Bumblebee

A prequel to the previous five installments in the Transformers film series, Bumblebee is set in the 1980s, centers entirely around Bumblebee, and is the first film not directed by Michael Bay but he does return as a producer. The Autobot lands on Earth and when fighting a Decepticon ends up losing his voice and memories as he befriends a young girl who takes him in. As Bumblebee remembers his mission Optimus Prime instructed him, more Decepticons arrive and trick the American military in helping them find their opposing combatant. With Travis Knight taking over as director and the first film in the series written by a woman, this entry has a fresh new look that doesn't't try too much with explosions or overuse of CGI as well as a better written story with well developed characters that don't feel too over the top and with girls over sexualized as before. As it takes place in the 80s not only are there countless references to the period and lots of music used, a lot of the Transformers have their original designs from when they were first introduced rather than what they looked like in the previous films. Though some of that does hurt as it relies too much on music to remind us when it's set and some of the designs look a bit boxy. The performances from the live action actors like Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, and John Ortiz and the voice acting from Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, and others are all really good, though Cena acts a bit over the top at times and feels more like he would be better in the Bay directed films. One thing that hurts this entry is that its attempt at being a slower paced film compared to the last films means that it can take forever for something significant to happen even with the shorter running time, but the scenes where Bumblebee and Steinfeld's Charlie are bonding are mostly really fun and sweet and remind some of films like The Iron Giant. Over all: 100%

2018 top list so far:
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

2. Halloween 2018

3. Won't You Be My Neighbor?/BlacKkKlansman (tie)

4. Incredibles 2

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

7. Bumblebee

8. Ralph Breaks the Internet

9. Creed II

10. Bohemian Rhapsody

11. Solo: A Star Wars Story

12. A Quiet Place
13. Deadpool 2

14. Black Panther

15. A Star Is Born 2018

16. Ant-Man and the Wasp

17. Ready Player One

18. Aquaman

19. Bad Times at the El Royale

20. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

21. Ocean's 8

22. Isle of Dogs

23. Game Night

24. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

25. Venom

26. Thoroughbreds

27. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

28. The Predator

29. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom