The Best Movies of 2018

Roma is the best-reviewed movie of 2018

In 2017, when we ranked the best directors of the current century so far, Alfonso Cuarón placed first with a 87.5 average Metascore. So it's hard to call his latest film his "masterpiece" given that he's already made so many acclaimed films. And, yet, it appears that Cuarón has made his masterpiece.

The director's black-and-white, Spanish-language Netflix drama Roma is 2018's highest-scoring film. (Unsurprisingly, it's also dominating critics' year-end top 10 lists.) It's the first time since 2011 that a foreign-language narrative film has taken the top spot in our year-end chart. All that's left to determine is whether Roma will become the second #1 film in three years (following 2016's Moonlight) to win best picture at the Oscars—though, it should be noted, no foreign-language film has ever done so.

Multiple critics recently noted that 2018 was a good year for film, and the numbers bear that out. It was the fourth consecutive year in which the number of truly outstanding films—marked by Metascores of 90 or higher—was in the double digits. In fact, there were 15 such films in 2018, setting an all-time record. (See the chart below.)

A total of 604 films released during 2018 received at least seven reviews from top professional critics. Of those, 351 received positive reviews from critics (scoring 61 or higher). That's an impressive 58% approval rate, though it's down slightly from 2017's percentage of 59%.

For the second consecutive year, a total of 69 of those films received a Metascore of 81 or higher, the cutoff we use to indicate "universal acclaim" from reviewers. The average Metascore for all films released in 2018 was 62.1, which is a few tenths of a point shy of the average in 2017. At the other end of the scale, just four films scored lower than 20, again matching 2017's figure. Are we in the beginning of a new golden age of cinema, or is this just a two-year fluke? Ask us again a year from now.

Total number of films scoring at least 90, by year

The year's best films

Below are 2018's highest-scoring overall films regardless of genre, followed by separate lists of the year's best movies in a variety of categories.

Highest-Scoring Movies Released in 2018

Movie Score Watch Now 1 Roma 96    2 Amazing Grace 95    3 Shoplifters 93    4 Shoah: Four Sisters 93    5 Minding the Gap 93    6 They Shall Not Grow Old 92    7 The Rider 92    8 Gavagai 91    9 A Bread Factory Part Two: Walk With Me a While 91    10 A Bread Factory Part One: For the Sake of Gold 91    11 Cold War 91    12 The Favourite 90    13 Burning 90    14 Eighth Grade 90    15 The Tale 90    16 Zama 89    17 Dead Souls 89    18 The Death of Stalin 88    19 Crime + Punishment 88 20 Paddington 2 88    21 A Star Is Born 88    22 Leave No Trace 88    23 Shirkers 88    24 Museo 88    25 Black Panther 88    26 Sweet Country 87    27 Jane Fonda in Five Acts 87    28 Can You Ever Forgive Me? 87    29 En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) 87    30 Hereditary 87    31 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 87    32 Bisbee '17 87    33 If Beale Street Could Talk 87    34 Mission: Impossible – Fallout 86    35 Happy as Lazzaro 86    36 Support the Girls 85    37 Tea with the Dames 85    38 First Reformed 85    39 Won't You Be My Neighbor? 85    40 McQueen 84    41 We the Animals 84    42 You Were Never Really Here 84    43 Widows 84    44 Love After Love 84    45 First Man 84    46 On Her Shoulders 84    47 Custody 83    48 The Guilty 83    49 Who We Are Now 83    50 Private Life 83    51 BlacKkKlansman 83    52 Free Solo 83    53 Thunder Road 83    54 Ava 82    55 A Quiet Place 82    56 The Waldheim Waltz 82    57 John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection 82    58 Araby 82    59 Isle of Dogs 82    60 Mountain 82    61 Life and Nothing More 82    62 The Hate U Give 82    63 Western 81    64 Mandy 81    65 Three Identical Strangers 81    66 Revenge 81    67 Summer 1993 81    68 The Guardians 81    69 Mirai 81    70 Hale County This Morning, This Evening 80    71 Sorry to Bother You 80    72 Incredibles 2 80    73 Nossa Chape 80    74 I Am Not a Witch 80    75 Lean on Pete 80    76 Claire's Camera 80    77 The Endless 80    78 Liyana 80    79 The Old Man & the Gun 80    80 Wildlife 80      The Great Buddha+ 80    82 Annihilation 79    83 November 79    84 Science Fair 79    85 Night Comes On 79    86 The Other Side of the Wind 79    87 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 79    88 Let the Sunshine In 79    89 Angels Wear White 78    90 The Green Fog 78    91 The Sisters Brothers 78    92 The Grief of Others 78    93 At Eternity's Gate 78    94 In Between 78    95 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 78    96 Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? 78    97 Goldstone 78    98 Hitler's Hollywood 78    99 Blindspotting 77    100 Have a Nice Day 77

