Love, Brandon: Top 10 Films Of 2018
I’m not last, but posting the day after Aaron Neuwirth is a tough act to follow. He’s the most informed of us here and is able to see an impressive amount of films released in a given year. For me personally, 2018 felt like I didn’t see as much as I would have liked to in order to have formed a good opinion for a Top 10 for the masses (I still haven’t seen A Star Is Born). As a matter of fact, I almost bowed out of doing a Top 10 films of 2018. But I realized, at the end of the day my “I didn’t see as much as I’d have liked to” is still probably a lot larger sample of films watched in the year than a lot of people. And thus, this is my favorite of the boatload of films I did see. And crazy enough, I realized I had seen plenty when 2018 contained films from some my favorite filmmakers or collaborations that wound up not making the cut (Coen Bros-The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Wes Anderson-Isle of Dogs, Diablo Cody/Jason Reitman/Charlize Theron-Tully). And as much as I loved Mandy, that didn’t make it either. Worth noting too, that this is the first time in the Disney-Lucasfilm era that a Star Wars film didn’t make my list (And I did like Solo). But, enough rambling, here are my 10 favorite films of the year 2018. Continue reading ‘Love, Brandon: Top 10 Films Of 2018’
One of the more buzzed about shows in the streaming world for the year of 2018 was the Hulu original program called Castle Rock. This marked a merging of sorts between legendary writer Stephen King and film and television directing and producing savant JJ Abrams. Castle Rock promised to be a sort of singular town all built around things found in the written works of Stephen King. The show has already been renewed for a second season on the streaming giant, but its unknown when that season will have its premiere. The first season had a late July one, so that could still be in the cards for the show’s sophomore season. In the meantime, Warner Bros is releasing the Hulu show onto 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on January 8th. This is a smart move as many King collectors will want to have it in an forma of physical ownership and not a licensing agreement that could change on a whim. 
From the studio that brought you Anastasia and Ever After comes a fairy tale that doesn’t go by the book. Everyone’s favorite disreputable Super Hero returns with a twist on Deadpool 2 that the whole gang can enjoy. Watch Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) as he teams up with Domino (Zazie Beet), Cable (Josh Brolin) and the rest of the X-Force to prove that family is not an F-word. With over 20 minutes of new footage and jam-packed with surprises, you’ll wonder why the fudge they even bothered with the original version.
Celebrate the iconic and heart pounding music of Queen and Freddie Mercury with the highest-grossing biopic of all-time when Bohemian Rhapsody comes to Digital and Movies Anywhere January 22 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD February 12th. Fans can experience the story behind the band and the making of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the #1 streamed song of the 20th century and other favorites like “We Will Rock You,” “Somebody to Love,” “We are the Champions” and more, for a music adventure that will make you laugh, sing, dance and cry. 
Every year this Top 10 movie list gets harder and harder to write.
For the 40th anniversary of his original killing spree on Halloween night in Haddonfield, Illinois in 1978, Michael Myers returned to theaters bigger than ever. Backed by Blumhouse, scored by John Carpenter and starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, director David Gordon Green along with Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley once again set forth a new timeline for the longtime slasher series. Everything obviously sold on being the film people wanted to see, as this 2018 Michael Myers/Laurie Strode Halloween story became the biggest Halloween movie ever and one of the highest grossing horror films of a all time. Now, and quickly I must add, Universal is unmasking the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray of the film to start off the new year. You can ensure yourself a copy of The Shape’s latest trail of brutally murdered bodies by pre-ordering from the Amazon link below to have when it releases on January 15th, 2019. It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good copy! 
You know that old saying don’t judge a book by its cover? Well that’s exactly what I did here with 2018’s Kevin Hart comedy Night School. I thought the trailer looked putrid and I honestly wanted nothing to do with ever seeing the film. Evidently the rest of my team shares those sentiments as when I received this title no one was clamoring to do the needful with. Therefore, I thought I was taking one for the team. What shocked me though is what I really found was a good time. The comedy I wanted nothing to do with won me over. Now don’t get ahead of me. It’s not going to win any movie of the year prizes or anything like that. However, unlike the majority of critics out there I found Night School to not only be above average, but one that I’m stoked about adding to my personal home media collection for future viewings of. 
