David Farnor | On 01, Jan 2019

2018 may well go down in history as the year in which VOD changed everything. Some of the most exciting movie releases of the last 12 months – Annihilation, Roma – have been on Netflix, while some of the most impressive and acclaimed – You Were Never Really Here, Cold War – have been supported by Amazon Studios. Most exciting of all is the fact that at the start of 2019, all of them can be quickly accessed online legally, streamed with ease, affordability and flexibility. For the first time in history, one of frontrunners for Best Picture at the Oscars can be watched on a phone on the toilet anywhere in the world. At the same time, streaming services have given a platform to some of the most interesting voices from around the globe, giving us Shirkers as well as The Tale. And, on top of it all, there was also the debut of Bandersnatch, an interactive feature-length film from Black Mirror.

What will 2019 hold in store, as Disney launches its own SVOD service, Netflix teams up with Martin Scorsese, and Hollywood and cinemas continue to negotiate a way to close the theatrical window? It starts off with you catching up with any of last year’s best films you missed – so we rounded up our writers to vote for their top movies of 2018. Here’s the result, plus where you can find them online to stream:

You Were Never Really Here (Amazon Prime)

“Lynne Ramsay has refashioned a crime drama (based on a novella by Jonathan Ames) to suit her own artistic expression and aesthetic interests. In many ways, this is a daring piece of cinema that uses a cinematic box of tricks not just to explore a man’s life with post-traumatic stress, but express the dizziness and agony through editing and surreal grace notes. Ramsay hops, skips, dances, tangos and pirouettes around all genre expectations.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Lucky (Buy/Rent)

“Actor-turned-director John Carroll Lynch makes an impressive feature debut with this charming and affecting indie drama that’s simultaneously heart-warming, wryly funny and tinged with melancholy. It’s co-written by Drago Sumonja and Logan Sparks, the latter an old friend of actor Harry Dean Stanton, and their script is intended as a swansong to Stanton, drawing biographical details from his life and subtly referencing a number of his films.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Shirkers (Netflix UK)

“In 1992, Sandi Tan and two friends made a cult classic of modern Singaporean cinema. Or, at least, they would have, if their film wasn’t stolen from them. The trio found their filmmaking dream taken away by Georges Cardona, their enigmatic collaborator from the USA. A tutor, friend, and fellow artist, he was their trusted confidante and creative partner… until he vanished with all of their 16mm stock. Shirkers is Tan’s quest to find out what happened. This dazzlingly personal meta-documentary is a cult classic literally in the making.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Cold War (Buy/Rent)

“Pawel Pawlikowski’s soulful love story set in the years after WWII is another artistic triumph for the Brit-Polish director.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

A Quiet Place (Buy/Rent)

“John Krasinski’s terrifyingly taut survival thriller is so good you’ll be shouting about it for weeks.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Annihilation (Netflix UK)

“This strange, beautiful, cerebral sci-fi cements Alex Garland as one of genre cinema’s finest living practitioners.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Hereditary (Buy/Rent)

“This haunting study of family grief and inherited fear is a heart-wrenching, heart-racing horror.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

120 BPM (Sky Cinema / NOW)

“This portrait of the ACT UP movement is an intellectual drama, political thriller and living tragedy in a powerfully urgent package.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

The Florida Project (Amazon Prime)

“Sean Baker’s follow-up to Tangerine is a real peach of a film. A portrait of life on the fringes of America’s buzzing tourist hotspot of Disney World, The Florida Project spends its days not riding the rollercoasters, but trying to make ends meet in a rundown motel – a candy-coloured building that houses rotten dreams from all walks of life.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

A Ghost Story (Netflix UK)

“This profound tale of a timeless bond between two souls is a love story in the most haunting sense.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

BlacKkKlansman (Buy/Rent)

“Spike Lee’s uncomfortably entertaining comedy viciously skewers modern American politics with a hammer.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Buy/Rent)

“The Mission: Impossible franchise jumps to new heights with a gripping, astonishing piece of action cinema.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Call Me By Your Name (Sky Cinema / NOW)

“This swooning ode to first love is impossibly ravishing cinema.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Roma (Netflix UK)

“Alfonso Cuaron’s personal love letter to the woman who raised him is an epic with a heart on its sleeve.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Paddington 2 (Amazon Prime)

“Crafted with care, warmth and a huge dose of affection for the original books, this sequel is a perfect antidote to the harsh intolerance of the real world. The flawless family comedy will make you laugh, cry and fall in love with Hugh Grant. What more could you want?”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Phantom Thread (Sky Cinema / NOW)

“Paul Thomas Anderson’s romantic antidote to tortured male artists is a swooning, darkly comic masterpiece.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Lady Bird (Sky Cinema / NOW)

“Greta Gerwig finds profound universality in everyday specifics with this heartfelt coming-of-age gem.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

The Shape of Water (Sky Cinema / NOW)

“There’s nothing fishy about this gorgeously old-school Hollywood romance, which just so happens to star a giant fish monster.”

Read our review – plus where to watch it online

Also recommended:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix UK)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Avengers: Infinity War (Sky Cinema / NOW)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

I, Tonya (Amazon Prime)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (Sky Cinema / NOW)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Game Night (Sky Cinema / NOW)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

The Endless (Netflix UK)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Blade Runner 2049 (Sky Cinema / NOW)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

The Tale (Buy/Rent)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

The Witch in the Window (Shudder UK)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

The Breadwinner (Amazon Prime)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Black Panther (Sky Cinema / NOW)
Our review – plus where to watch it online

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Netflix UK)
Read our review – and where to watch it online.

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