Year-End Lists

Paste Magazine: 50 Best Movies of 2018

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2017 • 2015]

1. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
2. Annihilation
   Alex Garland
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
   Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
4. Eighth Grade
   Bo Burnham
5. Black Panther
   Ryan Coogler
6. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
   Christopher McQuarrie
7. Hereditary
   Ari Aster
8. You Were Never Really Here
   Lynne Ramsay
9. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
10. The Rider
    Chloé Zhao
11. Widows
    Steve McQueen
12. Mandy
    Panos Cosmatos
13. Roma
    Alfonso Cuaron
14. Lean On Pete
    Andrew Haigh
15. Paddington 2
    Paul King
16. Leave No Trace
    Debra Granik
17. The Favourite
    Yorgos Lanthimos
18. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
    Joel & Ethan Coen
19. Isle of Dogs
    Wes Anderson
20. Incredibles 2
    Brad Bird
21. Private Life
    Tamara Jenkins
22. The Death of Stalin
    Armando Iannucci
23. Sorry to Bother You
    Boots Riley
24. Avengers: Infinity Wars
    Anthony and Joe Russo
25. Zama
    Lucrecia Martel
26. BlacKkKlansman
    Spike Lee
27. A Star Is Born
    Bradley Cooper
28. Happy as Lazzaro
    Alice Rohrwacher
29. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Marielle Heller
30. Cold War
    Pawel Pawlikowski
31. Shoplifters
    Hirokazu Kore-eda
32. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
    Morgan Neville
33. If Beale Street Could Talk
    Barry Jenkins
34. Bisbee '17
    Robert Greene
35. Bodied
    Joseph Kahn
36. Apostle
    Gareth Evans
37. Support the Girls
    Andrew Bujalski
38. First Man
    Damien Chazelle
39. Suspiria
    Luca Guadagnino
40. Blindspotting
    Carlos López Estrada
41. Thoroughbreds
    Cory Finley
42. A Quiet Place
    John Krasinski
43. Game Night
    John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
44. Let the Sunshine In
    Claire Denis
45. The Night Comes for Us
    Timo Tjahjanto
46. Thunder Road
    Jim Cummings
47. Minding the Gap
    Bing Liu
48. Shirkers
    Sandi Tan
49. Crazy Rich Asians
    Jon M. Chu
50. The Miseducation of Cameron Post
    Desiree Akhavan

Josh Larsen: Top Ten Films of 2018, as posted at Larsen on Film and discussed on Filmspotting

[see also 2022]

1. Isle of Dogs
   Wes Anderson
2. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
3. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
4. Sorry to Bother You
   Boots Riley
5. Zama
   Lucrecia Martel
6. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
7. Private Life
   Tamara Jenkins
8. Game Night
   John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
9. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
   RaMell Ross
10. Leave No Trace
    Debra Granik

Mick LaSalle: Best Movies of 2018, as published by The San Francisco Chronicle

[see also 2021]

1. Vox Lux
   Brady Corbet
2. Disobedience
   Sebastián Lelio
3. The Oath
   Ike Barinholtz
4. Blindspotting
   Carlos López Estrada
5. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
   Christopher McQuarrie
6. Let the Sunshine In
   Claire Denis
7. Green Book
   Peter Farrelly
8. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
9. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
10. Crazy Rich Asians
    Jon M. Chu

Jeffrey M. Anderson: Top Ten Films of 2018

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2017]

1. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
2. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
3. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
4. The Other Side of the Wind
   Orson Welles
5. 24 Frames
   Abbas Kiarostami
6. Let the Sunshine In
   Claire Denis
7. Black Panther
   Ryan Coogler
8. You Were Never Really Here
   Lynne Ramsay
9. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
   Joel & Ethan Coen
10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
    Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman

9 Runners up (in alphabetical order)

• Burning
  Lee Chang-dong
• Eighth Grade
  Bo Burnham
• Hereditary
  Ari Aster
• If Beale Street Could Talk
  Barry Jenkins
• A Quiet Place
  John Krasinski
• Stan & Ollie
  Jon S. Baird
• Support the Girls
  Andrew Bujalski
• Leave No Trace
  Debra Granik
• Monrovia, Indiana
  Frederick Wiseman

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

• Annihilation
  Alex Garland
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
  Peyton Reed
• Avengers: Infinity Wars
  Anthony and Joe Russo
• Destroyer
  Karyn Kusama
• Disobedience
  Sebastián Lelio
• The Great Buster
  Peter Bogdanovich
• The Guilty
  Gustav Möller
• Incredibles 2
  Brad Bird
• Isle of Dogs
  Wes Anderson
• Minding the Gap
  Bing Liu
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout
  Christopher McQuarrie
• The Mule
  Clint Eastwood
• The Old Man & the Gun
  David Lowery
• Paddington 2
  Paul King
• Ready Player One
  Steven Spielberg
• The Rider
  Chloé Zhao
• Searching
  Aneesh Chaganty
• Sorry to Bother You
  Boots Riley
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
  Morgan Neville
• Zama
  Lucrecia Martel

Barack Obama: Favorite Movies of 2018, as posted to Facebook

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

• Annihilation
  Alex Garland
• Black Panther
  Ryan Coogler
• BlacKkKlansman
  Spike Lee
• Blindspotting
  Carlos López Estrada
• Burning
  Lee Chang-dong
• The Death of Stalin
  Armando Iannucci
• Eighth Grade
  Bo Burnham
• If Beale Street Could Talk
  Barry Jenkins
• Leave No Trace
  Debra Granik
• Minding the Gap
  Bing Liu
• The Rider
  Chloé Zhao
• Roma
  Alfonso Cuaron
• Shoplifters
  Hirokazu Kore-eda
• Support the Girls
  Andrew Bujalski
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
  Morgan Neville

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