The Best Things I Saw in 2018, TV Edition.

As discussed last time, I'd like to talk about more than just movies, as the line between TV/film becomes increasingly blurred from both a quality and a release standpoint. So I'm going to try something new and post about my favorite TV shows from 2018, with the necessary caveat that I in no way watched everything that was released last year. I'm sure there are good to great things out there that I just never got to or never had the opportunity to watch. So, recommendations welcome!
[Honorable mention: Altered Carbon, Daredevil Season 3, Big Mouth, The Good Place]

11. The Last Kingdom Season 3 (Netflix/BBC)
In a lot of ways, I can't shake the feeling that this show was conceived of and produced in a response to Vikings on the history channel. Obsessively attentive to detail and history, this look at the struggle between Vikings and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 9th century features a Saxon noble, Uhtred, who was raised by Vikings and finds himself in the service of Alfred, the king of Wessex as he struggles to preserve English independence. Based on a series of books by Bernard Cornwell, it's kind of part Vikings part Game of Thrones, featuring on both the peculiarities of medieval life (in, it must be said, a more accurate and true to life way than Vikings ever has) and the political machinations behind the rise and rule of the only English king to gain the honorific "the Great". Season 3 was the best one yet, anchored behind the performances of Alexander Dreymon (Uhtred) and David Dawson (Alfred).

10. The Deuce Season 2 (HBO)
David Simon, the creator of The Wire and Treme, has in The Deuce created something wholly unique on TV. A show about sex work, the mob, New York City, nightlife, pimps, porn and the police in the 70's. Season 3 will apparently jump to the 1980's. Behind the performances of Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco (who plays twins) the series features plenty of great writing (like The Wire episodes are often written by novelists like Richard Price and George Pelecanos) and acting along with the nudity. I enjoyed season 2 more than the first as the world continues to flesh itself out (no pun intended) and we move towards the modern day. Come for Gyllenhaal and Franco, stay for the other great performances and the humanizing portrayal of marginalized communities.

9. Homecoming (Amazon Prime)
Adapted from a podcast (which is simply great go check it out if you're a fan of podcasts) and starring Julia Roberts, Bobby Cannavale and Shea Whigham, Homecoming is a psychological thriller straight out of the Hitchcock school directed by Sam Esmail. (Mr. Robot) The score, atmosphere, and way the series is shot really give the whole thing a retro feel, and 30 minute episodes for a drama really make this series fly by. I will say, I think the podcast is better (I stan Oscar Isaac all day every day - and yes, Oscar Isaac plays the role of Walter Cruz on the podcast), but that's in no way a knock on this series, which does psychological tension and mystery in an extremely satisfying way. Well worth a watch if you have Amazon Prime.

8. Atlanta: Robbin' Season (FX)
Donald Glover's project, Atlanta, is one of the most interesting creative projects happening anywhere in media right now, and its second season upped the ante creatively from the first. If there's a knock on this show its that its weirder, one-off episodes distract from the overarching narrative, but the show pulls no punches, features a great cast, and un-apologetically defies genre and convention more consistently than any other show currently airing anywhere. It certainly doesn't hurt that its cast is all blowing up at the moment, with LaKeith Stanfield starring in Sorry to Bother You, Brian Tyree Henry starring in everything and Zazie Beets being one of the best parts of Deadpool 2.

7. Succession (HBO)
Succession was maybe the single biggest and most pleasant surprise of the year. An HBO drama/dark comedy from British comedy writer Jesse Armstrong and Adam McCay (the writer/director of The Big Short and Vice) centering on an aging Roger Ailes-esque media mogul, his children, and their various machinations as they jockey for position, power and influence in the billionaire's orbit. I think what truly differentiates Succession is that unlike basically every other work of fiction I've ever seen/read about the uber wealthy Succession treats its subjects as pathetic, embarrassing, and desperate in their grasps for power and influence. At its best, a quasi Shakespearean look at the black heart of modern oligarchy, Succession is often every bit as hilarious as it is compelling.

