Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s annual End of the Year list where I’m counting down my Top 12 Favorite Films from 2018. And today, folks, we’ve finally reached the grand finale of this epic 4-part series of posts as I’ll be delving into my Top 3 Favorite Films from this past year. If you missed the last three parts where I discussed films 12 through 4 (plus my 6 Honorable Mentions), then just head to the links below. And thus, without further ado, let us return to the list one last time.
At Number 3, we have a film that, in my review for it, I described as ‘exactly the kind of film that we need right now’. Simply put, calling this one a heartwarming visual and emotional delight would be a massive understatement.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that if you compare this film to its iconic 1964 predecessor, you’re bound to notice quite a few similarities that they share. For starters, the plots of both films are generally similar in structure, with both focusing on Mary Poppins’ efforts to help the Banks family overcome a specific familial conflict that involves the bank that the patriarch works for. But it goes a little further than that because even this film’s songs share similar placement and purpose when compared to the songs from the original film. There’s a song that sees the Banks children have their first experience with Mary Poppins’ magical abilities. There’s an elaborate song-and-dance number set during the evening that helps to liven up spirits after a not-so-cheery incident at the bank. And then there’s the grand finale, which brings the main cast together with what is easily the most uplifting tune of the bunch. The only major difference between the two films from a narrative perspective is that this film has a more prominent villain in Colin Firth’s Wilkins, the head of Fidelity Fiduciary who seeks to repossess the Banks’ home at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. By comparison, the original Mary Poppins didn’t really have a villain, even when considering that one scene where Jane and Michael argued with their father’s employers at the bank over the matter of Michael making a financial investment. But with all this in mind, it should be stressed that Mary Poppins Returns is not just a remake of the original film.
Despite all the similarities that it shares with its predecessor, this is a legitimate sequel, and there are quite a few moments in this film that provide some nice nods to the original. This includes everything from the Banks’ housekeeper Ellen recognizing Mary Poppins without hesitation to the family being told that the tuppence that Michael deposited in the bank as a child truly was a good investment as it blossomed into the family’s savings. And thanks to solid direction from Rob Marshall, this film does maintain the same great balance that the original managed to achieve when it comes to mixing its whimsical bits of fantasy with its effectively poignant family drama. It also helps that the film sports an excellent ensemble cast that’s highlighted by Emily Blunt in the title role of the nanny who’s practically perfect in every way, Mary Poppins. Despite the fact that she had to overcome the immense pressure of having to follow in the footsteps of Julie Andrews’ Oscar-winning take on the character, Blunt manages to make the role her own by implementing some of the character’s snark from P.L Travers’ original novels while still maintaining the overall warmth that Andrews brought to the role. And just like how Andrews worked wonderfully alongside her primary co-star, Dick Van Dyke, Blunt works phenomenally with her primary co-star, Lin Manuel Miranda. Sure, Jack the lamplighter could just simply be described as ‘this film’s Bert’, but Miranda’s charisma is on full display throughout and there’s even a sweet little romance that forms between Jack and Jane Banks. Speaking of the Banks family, Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer are both solid as well as the grown-up Michael and Jane, respectively, as are Pixie Davies, Nathaniel Saleh, and Joel Dawson as Michael’s children, Annabel, John, and Georgie. And then to top it all off, there are also some very memorable cameos from the likes of Meryl Streep as Mary Poppins’ eccentric cousin Topsy and Bert himself, Dick Van Dyke, as Fidelity Fiduciary chairman Mr. Dawes Jr., the son of Mr. Dawes Sr. from the original film (who, of course, was also played by Van Dyke).
