Every year that we think of it there are a handful of superlatives to bestow upon the great actors and actresses and a whole bunch of other stuff. These are the people who had a truly great year and we can look back on with fond or in some cases, really awful memories. As we continue to recount and categorize 2018, let's get at it!
Top Actor of the Year
It's weird to say Josh Brolin had a phenomenal year, but there were two months this summer where he appeared in major roles in Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Sicario: Day of the Soldado. While that's good, it just doesn't quite feel like Brolin had a breakthrough year or anything. Donald Glover is a great candidate, but he did most of his best work in TV and music this year. Instead, we give actor of the year to Michael B. Jordan - someone who deserves this every year, but whose villainous turn as Eric Killmonger captured our hearts in Black Panther, standing out as one of Marvel's greatest villains of all time. He followed up the end of the year with Creed II, which maybe wasn't as notable a splash as the first one, but enough that he showed range being both a tremendous hero and villain.
Top Actress of the Year
In any other year this should have been Emily Blunt for turning in both A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns, but the latter seemed to strangely fall off. We had huge cinematic breakthroughs for Cynthia Ervio, Awkwafina, and Lady GaGa of all people, but we gotta give this to the fantastic Tessa Thompson.
Riding off of THOR: Ragnarok (2017), she was the best thing about Annihilation, then Sorry to Bother You, and then joined our Actor of the Year in Creed II. Now, we just dissed Mary Poppins Returns, which will likely end up making more money than all these films combined but no one else seemed to pop up in so much quality shit this year.
Trailer of the Year
There were some really solid trailers this year for both 2018 and 2019 movies. Not all turned into good movies. A real quick rundown and then our winner:
SHAZAM! (2019) - This has not gotten enough attention because it looks fantastic and fun and good for DC.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - Gareth Edwards did a fine Spielberg impression with Godzilla (2014) that largely whiffed until the final fifteen minutes. I can't wait to dive into Michael Dougherty's world.
Venom - I really dug the Venom trailer when it came out - it sells the madness and fun anti-hero so well.
Bohemian Rhapsody - there's a reason why this movie did so well
Creed II - I didn't even actually see this movie, but it's cropping up here. The trailer and tease of Drago is legit
Halloween - That first tease of Michael Myers in the asylum makes you forget Rob Zombie
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - There's a bit of everything here. Drama, stakes, comedy, heart, and a showcase for how good this animation is.
Okay, #1 Trailer of the year, it should be pretty obvious - Detective Pikachu
I don't know what the hell is going on with this movie. How is this a thing. It's Pokemon, but like, twenty years past the peak of the craze, but also the Detective Pikachu game was just released, but after twenty years, THAT'S what earns a full-length movie? Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. Furry shenanigans. Will any of this work? The trailer is addictive for finding little Pokemon Worldbuilding nods and follows a great rhythm, jokes, stakes, and seems to know its own insanity. I'm totally in.
Sounds and Songtrack of the Year
This is a tough call between a slew of superhero films. Black Panther is obvious for the Soundtrack, but don't quite count out Deadpool 2. My pick is "Ashes" for not only sounding exactly like a 1990s Celine Dion song, but also being ridiculously thematically relevant to its film and emotionally deployed appropriately.
Other notables include "Sunflower" from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is another song that the protagonist keeps coming back to (and perfectly sorta doesn't know all the words to). I also want to note Eminem's Venom song which was fucking terrible. Eminem had a terrible year.
I guess also "Shallow" from A Star is Born. This is the Oscar forerunner and is a legit track for sure that yeah, is thematically appropriate for the film it's in. Okay, okay. I still like "Ashes."
Villain of the Year
This was quite a year for villains. Thanos, Killmonger, the Shape - the bench is deep. There are two who rise above the pack, though. The first is Chris Hemsworth in Bad Times at the El Royale, who exudes a fantastic menace. No one scared more shit out of me, tough than Daniel Kaluuya's Jatemme Manning in Widows. He's calm, cool, collected, and kills without a second thought, but always enjoys toying with his prey. This was a great leap forward for Kaluuya, building on his other high profile roles in Get Out (2017) and Black Panther.
