Phil’s Best & Worst 2018 Films.. The Final Edition (31st December 2018)

Phil’s Best & Worst 2018 Films.. The Final Edition (31st December 2018)

by Phil Hobden Quick Review Year In Review

So this is my semi-regularly updated of the BEST and WORST of the films from 2018 (2018 Films), as well as the best films I missed from last year and, of course, the Phil’s Quick Capsule Review Sharknado Award.

All in my very humble opinion…

 

BEST Films Of 2018… So Far:

  1. Coco
  2. Mission Impossible: Fallout
  3. I, Tonya
  4. A Quiet Place
  5. Mary Poppins Returns

Honourable Mentions:  Mandy, My Generation, Lady Bird, Revenge, Mollys Game,  Upgrade, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, You Were Never Really Here, Bumblebee, The Festival, Calibre, Avengers: Infinity War, Game Night, Black Panther, Ready Player One, Office Uprising, The Post, Bohemian Rhapsody

 

WORST Films Of 2018… So Far

  1. The Cloverfield Paradox
  2. Fifty Shaded Freed
  3. Annihilation
  4. A Wrinkle In Time
  5. Mile 22

Dis-Honourable Mentions: Gotti, The Spy Who Dumped Me,Red Sparrow, The Commuter, The Humanity Bureau, Renegades, Peter Rabbit, Ocean’s 8, Death Wish, Hellraiser: Judgement, Day Of The Dead : Bloodline, Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters Part 1, Extinction, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Patient Zero, Isle Of Dogs, Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell, All The Money In The World, The First Purge, The Ballard Of Buster Scruggs, Redcon-1

 

 

The 2018 Sharknado Award for Films So Good (!) They Cant Be Rated:  

The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time

 


The 2018 Films I just couldn’t Finish…

Once Upon a Time in Venice

Great Films Of 2017 That I saw In 2018:

The Disaster Artist, The Babysitter, Mayhem, Icarus, The Greatest Showman, The Big Sick, LA 92, Better Watch Out

 

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Phil’s Worst Films of 2018

Phil’s Worst Films of 2018

by Phil Hobden 2018: In Review Quick Review Year In Review

So 2018 is almost over and it’s that time a year again where everyone reflects back on their best and worst films of the year.  So first up… the 10 WORST films of 2018 (with a few honourable mentions!).  And, as always, there were quite a few to choose from..

 

Stinker of The Year: The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

In Brief: In a year where there is both a Transformers movie and a Fifty Shades Movie it takes a special kind of rubbish to bin them BOTH.  Well step up to the mark The Cloverfield Paradox – a total mess of a film dumped on Netflix by Paramount with all the love of a bottom draw direct to DVD release.  And rightly so… poorly made, badly acted with shoddy direction and a total lack of clarity.  This is everything wrong with studio filmmaking right here.

 

 

2. Fifty Shades Freed
In Brief: Rubbish but mildly better than the previous entries in the series.  Still about as sexy as a group shower at a OAP weight watchers meeting, the franchise limps to a conclusion like all the grave of a flaccid penis.

 

3. Annihilation
In Brief: Alex Garland wrote one of my favourite films of all time (28 Days Later).  He’s now directed one of my least.  Another direct to Netflix joints – Annihilation is a pretentious, non-sensical pile of rubbish that thinks it’s far cleverer than its audience.

 

4. A Wrinkle In Time
In Brief: A Wrinkle In Time so so dull I fell sleep twice whilst watching it.  I think that says all you need to know about this over stacked mess.  That said my daughter liked it a lot so what do I know?

 

5. Mile 22
In Brief:  Considering the films Berg and Marky Mark have made previously, Mile 22 should have at LEAST been fun.  It’s not. It’s a total disaster.

