Since I posted many reviews relying on classic movies and a few recent films from this year, I decided to follow along the way to remind everyone in the journey what would be my top 5 best films of the year so far. These would be the films according to my personal curriculum that intensified my anatomy, mind-blew my brain, entertained me, and even reminded me that cinema in general can make the world a spellbinding and (like the blog name) turbulent experience. Before I get into my legitimate top 5, here are some of my honorable mentions that unfortunately didn’t make the final cut.
They would be Spike Lee’s Ku Klux Klan tension “BlackKKlansman”, the suspicious “American Animals”, the manic and hysterical “The Death of Stalin”, the haunting “First Reformed”, the deliberately honest “The Wife”, the dangerous relationship of “Blindspotting”, the sensitive and social “Black Panther”, the deep documentaries “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and “McQueen”, the devastating “Lean on Pete”, the chaotic “Upgrade”, the outstanding and raw westerns “Damsel” and “The Sisters Brothers”, and finally the darkening look of “Avengers: Infinity War”.
Now, here are as of October 13, 2018, my top 5 best films of 2018 so far.
#5: Beast
When walking down the carpet stairs while the credits started to roll at Lincolnshire, I thought to myself that this has to be one of the most rousing directorial debuts for a science-fiction film I have seen in a while since “District 9”. Every element was fresh, extremely original, and just completely prosthetic. It tells a story of this woman named Moll (Jessie Buckley) whom embodied in an depressive family, encounters a potential criminal named Pascal (Johnny Flynn). She soon ends up wanting to bond with him scot-free ignoring possible boundaries from his family, but these boundaries come into serious play when Moll’s mother tells her strictly that she can never keep in touch with Pascal ever again due to his notorious criminal history. The acting is purely electrifying from the shimmering times when Moll encounters her family perspective of Pascal. Moll herself looks unholy through her structure of body when she is communicated by the police and her parents. She acts adolescent and stubborn whenever Pascal is with or without him. Those are many reasons why Jessie Buckley fits in the character so perfectly of Moll. This has also a brilliant screenplay in which it makes so much sense connecting to the consequence and fate of the movie’s anatomy. The director Michael Pearce (debut film) needs to direct more films like “Beast” about the way we perceive human nature, but will proceed in an out-of-character fashion.
#4: Searching
This has to be one of the most tense and downright pulse-pounding thrillers I have ever seen in recent memory. Sure you can name the recent ones in the top of your heads right away like “Gone Girl”, “10 Cloverfield Lane”, and “The Gift”, but by far, this was the one that felt like a real, lung-burning event that could end very unpredictable. It centers around a father named David (John Cho), whose wife passed away recently, whom has a daughter named Margot. She lets her father know that she is going out with his Biology group somewhere, but the problem is that Margot doesn’t tell her father where she is going by phone text. Coincidentally, David finds out devastatingly that his daughter is officially missing. This scenario leaves David completely red-headed and stressed out of his mind that he has to ask not just Margot’s friends, but also has to contact a detective (Debra Messing) to resolve the stress as well. In my mind, like “Unfriended” along with it’s “Dark Web” sequel, it is amazing how a David Fincher style thriller story is told on a computer screen while executing the same elements anyone would expect in these kind of films. Aneesh Chaganty understands not just the idea, but also the pain of trying to find someone you deeply love when you do not know where the person is. This man needs to replace David Fincher as the next best of him when it comes to accepting his deep and effective curriculum.
