Long time no see! The holiday season gets so busy for me and I have no time to do anything other than work, eat, and sleep. But I couldn’t go another year missing out on my favorite posts of the year! And I’m still late! So if you still care, here we go!

I’ve adjusted Jamie’s End of the Year Book Survey to TV and Film since, as you know, I also blog about those and want to cover all of my bases! The TV Survey and Book Survey are coming soon!

Number of Movies/Documentaries I Watched in 2018: 80, If I Counted Correctly (Not Including TV Movies/TV Documentaries)

Genre I Watched the Most in 2018: Drama

1. Best Movies I Watched In 2018?
*My goal: List five or less shows per category.
Drama (Includes Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, etc): Train to Busan, A Quiet Place, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One
Comedy: Lady Bird, Love Simon, Game Night
Animation:  The Incredibles 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet
Documentary: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Whitney, McQueen, Quincy, Score: A Film Music Documentary

2. Movie I Was Excited About & Thought I Was Going To Love More But Didn’t?
The Cloverfield Paradox was really disappointing for me. I loved the idea but the execution for me did not hit the mark or even close enough to the bullseye. Wow, that was disappointing. I think if I had only read the script and not seen the movie, I wouldn’t even feel this way. Ah well. Can’t win ’em all. And that’s okay. J.J. and his team are still doing fine.

3. Most Surprising (in a good way) Movie I Watched in 2018?
Drama: I knew that I would enjoy Thoroughbreds but I certainly did not know that I would enjoy it as much as I did. What a ride. Highly recommend, especially for people who write YA.

I’ll also say I, Tonya because the way that they crafted this movie was so wild and free and refreshing and I loved it…and I didn’t want to see I, Tonya so the fact that I ended up seeing it at all is a miracle. But I’m glad that I did go and if you’re still not interested in seeing I, Tonya, I press you to see it. You’ll be surprised by how they handled it all.

4. Movie I “Pushed” The Most People To Watch (And They Did) In 2018?
It’s a documentary, The Wolfpack that came out in 2015 and finally people actually watched it, in particular, my sibling movie club group chat. It definitely garnered the most OMG moments of discussion so, I’d say it was a hit haha.

5. Best Sequel of 2018? Best Movie Ending of a Movie I Watched in 2018?
Sequel: Ralph Breaks the Internet
Movie Ending: Avengers: Infinity War

6. Most Action Packed/Thrilling Movies of the Year?
Avengers: Infinity War, Hotel Artemis, Ready Player One, Tomb Raider

7. Movie I Watched in 2018 That I Am Most Likely To Re-Watch in 2019?
Game Night, The Darkest Minds, The Princess Switch

8. Favorite Poster for a Movie I Watched in 2018?

9. Most Memorable Characters/Talent of 2018?
Sang-hwa in Train to Busan was quite a character and I’ll leave it at that. It being the zombie apocalypse really brings out the worst in people lol

Regan from A Quiet Place. Millicent Simmonds was magnificent in this role and I hope to see her more on the big (and small) screen in the future!

Kayla from Eighth Grade and props to Elsie Fisher for allowing herself to be so vulnerable, which actors do all of the time but eighth grade is eighth grade and that’s a big deal when you’re in that stage in life and it’s not easy! Mad props to the writer/director, Bo Burnham (who is my age! Go, Bo!) who really nailed this period of time and was able to capture these moments, these emotions, everything and envelope it in today’s climate (social media) and I could go on but I think you get the picture. I loved this movie. It’s like you’re paying to experience PTSD but you’re here, in the future, no longer in eighth grade so it’s alright? I don’t know how to describe it but you won’t forget Kayla and you won’t forget this movie.

John Cho as David Kim in Searching was brilliant. I love John’s choices and taste and this is why. If you have yet to see this movie, whether you’re a parent or not, go see it! It’s quite something.

Danielle Macdonald closed out 2018 with a bang. First, I saw her in Netflix’s Dumplin‘ based on the YA book of the same title which was great and then I saw her in Netflix’s Bird Box as Olympia. Round of applause for a stellar year just based off of those two successes alone! Go ‘head girl, with your bad self!