 

6. Gotti – Badlymadefellas.

7. The Spy Who Dumped Me – Unfunny, overlong and a mess

8. Renegades – Totally forgettable.

9. Red Sparrow – A film you didn’t need or want

10. Ocean’s 8 – yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn

 

Dis-Honourable Mentions: The Humanity Bureau, All The Money In The World,  Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Patient Zero, Isle Of Dogs, Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell, The First Purge, Ralph Breaks The Internet 

 

The 2018 Films I just couldn’t Finish: Once Upon a Time in Venice

 

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Grosse Point Geek’s 2018 In Review

Grosse Point Geek’s 2018 In Review

by Phil Hobden A Blog Year In Review

Each year Will and Phil compare notes on their favourite and least favourite films of 2018… here’s Will’s look at what’s been and what he’s most looking forward to in 2019.

 

Top Ten Best:

 

  1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (just superb – loved it)
  2. First Man (brilliantly directed and the moon landing sequence was brilliant)
  3. The Darkest Hour (had me in tears)
  4. Mission Impossible Fallout (a genuine summer blockbuster, featuring a proper movie star doing his own stunts and the kind of balls to the wall action scenes we have haven’t seen in years)
  5. BlackKKKLansman (funny and brilliant – I usually don’t like Spike Lee but this was incredibly good)
  6. Bohemian Rhapsody (Rami Malik’s performance was incredible and the Live Aid concert re-enactment at the end was gobsmacking)
  7. Avengers Infinity War – (exciting, fast paced, funny, great action, a cracking villain and THAT ending – roll on Avengers Endgame)
  8. A Star Is Born (a trio of incredible performances  – Lady Gaga was a revelation, Coopers acting and direction were brilliant plus Sam Elliott was astounding)
  9. Creed 2 (not as good as Creed or Rocky Balboa – but still great and had lots of heart)
  10. 12 Strong – balls to the wall action, great story, v well-acted

 

 

Top Ten Honouree mentions

 

  1. Deadpool 2 (v funny and extremely clever in parts)
  2. A Quiet Place –  (tense and scary  – a great directorial debut from John Krasinski)
  3. Hunter Killer (ridiculous but really great fun with a smashing performance from Gerard Butler)
  4. Ant Man and The Wasp (not Marvels best but I really liked it)
  5. The Meg (complete nonsense but a good laugh)
  6. Rampage (utterly insane but top drawer entertainment)
  7. Skyscraper (a Die Hard clone but who cares when its this much fun?)
  8. Mile 22 (I must be the only person on the planet who liked this one!)
  9. Mamma Mia 2 (a genuinely lovely film that had heart and soul and wanted nothing more than to entertain and have people leave the cinema with a big smile on their faces)
  10. Outlaw King (well made, top final battle and a great turn from Chris Pine)

 

Top Ten Worst

 

  1. Death Wish (terrible terrible terrible.  Bruce  – you obviously can’t be bothered anymore so either start putting in the effort or do us all a favour and give it up)
  2. Red Sparrow (what should have a been a balls to the wall action caper turned out to be nothing more than catastrophically over long and boring as all hell)
  3. Pacific Rim Uprising (not as bad as the first one but still rubbish)
  4. Equalizer 2 (utter pants, dull and completely pretentious to boot)
  5. Love Simon (I liked the message it was trying to give but hated the way it did it)
  6. Ladybird (yes I know it was loved by the critics but I HATED this film with a vengeance!)
  7. Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald (so boring I nearly fell asleep- this franchise needs a new director – fast)
  8. Ghost Stories (complete bilge and made no sense)
  9. 15:17 To Paris (now this was awful – Clint we love you but dear God mate what were you thinking?????)
  10. Mortal Engines (not the worst film I’ve ever seen and certainly gets an ‘A’ for effort but this just didn’t work at all)

 

 

Biggest Letdown:

 

The Predator  – someone PLEASE tell Shane Black that he isn’t as good as he obviously thinks he is  -also somebody please explain to me how in the hell they managed to blow this one????

 

2019 Most anticipated:

 

  1. Avengers: Endgame
  2. Star Wars Episode IX
  3. Rambo: The Last Blood (yeah I said it!)
  4. Angel Has Fallen (yeah Hobden you read it right -I said that too!)
  5. Captain Marvel
  6. Glass
  7. Godzilla King Of The Monsters
  8. Hellboy
  9. Spiderman: Far From Home
  10. Captive State
  11. Brightburn
  12. Hobbs and Shaw
  13. The New Mutants
  14. X-Men Dark Phoenix
  15. Fighting With My Family

 

See you next year!

