Since 2011, I have been pulling together a list of the best movies of the year according to the Brisbane-based critics who I run into regularly at preview screenings.  Those films to have topped prior year lists have been Drive in 2011, Argo in 2012, Gravity in 2013, Boyhood in 2014, Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015La La Land in 2016 and Get Out in 2017.

To come up with an overall top 10, I’ve used a simple points system and applied it to the list of each critic. It is as follows:
 - 3 points for the top film on each list.
 - 2 points for the films ranked between 2nd and 5th on each list.
 - 1 point for the films ranked between 6th and 10th on each list.

If two films finished on the same score, the film that appeared on the most number of top 10 lists is ranked higher (as an indication of wider approval).

The #1 film of 2018 was The Favourite from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos.  More than half of the critics surveyed had it in their top 10 and two critics (David Edwards and Adam Roboczi) had it as their best for the year.  The film will be a serious contender at the Oscars next month.

A close second was Steve McQueen’s Widows which featured on 5 of the top 10 lists.  Rounding out the placings in third was Shoplifters, the Japanese film which won both the Palme d’Or and the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film.

As always, there was an interesting mix of films in this year’s overall top 10.  Horror-thrillers were well represented with Suspiria, A Quiet Place and Hereditary all getting a mention.  It’s rare for a sequel to make the list but Mission: Impossible – Fallout had plenty of fans. 

Three films from female directors made the cut – Lynne Ramsay with You Were Never Really Here, Greta Gerwig with Lady Bird and Marielle Heller with Can You Ever Forgive Me? 

Rounding out the list were two films which are also looking to make a run at this year’s Academy Awards – Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.

On that note, here are the top 10 movies of 2018 according to Brisbane critics…

Brisbane Film Critics - Top 10 of 2018
1.  The Favourite
2.  Widows
3.  Shoplifters
4.  BlacKkKlansman
5.  Roma
6.  Suspiria
7.  You Were Never Really Here
8 (tie).  Can You Ever Forgive Me?
8 (tie).  Mission: Impossible - Fallout
10 (tie).  A Quiet Place
10 (tie).  Hereditary
10 (tie).  Lady Bird

You can view a table of all the votes and final scores by clicking here.

A big thanks to all the critics who were able to contribute. Hopefully we'll do it again next year!

You can check out information on all the Brisbane critics (along with their choices for the best and worst of 2018) below.
 


 

Matthew ToomeyMatthew Toomey

Born in Brisbane, Matt Toomey was introduced to the world of cinema when he landed a job at a video store fresh out of high school in 1995. A few years later, he started his own website and reviewed movies regularly on a community radio station. In 2005, he joined the team at 612ABC and can be heard reviewing the latest releases every Thursday morning. He can also be heard weekly on regional ABC throughout Queensland.

Website: www.thefilmpie.com
Twitter: @ToomeyMatt

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Phantom Thread
2. Lady Bird
3. Back to Burgundy
4. A Quiet Place
5. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
6. The Favourite
7. Custody
8. C'est La Vie!
9. Unsane
10. McQueen
 
Best Australian Film:
Ladies in Black
Best Animated Film:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary:
McQueen
Best Performance:
Olivia Coleman (The Favourite)
Worst Film:
Holmes and Watson
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Ideal Home
Phantom Thread

 

Sarah WardSarah Ward

Sarah Ward is a freelance film critic, arts and culture writer, and film festival organiser. She is the Australia-based critic for Screen International, a film reviewer and writer for ArtsHub, the weekend editor and a senior writer for Concrete Playground, a writer for the Goethe-Institut Australien’s Kino in Oz, and a contributor to SBS, SBS Movies, Flicks Australia and ScreenHub. Her work has been published by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Junkee, FilmInk, Birth.Movies.Death, Lumina, Senses of Cinema, Broadsheet, Televised Revolution, Metro Magazine, Screen Education and the World Film Locations book series. She is also the editor of Trespass Magazine, a film and TV critic for ABC radio Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, and has worked with the Brisbane International Film Festival, Queensland Film Festival, Sydney Underground Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival.

Websites: www.artshub.com.au
www.concreteplayground.com
www.screendaily.com/sarah-ward/1100859.contributor
www.goethe.de/ins/au/en/kul/sup/kio.html
www.flicks.com.au/author/sarah-ward/
www.sbs.com.au/guide/person/sarah-ward
www.sbs.com.au/movies/person/sarah-ward
www.trespassmag.com
Twitter: @swardplay

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. You Were Never Really Here
2. Cold War
3. Roma
4. Sweet Country
5. Custody
6. Suspiria
7. Sorry to Bother You
8. Hereditary
9. Widows
10. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. High Life
2. Burning
3. The Nightingale
4. Vox Lux
5. Annihilation
 
Best Australian Film:
Sweet Country
Best Animated Film:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary:
Gurrumul
Best Performance:
Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here)
Worst Film:
That's Not My Dog!
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
A Simple Favour
You Were Never Really Here

 

Garry WilliamsGarry Williams

Garry Williams is a reviewer for Film Club, a radio program broadcast on 4ZZZ-FM (102.1FM) each Thursday from 6-7pm.

Website: www.4zzz.org.au/program/film-club
Twitter: @thegeegenie

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. See You Up There (Au Revour La Haut)
2. Vice
3. The Favourite
4. Molly's Game
5. First Man
6. Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot
7. The Shape of Water
8. BlacKkKlansman
9. A Simple Favour
10. Black Panther
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Woman at War
2. Peterloo
3. Leave No Trace
4. The Mist and the Maiden
5. The House That Jack Built
 
Best Australian Film:
The Merger
Best Animated Film:
Mirai
Best Documentary:
Three Identical Strangers
Best Performance:
Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
Worst Film:
The Nun
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
A Star is Born
See You Up There

 

Peter GrayPeter Gray

Peter Gray is a Brisbane based freelance entertainment writer specialising in film. Currently the entertainment reporter/film reviewer for QNews, Queensland’s largest LGBT publication, and regular contributor to Brisbanista, The AU Reviews and This is Film.

