Every year feels like a reckoning for cinema; ever since the COVID pandemic shuttered theaters and cratered the box office, we've wondered how long the theater-going experience will last. In 2020 the highest-grossing film of the year became Bad Boys For Life, a film released in January of that year and one that had the most time to generate some box office. That film only grossed $260 million domestically, and the top 10 highest-grossing releases of 2020 didn't even crack $1 billion domestically combined. In 2021, the box office made a significant return with several high-profile releases, although only Spider-Man: No Way Home made important money (over $500 million domestically).
In 2022, the box office was back in a huge way. Though the year started with the omicron variant of COVID, which continued to keep people at home (save for Spider-Man), it ended with eight movies grossing $300 million or more, and two above $500 million. Movies are back, in a big way, and some of the highest-grossing films were also really good (something of a rarity). There's still a dearth of box office receipts for indie movies, but even still we had small successes like Everything, Everywhere All At Once. Still, it was an encouraging year and a really good one to boot. So without further ado, here are my top 10 movies of 2022.
10. The Fabelmans, PG-13, 151 min.
Steven Spielberg is probably one of the only filmmakers who could make a biography about himself and not only make it one of the most touching films of his career but also one of his most cynical. The Fabelmans stand in for Spielberg, with Michelle Williams and Paul Dano playing the parents (Mitzi and Burt Fabelman). The names may be changed and the details embellished, but if you know anything about Spielberg's life from his numerous interviews then you'll recognize a lot of beats here, from the train set he filmed as a little kid, the movies he made with his friends the numerous moves his family made across the country. The Fabelmans has been accused of being another insipid love letter to cinema, but I think it's so much more than that. The slow dissolution of the Fabelman's marriage is a key central element of the film, and for large swaths of the story, Sammy Fabelman (the Steven surrogate, played by Gabriel LaBelle) isn't interested in making movies. Spielberg made the biopic about his life before anyone else could, and I think it's a wonderful gift to have this chronicle of the early life of one of the most brilliant filmmakers to ever grace Hollywood.
9. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, R, 97 min.
In the past year or two, we've got what I call "pandemic movies", films that were clearly filmed because the cast size was small, and the setting was limited to a few locations. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is one of the best of those films, largely carried by two stellar performances from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. Thompson plays Nancy Stokes, an older woman whose husband has recently died, and who has never experienced sexual satisfaction in the bedroom. Enter Leo Grande (McCormack), a prostitute she has hired to fulfill those sexual desires. It's a tender, moving film that explores sexual repression, and celebrates a subject many of us find taboo and hard to confront. Director Sophie Hyde keeps the single setting of the hotel engaging and helps make what could feel like a boring, one note film fascinating and memorable.
8.
Moonage Daydream, PG-13, 135 min.
David Bowie is a bit of an enigmatic figure, a person who morphed through his career into different personas. Writer/director Brett Morgen has created a fascinating and wonderfully weird documentary about Bowie's life, one that is as unconventional as the subject himself. Told with a blast of sound and images, the film carries us through Bowie's life with no assistance from a narrator or on screen text. Morgen instead utilizes an extensive archive of footage of Bowie to construct the story of his life, a fever dream feature length music video that carries you along a euphoric wave. Bowie was singular artist who made his mark on 20th century pop culture, and Moonage Daydream is a project worthy of his genius.
7. Top Gun: Maverick, PG-13, 130 min.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the Top Gun sequel being one of my ten favorite movies of the year. Yet director Joseph Kosinski, the writers (including Christopher McQuarrie, who helms the Mission: Impossible franchise) and Tom Cruise have delivered a terrifically entertaining movie, a film that thrills and delights. Cruise retuns as Maverick, an ace fighter pilot who never quite moved up the ranks of the military (by his own choice). He's recruited back to Top Gun, the naval academy where the top fighter pilots are trained, to spearhead a dangerous mission into enemy territory, and confront Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of his partner Goose who perished in the first film. Maverick succeeds where so many of these other blockbuster fall short by creating and establishing real stakes: the mission is laid out clearly and when the climactic scene comes, the audience knows exactly what needs to be carried out for success. Claudio Miranda's cinematography is top notch, capturing the actors in real cockpits (including Cruise flying himself) that heightens and adds weight to the action. It's an all-around thrilling movie that reminds us why we go to films in the first place, and defied expectations to be one of the biggest movies of 2022.
6.
Tár, R, 158 min.
The powerhouse performance of the year goes to Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár, a maestro for the Berlin Philharmonic deep in preparing a performance of a classical piece of music. Blanchett carries with her all the swagger and charisma of someone at the top of the field, so self assured by their own genius that they view everyone else with disdain, and manipulate others seeking their approval. Todd Field writes and directs this very long movie, although nothing feels extraneous; it starts as a character piece but slowly reveals the film's true intention, to watch this titan of the arts fall spectacularly. Carefully seeded scenes throughout feel superfluous at first, but later come back in surprising and fascinating ways. There's also some incredibly staged scenes, including a long oner at Julliard where Tár slowly but viciously takes down a student for rejecting Bach on the basis that he's a white man with a problematic history. Tár is one of those films that feel like it's recommended based solely on a strong lead performance, but there is plenty more to admire here in one of the year's most finely crafted movies.