 

Author: Will Strong 

 

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Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… The Best & Worst of 2018

Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… The Best & Worst of 2018

by RossAndPhil Ross and Phil Talk Movies The Podcasts

 

On this episode of the podcast we talk about the year that was as we wrap up 2018 into an hour (ish) of podcast. What were our highs and lows, our best and worst and who won what in the Annual Phil’s Quick Review Awards?  Find out as we dive into the year that they call 2018.  Yup that one.

Hosted by Award winning filmmaker Ross Boyask and blogger/writer/failed filmmaker Phil Hobden.

Films Discussed: Coco,  Mission Impossible: Fallout, I Tonya, A Quiet Place, Mary Poppins Returns ,Mandy, My Generation , Lady Bird ,  Revenge  , Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri , Molly’s Game, First Man, You Were Never Really Here, The Festival, Calibre, Avengers: Infinity War, Game Night, Black Panther, Ready Player One, Office Uprising, The Post, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Humanity Bureau, All The Money In The World,  Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Patient Zero, Isle Of Dogs, Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell, The First Purge, Ralph Breaks The Internet, Fifty Shades Freed, Annihilation, A Wrinkle In Time, Mile 22, Gotti, The Spy Who Dumped Me , Renegades , Red Sparrow, Ocean’s 8, Cloverfield Paradox, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse, The Meg, Bright, Kickboxer, Bumblebee, Escape Plan 2, Mute, Extinction, Pitch Perfect 3, The Babysitter, Better Watch Out, Coco, A Star Is Born, Incredibles 2, Aquaman, Creed 2, Fast 5, Last Movie Star, Batman Ninja, Prayer Before Dawn

#RossAndPhil #RossAndPhilTalkMovies #MoviePodcasts #Podcasts

For more on Phil Hobden check out www.philhobden.co.uk , Twitter (@PhilQuickReview) and Instagram (RossAndPhilTalkMovies)
For more on Ross Boyask search @RossBoyask on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook

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Grosse Pointe Geek’s Ten Favourite Scenes of 2018

Grosse Pointe Geek’s Ten Favourite Scenes of 2018

by Phil Hobden A Blog Year In Review

Grosse Pointe Geek’s picks his Ten Favourite Scenes of from the movies of 2018…

12 Strong

The Tiangi Gap Battle – Chris Hemsworth, plus the special forces and their Afghan allies mount up and charge a fifteen thousand strong Taliban army on horseback – what follows is a veritable cacophony of bombs, bullets, grenades, explosions and gunfire that is made all the more incredible due to the fact the film is based on a true story and this battle actually happened!

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout

The last 20 minutes   – an astounding feat of eye-popping action choreography and amazing stunt work  – and yes that really is Tom Cruise flying that helicopter.

 

Avengers: Infinity War:

Thor’s arrival in the battle of Wakanda – “Bring Me Thanos!” (an entire army proceeds to soil themselves)

 

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The Kessel Run –very well handled by director Ron Howard and sadly pretty much the only thing this film got right.

 

Blackkklansman:

Looking to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan  – African American Police Detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) gets on the phone to the head of the local KKK chapter and tries to join up – the looks on his colleague’s faces (especially Adam Driver’s Flip Zimmerman) is absolutely priceless.

 

Mile 22:

Iko Uwais vs the assassins. An enormous bout of bone crushing fisticuffs that has to be seen to be believed.

 

First Man

The Moon Landing.  Neil Armstrong (a brilliant Ryan Gosling) pilots the Eagle towards the moon’s surface  – edge of the seat exciting and the standout sequence in one of this year’s best films.

 

Deadpool 2:

The Opening five minutes and the two end credit sequences  -by turns extremely rude, very clever and downright hilarious.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody

Live Aid  – Rami Malik literally transforms into Freddie Mercury in an incredible recreation of what is widely agreed to be the greatest live performance of all time.