But, of course, we can’t forget about the other important aspect of this film, the music. This film’s soundtrack was provided by the duo behind the Broadway hit Hairspray, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. And despite what I said before about how these songs have quite a lot in common with the Sherman Brothers’ iconic soundtrack from the original, this film’s soundtrack is generally on par with its predecessor. Like the Sherman Brothers’ soundtrack, this film’s soundtrack does a nice job of mixing emotional melodies with toe-tapping show tunes. On the emotional side of things, there’s the Oscar-nominated ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’, Mary Poppins’ lullaby to the Banks children, and ‘A Conversation’, a solo for Michael where he reflects on everything that’s happened since the death of his wife Kate one year prior. And as for the upbeat tunes… gosh, take your pick. ‘Trip a Little Light Fantastic’, the big ‘Step in Time’ style number featuring Jack and his fellow lamplighters. ‘Turning Turtle’, Meryl Streep’s big scene where she laments how her life figuratively and literally turns upside down every second Wednesday of the month. ‘A Cover is Not the Book’, the lively duet between Mary Poppins and Jack that even allows Lin Manuel Miranda the opportunity to do some freestyle rap a la Hamilton. But my personal favorite track has to be the grand finale, ‘Nowhere to Go But Up’, sung by the cast as they float around in the sky via balloons provided by the Balloon Lady (Angela Lansbury; and yes, I have the feeling that this probably would’ve been Julie Andrews’ cameo role if she hadn’t declined to do so to prevent her from overshadowing Emily Blunt). Thus, with an amazing soundtrack, a terrific ensemble cast, and a lovely visual style (complete with another traditionally-animated sequence just like in the original film), Mary Poppins Returns is easily one of the most heartwarming films to come out in recent years.
Our next film is one that has undeniably been one of the biggest hits of the year. And while some parts of the internet have recently tried to enforce their ‘it’s not THAT great’ mentality upon it, it’s clear that this film has very much become one of the landmark entries of its genre.
In the past, I’ve talked about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s knack for strong emotional poignancy as exemplified in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: Civil War. A lot of this is thanks to the considerable amount of time that the franchise has spent establishing the world and its characters, allowing us to become fully endeared to the MCU’s eclectic collection of protagonists as they face off against all sorts of foes. And the MCU’s strong sense of emotional depth is arguably at its finest in Black Panther, as both the plot and key bits of character development are fully steeped in emotion. Main protagonist T’Challa finds himself facing the pressure of being Wakanda’s new ruler while still coping with the loss of his father T’Chaka during the events of Civil War. Main antagonist Erik Killmonger, who’s revealed to be a member of the Royal Family and T’Challa’s cousin, wages a personal war against Wakanda after his father, Prince N’Jobu, was killed by T’Chaka for aiding their enemy, Ulysses Klaue, in the process of stealing Wakanda’s most valuable resource, Vibranium. And if that wasn’t enough, T’Chaka then decided to abandon young Erik, effectively making him ‘the truth [he] chose to omit’ and resulting in T’Challa realizing that his father wasn’t the perfect ruler that he thought he was. In other words, this is quite arguably the closest that the MCU has ever gotten to telling a Shakespearean tragedy, and thanks to amazing direction from Ryan Coogler, all these big emotional moments hit their mark, especially thanks to the film’s terrific ensemble cast.
Chadwick Boseman continues to excel as T’Challa while also shedding some of the stoicism that he brought to his debut appearance in Civil War through the usual MCU-style humor (e.g. the badass ‘I Never Freeze’ line of his from the trailer that ultimately turned out to be more about him getting nervous around his ex-girlfriend) and all the big emotional moments in this film. He’s then joined by some of the best female leads that the MCU has seen to date via the trio of Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri. As Nakia, Lupita Nyong’o gets to be more than just T’Challa’s love interest thanks to her strong devotion to Wakanda taking far greater precedence over her relationship with her new king. At the same time, though, she and Boseman do manage to have some of the best chemistry to come from an MCU couple. As for Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright as Dora Milaje leader Okoye and T’Challa’s tech-savvy sister Shuri, respectively, the two of them prove to be major standouts thanks to their phenomenal dry wit. And speaking of standouts, there’s also Winston Duke as M’Baku, the fierce leader of Wakanda’s rogue Jabari tribe. But while he’s initially portrayed as a major thorn in T’Challa’s side, he ends up undergoing one of the best about-faces that any character has had in recent years by helping to save T’Challa from his near-death fight with Killmonger because T’Challa had spared his life during their own royal rumble earlier in the film. Plus, Duke also gets to have some of the best humorous moments in the film, like when he threatens CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman, in a solid reprise of his role from Civil War) with the prospect of being fed to his children… before immediately admitting that he was kidding and that he and his tribe are vegetarians.
