25. Cam
24. Vox Lux
23. The Miseducation of Cameron Post
22. Leave No Trace
21. Cold War
20. Skate Kitchen
Archive | January, 2019
The Top 15 Film Scenes of 2018
15 Jan
15. (tie) Thoroughbreds, “The Technique”, and Searching, “Opening”
14. You Were Never Really Here, “Surveillance Cameras”
13. Wildlife, “Ending”
12. Blindspotting, “The Garage”
11. The Favourite and Suspiria, “The Dance” (yes these scenes are very different but this was my way of including both)
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On the Basis of Sex Review
13 Jan
It’s pretty basic and exactly what you’d expect going in, but it focuses on such a titan of history that it sometimes manages to overcome its repetitive blandness. Case in point is Leder’s work with the courtroom scenes toward the end, which are certainly cliche but still deliver their themes with cogency and emotion. I feel like we would’ve gotten a more interesting film had Ginsburg’s nephew not written this, but I do applaud him for only focusing on one period of time rather than losing the story while trying to cover her entire life. That’s a problem that many biopic screenwriters don’t avoid.
GRADE: B-
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The Top 101 Songs of 2018
10 Jan
101. Death Cab for Cutie, “60 & Punk”
100. Lily Allen, “Three”
99. Jon Bellion, “Conversations with my Wife”
98. Laura Marling & Mike Lindsay (LUMP), “Curse of the Contemporary”
97. Courtney Barnett, “Charity”
96. Noname feat. Smino & Saba, “Ace”
95. Lake Street Dive, “Good Kisser”
94. Waxahatchee, “Takes So Much”
93. Let’s Eat Grandma, “It’s Not Just Me”
92. Christine and the Queens, “Doesn’t Matter”
91. Half Waif, “Lavender Burning”
90. Wye Oak, “It Was Not Natural”
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The Top Film Performances of 2018
9 Jan
15. (TIE) Julia Roberts, “Ben Is Back” & Joanna Kulig, “Cold War”
14. Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
13. Melissa McCarthy & Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me”
12. Daveed Diggs, “Blindspotting”
11. Olivia Cooke, “Thoroughbreds”
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The Top 15 Television Shows of 2018
7 Jan
15. Who Is America?
14. Atlanta
13. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
12. Killing Eve
11. Better Call Saul
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Vice Review
3 Jan
Obnoxious, condescending, and extremely messy, yet under all of that it’s still somehow quite watchable. I’m not sure if it’s due more to the eminently compelling real life story or to the charm in watching McKay swing for the fences (and miss more often than not, but still). As a biopic, the film, like many others, attempts to cover way too much ground in too little time, and there’s a huge disconnect between McKay’s know it all smugness and the reductive conclusions he makes throughout. As a piece of entertainment, though, there’s still a wild, unsubtle satirical energy to some of the scenes that renders the whole thing an amusing time at the theater. From the reactions you’d think that The Big Short was some sort of magnum opus relative to this, but the two films really are not too far apart. McKay’s still best when he does Anchorman though.
Also, Amy Adams deserves an Oscar or two, but probably not for this.
GRADE: B-
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The Top 25 Albums of 2018
2 Jan
25. serpentwithfeet, “soil”
24. Adrianne Lenker, “abysskiss”
23. Blood Orange, “Negro Swan”
22. Lucy Dacus, “Historian”
21. Superorganism, “Superorganism”
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