Year-End Lists

Cary Darling: The Best Movies of 2018, as published by Chron and picked up by Associated Press

1. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
2. The Rider
   Chloé Zhao
3. Black Panther
   Ryan Coogler
4. You Were Never Really Here
   Lynne Ramsay
5. Blindspotting
   Carlos López Estrada
6. Minding the Gap
   Bing Liu
7. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
8. Widows
   Steve McQueen
9. Wildlife
   Paul Dano
10. Burning
    Lee Chang-dong

Runner-up 20, in alphabetical order

• 1985
  Yen Tan
• 22 July
  Paul Greengrass
• A Quiet Place
  John Krasinski
• American Animals
  Bart Layton
• BlacKkKlansman
  Spike Lee
• Blaze
  Ethan Hawke
• Bodied
  Joseph Kahn
• First Man
  Damien Chazelle
• First Reformed
  Paul Schrader
• Foxtrot
  Samuel Maoz
• Free Solo
  Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
• The Guilty
  Gustav Möller
• The Hate U Give
  George Tillman Jr.
• Leave No Trace
  Debra Granik
• Mary Queen of Scots
  Josie Rourke
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout
  Christopher McQuarrie
• Searching
  Aneesh Chaganty
• Shoplifters
  Hirokazu Kore-eda
• Sorry to Bother You
  Boots Riley
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman

Michael Sicinski: Top 30 Experimental Films of 2018, as posted on his Patreon

[see also 25 Great Experimental Films of 2023 • The Best Experimental Films (That I Saw) in 2022 • The 30 Best Avant-Garde Feature Films of the 2010s • Top 50 Films of 2018 • Top 25 Films of 2017 • Top 10 Films of 2016 • Top 12 Films of 2014 • Top 10 Films of 2013 • Top 12 Films of 2012]

1. The Grand Bizarre
   Jodie Mack
2. Colophon (for the Arboretum Cycle)
   Nathaniel Dorsky
3. Gens du lac
   Jean-Marie Straub
4. A Return
   James Edmonds
5. The Image Book
   Jean-Luc Godard
6. Fainting Spells
   Sky Hopinka
7. Love and the Epiphanists (Part One)
   Scott Stark
8. Walled Unwalled
   Lawrence Abu Hamdan
9. Fatal Pulse
   Damon Packard
10. Hoarders Without Borders 1.0
    Jodie Mack
11. A Bread Factory
    Patrick Wang
12. Terror Nullius
    Soda_Jerk
13. A Leaf is the Sea is a Theater
    Jonathan Schwartz
14. Sketches and Portraits for Jean Michel
    Ephraim Asili
15. Binary Stars
    Andrew Busti
16. ALTIPLANO
    Malena Szlam
17. Life After Love
    Zachary Epcar
18. Now, At Last
    Ben Rivers
19. Mahogany Too
    Akosua Adoma Owusu
20. Fountains of Paris
    Stephen Broomer
21. Goddess
    Kevin Jerome Everson
22. Blue
    Apichatpong Weerasethakul
23. Black Mother
    Khalik Allah
24. Atomic Garden
    Ana Vaz
25. Fallen Arches
    Simon Liu
26. Veslemøy's Song
    Sofia Bohdanowicz
27. I Can See Forever
    Jeremy Shaw
28. The Sun Quartet
    Colectivo Los Ingravídos
29. Commute
    Vincent Grenier
30. The Other Side of the Wind
    Orson Welles

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Best Movies of 2018, as submitted to La Internacional Cinéfila Poll

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

• The Other Side of the Wind
  Orson Welles
• The Image Book
  Jean-Luc Godard
• Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
  Travis Wilkerson
• Roma
  Alfonso Cuaron
• The Eye Was in the Tomb and Stared at Daney
  Chloé Galibert-Laîné

La Internacional Cinéfila Poll: Best Movies of 2018 (an annual survey of 150 programmers, critics, and filmmakers from around the world, organized by Roger Koza)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

• The Image Book
  Jean-Luc Godard
• Happy as Lazzaro
  Alice Rohrwacher
• La Flor
  Mariano Llinás
• Phantom Thread
  Paul Thomas Anderson
• The Other Side of the Wind
  Orson Welles
• Roma
  Alfonso Cuaron

