Year-End Lists

Cinema Scope: Top Ten Films of 2018

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. An Elephant Sitting Still
   Hu Bo
2. The Image Book
   Jean-Luc Godard
3. La Flor
   Mariano Llinás
4. Transit
   Christian Petzold
5. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?
   Roberto Minervini
6. Long Day's Journey Into Night
   Bi Gan
7. Happy as Lazzaro
   Alice Rohrwacher
8. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
9. The Other Side of the Wind
   Orson Welles
10. High Life
    Claire Denis

Special Mentions

• Asako I & II
  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• Ash is Purest White
  Jia Zhang-ke
• The Grand Bizarre
  Jodie Mack
• In My Room
  Ulrich Köhler
• L. Cohen
  James Benning

Dan Sallitt: Favorite Films of 2018, of those "that played at least one week in Manhattan for the first time in 2018, in approximate order of preference"

[see also 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2012]

1. The Day After
   Hong Sang-soo
2. Classical Period
   Ted Fendt
3. Western
   Valeska Grisebach
4. 24 Frames
   Abbas Kiarostami
5. The Grief of Others
   Patrick Wang
6. Dim the Fluorescents
   Daniel Warth
7. Support the Girls
   Andrew Bujalski
8. The Banishment
   Andrey Zvyagintsev
9. Ray Meets Helen
   Alan Rudolph
10. Ismael’s Ghosts
    Arnaud Desplechin
11. Mrs. Hyde
    Serge Bozon
12. Before We Vanish
    Kiyoshi Kurosawa
13. On Body and Soul
    Ildikó Enyedi
14. Notes on an Appearance
    Ricky D'Ambrose
15. Dovlatov
    Aleksey German
16. Rodin
    Jacques Doillon

Pazz & Jop: Top 100 Albums of 2018 (an annual poll of hundreds of critics, published, perhaps for the last time, by The Village Voice)