5. Everything Everywhere All At Once, R, 139 min.
If there's one film that had a titanic impact on the online film community this year, it was Everything Everywhere All At Once. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as the Daniels), EEAAO is a sci-fi comedy spectacle about Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), the owner of a laundromat in a dead end life who finds out she is the key to saving the universe. Ke Huy Quan plays Waymond, her husband, who in one universe is a hapless sap and in another is a fighting master. The film strives to live up to it's title and succeeds in many ways; it's a big movie that is about everything everywhere all at once. While I must confess I did not love the movie as much as many others, I do still admire greatly, and had a blast watching it in theaters with a big crowd. There are few filmmakers out there like the Daniels, who's previous work includes Swiss Army Man (the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie) and the music video for Turn Down For What, and they've proven they can balance absurd and heartfelt tones. It's an admirable movie that is the most nominated film at the Oscars this year (something no one would've predicted from the first trailer), and will be a movie that inspires the next generation of filmmakers.
4. The Banshees of Inisherin, R, 114 min.
Martin McDonaugh reunites with Colin Farrell and Breendan Gleeson, who all made the 2008 hitman dark comedy In Bruges together, for a much quieter tale of a friendship lost. Set 100 years ago an a fictional island in Ireland, Banshees begins on the day that Colm (Gleeson) decides he no longer wants to be Pádraic's (Farrell) friend anymore, for no reason other then he doesn't want to. It's quietly devasting film, as Pádraic reckons with this new situation on an island where everyone knows each other and there's little do as there is. McDonaugh's script is filled with sharp barbs and unexpected gags, while examining the friendship these two once shared. The cast is rounded out by Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, and all four actors have received oscar nominations for their work. It's an unexpected film from a director known for making twisty crime films, but he tackls the subject matter brilliantly, in one of the funniest and saddest films of the year.
3. Nope, R, 130 min.
Jordan Peele is one of the few filmmakers working today that can open a film on his name alone. Get Out and Us are both different yet fascinating works of horror, and with Nope, Peele broaden his scope to an epic alien adventure that is his most ambitious project yet. Set in the rolling hills of Agua Dulce, a town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the film is about a brother and sister who own and operate a Hollywood horse ranch (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, both wonderful). They begin noticing strange events, including a cloud that doesn't move, and electricity vanishing and returning for no reason. Peele's film is exploring a lot, including a subplot involving Steven Yeun as a former child star who experienced a traumatic event on a sitcom. The film is an indictment of Hollywood and how easily it can exploit and regurgitate people from its system; it's also an alien epic that goes to unexpected places, and comes close to being Peele's best work yet. If nothing else, Jordan Peele has proven he has a lot of ideas and is a director I will flock to for any movie he dreams up.
2. Women Talking, PG-13, 104 min.
As far as literal film titles go, you don't get any more direct than Women Talking which is, yes, about women talking. Based on real events, the film is set in a Mennonite community in the early 2010s, where several men have been arrested for raping the women. While the other men head to bail them out, the women must decide whether they will stay in the community and face more abuse, or flee into a world they know nothing about. Sarah Polley's wonderful film is expertly directed, navigating us through several characters feelings and motivations around the topic. For the one hand, staying means they will have their community but will continue to be abused; leaving they will be free but are uneducated and do not know how to face the world. Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, and Jessie Buckley are just a few actors that round out an impressive cast. Ben Whishaw stars as the only man we see in the movie (the rest are obscured in shadow), the one seemingly decent man in the community. It's not always an easy sit but it's a terrific film and one of the best of the year.
1. RRR, NR, 187 min.
If Everything Everywhere All At Once was film Twitter's favorite film of 2022, RRR was a very close second. Opening in limited release in the US, the film slowly gained a groundwell of support until it dropped on Netflix and exploded in popularity. It's the most movie movie I've ever seen, an epic story of two friends secretly at odds with each other. The title refers the director and stars of the movie, S. S. Rajamouli, N.T. Rama Rao Jr., and Ram Charan Teja, but has been retrofitted to mean something different in any language (in English it stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt). I love this movie because it's just a big, giant spectacle that also establishes and develops its central characters well, and contains some of the most insane action I've ever seen. The film starts with one of our heroes taking on thousands of people on his own, and the other battling a tiger mano a mano. From there it only gets better, including a title drop 45 minutes into the movie that will make you fist pump the air. I rarely get so wrapped up and excited about something, but RRR represents, to me, what makes movies special. It's a big spectacle that continues to enthrall and surprise during it's runtime, three hours that fly right by. I hope for a 4K release soon, as the version that is on Netflix is a Hindi dub (the film's original language is Telugu and is actually a Tollywood movie, not a Bollywood film). Regardless, if you haven't heard of this film go in blind, and if you've had reservations seek it out now. It's a fantastic blockbuster and reminder of why we go to the movies.
