Express.co.uk’s Top 10 Movies of 2018: Did Avengers Infinity War make Number One?

Another year has flown by for cinema with audiences being treated to earth-shattering blockbusters like Avengers Infinity War and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, to indie hits like BlackKklansman and A Quiet Place. Now Express.co.uk has polled its four Film writers for their Top 10 movies of 2018, to give our readers an aggregated list of our favourites of the year as a whole. Ten points were awarded to our number ones, nine for second place and so one. So scroll down for our Top Movies of 2018, alongside a few notable mentions.

10. The Wife

Set in 1992, The Wife sees Glenn Close star as Joan, the wife of author Joseph Castleman – played by Jonathan Pryce.

This film sees her husband of 40 years has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

As the two very different personalities travel to Stockholm together, Joan begins to question the choices she made in life in a role that has seen Close nominated for several major awards.

In our review, we said: “Resentment and vindication make Close’s performance electric, her moments on screen practically vibrating with thinly but imperviously veiled emotion.”

9. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

The sixth instalment in Tom Cruise’s spy saga landed with a bang this summer.

Stuffed full of real, death-defying stunts, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the franchise’s best entry yet.

In our review, we said: “An improvement on all the previous films’ failings, drawing together all the best aspects of them; simultaneously giving off that classic vibe of the original while never being afraid to continually evolve.

“James Bond had better watch out.”

8. A Quiet Place

Hollywood power couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski’s horror was one of the biggest hits in the early half of the year.

Written and directed by Krasinski, the two starred as husband and wife in this edge-of-your-seat intense horror.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, the Abbott family have to live in silence for fear of being eaten alive by blind aliens with acute hearing.

If horror’s not your go-to genre, have no fear as A Quiet Place plays more like Jurassic Park with the intensity of Dunkirk.

7. A Simple Favour

A black comic mystery, A Simple Favour sees Anna Kendrick’s mum vlogger Stephanie on a mission to unveil the truth behind her best friend Emily’s (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town.

Henry Golding plays the husband, Sean – a failed writer and professor of English –whose literary spark was snuffed by his pursuit of Emily in a twist on traditional gender roles.

In our review, we said: “A Simple Favour winds itself through themes of sexuality and intimacy, truth and family, and what it means to be a woman – a mother – a daughter.

“The twists and turns are mostly unpredictable until the split second before they happen, though some are guessable as the women’s histories unravel.”

6. Black Panther

Before Avengers Infinity War, Black Panther stormed onto the big screen.

Aside from the landmark of being the first major blockbuster superhero movie to star a predominately black cast, this Marvel entry lived up to its hype as an entertaining triumph.

While Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger stole the show as the terrifyingly calculating villain.

Already reaping in the awards nods, Black Panther might just win Best Picture at the 2019 Oscars.

5. The Hate U Give

Based on the young adult novel of the same name, The Hate U Give follows a teenage black girl, Starr Carter, who becomes an activist after seeing her childhood friend killed in a police shooting.

In our review, we said: “The Hate U Give movie brings to life Angie Thomas’ best-selling novel. 

“It instructive and intimate, political and personal; it lives in two spaces at once, much like Starr, but also brings together these worlds with such a violent collision you cannot help but be shaken awake by it.

“The Hate U Give should be seen by everyone, but especially by those who move through the world with the veil of white privilege – because as triumphant as The Hate U Give is as a movie, it is even more so for what you can learn from it.”

4. Crazy Rich Asians

Another entry on our list based on a novel is Crazy Rich Asians, which turned out to be one of the best rom-coms in years.

Set in Singapore, Constance Wu’s Rachel travels with her boyfriend Nick, played by Henry Golding, to his friend’s wedding.

But little does she know he’s a member of one of the city state’s wealthiest families and has to deal with his relatives’ snobbery towards here.

In our review, we said: “Crazy Rich Asians has done the impossible – created a romantic comedy not only funny and dazzling but politically relevant too, without betraying its genre-bound duty to warm the heart.”

3. BlackKklansman

Another likely Oscars contender in 2019 is Spike Lee’s best film in years, BlackKklansman.

Based on a true story, this comedy drama sees John David Washington play Ron Stallworth, who became Colorado Springs’ first African-American detective in the early 1970s.

Teaming up with his Jewish colleague Flip Zimmerman, played by Adam Driver, Stallworth seeks to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan.

In our review, we said: “BlacKkKlansman dances smoothly between being funny, poignant, heartbreaking, scary, and beautiful.”

2. Coco

In an era of endless Pixar sequels, it’s refreshing when the Disney animation studio releases an original story from time to time.

Coco follows a young Mexican boy called Miguel, who longs to become a famous guitarist like his idol Ernesto del la Cruz, but is held back by his family’s ban on music.

Miguel soon finds himself in the Land of Dead where he teams up with the deceased Hector, as the two set out to discover the boy’s true family history.

Heart-warming and hilarious, Coco is also a real tear-jerker with beautiful poignancy.

1. Avengers Infinity War

What else could it have been? Avengers Infinity War is the unprecedented blockbuster of blockbusters.

After 10 years and 18 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe came together in the most monumental team up in the history of film, as over 70 Marvel characters from across the franchise’s Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and more, clashed in one gigantic, cosmic crossover.

In our review, we said: “Put simply, Avengers: Infinity War is everything you want from a Hollywood blockbuster and more. Cataclysmic action, high stakes, the right balance of humour and darkness, believable CGI, and an epic amount of well-developed characters crossing over not just the Earth, but the cosmos. This is pure entertainment on a scale never before seen in cinema.”

But it’s only part 1, with Avengers Endgame arriving this April can it top the popcornerific heights of Avengers Infinity War? Fans will have to wait and see.

Our Notable Mentions: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Ballard of Buster Scruggs, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse, Aquaman, Annihilation.