Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Weekend Roundtable: 2018 Movie Catch-up

For most people, it’s not practical (or possible) to see every new movie that looks interesting or has good buzz in a given year. What 2018 movie do you regret missing last year and most want to catch up with soon?

Deirdre Crimmins

Even though I watched 452 films in 2018 (that’s tiles, not views; the 5 times I watched The Favourite aren’t reflected here), there is no way I could have possibly seen every film released last year. On a recent plane trip, I managed to catch both Blockers and Hearts Beat Loud, which were both perfectly lovely little films to watch on impossibly small screens. But now, looking back at what I’ve missed, I have to say my next priority is Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not because I think it will be my next favorite film and not because I’m a Marvel completist, but simply because I had a lot of fun with the first Ant-Man. Like many films last year, I missed this one due to poor timing, not avoidance. Now that it’s readily available and will be on Netflix later this month, I have no more excuses.

Shannon Nutt

“Regret” is probably too strong a word, as almost any movie that hits theaters will be available on home video about three months later, but I do wish I had seen First Man when it played on the big screen. The controversy about the film not showing the planting of the U.S. flag on the moon (which wasn’t a big deal to me until I learned it may have been an INTENTIONAL choice by director Damien Chazelle) just rubbed me the wrong way. Add to that early mixed reviews (although the film now has an 88% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes), and it just wasn’t high on my Must See list. Then the movie all but tanked at the box office, so it was pulled from my local theater less than a month after it opened.

I just purchased the film (as a blind buy) on VUDU (UHD version, of course!) and hope to catch up with it over the weekend. But I do kind of wish I had seen it in IMAX when I had the chance.

M. Enois Duarte

After reading the overwhelmingly positive reviews and the amazing word-of-mouth surrounding Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I now regret not making the time to see the new animated superhero movie. The holidays have been particularly busy for me this time around, and now that I’m back to work, I don’t think I’ll get a chance. To be honest, it’s not all bad since my home theater has better sound and picture than most cinemas in my area. In the end, it might be a better experience at home anyway. Into the Spider-Verse is the movie that immediately comes to mind and I can’t wait to see it when it’s available on Ultra HD Blu-ray.

Brian Hoss

2018 was a good year for me in terms of seeing just about everything that I heard of or that looked interesting. That includes a very strong December with movies like The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots. Out of the movies I didn’t see, I’d most like to see Green Book with its strong cast and vintage setting. Beyond that, I had meant to take in A Simple Favor. First, I missed it in the theater, and after that, I failed o catch it over the holidays. Come to think of it, that might be a good movie to share on Valentine’s Day.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

Quite a few of 2018’s films that I’m the most excited about watching for the first time are either still in theaters or in my backlog at home. I’d prefer to write about something that isn’t within arm’s reach or a few minutes’ drive.

I’m an enormous fan of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Resolution, but must confess that I haven’t kept up with their later work, including Spring and a segment in V/H/S: Viral.

I didn’t realize until just now that The Endless received a limited theatrical release last spring. Benson and Moorhead star as two brothers who return to the Heaven’s Gate-esque doomsday cult they’d long since left behind and discover something beyond description.

I’ve resisted the temptation to read much more than that, but I’m left with the sense that The Endless embraces and builds upon what drew me toward their debut. The two filmmakers make heady genre cinema, deftly weaving the fantastic elements of horror and science fiction with very complex, very human stories. Their characters don’t feel like characters, instead coming across very much as actual people. They recognize that horror equates to more than jump scares and gruesome imagery. At no point are you able to roll your eyes because you see exactly what turns the story will take well in advance.

The Endless is on Blu-ray now, courtesy of Well Go USA, and it’s unquestionably one of the next movies I’m going to pick up once my backlog thins out a bit more.

Josh Zyber

I don’t even like Spider-Man as a superhero all that much, but I have to agree with E. that the trailers for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse look like a lot of fun.

Likewise, I almost can’t believe that I’m kind of eager to catch up with Bumblebee. I don’t like any of the Michael Bay Transformers crapfests, but this movie (the first in the franchise without Bay directing) really seems to look and feel like the Transformers I remember from my youth. If it lives up to the word-of-mouth, it could be the Transformers movie I always wanted.

Your Turn

Tell us about the movies from last year that you most regret missing and need to make time for.

16 comments

  1. Yo M, the way you write ‘(…) I now regret not making the time to see the new animated superhero movie’ makes it sound like it’s impossible to do so. But Spidey is still in theaters! Heck, it was the number 5 movie in America last weekend. Drop whatever you’re doing now, and go and watch/catch the movie! 🙂

  2. theHDphantom

    Adam, if you’ve enjoyed Benson/Moorhead’s work so far, then you’re really going to enjoy The Endless. It was easily one of my favourite films that I saw last year. Well Go USA put out a great blu-ray for it too.