Website: launch.theaureview.com
qnews.com.au
thisisfilm.com
brisbanista.com.au
Twitter: @ratedPDG

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Widows
2. Hereditary
3. Suspiria
4. The Favourite
5. Roma
6. You Were Never Really Here
7. A Simple Favour
8. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
9. A Quiet Place
10. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Where is Kyra?
2. Mary Poppins Returns
3. Annihiliation
4. Cam
5. Terminal
 
Best Australian Film:
Sweet Country
Best Animated Film:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary:
Whitney
Best Performance:
Michelle Pfeiffer (Where is Kyra?)
Worst Film:
Overboard
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Game Night
Widows

 

Ella DonaldElla Donald

Ella is a journalist, university educator, and writer. She specialises in interviews, features, profiles, and commentary, regularly contributing to GQ magazine, and has also been published by outlets including Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Saturday Paper.

Website: elladonaldwriter.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ellafdonald

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Widows
2. The Favourite
3. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
4. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
5. Foxtrot
6. In the Fade
7. Shoplifters
8. Love, Simon
9. Wildlife
10. A Star is Born
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. First Reformed
2. The Tale
3. Vox Lux
4. Jane Fonda in Five Acts
5. Thoroughbreds
 
Best Australian Film:
Abstained
Best Animated Film:
Incredibles 2
Best Documentary:
Shirkers
Best Performance:
Laia Artigas (Summer 1993)
Worst Film:
The Cloverfield Paradox
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Assassination Nation
Widows

 

David EdwardsDavid Edwards

David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb Magazine and writes about film and television.

Website: www.theblurb.com.au
Twitter: @TheBlurbMag

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. The Favourite
2. Cold War
3. BlacKkKlansman
4. I, Tonya
5. Widows
6. Lady Bird
7. The Death of Stalin
8. Tully
9. A Simple Favour
10. Isle of Dogs
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Columbus
2. I Am Not Your Negro
3. Ismael's Ghosts
4. Annihilation
 
Best Australian Film:
Sweet Country
Best Animated Film:
Isle of Dogs
Best Performance:
Charlize Theron (Tully)
Worst Film:
Pitch Perfect 3
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Game Night
The Favourite

 

Dave CreweDave Crewe

Freelance film critic with a fondness for arthouse and grindhouse films in roughly equal measure. Obsessed with David Lynch. Founding editor of ccpopculture, and freelances for SBS Movies, Junkee, The Brag, Metro Magazine and Screen Education, amongst others.

Website: ccpopculture.com
Twitter: @dacrewe

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Roma
2. Widows
3. Shoplifters
4. Lady Bird
5. Love, Simon
6. Sorry to Bother You
7. A Simple Favour
8. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
9. Climax
10. The Shape of Water
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Leave No Trace
2. Ex Libris: New York Public Library
3. The Wild Boys
4. First Reformed
5. Burning
 
Best Australian Film:
Sweet Country
Best Animated Film:
Incredibles 2
Best Documentary:
Ex Libris: New York Public Library
Best Performance:
Steven Yeun (Burning)
Worst Film:
Wildling
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Love, Simon
Roma

 

Michael DaltonMichael Dalton

Former “screens” editor for m/c reviews, now contributor at TOM.

Websites: http://www.tommagazine.com.au/

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Shoplifters
2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. BlacKkKlansman
4. Hereditary
5. Phantom Thread
6. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
7. Vice
8. Three Identical Strangers
9. Custody
10. Suspiria
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. First Reformed
2. Leave No Trace
3. The Happy Prince
4. Summer of 84
5. Mary Queen of Scots
 
Best Animated Film:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary:
Three Identical Strangers
Best Performance:
Sakura Ando (Shoplifters)
Worst Film:
Ideal Home
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Searching
Shoplifters

 

Baz McAlisterBaz McAlister

Walkley Award finalist Baz McAlister is a writer and deputy night editor at The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail, and co-hosts 'Force Material', a podcast about the secrets, history and influences of Star Wars.

Website: bazmcalister.wordpress.com
www.forcematerial.com
Twitter: @bazmcalister

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story
2. A Quiet Place
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
5. BlacKkKlansman
6. Isle of Dogs
7. The Death of Stalin
8. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
9. Black Panther
10. Bumblebee
 
Best Australian Film:
Winchester
Best Animated Film:
Isle of Dogs
Best Documentary:
Three Identical Strangers
Best Performance:
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Worst Film:
Aquaman
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Bumblebee
Solo: A Star Wars Story

 

Adam RabocziAdam Roboczi

Adam Raboczi is a reviewer for 4ZZZ’s Film Club (Thursdays @ 6pm) and manages the show’s Facebook page.  He occasionally makes overcomplicated music videos.

Website: 4zzzfm.org.au/program/film-club
facebook.com/4zzzFilmClub/
Twitter: n/a

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. The Favourite
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. Suspiria
4. Shoplifters
5. Sorry to Bother You
6. The Endless
7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
8. Vice
9. Mandy
10. I, Tonya
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Annihiliation
2. The House That Jack Built
3. First Reformed
4. Burning
5. Cam
 
Best Australian Film:
Upgrade
Best Animated Film:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary:
Won't You Be My Neighbour?
Best Performance:
Olivia Coleman (The Favourite)
Worst Film:
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Meal Tickets
The Favourite