A Reel Opinion: The Best & Worst Films of 2018 - Part 1

Filmmaking is a hard job. The massive efforts undertaken every year by writers, directors, producers, actors and actresses…along with thousands of effects artists, costume designers, makeup people and the hands that build the sets; all the people behind the scenes and in front making a living at what they love, the movies. Their efforts tower over film critics and bloggers, but sometimes giving an “A” for effort isn’t enough. The product on the screen needs to pay off, and in 2018, as in every year, not every effort does. Every year produces greatness on the silver screen, and it also produces films that missed the mark and fell short of expectations and quality. This first part of Reel Speak’s annual Best and Worst lists takes a look at the Worst of 2018. 

The worst of 2018 happened behind the silver screen, as we said goodbye to many popular and successful actors, actresses, and filmmakers. In the past year we said farewell and adieu to Jerry Van Dyke, Penny Marshall, Milos Forman, R. Lee Ermey, Verne Troyer, William Goldman, Donald Moffat, Burt Reynolds, Margot Kidder, and Stan Lee; all notable names and legends of the screen. 

Back on the screen, this Blogger screened nearly 40 films in 2018, and of those 40, only five were deemed downright bad. Reel Speak avoided critically drubbed movies and obvious stinkbombs such as HOLMES AND WATSON, GOTTI, ROBIN HOOD, and LIFE ITSELF. These are the movies that could have and should have been better than what we got. 

The worst films of 2018 are…

5. THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB

All filmmakers deserve credit, but this film which continues the DRAGON TATTOO series was the absolute laziest of the year. The plot to stop the world being wiped out by a nuclear strike was nothing new, our hero Lisbeth Sandler gets out of fixes thanks to dumb luck and having a million safe-houses fully stocked with gear all over the world, and the lazy-ass script repeats itself over and over. Worst of all, they wasted a great talent in Claire Foy. 

4. THE PREDATOR

Director Shane Black, who had a supporting role in front of the camera in the original PREDATOR from 1987, seemed like the perfect director to finally deliver a proper sequel for our favorite skull-collecting alien. But what we got was a bloody mess; scenes started in odd places, sections of the film felt like they were missing, and characters did idiotic things for no reason. Worse, the movie tried to explain too much into the backgrounds of the Predator creatures, even to the point that the classic 1987 film gets ruined. 

3. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

Every sequel made to Steven Spielberg’s classic dinosaur romp JURASSIC PARK (1993) always ends up the same way; dinosaurs chasing and eating people. This fourth sequel is much of the same but tried to change things up by throwing in a million other plots. First we’re rescuing dinos, then we’re into a corporate takeover, then we’re creating new dinosaurs, then we’re cloning humans, then it’s a soap opera, and then we’re dealing with Russian mobsters and terrorists. It felt like 50 movies crammed into one and it never made any sense. JURASSIC WORLD? More like JURASSIC TURD. 

2. VENOM

One of the dumbest trends in Hollywood right now is the wave of solo super-villain films where the villain is the main character and the superhero is left out of the picture. Filmmakers are left with the insurmountable task of filling in the gap, and for VENOM, one of Spider-Man’s most vicious and worthy opponents, that gap was filled by making the alien creature who bites off heads a goddamn romantic comedy. The great Tom Hardy was left to crack painfully un-funny jokes with a CGI blob and the entire film came off as stupid. Add on terrible editing where scenes started in mid-conversation, and we’re left with the absolute worst comic-book adaptation of 2018 and one of the worst ever made. Flawed in concept and execution. 

1. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

This box-office bomb in which muppets interact with humans was first announced in 2008, and it’s mind-boggling that something that was in development for a decade could turn out so rotten. Directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim), this stinker was a dull re-hash of every single cliché the world has seen in a detective film noir, leading to a plot so predictable a three-year old could have figured it out. The attempts at humor ranging from dick jokes to puppet sex would only be laughed at by a 13-year old boy, and lead actress Melissa McCarthy is blander than the muppets she’s trying to act against. The most frustrating thing is that the puppetry work is outstanding and takes the old craft to places that the senior Henson would have been proud of…if he wasn’t rolling over in his grave. 

THE WORST FILMS OF 2018

1. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS
2. VENOM
3. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
4. THE PREDATOR
5. THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB

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Read Reel Speak's Best of 2018 HERE