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Movies 2018

Me and Davey are gonna try doing the movie blog again in 2019, in a sort of less exhausting, less world-swallowing format. The twitter account to follow developments with that is @bubulandharms. The blog remains located at http://bubulandharms.com, with its five complete movie reviews to date, including some long (and kinda uneven) takes I managed on Okja, The Martian, and Arrival.

As a sort of teaser for that, here's a capsule review for each movie I watched in 2018. Some "opinion online" disclaimers here include "I don't believe spoilers exist" (so, "spoilers") and "I'm not trying to be 'right', I'm just a language-based idiot having fun".

Please send me recommendations!

Best stuff I saw

Barry lyndon (1975) - has everyone seen barry lyndon??????????????? so good I watched it twice, easily the best kubrick movie and maybe the best "movie I'd probably like" I've seen, no idea why it took me so long to watch
Funky forest (2005) - multiple-overlapping-plots in a bonkers wiggleworm variety show of a movie that fully lives up to its title; with sections directed by Katsuhito Ishii, of Taste of Tea (2004) and Redline (2009), both also at the top of this year's list. as a "the good the bad and the ugly" triple-feature for complete mind loss, pair this (as "the good") with Cloud Atlas (2012) ("the bad") and southland tales (2006) ("the ugly"). strongly recommending this one to all psychedelic warriors; others might wander away. "GUITAR BROTHER"
Good time (2017) - hyper-contemporary-feeling and seriously stressful movie abt a bad guy whose nyc bank robbery situation goes from bad to worse. double features well with Victoria (2015).
Leave no trace (2018) - beautiful simple movie by the woman who made winter's bone (2010) abt a dad and a daughter who both love camping and each other but have diverging opinions abt being in the world. has the unhurried and "check out this other normal thing that's bonkers when you think abt it" serenity of herzog movies, especially stroszek (1977). with michael hurley.
Killing of a sacred deer (2017) - possibly the best lanthimos
The taste of tea (2004) - Katsuhito Ishii "slice of a family's life" movie, amazing on every level and absolutely packed with good stuff. strongly recommended to everyone.

Honor roll

Human traffic (1999) - weirdly titled movie about some friends who host illegal raves. favorite result from trying to watch every movie that tried to depict 90s rave culture; recommended/best in class if that genre is of interest to you
Microbe & Gasoline (2015) - gondry movie abt two adolescent boys who're having kind of a bad time, but build a cool little car that can be disguised as a cool little house, and take it on a french road trip (i.e. go on tour).
Moulin rouge (2001) - I loved this movie but probably wouldn't ever rewatch it :) our riff is that it's "the last american movie made before 9/11" (it's not but close! released may 2001) imagining bin laden watching it, shutting off the tv and being like, "I have to put a stop to this once and for all, this is just too much." extremely decadent "could never happen now" end of an era movie THAT DEPICTS an extremely decadent "could never happen now" end of an era... pretty crazy when you think abt it!!! earnestly plumbs the extreme deep depths of uncomfortable corniness - it's a WILL DEFINITELY CRINGE situation of a movie - BUT ALSO most of the movie looks amazing. imo completely worth watching once
Redline (2009) - f-zero "future space race" genre-worship anime by the guy who made taste of tea. extremely fun/funky, jammed with stuff, looks amazing.
Still walking (2008) - excellent family portrait/grief/wheel keeps turning/breaking the cycle movie
The we and the I (2012) - low-budget lovingly-observed single-day gondry movie abt a bunch of teens on a long bus ride working thru their interpersonal stuff.

