Rob Goald’s 10 Best Movies of 2018

2018 was a year that saw substantial changes  in the film business. It was a year in which Netflix became a major player, Marvel unleashed  a black superhero and Spike Lee a black Klansman. It was a year documentaries (Monrovia, Indiana) did very well and  the story of Robin Hood was the universal flop of the year. I guess that in the age of Trump the poor stealing from the rich does not resonate with the youth of the 21^st century.                        

• Roma 
  Director Alfonso Cuaron’s family drama from Mexico is a game changer
• You Were Never Really Here
  Director Lynne Ramsay’s striking and powerful sex trafficking noir
• Black Panther
  Black superhero in a real deal franchise that works!
• Green Book
  Director/screenwriter Peter Farrelly’s poignant trip through the Jim Crow South  vicariously reexamines racism
• Beast
  Director/writer Michael Pearce captures emotional truth with a colorful and gripping tale of love, lies and deceit
• The Rider
  Chinese director/writer Chloe Zhao creates a lyrical tale of a rising rodeo star who sustains a head injury
• The Favorite
  18^th Century in the palace of Queen Anne where improprieties abound
• Shoplifters
  Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for this riveting examination of a family living on the edge of criminal enterprise
• First Reformed
  Sin and redemption have always fascinated director/writer/theorist Paul Schrader, and this is his best in years
• Eighth Grade
  Bo Burnham’s film is unique and wonderful!

Rob Goald