good movie.

#22.  Instant Family. One of the bigger surprises of the year, I went to Instant Family expecting something like Daddy’s Home. but I got a film with much more heart, humor and with something to say about adoption. Way better than I thought it would be.

#21.  First Man.  People were divisive over First Man for some reason. Some thought they should have had more about the moon landing, but I found this biopic about Neil Armstrong to be extremely compelling as it was.  Claire Foy was amazing in her supporting role.

#20.  A Star is Born.  Another one that has dropped down the list but that I loved when I first saw it.  Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are great together with amazing chemistry and there is fantastic musical performances.

#19.  The Hate U Give.  Just a fabulous film about a really important topic told in a dramatic manner.  Based on a classic novel, The Hate U Give speaks to the racial problems in the country in a real and vital way.  From this movie, Amandla Stenberg is a actress to keep your eyes on.

#18.  American Animals.  Based on a true story, American Animals tells us about four friends who attempt one of the audacious art thefts ever by stealing expensive and rare books from a library.  The interactions between the four men are truly some of the best of the year.

#17.  Game Night.  I actually left this off and thought about it when William Bibbiani mentioned it on his Critically Acclaimed podcast.  I thought this was unbelievably funny and featured great performances from Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams.  I’m glad I was listening to that show because this belongs on my list.

#16. Eighth Grade.  Bo Burnham’s directorial debut was one of the most real films of the year. I have seen students exactly like the characters in this movie in my job as a middle school teacher.  It was amazingly realistic.  And the scene in the back of the car was one of the most anxiety-filled scenes of the year.

#15.  Bad Times at the El Royale.  Another that I thought might make my top ten, but wound up outside it, I loved this film.  It had great performances from Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges and our Batman and Robin Award for Rotteness winner for Worst Actress Dakota Johnson (for Fifty Shades Freed) which goes to show you how material can change an actor’s performance.

#14.  The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.  This is the Coen Brothers new film and it has a series of Western shorts that are remarkably entertaining and fun.  The six stories are all very different, but all share that ironic end that the Coen Brothers are so well known for.  This is a great watch on Netflix.

#13.  Can You Ever Forgive Me? Melissa McCarthy in the true story of former writer Lee Israel, who wound up selling letters, supposedly from famous authors and celebrities, that she forged.  McCarthy is great in this role, but the film is nearly stolen by Richard E. Grant.  Their chemistry was tremendous and made you really root for these two despite their criminal enterprise.

#12.  Sorry to Bother You.  This was the biggest WTF movie of the year.  I came out of this shocked and amazed at what this film accomplished and out of my mind that the movie went there.  Another one that I would have liked to put higher, but I just didn’t.  It is going to have to settle with being just outside the Top 10.  This had great work from Lakeith Stanfield.

#11.  Green Book.  Another one that I would have absolutely said would make the Top 10, but now ends at number eleven.  Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are amazing together as a pianist and his driver on tour in the south during the Civil Rights movement.  The film was a feel good film and some people felt that they should have done more about the dark hatred in the south.  I am trying to judge the film by what it is, not what it should have been and Green Book is an awesome movie.

#10.  Ant Man & the Wasp.  Another entertaining rendition with Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne.  The pair are trying to save Hope’s mother Janet from the Quantum Realm and they are having conflict with the villain Ghost, who wants the Quantum Realm for other reasons.  Features a great post credit scene that helps set up Avengers: Endgame.

#9.  Mission Impossible: Fallout. The Mission Impossible movies just keep bringing the action and the excitement.  This film even left in the scene where Tom Cruise, doing his own stunts, really injured his foot.  Mission Impossible keeps ramping up the action to a breakneck pace and a high energy finale.

#8.  Mary Poppins Returns.  I loved everything about the Mary Poppins sequel.  The music, the story, Emily Blunt, the rest of the cast, the dances.  It was magical.  I did not think this was necessarily needed but it was certainly welcomed.

#7.  Black Panther.  Marvel’s cultural hit that made more money domestically than any movie this year (even more than Infinity War).  The movie has a chance to be nominated for an Oscar in Best Picture too.  Black Panther was an important movie in many ways for Marvel and for a section of the movie going public that had not seen itself represented in a significant way on the big screen before.  Certainly not in a lead character/big budget way.

