It’s hard to get excited about the Oscars this year. At best, this was another so-so year for going to the movies. My wife and I made a concerted effort to support the cinematic experience by getting off the couch, driving to the theatre, and seeing as many films as possible on the big screen, even movies that we could have watched for “free” on our streaming service just a week later (i.e., “The Glass Onion”). And since seeing movies in the theatre is the best way to do it, my big regret of the year is letting the critics talk me out of viewing “Nope” upon release; when I decided to check in on it on Peacock, it turned out to be my favorite film of the year. I can only imagine how much more exciting it would have been in a theatre.
In furtherance of the in-person experience, I also attended my first film festival this year — the Sonoma International Film Festival (or SIFF) — which in additional being a lot of fun gave me a chance to see a lot of unknown small movies in person that I would have otherwise missed, which explains why there are so many movies on this list that you’ve probably never heard of (we saw seven movies in three days, and the only one that made a commercial splash was “The Lost City”).
I noticed two major themes in 2022. The first was an outright hostility to the rich, who were portrayed as clueless, out of touch, entitled and malevolent in a way we haven’t seen since the “Occupy Wall Street” days. I don’t know what was driving that theme but it was clearly manifested in “The Glass Onion,” “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.” But an even more common subject this year was the pursuit of artistic excellence and how it causes people to go a little — or a lot — insane. And the “art” in question was wide-ranging, from music (“Tar,” “The Banshees of Inishirin,” “Elvis”) to film (“The Fablemans,” “Babylon”) to food (“The Menu”). You could even make the argument that Tom Cruise’s character was also driven by the pursuit of art in “Top Gun: Maverick,” if you can classify flying jets as an art form.
Some major omissions from the list this year. I made plans to see the new “Avatar,” but in the end I just couldn’t be bothered. I also thought I might watch “All Quiet On the Western Front,” but the war in Ukraine is real enough and I thought the movie would just be emotionally punishing. I understand there’s a movie called “Women Talking” that’s been nominated for best film but I don’t know anyone who has seen it, so — no thanks. Also not on the list — Superhero movies (except for the one Spiderman that I saw out of curiosity), horror films, or kiddie movies.
With that said, here’s the list:
1. Nope
Five years ago Jordan Peele was justly celebrated for his debut film “No Way Out,” but “Nope,” possibly the most original movie of the year and a major hit as well, gets no love. Not a single Oscar nomination and mediocre reviews. Maybe the subject matter — an apparent spaceship lurking over the California countryside — wasn’t to everyone’s liking, but this was not only thought-provoking but thrillingly directed. I have a feeling the critics didn’t like it was that it didn’t fit neatly into any particular genre — horror, drama, social commentary.
2. Top Gun: Maverick
OK, this is not a great movie, by any stretch. But the single best experience I had at the movies this year was watching the Top Gun sequel. I haven’t felt this enchanted in a movie theatre in a long time.
3. Apollo 10 /12: A Space Age Childhood
If you want to see what live was really like in the 1960s, watch this Richard Linklater nostalgia-fest. The hippies, the riots, and the assassinations get all the attention, but here’s what it was like to grow up in a normal middle-class house. The conceit of the movie is that this fourth-grade boy daydreams Walter Mitty-like that he is secretly recruited to fly the first mission to the moon. I have been begging people to watch this movie but no takers.
4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
I’ve seen my share of Metaverse movies but was still unprepared for the cornucopia of ideas that came flowing out of this story about a Korean immigrant family caught in the disjunction of the limitless universes that usually only exist in superhero movies. But then, it turns out to be a superhero movie after all, showing that we have hidden abilities we barely dream of and multiple destinies even if we can only live out one of them.
5. Babylon
This epic three-hour depiction of Hollywood as it transitioned from silent to sound movies is not for everybody, that’s for sure. According to Damien Chazelle (of “La La Land” fame), the late 1920s were a feverish, orgiastic dreamscape, where life was cheap, ambitions unbounded and raw talent rewarded and exploited. The whole thing was way over the top but I wasn’t bored for a second.