6. The Magicians Season 3 (SyFy)
I feel like I'm on The Magicians' street team for how much I've been talking this show up over the last few years, but its third and most recent season (season 4 starts tonight) took the show to new heights. The Magicians is sort of Harry Potter meets Narnia meets the X-Men, where magic is real, and a secret magic university trains aspiring magicians, who happen to be 20 somethings who engage in 20 something behavior. The series moves past that straightforward premise relatively quickly, but the series features an incredibly likable ensemble and is maybe the most fun show on TV. For my money, the 5th episode of the 3rd season, titled "A Life in the Day" was the single best episode of TV I watched in 2018. Seasons 1-3 are available on Netflix.

5. Sharp Objects (HBO)
Kind of a big year for Gillian Flynn, guys. First she co-wrote a HBO adaptation of her own book starring Amy Adams, and she also wrote the screenplay for the underrated Widows. While I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Sharp Objects is flawless and amazing, what it was was well made pulpy, southern noir featuring an incredible central performance from Amy Adams. (I support Amy Adams always) So whatever your thoughts about the ending (I thought it was a fun surprise but also kind of nonsensical) the ride was absolutely worth it, and the miniseries demonstrated the strength of television as a storytelling vehicle. There's simply no way a film would have been able to pull off this story as well as the miniseries format does.

4. Barry (HBO)
Another new show and pleasant surprise from HBO, Barry may have been the single most fun show to watch week in and week out in 2018. Barry is a small town hitman who finds himself catching the acting bug while in LA for a job, and hijinks ensue. This show features outstanding performances from Bill Hader, Henry Winkler, Stephen Root and Sarah Goldberg and rises to so much more than its rather straightforward premise. At times sweet and sad and hilarious yet punctuated with some rather hardcore violence, this show is just different from anything else on TV at the moment. Season 1 exists as its own self contained story, yet I'm excited for Season 2.

3. Bojack Horseman Season 5 (Netflix)
Year in year out, Bojack is probably the single best Netflix original series. At once an absurdist comedy, a send up of Hollywood (Hollywoo?) and the entertainment industry, a rumination on depression and regret and a surprisingly touching story about a cartoon horse, this is a show that shouldn't have lasted one season, yet somehow saved its best for Season 5. Often hilarious, almost always absurd, and very often very, very sad, Bojack just consistently brings excellence in the form of a half hour cartoon comedy. This season included ruminations on #metoo, regret, addiction, family, death and parenthood, and does so as well as anything else currently on the air. If you can handle the absurdist premise, you won't be disappointed.

2. The Americans Season 6 (FX)
The Americans was consistently great throughout its long run, featuring fantastic work from its two leads, Keri Russell (who I'm now terrified of thank you very much) and Matthew Rhys but in its final season it accomplished something that even the best television shows of all time have struggled to do, stuck the landing. The last few seasons built up to an incredibly tense point where our protagonists, embedded KGB spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings were clearly living on borrowed time, but the crescendo and payoff were so much better than I ever could have bargained for. There's a scene in the finale that is one of the single best scenes in the history of television for my money. Simply one of the best and most rewarding final acts in TV history. Period.

1. Maniac (Netflix)
It's absolutely unfair for something like Maniac to be included with 5th and 6th seasons of ongoing shows, but that's the media landscape we live in today. Based on a Norwegian series and directed by Cary Fukunaga, Maniac was just totally unlike anything else currently on TV. The cast was fantastic, with Jonah Hill and Emma Stone absolutely delivering along with the often underrated Justin Theroux (turning out one of the weirdest performances in years) and rising star (in my book at least) Julia Garner. Part Eternal Sunshine, part Terry Gilliam, part Blade Runner and totally unafraid to take chances Maniac plays with genre and reality itself to tell a surprisingly touching and powerful story through some very strange narratives. Easily my favorite original programming Netflix has ever done.

The Best Things I Saw in 2018, Pt. 1.

So I've been over here thinking for a while now about how I could successfully just start writing here again after basically 18 months of doing nothing at all.

