The Final Entry THE TOP TEN films of 2018!

Here we are! I won't pontificate as I usually do before an entry like this since the suspense is killing you. So here they are.

10) "Ms. Hyde" - Serge Bozon

Wow, the study of the duality of the human mind can be so...Damn, I'm actually making myself yawn. Most of the additions into the whole Jeckle and Hyde concept are insipid and obvious, aren't they? Tripe. But "Ms. Hyde" bursts out of the model and shoves its revolutionary ideas on the story right down your throat. The rare film of this series of stories that has just a bit of profundity.

9) "Disobedience" - Sebastian Lelio

Sebastian Lelio's follow-up to 2017's Oscar-winning "A Fantastic Woman" is every inch as good as its predecessor, maybe even better. When her father dies, Ronit (Rachel Weisz) is called back to her Orthodox Jewish home. She gets there only to be confronted by Esti (Rachel McAdams,) the love of her youth. With their affair reignited, they are once again faced with the question of how to respond to their conservative community. The real drama is between the two women and Esti's husband Dovid (Alessandro Nivola.) What pulls your heartstrings most in this film is the contrast between Esti and Ronit's joyous homecoming and watching this good man's heartbreak in real time as he slowly realizes what's going on.

8) "Beautiful Boy" - Felix van Groeningen

"Beautiful Boy" follows David (Steve Carell,) a father desperately trying to save his son Jasper (Timothée Chamalet) who is struggling with an addiction to crystal-meth. We follow the duo in the present and back to when Jasper was young, juxtaposing the effed-up junkie with the adorable, loving son David raised. In the end, "Beautiful Boy" is a film about the intimate and heart-rending between father and son. When a boy suffers, the father feels the pain. He matches his son's pain, blow for blow and hurt for hurt. Groningen, director of 2012's "The Broken Circle Breakdown," a film about a man struggling with finding a way to break through the grief of losing his daughter, is no rookie when it comes to telling stories of heartbreak and fatherhood. So just a warning, if you are a father this film will make you cry.

7) "The Favourite" - Yorgos Lanthimos

"The Favourite" demonstrates plainly that sexual politics are the most efficient to manipulate. They're also the most malicious. I don't know what I enjoyed watching more, the two vindictive-to-the-point-of-sadistic women vying for power and the queen's affections or just how delighted Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) seems to watch it all play out in front of her. It's a very dark comedy that gleefully celebrates what it really means to be cruel.

6) "Hereditary" - Ari Aster

Oh my God, did this movie throw the template for horror films into a bonfire! "Hereditary" has no rules. Every character is vulnerable and the evil has no restraints and that's what makes it so horrifying. The film is so terrifying that you want to turn away but feels forced to face it just to see where the hell it goes.

5) "Hotel Artemis" - Drew Pearce

Bizarre for the sake of itself can be entertaining, but in the end, it's not a solid foundation for a film. Lucky "Hotel Artemis" earns the right, through strong stories and well-written characters, to be bizarre as it wants to be. A healer known as "the Nurse" (Jodie Foster) runs an underground makeshift hospital at a former hotel. The characters who come to her are desperate, naturally. But there are strict rules for anybody needing to be stitched-up. Writer/director Drew Pearce takes us on a ridiculously fun ride through a single night at the Armetis when the rules are for shit.

4) "Cold War" Pawel Pawlikowski

If you disagree with me that "Cold War" is one of the best films of the year, you have to concede that it's certainly the most beautiful. Director Pawel Pawlikowski and Cinematographer Lukasz Zal were nominated for Oscars for their work on this film. But good looks can only get you so far if you don't have a good story with solid characters. "Cold War" has both. We follow Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) chasing each other through the fifties both behind the Iron Curtain and on this one. They're first separated in a self-sabotaged escape from occupied Poland. After that, they come across each other every once in a while, longing to be reunited. "Cold War" is more than a celebration of impossible love though. There's the simple joy of life in every frame.

3) "Border" - Ali Abbasi

Most years, "Border" would easily take the top spot as the best film of the year. The fact that it's only number three is just a testament to how brilliant Boots Riley's and Anne Ramsay's offerings were. Tina (Eva Melander) is a Swedish customs officer with an aptitude for sniffing out all sorts of smugglers and criminals. She also has a physical deformity that makes her feel less than human. Then Vore ( Eero Milonof,) someone with the same deformity but incomparably high confidence comes along, questioning everything Tina had come to assume over her life. The film is really about monsters and how they are defined. We learn along with Tina that a deformity does not define a devil.