#6.  Searching.  John Cho is masterful here as a father whose daughter has disappeared and he goes through her computer trying to find clues on her social media accounts to where she has gone.  For a film that you see only though the camera on a computer screen, this is one of the most tension filled movies of the year.

#5.  A Quiet Place.  Shhhh.  My movie theater was nearly dead silent during this movie because it felt that if you made any noise, you would regret it.  A Quiet Place is tense, anxiety-ridden and I haven’t had quite an experience like it in the movies before.  John Krasinski directs and stars in the movie and does a fantastic job.

#4.  Bohemian Rhapsody. This is another film that people criticized for what it wasn’t.  Some wanted this to be more of a darker look at the life of Freddie Mercury and his sexual orientation and when that was not the focus of the movie, they complained.  Instead, I loved the movie for the awesome music and the fun look at one of the best films of all time.  Maybe there is another movie some day to satisfy the ones who want darkness, but for me, this rocked me.  And Rami Malek completely transformed into Freddie Mercury.  I hope the Academy recognizes his performance.

#3.  Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse.  The best animated movie of the year, and perhaps the best animated movie of the last several years.  Miles Morales is brought forth in this Sony animated film and it is good.  The animation is like art.  The background is so beautiful and stunning, but that is not the only thing.  It has a fantastic story with great characters that have relationships that you care about and a villain that you can understand.  There are surprises and twists.  There is Spider-Ham and Spider-man Noir, for goodness sake. Great voice cast.  Animation unlike anything you have ever seen before.  Capturing the perfect essence of Spider-man.  A heartbreaking Stan Lee cameo.  There is so much here that makes this one of, if not THE, best Spider-man movie ever.

#2.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor.  I have never been affected by a movie so much.  Especially from a documentary of a man who is so good of a person as Fred Rogers.  There was no surprise twist.  There was no shine thrown at Mr. Rogers.  And yet, I am crying in the car on the way home.  Never before did that happen.  I think part of it was that I wished that we had someone like Fred Rogers in the world today.  The world desperately needs Fred Rogers today and we will never have another.  The bravery and the balls of this man was on display every episode.  The scenes of him in Congress arguing for money for PBS is just amazing and it is difficult to believe, in our world of partisan politics, it was even possible.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor does everything beautifully and it makes me long for days past.

#1. Avengers: Infinity War.  A decade of MCU films led to this point and Marvel Studios had the guts to do something unexpected.  It killed off half of the universe and ended the movie with Thanos victorious and living on a planet as Farmer Thanos, retired and raising crops.  What?  I can still remember the gasps from the crowd as characters such as Black Panther, Bucky, and Spider-man (in the most emotional moment of the whole movie) went to dust.  But there was more to this than just that.  You got a great interaction between Thor and his “sweet rabbit” Rocket.  The scene where Thor talks about what he has lost shows the strength of Chris Hemsworth as an actor and how much he understands this character.  We get a return of Captain America in a kick ass fashion.  Tony Stark and Stephen Strange banter than was anything but playful.  Gamora’s surprise death at her father’s hands.  The return of the Red Skull.  There are just so many moments in Infinity War that makes this an epic worthy of ten years lead up with 19 movies that we may never see anything like it again.  At least, until April 26, 2019.

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.

Here at EYG we love a good meme.  And 2018 had its share.  There were some good ones, from a frustrated LeBron James to #SluggoIsLit.  From Yodeling Boy at Wal-Mart to Gritty.  Baby Shark to Distracted Boyfriend.  We saw Theresa May dancing, a Royal Wedding, and the stupidity of the Tide Pod Challenge.  And could you change his mind?  Is it Yanny or Laurel?

However, the dankest of dank memes for the year 2018?

Obama Portrait!