I think that what I've decided, to take a little pressure out of the whole thing is to only review things I really want to review moving forward. I'd like to have a little more flexibility to talk about other things. We'll see what that ends up looking like, but I envision it including things other than movies, as the media landscape is changing rapidly, with streaming services increasingly blurring the line between traditional film releases and TV. So I'm going to do a few posts here about things I really liked in 2018, movies first, and TV/other to follow.

As always, I'm going to preface this by saying that I in no way saw every movie that was released in the last year, and that there are a few films that I would really like to see/watch that I'm sure merit inclusion but I just haven't had a chance to see them. So apologies to The Favourite, Death of Stalin, Shoplifters and Eighth Grade. I'm sure you're all great, and I'll be sure to include you in future rankings if I ever get there.

So let's get to it then, here are the best movies I saw in 2018. [Honorable Mention: Black Panther (apologies to Michael B. Jordan, you're great please don't hate me), Vice, A Star is Born, Widows]

11. Blackkklansman
I think it's easy in the age of Coogler, McQueen, Jenkins and Duvarney that it wasn't all that long ago that the list of mainstream African American filmmakers was all of 2 names long, with Spike Lee at the top. He's an established Hollywood legend at this point, so it's interesting to see him wade into this kind of film at this particular moment in history. Blackkklansman, evidently based on a true story that seems too crazy to actually be real, features an absolutely stacked cast, and is often much funnier than you'd think from the trailer. Adam Driver is one of the best younger actors working today and John David Washington (Denzel's son who at this point I'd only seen in "Ballers" aka footballtourage) brings a joy to his performance that is simply fun to watch. In a weird way, I feel like this movie is less than the sum of its parts. There are bravura performances and some absolutely terrific scenes, but the combination of the silliness of the KKK members depicted and the heavy handed Trump era moralizing at the end (listen Spike, no one is seeing this movie who doesn't know that white supremacy is still around) bring it down a notch from where it probably should be. I also don't want to be that guy but the movie is probably too pro-police? Like the notion that the police can and will save us from white supremacy seems... undermined by reality.

10. Won't You Be My Neighbor? 
This documentary about the inimitable American classic Mr. Fred Rogers was released over the summer to rave reviews and serves as a touching and dutiful tribute to a truly amazing man. There's nothing groundbreaking about this film (although it does struggle to contextualize his occasionally outspoken faith with his legacy and impact), it's just a well crafted memorial to the life and times of the TV legend. When I sat down to put this list together I initially thought that maybe it'd be higher, but I think the effort of the film/maker to contrast Fred Rogers' warmth, kindness and grace to our present moment's fundamental harshness seems heavy handed and clumsily done. I would've liked it better had it been implied and left unsaid. With that being said, this movie is an absolute must-see for anyone who was a fan of the man or his work.

9. They Shall Not Grow Old
Another documentary on the list, this one is impressive most of all for its technical achievement and the mere fact that it exists and was possible. Peter "I made Lord of the Rings" Jackson worked in collaboration with the BBC and the Imperial War Museum to combine restored and colorized 100+ year old footage of British troops on the western front with interviews the War Museum conducted with veterans in the 1960's and 70's to create a surprisingly poignant and moving tribute to the men who served and sacrificed in one of the most devastating events in human history. While there isn't actual battle footage due to the limitations of movie cameras at the time, the film cleverly works around that while focusing on the day to day lives of the men in the trenches. The fact that this film exists and was able to be made in such successful way is testament to the strides film technology has made and the technical brilliance of Peter Jackson. This shouldn't have worked, yet it did, and it's impossible not to be moved by it. Harrowing, beautiful filmmaking.

8. First Man
Damien Chazelle is, for my money, one of the most exciting young filmmakers working today. And it's not exactly a mystery that I'm a giant NASA nerd. So when this film was announced it immediately shot to the top of my list. I think there are a lot of interesting choices made with this one, but on reflection I think it's better than I did when I initially left the theater. At once intensely personal and intimate with some of the most gripping and violent depictions of realistic space flight we've seen in film the movie grapples with the life and person of Neil Armstrong, attempting to grapple with what it means to be a regular, often boring man, saddled with the weight, fame, and expectations of an entire nation. Gosling is better at contemplative brooding than maybe anyone else working today and his performance contains a title wave of barely hidden emotion beneath a veneer of midwestern protestant stoicism. Kudos to my boy Jason Clarke for turning in a hell of a performance as Ed White too. A beautiful, yet flawed film about one of the most significant people and events in our nation's history.

