2018 so far: best surprise and biggest disappointment?

surprise: Upgrade. Mainly because I went into it totally blind.

disappointment: Isle of Dogs and First Reformed. I liked both, but was expecting much more from each.

Surprise: Blockers

Disappointment: Isle of Dogs

Surprise - Early Man
Disappointment - Incredibles 2

Best Surprise : Upgrade (like Viced mentioned , I too went into this film totally blind and was just looking to kill a couple of hours but came away really impressed by it. )

Biggest Disappointment: either Hereditary (because of all the glowing reviews , thought it was just avg/mediocre ) or Mute (come on Duncan , you can do better than that!)

Surprise: A Quiet Place - This should have been another cheap, terrible jump scare factory, but it’s so much scarier than it had any right to be.

Disappointment: Mute - Duncan Jones, sir, you had NO excuse!

Best Surprise: Thoroughbreds
Loved the hell out of it

Biggest Disappointment: You Were Never Really Here
Don't even know where to begin with this one. I've never been a fan of Ramsay (Ratcatcher is fine if a bit uninvolving, Kevin is pretentious as hell) but I was really looking forward to this film. I liked the marketing, I like Joaquin, I liked the music, I liked that it looked like they were going for a sleek, grimy, atmospheric crime thriller because I like those kinds of movies, but boy did I misjudge this film's intentions. It's basically a depressive character study by way of a crime thriller, but the plot elements are so laughably implausible that they overwhelm the rest of the film. I get that this is supposed to Joaquin's show, but I can't be bothered to give a shit about the nuances of his character's development when everything around him is so mind-numbingly unrealistic. Nothing in this movie made sense. Everything involving the sex traffickers (i.e. every scene not involving Joaquin self-harming, which is most of the movie) is some seriously eye-rolling shit, and the crazier the plot becomes, the more it feels like Ramsay & co. are manufacturing cheap external conflict to drive the character arc instead of finding ways to do it organically. In other words, the laws of the universe don't apply in this film because they aren't compatible with Ramsay's vision. I hate movies like that.

The movie's vivid artistic style gives it an air of pretentiousness that pounds the final nail into the film's coffin. Taken on their own, the technical aspects of this film are quite impressive, but juxtaposed against the vapid screenplay they mostly serve to highlight the movie's narrative shortcomings while signifying some grander meaning or purpose that simply doesn't translate AT ALL. I'd hate the film less if it wasn't trying so hard.

And then there's all these strange little moments like that hand-holding sing-a-long on a kitchen floor following a home invasion, shooting, and interrogation...because this movie is artistic and cerebral as fuck

Seriously fuck this movie. I know pretty much everyone here likes it, but I can't get beyond the lazy, manufactured external conflict. It's super distracting how uninterested this film is in being believable.

Surprise: Upgrade
Disappointment: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Surprise - Tag

Disappointment - I really didn't like the last half of Hereditary but it was still a fine film. I'd say that god awful Kaalakandi.

Surprise: Tag, Infinity War is close, but I expected to really like it anyway, the direction Marvel went with it though, was very shocking.
Disappointment: Mute