After that, you have your reliable supporting players like Forest Whitaker as the noble shaman Zuri, who is revealed to be connected to the death of N’Jobu because he had been sent by T’Chaka as an informant, and Angela Bassett as T’Challa’s mother, Queen Ramonda, even if she admittedly doesn’t have that much to do in the grand scheme of things. But, of course, as everyone else has noted, the biggest standout of them all is Michael B. Jordan, who is phenomenal as the film’s main antagonist, Erik Killmonger. He’s easily one of the most layered villains to ever come out of the MCU, with a radical ideology regarding Wakanda’s stance on staying out of world conflicts that he inherited from his father which, despite his status as a villain, does make him the kind of villain that one can somewhat sympathize with. This remains the case throughout the entire film ultimately leading up to his demise. After being stabbed by T’Challa with his own spear, he mentions that his father once promised him that he would show him Wakanda in all its beauty (“Can you believe that? A kid from Oakland running around believing in fairy tales?”). T’Challa then proceeds to help him witness one of Wakanda’s beautiful sunsets, and while T’Challa does offer him the chance to heal his injuries with their kingdom’s advanced technology, Killmonger refuses. His reasoning? “Just bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage.” He then proceeds to pull out the spear from his body and falls to the ground dead in a moment that parallels Roy Batty’s iconic ‘Tears in Rain’ monologue from Blade Runner.
With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why Black Panther became such a cultural phenomenon. As the first superhero film of the MCU era to be centered around an African-American hero, its success can only mean great things for an industry that’s slowly but surely starting to embrace a more diversified identity. Not only did it become the highest-grossing MCU film of all time domestically, but it also became the highest-grossing solo-based MCU film worldwide. And with a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s also the best-reviewed MCU film to date. This, of course, led to it becoming the first superhero film to ever be nominated for Best Picture, and while it ultimately didn’t win the big award, it did give the MCU its first-ever Oscars wins for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score. Unfortunately, as is the case with anything that becomes incredibly popular, this film has attracted its fair share of critics. Their arguments usually tend to include jabs at the mediocre CGI in the finale, and while the visual effects during this part of the film are admittedly far from being the best to come from the MCU, they’re still just one small part of a larger film. And for some reason, the internet got really worked up over this becoming the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture rather than some of the genre’s other critically-acclaimed outings like Logan (which did get a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, for the record). But at the end of the day, there’s no denying that Black Panther truly is one of the MCU’s finest outings to date because of a phenomenal ensemble cast, excellent direction from Ryan Coogler, and for having some of the best emotional depth in a franchise that’s already well-known for this sort of thing.
I’m not even going to try and build up suspense for this one. Anyone who knows me and the films that I often tend to like will undoubtedly know what my #1 of 2018 is. To be perfectly blunt, this was set into motion the minute I walked out of that theater. Thus, without further ado, my #1 of 2018 and my new favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe film is…
Infinity War is a masterpiece of the superhero film genre. It is the emotional, epic, thrilling culmination of everything that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to ever since the original Iron Man a decade prior. Under the phenomenal direction of the Russo brothers, this film is quite arguably the very definition of everything that’s great about this franchise. The action sequences are outstanding and are bolstered by excellent visual effects. And thanks to the franchise’s amazing ensemble cast, this film has plenty of that great MCU-style humor complete with a lot of fun character pairings. There’s Iron Man and Doctor Strange who, despite having similar personalities (while also being played by two actors who’ve both played Sherlock Holmes… also, no, there isn’t a moment where someone says ‘no s***, Sherlock’), do not get along. There’s Thor’s scene with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who then later interact with Iron Man and his team and proceed to clearly annoy the hell out of him (i.e. this scene and Robert Downey Jr.’s priceless reaction shot). Even small moments like Bucky Barnes picking up Rocket Raccoon and spinning him around to take out a bunch of baddies or Steve Rogers meeting Groot for the first time, hearing him say ‘I am Groot’, and then saying ‘I am Steve Rogers’ are utterly delightful. And yet, the most important character in this film ironically isn’t any of the Avengers themselves. Instead, that honor goes to the film’s main antagonist, Thanos the Mad Titan (Josh Brolin). Thanos… is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s greatest villain to date.