2) "You Were Never Really Here" - Anne Ramsay

If "We Need to Talk About Kevin" was Ramsay's "Reservoir Dogs" then "You Were Never Really Here" is her "Pulp Fiction." Lynne Ramsay's follow up to her disturbing 2011 masterpiece "We Need to Talk About Kevin" became iconic instantly when the film was released. She attempts to study and submit the psyche of a self-loathing, violent revenge-seeker and she nails it to the wall. She understands that the source of Joe's (Joaquin Phoenix) compulsion to rescue innocents and murder wrong-doers is an underlying sense of helplessness he's had beaten into him since he was a child. "YouWere Never Really Here" is basically a celebration of righteous violence and boy, is it glorious!

And here we are – the greatest film of 2018!

1) "Sorry to Bother You" - Boots Riley

With "Sorry to Bother You," Boots Riley delivers what is most likely the greatest dark comedy so far this century. Aside from the morbidity that glues the whole thing together, we're also looking at rare, biting and important satires you'll ever see. Desperate for money and employment, Cassius Green, a.k.a Cash (LaKieth Stanfield,) takes a job as a telemarketer. He quickly learns that the key to doing the job well, to pull down those fat commission checks, is to put on his white voice. His numbers skyrocket and get the attention of corporate. After that, Cash slowly sells off his soul, piece by piece as he repeatedly compromises his sense of ethics. In the end, Cash finds himself essentially, a slave trader. Finally, the powderkeg explodes as we see the truly sadistic underside of corporate America, our citizens' lackadaisical response to true evil and just how far a grassroots revolution can go.

The Oscars – Who Will Win, Who Ought To Win and Those Who Were Simply Screwed – Part 2: Who Should Win

Okay, we've covered which films are the most likely to take home Oscar gold. But which movies are actually deserving? Who SHOULD win?

Best Picture – "BlacKkKlansman"

Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" may not be a sweeping epic (have you ever wondered why film critics use the word "sweeping" so much? Meh. When in Rome) like "Roma," the frontrunner this year, but it's the only film, with bigger balls than both "Black Panther" and the dark sex comedy "The Favourite."

I would really like to see Spike Lee honored at last.

Best Director – Pawel Pawlikowski

This one is easy. My pick doesn't have a chance in hell, but he sure deserves it. The cards are stacked against him, but putting away showbusiness politics and other factors, if there were any justice in the universe, the Oscar would unquestioningly go to Pawel Pawlikowski for "Cold War," a gift from God to the world.

Best Cinematography – Lukasz Zal

If God would intervene here, this honor would go to Lukasz Zal's "Cold War. It's one of those few films in which you could disregard story and characters and just watch at beautiful images as they are shown. Every frame of this work of art is a masterpiece.

Best Supporting Actor – Adam Driver

"BlacKkKlansman" has so much going for it that it's hard to give one performance too much credit. But Driver brings something special to the table. He turns what could've been just a standard cop role into an introspective detective who is wonderful to watch as he brings just the right amount of machismo to the table.

Best Actress –  Olivia Colman

None of these actresses stand a chance against Glenn Close this year. I think pretty much everybody has accepted that.

However, if I had my druthers, Olivia Colman would win for her turn as Queen Anne in the hilarious and dark comedy, "The Favourite." The film is so damn clever and subversive. Colman shines as the object of two different women's obsession. She's lovers with them both and seems to delight in egging on their cruel rivalry. She's not above "I like it when she puts her tongue in me." 

Best Actor – Willem Dafoe

If you saw "Eternity's Gate" you may already agree with me that Willem Dafoe deserves the trophy for his wonderful portrayal of Vincent Van Gough. The Academy has honored him before with plenty of nominations, but no gold this year. He's made so much of contribution to cinema, building up a reputation for choosing films that nobody else could've made their own like "Antichrist," "eXistenZ," "Shadow of the Vampire" and of course, "The Last Temptation of Christ."

His depiction here of Van Gough is as lovely as it is dark. He reminds us of the profound beauty of an artist in the context of his life, his neurosis and his crippling (and ultimately fatal) depression. 

How a man who saw the world as oppressive and hostile and still find beauty everywhere, giving us the most gorgeous painting in world history, is unspeakably moving.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about the movies that got screwed out of any nominations whatsoever. I'll leave you will a bit of evidence as to why Adam Driver should win the prize for Best Supporting Actor.