6. The Banshees of Inisherin
I read that this was being marketed as a comedy, but if so, the Irish have very dark senses of humor. Two old friends on a remote Irish island break up when the smarter one can no longer tolerate the boring, repetitive musings of the other one and demands to be left in peace to work on his music. I should put “smart one” in quotes because he chops off a finger each time the dumb one talks to him. Haha.
7. Tar
The life of an imperious symphony orchestra director spirals out of control when her “Me Too” sins catch up with her. This is Art with a capital A. You need to work hard to follow the thrust of what’s happening, which is fine because it’s mostly rewarding when you figure it out. The acting, directing, set design and writing were all great but I’d have rated it higher if the last half hour hadn’t been so confusing. I am told now that it might have been a dream sequence, which, if true, is a massive cheat.
8. The Fabelmans
A thinly veiled autobiographical depiction of Steven Spielberg’s childhood, “The Fabelmans” is a lesser Spielberg and two movies in one. The first movie is about his preternatural talent as a youthful film-maker. The other is about the collapse of his parents’ marriage. And both are suffused with a gauzy dream-like nostalgia. Every scene, as is usual in a Spielberg movie, is beautiful and stylish, but the movie as a whole doesn’t quite come together.
9. Down With The King
The best film we saw at the Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) was this story about a rapper who had a nervous breakdown and is recuperating in an isolated but beautiful region of the Berkshires. Nor surprisingly this very urban guy has some trouble adjusting to life in rural Massachusetts, but he eventually makes friends and attempts a comeback.
10. Spirited
Ryan Reynolds and Will Farrell — a great pairing that should have occurred to someone sooner than this — update A Christmas Carol to amusing and clever effect.
11. Good Luck To You Leo Grande
As much as I admire Emma Thompson, I never really felt the need to see her in a nude scene, but here it us. She plays an extremely uptight widow, who, having never experienced sexual pleasure, hires a sex worker to do the deed the right way. There are some surprisingly interesting themes afoot here, particularly the power dynamics among genders, classes, ages, and incomes.
12. Where the Crawdads Sing
I am surprised that this movie didn’t get more love from the awards circuit given that it was popular hit in a year where they were hard to come by. I didn’t read the best-seller this is based on but can see the appeal. It’s a murder mystery wrapped within a swamp-gothic love story and a female empowerment fantasy.
13. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
I don’t know if anyone saw “Phantom Thread” a few years ago, but this is a happy-happy version of that. Both movies are about the snobbiness of European high fashion houses in the 1950s and star Leslie Manville, but in “Mrs. Harris,” there’s no weird psycho-drama and everything works out well for the people who have good hearts.
14. Ticket To Paradise
Julia Roberts and George Clooney, divorced and rich, have a daughter who wants to marry a Polynesian sea farmer she met while on vacation. Somewhat amusingly, they squabble and insult each other while trying to prevent the poor girl from throwing her life away on kelp. The movie has a gorgeous setting but would have been better with sharper and less cliched writing.
15. Vengeance
There’s a lot happening in this BJ Novack-written murder mystery about a shallow New York D-bag who learns down-home values in Texas when he launches a podcast about a murder victim he once casually hooked up with. When it’s sharp and witty, this is terrific, but when the murder is solved, all those hard-won values go out the window.
16. The Lost City
This is inspired by those “Romancing the Stone” movies and it’s great to see Sandra Bullock traipsing through the jungle. I can’t quite figure out why it’s not more fun, though. The movie only really comes to life when Brad Pitt shows up.
17. The Glass Onion
What a surprise — this “Knives Out” sequel is not as good as the low-budget original. Set on a Greek island, it’s more beautiful than the first one, while the murder was conceived, committed and solved in a large rambling house. Expanding and opening up the setting gives the director, Rian Johnson, more opportunity to be self-indulgent, and exposes Daniel Craig’s acting idiosyncrasies as vaguely absurd.
