The Best Films of 2018 from the Metaphor Cafe

Well, it’s that time of year when the English teacher in me, as well as the film fan, feels compelled to communicate my top ten films of 2018. Actually, my wife reminded me these were the only films we have seen this year; so I humbly apologize to all the fim fans of the other pictures like "Roma" or all the other super hero stuff or the dumb rom-coms that just did not make my “go to” list. (I have also learned that INHO means …what it says.)

I do this as a blogging service to all those folks out there who may need a good film to see—one that they may not heard of. So in a kinda general order—here goes.

1. Green Book: I LOVED this film. Two reasons. First, the portrayal of Tony (the Italian driver) is so spot on to my experience with my Italian uncles in Brooklyn that I felt they were reincarnated on the silver screen and packaged in the performance by Viggio Mortenson. Second, the theme and the setting (1962) are so relevant today…even more so than in the Obama presidency. The closeted racism of Obama’s era has turned much more public and this film displays it in all its despicable irony. 

2. Black Panther: Here is the best action/ comic film made to date. Hands down. Undisputed. Terrific story. Important message. Great cast. Thrilling. Saw it twice…just as good the second time. I remember reading somewhere that if you captured a race of people, beat them into submission, took away their language and their identity, and denied them rights for 250 years; they would be viewed as a super race if they could in 70 short years (of turmoil) recover and rise to the stature that African Americans have today—people would say it is impossible. This film give them their due.

3. Mr. Rogers:“Won’t You Be My Neighbor”: Man, what an incredible person Fred Rogers was. What a legacy. He was so far ahead of his time—or perhaps more accurately, he made children become so much more evolved…even than their parents. Whether it was war, death, sexuality, racism…Mr. Rogers lived in a world we can only hope to achieve.

4. RBG: Another documentary and another heroine. One cannot overstate what she did, what she stood for, how hard she worked and what a loving person she is. Her relationship with her husband is the stuff of legends. Should be required viewing in every civics class in America.

5. Colette: Okay first ‘artsy film’— Keira Knightly gives a wonderful performance as a woman who is the real writer of the novels that made her husband famous. The theme is clear and still so relevant today. It is a true story in the truest sense, as today women still stive to receive the pay and recognition they deserve.

6. A Star Is Born: Even as a remake, it soars on the power of Lady Gaga and the grit of Bradley Cooper and Sam Elliot. I could not help but feel this version (and others disagree with me here) could be re-titled “The Price of Fame” because to me (spoiler alert) both pay a price for what they strive for. I felt that that price is so heavy that neither recovers. I wonder if we, the public understand what danger these “stars” are—the list of crippled music stars is long and foreboding: Prince, Tom Petty and all those who have rehabbed their lives in a vicious circle.

7. The Incredibles 2: Best animation of the year. Worth the decade long wait. Great script. Funny. Profound (in terms of parenting). Great voices. Fantastic.

8. The Bookshop: This is the second “artsy film” and likely to have been off your radar. Emily Mortimer (Newsroom) stars as a strong willed widower who is intent on bring a bookshop to her small island port in Wales. It is a period piece with a smattering of WWII truth to it. More importantly, it deals with the power of reading and the need for books! One more wonderful tidbit—Bill Nightly co-stars and is his usual spot on performance. This is a gem. You will have to find it on Netflix.

9. The Old Man and  a Gun: Robert Redford’s (supposedly) finally makes his leading man curtain call, and he does it is such a “Sting-like” manner. He has played the outlaw and he has always charmed audiences with a twinkle in his blue eyes. Here he has a true-ish story and a complex character. He wants to simply prove he can still “have it” i.e. rob and do so in a stylish, rascally, harmless manner. He just mesmerizes an audience.

10. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: A nod to J K Rowling’s Harry Potter saga. It is powerful and complex. Fantasy at its most prolific and intriguing. One has to be pretty well engaged in Potterville to follow this prequel, or have a daughter who can explain it to you

X-Factor: Mary Poppin’s Returns: I am pretty sure it will be supercalafragalisticxbaladoious.

Honorable Mention goes to a Netflix film of the novel The Guernsey Potato Peel Literary Society. Great book and solid adaptation.