#3: Madeline’s Madeline
Before this film came out in its limited release around August of this year, I have never heard of it before. I started to hear the name of this film when it came to the weekly schedule of the spectacular Music Box Theater in Chicago. Then about two weeks later, it came to Lincolnshire. It was just the right time on September 7 of this year to witness this film. I admired the story when I read it on IMDB. Truth be told, my theater was entirely empty to the point where it lasted only one week there. It was definitely the most hypnotic and thought-provoking experience I ever witnessed. Helena Howard plays a very normal human being as Madeline, whom is acting in a play. The audience can tell that she has a strong passion in that vein. There is one flaw that can ruin the play. That “one flaw” is stability. This messes up her stage manager in a strange, erotic behavior anyone at the movies will never forget. Helena Howard brings on so much delicate, brutal character to this role that it can be a hard-risking acceptance someone would accept at a Cirque De Soleil live event. She brings so much amazing similarities to something like Terry Notary in last year’s “The Square”, where in that film he causes chaos at a gala acting like old King Kong. Instead, Howard does something new and horrifying to that kind of performance where she challenges the audience into her behavior changing throughout the film. This is going to be a film that is going to stay in your brain cells once the last shot fades on the screen.
#2: Sorry to Bother You
Passionately ranging from a game show called “I Got the Sh*t Kicked Out of Me”, where people are wearing T-shirts of the show, to utilizing white voices to get the best satisfaction guaranteed, Boots Riley’s weird masterpiece fiasco “Sorry to Bother You” is something for him to be really proud of. This is really something to exercise peoples’ minds where Red Bull really invites into the intelligent mind party. Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield) is a man that desperately wants to get a job until he sees a commercial for a business called WorryFree, where he has to talk into his white voice as a telemarketer occupation. The building of WorryFree is broken up into two different floors. There would be a first floor where people are practicing their job. Obviously, there would be a second floor where they are top ranked as the best of all time. The rest of the film everyone has to witness for themselves because it is on complete hyperactive acid in story and its overall tone. Not at a single glance does Boots Riley plagiarize a single film in this duration even though he does tend to reference “The Last Dragon” in a certain scene. This is entirely original in every way. He inspires in a name like Charlie Kaufman, where in his film “Being John Malkovich”, he invents a floor in a building called the seven-and-a-half floor where people have to bend their bodies like a dolphin. Riley just wants to hug Kaufman for buying his movie ingredients at his store. It also does something smart and intelligent while progressing the plot like “Being John Malkovich”, the film showcases racial commentary like in last year’s “Get Out”. It is truly unbelievable to behold.
#1: Unsane
What do you get when you have Steven Soderbergh, a great director in his own rights, then film it on an iPhone camera, and make this into one of the most devilish and uncomfortable watches in a mental institute ever made. You have a psychopathic masterpiece out of Soderbergh’s machine called Unsane. Sawyer (perfectly played by Claire Foy) is living in a difficult environment because there is a harassing stalker that she needs to escape. Due to her major encounterings of men, she decides to go to a behavioral center to hopefully cure her problems. It would unfortunately improve worse that she could ever imagine. Sawyer gets a 24-hour stay at the center after unknowingly signing a contract without any notice until she creates an argument towards a patient and a staff member and then changes to seven more days for her. The thing is that Sawyer doesn’t know she will fit in this group because it is one of many that is mental and intrusive. Then it improves her experience worse for Sawyer that the stalker literally works at a behavioral center. It is now her important chance to eagle-eye the stalker at this place in order to escape her stay. Claire Foy proves that she is one of the most compelling actresses working today which doesn’t seem to even please the Academy whatsoever. Even though outstanding in “A Star is Born”, the Academy somehow just wants a 5-hour energy obsession for her instead of the ferociously rousing Claire Foy, whom has such a somewhat haunting presence when located in different places. Steven Soderbergh does the impossible to feel the disgust and torture of a mental institute like in Milos Forman’s classic “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. It does not feel modern one bit. It instead goes for shock and eeriness in every shot and acting presence existing. This is really a devastating shame that this film in general is not getting any kind of awards buzz. Maybe because I am probably the only one to have it as their favorite film of 2018 so far.
I really hope you enjoyed my top five favorite films of this year so far. Please comment down Of course, more recent reviews of “Bad Times at the El Royale”, “First Man”, “Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween”, and “Colette” will come up very soon in a jiffy as well as my top five worst films of 2018. Once again, enjoy the rest of this turbulent journey into cinema and always stay positive and satisfied!