Ever since he was first introduced in the mid-credit scene of the original Avengers, the MCU has slowly but surely been building up to Thanos becoming the most intimidating adversary that the Avengers have ever faced. However, his initial appearance in the first Guardians of the Galaxy prompted quite a lot of jokes that revolved around the fact that said appearance mainly consisted of him sitting in a chair. But then comes Infinity War… which opens with Thanos and his Black Order decimating half the surviving people of Asgard, giving the Hulk a beatdown unlike any other, killing Heimdall after he saved Hulk by sending him back to Earth, and killing Loki, his former ‘ally’, by snapping his neck right in front of his brother Thor. This all occurs in the first ten minutes of the film, and simply put, it does exactly what Kevin Feige said it would do and make Thanos a force to be reckoned with. It also helps that Thanos is one of the most-layered villains that the genre has ever seen. His goal? Wipe out half the universe to combat the kind of over-population and waste of resources that destroyed his home on the planet Titan… and yes, I’ve seen the argument that questions why Thanos doesn’t just create more resources. However, the primary thing to take from all this is that Thanos is truly committed to achieving his goal. He even goes as far as to sacrifice his ‘favorite’ adopted daughter Gamora by throwing her off a cliff on the planet Vormir to collect the mythical Soul Stone, even though a key reaction shot shows that it thoroughly destroys him to do so. And at the end of it all, when he’s confronted by a vision of a young Gamora asking him what it cost to achieve his goal, Thanos solemnly responds with a single word, “Everything”. Thus, with an outstanding performance from Josh Brolin and quite arguably the best motion-capture visual effects ever seen on film, Thanos is very much a villain who lived up to all the hype that had been surrounding him since May 2012.
If those big emotional scenes with Thanos weren’t enough of an indication, Infinity War is easily the most emotionally-charged installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This film hits hard when it comes to putting its protagonists (and yes, even its antagonist) through the emotional wringer. And because of all the time that’s been spent developing these characters in previous MCU films, these big dramatic scenes are perfectly handled. I mean… jeez, where do I start? There’s the scene where Thor tells Rocket about everything that’s happened to him and everyone that he’s lost along the way, and when Rocket poses the question of whether Thor can beat Thanos, a dispirited Thor responds with, “What more could I lose?”. There’s the subplot regarding the pressing matter of the Avengers protecting the Mind Stone that’s housed in Vision’s forehead. And despite their best efforts to try and destroy it without it affecting Vision, his lover Scarlet Witch is forced to do it herself, even though it will kill him, while the rest of the Avengers desperately try to fend off Thanos… who then proceeds to render it all for naught by reversing time and killing Vision himself to collect the Mind Stone. There’s also the previously mentioned subplot involving Gamora’s status as Thanos’ adopted daughter, as she reveals to Star-Lord that Thanos will try to find her as she knows the location of the Soul Stone. To prevent this from happening, Gamora makes Star-Lord promise (even making him swear on his mother, no less…) that he will kill her if Thanos managed to capture her. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happens when the Guardians confront Thanos on Knowhere, with Star-Lord and Gamora saying ‘I love you’ to each other for the last time before the former pulls the trigger. And while Thanos ends up diminishing the impact of this moment by using the Reality Stone to turn Star-Lord’s blaster fire into bubbles, it’s clear that Star-Lord was willing to do what was necessary even if it meant having to do the unthinkable and kill the woman that he loves.
