This year, our screens were rid of Stranger Things and GOT but what we lost in demogorgons and ice dragons, we made up in badass female leads, horror and dark dystopian future worlds.
Here are all the best movies and TV shows of 2018.
MOVIES
ROMA
This one has pretty much been dubbed the “movie of the year”. ROMA is at the head of the pack as a strong Oscar contender and has been inundated with a sling of US critics’ awards as the most personal project to date from Academy Award-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien).
ROMA follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy among political turmoil of the 1970s. ROMA will be available in theaters and on Netflix December 14.
Black Panther
It was the movie that had us chanting “Wakanda Forever”. Black Panther was easily the most groundbreaking film of the year kicking off a revolution for representation on screen and basically killing it at the box office. It grossed over $1 billion and turned out to be the highest-grossing solo superhero film, plus it has a few Golden Globe nominations up its sleeve so we’re tuning in for some big wins. Best part? You can now watch or rewatch it on Stan.
A Quiet Place
Power couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski (who also directed this one) made us hide, laugh and cry, with a plot that ticks all the boxes in the horror genre. Prepare your speakers if you're planning to watch, as this film uses sound (and lack of sound) to a masterful degree—both to scare you and make you feel all the feels. With family at the root of A Quiet Place, it’s not so much a horror film as it is a story of absolute love. And cue the waterworks.
Beautiful Boy
Maybe one of the biggest must-watches of the year, Beautiful Boy is a film about a father and his strained relationship with his drug-addicted teenage son. It stars Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet so, needless to say, the performance is out of this world.
A Star is Born
It’s a frontrunner for the Oscars so we’re just going to put this right here. No one doubted for a second that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper would create anything but on-screen magic, and their talent lives on pretty much every day since we’ve also been playing Always Remember Us This Way on repeat. Produced and directed by Cooper, this fourth remake of A Star Is Born is everything you need it to be and more.
TV SHOWS
The Sinner Season 2
The dark, sinister and ridiculously addictive Sinner was back for round two this year and we’d personally like to take a second to thank the Netflix gods because we’d been waiting for this one since March. We can tell you that The Sinner season two follows Detective Harry Ambrose (the effortlessly badass Bill Pullman) back to rural New York to solve a new crime: two parents murdered by their 11-year-old son and like the first season, the ending is pretty damn messed up.
Maniac
Written by Patrick Somerville, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Jonah Hill and Emma Stone (that got your attention), Maniac hit Netflix screens in September and quickly gained a rep for being trippy as hell. The series follows two strangers undergoing a mysterious pharmaceutical treatment to change their lives for the better.
Haunting of Hill House
This year, Netflix dropped its first original horror series The Haunting of Hill House, which had everyone asking questions around the ‘bent neck’ lady, the Red Room and whether or not you’ll actually pass out while watching it (we answer those questions here). Regardless, this is one to get on board with especially because Stephen King has literally hailed it as “a work of genius”. You’ve got nothing to lose really (except maybe a peaceful night's sleep).
House Of Cards Season 6
Arguably the most-anticipated release of the year, the time for Claire Underwood’s presidency finally arrived. Unlike previous seasons, which spanned 13 episodes, season six only featured eight. And good news: Alik Sakharov, who handled a few great eps in season five, came back to direct the finale. That’s pretty safe hands, right there.
The Handmaid's Tale Season 2
While we all patiently wait for season three, let’s just reflect on the beauty that was the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale. This time around, Gilead tumbled and the Handmaid’s collectively fought together to escape the totalitarian regime. The plot twists were recurring so we’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum but in true Handmaid form, the first episode will leave you in pure shock.
Dogs
This is the Netflix doco-series that has pretty much captured the hearts of anyone and everyone, all around the world. This series follows a bunch of pups in different parts of the world and their relationship with people in places like the US, Costa Rica and Syria. The show is basically a big ol’ cry fest for you because it highlights how these cherubs look after humans, bringing buckets of joy and hope to their lives.
Rory, for example, is a dog who’s been trained to respond to seizures and he gets assigned to look after 11-year-old Corrinne who suffers from severe epilepsy. And that’s just the first episode. Dogs is ready for you to binge on Netflix right now.
Bodyguard
Bodyguard follows Afghanistan war vet David Budd (played by Richard Madden, aka Robb Stark for you GOT fanatics), as he's assigned to protect Julie Montague, the Home Secretary who is a constant target for terrorist attacks because of her political agenda. That old chestnut.
In case that little description doesn’t catch your eye, this show is insanely popular—over 10.4 million people recently tuned into the finale. Critics are raving about the intensity and addictiveness of this show, and with only six episodes in the first season, it's not hard to catch up.
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Image credit: Netflix.