Roads & Kingdoms’ Favorite Movies of 2018
The R&K staff list their top movies for the year.
Another year of great cinema, with the continued rise of the streaming platforms adding to the market for high-quality filmmaking and television. These were our staff favorites from 2018.
Read more of our 2018 selections here.
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My Brilliant Friend
I was prepared to be disappointed since I loved the Neapolitan novels so much, but HBO’s adaptation of the first book in the series, My Brilliant Friend, was beautifully shot and perfectly cast. As with the books, I was instantly transported to postwar Naples. – Danielle Renwick
Crazy Rich Asians
Was it sometimes corny and over the top? Yes. Was it also gorgeous and fun? Yes. Besides, all Asian cast? Sign me up! – Shivani Mehta
The Favourite
Three complex female protagonists brought to life by expert actresses in the hilariously dark and twisted world of Yorgos Lanthimos might just be my favorite thing I’ve seen all year. – Emily Marinoff
Annihilation
Read all of the books the week before I saw this, wasn’t disappointed. – Tyler Elmore
The Death of Stalin
Never have we been in greater need of a reminder of the absurdities and atrocities of fascism than right now, and director Armando Iannucci (along with a brilliant cast) delivers at the funniest and most frightening possible level. – Matt Goulding
Black Panther
Wakanda was a great fantasy world to escape into and it was great to see an African aesthetic placed in the future. – Aleesa Mann
Hereditary
Keeping in mind that I haven’t seen any of the Big Movies that Everyone Is Talking About, I’m gonna have to say Hereditary, for being a chilling as any horror movie in recent memory. – Michael Snyder
Mandy
Another instant cult classic from Panos Cosmatos and what will go down as Nicolas Cage’s best performance (hard to beat since he’s had so many gems: Face Off, Con Air, City of Angels). Mandy is metal album turned into a hyper-visual, blood-soaked, rage-fest with more acid than a Grateful Dead concert. Not for kids. Not for anyone with morals. – Cengiz Yar
Black Panther
Director Ryan Coogler made an entertaining and cinematically significant film that was unapologetically for people who look like me. He did it for the culture, and for that, I’m thankful. – Tafi Mukunyadzi
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Sure, it was the most recent movie I watched, and like simple-minded Oscar voters, I really couldn’t tell you what the best movie of February was. But this one from the Coen Brothers, a series of short, unrelated dramas from the Wild West, blocked out any of the others I’ve seen. Each act is droll and dark and great in its own way, but I was particularly taken by Tom Waits as prospector with a familiar gravel to his voice. – Nathan Thornburgh