The season for top 10s is almost up—though you’ll forgive us if any of our best of 2018 picks bleed into 2019, because hell, we’ve been working non-stop—but there is no real clock, and the top 10s are still rolling in as people catch up with films.
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In a really, long extensive list, Indiewire has reached out to and garnered picks (though sometimes just thoughts, see Alfonso Cuaron), and amassed some top 10 personal lists from many filmmakers. The ones that jump out at us the most, given their popularity with audiences, and or two we thought we’d highlight are the lists of two very active and vocal Film Twitter filmmakers: Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape Of Water”) and BAFTA and Grammy-nominated director Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver”).
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Both are big champions of other filmmakers and films. Del Toro’s list includes shout-outs to Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here,” Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” and Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed.” Wright gives props to, perhaps no surprise given his proclivities and appreciation for well-crafted action, “Mission Impossible—Fallout,” plus “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Cold War.”
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Click here for our complete coverage of the best and worst of 2018.
Both filmmakers cross over with Cuaron’s “Roma,” the batshit crazy psychedelic, ambient black metal revenge and love story “Mandy” starring Nicolas Cage, Ramsay’s aforementioned ‘YWNRH,’ and “First Reformed.” Neither are numbered in any order, but like so many that adore the film, “Roma” is right up there as the first film listed for each.
Wright also includes a long, honorable mention plus a list of films he saw in 2017 (which include ‘YWNRH’ and “First Reformed”). Perhaps the only surprise is del Toro’s exclusion of ‘Spider-Verse,’ given how much he’s championed the film on Twitter recently.
Wright and del Toro’s lists are just two of fifty others — Lynne Ramsay, Whit Stillman, Paul Schrader, Sophia Takal — dive in and get a broader taste of how filmmakers were feeling this year about the movies released in 2010 (be forewarned, some of your faves only write down one pick). Hopefully, these lists encourage viewers to reach out and watch some films they might not have sought out before. [Indiewire]
Guillermo del Toro’s Top 10 of 2018
“Roma”
“You Were Never Really Here”
“Leave No Trace”
“The Rider”
“First Man”
“Sorry to Bother You”
“Killing” (Tsukamoto)
“The Favourite”
“Mandy”
“First Reformed”
Update: GDT has added 2 more picks on Twitter.
Top 12 I have seen this year. Some yet to see. In no order.
“Roma”
“You Were Never Really Here”
"Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
“Leave No Trace”
"At the Gates of Eternity"
“The Rider”
“First Man”
“Sorry to Bother You”
“Killing” (Tsukamoto)
“The Favourite”
“Mandy”
“First Reformed”— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) December 30, 2018
Edgar Wright’s Top 10 of 2018 (with extra mentions)
TOP 10 2018 (Though still watching many movies as we speak)
“Roma”
“Mandy”
“Eighth Grade”
“They Shall Not Grow Old”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
“Cold War”
“Searching”
“Mission Impossible: Fallout”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
“Hereditary”
Update: Edgar has also added “Leave No Trace” on Twitter.
I totally forgot to put 'Leave No Trace' in my top 10. So please amend my list with a red sharpie and do not miss Debra Granik's movie. https://t.co/nMZycI6bn5
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) December 30, 2018
Very Honorable Mentions: “Sorry to Bother You,” “Bad Times at the El Royale,” “The Old Man and the Gun,” “Shadow,” “First Man,” “Ghost Stories,” “Wildlife,” “Annihilation,” “Isle of Dogs,” “Ray & Liz.”
Bonus List of 9 Great Films I first saw in 2017:
“First Reformed”
“Custody”
“On Body and Soul”
“Foxtrot”
“You Were Never Really Here”
“Lean on Pete”
“Thoroughbreds”
“Beast”