7. Avengers: Infinity War
The single most impressive thing about Infinity War is that it works on even a passable level. The fact that not only does it serve its base purpose but wildly succeeds at it is honestly probably the single most impressive writing/franchise achievement in the history of film. Featuring dozens of named characters and culminating a decade and nearly 20 films of setup in a single package is the sort of thing that comic books themselves rarely do successfully. The fact that Kevin Feige and the Russos pulled it off (while featuring their purple CGI villain more than any of the beloved characters involved no less) is just insane. I think the reason this works, and Captain America: Civil War works is the Russo's decade plus of work in TV. Joe and Anthony Russo directed and produced many episodes of Arrested Development when it was still good, were involved in most of the best episodes of Community, and produced the very underrated Happy Endings. These guys know how to handle an ensemble and it shows. There are little moments here and there that alone don't do much but they serve to build the world and flesh out the existing relationships between characters. (Here I'm thinking specifically of Bruce Banner's excitement when Thor shows up in Wakanda. It's a totally throwaway moment but the fact that Bruce knows how badass Thor is now from Ragnarok allows them to put so much into a moment like that. It's top-notch world building and such a veteran TV move) We'll see if they manage to stick the ending here in a few months but this film's success and enduring cultural impact is no fluke. It's a fantastic time at the movies.

6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
This is the first of two movies that were basically Netflix home releases on this list. I'm a white dude in my 30's. The fact that I love the Coen Bros. is probably the single least surprising thing about me at this point. So the weird story of how this one came to pass has been an obsession of mine forever. It was initially announced that the Coens were working on an anthology series for Netflix, which had me envisioning FX's Fargo with horses, so when it was revealed that the long awaited series was in fact a film, I was equal parts intrigued, disappointed, and confused. How was a concept that at least at one point was intended as separate stories going to work together as a cohesive film? The answer is: surprisingly well? The film is structured as 6 separate scenes/vignettes/films within a film, all of which work on their own accord but when combined into a darkly comic mosaic of a contemplation of morality, achieves something close to what a traditional movie would have with the added flexibility of allowing for changes in tone, structure, setting and cast. Of the 6 sections, I loved one (the Zoe Kalzan tragicomedy of "the Gal who got Rattled"), really liked 3 (the stagecoach section, the prospector section with a brilliant Tom Waits, and the Liam Neeson sideshow section) and honestly didn't care for two of them (the titular "Buster Scruggs" and the James Franco bank robber section) but the work is occasionally brilliant, always great to look at, well crafted, well acted, and at its best, on par with anything the Coens' have done. Oh, and it's on Netflix so you can watch it anytime. 

5. Roma 
Alfonso Cuaron is consistently one of the most interesting and artful filmmakers in the game today. Films like Gravity, Children of Men (I love Children of Men so much), and Y Tu Mama Tambien are distinctive in just how gorgeous they are. Aside from plot, acting, any all of it, the pure look and direction of the films is often breathtaking. Enter: Roma, another film produced by Netflix for Netflix, although like Buster Scruggs it did get a limited theatrical run for awards purposes. An intensely personal film in black and white (or at least sepia) featuring a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy (and fracturing) family in Mexico City in the 1970's the film is methodical, contemplative, intensely, even to a claustrophobic level intimate and at its best, breathtakingly gorgeous. The shots in this film, my word. There is nothing else like it this year. I only wish there had been a wider theatrical release so I could've seen it somewhere with actual quality screens (all due respect to the Esquire but they don't exactly do visual quality). The film is shot like an epic war movie but written and paced like an indie drama, making for an interesting and powerful experience, finding bursts of passion, humor, despair, humanity and horror, i.e., the human experience, amidst the doldrums of family life. Just a gorgeous film.

