My five top films of 2018 all sent me places I can’t go in real life. Ready Player One embedded me in the virtual world, Roma allowed me to travel to Mexico City in the 1970s, First Man sent me to the moon, and Mary Poppins Returns whisked me away to a London that never was but always will be. And my final addition to my top five, They Shall Not Grow Old, shipped me off to the Western Front trenches of World War I, a place I would have rather not gone but am all the wiser for having visited. (Don’t miss the latter documentary by Peter Jackson when it returns to theaters next year for a larger, though still limited, release.)

For my year-in-review article, click here, and for my full list of the year’s best films, click the “By Year” link under “Feature Lists” on the menu bar above.