It’s that time of year, like the song from Anna and the Apocalypse says, and the members of the DFW Film Critics Association have voted on the best films of 2018. The top pick is Bradley Cooper’s remake of A Star Is Born, but to me the big takeaway here is the showing of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, which not only placed second but also won prizes for Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Cinematography. It’s on Netflix right now, and while I’d urge you to see it on the big screen if at all possible, seeing it at home is vastly preferable to not seeing it at all.
Taking home acting honors were Christian Bale for playing Dick Cheney in Vice, Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in The Favourite, Mahershala Ali in Green Book, and Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk. Two of those films are in theaters now, while the other two reach us on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was named the best documentary of the year and Isle of Dogs was dubbed the best animated film and also won for Alexandre Desplat’s score. The Favourite also won the prize for best screenplay, and Chloé Zhao’s Western The Rider won the Russell Smith Award for best low-budget independent film.
I’ll have my picks for the best movies of 2018 when the December 26 issue comes out, and keep watching this space. I’ll have more (oh, so much more) on the best performances, documentaries, filmmaking debuts, and other noteworthy things about the year in cinema.