4. If Beale Street Could Talk 
Based on the novel by James Baldwin (that I haven't read...), Beale St. is Barry Jenkins' follow up to the transcendent Oscar-winning Moonlight. It has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. (Trailer) It's.... not as good as Moonlight but it's an absolutely gorgeous work of art. It's intensely personal, with Jenkins' zoomed in shots of his actors' faces doing so much heavy lifting in this film. At once a story of young love, of race relations, of the family, of the criminal justice system, and of the longstanding plight of African American people in this country, the film maybe bites off a bit more than it can adequately chew, but is home to some of the absolutely best scenes of this or any year. (Brian Tyree Henry my word) There are some choices (the voiceovers don't work as well as intended and the jarring, almost vignette style of the film doesn't allow you to connect as intense as well as a traditional narrative would) that I don't necessarily agree with but it has moments that are as good as anything I've ever seen. Barry Jenkins man. I'm going to be a fan his whole career. 

3. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
So anyone who knows me knows that I don't tend to be the biggest fan of animated movies. (How to Train Your Dragon notwithstanding) So I was initially skeptical of this one, although cautiously optimistic due to my enduring love of Spider-Man as a character. (I've been a gigantic fan for at least 25 years at this point and I loathe all of the Sam Raimi movies don't @ me) But this one is the absolute best Spider-Man movie yet, and I don't think it's that close. It works on multiple levels, and has the kind of effortless fun that makes going to the movies such a joy. Through a fun combination of a young, fresh main character, an older Peter Parker, a teenaged Spider-Woman and several assorted goofballs the character of Spider-Man has never been as affectionately treated and explored. There are moments in this film that are pure breathless joy (my goodness the whole "What's Up Danger?" scene) and some of the more memorable characters in all of comic book films are introduced and explored upon. With a fantastic cast (Chris Pine, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Liev Schrieber, Jake Johnson, Nic Cage and more), a great soundtrack/score, and some of the most brilliant and visionary animation I've ever seen, this film is the most pleasant surprise of the year, or several years. I've been critical of CGI animation for a long time, as I feel that it took a gorgeous handcrafted art form (traditional hand drawn animation) and turned into a soulless glob that could be endlessly turned out. This film embraces the possibilities of CGI, using color and style to present something that's part street art, part comic book, and all great. See this one in theaters if possible, you won't regret it.

2. Sorry to Bother You
I'm always on the lookout for a fresh new filmmaker, someone to get excited about. Enter: rapper/musician turned writer/director Boots Riley, who honestly stunned me this year with a wildly playful, satirical, and visionary critique of capitalism and race relations in one of the freshest and most original films in years. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's a flawless film or that the horse stuff isn't idiotic, but I will say that this film is an absolute blast, and that anyone capable of speaking about society in such a biting and sharp fashion is a voice to watch. Lakeith Stanfield (big year for the cast of Atlanta guys) is a star, Tessa Thompson is just so damn cool, and Arnie Hammer and Steven Yeun are clearly having a blast. It's sort of a dystopian sci fi farce on the level of Idiocracy but with so much more to say and in such a better way, and it's not like any movie I've seen in a long time. I loved it. I just wish the ending was better.

1. Annihilation 
Writer/Director Alex Garland's first film, Ex Machina, is an absolute masterpiece. Sci fi at its best can peel back the layers from what we hide about ourselves and find something... true? And Ex Machina had more to say about technology and the modern world than virtually any work in the last decade. So when it was announced that he'd be taking on Jeff VanDerMeer's book, Annihilation, I was immediately intrigued and excited. (As a note, I'm a fan of the whole trilogy, although I know most people like the first book and not so much what follows) I talked a little bit above about the power of good sci fi, but this film is immersive, other-worldly, strange and unsettling in the absolutely best of ways. Like a Renaissance painting depicting demons or a half-remembered nightmare this film leaves something queasy within you. I love how uncompromising and unconcerned with the audience this film is. It's challenging, and changes a lot from the source material, but with a great cast and absolutely gorgeous visuals it defies genre and represents risk-taking speculative fiction at its absolute finest. My #1 movie of the year.