Top 10 Films of 2018

10) First Reformed

Ethan Hawke goes green

As only Schrader would think:

God’s taxi driver

9) Hereditary

Artist loses head

When daughter loses her head

Demons are the worst

8) 120 BPM

Click your fingers and

Act Up, throw pig’s blood, shout loud

Fight to save your life

7) Cold War

Love in black and white

Here, there, and everywhere

Polish misery

6) Isle of Dogs

Wes returns to form

Dog lovers of the world – cheer!

(Frost on windowpane)

5) A Quiet Place

Don’t make a sound, and

watch where you step, and accept

kids are your downfall

4) Mission: Impossible – Fallout

A chase, by car, bike,

chopper, on foot, and truly

THE FIGHT for an age

3) Goldstone

Strong silent type cop

ruffles rich Outback feathers

in odd homecoming

2) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Woody H insists

Truth in Advertising has

gone too damn far here

1) The Old Man and the Gun

‘Over the hill’ gang:

Repartee a specialty,

Catch them if you can

You Have Been Listening To…

It is time to discreetly begin to draw the curtains for Christmas. There will be no more reviews by me of new releases on Dublin City FM 103.2 this year. But here’s a round-up of links to the previous editions of Sunday Breakfast with Patrick Doyle and a list of the films we discussed on each one if you’re eager to explore the back catalogue.

JUNE

Jurassic World 2

Hereditary + TV Choice Sicario + Classic The Living Daylights

 

 

JULY

Sicario 2 + TV Choice Alien + Classic Once Upon a Time in the West

The First Purge + TV Choice Three Kings  + Classic The Truman Show

Hotel Artemis + TV Choice Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation  + Classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers ’78

Mission: Impossible – Fallout + TV Choice X-2  + Classic The War of the Worlds ’53

 

 

AUGUST

Ant-Man and the Wasp + TV Choice Nightcrawler  + Classic Star Trek IV

The Meg + TV Choice Fruitvale Station + Classic Heathers

 

 

SEPTEMBER

Searching + TV Choice Vertigo + Classic The Age of Innocence

The Seagull + TV Choice Dredd + Classic Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday

The Predator + TV Choice Die Hard + Classic Superman

Mile 22 + TV Choice The Nice Guys + Classic From Russia, with Love

Cold War + TV Choice Bone Tomahawk + Classic The Birds

 

 

OCTOBER

Venom + TV Choice Hell or High Water + Classic The Dark Knight

Hallowe’en ’18 + Hallowe’en ’78 + Donnie Darko + Scream

 

NOVEMBER

Juliet, Naked + TV Choice Bridge of Spies + Classic The Invisible Man

Widows + TV Choice Goldeneye + Classic Jurassic Park

Overlord + TV Choice JFK + Classic Billy Liar

Assassination Nation + TV Choice The Martian + Classic Sherlock Holmes in Washington

 

DECEMBER

The Camino Voyage + TV Choice Gideon of Scotland Yard + Classic Rope

Notes on Hereditary

Hereditary is the horror film proving perfect counterprogramming for the World Cup. Here are some notes on’t, prepared for Dublin City FM’s Sunday Breakfast with Patrick Doyle early this morning.

Ari Aster makes an impressive debut as writer/director, but while the marketing pushes it as this generation’s Exorcist there’s actually a lot more of The Shining in Hereditary’s cinematic DNA. Toni Collette is the parent going mad in a huge house, constructed on a soundstage to allow for fluid tracking shots, with much unnerving imagery and fear so intense that terrified screams remain silent. Aster is an incredibly patient director. There are a lot sustained close-ups of reaction shots before the camera slowly pans to reveal the source of the character’s terror. And, like Sinister, you find yourself an hour into the movie having been scared profoundly by tricks of the light or perfectly natural accidents or coincidences, nothing supernatural. But then Aster puts his foot down on the pedal and, as all films like The Babadook must it sees, abandons the terror of ambiguity for the terror of supernatural mayhem. Although it must be noted tremendous unease is generated simply by jarring jump transitions between the same locations in Utah at night and morning.

Hereditary at its best is imbued with a sense of creeping unease, and a profound fear on the part of Toni Collette’s character that the mental health problems that have afflicted her family are flaring up in her under the extreme stress of bereavement. Hereditary may indeed be a film for an older audience than the teen horrors like Truth or Dare that are a staple at the multiplexes, as the true horror that is the subtext of what it fantastically depicts needs some life experience to fully hit home with any sort of jolt of recognition. Not everybody has skeletons as extreme as schizophrenia or disassociative identity disorder lurking in their family closet but depression is a black dog that finds a home most anywhere. Collette is outstanding in the lead as an artist trying to process the multiplying horrors of her life by sublimating them into a gallery show, but constantly dealing with the nerve-shredding anxiety – are these things really happening or am I just going crazy like my mother and my brother?

I didn’t get to chat about all of these points, but we did cover most of them. Tune into 103.2 FM to hear Patrick Doyle’s breakfast show every Sunday on Dublin City FM, and catch up with his excellent Classical Choice programme on Mixcloud now.