Enlarge (credit: Marvel Studios/Universal Pictures/Sony)

Before we begin talking about films in 2018, we’ve already saved you some trouble by snapping once and making the year’s disappointing films disappear. Adios, Avengers Infinity War. So long, Solo. Arrivederci, Ready Player One.

Agree or disagree all you want, but our list of favorite 2018 films already has a ton of quality fare without those big-ticket entries. Like last year, we’re mostly skipping the numbered list, especially since we are not a comprehensive film-review site. Our list, like our usual coverage, blends Ars’ love of science, tech, data, research, huge beasts, faithful comic adaptations, and lasers. Let’s dig in. (Thanks to Ars’ Nathan Mattise for contributing to this list.)

Killer docs

We begin with a category that can get lost in the year-end shuffle: documentaries. Some of the nation’s best tech conferences and festivals include documentary screenings, so we were fortunate to catch quite a few stellar non-fiction films throughout 2018.