Top 5 movies of 2018

Another year, another top 5 list, another fantastic year for moviegoers, especially comic book fans but this year came with a few surprises. I haven't watched all the movies that came out but here are 5 movies that were just downright awesome and a few of them which almost made my list. Minor spoilers here and there

HONORABLE MENTIONS

DEADPOOL 2

When someone tells you that they're going to make a movie about a comic book character with fourth wall breaking and extreme violence, any sane studio executive isn't going to even imagine taking such a huge risk. That's the risk Fox Studios made and they payoff they got with it changed the world. Deadpool was such an amazing movie balancing humor, action, and romance it was a blockbuster movie and the first of a kind, proving to be a source of inspiration for Logan and other characters like Lobo from DC. This movie universe is proof that R rated comic book movies can do just as good as the mainstream ones. Maybe the MCU and DCEU could take a page out of this. It's difficult to make a Deadpool sequel but the sequel stood on its own making time travel look so cool, who wouldn't want to kill baby Hitler or Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern?


AQUAMAN

James Wan made Aquaman way cooler than he was in the comics. This standalone movie focused on Arthur Curry and his origin, nothing more and nothing less. I'd rate this better than Wonder Woman but a step lesser than Man of Steel. The visuals were nothing short of extraordinary and its worth a watch in IMAX just for that. Amber Heard had both heart and courage making Mera one of my most favorite female comic book characters, proving to be more than just a love interest for Arthur. This movie proves that DC is far from done making movies, a few more of these and I'm sure Warner brothers are going to have to go behind Cavill and Affleck again, maybe 2019 could be good, fingers crossed.


TAG

Jeremy Renner was busy during Infinity War and MI 6 filming Tag, a movie that shows us that fun doesn't stop with age. Tag is a story about childhood friends who meet every year no matter what they're doing to stop and play a game of Tag. Renner is charismatic, fun and bold in this popcorn flick which could have been slightly better if there had been just a little more drama. Overall, I'm sure this movie would take us back on a trip of nostalgia or at least inspire us to stay in touch with our friends, after all, friendship is one of the very few things which give life meaning.

A STAR IS BORN

One of the other few things which give life meaning is love. Keep your eyes open when the Oscar nominations are announced, best picture, actress, actor and many more categories should watch out for this one. Bradley Cooper is definitely one of the best actors of all time and he comes up with a performance that lives up to his reputation but who knew Lady Gaga had this much talent hidden within. Their chemistry here is just so natural and Lady Gaga outperforms Bradley in so many scenes. I love it, especially how they highlight the fact that it's not just talent that takes you places and how so many talented people often go unnoticed, this movie just spoke to my heart. The romance genre is just getting better by the day, kudos to the team 'A Star is Born'

THE POST

This movie came out quite early in 2018, even made its way to the Oscars. A political thriller starring Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. Take a look at how history was made and how crucial some decisions shaped the stories of the New York Times and The Post. Sounds boring but the movie is far from boring.

Here are a couple of them which almost made it to the list be sure to check them out too

INCREDIBLES 2

BLACK PANTHER

Moving on to the main list we have...







...





5. JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN

I'm sure most of you are starting to judge my taste in movies, true, maybe I could have gone with a different one but I'm sticking to my decision on keeping this at number 5 because of how much I laughed. We all know Johnny English is basically Mr. Bean spy movie but this one made me crack up so many times. Rowan Atkinson is awesome in this, managing to make us laugh out loud once again as the 'Idiot spy English'. I still can't believe that he managed to murder both Albus Dumbledore and Tywin Lannister with nothing but a cup of tea. Mixed reviews but managed to win my heart.

4. READY PLAYER ONE

Spielberg is definitely one of the best directors of all time but who knew he could be so versatile. Ready Player One is a bunch of easter eggs of the gaming stacked beautifully which even teaches you how Easter eggs originated. With some really strong characters and cool avatars, this movie blows your mind not because of how awesome it looks but because it predicts the future closer than any other movie set 50 years from now. Top notch CGI, a treat if you got to see it in 3D or IMAX and my respect for Steven Spielberg increased about a hundredfold because he directed this fun-filled, easter egg filled movie that drew the attention of almost all the gamers worldwide. Feels like it got much less attention than it deserved, please don't miss this one.

3. SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

We all love Peter Parker but how many more spiders are there ruling out Varys? In this animated movie, we are introduced to Miles Morales, kind of like the Wally West of the Flash universe. They managed to work so much on this animated feature film proving to us again that sometimes it may not be such a bad idea to let the animated movie directors have some fun. Its hard to believe that the same studio was responsible for Spiderman 3 and amazing spiderman 2. Miles Morales becoming spiderman was one of the best transformation scenes in any superhero movie and the soundtrack was just perfect. Overall, Sony totally nailed it with this one and those Stan Lee cameos were such a treat to watch. Any Spiderman fan would call this the best Spiderman movie ever made and I would be thrilled if this could at least get an Oscar nomination.

2. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT

Tom Cruise reprised his role of the superspy Ethan Hunt in the 6th installment of the mission impossible franchise which has turned out to be the best movie in the entire franchise. The graph just keeps going up each time a new one comes out, we wonder how the next one could possibly top the previous one and when it does come out, it makes the older movie look like a joke. We've seen him hang from the door of an airplane, hold his breath underwater for 6 minutes, hang out at the side of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world without any stuntman. Cruise is back again refusing to hire stuntmen, constantly putting his life at risk by not wearing helmets in high-speed chases, fracturing his ankle by jumping off a building and skydiving from an airplane which was shot without a single cut. All this makes me wonder if the earth is too little of a challenge for Tom, maybe MI 7 should be set in Mars or Venus and I'm sure even then Cruise would want to do it without stuntmen and a green screen. Fallout is probably the best action movie I've ever seen till date and that's saying quite a lot, watch this one, you'll know why. Perfect soundtracks and I love how much they've worked on upgrading the classic MI theme. In a world where comic book movies dominate the silver screens, this is one hell of a contender proving that there can be so many awesome things that can be done without comic book material, maybe Kingsman 3 should learn a thing or two from this. Fallout almost made number 1 but I have still not truly come to terms with the fact that this masterpiece is only number 2 in my 2018 list, I'm sure that I'll be spending several hours wondering if I made a wrong decision. I've said more in my separate review be sure to check that out as well.

1. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

The hardest choices require the strongest will, making Fallout number 2 in favor of Infinity War was one such choice. This movie was perfectly balanced, as all things should be and I hope we remember just how cool the Marvel Universe was when they dominated the comic book universe for 10 years in a row. DC is probably never going to make such a movie. Thanos was the best villain without a doubt and our characters were at their best. Tony Stark managed to win our hearts, leading the fight against the Mad Titan and the last 15 minutes of this movie just had us scratching our heads as to what would be the fate of our fallen heroes. Avengers Endgame would probably answer many questions but Infinity War is one of those movies which actually lives up to the hype. Marvel dominated the box office with their most successful year, 2018.

Wishing you all a happy new year filled with joy, peace, and prosperity like the MCU's box office collections.