This year was the first time since I started doing this ten years ago where my ‘worst of the year’ list was compiled before my ‘best of’. Both have since fluctuated with the titles on those lists, but the moral of the story is that while 2018 had some great films, I never felt it was a great year for films. In the final weekend before this article was due, I crammed in four theater visits in 48 hours for the most accurate top 10 list I could compile (unfortunately Vice came out too late to be viewed for this list). Little did I know three of those four wouldn’t even come close to making this list (sorry, Aquaman, I’m elated you finally got a film but it’s just too long and the Black Manta actor was awful). Nevertheless, the films that did make this were very worthy of my movie-loving appreciation for any number of reasons. As always, here’s my disclaimer that this list isn’t claiming each of these films are super artsy or award-worthy. Some of them will likely walk away with a Golden Globe or Oscar. Others are just definitive popcorn movies that were pure fun. Either way, it’s quite a mash-up of action, emotion and great storytelling.
2017 and 2018 have felt like the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format has been embracing and enjoying bringing us the back catalog of one Steven Spielberg. His latest films, The Post and Ready Player One, hitting the format right away of course, but we are getting the classics too, from all eras be it Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Jurassic Park. This year has also given us both films that have landed him his Best Director Academy Award wins. Capping off the year, we are being given the 4K Ultra-HD debut of the multiple Oscar winning (Including Best Picture) masterpiece about the Holocaust, Schindler’s List. The film was made available on the last new release Tuesday, December 18th, of the year and can be ordered by clicking the Amazon link below. 
For 50 years, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has blown away audiences and inspired some of our biggest and best films and filmmakers. In celebration of this milestone, front by Christopher Nolan, the film was restored and rereleased in IMAX theaters to commemorate the occasion. Its amazing that a film from 1968 was already perfect for the format and could make such an easy transition, but that is the genius and master stroke that is the film that escalated Stanley Kubrick from very good filmmaker to legend overnight. Warner Bros is also not hesitating and bringing it to the best possible home presentation when it released the film on December 18th to the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. Originally slated for October 30th, the released suffered from a couple delays for reasons I’m not sure of, but if something’s going to be great, its always worth the wait (And indeed this one was). Don’t hesitate, order yourself a copy from the Amazon link below. 
For some reason I thought I would be last out of the Why So Blu? crew in terms of listing our Top-10 films of 2018. Nope! Looks like I’m first, so my selections are on deck. As is customary with my Top-10 list of films – I was not able to watch everything I wanted to before my cut-off date. I’m going to list my Top-10 selections in a streamlined fashion and I will omit any honorable mentions due to time and scheduling. You want a Top-10 list, well, that’s what you’re gonna get! Without further ado, let’s get busy! 
With only two more columns to go here at 
Well this is it film fans! Not only is this officially the last Encapsulated Movie Reviews of 2018, but also the final review column ever for this humble film critic. That’s right, after a few amazing years right here at 
Horror is doing what its doing and doing it well from all sorts of angles and subgenres. Be it awards-level prestigious like Hereditary, original blockbusters like A Quiet Place, familiar territory like It or a beloved franchise getting a new entry like Halloween, its covered. One overlooked, but important sublet of the genre is the family or kid horror film. We saw an all-timer in RL Stine’s Goosebumps a few years back (That even having a sequel this year). This year saw The House With A Clock In Its Walls, based on a popular book and directed by one of the modern experts in directing horror, Eli Roth. Keeping familiarity with the kids, Jack Black is here in the film for good measure. Its such that I feel like many people could have been confused and thought this Goosebumps-related. Universal has brought its hit film to the 4K Ultra-HD format (Unlike you, Goosebumps 2!) and you can pick it up at any time, as it was released on the last new release Tuesday of the year, December 18th. 
One of my favorite and most frustrating times of the movie writing season is the end of the year “TOP X” lists. They are a lot of fun, but also hurt the brain when trying to weed through all the releases and then put them in a specific order. When it came to 2018, the year was one full of significant and terrific upgrades of previously released titles. Whether it be the format jump to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray or a brand new Blu-ray release, the year showed that you’re doing more than just buying the same thing again for a new bonus feature. DVD and VHS brought about “double dipping” but in the case of standard Blu-ray, you’re actually getting an (ideally) improved picture and audio presentation to leap past your previous edition. It truly does fall under the term “upgrade”. New 4K and 2K scan restorations have yielded some impressive results and “fixed” many collector’s issues with the previous versions of a film. While us 4K Ultra-HD users pine for EVERYTHING to come to the format, many of the 4K restorations put on Blu-ray are keeping us satisfied with some of the smaller films for now. 
It was only a matter of time I suppose, but here we are winding down on 2018 and low and behold we unbelievably, finally have an Aquaman movie. The masterful James Wan pulled off the what was almost deemed the impossible. He defied the odds and marvelously brought to the big screen an absurd superhero project, which has been in development hell since 2004. That’s right we finally get the Aquaman! Now I have never been that big on the character like most hardcore DC Comics fans, but Wan has my full attention now. The character of Aquaman for me amounted to very little in both 