The Oscars – Who Will Win, Who Ought To Win and Those Who Were Simply Screwed – Part 1: Who WILL Win

Well, it's that time of the year when we obscure film bloggers pretentiously pretend not to give a damn about the Academy Awards. 

Who cares about the establishment, about the man? They're just too mainstream, aren't they? Well, I have to confess that I actually follow most award shows, and none as closely as the Oscars.

So here I am weighing in on the madness nevertheless.

First, a couple of disclaimers – One, I have not seen every film in the running. I've missed "A Star is Born," and "Vice." I have seen each of the other films up for Best Picture.

Second, I'm not going to weigh in on each and every category. That would just be effing exhausting. Just the few I have a strong opinion on.

So let's start out with which films will take home the trophies this year.

Best Picture – BlacKkKlansman

This year, it's trickier than usual to predict what movie will be proclaimed the greatest film of the year. By Hollywood terms, if you look at their history, it's a race between two. Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" which is quite a beautiful, personal but grandeur look into the life of a young woman as her country struggles its way through The Mexican Institutional Civil War in the '70s.

The other film with as many nominations is Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favourite," an unsettling and surprisingly wicked dark comedy.

But I think an unexpected left hook just might be the thing. That's where Spike Lee's visionary film "BlacKkKlansman" comes into play.  I think everybody will be shocked to see the top honor of the night go to "BlacKkKlansman." 

A buddy-cop movie in which a black detective pretends to be a white supremacist to take down David Duke may not sound like an Oscar movie on its face, but look at what's happening around us. White Supremacy and White Nationalism going unchecked, uncriticized. Even after white nationalists murdered a woman at a protest, the president himself said that the people there, the neo-nazis, white nationalists and the Klan were "very fine people." Spike Lee decimates these times with a jack-hammer and he'll be rewarded for it.

"Black Panther" is in the running, for sure. It's changed the way comic book films will be made from here on out. I'd be glad to see it win, it really was fantastic, but it's a long-shot.

Best Director – Spike Lee

But I really do believe this time that the Academy will have the grace to finally recognize this giant in the industry. This guy is one of the greatest directors of our generation and until now, he's not been up for Director or Picture. If there were any justice in the universe, he would already have matching ones for "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X."

Best Cinematography – Alfonso Cuaron

I'd really like to believe that the Academy could get behind, simply the loveliest looking film of the year, "Cold War." Lukasz Zal forces us to stop to watch every image he puts in front of us. And each of them is almost hypnotic, from the most beautiful shots nature has to offer, to the truly ugliest filth. And Zal isn't afraid to show us these characters up close, from the plainest plebian right up to the most important and the glorious.

But there's no way "Roma" will go home completely empty-handed. Consider this one Cuaron's consolation prize.

Best Original Screenplay – Alfonso Cuaron

Like Best Cinematography, I think it's pretty safe to assume Cuaron will win for his powerful screenplay for "Roma." The Acadamy really like this guy and apart from that, he gave us quite the timeless masterpiece this year that will be relevant for quite some time.

Best Actress – Glenn Close

Glenn Close has always been a bridesmaid, never a bride. This will be her seventh Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, I haven't seen this film so I can't tell you whether or not I think she ought to win, but I expect that Close will take home Best Actress.  It's one of the few locks this year.

Best Actor – Rami Malek

Rami Malek will undoubtedly take home a statue for his turn as Freddy Mercury in Brian Singer's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Everybody likes to see an actor nail the essence of an historical figure. And Malek's performance is so true it seems implausible that he wouldn't walk home with the trophy. He channels Mercury so effectively, you'll get chills even if you're not a Queen fan.

Best Supporting Actress – Tie Between Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone

"And the Oscar goes to – The really malicious bitch from "The Favourite." Wait. Dammit. Do I mean Rachael Weisz or Emma Stone? How are we supposed to choose between the two? Coin toss! No? Let's just say it'll go to Weize just 'cause I love brunettes.  Weize's and Stone's performances in "The Favourite" rival each other into a one-upmanship of who can sell their soul for some nasty meat first. Their malevolence takes on its own form, creating one fascinating, cruel, power and sex-crazed creature.

Best Supporting Actor – Sam Elliot

I think they're going to finally recognize Sam Elliot this year, I really think they will. We've all loved this guy for so long, we all want to see him take home one Oscar while he's still young. Hell, he deserves a lifetime achievement award just for narrating "The Big Lebowski."

Coming up next – Who SHOULD win This Year's Honors

And here's a peek at the movie I keep raving about but you probably haven't seen – "Cold War."

