The Best of 2018: The Best New Movies I Saw

Of movies that were first made readily available for me to see in 2018, whether in Chicagoland theaters for a regular run--i.e. not a festival showing--or via self-producing streaming TV channels, I saw 39 over the past 365 days.

For the purposes of my list below, these include The Post, Phantom Thread, Hostiles and perhaps a few other films that were officially 2017 releases but didn't open locally until 2018.

I won't count as eligible a film called Fast Color, which I saw at a special screening--with star Gugu Mbatha-Raw present at Chicago's Music Box Theatre--but which won't open normally until March 29.

And because I believe I only saw two new documentaries in 2018--not counting straight concert movies or Springsteen on Broadway--I will take care of acknowledging them separately here:

1. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 
2. McQueen

As in years past, after my list I will also include the Top 10s of my friend Dave and Brad, who tend to see a wider swath of art films than I do.

I won't take the time to spell out which films are still in theaters, on Netflix or other streaming service, rentable or whatever else, but have found an app called Just Watch is quite valuable in this regard. 

Best New Movies Seen in 2018
(F = Foreign; 17 = Officially a 2017 release)

1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Roma (F)
3. Shoplifters (F)
4. Burning (F)
5. Green Book
6. The Post (17)
7. Widows
8. Leave No Trace
9. Eighth Grade 
10. Blackkklansman 
11. The Rider 
12. Disobedience 
13. You Were Never Really Here
14. Bohemian Rhapsody 
15. Black Panther 
16. On the Basis of Sex
17. Crazy Rich Asians 
18. A Simple Favor 
19. First Reformed
20. A Star Is Born

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Mary Poppins Returns, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Foxtrot, Lean on Pete, Annihilation, Zama, Hostiles, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Notable 2018 Movies Not Yet Seen
The Favourite, The Sisters Brothers, Mandy, The Mule, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Wildlife, First Man, A Private War, Creed II, Museo, Boy Erased, Ben Is Back, Halloween, Cold War (not yet released in Chicago), The Death of Stalin, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Love After Love, Isle of Dogs, The Other Side of the Wind, Colette, Bloodspotting, A Quiet Place, The Endless

Notable Movies Seen But Not Cited Above

Phantom Thread (17), Fast Color, Support the Girls, Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Set It Up, Anon, Game Night, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Dave's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Roma (F)

2. Eighth Grade
3. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
4. The Mule
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
6. The Favourite
7. Hostiles
8. Foxtrot
9. Green Book
10. Leave No Trace

Brad's Top 10 Movies of 2018

1. Roma
2. Blackkklansman
3. First Reformed
4. Burning (F)
5. Hereditary
6. The Other Side of the Wind
7. Black Panther
8. Eighth Grade
9. The Endless
10. Shoplifters (F)