Lady Gaga as Ally in A Star is Born gets all the praise that she deserves. She is phenomenal and the chemistry she has with Bradley Cooper as Jack is perfection. What a ride for Ally, wow. I wasn’t exactly running to the theater to see this one either but after seeing it, I have no idea why I put it off, it’s fantastic and I knew it would be, so the lesson for this year is don’t play around with my 2019 viewing otherwise I’ll be late on praising the good stuff.

10. Standout Writing / Directing of a Movie I Watched in 2018?
Writing: Greta Gerwig gets writing and directing for Lady Bird. I didn’t “get” Greta Gerwig before this and I tried and tried and never gave up because I knew there was going to be something that made it click for me and Lady Bird was that project of hers and now I am so excited to be able to sing the praises of Greta Gerwig like so many others because I get it now and she is incredible.

Directing: I am so glad that we got to see Crazy Rich Asians through the lens of Jon M. Chu and not some big shot white director who was available. It made all the difference. It made it everything and everything was amazing. Alex Garland directed Annihilation which was a beast of a movie, oh my goodness. Talk about visually stunning.

11. Most Thought-Provoking/Impactful Movies I Watched in 2018?
I’d say three documentaries this year make me want to get out of bed everyday and DO IT. McQueen, Quincy, and Score: A Film Music Documentary.

12. Movie I Can’t Believe I Waited Until 2018 To Finally Watch?
First They Killed My Father.

13. Favorite Scene From a Movie I Watched in 2018?
Everything in Game Night. I did not expect that movie to be as funny as it was, oh my God. It came at just the right time for me, I really needed a good laugh.

I will also say the scene before the actual ending in Bird Box, when sh*t hits the fan at the house because reading it in the book was a bit confusing for me so it was nice to actually see it play out.

14. Movie That Shocked Me The Most? (Because of a plot twist, character death, etc.)
Sorry To Bother You, The Shape of Water

15. OTP (One True Pairing) – You will go down with this ship?
The first two couples that I had in mind for this, one half of each couple dies and the third couple I had in mind, they both die. So. I think I broke this question? Cause I’m legit going down with them hahaha. SPOILERS AHEAD. A Quiet Place. Bird Box. Avengers: Infinity War.

16. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship?
Sam (Kiersey Clemons) and Frank’s (Nick Offerman) daughter-father relationship really tug at me. It was beautiful.

17. Best Movie I Watched In 2018 That I Watched Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody?
The Ones Below

18. Most Exciting Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting?
Equals and Ralph Breaks the Internet. I’ll also say that it was most exciting getting to see Ready Player One and Every Day on the big screen because I LOVED these books and thought both adaptations were stellar (even though if I think about RPO to much, I get sad that so much was changed).

19. Movies That Put A Smile On My Face/Were The Most Fun To Watch?
Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, Game Night, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Every Day, Hotel Artemis, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Incredibles 2, Ocean’s 8, Power Rangers

20. Movie/Documentary That Made Me Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2018?
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Whitney, McQueen

21. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
Every Day is based on the novel of the same name by David Levithan and I thoroughly enjoyed the film adaptation. Yes, it’s low budget but it was a more than satisfying adaptation, especially considering the challenge they were faced in this movie, maintaining a consistent compelling tone through numerous actors playing the same character. Hats off to all involved in this film.

22. Movie That Crushed My Soul?
Even knowing the history, I still had to keep pausing and going back to First They Killed My Father because it’s A LOT. My soul was heavy watching this.

23. Most Unique Movie I Watched In 2018?
Every Day was definitely a book I never thought could make it to the big screen and yet it did and it was great.

Also, I still can’t believe Diablo Cody got away with that ending in Tully. I love it and of course she could because she’s Diablo Cody but still.

I don’t know if I watched What Happened To Monday in 2017 or 2018 but either way, it deserves to be an answer here, especially since I skipped 2017’s survey haha.

24. Movie That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Without repeating, I’ll go with Pacific Rim: Uprising because I feel like they ruined Charlie Day’s character/story.

25. Notable Mentions of the Year?
Coco, Roxanne Roxanne, A Simple Favor, The Hate U Give, 22 July, A Christmas Prince: The Royal, The American Meme

Bonus. Favorite Movie Moment?
Meeting Spike Lee.

Bonus. Five Movies I Am Anticipating in 2019?
Us, The Avengers: Endgame, The Sun is Also A Star, Aladdin, Are You Afraid of the Dark?

What are your movie standouts of 2018?