Podcast of the Year

Everybody has a podcast these days.  Now, I did not count those podcasts that have YouTube videos as well (such as Collider Live, Fatman Beyond etc) .  Audio only here.  Here are the top three…

#3.  E & C’s Pod of Awesomeness

#2. Critically Acclaimed

#1.  The Top 10 Show

Every Tuesday, I tune in for the great movie discussions between John Rocha and Matt Knost.  They both bring a top 10 list, compare them and then combine them into a list for the show. It is engaging, entertaining and funnier than hell with two of the most charismatic and funny individuals around.  And they have recommended several great movies that I have had a chance to see.  Thanks to Matt and John for their time and their efforts.

Flop.

Every year they happen.  It is the unfortunate truth that is faced by movies in Hollywood.  Some times they will lose money.  You just hope that you aren’t ever in consideration for the John Carter Memorial Award.

There are some really good films that have fallen into this category.  Heck, some people would go as far as to argue for John Carter.  Not me, mind you, but I know some think that movie gets a bad rap.

However, with some movies and their inflated budgets, they are setting themselves up for failure.  There is a reason why Blumhouse has never had a film in consideration for this award.  Their budgets are really low and they make them back opening weekend even if they are not massive hits.

Other reasons for a film to be a flop could include poor scheduling, bad word of mouth, bad critical reactions, too much competition, limited appeal, too many risks, terrible marketing etc.

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

This year there is several big name films that were in competition for the John Carter Memorial Award.  The Predator was quite a problem when it came out.  The quality of that film really hurt it in the long run.  The fact that they basically had to shoot Solo: A Star Wars Story twice meant the budget of that film was going to be sky high (rumored to be over $300 million alone).  The timing for The Happytime Murders was wrong as we have seen foul mouthed puppets before.  Even Oprah could not save A Wrinkle in Time from losing Disney money (despite the fact that Disney has plenty to spare).  Variety is reporting that Steve Carell’s Welcome to Marwen could lose $50 million dollars.  The Sister Brothers did not reach double digits in box office millions (around 9 million) which is massively underwhelming.

In the end, the John Carter Memorial Award came down to two choices and since there is precedent for a tie, I have decided to “award” both of these well-deserving flops the prestigious John Carter Memorial Award.

2018 John Carter Memorial Award “winners” are….

Robin Hood

and…

Mortal Engines

Both of these films have budgets in excess of $100 million.  Robin Hood has a little larger (current) worldwide box office result (but not by much) but Mortal Engines hasn’t been out as long.  Plus, Mortal Engines has a larger marketing budget as nobody was talking about Robin Hood.

Mortal Engines should never have been anywhere near the release date that it was at.  With the films being released in December, it should have pushed itself back like Alita did.  Robin Hood too came out on a weekend where it was going to be buried.  And it was.

And neither of the films had any positive word of mouth as reviews weer brutal for both.  All these lead to two flops in 2018.

Welcome to the group, Mortal Engines and Robin Hood.  Sorry.

Whereas sci-fi was down, horror seemed to have a strong year. Though there were plenty of clunkers, the great horror movies were films that expanded the genre and pushed the envelope.

Best Horror Movie

A Quiet Place

This was one of the most tense and anxiety-ridden films of the year and the theater experience was unlike any I had.  I never saw a theater so desperate to stay quiet.

Others:  The year started off with a surprisingly good Insidious: The Last Key.  Didn’t expect that out of a January horror movie.  Unsane was a great film this year, filmed exclusively on an iPhone.  Hereditary was frightening, but the ending knocked the film down for me.  The Endless was a film that few knew about but it was good.  Overlord is a fantastic horror/war mash-up.  Zombies and Nazis together!  Mandy was campy and wild with Nic Cage in a serious bloodbath.  The First Purge was okay.

Worst Horror Movie

The Nun was a spin off of the Conjuring series and it made a lot of money, but it was just horrid.  And the Nun really did not show up in this movie very much either.

Others:  Slenderman was nowhere near as good as the documentary.  Making a horror movie out of a real life tragedy was a bit of a questionable choice. The sequel Unfriended: Dark Web was not good either, though maybe better than the original.  Winchester should have been so much better than it was.  The Possession of Hannah Grace was not even that scary.  Truth or Dare was one of the few misfires from Blumhouse.