Time once again for my personal Top 5 of the year based purely on UK releases that I have managed to catch within the year; so before you ask 'why no SpiderMan?' it is because I haven't seen it yet!
5. Mission Impossible Fallout
One of, if not the only film series to be getting better as they go on. It's easy to have gotten caught up in the media surrounding just how practical this film was to be and how much of the work in camera was done by the Cruise himself but it all paid off massively with great story callbacks and continuations from previous entries which made me very happy. Ive been vocal to people about my theory on how you can rate the quality of an MI film based on the length of Tom Cruise's hair in each particular film so I was pretty confident going into this one. Equally, director Chris McQuarrie's Epic Empire Podcast Part 1 and Part 2/3 are just as good as the film!
4. Bohemian Rhapsody
Saw this twice at the cinema. It is horribly inaccurate with its timeline of events but by using the Live Aid performance as a bookend, it is structured in a way to play more to your feelings. An average enjoyer of the Queen catalogue its a great time to enjoy what is effectively a "Greatest Hits" of their work. It's a null point at this time to go on about how good Rami Malek's interpretation of Freddie is. It's all just so enjoyable! Seeing it big and loud was its biggest strength. Being too young to witness an original Queen lineup, I realised half way through the film I had never heard the band in a loud bombastic way like that of a gig. Hearing the tracks on a stereo system definately takes away from their impact. The film in a cinema corrects this...
3. Incredibles 2
The family dynamic is finally back and fittingly carrying on almost seamlessly from the first film. Just as many fun moments as the first and lovely spectacle we've come to expect from Pixar. Minor weakness would be the 'badguy' of the film feels a tad weak in comparrison to Syndrome but Im nitpicking... Jack Jack jokes and parenting is a super power are the greatest take-aways from this film.
2. They Shall Not Grow Old
A film of great importance, it feels somewhat wrong to describe this as "entertainment" in the same way as Saving Private Ryan's opening 20mins. The work gone into making hundred year old war footage come alive is something to truely marvel at. It's approach to pull you in through the black and white world as we enter the war with a gradual zoom and colour increase is magical without ever being a "look at this!" moment. THe voice work is brilliant and at times intense and heartbreaking. Stunning work and quite rightly compulsary viewing in our schools now. Thank you Peter Jackson.
1. Avengers Infinity War
A bit obvious but it couldn't be anything else right? 10 years of building. There have been a few dips and troughs along the way but nothing to cry about. Amazing visuals aside the story was strong and bolstered by an imense cast all doing their part. A fully realised Thanos is the icing on the cake. Possibly like the original Yoda in Empire, if audiences didn't believe in this character than the film may have collapsed on itself. With strong foundations in the Marvel world, they've built a towering series of films for the 21st century... Come on Endgame. You've got us all ready and waiting...
Honourable mentions go to the following for all being great bits of film throughout the year; The Last Movie Star, The Shape of Water, Lady Bird and Haunting of Hill House for beign a great little mini series on Netflix.
As for my bottom 5 once again the list is by no means the worst things I ve ever seen as Ive likewly avoided the truely aweful titles. These are just lower rated in my opinion
5. Venom
4. After The Screaming Stops
3. When The Devil and Father Amorth
2. The Cloverfield Paradox
1. The Open House