[see also 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Golden Hour
   Kacey Musgraves
2. Dirty Computer
   Janelle Monáe
3. Invasion of Privacy
   Cardi B
3. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
5. Honey
   Robyn
6. Daytona
   Pusha T
7. Room 25
   Noname
8. Double Negative
   Low
9. Wide Awake!
   Parquet Courts
10. Historian
    Lucy Dacus
11. What a Time to Be Alive
    Superchunk
12. Hell-On
    Neko Case
13. Clean
    Soccer Mommy
14. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
    The 1975
15. Interstate Gospel
    Pistol Annies
16. Tell Me How You Really Feel
    Courtney Barnett
17. El Mal Querer
    Rosalía
18. The Tree of Forgiveness
    John Prine
19. Chris
    Christine and the Queens
19. Lush
    Snail Mail
21. Heaven and Earth
    Kamasi Washington
22. Universal Beings
    Makaya McCraven
23. Future Me Hates Me
    The Beths
23. Isolation
    Kali Uchis
25. In a Poem Unlimited
    U.S. Girls
26. boygenius
    boygenius
27. Black Panther The Album Music From And Inspired By
    Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, SZA
28. 7
    Beach House
29. Whack World
    Tierra Whack
30. Record
    Tracey Thorn
31. Sweetener
    Ariana Grande
32. Some Rap Songs
    Earl Sweatshirt
33. By The Way, I Forgive You
    Brandi Carlile
33. Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
    Sophie
35. Joy as an Act of Resistance
    Idles
36. Your Queen Is a Reptile
    Sons of Kemet
37. Ventriloquism
    Meshell Ndegeocello
38. Knock Knock
    DJ Koze
39. Con Todo El Mundo
    Khruangbin
40. God’s Favorite Customer
    Father John Misty
41. ASTROWORLD
    Travis Scott
42. The Sciences
    Sleep
43. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
    Arctic Monkeys
44. Hope Downs
    Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
45. Look Now
    Elvis Costello & The Imposters
46. Freedom
    Amen Dunes
47. Bottle It In
    Kurt Vile
48. Aviary
    Julia Holter
49. Safe in the Hands of Love
    Yves Tumor
50. Negro Swan
    Blood Orange
50. Ephorize
    cupcakKe
50. Things Have Changed
    Bettye LaVette
53. 2012-2017
    Against All Logic
53. There’s a Riot Going On
    Yo La Tengo
55. Care for Me
    Saba
56. Bark Your Head Off, Dog
    Hop Along
57. Sparkle Hard
    Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
57. LONER
    Caroline Rose
59. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
    Deafheaven
60. Hive Mind
    The Internet
61. The Terror End of Beauty
    Harriet Tubman
62. Girl Going Nowhere
    Ashley McBryde
62. Superorganism
    Superorganism
64. Nearer My God
    Foxing
65. And Nothing Hurt
    Spiritualized
66. Singularity
    Jon Hopkins
66. Cocoa Sugar
    Young Fathers
68. Age Of
    Oneohtrix Point Never
69. American Utopia
    David Byrne
69. Constant Image
    Flasher
71. Broken Politics
    Neneh Cherry
72. May Your Kindness Remain
    Courtney Marie Andrews
72. Love Is Dead
    Chvrches
72. Kids See Ghosts
    Kids See Ghosts
75. Twin Fantasy
    Car Seat Headrest
75. Negative Capability
    Marianne Faithfull
75. The Future and the Past
    Natalie Prass
75. Songs of Praise
    Shame
79. The Old Guys
    Amy Rigby
80. Post-
    Jeff Rosenstock
81. The Horizon Just Laughed
    Damien Jurado
82. Scorpion
    Drake
83. Now Only
    Mount Eerie
84. WARM
    Jeff Tweedy
85. Caution
    Mariah Carey
86. I’m All Ears
    Let’s Eat Grandma
87. Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
    Jeremy Dutcher
87. Emanon
    Wayne Shorter
89. To the Sunset
    Amanda Shires
89. FM!
    Vince Staples
91. Love Yourself 轉 'Tear'
    BTS
91. Wanderer
    Cat Power
91. Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
    John Coltrane
91. Rebound
    Eleanor Friedberger
95. Rifles and Rosary Beads
    Mary Gauthier
95. soil
    serpentwithfeet
95. Boarding House Reach
    Jack White
98. Lost & Found
    Jorja Smith
99. How to Socialise & Make Friends
    Camp Cope
99. Prequelle
    Ghost
99. I can feel you creep into my private life
    Tune-Yards

Harper’s Bazaar: The 13 Best Books of 2018

[see also 2020 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Barracoon

   The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
   Zora Neale Hurston
2. An American Marriage
   Tayari Jones
3. You Think It, I'll Say It
   Curtis Sittenfeld
4. The Pisces
   Melissa Broder
5. Florida
   Lauren Groff
6. Call Me Zebra
   Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi
7. Heart Berries
   Terese Marie Mailhot
8. Bad Blood

   Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
   John Carreyrou
9. If They Come for Us
   Fatimah Asghar
10. Educated
    Tara Westover
11. Circe
    Madeline Miller
12. The Friend
    Sigrid Nunez
13. Becoming
    Michelle Obama

Brian Darr: Top Ten Films of 2018, limited to US commercial releases, as submitted to the annual Senses of Cinema World Poll

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013]

• The Other Side of the Wind
  Orson Welles
• Shirkers
  Sandi Tan
• I Am Not a Witch
  Rungano Nyoni
• Zama
  Lucrecia Martel
• First Reformed
  Paul Schrader
• Black Panther
  Ryan Coogler
• Burning
  Lee Chang-dong
• Bisbee '17
  Robert Greene
• Can You Ever Forgive Me?
  Marielle Heller
• Mrs. Hyde
  Serge Bozon

Plus one more commercial release that didn’t screen in San Francisco until 2018

• Phantom Thread
  Paul Thomas Anderson

Nashville Scene: The 2018 Jim Ridley Film Poll. "Dedicated to late Scene editor and critic Jim Ridley, our poll asks critics, cinephiles and industry insiders about the year in film."