 

Creed 2:

The training montage plus Adonis vs Viktor’s climactic boxing match

 

 

Author: Will Strong 

 

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Phil’s End Of Year Awards 2018

Phil’s End Of Year Awards 2018

by Phil Hobden Quick Review Year In Review

So 2018 is almost over and it’s that time a year again where everyone reflects back on their best and worst films of the year.  So we’ve covered our best and our worst films of 2018, so before we look at the films coming up in 2018 here’s my ‘Alternative’ End of Year Awards for 2018…

 

The Most Entertainingly Bad Film Of The Year Award…

 

The Gerard Butler Award For Consistently Making Entertainingly Terrible Films
… Will return in 2019 when Butler stars in Den of Thieves 2, Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphin, Angel Has Fallen, Afterburn and many more…

 

 

Surprise of The Year Award…
Mandy.  If enough monkeys with typewriters can write Shakespeare then enough filmmakers can eventually make a good Nicolas Cage film again…

 

 

Performance Of The Year Award…
Blumhouse for making enjoyable film after enjoyable film this year…

 

 

Just Fuck Off and Die Award…
Netflix ‘Original’ Sci-Fi Movies… Annihilation, Cloverfield Paradox, Mute, Tau and MANY others!

 

 

Yup, I’m over them Award…
Jennifer Lawrence

 

 

I may have just slept through that Award…
A Wrinkle in Time

 

 

Oh that came out THIS year? Award…
Tomb Raider

 

 

Come In Your time is Up Award…
Comic Book Films. 2018 was good but not great year for comic book films.  Avengers, AntMan and Black Panther were good enough and Deadpool 2 was Deadpool 2. But even I’m feeling a wee big fatigued now…

 

 

Trailer Of The Year Award…
Mandy

 

 

 

Let Down of The Year Award…
Solo. It didn’t suck.  But it was also the worst Star Wars Film since Attack of The Clones.  Which meant it was a huge let down…

 

 

Emperors new clothes Award…
The Shape Of Water

Runner Up: A Star Is Born

 

 

How did they screw this up Award?
Mile 22 – Peter Berg and Marky Mark

 

 

The not actually that popular popular award to…
The Oscars for the on off Popular Oscar award

 

 

 

Cameo of The Year Award…
Drag race alumni Alaska in The Last Sharknado (as well as Drag race alumni Shangela in A Star Is Born)  

 

 

You should have left Spacey in it…
All the Money In The World

 

 

 

The Oscars only like REALLY famous dead people award for missing out other stars who died Award…
Tobe Hooper & Adam West

 

 

 

The Poof That Award Shows DONT Suck Award…
Roger Deakins FINALLY wins an Academy Award

 

 

The Proof That Award Shows Suck Award…
Roger Deakins FINALLY wins an Academy Award but really it took THIS long.

 

 

WHY GOD WHY? Award…
Overboard, Superfly, Death Wish remakes

 

 

Less Is, Er, Less Award…
Ocean’s 8

 

 

The Year Of ‘Yeah that was okay’ Sequels Award…
2018 for The Predator, Sicario 2, Equalizer 2, Escape Plan 2, Pacific Rim 2

 

 

Films That SHOULD have been on my 2017 List’s but I Hadn’t Seen…
Mayhem, Icarus, The Greatest Showman, Better Watch Out 

 

 

Next time: Phil’s Look at 2019 and a look back at my 2018 predictions… 

 

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Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… Films They Have Watched Vol. 4

Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… Films They Have Watched Vol. 4

by RossAndPhil Ross and Phil Talk Movies The Podcasts

 

On this episode of the podcast we talk about films they have watched recently. Yup it’s our fourth review round up show aka Phil finally caught up on all the films Ross saw last time out.

Hosted by Award winning filmmaker Ross Boyask and blogger/writer/failed filmmaker Phil Hobden.