18. Weird
Everything about this mockumentary on Weird Al Yankovic’s life, starting with the casting of Daniel Radcliff as Weird Al, is hilarious in 15-minute bursts but it’s a lot to absorb over a full-length movie.
19. Bros
This was positioned as a ground-breaking “gay rom-com,” but what’s really innovative about this isn’t that the protagonist is gay but that he’s so neurotic, self-absorbed and unlikable. Bold choice! It’s undeniably funny and does have a conventional cisgendered pairing off, but the route to this happy ending was more than a little tortured.
20. Spiderman: No Way Home
This is another multiverse story with a clever premise: the Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland Spidermen all live in different universes and and need to join forces to fight and evil nemesis. The movie is fine but I immediately forgot the plot the second I left the theatre.
21. The Menu
A celebrity chef with an insanely devoted staff goes a teensy bit off the rails as he seeks to avenge himself on his rich customers who don’t appreciate his artistry. The movie is beautiful and fascinating until it spins out of control. One thing it has going for it is that one of the protagonists — Anya Taylor-Joy — plays a character who hails from my hometown of Brockton Mass.
22. Triangle of Sadness
Another movie about the wretchedness of the top one percent (see “The Menu” above.) In this version, the obnoxious rich get their due when their luxury cruise ship sinks during a hurricane and various guests and crew are washed up on a deserted island. Status and power now reverts to those who can enhance survival and having been a male model doesn’t really cut it any more.
23. Sr.
Before there was Robert Downey Jr., there was Robert Downey Sr., a 1960s avant garde filmmaker (“Putney Swope” being his most famous film). Jr. commissions a documentary about dad so they can have a nice bonding experience. This is not a “warts and all” treatment but the film does make it clear that Jr.’s well-document drug problems almost certainly stem from Mom and Dad’s casual approach to drugs when he was growing up.
24. The Rose Maker
A French rose farmer on the verge of bankruptcy takes on three work release employees who know nothing about agriculture or roses but somehow manage to save the farm. Light and charming in that French way.
25. Come Back Anytime
If you’ve seen “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” this is the ramen version — a documentary about a small restaurant owner in Tokyo who wants to retire. WE come to understand the impact that will have on his regular customers, who consider the place their home away from home (like the “Cheers” bar or a Black barbershop). Given that being in community with other humans is a universal need (ranging from bowling leagues to QAnon message boards), it’s interesting to see how other cultures achieve that.
26. Elvis
This is not a good movie but somehow got a Best Picture Oscar nomination anyway. Go figure. “Elvis” is a PowerPoint version of Presley’s life; it hits the highlights, which seem accurate enough, but misses the complexity in between. Maybe the better analogy is “Elvis for Dummies.” It doesn’t help that the movie is narrated by Tom Hanks, in his worst role ever, as Col. Tom Parker. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the music isn’t very good, making it hard to understand what made Elvis so wildly popular.
27. To Olivia
Hugh Bonneville (aka “Lord Grantham”) portrays the children’s author Roald Dahl, who was a complicated figure. He’s married to the actress Patricia Neal and the movie covers the period in their life when they have to grapple with the sudden death of their daughter Olivia. Not all movies have to have happy, life-affirming endings, but this one essentially peters out.
28. The Pact
Karen Blixen, who was better known as the author Isak Dinesen, lives a life of lonely luxury back in post-war Denmark. She takes on an aspiring writer as a protege, and then, creepily, tries to take over his life.
29. Martin Eden
Based on Jack London’s semi-autobiographical novel about an ambitious working class schmoo who works his way into the high society that he despises. This is an extremely low-budget movie theoretically set in early 20th century Oakland but filmed on Nantucket (!!!!).
30. We Feed The World
A Ron Howard documentary about the super-chef Jose Andres and his non-profit World Central Kitchen, which rushes to disaster areas to feed people devastated by hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. The story itself is inspiring but the film itself inexplicably falls a little flat. Ultimately there’s no narrative — it’s like a long Sixty Minutes piece.
Really!!? 