Nicole Brenez: Best Movies of 2018, as submitted to La Internacional Cinéfila Poll

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2012]

• The Heroic Moor. The Border is Burning
  Elisabeth Perceval and Nicolas Klotz
• Film Catastrophe
  Paul Grivas
• Maré
  Amaranta César
• Jamilia
  Aminatou Echard
• Of Ashes and Embers
  Manon Ott

Daniel Kasman: Favorite Films of 2018, as posted by Mubi along with a list of favorite revivals

[see also 2017]

1. Blue
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2. The Image Book
   Jean-Luc Godard
3. Support the Girls
   Andrew Bujalski
4. The Other Side of the Wind
   Orson Welles
5. The Waldheim Waltz
   Ruth Beckermann
6. Unsane
   Steven Soderbergh
7. The Grand Bizarre
   Jodie Mack
8. The Red Shadow (director's cut)
   Dominik Graf
9. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?
   Roberto Minervini
10. Veslemøy's Song
    Sofia Bohdanowicz

Chiara Marañón: Favorite Films of 2018, as posted by Mubi along with a list of favorite revivals

1. High Life
   Claire Denis
2. La Flor
   Mariano Llinás
3. The Image Book
   Jean-Luc Godard
4. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
5. Angela's Diaries: Two Filmmakers
   Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
6. The Other Side of the Wind
   Orson Welles
7. One or Two Questions
   Kristina Konrad
8. Those Who Desire
   Elena López Riera
9. Hotel by the River
   Hong Sang-soo
10. La película infinita
    Leandro Listorti