With that in mind… let’s talk about ‘that’ scene. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the one moment from this film that has become quite infamous on the internet, and it occurs during the big fight scene on Titan between Thanos and the team of heroes that consist of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and the Guardians sans Gamora and Rocket. In a pivotal moment, our heroes manage to subdue Thanos and begin to try and pull the Infinity Gauntlet off him. However, things begin to change when everyone learns about what Thanos did to Gamora on Vormir. And in a fit of rage, Star-Lord begins to attack Thanos, which then leads to him regaining the upper hand against them. To put it very lightly, the internet did not react kindly to this little moment to the point where they treated Star-Lord with about the same amount of respect as Jar-Jar Binks, effectively blaming him for everything that happened after this moment. And to be perfectly blunt… I don’t really see what the big deal is. To be clear, I’m not saying that what Star-Lord did at this moment wasn’t a mistake because it was. And yet, ignoring for a moment what happens afterward, this is something that I’m sure a lot of others would’ve done had they been in his shoes because it’s a natural response to the loss of a loved one. In fact, this could’ve easily happened to any of the other heroes that were involved in this scene. For example, imagine how Iron Man would’ve reacted if Thanos admitted that he had killed Pepper Potts. In fact, didn’t Tony go through this exact same situation in Civil War when he lashed out at Cap and Bucky when he learned that the latter killed his parents, even though this was at the exact moment when they were about to capture Zemo? Thus, in this film, he’s the one who tries to talk Star-Lord down because he knows exactly what’s about to happen. And yet, given the internet’s reaction to Star-Lord’s big gaffe, it sounds like they wanted Tony to have kept his cool during the Civil War finale rather than have any kind of emotional reaction to the revelation about his parents’ deaths.
But perhaps the most baffling part about this whole debacle is the insinuation that Star-Lord was the one who’s primarily responsible for this film’s big finale when a lot of the other Avengers made their own mistakes along the way. Scarlet Witch, for example, took way too much time to agree to the destruction of the Mind Stone as it isn’t done until a point where Thanos has already acquired the Time Stone from Doctor Strange, who willingly gave it to him just to save Tony Stark’s life. A similar situation occurred with Gamora when she revealed the location of the Soul Stone just to save her sister Nebula from further torture. And let’s not forget about Thor’s big error during the finale… but we’ll get to that in just a bit. Basically, it’s truly bizarre that out of all the things that happened in this film, Star-Lord’s error is the one that people venomously single out… it’s even more bizarre that the internet is trying to pin all this on any of the Avengers, to begin with. Yes, despite everything that I just mentioned about the other Avengers’ mishaps, I just don’t understand why some people are trying to blame them for this film’s finale because it legitimately undermines how great of a villain Thanos really is. Let’s be clear, folks, Thanos (not Star-Lord) was the sole figure who was responsible for that finale, because no matter what the Avengers tried to do to overcome him, he was always one step ahead of them. And because of this, the most unthinkable scenario ends up occurring… Thanos wins. Yes, folks, the time has finally come to address what is easily the signature moment of Avengers: Infinity War; a moment that the filmmakers have officially dubbed as ‘the Decimation’.
After reversing time to acquire the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead, Thanos has finally managed to secure all six of the Infinity Stones. But before he can snap his fingers to wipe out half the universe, Thor comes in just in the nick of time to impale Thanos with his new weapon that was formed in the forges of Nidavellir, Stormbreaker (and yes, the scene where he, Groot, and Rocket first arrive on the Wakandan battlefield is another one of the film’s epic highlights). And yet, while it may seem like Thor has managed to beat the Mad Titan in an emotionally cathartic parallel to the opening scene of the film where he was helplessly outmatched against his latest adversary, Thanos changes everything with one line of dialogue, “You should have gone for the head”. Thanos then snaps his fingers, effectively resulting in half of the universe being erased from existence. And it isn’t just ordinary people who are turned to dust, because in the span of just a few minutes, Bucky Barnes, Black Panther, Groot, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Mantis, Drax, Star-Lord, Doctor Strange, and finally Spider-Man fade out of existence in front of their friends and family. The post-credit scene (no mid-credit scene for this one given all the crap that had just gone down a few minutes prior) then confirms that Nick Fury and Maria Hill are among the victims of this event as well, but not before Fury manages to contact his old pal Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel via pager. The mid-credit scene for the next MCU film, Ant-Man and the Wasp, further stresses the gravity of this moment by establishing that Dr. Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne were also erased from existence, and this complicates things for Ant-Man as it occurs right as he begins to travel into the Quantum Realm.
