Hey y’all, it’s time for a bit of a hoot and a holler. So basically I’m going to go over the films I watched in 2018. Just to preface, this is all of the movies I watched for the first time in 2018, meaning that this list includes not only new releases, but any oldies I watched during the year as well. Hence why this post is called MY 2018 in Review and not something like “Here Are Some Movies That Came Out in 2018”.

All in all, I watched 32 movies for the first time in 2018. Here they are! I’ll share any specific comments I have along the way. If you have any questions, feel free to comment them!

• Beauty and the Beast (2017) – Despite being super excited for this, I still thought it was good, but overall felt like it was pretty unnecessary.
• Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) – I liked this one far more than most people seem to.
• Moana (2016)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) – I really enjoyed this self-contained Star Wars film. I naturally didn’t feel as attached to the characters, but in terms of story structure and execution, it’s one of my favorites.
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017) – Bad LEGO movie. Easily the worst one of the 3(?) I’ve seen.
• Akira (1988)
• Deadpool (2016)
• Ready Player One (2018) – I really loved the book years ago and as a result I wasn’t as blown away by the movie as most people who hadn’t read the book were. It didn’t quite live up to those expectations for me.
• Batman (1989)
• Dumbo (1941)
• The Hateful Eight (2015) – This was a gem. Probably unnecessarily long but I admire how distinct Tarantino’s style is. Really well done. After watching Stagecoach later in 2018, it’s interesting to see just how much he must have been inspired by it.
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – Truly incredible. Best Marvel movie I’ve seen, and easily one of my favorite films ever. If it weren’t for the known knowns of the Marvel cinematic universe, the impact of the film would have been even more jarring.
• S.W.A.T. (2003)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) – I had seen most of this back in high school but for whatever reason never made it all the way through. Glad I did in 2018, it’s definitely a gem.
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) – I was someone who actually really enjoyed Jurassic World when it came out. And this one was just plain bad. I could write a 10-page essay on what this film just objectively does wrong.
• Gimme Shelter (1970) – This was the start of a string of documentaries I was exposed to thanks to my documentary class I was taking in college this year. I’m grateful for it, too, because it got me more interested in documentaries than I ever was before!
• American Movie (1999) – This is not known about nearly enough. Somehow a movie about the making of an indie movie proved to be thoroughly entertaining.
• Stagecoach (1939) – Actually a classic. Even as a lover of films, I often find it hard to make it through early 20th century films, and yet this one still holds up!
•  Jesus Camp (2006) – Pretty disturbing to watch at times. A good example of some of the worst that religion has to offer.
• Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017) – Super interesting! Jim Carrey is a fascinating individual and this was a great look into him and more specifically his time as Andy Kaufman.
• Man on Wire (2008)
• The Cove (2009)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – And this one I owe to my “Survey of American Film and Television” class! Thoroughly grateful for being exposed to this film I probably never would have watched otherwise. This is probably in my top 10 favorite films now! I actually made a post on this website talking about it, if you’re interested in reading that.
• The Propaganda Game (2014)
• Children of Men (2006) – Thoroughly intriguing concept.
• Grizzly Man (2005)
• Searching for Sugar Man (2012) – Brilliant example of what a documentary can accomplish. An incredibly story that I never would have heard about otherwise.
• Fargo (1996) – My first exposure to the Coen Brothers. Big fan of their filmmaking style now.
• Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) – Loved Wreck-It Ralph, not a fan of what they did with this. This movie should be laughable to anyone at all informed about the internet, unfortunately.
• Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
• No Country for Old Men (2007) – Another brilliant Coen Brothers film.
• The Big Lebowski (1998) – Despite being the most talked-about one, this is probably my least favorite of the 3 Coen Brothers films I have seen thus far. Still cool though!
• The Act of Killing (2013)
• Pulp Fiction (1994) – What a hoot!