2018 was a busy year over here at Panther Pictures, LLC. There weren't many published posts (at least on this blog; feel free to scroll our Instagram), but our production company accomplished a lot in 2018. Two new Shorts were released and put into Post-Production, UndercoverUp and The Fruit. We're staying busy enough to stave off the "I wish I had an Oscar" malaise.
Speaking of, the Golden Globes are coming up soon, but I have deliberately stayed away from knowing the nominees as I finish this article. So--as long as we still have time until the Globes really make whatever Panther Pictures has to say irrelevant--here are my pics for the #TenBest films of 2018. #PPLLCTenBest2018 #TenBest2018
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I've had less Daddy Issues this year than last year. But this year I've been all about the whole Midlife Crisis thing. The American movies that get to me lately aren't so much about parenting as they are about life experiences. And, you know, cars.
"See The Standard Disclaimer about my choices that I make every year."
As always, my list is my own. As subjective as everything else in this business is. Like who's in and who is out, and where the hippest french fries are sold. (Portillos, BTW.)
2018 went by like a blur. Several projects distracted me more than usual. Because of that it seemed like the movies really piled up. But I was able to figure out exactly which movies I wanted to take time out for, cross referenced with which titles would make me seem most relevant. You know, like every other critic this time of year.
The movies you should tell your friends you liked are:
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was, as always with the Coen brothers, both disturbing, a lot of fun, and soaked in meaning. I can't recall if they've ever made a straight out Western before, though many of their past offerings, Raising Arizona, No Country for Old Men, and Hail Caesar! for example, took place in the West. The vignettes presented here were unpredictable--when you consider the story of Buster Scruggs himself--and highly entertaining. The stories of The Girl Who Got Rattled and The Meal Ticket especially came across thus, in that we became very attached to the point of view of our leading actors before the end of their tales. It's a toss-up between which of those stories I found the most....subversive (I believe that word is the least spoilery) but considering my hopes for her I would say the title goes to The Girl Who Got Rattled. It was hands down the most emotionally resonant of the tales. All Gold Canyon, based as it was on an earlier story which the Coens did not write, clearly had the happiest ending. I don't think I'd want to be a player in any of the vignettes, but I would have liked to participate in the lively stagecoach conversation of The Mortal Remains.
The combination of the Coens and Netflix is something I would definitely like to see again.
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Won't You Be My Neighbor
As a child, I watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood religiously. As an adult, I find the Fred Rogers of Won't You Be My Neighbor to be exactly the kind of man my young mind unconsciously expected was under that sweater. Not that this was only a gab session about how great and revolutionary in the field of children's programming he was (and he was), it was mainly an emotionally resonant plea for more people in the public eye to be like him. People who genuinely want for others to be their best selves, and who live their lives trying to give their best in return. Praise Be for Fred Rogers.
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BlacKkKlansman
A striking thing about BlackkkKlansman was that while most people in the world of the film were insensitive to the point of cluelessness, few of them were actively racist. There were a lot of passive racists--almost Trader Horn-level passive racism (think King Kong, but with more patronizing and infantalizing of women. And racism)--but few truly active ones. This was the simple world of a Colorado police department--some good people, some bad people, and a whole lot of neither hot nor cold ones.
Except for the KKK. That organization was lousy with overt racists. (Someone should do something about that.) Of course, that makes them even easier to skewer, and doing so becomes a lot more fun. And even though director Spike Lee re-used his opening hook from Malcolm X, he knew just how to set the tone for what was to come. I have never seen anyone else tow the line between serious, awful, and ridiculous the way he can. It's that swing between them that the laughs usually come from. Also, I was personally touched by the depiction of Adam Driver's Jewish Cop. His line, about never really thinking deeply concerning his heritage until the events of the film, really resonated with this Alaskan Mormon.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Out of all the movies made about genetically engineered dinosaurs, this was one of them. Bonus: If you like this film, you really stand out as an oddball.
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Lean on Pete
Usually when a coming-of-age story is built around an external support like an animal or event, you expect some sort of lesson or moral. Triumphant music, and a conclusion. Really good ones like The Black Stallion can do it without words or an awareness of the lessons learned. The first time I saw it, pretty much the only thing I learned from The Black Stallion was how effective luxurious photography of a horse can be. It is with subsequent viewings that the power of that film comes across. That seems to be the way most horse racing stories go actually.
And then there is Lean On Pete. The simplest way to describe it is as a coming of age story crossed with the depressing realism of what The Electric Horseman would be if the plot played out in real life. It is worth it.
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The Death of Stalin
There are certain events in history that make me believe that the only way to understand them is to see them through the lens of a cinematic eye. Just reading a history may get you inside the events, but seeing them gets you into their world. The Death of Stalin is horrible, foul, full of cursing, and makes light of an atrocity larger than the one perpetrated by Hitler. A line that Armando Iannucci, like Spike Lee, was able to walk deftly. I didn't find it funny, so much as strangely compelling. Pretty much as I imagine it was. And probably will be at the death of Putin.
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Isle of Dogs
A big belly-rub of a movie; full of red, gold, loyalty and Taiko drums. It even made me sympathetic to Yoko Ono, no small feat. Several of the dog arcs, including Duke's, were easy to predict (if I'm being honest, only in retrospect), but the characters themselves were so great that I didn't care. And I challenge any dog owner who enjoys a good scratch session with their canine to not get choked up during Young Master Atari's first introduction to his bodyguard Spots. Recommended.
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Mission Impossible: Fallout
Someday, Tom Cruise is going to kill himself making one of these films. But that is not this day. The wildly uneven MI series remains on my list because the photography and stunts are unabashedly and stubbornly and breathtakingly real, and in this day of digital superheroes that is as scarce as a Common-Sense-O-Matic in a spy movie.
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Black Panther
Marvel always seems to make its way into my list, and this year they had three offerings, but my definite favorite was Black Panther. Black Panther wasn't just a movie, It was a statement about what we want our movies to be. I have to admit, I stood in line for the first screening in my area, and you know what? It was okay. I thought it was a little slow in parts. But I was only the incidental audience. It arrived under a huge payload of expectation, and spoke to the community of viewers who where always there, but without a positive reflection of themselves in the movies. Give the people what they want, and they'll show up. It's one of those movies like 1950's No Way Out--more of a milestone for what it sets out to do as a film than for what it accomplishes as entertainment. And besides, there's nothing wrong with making a movie that reflects what people want to see, what people need to see, now and then.
It was awesome and I want to see it again and again.
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Adrift
I was all set to watch this film with a sneer. Yet another story of pretty people enduring massive hardship in a situation they pretty much caused themselves. (Nobody goes on a boat by accident, unless they are pillaged by pirates.) But in the end I was drawn in by the flashback-heavy (or was it flash-forward?) script and the theme: The people we are closest to can and do continue to affect the course of our lives, no matter where we are, or where they are. We are each other.
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Honorable Mentions:
Eighth Grade
I haven't seen it. I hear it's good. Most likely because everyone hates eighth grade.
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Bohemian Rhapsody
I haven't seen either of my Honorable Mentions. A man I trust said he liked this one. Plus, if I help raise its reputation we'll all get a bunch more Queen recordings remastered.
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And there they are. my pics for the best (American) movies of 2018.
Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Car Guy* and a graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix and Amazon. He has written and produced film and video content for more than twenty years. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival 2016 in Santa Monica, California. Eric C. Player on Imdb.
*Meaning 1965-69 Chevrolet Corvairs. No interest in working on any others.
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