It’s awards season for the movie industry. A time when actors kiss ass, directors gush, and spouses and lovers get an emotionally charged mention (both if you’re involved with Ewan McGregor).

I love going to the cinema. I’ve been forty-five times since August and nine times already during January and there’s still time to sneak in at least one more before the end of the month. I’ll give almost anything a go, and that has meant I have seen some unexpectedly strange and delightful pieces of cinema. It also means I’ve seen a lot of shit. Though in fairness to the Indy movies most of the shit has been $100 million dollar franchise stuff with big name “actors” attached (for “actors” read steroid fueled poster boys).

Winter is a time when the movie industry puts out a barrage of blockbusters hoping to capture an audience fed up with the cold weather and in need of two hours of escapism. They also send out the “serious” stuff. The low budget movies that are packed with tense scenes, hard-hitting subject matter, and actors squinting and huffing and gesticulating their way to award nomination glory.

I’ve watched nearly all of the movies that are picking up nominations or have already brought tears, fake surprise, occasional real surprise, and long drawn out speeches on glittery stages from the winners. With the Oscars still to come it appears that the initial front-runners aren’t going to get their way this season.

For what it’s worth (nothing) here’s my take on what has been notable in the movies this past year.

The worst movie of the year by far was ‘Predator’. I really have nothing good to say about this movie other than they managed to get the opening and closing credits in the correct order. ‘Replicas’ can be thankful that ‘Predator’ saved it from being the most desperately bad two hours of cinema in the last twelve months.

Other disappointments were: ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’, ‘Incredibles 2’, ‘White Boy Rick’, ‘The Girl in the Spiders Web’, and ‘Welcome to Marwen’. These were all movies that promised so much however fell way short of that promise.

Movies that surprised me or, which I thoroughly enjoyed without being blown away by them were: ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’, ‘The Equalizer 2’, ‘The Happytime Murders’, ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’, ‘First Man’, ‘Instant Family’, ‘Mary Queen of Scots’, and ‘On The Basis of Sex’. They all have their moments.

As for the big-hitters? There have been a few “surprise” winners already at the Golden Globes etc. namely ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘The Favourite’, and ‘Black Panther’. These are all thoroughly good movies… but winners?

As a huge Queen fan I enjoyed ‘BR’ even had a few chills during it but, it’s a deeply flawed movie as far as the facts and timeline are concerned. So, should it be winning awards? I don’t think so. ‘The Favourite’ is an excellent female led piece with great performances though it fell well short of the expectation that even the trailer gave. And then there’s ‘Black Panther’. I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have enjoyed every single movie in the series and have watched them all multiple times – I even watched ‘BP’ again last night. However, I don’t think it was even the best Marvel movie of 2018, that was ‘Infinity War’. I completely get the hype and the cultural baggage attached to ‘BP’ but, there are plenty of other movies which deal with the issues of POC in a better, deeper, and more worthy way. There’s ‘BlacKKKlansman’ for a start.

So, for me this past year at the movies was marked by the following films and performances.

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ fantastic action and a tremendous achievement to bring ten years worth of stories and characters to a climax.

‘Ralph Wrecks the Internet’ a hilarious animated sequel which is a rare thing (just look at ‘Incredibles 2’ for proof of how bad sequels can be).

‘BlacKKKlansman’ which I knew nothing about when I bought the ticket. It had me gripping the arms of my seat in frustration and dismay at the shocking lack of progress we have made during all these years with its final scene

And ‘A Star is Born’ which had terrific performances from Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as well as a stunning soundtrack. That Cooper learned to play guitar, sing, and use an inflection on his voice while doing so, as well as deal with his debut directing role was remarkable.

While on the matter of performances I think this was a year that had some great award worthy performances in what weren’t necessarily in award winning movies.

Ryan Gosling was excellent in ‘First Man’, Steve Carell proved he can act in two movies that disappointed ‘Beautiful Boy’ & ‘Welcome to Marwen’, all three lead actresses (Colman, Weisz, and Stone) were great in ‘The Favourite’ which was sadly less than the sum of its parts. Clint Eastwood impressed in ‘The Mule’. Viggo Mortenson surprised me in ‘Green Book’. Christian Bale did what he does in ‘Vice’. And Melissa McCarthy had emotional depth in ‘Can You Ever forgive Me’ (see the opposite – but equally enjoyable – in ‘The Happytime Murders).

Two performances struck me as brilliant though. Both of them within the last week and neither of them will be among the nominations at the glitzy awards nights.

James McAvoy for his multiple personality portrayal in ‘Glass’ – the second time he’s played the part and a huge step forward from even his first time as the character(s) in ‘Split’. He was sublime. There’s one scene where McAvoy is switching between personalities in the presence of Samuel L. Jackson’s character. Sam has a smile grow on his face during the scene and I’m honestly not sure it was scripted. I like to think he was just enjoying James McAvoy’s performance.

And Steve Coogan in his portrayal of Stan Laurel in ‘Stan & Ollie’. It’s an affectionate, subtle, and spot on performance which will sadly go mostly unseen, and thus sadly unappreciated. He should feel very proud.

It’s been a decent year for the cinema. There’s been deep emotional pieces, some terrific individual displays, huge blockbusters, and a few movies that will stand the test of time.

Movie of the year for me? – ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Movie of the year for me that has a chance of winning any “award recognition”? – ‘A Star is Born’ though, sadly I think it will miss out on the big prizes to movies that have pinched the political nerve.