Again -- I don't watch TV much. I like the discrete work of art that a movie offers, a complete experience tied up in a couple of hours. I like seeing what a group of artists can do on that canvas.
This is not to say that all of the movies here could be considered "art." I like what some people would call "trash," too. I like documentaries that focus on particular people, on music, on sociological topics (like "...But what if the dream comes true," which is not really a movie. It's an old CBS TV news special, but I wrote about it in my movie diary anyway. "Olive Kitteridge" isn't a movie, either, it's a 4-hour miniseries. But, close enough for me, especially since it was one of my favorites this year).
I don't live in an area where I can see absolutely anything in a theater (my tastes can run to the marginal and the obscure) though being close enough to Pittsburgh and its surrounding communities enables me to get to some more interesting films than where I live can offer. Though I still miss places like the Fulton (now the Byham Theater, and for quite a long time by now) or the Pittsburgh Playhouse, which showed both new "art house" films and older films in repertory -- also long gone. But they still existed when I was in college in the 90s.
If I lived in NYC or some other large metropolis, I'd be constantly traveling from theater to theater, seeking out the odd and the classics alike. But given my circumstances, I find films like I imagine a lot of people do. Right now, I go to Pittsburgh (a Cinemark in Tarentum, PA is probably the favorite right now, partly because we can get there easily, directly and without much traffic on a major highway -- and they show classic films on the big screen -- a big plus for me and my wife) to see new releases. I catch a lot of older films via the TCM On Demand option included free with our cable subscription. I've really used that a lot this year, as well as the huge, disorganized pot of content under the "free movies" banner with the same company. For the stranger, more marginal films, I've found some interesting stuff on YouTube, with a little online research preceding those discoveries. And I have a Netflix (DVD.com) monthly subscription.
Although I think things have improved a little in the theaters regarding good movies for adults, I still think overall that things are fairly dire for what I look for, though there's plenty of superhero-related movies that hold no appeal for me, uninspired comedies, puerile dramas. But with all the other options for viewing, I'm always able to find something of interest somewhere.
I say that as a sort of explanation for why, out of the movies listed below, the starred favorites don't pull from much of the 2018 roster. A bunch of stuff down below are repeat viewings for me, favorites that I own, etc., but if I have a star by an old movie, that means I saw it for the first time this year. I picked 10 of the ones, both vintage and current I liked the best. For my own edification, I keep a little movie diary and jot down thoughts about each movie I see.
As is normal for me, I have a penchant for weirdo movies, and movies of the early 70s (what I tend to call the "bummer era"), just because I like their vibe. No apologies.
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (2017)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Robocop (1987)
Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago (2016)
*Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Paddington 2 (2018)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
*A Serious Man (2009)
His Kind of Woman (1951)
I, Tonya (2017)
A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Bloody Birthday (1981)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Darkest Hour (2017)
Not a Love Story (1981)
Women in Revolt (1971)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Breaking Away (1979)
How the Beatles Changed the World (2017)
Blacula (1972)
Whirlpool (1949)
The Godfather (1972)
Icarus (2017)
Early Man (2018)
Arrival (2016)
Dillinger is Dead (1969)
Idiocracy (2005)
Cannibal Girls (1972)
*Olive Kitteredge (2014)
Night Call Nurses (1972)
Making It (1971)
The Graduate (1967)
The Naked Truth (1957)
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005)
Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story (2007)
Blood Freak (1972)
Aloha, Bobby & Rose (1975)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
The Dark Side of Tomorrow (1970)
Wait for Your Laugh: Rose Marie, The Longest Career in Showbiz History (2017)
Annie Hall (1977)
Multiple Maniacs (1970)
Phantom Thread (2017)
XTRO (1982)
*Isle of Dogs (2018)
Employees' Entrance (1933)
Mr. Freedom (1969)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Hollow Triumph (1948)
Dancing Lady (1933)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Poltergeist (1982)
Don't Look in the Basement (1973)
Switchblade Sisters (1975)
The Awful Truth (1937)
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
The Shining (1980)
Funny Girl (1968)
Room 237 (2012)
*She's the Best Thing in It (2015)
The Ninth Guest (1934)
*The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976)
The Way, Way Back (2013)
Upgrade (2018)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Way Out West (1937)
Raising Arizona (1987)
...But What if the Dream Comes True? (1971)
Hereditary (2018)
*Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
Army of Shadows (1969)
The Incredibles 2 (2018)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Unsane (2018)
Caged (1950)
Trainwreck (2015)
Women He's Undressed (2015)
Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
Spielberg (2017)
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
The Phenix City Story (1955)
Fast Life (1932)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Whitney (2018)
I Feel Pretty (2018)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Heartburn (1986)
Yellow Submarine (1968)
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
The Lady Eve (1940)
Ulzana's Raid (1972)
*Summertime (1955)
Life is Sweet (1988)
Le Million (1931)
Eighth Grade (2018)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)
Short Cuts (1993)
BlackKKLansman (2018)
Videodrome (1983)
Dog Days (2018)
Ready Player One (20180
Brainstorm (1965)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
M (1931)
Sideways (2004)
South Pacific (1958)
RBG (2018)
You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Being There (1979)
Deliverance (1972)
King Cohen (2018)
The Commuter (2018)
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
The Final Conflict (1981)
Street Law (1974)
Blonde Venus (1932)
Macon County Line (1974)
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
A Star is Born (2018)
Demon Seed (1977)
Blume in Love (1973)
A Brief History of Time (1991)
Cindy and Donna (1970)
Z (1969)
First Man (2018)
Seven Beauties (1975)
Patterns (1956)
*Private Life (2018)
The Late Show (1977)
The Meaning of Life (1983)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Play Misty for Me (1971)
Mother (1996)
Beetlejuice (1988)
The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Die Hard (1988)
Smithereens (1982)
Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Widows (2018)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018)
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
*The Breaking Point (1950)
Death by Invitation (1971)
Widows (2018) (2nd viewing)
Grand Canyon (1991)
I'll Be Seeing You (1945)
The American Meme (2018)
Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police (2012)
Futz! (1969)
The Favourite (2018)
Black Christmas (1974)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Claire's Knee (1970)