Quote of the Day: Fight Club - David Fincher (1999) Maybe More Like the Monologue of the Day

"I see all this potential and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."
- Brad Pitt as Tyler Durdin

Quote of the Day: Trainspotting - Danny Boyle (1996) Hell, This Movie is Chock-Full of Quotes.

"Choose life. But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

So many backdrops and intricacies and poetry and quotes. I swear to God, this movie, and the book, will be somewhere in my head when I die.

And that makes this movie precious.

Colossal - Nacho Vigalondo (2017)

Gloria, played by Anne Hathaway with, (and I have to say this), horrendous bangs, is a loser. She sleeps all day, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally. She has no drive and has not worked in a year. She is also a blackout drunk and her boyfriend has tossed her out on the street.

She has no other choice than to go home, so she moves back into her parents' empty house. She runs into Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), an old friend from back in the day who owns a bar.

Then, twenty minutes into the film, it takes a sharp turn. The day after she gets back in town, she finds out that the city of Seoul has been devastated by a giant monster.

The creature appeared and then vanished out of thin air above the city.

Soon, Gloria starts to obsess about the monster. She makes maps, graphs and pictures and she hangs them on a wall in the empty house. We start to wonder why Gloria is so fascinated by the whole story while other characters seem more blasé about the situation.

Is there some kind of connection between Gloria and the monster? She certainly thinks there is. 

And it soon becomes obvious that she's right. At a specific place in her hometown, at a designated time, it seems Gloria is somehow controlling the creature. It mimics every movement. Each gesture, each step.

Then a giant robot appears with the monster like they are a comedy duo, part of a bit. The robot appears to be controlled by Oscar. Think Optimus Prime meets Godzilla. 

Sadly, before too long, Oscar understandably decides controlling a giant robot can actually be a jolly good time. This transforms him from the warm, compassionate hometown friend into a dangerous scoundrel.

This puts Gloria and Oscar at odds. That is to say Oscar starts being a real dick, alienating Gloria and his friends.

It is worth noting that Sudeikis makes a surprisingly convincing villain.

"Colossal" makes a clear statement about the raw nature of power. It can turn you evil and it will drive you mad. Sometimes to the point of murderous. You need only look at the world, and our country, to understand how vital it is that people understand this truth.

The film has a Joe Dante (Gremlins, Matinee) vibe to it. It is mischievous, sarcastic, darkly funny and violent.

What "Colossal" gives us is 105 minutes of a damn good time. It might not be the best horror film I have seen this year, but it certainly is the most entertaining.

Beatriz at Dinner - Miguel Arteta (2017)

"Beatriz at Dinner" is easily the most important film to come out since Jordan Peele's "Get Out" from earlier this year.

It tells the story about one rare evening where a member of the working class is put in a position where she has to socialize with the bourgeoisie.

Beatriz, played with beautiful subtlety by Salma Hayek, is a masseuse who finds herself stranded at a wealthy clients' house. 

The mistress of the house, Cathy, invites her to stay for a dinner party starting very soon and involving some very "important" people. 

It's important throughout the film to remember that at the start, Cathy really is a likable person.

The most crucial of the guests Beatriz will be spending the evening with is Doug Strutt, a pig of a real estate mogul, played masterfully by John Lithgow. The strength of Lithgow's performance lies in his refusal to simply paint this man as a villain. He never lets us forget the wickedness in his heart for a second, nevertheless showing us glimpses of humanity in his eyes. 

He even betrays a slight, peculiar fondness for bizarre but intriguing woman, Beatriz.

The bulk of the film shows Beatriz arguing with these characters, especially Strutt, about all manner of moral issues while handling condescension and racial slurs through the night.

Narcissism is the best word to sum up the nature of these ladies and gentlemen.

One telling sequence involves lighting up "wish lanterns" and letting them go over the canyon. One of them jokes that they'll be put in jail if he set fire to the area. Another says their lawyer friend will just get them off. That's goes right to the center of who these people are. Whether or not a fire is set and people are endangered is really of no consequence. It's only about the possible penalties for them.

Courage is really Beatriz' most prominent character quality. You can tell she would be more comfortable letting some of these heinous comments and attitudes slide, but she won't. She is meek by nature, but willing to be bold when she needs to be.

I kept waiting for that moment when these characters would realize how appalling they were behaving and that Beatriz was right more often than not through the evening.

If the ending feels unsatisfying, it's meant to be. The film refuses to tie everything with a trite, happy ending, instead of leaving us with a solid, bleak picture of the shameful way things really are right now in this country.