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

1. The Favourite
   Yorgos Lanthimos
2. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
3. Mandy
   Panos Cosmatos
4. You Were Never Really Here
   Lynne Ramsay
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
6. Hereditary
   Ari Aster
7. Suspiria
   Luca Guadagnino
8. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
   Joel & Ethan Coen
9. Annihilation
   Alex Garland
10. Happy as Lazzaro
    Alice Rohrwacher
11. First Reformed
    Paul Schrader
12. BlacKkKlansman
    Spike Lee
13. Blindspotting
    Carlos López Estrada
14. Leave No Trace
    Debra Granik
15. Madeline’s Madeline
    Josephine Decker
16. Minding the Gap
    Bing Liu
17. Sorry to Bother You
    Boots Riley
18. The Other Side of the Wind
    Orson Welles
19. Shoplifters
    Hirokazu Kore-eda
20. The Rider
    Chloé Zhao
21. Burning
    Lee Chang-dong
22. Eighth Grade
    Bo Burnham
23. Paddington 2
    Paul King
24. Shirkers
    Sandi Tan
25. Support the Girls
    Andrew Bujalski

Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2018

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2012]

1. Room 25
   Noname
2. Thelonious Sphere Monk
   Mas-T
3. Things Have Changed
   Bettye LaVette
4. Wide Awake!
   Parquet Courts
5. Interstate Gospel
   Pistol Annies
6. Life Ain't That Long
   Rich Krueger
7. The Night Guy at the Apocalypse Profiles of a Rushing Midnight
   Hamell On Trial
8. Black Panther The Album Music From And Inspired By
   Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, SZA
9. Whack World
   Tierra Whack
10. Invasion of Privacy
    Cardi B
11. Now Only
    Mount Eerie
12. What a Time to Be Alive
    Superchunk
13. Daytona
    Pusha T
14. Nowthen
    Rich Krueger
15. Rock and Roll Just Can't Recall + 3
    The Paranoid Style
16. Don't You Feel My Leg (The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Lu Barker)
    Maria Muldaur
17. Last Man Standing
    Willie Nelson
18. Foreign Ororo
    Riton & Kah-Lo
19. Transangelic Exodus
    Ezra Furman
20. Getting Better
    Wussy
21. Dirty Computer
    Janelle Monáe
22. Deus É Mulher
    Elza Soares
23. The Old Guys
    Amy Rigby
24. It Is Twice Blessed
    The Mekons 77
25. To the Sunset
    Amanda Shires
26. I can feel you creep into my private life
    Tune-Yards
27. What Heaven is Like
    Wussy
28. Snares Like a Haircut
    No Age
29. I Don't Run
    Hinds
30. Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
    Sophie
31. Forever Ago
    John Kruth & La Società dei Musici
32. Raxas Bercy 2017
    Youssou N'Dour
33. Rifles and Rosary Beads
    Mary Gauthier
34. Your Queen Is a Reptile
    Sons of Kemet
35. Purgatory
    Tyler Childers
36. Superorganism
    Superorganism
37. Baylor Swift
    Bali Baby
38. The Tree of Forgiveness
    John Prine
39. On Air
    The Rolling Stones
40. Routes
    Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba
41. The Prodigal Son
    Ry Cooder
42. Fast & Frightening
    L7
43. Clean
    Soccer Mommy
44. Be the Cowboy
    Mitski
45. Giants
    Methodist Hospital
46. We’re Not Talking
    The Goon Sax
47. United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas
    Wynton Marsalis Septet
48. Drogas Wave
    Lupe Fiasco
49. Twerp Verse
    Speedy Ortiz
50. Listening To Pictures (Pentimento, Vol. One)
    Jon Hassell
51. Humble Pi
    Homeboy Sandman & Edan
52. Undesirable
    Becky Warren
53. Record
    Tracey Thorn
54. Ephorize
    cupcakKe
55. Hive Mind
    The Internet
56. Guatemaya
    Doctor Nativo
57. Temet
    Imarhan
58. Sorry to Bother You
    The Coup
59. Quarter Past Tonight
    Chicago Farmer
60. No Shape
    Perfume Genius
61. Tantabara
    Tal National
62. Quite a Life
    Lyrics Born
63. Laila’s Wisdom
    Rapsody
64. I'm Not Here To Hunt Rabbits
    various artists
65. Remastered Collection
    Blue Lu Barker
66. Joy as an Act of Resistance
    Idles
67. Vessel
    Frankie Cosmos
68. Strange Conversation
    Mandy Barnett
69. In the Blue Light
    Paul Simon
70. What Happens When I Try to Relax
    Open Mike Eagle
71. There’s a Riot Going On
    Yo La Tengo
72. Shadowbox
    Beats Antique
73. Acrylic
    Leikeli47
74. A Laughing Death in Meatspace
    Tropical Fuck Storm
75. Plunge
    Fever Ray
76. Grow a Pair!!!
    Jinx lennon
77. Construction Time & Demolition
    Wreckless Eric
78. Tell Me How You Really Feel
    Courtney Barnett
79. Les liaisons dangereuses 1960
    Thelonious Monk
80. Twin Fantasy
    Car Seat Headrest
81. Maxi-Single
    AD the Voice
82. Kids See Ghosts
    Kids See Ghosts
83. The Official Body
    Shopping