Everything else

8th grade (2018) - liked this movie but couldn't get over what a flat, detached character the dad was
Annihilation (2018) - newly typical deeply frustrating "looks good and sometimes great but wow this fucking script could have been so, so, so, so, so much better" modern sci-fi movie, adapted from a much better book. extremely good if you watch JUST the last 20 minutes as a standalone short.
Anomalisa (2015) - couldn't relate to this movie's misanthropic misogynistic worldview but liked the dream sequence and thought the sex scene was funny
Attack the block (2011) - like the 4th time I've seen this, shea'la hadn't seen it. young john boyega leads a bunch of goonies in an alien-fighting caper in a london housing estate.
Baby driver (2017) - I like edgar wright and scampering around movies but wasn't really into this? I don't remember anything abt it other than that he like, maybe has a special pair of gloves or something.
Bagdad Cafe (1987) - restaurant movie where an ensemble cast of outsiders bring a decrepit american southwest truckstop cafe to life by demonstrating the value of community and having a magic show. pretty good/weird entry in this genre, though the title song plays like 300 times thruout the movie in a weird and distracting way that kind of distorts the movie's tone.
Black panther (2018) - loved that they included the "what are those!" meme
Bone tomahawk (2015) - first two acts are iiiiiiincredible - amazing writing, movie looks great, nice slow "going nuts in the desert" plot - but the third act when they get to where they're going totally collapses and makes the movie feel disappointingly incomplete
Brawl in cellblock 99 (2017) - exploitation movie by the bone tomahawk (2015) guy in the tarrantino-worship cut, where they say the n-word and show or propose a lot of ghoulish stuff. built from the surprising gimmick of refiguring vince vaughn as a likeable(?!?!?!) doomed tough guy living his life against the world, in the mode of tom hardy in bronson (2008). like bone t, it goes totally and unfortunately off the rails in act 3's "ultimate dungeon" sequence. def not generally recommended but if you're a "head," both movies are weird enough to be worth checking.
Coco (2017) - I cried at the part everyone cries at; watched this around when my cat died
Crazy rich asians (2018) - liked this & thought it had a lot of very funny parts & generally looked lush on the big screen. however act 3 drags, and I felt tricked for paying money to see an unqualified & completely critique-free depiction slash celebration of the excesses of global wealth
Dallas buyers club (2013) - good/bleak matthew mcconaughey movie
Enemy (2013) - jake gyllenhaal in a ponderous/kinda dumb sepia-toned JV mulholland drive (2001)
Fireworks (1997) - accidentally the second time I saw this not great beat takeshi movie
Fitzcarraldo (1982) - ya it's really good and kinski rules but honestly for "going nuts on a river" movies I prefer aguirre: the wrath of god (1972) or embrace of the serpent (2016)
Full monty (1997) - adorable movie about male friendship and vulnerability
Girls Trip (2017) - very funny movie, excited to watch more tiffany haddish movies
Groove (2000) - a not bad y2k rave movie in the bay area, where everyone is super excited to meet john digweed
Happy death day (2017) - a not nearly as good murder-themed groundhog day (1993)
Hereditary (2018) - watched this in the bathtub but was like, "eh 6 outta 10." I mean there's some good stuff but it's no rosemary's baby (1968), and honestly reading abt the lesser key of solomon on wikipedia is kinda more fun. for 2018 family movies with mouth-clicking see also Leave No Trace (2018).
Hot fuzz (2007) - probably the 10th time I've seen this, shea'la's favorite movie. timothy dalton's "I'm a slasher!" scene one of my favorite jokes in any movie
Howard's end (1992) - I could've sworn this was a robert altman movie but it's not. a worthwhile lush interiors/ensemble cast movie just the same starring ultimate middlebrow actor hannibal lector
I love you, man (2009) - an uptight real estate salesman meets a hangen loose man-caver and bonds w/ him over a love of prog-era Rush and venice beach. with joe lo truglio.
Ingrid Goes West (2017) - was interested to see that this instagram psychosis movie exists and I'll watch aubrey plaza in anything, but felt that it fell under "mark's critique," which I'd paraphrase as "it's ultimately frustrating that the slightly weird movie that's sorta doing something could have been way weirder and done way more." the instagram stuff starts with the obvious "in many cases and esp. for 'influencers', depicted identity on instagram is aspirationally constructed in an inherently cynical way" and really doesn't go much further.
Irvine welsh's ecstasy (2011) - terrible rave movie
Isle of dogs (2018) - I remember almost nothing abt this other than that I thought it wasn't even very much fun to look at, which is unusual for a director whose movies all look like catalogues
Kamome Shokudo (2006) - relaxing restaurant movie about a japanese diner in finland. same basic premise as and double-features well with Bagdad Cafe (1987).
Life after beth (2014) - watched on plane, aubrey plaza is in it; totally garbage movie
Mandy (2018) - terrifically boring vaporwave "trippy" movie strictly for people who have no real relationship with the psychedelic; pickle says its for stoned teenagers to "laugh knowingly" to. mac and cheese gremlin interlude is nice, check that out on youtube. true demonic night trippers will be much, much better served checking funky forest or even barry lyndon.
Megane (2007) - hypnotic and mostly relaxing paper thin movie where nothing much happens at a beach resort; great to fall asleep to
Mid90s (2018) - for gorgeous shots of the young skateboarding in a retrospective fantasy Gen X 80s/90s coming of age movie shot today, I prefer 20th century women (2016), but I liked this just fine
Midnight diner (2014) - relaxing restaurant movie about the customers who come to a very relaxing late night homestyle place in tokyo
Midnight diner 2 (2016) - relaxing restaurant sequel
