In a perfect world, movie lovers' pockets would always be lined with enough cash to
buy tickets to every single film that ever screened in theaters. Unfortunately, we live
in the decidedly flawed reality that makes seeing and appreciating every movie pretty
much impossible.
Year after year, a ton of incredible films are released only to end up going largely
unnoticed, and 2018 is no different. Here are some of the most underappreciated movies
you've already missed in 2018.
I Kill Giants
Adapted from writer Joe Kelly and artist J. M. Ken Niimura's graphic novel I Kill Giants,
Danish director Anders Walter's adaptation stars Madison Wolfe as the plucky Barbara
Thorson. Barbara's an oddball outsider with a bunny-ear cap, a head in the clouds, and
a Norse war hammer in her bag. You see, Barbara fancies herself a killer of giants, and is
convinced that a horde of them are coming to Earth and she's the only one who can vanquish
stop them.
Blending together an impactful coming-of-age tale, themes of grief and denial, gorgeous
magical realism, solid CGI, and captivating performances from Wolfe and supporting actors
Imogen Poots, Zoe Saldana, and Sydney Wade, I Kill Giants is a magnificent monster movie
that's monstrously moving. Critics have applauded it as "never less than engrossing," and you'll
agree.
Thoroughbreds
Murder is on the menu in writer-director Cory Finley's Thoroughbreds, a black comedy thriller
that centers around childhood friends Lily, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and Amanda, played
by Olivia Cooke, who reunite to cook up a devious plan. Even though both are born and
raised in the suburbs, Lily's years at boarding school and an illustrious internship have
turned her into a prim and proper goody-two-shoes, whereas Amanda's unidentified mental disorder
has turned her into an emotionless outcast with a smart mouth and stinging wit.
Opposites attract in this case, and the two end up fueling the worst in one another as
they bond over a shared contempt: They both hate Lily's tyrannical stepfather Mark, played
by Paul Sparks, and resolve to bring him to a grisly end. Lily and Amanda's scheming leads
them to recruit drug dealer Tim, played by the dearly departed Anton Yelchin, whom the
girls manipulate into becoming their personal hitman. The murder mission takes more than
a few unexpected turns, arriving at an end you likely won't see coming.
Rarely do first-time creatives get their debut as right as Finley did with Thoroughbreds,
a darkly alluring film. Most everyone agrees that Thoroughbreds has the potential to be
a classic, and despite the film's lack of big-budget promotion and pre-release hype,
it'll be revisited by audiences for years.
The Endless
The Endless snagged a bunch of relentlessly positive reviews after it opened in a limited
run on April 6, but was buried by its box office competition, John Krasinski's A Quiet
Place, which debuted to $50 million that same weekend. The Endless is a perception-twisting
thriller that takes one terrifying moment brothers Justin and Aaron receiving a cryptic
video from members of a UFO death cult they were once a part of and springboards into
the insane.
Rather than burning the tape and getting on with their lives, Justin and Aaron decide
to head back to the exact place they narrowly escaped a decade earlier in hopes of finally
getting closure. As incomprehensible horrors start surrounding the camp, Justin and Aaron
are forced to reconsider if the cult was actually preaching the truth. A slow-burning horror
that shocks in its second half but frightens the whole way through, The Endless is an underappreciated
movie you'll wish you had paid more attention to before learning about it right now.
Lean on Pete
Director Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete perfectly adapts Willy Vlautin's touching novel and
spreads it beautifully across the silver screen for the world to see. It's a film festival
darling and a favorite among critics, but has gone seriously underappreciated by casual
moviegoers.
Lean on Pete follows burgeoning young star Charlie Plummer as Charley, a fifteen-year-old
boy who moves to rural Portland with his father Ray, played by Travis Fimmel. As his father
spirals further into himself, Charley discovers companionship and camaraderie at a racetrack,
where he becomes the new attendant to a weathering racehorse named Lean on Pete. While there,
he also befriends the horse's owner, Del Montgomery, and his jockey Bonnie, played respectively
by Steve Buscemi and Chloë Sevigny.
But don't let the premise fool you: Lean on Pete is no light-hearted movie about a young
boy and the love he feels for an aging horse and his new pals. As critics have proclaimed,
the film is a "haunting tale of survival," a "heartbreaking look at a marginalized America"
that's "likely to leave you in tatters."
Goldstone
Take everything you've learned about Australia from Crocodile Dundee, internet jokes about
riding kangaroos to school, and the throw-a-shrimp-on-the-barbie restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse and toss
it in the bin. Goldstone, from multi-talented writer-director-composer-cinematographer Ivan
Sen, presents the Australian Outback in an intimate, thrilling new way.
Set in the titular town of Goldstone, the movie follows Indigenous Detective Jay Swan,
played by Aaron Pederson, as he journeys up to the tiny mining outpost. He's there to
aid Josh, a young policeman played by Alex Russell, and Goldstone's mayor, played by
Jacki Weaver, to investigate the disappearance of a Chinese tourist. An already complex case
turns tense because of Jay's identity as both an Aborigine and as a law enforcement officer.
His presence in town ruffles the feathers of both the racists of Goldstone and the town's
Aboriginal residents. When Jay discovers that Josh and the Mayor may not be as innocent
as they'd like others to believe, the gripping noir narrative takes yet another unexpected
turn.