Hero of the Year
I debated this a lot. Maybe Natalie Portman in Annihilation or Jason Mamoa in Aquaman, Chief in Isle of Dogs, Cleo from Roma, Uncle Drew in his eponymous movie. And I've cited it constantly here, and it may just be because I saw it very recently, but I'll give it to Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. He finds his own identity, bravery, and confidence and truly becomes the Spider-Man we all hope to be. It's a struggle based in character and when he exceeds because of his own skills, it's exciting to watch.
Well that's it. That's all we have to talk about. Certainly no Top Ten!!!
Just kidding, we're cranking that out soon!
Top Actor of the Year
 |
| Flame on! |
Top Actress of the Year
 |
| Faster Pussycat |
Riding off of THOR: Ragnarok (2017), she was the best thing about Annihilation, then Sorry to Bother You, and then joined our Actor of the Year in Creed II. Now, we just dissed Mary Poppins Returns, which will likely end up making more money than all these films combined but no one else seemed to pop up in so much quality shit this year.
Trailer of the Year
There were some really solid trailers this year for both 2018 and 2019 movies. Not all turned into good movies. A real quick rundown and then our winner:
SHAZAM! (2019) - This has not gotten enough attention because it looks fantastic and fun and good for DC.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - Gareth Edwards did a fine Spielberg impression with Godzilla (2014) that largely whiffed until the final fifteen minutes. I can't wait to dive into Michael Dougherty's world.
Venom - I really dug the Venom trailer when it came out - it sells the madness and fun anti-hero so well.
Bohemian Rhapsody - there's a reason why this movie did so well
Creed II - I didn't even actually see this movie, but it's cropping up here. The trailer and tease of Drago is legit
Halloween - That first tease of Michael Myers in the asylum makes you forget Rob Zombie
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - There's a bit of everything here. Drama, stakes, comedy, heart, and a showcase for how good this animation is.
Okay, #1 Trailer of the year, it should be pretty obvious - Detective Pikachu
I don't know what the hell is going on with this movie. How is this a thing. It's Pokemon, but like, twenty years past the peak of the craze, but also the Detective Pikachu game was just released, but after twenty years, THAT'S what earns a full-length movie? Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. Furry shenanigans. Will any of this work? The trailer is addictive for finding little Pokemon Worldbuilding nods and follows a great rhythm, jokes, stakes, and seems to know its own insanity. I'm totally in.
Sounds and Songtrack of the Year
This is a tough call between a slew of superhero films. Black Panther is obvious for the Soundtrack, but don't quite count out Deadpool 2. My pick is "Ashes" for not only sounding exactly like a 1990s Celine Dion song, but also being ridiculously thematically relevant to its film and emotionally deployed appropriately.
Other notables include "Sunflower" from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is another song that the protagonist keeps coming back to (and perfectly sorta doesn't know all the words to). I also want to note Eminem's Venom song which was fucking terrible. Eminem had a terrible year.
I guess also "Shallow" from A Star is Born. This is the Oscar forerunner and is a legit track for sure that yeah, is thematically appropriate for the film it's in. Okay, okay. I still like "Ashes."
Villain of the Year
This was quite a year for villains. Thanos, Killmonger, the Shape - the bench is deep. There are two who rise above the pack, though. The first is Chris Hemsworth in Bad Times at the El Royale, who exudes a fantastic menace. No one scared more shit out of me, tough than Daniel Kaluuya's Jatemme Manning in Widows. He's calm, cool, collected, and kills without a second thought, but always enjoys toying with his prey. This was a great leap forward for Kaluuya, building on his other high profile roles in Get Out (2017) and Black Panther.
Hero of the Year
I debated this a lot. Maybe Natalie Portman in Annihilation or Jason Mamoa in Aquaman, Chief in Isle of Dogs, Cleo from Roma, Uncle Drew in his eponymous movie. And I've cited it constantly here, and it may just be because I saw it very recently, but I'll give it to Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. He finds his own identity, bravery, and confidence and truly becomes the Spider-Man we all hope to be. It's a struggle based in character and when he exceeds because of his own skills, it's exciting to watch.
Well that's it. That's all we have to talk about. Certainly no Top Ten!!!
Just kidding, we're cranking that out soon!
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