The Worst 7 Movies I Saw in 2018

I've seen 67 movies so far that are of 2018, which is a little low for me at this point in the year. I was going to do a Worst Ten, but in trying to come up with that number, I had some movies I thumbed down but wouldn't go so far as to put them on a Worst list. Plus there are a lot of scathingly-reviewed movies this year that I just didn't see, nor do I plan to. (Winchester, Fifty Shades Freed, Action Point, Slender Man, The Happytime Murders, Peppermint, Hunter Killer, Robin Hood, Mortal Engines, Welcome to Marwen, Holmes & Watson are among the suspected bad movies that I just didn't see.)

So of what I did see, these were the worst.

7. THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX - This was intended for theaters, but at the last second it became a Netflix release. It was a viewing hit and it had an interesting cast, but it wound up being a rip-off mish-mash of Interstellar, Arrival, and Alien in all of the worst ways.

6. A WRINKLE IN TIME - Loved the book as a kid. Deeply disappointed in this adaptation that cared more about special effects than heart. I liked the kid actors and Chris Pine, but the three Mrs. (Oprah, Reese and Mindy) never quite sunk into the ethereal quirkiness of their characters, and it felt like a series of CGI scenes strung together rather than one great adventure.

5. STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT - The first movie played with minimal suspense well. This one strained credibility, as the Strangers seem to be able to teleport, which makes them less scary.

4. GRINGO - This is one of those movies where it feels like a bunch of favors were called in. Director Nash Edgerton gets more talent than the script warrants, with his brother Joel, Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Amanda Seyfried, Sharlto Copley, and more in this disjointed black comedy about corporate greed. Oyelowo is game as the fish out of water, a Nigerian-American immigrant stuck in Mexico, and he has a decent chemistry with Copley as a hitman. That's about it.

3. THE NUN - The Conjuring universe is hit or miss. This was a miss. The movie is so darkly lit, I had a hard time seeing what was going on. The only decent jump-scare was in the trailer, and that's what this movie is: a series of ineffective jump-scares.

2. THE 15:17 TO PARIS - Director Clint Eastwood made a bold move to have the three real-life heroes play themselves. It wound up being a massive miscalculation. This is easily the worst movie he's ever directed. If you're really curious about it, the last 15 minutes are good. Everything before that is painful. Even normally good actresses like Judy Greer and Jenna Fischer come off badly.

1. TERMINAL - Margot Robbie's pet project is long on style and short on substance. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, but it's full of scenes that don't feel connected, and then a twist ending that requires eight minutes of explanatory dialogue so convoluted, it makes the whole affair feel like a pointless exercise.