Come and See
Directed by Elem Klimov
Starring: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, and Juri Lumiste
U.S. Theatrical Release Date: February 6, 1985
Available on FilmStruck

Often my daughter comes running to me in a state of pure excitement prompting me to either “come and see this” or “come and see that.” She’s undoubtedly enthralled by whatever it is that seems to have captivated her for that specific second. She’s a child with boundless wonder, finding everything very fascinating.

A similar childlike wonder is on display in the 1985 Russian film Come and See, which documents the ruthlessness of the Nazi forces as they tear their way through Belarus villages in 1943. Aptly titled, writer and director Elem Klimov‘s film is told totally from the perspective of a child. It just so happens the child, Florya (Aleksey Kravchenko), roughly 12 or 13 years old, is completely enraptured by war and the valor and courage that he believes comes with it. He can’t wait to tell his mom to “come and see what I’ll be doing.”

High Noon
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell, Lon Chaney Jr., Katy Jurado, Ian MacDonald, Lee Van Clef, Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley
Theatrical Release Date: July 30, 1952
Available now on Blu-ray

There it is, that faint, catchy tune written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, and sung by Tex Ritter that continuously makes its way back in High Noon. It’s beautiful, it’s in nearly every frame, and finally is pervading the entire film, pretty much conquering it. Do not forsake me oh my darling. There it is again. It’s a most haunting tune that astonishingly places us inside the head of Will Kane (Gary Cooper), a well respected marshal of a well established Wild West town desperately seeking to maintain its civilization rather than succumbing again to barbarism.

Eighth Grade
Written & directed by Bo Burnham
Starring: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Luke Prael, Catherine Oliviere
A24 Films
Rated R | 94 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: July 13, 2018

Eighth Grade shouldn’t be seen as a film quick to critique this generation’s youth or their obsessive reliance on technology and social media. Instead, the film allows us to experience what it’s like to grow up in this era where the most crucial provisions aren’t food and water, but, rather, likes, hashtags, and views that provide sufficient sustenance. This all gets in the way of genuine human interaction.

Director Bo Burnham‘s impressive feature film debut is uncontaminated by traditional narrative devices found in other high-school dramas depicting the coming-of-age story. His film is concerned with the present, but also has its sights always on the future. It gets deep inside the head of a 14-year-old girl who’s waiting for someone to call out and acknowledge her. No matter how hard she tries, she hardly succeeds. It’s a constantly elusive ideal to her, and it shouldn’t be searched for through gratification on social media.

Already halfway through the year and we have experienced some grand films (still need to check out Paul Schrader’s supposed masterpiece First Reformed). Such a reassuring fact since a lot of people proclaimed cinema to be dead a year ago or so. We have witnessed art house masterpieces, horror films that won’t soon be forgotten, and blockbuster films that proved to have big topics on their minds and a beating heart. But the best of the best so far this year were films that made their characters approach something that was guaranteed to frighten and shake some to their core on their way to discovering truths, even if they were hard to handle. Here are the Best Movies of 2018 … So Far, presented in alphabetical order with an additional ten honorable mentions.

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado
Directed by Stefano Sollima
Written by Tyler Sheridan
Starring: Josh Brolin, Benecio Del Toro, Isabela Moner, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Elijah Rodriguez, Jeffrey Donovan
Theatrical Release Date: June 29, 2018

“Adios,” a hitman ruthlessly tells a helpless man on the ground just before he’s about to unload a ton of shells into him. But before this, the hitman tells the man to put on his glasses so he can see who’s going to kill him. And this is the core of the Sicario films, wanting us to see clearly the violence encompassing us.

The enticing trait that the Sicario films (the first film was in 2015) maintain is their menacing sense of dread and impending doom that looms over them. Steady by steady the films tighten, introducing new dangers that squash previous ones, immediately fascinating its viewers with chaos and acquainting them with a sliver of hell while analyzing the War on Drugs.