By Emilio Frenk.
2018 was a year that indeed brought very good films but also delivered some of them that weren´t not so good and were very disappointing. Here are the Worst films of 2018:
10. The Nun
From “The Conjuring” universe comes “The Nun” and this was a huge disappointment for horror film lovers. This film was a complete mess, the pace was too slow and Corin Hardy´s filmmaking did not deliver at all. The characters were completely empty and the film was excessively predictable. Like most of horror films yes, you have some jumps at some seats but that was it. Most of the film is laughable and for fans of “The Conjuring” franchise I´m sure that they were disappointed with this installment.
9. Breaking In.
James McTeigue´s thriller “Breaking In” was one of the most over the top, ridicoulous and stupid films of 2018. The premise of the film lack of complete originality, the main villain in this film didn´t transmit anything whatsoever. Gabrielle Union`s was unconvincing and I didn´t buy her character a single thing.
From the beginning to the end of the movie we knew exactly what was going to happen and how it was going to end for the characters. For this kind of genre you need to have compelling characters and I feel that “Breaking In” didn´t have anything. I think the film could have had a lot of potential but unfortunately it was not the case here.
8. Overboard
As usual every year we see remakes of films and here we did it with “Overboard”, based on the film of 1987 directed by the late Garry Marshall and stars Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris. Marshall´s film was a sweet, touching and funny but this version of “Overboard” lacked of humor. Yes, there were some scenes that were funny but I just didn´t see the chemistry between Derbez and Faris at all in this picture. The only difference in this version is that the female is the dominate one and basically that´s it. Predictable and lack of originality were the synonyms of this remake.
7. Peppermint
Pierre Morel´s action film starring Jennifer Garner had one of the most stupid titles on an action film. This movie could have had potential to be a good action movie but it was not the case. It was filled by too many mistakes and errors in terms of narrative that makes “From Paris with Love”, also directed by Morel a good movie compared to this one. Some of the action sequences were fine but that´s it. Jennifer Garner´s performance was the only good thing about “Peppermint” but the film had elements that were all over the place and it was a complete mess.
6. A Wrinkle in Time
The expectations for this film were huge and unfortunately Ava DuVernay failed on delivering a good movie. She is without a doubt one of the most versatile women filmmakers and she has made memorable films like “Selma” and “13th”. This movie had the potential to be a good one due to the cast but again the actors won´t save your film, no matter how hard you try unless you have a solid story.
I admire DuVernay´s courage on taking over an ambitious project but again it did not work for her. I hope this is a huge learning lesson for her and I´m convinced that she will learn from the mistakes of this project and deliver a better film.
5. Mile 22
I had high expectations on this film since Peter Berg´s last movies (“Patriots Day”, “Deepwater Horizon” and “Lone Survivor”) were great. Berg is back with Mark Wahlberg in this film but this time the film was atrocious. The action sequences were not very well created and in terms of narrative the movie was all over the place. Nothing happened and it had one of the worst and laughable endings I have seen in an action film for a long time. “Mile 22” indeed was really bad and I hope this is a learning lesson for both Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg.
4. Kin
For starters I am very surprised that this movie even had a theatrical release. This movie should have been straight to video on demand. It didn´t transmit anything, the visual effects were sloppy and it was a complete waste. And having Michael B. Jordan at the end of your movie was a complete laugh; this is what happens when you have a movie that doesn´t transmit anything and at the end of the film we finally knew the origins of the main character. I´m surprised that James Franco was in this film and I didn´t know he was in it until I saw the credits in the movie. This is by far one of the most laughable science fiction films of 2018 and it was everything but memorable.
3.A.X.L.
I´m sure you´re wondering what does this mean? Well, the answer is Attack, Exploration, Logistics. This three words were in a robotic dog in this film directed by Oliver Daly. This film was bad from beginning to end. The main character, which happens to be a motocross racer played by Alex Neustaedter is empty and so is the dog A.X.L. which happens to be a specific prototype. I knew what I was getting into when I saw this film but still I gave it the benefit of doubt. The film was laughable and even kids where bored to death in this film. People walked out and I don´t blame them. This film only lasted a week in the movie theaters and the answer is very obvious. The story lacked of depth and the film itself was empty. This is one of the major disasters of 2018.
2. Fifty Shades Freed
The only thing I can say about this franchise is: !Thank God it´s Over! No more Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Despite of it´s commercial success, this film was ultimately a disaster and an insult towards movies at general . Of the three films I can say that this is the one I have enjoyed the most because of it´s comedic elements. The dialogue was so over the top and ridicoulous that practically you are watching a comedy. Like the other two this was so predictable and there was no way to avoid a catastrophy with this installment. Everything started from the first film of 2015, which was one of the year´s worst film and concluded with this one. This movie has to be in this list not only as one of the worst films of 2018 but one of the worst franchises in film history.
Dishonorable Mentions:
The Nutcraker and The Four Realms, The Predator, Death Wish, The 15:17 to Paris, Winchester, Proud Mary, The Strangers: Prey at Night, I Feel Pretty, Venom and Pacific Rim: Uprising.
1. The Happytime Murders
This is by far the worst movie of 2018. Director Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson directed a film that not only wasn´t funny but it was vulgar at all proportions. I was expecting to see a better film since Brian Henson has been doing things in Television that were good that involved the Muppet Universe but here he failed and badly. I did not laugh a single moment in this movie and the pacing played a huge role in this. Todd Berger wrote a movie thinking that it was going to be funny but it wasn´t and it could have been a film with a lot of potential but both the directing and writing were really bad. This by far is one of Melissa McCarthy´s worst films but in a positive note she had a really good movie with Can You Ever Forgive Me?, where she delivered a powerhouse performance and might lead her to a potential Academy Award Nomination.
If you have any suggestions, comments or movies that were as bad that I just mentioned please feel free to share and see you soon in this space with more upcoming reviews.