General: Top Films of 2018

This is my personal list of the 10 best films of the year. Before you read it and angrily write that I shouldn't have omitted <fill-in-the-blank>, let me make a few remarks:

To qualify for the list I must have seen the film in the cinema in 2018. Any film that I didn't see will not be included. Maybe I decided not to see a film. Maybe I missed a film because I was sick in bed and couldn't go out. Maybe a film wasn't shown in my local cinemas. Whatever the reason, if I didn't see a film in the cinema it won't be in the list.

By the same reasoning, it's relevant when I see the film. If a film is shown over the New Year period from December to January the film might be included in one year or the other, depending on when I go to see it. In the same way, some films, particularly the Oscar contenders, are released in the USA in one year but not shown in other countries until the next.

1. Deadpool 2

"Deadpool" was my second favourite film of 2016, but it was a very close second to "Doctor Strange" and could just as well have been in first place. If "Deadpool" had been in first place in 2016 I would have named a film starring Brianna Hildebrand best film of the year three years in a row.

2. Avengers: Infinity War

This is the film that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to for the last 10 years, especially since we first glimpsed Thanos in the after-credits scene of "The Avengers", also called "Avengers Assemble" or "Marvel's Avengers Assemble".

3. Ant-Man and the Wasp

The first Ant-Man film took a while to grow on me, but I loved the second film from the start.

4. I, Tonya

I can't explain what I like so much about this film. I have no interest in the real life character Tonya Harding, but this film overwhelmed me. I've fallen in love with Tonya Harding as portrayed by Margot Robbie.

5. 3 Days in Quiberon

I expected this film about Romy Schneider's final interview to be good, but I wasn't prepared for just how good it would be.

6. Heavy Trip

This was the best film of the 2018 Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival. It's a comedy, but it's a subversive comedy. I'm already desperate to see it again. When will it be available on Blu-ray?

7. Mandy

This is an overpowering film. Maybe it deserves to be higher in my list. I'll know the next time I see it, but today at midnight is the deadline. If I haven't changed my mind by then it'll remain in seventh place.

8. The Shape of Water

When I saw this film in January I thought it would be the best film of the year. I didn't reckon with the surprises in the following months.

9. The Death of Stalin

For most people this was a 2017 film, but in Germany it was shown six months later than in the rest of the world.

10. Loving Vincent

This film started in German cinemas on 28th December 2017, but I didn't see it until 4th January 2018. It deserves special praise for its unique cinematography.

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That's my list for this year. I went to the cinema 110 times, and I've seen 104 films. (The films I saw twice were "Ant-Man and the Wasp", "Black Panther", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Climax", "Jurassic Park: Lost World" and "The Shape of Water").

I welcome top 10 lists from my readers. Please leave them in the comments.