December’s always a hard month for movies. That’s not to say that the movies released at the end of the year are bad at all. Quite the opposite, they invariably end up being some of the best movies of the entire year. Rather, the problem is on of quantity: there are simply too many great options to choose from, with more seemingly coming out each and every year.
For one, you have all of your new releases hitting theaters at this time: these are your Aquamans (2018), you Into the Spider-Verses (2018), your Vices (2018). Then you have all of the movies that have already been released throughout the year, but are not opening wide: like your Favourites (2018), your If Beale Street Could Talks (2018). And then to top it off, you have all of your new movies to stream: ranging from your far-flung Bride of Chuckys (1998) to your arthouse Lobsters (2015) and everything in between. Of those coming to Netflix, at least, a few must-see options immediately come to mind.
The culmination of a decade’s worth of Marvel movies, Infinity War is every bit the blockbuster blowout that it needed to be to live up to all of the years of anticipation its studio crafted with its every new release. While it may not have tapped into the cultural zeitgeist quite like Black Panther (2018) nor been quite as excellent as Hereditary (2018), there is no question that it was absolutely the movie that best defined what was going on in 2018.
The story, of course, doesn’t end here. We already got on follow-up, the lackluster mid-quel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), are waiting with bated breath for Captain Marvel (2019) and are gearing up to charge full-steam ahead toward the as-of-yet unnamed Avengers 4 (2019): the movie which promises to not just end Marvel’s Phase 4, but the entire era of blockbuster filmmaking that Iron Man (2008) started all those years ago. With the recent passing of Marvel creative mogul Stan Lee, the film’s bitter pill of an ending has become all the more devastating, as if Stan Lee himself dissolved into ash along with Peter after Thanos’ infinite-powered snap. And ahead of the studio’s packed 2019 slate, it’s the perfect time to catch up on the events of the MCU — from its first to its heart-breaking last.
Bird Box (2018)
One of the great success stories of 2018 has been the release of A Quiet Place (2018): an innovative, original horror movie that played off its clever premise with tight filmmaking and rapturous applause. You would think that Netflix would have already had its answer to that film prepared in its expansive movie catalog — notably Hush (2016), an isolated-in-the-woods slasher movie which follows a deaf-mute woman as she is imperiled by a murderer-on-the-loose — but that’s evidently not enough for the king of online streaming. So now at the end of the year we get Bird Box, a twisted mirror-image of A Quiet Place that promises to be just as spine-tinglingly terrifying.
Turning the premise of A Quiet Place on its head, Bird Box (based on the novel by Josh Malerman) is set in the aftermath of a devastating event, where most of the world’s population has been driven to suicide. In this strange new world, a woman (Sandra Bullock) and her two children are forced to make a desperate bid toward safety while blindfolded and pursued by unseen creatures. Promising to do to seeing what A Quiet Place did for speaking, Bird Box features a stellar cast, killer premise and an indelibly promising trailer.
The Last Dragon (1985)
Did you watch Sorry to Bother You (2018)? Do you remember the part where Detroit (Tessa Thompson) has that bizarre performance art piece where she strips down to almost nothing and it pelted by the audience while she recites some bizarre movie quote like a mantra? Did you ever wonder where she got it from?
The Last Dragon is a fascinating little film entrenched firmly in the crossroads between urban Black culture and martial arts movies. It follows native Harlemite “Bruce” Leroy Green, after completing years of intensive training under his martial arts master, as he searches for the fabled Last Dragon (the last master he will ever need, who will essentially teach him how to go Super Saiyan). Along the way, he falls in love with a Soul Train singer, is targeted by Sho’Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem and has to protect his parents from being harassed by the local gangs. Oh, yeah, and you’ll finally find out exactly where Detroit’s bonkers movie mantra came from too.
Roma (2018)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 2018 has been an absolute embarrassment of riches as far as movies go. From Hereditary to Sorry to Bother You, from Black Panther to BlacKkKlansman (2018), from A Star is Born (2018) to Searching (2018), great movie after great movie has been coming out week after week, and we’ve already seen enough to know that it will go down in history as one of the best individual years in filmmaking ever. And yet we still largely haven’t seen the best movies the year has to offer, the prestige movies. And all of those seem to begin and end with Roma.
Directed by native Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, Roma is the poetical reflection on his own childhood, spent growing up in Mexico City with his upper middle class family and raised by their kindly, indigenous maid Cleo. Shot in Black and White and with dialog only spoken in Spanish, Roma is hardly your typical Netflix original, and yet it has broken out as an international hit despite the film industry’s bias against streaming in general (and Netflix in particular). Already it has been cleaning up some major critics awards and will doubtless factor into any number of Oscar races this year. Here is the chance to experience it right from the comfort of your own living room.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Zombies have gotten so ubiquitous lately that it’s easy to forget why they were so beloved by horror fans to begin with. From Romero’s slow-burn payoff to Boyle’s rapid-fire reimagining of the movie monster, the creeping undead have been a major player in the horror genre for decades, often overexposed to the exasperation of all.
The antidote to this exhaustive state of the subgenre is Edgar Wright’s explosive debut onto the world stage: 2004’s zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead, which follows the titular slacker (played by the perfectly shlubby Simon Pegg) as he stumbles his way through both his failed relationship to Liz (Kate Ashfield) and the zombie apocalypse at the exact same time. Funny than it needs to be and smarter than it has any right to be, Shaun of the Dead plays with zombie conventions without abandoning them and makes fun of the genre even while it slots comfortably into it. And, let’s face it, everybody could use a good laugh these days, and nothing comes close to being as riotously funny as this movie is.
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