Top 5 Favorite Movies of 2018

Normally, of course, Cinema Romantico devises a year-end Top 10, but the bottom half of our prospective 2018 Top 10 was something of a jumble. And though it was comprised entirely of movies we liked, the little blogging man inside was nevertheless advising that stretching the whole thing out to 10 just wasn’t true. So we considered shortening our Top 10 to a rock solid Top 3. Except there was a 4th film we felt deserved a place too, and if you go up to 4, you might as well just go ahead and make it 5. And since we are beholden to no rules but our own ersatz ones, we decided to downgrade our yearly Top 10 to a much more solidified Top 5. No hard feelings. (Click on the title to read the review.)

Top 5 Favorite Movies of 2018

5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. An anthology of western shorts all about life’s swift judgements concluding with the swiftest judgement of all.

4. You Were Never Really Here. Elliptical storytelling, impeccable sound design and Joaquin Phoenix combine to evince a descent into the headspace of a character who is at once in cool control and totally out to sea.

3. First Reformed. Paul Schrader melds timely questions of climate change with eternal questions of doubt and faith that is all symbolically brought to bear, strange as it may sound, in the titanic visage of Ethan Hawke’s forehead.

2. Zama. Blending day-to-day dreariness with all manner of surreal touches, director Lucrecia Martel puts colonialism under the microscope by repeatedly making a hapless magistrate of the Spanish Crown the butt of a nasty cosmic joke.

1. Paddington 2. Not a kids movie for adults or an adults movie for kids but just, like, a movie, man, one readymade to span generations because its message of betterment, community and inclusivity is brought to such joyful life through vibrant colors, a calypso band as greek chorus, old narrative chestnuts rendered with such verve that they feel brand-new, and a game cast having so much fun they are virtually floating on air. So is the movie.