Today the countdown of my favorite films of 2018 comes to a close with my #2 and #1 picks. First, a recap of the list so far:
10. First Reformed
9. Black Panther
8. Support the Girls
7. Crazy Rich Asians
6. The Favourite
5. Isle of Dogs
4. Minding the Gap
3. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
There isn’t much suspense over my top two films, as I’ve written pretty extensively about both of them on the blog already. So I won’t go into a lot of detail here.
I’m never disappointed when a Beck song pops up on Random Weekends. No matter the album or the track, it’s going to be interesting and entertaining.
‘Youthless’ is a cut from the 2008 album Modern Guilt, a record I’d rank near the middle of the pack of Beck’s discography. That still makes it better than most albums by most artists.
It’s crazy how artists quietly put together careers that start to feel like legacies. Take Beck, who still has the impish charm of the nerd-punk who crashed MTV with “I’m a Loser,” yet somehow is entering his 25th year as a recording artist.
This year’s Colors is Beck’s 13th studio album, released three years after the unlikely Album of the Year Grammy winner Morning Phase. Somehow, this is the first traditional pop album he’s recorded. Or at least as traditional as an oddball like Beck can get.
Our next Montauk Madness matchup pits somebody it’s very cool to like against somebody it’s very uncool to like. Beck, meet John Mayer.
I’m a big fan of both of these guys, so I’ll try to keep the hipness factor out of my vote. I realize that appreciating John Mayer is not great for my street cred, but I think anybody who dismisses his musical chops or his songwriting ability is mistaken. Sure, the guy can be a smug prick and some of his songs veer too close to maudlin, but so many more are spot-on.
While we wait patiently for Beck’s 13th studio album, his first since 2014’s Grammy-winning Morning Phase, let’s enjoy a blast from the past in the form of ‘Peaches & Cream,’ a cut from his 1999 album Midnite Vultures.
Midnite Vultures, released in the midst of Y2K paranoia, before we lost our national innocence on 9/11, is a blissed-out vision of white boy funk on which Beck very effectively channels Prince.
Meet Me In Montauk 