Mood Indigo (2013) - gondry movie that feels like an actively annoying and unfun jean jeunet movie, with aspects of a bad terry gilliam movie. actively not recommended
Near dark (1987) - I think katherine bigelow's movies are good and I love bill paxton and joshua john miller and dracula but I thought this was bad. the scene with the inexplicably nosey bus ticket salesman is funny
Paddington (2014) - a cute totally normal "children's wonder" movie, honestly not sure why everyone recommended it to me
Paprika (2006) - anime about like a dream detective or something, pretty sure I found this by googling "mindblowing movies." a lot of great images, but a little repetitive and kinda hard to care abt.
Patti Cake$ (2017) - watched this on a plane too, thought it was normal good and don't really remember it, but it reminded me to redownload plastic little "jang house" which for whatever reason isn't on youtube.
Paul (2011) - unusually bad road trip/genre sendup w/ seth rogen as an alien & simon pegg + nick frost as ufo nerds, that also serves as spielberg worship. an incredible but totally wasted ensemble cast movie that's so airless & unfunny as to be confusing; garbage psycho movie connoisseurs only should check this out. with joe lo truglio.
Ratatouille (2007) - relaxing restaurant movie about a rat's restaurant in paris
Ready player one (2018) - davey's first pick for our resuscitated movie blog. :) a big giant hollow movie abt a future where gen x nerd culture is still being celebrated.
Rumble in the bronx (1995) - super pleasurable movie, loved the parts where the truck full of balls falls off the roof, that they fuck up the grocery store a THIRD TIME, and that jackie chan forgives and makes friends with the villain from acts 1 and 2 prior to act 3
Scarface (1983) - I like goodfellas and the godfather and whatever but struggled thru this one & don't get why it's classic... is it BECAUSE it's so simple, single-minded, and bone-headed? if so, okay... I guess? paccino's accent is wtf-level but better served via youtube quotes compilation or wu-tang samples.
Seven samurai (1954) - kurosawa rules but tbh this just wasn't my favorite one
Sorry to bother you (2018) - thought this had a lot of great parts but was just "good". it would be great if more new movies were comfortable with this level of surrealism.
Spirited away (2001) - millionth relaxing rewatch of this broadly appealing movie
Super dark times (2017) - absolutely excellent suburban teenage boys portraiture that turns into a completely regular bad decisions/infighting/paranoia plot movie that's not as good as river's edge (1987) or a simple plan (1998).
Tag (2018) - I watched this because I'll watch hannibal buress in anything; recommended if that's you too
Tale of princess kaguya (2013) - typically beautiful ghibli movie I hadn't seen yet, I cried during the incredible sequence where kaguya leaves the planet
Teenage mutant ninja turtles (1990) - one of my favorite movies featuring bad teens in the quintessential anarchy warehouse (funded by a ninja-operated property theft empire), tho I noticed a pretty unfortunate "no homo" joke this time, where donatello calls casey jones "a claustrophobic" and casey says "whoa, I've never even looked at another guy"
That man from rio (1964) - boring movie that includes some very non-contemporary international travel. as with to catch a thief, the color shots of rio architecture probably made this a much more exciting movie 60 years ago.
The endless (2017) - packaged as a "cult survivors" movie but it's actually a not perfect but pretty good "mysterious monster in a mysterious place" movie. of all of the "weird" horror/mystery/adventure movies I saw this year, this is prob the one I liked the most. features a very wack depiction of a visual artist. :)
The outsiders (1983) - this movie has matt dillon from goonies (1985), ralph macchio from karate kid (1984), patrick swayze from dirty dancing (1987), tom cruise from eyes wide shut (1999), rob lowe from tommy boy (1995), emilio estevez from repo man (1984), and tom waits from bram stoker's dracula (1992) in it, but is starring... some other guy as the main character. watched this in reykjavik.
The place beyond the pines (2012) - I hate ryan gosling but counterintuitively love hot normal guy bradley cooper, so I checked this out. I found the script impossibly contrived and act 3 to be unbelievably bad
The ritual (2017) - completely terrible randomly generated netflix genre remix movie abt some guys who stumble thru some Blair Witch Project woods & encounter a The Wicker Man village that's enslaved to Stephen King's It, but that is not nearly as good as any version of any of those movies. features thomas from downton abbey.
The thin man (1934) - pretty fun dashiell hammett movie abt an extremely drunk couple
The world's end (2013) - maybe I don't like edgar wright movies and just REALLY like hot fuzz (2007)
To catch a thief (1955) - found this boring, tho as with That man from rio (1964), the color helicopter shots were probably pretty cool to see 60 years ago
Victoria (2015) - novelty "one continuous take" movie abt a night that starts with Victoria meeting some cute ne'er do wells at the club & things go from bad to worse. very tense movie that sorta falls apart in the end, but is still good, and the "one continuous take" gimmick itself is fun. pairs well with Good Time (2017). thanks for the rec carson!
Waiting... (2005) and Just friends (2005) - watched both of these out of Anna Faris completionism, both pretty grim. check Faris in gregg araki's Smiley Face (2007) and happy madison productions's The House Bunny (2008).
Weekender (2011) - pretty corny rave movie that doubles as a pretty corny "antiheroes got mixed up with gangsters" movie, a la Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1999).
White bird in a blizzard (2014) - love gregg araki's movies but this one is not the best; great eva green performance as the mom who's had enough
Your name (2016) - a convoluted anime that came strongly recommended but was a little too YA for me. if you don't mind that style, check it out.

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