Film Capsule

I recently shared my Top 20 films of the year, and there’s still time to look back at 2018 once more to name my favorite lead and supporting performances, along with my favorite scenes of the year and “The Year in Miscellaneous Superlatives.”

Best Actress:

• Toni Collette – Hereditary
• Viola Davis – Widows
• Rachel McAdams – Disobedience
• Rachel McAdams – Game Night
• Rachel Weisz – Disobedience

Best Actor:

• Lily Franky – Shoplifters
• Paul Giamatti – Private Life
• Ethan Hawke – First Reformed
• Stephan James – If Beale Street Could Talk
• Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Actress:

• Olivia Colman – The Favourite
• Elizabeth Debicki – Widows
• Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
• Tilda Swinton – Suspiria
• Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor:

• Sam Elliot – A Star Is Born
• Bill Heck – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Daniel Kaluuya – Widows
• Harry Melling – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Alessandro Nivola – Disobedience

MVPs of the Year: Rachel Weisz & Rachel McAdams – Disobedience, The Favourite, Game Night
(Past winners: Ralph Fiennes, Kurt Russell, John C. Reilly, Matthew McConaughey, James Franco, Tilda Swinton – twice!)

Best Scenes of the Year:

Widows – Driving the 8th Ward
You Were Never Really Here – Security camera footage
Paddington 2 – London flip book
Hereditary – Mid-film twist
Mandy – Crying and chugging
The Favourite – Dancing
BlackKklansman – Kwame Ture speech
Mission: Impossible – Fallout – Helicopter chase

The Year in Miscellaneous Superlatives:

Best Close-ups – If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Comedic Performance – Ocean’s Eight, Anne Hathaway
Worst Performance – Annihilation, Gina Rodriguez / Hold the Dark, Alexander Skarsgard
Worst Film of All Time – Avengers: Infinity War
Worst Thing About a Good Film – Joan, Hereditary
Best Thing About a Bad Film – Mid-film credits, Vice
Best TV – The Haunting of Hill House
Cinephile Holy Grail – The Other Side of the Wind
Most Unfairly Maligned – Illang: The Wolf Brigade
Best Short Film – Blue
Best Line Delivery – Game Night, “Oh no, he died!”