Steven D. Greydanus: Top Films of 2018, as published by The National Catholic Register

[see also 2019 • 2012]

1. The Rider
   Chloé Zhao
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
   Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
3. I Am Not a Witch
   Rungano Nyoni
4. The Guardians
   Xavier Beauvois
5. Lean On Pete
   Andrew Haigh
6. Paddington 2
   Paul King
7. Leave No Trace
   Debra Granik
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
   Morgan Neville
9. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
   Christopher McQuarrie
10. 22 July
    Paul Greengrass

10 Honorable Mentions

• Blindspotting
  Carlos López Estrada
• Custody
  Xavier Legrand
• The Death of Stalin
  Armando Iannucci
• First Man
  Damien Chazelle
• Free Solo
  Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
• Incredibles 2
  Brad Bird
• Puzzle
  Marc Turtletaub
• Science Fair
  Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster
• Shirkers
  Sandi Tan
• Sweet Country
  Warwick Thornton

10 Runners-Up (unranked)

• Black Panther
  Ryan Coogler
• Chosen: Custody of the Eyes
  Abbie Reese
• Eighth Grade
  Bo Burnham
• First Reformed
  Paul Schrader
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening
  RaMell Ross
• Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
  Bruno Dumont
• Minding the Gap
  Bing Liu
• A Quiet Place
  John Krasinski
• Ralph Breaks the Internet
  Rich Moore and Phil Johnston
• Roma
  Alfonso Cuaron

Simran Hans: The Best Films of 2018, as submitted to the Sight & Sound Poll

[see also 2019]

• High Life
  Claire Denis
• Minding the Gap
  Bing Liu
• A Star Is Born
  Bradley Cooper
• Shirkers
  Sandi Tan
• The Rider
  Chloé Zhao

Special Mentions

• An Impossible Love
  Catherine Corsini
• Sorry to Bother You
  Boots Riley

This list contributes to:

• Sight & Sound Poll: Best Films of 2018

Erika Balsom: The Best Films of 2018, as submitted to the Sight & Sound Poll

[see also 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

• The Image Book
  Jean-Luc Godard
• L. Cohen
  James Benning
• Shakedown
  Leilah Weinraub
• First Reformed
  Paul Schrader
• Happy as Lazzaro
  Alice Rohrwacher

This list contributes to:

• Sight & Sound Poll: Best Films of 2018