For this and all tables in this article, only movies with seven or more reviews and released in at least one theater (or on a streaming service) in the United States between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 were considered. Re-releases of older films are excluded. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). Although scores have been rounded to the nearest whole number, movies are ranked prior to rounding. All scores in this article are from January 2, 2019.

Best 2018 Films in Selected Genres

2018's Best Documentaries 1 Amazing Grace 95    2 Shoah: Four Sisters 93    3 Minding the Gap 93    4 They Shall Not Grow Old 92    5 Dead Souls 89    6 Crime + Punishment 88    7 Shirkers 88    8 Jane Fonda in Five Acts 87 9 Bisbee '17 87    10 Tea with the Dames 85    11 Won't You Be My Neighbor? 85    12 McQueen 84    13 On Her Shoulders 84    14 Free Solo 83    15 The Waldheim Waltz 82    16 John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection 82    17 Mountain 82    18 Three Identical Strangers 81    19 Hale County This Morning, This Evening 80    20 Nossa Chape 80    21 Liyana 80    22 Science Fair 79    23 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 78    24 Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? 78    25 Hitler's Hollywood 78

2018's Best Foreign-Language Films (Live-action narrative films only) 1 Roma 96    2 Shoplifters 93    3 Gavagai 91    4 Cold War 91    5 Burning 90    6 Zama 89    7 Museo 88    8 Happy as Lazzaro 86    9 Custody 83    10 The Guilty 83    11 Ava 82    12 Araby 82    13 Western 81    14 Summer 1993 81    15 The Guardians 81    16 I Am Not a Witch 80    17 Claire's Camera 80    18 The Great Buddha+ 80    19 November 79    20 Let the Sunshine In 79    21 Angels Wear White 78    22 In Between 78    23 On Body and Soul 77    24 24 Frames 76    25 Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts 76

2018's Best Animated Films 1 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 87    2 Isle of Dogs 82    3 Mirai 81    4 Incredibles 2 80    5 Have a Nice Day 77    6 Mary and The Witch's Flower 75    7 Tehran Taboo 74    8 Big Fish & Begonia 72    9 Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms 72    10 Ralph Breaks the Internet 71

2018's Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero Films (English-language, live action) 1 Black Panther 88    2 The Endless 80    3 Annihilation 79    4 I Kill Giants 74    5 Ant-Man and the Wasp 70    6 Prospect 68    7 Avengers: Infinity War 68    8 Upgrade 67    9 Bumblebee 67    10 Deadpool 2 66

2018's Best Horror Films and Supernatural Thrillers 1 Hereditary 87    2 A Quiet Place 82    3 Mandy 81    4 Revenge 81    5 The Endless 80    6 Annihilation 79    7 Cam 71    8 Ghost Stories 68    9 The Little Stranger 67    10 Halloween 67

What about the year's worst movies?

For one thing, the year's worst movie was historically bad. Find the 15 most awful titles released in 2018 in the gallery below:

What are your favorites?

What are your selections for the best and worst movies of the past year? Let us know in the comments section below.

If you are looking for even more of 2018's best films, be sure to check out our compilation of nearly 300 film critic top 10 lists as well as our 2018 Film Awards Scorecard.