20 Best Movies Of 2018

16. Tully

Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Young Adult) enjoyed a major return to form after a few dubious efforts with this heartfelt love letter to the highs and lows of motherhood, topped by a Charlize Theron performance that, in a just world, would be a Best Actress Oscar front-runner right now.

Writer Diablo Cody steps away from her self-consciously affected shtick and instead offers up an achingly humanistic, deeply probing look at what it means to be a woman and a mother in 2018.

In addition to Theron, Mackenzie Davis is also splendid as the titular nanny, and Ron Livingston is depressingly believable as Theron's diffuse husband.

The third-act plot twist won't work for all audiences - and it's undeniably a dramatic hurdle the story didn't need - but it's ultimately in the service of a potent commentary about the way we raise our kids and also how we treat those doing the raising.