My 2018 movie rundown

Even though I watch a couple of movies a week, I don’t watch enough of them. Lemme explain that. The movies I tend to watch are ones I’ve already seen and fall under the same umbrella; sci-fi, horror and action-adventure. So while I might stop and watch Suicide Squad on TNT if I’m flipping around the dial, that also means that I’m not watching other movies of different genres I haven’t seen yet. Other people might go out to the theater and expand their filmic horizons every week, but at best I might venture out to checkout The Predator or stay at home and watch Star Wars for the 900th time.

Regardless, here’s every new movie I saw in 2018.

The Cloverfield Paradox ⭐⭐

Cloverfiend Paradox
Cloverfiend Paradox

In an era when surprise in pop-culture is practically impossible because of the internet and social media, the release of The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix was a pretty big surprise as the movie was first advertised on the Super Bowl last winter and premiered on the streaming service immediately afterwards.

Mute

Mute
Mute

Mute, by writer/director Duncan Jones, takes place in the same cinematic universe as his wonderful Moon film. But whereas I greatly enjoyed Moon, I thought Mute was a bit long and overly serious.

Black Panther ⭐⭐

Black Panther
Black Panther

I dug Black Panther if I didn’t see what all the hype was about. It seemed to me Black Panther was a well-constructed Marvel film that I enjoyed, but I didn’t think it was much different then what had come before. But I was in the minority as the film went onto become one of the most successful movies ever earning more than $1.5 billion at the box office.

Avengers: Infinity War ⭐⭐

Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War

I liked Avengers: Infinity War but found it hard to take seriously. I mean the movie (spoilers) features half of the universe being wiped out when evil villain Thanos get all the power in the universe, snaps his fingers and literally makes it so. But does anyone really believe that when the sequel is released next summer in theaters, that by the end of that movie all of this will be undone with order restored with the good-guys winning?

Deadpool 2 ⭐⭐⭐

Deadpool 2
Deadpool 2

The movie I had the most fun at last summer was Deadpool 2. While I didn’t think it was as good as the first one, I really dug this sequel that introduced a few of my favorite characters to the Deadpool universe, namely Cable and Domino.

Solo: A Star Wars Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story

My favorite movie of 2018 had to be Solo: A Star Wars Story. Derided before it was even released, this movie that follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) as he goes from street urchin to intergalactic smuggler is a lot fo fun. Solo is the one movie this year that I’ve actually seen more than once.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant Man and the Wasp
Ant Man and the Wasp

I really liked the first Ant Man movie, but I really disliked the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. There were so many plot-holes here that things started to get to MST3K territory. In fact, I got so sick of this one that towards the end I started fast forwarding just to get through it.

Annihilation

Annihilation
Annihilation

The movie I was most disappointed with this year was Annihilation. It was written and directed by Alex Garland who also wrote the brilliant 28 Days Later and both wrote and directed Ex Machina, as well as being based on a series of interesting novels by Jeff VanderMeer, I found Annihilation to be dull and confusing. So much so that I didn’t even bother fast forwarding through this one, I turned it off before making it to the end.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout ⭐⭐

Mission: Impossible: Fallout
Mission: Impossible: Fallout

Another fun movie was the sixth, and so far most successful, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. I’ll admit this one doesn’t have much going on in the story department, I saw it in the theater and four months later can’t remember the story, but the action scenes in Mission: Impossible – Fallout are worth the price of admission alone.

The Predator ⭐⭐

The Predator
The Predator

Here’s what I tell anyone thinking about seeing the latest movie in the Predator franchise — if you’re into sci-fi and movies that feature the Predator, you’re probably going to dig The Predator. If you’re not, then you might want to steer clear of this one.

2018 summer movie preview

For the first time in a decade Marvel won’t be kicking off the summer movie season by opening a movie the first Friday in May! They’ve decided to start summer a week early and will launch Avengers: Infinity War on April 27. If The Avengers was the movie that brought together all the separate heroes in the Marvel movie universe, then Avengers: Infinity War is the movie that will bring together all the teams from The Avengers, the Black Panther contingent to Guardians of the Galaxy and basically everyone else too in order to do combat with the villainous Thanos (Josh Brolin) in a battle that’s been brewing in that cinematic universe for years now.

Deadpool 2

The R-rated surprise smash of 2016 Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is set to return with more superhero movie mayhem with Deadpool 2 on May 18. The movie studio has been pretty tight-lipped with this one plot-wise, other than to reveal it will introduce two fan-favorite comic characters Domino (Zazie Beetz) and Cable (once again, Josh Brolin who really is “Mr. Summer” this year).

A fourth modern Star Wars film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, is due out May 25. Right now, Solo is more well-known for what went on behind the scenes with its original directors being fired months ago and director Ron Howard being brought on to finish the film. Supposedly, Solo will feature the first meeting between the title character played by Alden Ehrenreich and his furry co-pilot Chewbacca sometime before the events of the very first Star Wars.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The Ocean’s 11 series of movies gets a follow-up with the “don’t call it a ‘reboot’” Ocean’s 8 on June 6. This time, Sandra Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean and will lead the likes of Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter and Mindy Kaling in order to pull of some amazing heist at a stunning local.

Fourteen years after the original film Incredibles 2 blasts into theaters on June 15. The nice thing about this superhero family lead by Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter is that even though the first movie took place so long ago it doesn’t really matter since it’s animated and characters don’t have to age when they’re computer generated. Reportedly, this one deals with superhero pop Mr. Incredible (Nelson) playing stay-at-home dad to infant Jack-Jack while Elastigirl (Hunt) is out saving the world.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

A second film in the Jurassic World franchise entitled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom hits theaters June 22. If the first Jurassic World was a bigger remake of Jurassic Park then Fallen Kingdom sure seems like it’s a bigger remake of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Here, the cast of Jurassic World including Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have to venture back to the ruined, dinosaur crawling island for one reason or another that I’m sure will make sense within the confines of the movie.

Ant-Man and the Wasp, the sequel to Ant-Man, will skittle into cinemas July 6. The third Marvel movie of the summer, this time instead of having just Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) having to do battle with the bad guys he’ll also be joined with the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) forming an incredible shrinking team.

Teen Titans Go! to the Movies

A sixth (!!!!) Mission: Impossible movie, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, zooms into theaters on July 27. This film franchise might have a lot going against it from its action star Tom Cruise being in his mid–50s, nearly as old as John Voight was in the first one when he played a nearing retirement behind-the-desk Jim Phelps to none of the films in the franchise having a coherent plot. Yet I adore the Mission Impossible franchise and welcome each new one with a lot of anticipation.

One TV series that the pre-teen set is really into these days is the animated Teen Titans Go! which makes its way to theaters in Teen Titans Go! to the Movies also on July 27. This over-the-top series pokes fun at the whole superhero genera with characters like Robin, Starfire and Cyborg who crack-wise and almost never get into fights with the villains. Reportedly the plot to this one has the Teen Titans thinking they deserve a movie too after seeing all sorts of other DC heroes get movies with them stuck on TV.

I can’t wait!