This… is one of the most flawlessly executed moments in the history of the franchise. While the rest of the film features an amazing score by Alan Silvestri (one of the franchise’s best), it isn’t used at all during this scene. Instead, the only bits of sound to perforate the silence are background noises and character dialogue, which obviously helps to strengthen the impact of this scene. And simply put, the film doesn’t skimp on the emotional drama of these deaths, as these are some truly hard-hitting losses. Some of the most notable examples of this include Okoye having to witness her king’s death for the second time in just two films and Rocket being helpless to stop Groot’s disintegration, which is made even worse by the latter’s final words which, as confirmed by James Gunn, translate out to ‘dad’. And yet, arguably the most hard-hitting death of them all happens at the very end with Spider-Man, as a frightened Peter hugs his father figure, Tony Stark, and constantly repeats the phrase “I don’t want to go” before fading away into nothing. One can only imagine how Tony feels about all this given his line from Spider-Man: Homecoming about how he would feel personally responsible if anything happened to Peter. If that wasn’t enough, it also ties into a fear that he addressed in Age of Ultron regarding the visions that he’s had of witnessing his friends’ deaths while he himself survived. And how does this film end? With Thanos doing exactly what he promised Doctor Strange during their conversation on Titan by resting and “watching the sunrise on a ‘grateful’ universe”.
Now with all this in mind, I know exactly what some of you are thinking… yes, it’s clear that a lot of what happened during this finale will most likely get fixed in Avengers: Endgame. You can tell this just by being aware of some of the upcoming MCU films like Spider-Man: Far From Home and planned sequels to the likes of Doctor Strange and Black Panther. And yet, that doesn’t take anything away from the emotional agony of this film’s last half hour. Sure, the Avengers have experienced some low points over the years, like when they were divided by the Sokovia Accords in Civil War. But in this film, they were hit with what is undoubtedly the biggest loss that they’ve ever experienced, and no matter what happens in Avengers: Endgame, it’s clear that this is something that can’t easily be undone. At the end of the day, though, all the great things that have come from this film serve as a testament to what Marvel Studios has managed to accomplish over the course of this past decade. They’ve crafted a franchise unlike any other that has established a grand universe full of layered characters that we’ve very much come to care about over the course of the 21 films that have currently been released at the time of this post’s publication. Thus, while Infinity War may be the first half of the finale for what Kevin Feige has recently designated as ‘the Infinity Saga’, it still stands as the emotionally-charged culmination of everything that’s been set up so far for one of the best film franchises around. And on April 26th, we’ll finally get to see how our heroes overcome this because to quote Doctor Strange in one of this film’s key scenes, “We’re in the Endgame now…”
And with that, Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Top 12 Favorite Films of 2018 list has officially come to an end. As always, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been following along on this big retrospective of some of my favorite films from this past year. I apologize for the considerably long time that it took for me to get both this and the Worst of 2018 list published, but that’s just what happens when you’re in a situation like I am where you’re preparing for the conclusion of your internship program at the Happiest Place on Earth. And now that these posts are finally complete, I can fully commit to preparations for some of the exciting posts that I have planned for 2019 along with all the reviews that I will continue to produce for you lovely readers. Thus, to quote the one and only Roger Ebert, “I’ll see you at the movies”.
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