Films Discussed: Mile 22, The Predator, Domino, The Happytime Murders, The Equalizer 2, Spectre, Gotti, Slice, Mandy, Truth Or Dare, Scream, Piranha 3DD, RedCon 1, The Apostle, Tales From The Hood, The Crow, Freddy Vs Jason, The Thing, Unfriended Dark Web, A Star Is Born, Searching, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, Widows, Blindspotting, The Grinch, Overlord, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Bad Boys 2, Knocked Up

#RossAndPhil #RossAndPhilTalkMovies #MoviePodcasts #Podcasts

For more on Phil Hobden check out www.philhobden.co.uk , Twitter (@PhilQuickReview) and Instagram (RossAndPhilTalkMovies)

For more on Ross Boyask search @RossBoyask on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook

   

 

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Mile 22 (2018) – A Quick Capsule Review

Mile 22 (2018) – A Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
What a mess Mile 22 is.  From  Mark Wahlberg’s OTT yet oddly flat performance to Lauren Cohen’s equally silly overacting to Peter Berg’s instance in taking one of the best martial artists in film and making so you can’t actually see what he does… it’s just a disaster.  Especially considering that Berg CAN direct action.  The script is amateur, the acting film school worthy and the story, ultimately, pointless.  Yet it has flashes of what Berg CAN do when he’s on fire but sadly this is much more like Battleship than Lone Survivor.

Best Bit: It does have some nice action… when you can see it

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Avoid

If You Liked this Try: Lone Survivor, Deep Water Horizon, Patriots Day

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… Cannonball Run & Burt Reynolds

Podcast: Ross And Phil Talk… Cannonball Run & Burt Reynolds

by RossAndPhil Ross and Phil Talk Movies The Podcasts

 

 

On this episode of the podcast we talk about the recent passing of the legendary Burt Reynolds by discussing in great depth our love of  TheCannonball Run and recounting our very own Burt Reynolds story.  Ross also shares his thoughts of the recent Shane Black movie The Predator.

Hosted by Award winning filmmaker Ross Boyask and blogger/writer/failed filmmaker Phil Hobden.

Films Discussed: The Predator, Mile 22, Upgrade, Fantastic 4, Predators, The Kingdom, Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run 2, Deliverance, Smokey & The Bandit 

#RossAndPhil #RossAndPhilTalkMovies #MoviePodcasts #Podcasts

 

Burt-Reynolds-&-Phil-Hobden
Burt Reynolds & Phil Hobden

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more on Phil Hobden check out www.philhobden.co.uk , Twitter (@PhilQuickReview) and Instagram (RossAndPhilTalkMovies)
For more on Ross Boyask search @RossBoyask on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook

 

 

 

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Grosse Point Geek – Mile 22 (2018)

Grosse Point Geek – Mile 22 (2018)

by Will Strong A Blog Grosse Point Geek The Blogs

Grosse Point Geek casts his critical eye over the latest (some sometimes greatest) releases… this time out: Mile 22

Director: Peter Berg
Principal Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, Rhonda Rousey, John Malkovich
Plot in a nutshell: A elite US special ops team in Indonesia are tasked with aiding in the escape of a local police officer (Iko Uwais) out of the country in exchange for the location of cache of stolen chemical weapons. Their only problem is that the airport is 22 miles away and the entire Indonesian intelligence agency are hot on their tails.
What worked: The action scenes  – gunfights, car chases, explosions, hand to hand combat – all expertly staged, extremely brutal and very exciting -especially those featuring Iko Uwais – who, frankly is a martial arts god. Its also well directed by Berg and zips along at a superb breakneck pace
What could have been better: Wahlberg is annoying and a tad  dislikeable  as the leader of the special ops team  – and seems to play these types of characters in just about every action film he ever appears in. Also director Peter Berg’s quickfire editing needed reigning in a bit, plus sticking a wig on Malkovich was a somewhat catastrophic decision by the wardrobe department.
Best scene: The hospital fight sequence – an enormous bout of fisticuffs featuring the astounding Iko Uwais versus two Indonesian government goons who have been sent to kill him.
Summary Review: Not perfect and Wahlberg badly needs a new MO – but a great action film nonetheless,  refreshingly non pc, very violent and really really entertaining.
See it at the Cinema?: Yes
Buy it on Blu Ray/DVD?: Yes


★★★★★★★★★★

 

Author: Will Strong aka Grosse Point Geek

 

 

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