Released to high praise but underwhelming box office in Australia in 2016, Goldstone
made its theatrical debut in the United States in March of 2018, where it performed much
the same: while critics adored it, the raw, sun-blasted pic didn't get as much attention
as it deserved.
Gemini
The neo-noir thriller Gemini lives up to the split personality implication of its title,
as you're never really sure of the true intentions of its leading lady. The lady in question
is Lola Kirke as Jill LeBeau, the assistant to Hollywood It girl Heather Anderson, portrayed
by Zoë Kravitz's. One evening, Jill discovers Heather's lifeless body, the result of a gunshot
wound, slumped in pool of blood in her otherwise immaculate multi-million dollar mansion, and
she decides to embark on a mission to solve the mystery of her former boss' murder. Meanwhile,
Jill must also stay a step ahead of the relentlessly determined Detective Edward Ahn, played by
John Cho, who senses she's the one who committed the heinous crime. Can she? Or will the skeletons
Jill has long kept shoved in her closet finally break free?
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not yet."
Written, directed, and edited by award-winning independent filmmaker Aaron Katz, Gemini has
earned a mostly positive response with critics. They've dubbed the kaleidoscopic film "a piece
of clean, confident visual storytelling" and a "shimmering puzzler" that "warp[s] into
an unlikely detective story in the Cold Weather vein." If that description doesn't entice
you to catch this seriously underappreciated movie, what will?
Bomb City
One part pulpy crime story, one part heart-grabbing drama, Bomb City is a brilliant little film
that made a bang without the general public even noticing. The Jameson Brooks-directed
film stars Dave Davis as Brian, a punk music-obsessed teen from Amarillo, Texas who sticks out like
a mohawked thumb in his conservative town. Thankfully, there are a few other punks out
there who view Brian as a sort of mouthpiece for the movement. Sadly, there are an equal
number of bullying jocks who regularly clash with the punks. Tensions bubble below the
surface, then explode in a violent altercation that comes with a fatal consequence.
A native of Amarillo, director Brooks based Bomb City on the real-life story of the town's
violent confrontation between a group of punks and bullies. Not only does the film present
the tragedy of the violence in a truthful and harrowing light, it also serves as a reminder
that the American justice system isn't always moral. Not everyone is as unassuming or as
aggressive as their outward appearance may suggest.
Unsane
You may think you know director Steven Soderbergh, but you've never seen him like this before.
The mind behind films like Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, and Logan Lucky casts aside the
traditional trappings of filmmaking and embraces B-movie mojo with Unsane, a psychological
horror-thriller pic shot entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus.
The Crown actress Claire Foy leads the ambitious film as Sawyer Valentini, a financial analyst
who moved away from her hometown in an attempt to evade her longtime stalker, David Shrine,
played by Joshua Leonard. A confession to her therapist about her self-destructive thoughts
gets Sawyer a one-way ticket into a mental institution, where she's held for 24 hours
of observation. There, Sawyer is soon forced to confront her darkest fear while trapped
inside the institution's walls. The only question is: Is the fear real, or just a product of
her paranoia?
As disturbing as the experimental Unsane is, it didn't drum up as much buzz as you'd expect.
Still, though it's underappreciated by the masses, it hasn't gone without critical praise.
The New Yorker's Richard Brody calls Unsane "one of [Soderbergh's] best movies … the
very spark of his artistic passion." All the more reason to see it yourself.
You Were Never Really Here
Joaquin Phoenix is in top form in You Were Never Really Here, writer-director Lynne Ramsay's
film adaptation of Jonathan Ames' novel of the same name. Phoenix gives a darkly intense
performance as Joe, a former law enforcement agent and combat veteran struggling with post-traumatic
stress disorder. Joe lives out his post-FBI days as a hired gun, earning cash to support
himself and his ailing mother, played by Judith Roberts, by locating missing and trafficked
young girls. But he also experiences intense suicidal fantasies, one of which almost becomes
reality before his boss, played by John Doman, snaps him back to the surface world and tasks
him with finding 13-year-old Nina, the daughter of a state senator.
Though Joe is properly equipped for the violence of the job, what he isn't prepared for is
the triple-layer twist and searing horrors that await him.
Touted as "stark, sinewy, [and] slashed-to-the-bone," You Were Never Really Here is a "masterclass
in filmmaking" more than worthy of the type of global adulation its heavily-promoted cinematic
counterparts have received this year.
Sweet Country
Another blistering drama out of Australia, Sweet Country centers around Hamilton Morris
as middle-aged Aboriginal farmer Sam Kelly, who works for a preacher in the Northern Territory.
Sam and his family are sent to assist a cruel, ill-tempered war veteran named Harry March,
played by Ewen Leslie, in renovating his cattle yards in Alice Springs. As the two work together
to build the yards up, their relationship quickly deteriorates, coming to a chaotic
head when Sam fatally shoots Harry in an act of self-defense. As Sam flees across the unforgiving
Australian outback to outrun the relentless Sergeant Fletcher and his hunting party, the
truth behind the killing comes out. In response, the community is left to ponder whether capturing
Sam is justice or just vengeance.
We suspect most skipped out on the limited release of Sweet Country in favor of the widely
launched A Quiet Place, which made its massive debut on the same day, and that's a shame.
Beyond its engrossing visuals and rhythmic pacing, Sweet Country has captivated those
who did see it with its powerful and universal story that lingers long after the credits
have rolled.
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