Sasha Frere-Jones: Music I Enjoyed in 2018, organized chronologically

[see also 2022 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

• Sekundenschlaf
  тпсб
• Ymfees
  Leslie Winer & Jay Glass Dubs
• The Urmuz Epigrams
  John Zorn
• Make Me Know You Sweet
  Pendant
• D'agala
  Sylvie Courvoisier Trio
• Snares Like a Haircut
  No Age
• Lenz
  Blood Room & TANS
• Ghost Box
  Suss
• White On White
  Primitive World
• Álbum Desconhecido
  P. Adrix
• I Did Right
  Jjakub
• Fallen
  Taylor Deupree
• Semnal
  Cosmin Nicolae
• Unieqav
  Alva Noto
• Breakers Yard
  Blood Room
• At the Still Point of the Turning World
  Joana Gama & Luís Fernandes
• Isolation
  Kali Uchis
• Let Night Come On Bells End the Day
  Sarah Davachi
• The Sciences
  Sleep
• Parallel
  Warmth
• Dialoghi Nel Vuoto
  Maurizio Abate & Riccardo Sinigaglia
• NTS Sessions 1-4
  Autechre
• Anticlines
  Lucrecia Dalt
• Sway
  Tove Styrke
• Failed Celestial Creatures
  David Grubbs & Taku Unami
• Exit Future Heart
  Dustin Wong + Takako Minekawa + Good Willsmith
• Struggle Artist
  Meyers
• Daytona
  Pusha T
• The Hole in the Landscape
  Tsembla
• Lageos
  Actress x London Contemporary Orchestra
• Young Ox Restraint
  Gdfx
• Magic & Machines
  Vanishing Twin
• The Originals.
  Tobe Nwigwe
• Age Of
  Oneohtrix Point Never
• Shape Memory
  Marcus Fischer / Simon Scott
• Face Time
  Oren Ambarchi / Kassel Jaeger / James Rushford
• June Spill
  Kevin Drumm
• Sleep Like It's Winter
  Jim O’Rourke
• Listening To Pictures (Pentimento, Vol. One)
  Jon Hassell
• Ophold
  Rasmus Juncker
• Theirs
  Thumbscrew
• Topdown Dialectic
  Topdown Dialectic
• Intra
  Mark Fell
• Shunter
  Driftmachine
• Julius Eastman: Piano Interpretations
  Kukuruz Quartet
• Cloud Corner
  Marisa Anderson
• Redemption
  Jay Rock
• Zebra
  Arp
• Blinks
  Toxe
• Volume 1
  Bogie Kaufman Mann
• Blue Dream
  The Jamie Saft Quartet
• Divine Weight
  Alex Zhang Hungtai
• A Heart From Your Shadow
  Michael Beharie & Teddy Rankin-Parker
• Desire Loop
  Lori Scacco
• Raw Silk Uncut Wood
  Laurel Halo
• Ensley
  Pink Siifu
• The Maid With the Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith
  Mary Halvorson + Bill Frisell
• Culture II
  Migos
• Fragments II — Collected Refrains From Lost Thoughts
  Kassel Jaeger
• Work: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk
  Miles Okazaki
• Träden
  Träden & Träd Gräs och Stenar
• A Noise, A Sound
  Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta
• New Hymn to Freedom
  Szun Waves
• Plegnic
  Jay Glass Dubs
• Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone
  Thrainn Hjalmarsson
• Foras
  Siavash Amini
• STENOGRAMME, zweite Folge
  Asmus Tietchens
• Selected Early Keyboard Works
  Catherine Christer Hennix
• Collapse
  Aphex Twin
• Apologia
  Niagara
• No Sympathy
  Basic House & Wanda Group
• Piano & a Microphone 1983
  Prince
• FRKWYS Vol. 14 - Nue
  Tashi Wada & Yoshi Wada & Friends
• Care
  Klara Lewis & Simon Fisher Turner
• Tha Carter V
  Lil Wayne
• Wanderer
  Cat Power
• Fadechase Marathon
  Babe, Terror
• Multum in Parvo
  Todd Barton
• Stadium
  Eli Keszler
• Scale
  various artists
• A Parallel Array of Horses
  Geneva Skeen
• Universal Beings
  Makaya McCraven
• Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall
  Eliza McCarthy & Mica Levi
• Passion
  Demdike Stare
• Brace Up!
  Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt
• Born Under a Bad One
  Lol K
• Paris to Calcutta: Men And Music on the Desert Road
  Deben Bhattacharya
• To Catch a Ghost: Field Recordings from Madagascar
  various artists
• Hence
  Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke, and U-zhaan
• Atlas Electric
  Moulay Ahmed El Hassani
• El Mal Querer
  Rosalía
• Ultraviolet
  Kelly Moran
• Ke I Te Ki
  Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda
• FM!
  Vince Staples
• Œuvres électroniques
  Eliane Radigue
• My East Is Your West
  Sarathy Korwar
• Cocoon Crush
  Objekt
• From the Dirt
  Waajeed
• The Dream My Bones Dream
  Eiko Ishibashi
• The Pyre: versions distilled to stereo
  KTL
• The Last Days Of Reality
  Lionel Marchetti + Cat Hope (Performed by Decibel)
• Aghori
  abu AMA
• Some Rap Songs
  Earl Sweatshirt
• Stokeley
  Ski Mask the Slump God
• Among The Never Setting Stars
  Matthew Shaw

Anaïs Lebrun: Favorite Films of 2018, as posted by Mubi along with a list of favorite revivals

1. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
2. Happy as Lazzaro
   Alice Rohrwacher
3. The Green Fog
   Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson
4. Petra
   Jaime Rosales
5. Jamilia
   Aminatou Echard
6. Atlanta, episode "FUBU"
   Donald Glover
7. Long Day's Journey Into Night
   Bi Gan
8. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
9. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?
   Roberto Minervini
10. Knife+Heart
    Yann Gonzalez

Keith Phipps: 20 Favorite Films of 2018, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
2. Annihilation
   Alex Garland
3. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
4. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
6. Support the Girls
   Andrew Bujalski
7. Private Life
   Tamara Jenkins
8. Bisbee '17
   Robert Greene
9. The Favourite
   Yorgos Lanthimos
10. The Rider
    Chloé Zhao
11. BlacKkKlansman
    Spike Lee
12. The Sisters Brothers
    Jacques Audiard
12. Mandy
    Panos Cosmatos
13. Shirkers
    Sandi Tan
13. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
    RaMell Ross
14. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
    Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
15. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
    Joel & Ethan Coen
16. The Old Man & the Gun
    David Lowery
17. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Marielle Heller
18. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
    Travis Wilkerson
19. Suspiria
    Luca Guadagnino
20. Minding the Gap
    Bing Liu