    • I caught The Endless on Netflix a couple months ago and loved it. Small, cheap and simple, yet so impactful. It reminds me of what Southland Tales TRIED to do, but COULDN’T be because Richard Kelly tried making a movie well outside his league.

      These guys executed their premise perfectly. It’s the first of their films that I’ve watched, so I’m excited to see more.

      • theHDphantom

        You’ll definitely have to check out their film Resolution then (The Endless is kind of a semi-sequel [or a slight continuance] to it).

        I saw Resolution maybe 7 to 8 months after seeing The Endless and it kinda blew my mind that both films take place in the same universe (this isn’t a spoiler, they just really pieced both films together beautifully). It really doesn’t matter which film you watch first, because if you watch Resolution second, it works as a terrific prequel. I’m really looking forward to their next film, Synchronic

  3. Csm101

    I regret not seeing Bad Times at the El Royale theatrically but I have seen at at home now twice. That would’ve of been a unique experience as I probably would’ve had the auditorium all to myself. Great movie. I still haven’t seen the Suspiria remake, I had one small window to see it and did not take advantage of it and it was gone. I look forward to fixing that later this month. Bumblebee is on the top of my list to see theatrically, but I’m not sure I’m going to make it. I just can’t get jazzed for Aquaman as much as I love James Wan. There’s a small chance I might still see it in theaters, but it’s not on the top of my priorities.

  4. I am sure there were many I missed that, right now, I am not even thinking about, primarily because I did not know about them (no longer watch television and only got to the theater twice last year, and both times we were running late and ended up missing all the previews). So as far as movies I can think of, I regret missing Deadpool 2. Deadpool was probably the first comic book movie in years that I really enjoyed (that and Logan).

    I also regret missing Blade Runner at the theater, but I had that movie on 4k day one.

      • William Henley

        Was it? Shows how often I get out. Also shows how fast 2018 flew by.

        I thought of one that i missed that I really regret that I KNOW is a 2018 movie – Ralph Breaks the Internet. But I just pre-ordered the 4k Steelbook of it, so I am good.

  5. Chris B

    I’m spending this month and most of next month trying to watch as many awards-y movies as possible mostly in anticipation for the Oscars and catching up on past winners I never got around to seeing. My library stocks them all on Blu or DVD so it’s a free endeavor and has been a lot of fun so far. In the last few weeks I’ve seen Unsane, First Reformed, Crazy Rich Asians, Moonlight, You Were Never Really Here, Eighth Grade, BlacKkKlansmen, The Rider and The Shape of Water. This weekend I’ll be seeing 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Zama, Upgrade and American Animals.

    The movie I’m most excited to see will be later this month when I attend a theatrical screening of Chang-Dong Lee’s much buzzed-about “Burning” which is playing at my local Indie theatre for a few nights only. Can’t wait.

  6. Bolo

    ‘The Favourite’ – I think I was never in a country this movie was playing in when it was playing there. Excited to see Yargos and Weisz together again.

    Gonna catch ‘Creed II’ this weekend. I enjoyed the first one and am stoked to see Dolph reprise his definitive role.

    ‘Vox Lux’ – Portman’s overacting might sink it for me, but I’m hoping it pulls a ‘Black Swan’ and manages to make her self-conscious and forced style of acting work in the movie’s favour. It’s playing near me soon and if I’m not busy, I’ll give it a go.

  7. Josh & E… I actually caught both Bumblebee and Into the Spider-Verse this week. I was literally SHOCKED by how genuinely earnest Bumblebee is at times and wish the franchise had started with that entry; there are a few choices I didn’t connect with, but there’s a lot to like, and zero Bay-nihilism. And Into the Spider-Verse lives up to all the hype. Nothing short of incredible.

    • The great thing about Bumblebee is its minimalist approach to being a blockbuster. Instead of focusing on countless Transformers, it focuses on a girl and her relationship to one. It felt like it could have been made in the year in which it was set (mid-late ’80s), which was the peak of Transformers popularity. Everything worked for me, and I certainly didn’t expect that after Bay’s movies.

  8. Charles Contreras

    Two movies that I missed out on are Creed 2 and Bohemian Rhapsody. I hate when the day to day routine gets in the way of enjoying some quality time in front of the big screen. However, it only means that I get to blast my speakers at home!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *