Wattching Movies: 2022 Reviewed
- Watt
- Mar 12, 2023
- 54 min read
Updated: Mar 13, 2023
2022 was a big year for the Wattching Movies team. Back in September, my trusted cinema compatriot Tess and I added a third reviewer to the team who likes to make sure her voice is heard, typically at a very high volume before the movie has even concluded.
Spectacle was back on our screens in a big way this year with an exciting crop of previously Covid delayed blockbuster. While the general public was once more excited to return to theaters for hours of adventure, our gal Winnie is a bit worried about the trend of increasing run times as she needs lots of pauses for pee breaks or to have household items removed from her mouth. While her lack of opposable thumbs make her a less than ideal blog contributor, we were able to utilize cutting edge voice to text technology to deliver you her insights on her favorite film of the year. Alongside those you will find our standard rankings and recaps of the 113 movies Tess and I took in from the strong 2022 slate.
Below is a slick content table that will allow you to jump to different sections if you lack the mental fortitude to read 113 movie reviews in one go or if you wish to jump to the top rankings to find your latest streaming selection
113-101: It's Morbin' Time
113. The Bubble
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 21%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
In 4 years of our tandem film review only one movie has ever earned the distinction of being turned off and left uncompleted, the execrable Josh Duhamel “comedy” Buddy Games. The Bubble came dangerously close to joining that short list of infamy. The movie is way too long like a lot of Judd Apatow’s movies but most of those at least contain jokes. There are 3 separate Tik Tok dance scenes and Zoom cameos abound in this half baked motion picture. If you’re gonna make a movie making fun of dogshit movies soldiering forward with production during the pandemic, maybe don't make a dogshit movie during the pandemic.
Tess Thought (Tess Ranking: 117*): I think I was just tired during Buddy Games. We will need to give Josh Duhamel another try. The Bubble wins the worst ever for me.
*Note: Tess’s total goes to 117 because she saw 4 additional movies Watt did not view this year. She ranked them as follows:
Look Both Ways (107)
The Weekend Away (89)
Triangle of Sadness (44)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 29%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
I guess legally speaking this is a movie? I don’t know how this is possibly based on a novel because half of it’s minuscule 84 min. run time is just montage set to indie pop. The premise of a high school couple agreeing to date only on the condition that they break up after a final “epic” date at the end of the summer is stupid. The couple has no chemistry so you just wait for the day to finally end. The dude (To All The Boys 2’s Jordan Fisher) is a control freak that wants to be a musician but doesn’t seem very good at music in the multiple numbers he is giving. Would you believe Fisher has a producer credit? The biggest crime of all is wasting America’s favorite high schooler Nico Hiraga once again.
Tess Thought (116): I thought at the very least this movie would have been cute. It’s not. My bad.
111. Firestarter
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 10%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
This Stephen King adaptation/80’s horror remake has a very cool retro score by John Carpenter. I would light the rest of it on fire with my mind if I could. I don’t know why you even bite the 80’s Carpenter font and get the man himself to score the movie if you're just gonna shoot and cast it like the latest direct to streaming Christian Slater tax write off. Everyone in this is awful except Kurtwood Smith who has been in quality schlock before and understood the assignment of his one scene.
Tess Thought (111): Zac Efron as a… wait for it… DAD. A doting father no less. 😍
110. Me Time
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 6%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
An opening photo montage shows Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart as high school seniors in 1993 yet celebrates Wahlberg’s character turning 44 in 2022. That same level of care and attention to detail is given to every aspect of this film by all involved. Writer/director John Hamburg made I Love You, Man, which is a near perfect comedy. This abomination is just more evidence for my case that Paul Rudd was robbed of a Best Actor nod for his bass slapping work in that film. I don’t even know who the audience for this movie is supposed to be. It is a raunchy R comedy with requisite cursing and shots of Mark Wahlberg’s bare ass but its climax is set at an elementary school talent show.
Tess Thought (110): Kevin Hart saying normal, everyday sentences is funny. At least this movie has that going for it. It has nothing else.
109. Morbius
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 16%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Director Daniel Espinosa made Life which is a perfectly cromulent Alien rip off but unfortunately he can’t riff on vampire movies nor superhero origins with any success. Vampires and superheroes have even been shown to mix! Blade rules. Jared Leto delayed filming by shuffling around pretending to be handicapped but he spends much more of his screen time as a CGI smoky mist trail than a frail man. I would hate to see the dry ice budget for his trailer. Matt Smith, fantastic in House of the Dragon, seems to have had a ball playing the villain at least.
If you do have the misfortune of watching this film, be sure to stick around for the most slapped together nonsensical franchise thirsty post credit tease of all time. More guaranteed flops should be brazen enough to have a vaguely remembered character from a different movie franchise show up for 30 seconds to demand a teamup of ill defined purpose.
Tess Thought (109): There is one really cool scene in a hallway! You’ll know it when you see it!
108. The Man From Toronto
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 23%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Thankfully less aggressively loud than director Patrick Hughes’ last film The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard but just as generic and incompetent. Either Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson got $20 million a piece for this or someone did a hell of a lot of money laundering before inserting those PS2 plane graphics and explosions into this allegedly $75 million production. This “action comedy” has one pretty good fight scene but truly some of the worst effects even in the chintzy Netflix production world of Red Notice. The film’s one inspired bit about an isolated trained killer being socially awkward feels ripped off from a better movie. That film is Birds of Prey. Harrelson’s real life dad actually was a convicted hit man. I don’t know exactly what to do with that info but it is strange.
Tess Thought (101): Again Kevin Hart adds a little bit of pizzazz to an otherwise terrible movie.
107. Moonshot
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 62%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental.
All the iconic franchises go to space eventually: James Bond, Fast and the Furious, The Brave Little Toaster, Friday The 13th, Leprechaun. It was only a matter of time until the streaming algorithms gave us the unlicensed Lana Condor starring To All The Boys: Sp4ce Race. The only thing noteworthy about this lackluster young adult rom com is that the new CEO of Warner Brothers disappeared it and a number of other original releases off HBO Max in August just 3 months after its release in a shady tax move to avoid amortization of its costs.
Tess Thought (106): Another romcom that can’t even accomplish the basic “cute” factor that a romcom by definition must have.
106. Hocus Pocus 2
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
Hocus Pocus was a theatrical release that always felt like a Disney Channel Original Movie so it seems fitting the sequel premiered on Disney+. The returning Sanderson Sister actresses (Bette Middler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) are all game slipping right back into their three decades old roles but there’s not much for them to work with here. The film opens with a fun flashback that allows some well cast child actors to do spot on impressions of the three sisters. This is followed with the resurrected Sandersons popping into Walgreens to interact with products of the modern world for a scene that would have been an enjoyable ad campaign. Unfortunately this is a 103 minute slog and not just a 30 second television spot for a pharmacy.
Tess Thought (93): I actually enjoyed this one a little more than the first. It is worth mentioning that I didn’t see the first film until 2022 as well because Bette Middler’s Winnifred Sanderson has and will always freak me out. I am sure both films are vastly better if you have any sort of attachment to the original (other than PTSD from childhood nightmares.)
105. The 355
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 24%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
The staging and fight choreography in this “action” film is truly horrific. Director Simon Kinberg is sure to always have reigning Best Actress Jessica Chastain whip her head up and look at the camera so we know exactly which cut she replaces the stunt double in. He must have dirt on Chastain to get her back after the horrific Dark Phoenix. How exactly the pair roped additional Oscar winners Lupita Nyong’o and Penelope Cruz into this fiasco, only Swiss bankers may ever know.
Tess Thought (105): Hot take: “Reigning Best Actress Jessica Chastain” is no good…ever.
104. Samaritan
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
The tantalizing idea of Sylvester Stallone playing an aged former superhero had this film on my radar for years as its initial 2020 release was repeatedly pushed back by delays related to Covid and MGM’s sale to Amazon. Unfortunately it was certainly not worth the wait as the whole endeavor feels like writer Bragi F. Schut (Season of the Witch) came up with a pretty cool twist but couldn’t figure out absolutely anything to do with its intriguing implications. Instead he and director Julius Avery (Overlord) spend the entire movie setting it up quite obviously and dragging out its reveal. The big bad played by the Bam Margera pirate from Game of Thrones doesn't really have any motivation other than evidently being a big Dark Knight Rises fan because he just wholesale steals Bane’s coat and “give the city back to its people” messy anarchist philosophy.
Tess Thought (108): I don’t remember anything about this movie other than the fact that there was a twist. Couldn’t even tell you what the twist was, so it couldn’t have been that great.
103. Deep Water
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Erotic thriller veteran Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction), returns from a 20 year hiatus to adapt a novel by Patricia Highsmith (author of Strangers On A Train and The Talented Mr Ripley, both previously adapted into much better thrillers), and my goodness can you see the rust. Ben Affleck is well cast as a possibly murderous cuckold husband due to the extremely divorced guy energy he exudes at every moment. Ana de Armas is certainly sultry as his blatantly philandering wife, but her character’s motivation is incredibly confusing especially in a very muddled 3rd act. Overall the tone lackadaisically trips over the line between self aware sleaze and unintentional camp highlighted by the couple’s little girl that seems downright giddy to be a potential accomplice for some murder.
Tess Thought (115): Stupid plot that makes no sense. Add Ben Affleck and it is completely unredeemable.
102. Meet Cute
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 58%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
With Paddleton, director Alex Lehmann made a funny and emotionally moving film locked in on the relationship between two characters so a transition to the romantic comedy field seemed like a natural fit. In Paddleton, Ray Romano and Mark Duplass have amazing chemistry as two best friends. Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson as a couple here, not so much. Davidson has scuzzball charm and Cuoco can be a manic goofball (see HBOMax’s fantastic Harley Quinn) but the two don’t mesh and make a very miscast pairing. The film is repetitive and not just because of its very shaky use of time travel that has our two protagonists living the same day over and over. The sloppy script slams its central message about trauma and the messiness of life over and over again while telegraphing all of its twists. Paddleton is streaming on Netflix and has the exact same 89 min runtime so you can just watch that sucker instead.
Tess Thought (92): I just remember thinking this was a really pretty movie. Lots of lights, fun colors, and cool visuals. I would watch it again just for that.
101. Day Shift
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Directed by long time stunt choreographer J.J Perry, Day Shift fittingly has some pretty good action, especially in an opening fight with a sprightly contortionist vampire. Unfortunately the rest of the movie never quite lives up to that initial spark. Despite welcome appearances by Scott Adkins and Steve Howey as a pair of vampire hunting brothers much of the combat devolves to a lot of unnecessary spin kicks. There are also interminable stretches between action where it tries to be a buddy comedy between Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco’s very annoying pencil pushing geek sidekick who pees himself. If you want acrobatic vampire fights, again, Blade very much still holds up. Blade 2 is also dope and directed by Guilermo del Toro. No one pisses their pants in either
Tess Thought (104): Expectations were FAR too high fresh off of a What We Do in the Shadows season. Fire that up instead.
100-91: Franchises That Should Go Extinct
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 29%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
The previous Jurassic World film sucked unfathomable amounts of ass but it did set up an intriguing premise of dinosaurs once again roaming the whole globe. The new movie does absolutely nothing with those narrative possibilities but it is slightly better in the same way just stepping on dog poop is better than slipping on it and falling down. Of all the world wrecking dinosaurs the movie could have focused on, writer/director Colin Trevorrow and his co-writer Emily Carmichael landed on oversized locusts. There are a few good Jurassic Parky moments but too many are just carbon copies of moments from far better movies in the series. Likewise some good old fashioned puppets and animatronics appear briefly to really highlight how trash the digital dinos in this reboot trilogy have been. The most amusing part of the movie for me is that Chris Pratt keeps trying to pivot from affable goof to straight action lead but quite visibly does not know how to run.
Tess Thought (102): They bring back everyone from the originals except Vince Vaughn so they are dead to me.
99. Amsterdam
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 32%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Christian Bale really likes collaborating with director David O. Russell (The Fighter, American Hustle) because Russell just lets him turn the acting up to 11, but at some point Bale should really start to inquire if Russell’s ever going to get around to acquiring a screenplay for them to work with. This story about two WWI veterans (Bale and John David Washington) and their trusted nurse (Margot Robbie) solving a pair of murders is actually pretty straightforward with few surprises but it is told so chaotically and with fuck all given to pacing that makes it seem far more twisty than it is. The film traffics some really basic “fascists are bad” messaging it seems to think is some profound revelation. Mike Myers had not been in a movie in 4 years and his rare appearance was wasted on exchanging some bird watching riffs with an equally squandered Michael Shannon. Robert De Niro has been cashing checks on films being able to put “and Academy Award winner Robert De Niro” in their trailer for a couple decades now but this might be the most phoned performance he has ever given.
Tess Thought (84): A surprise guest shows up at the beginning which I think sets a horrible tone for the rest of the movie.
98. Marry Me
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
There is not a surprise to be had in this by the numbers rom-com but it hits all the standard beats well. The one wrinkle, or more accurately, surprising lack thereof, is that both leads, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, and supporting best friend Sarah Silverman, are all 50+. Whatever PED cycle A-Rod got JLo on while they were dating needs to be shared with the masses
Tess Thought (95): This is an embarrassment compared to the gold standard - JLo’s The Wedding Planner.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Writer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 1 & 2 and director of Mama Mia 2 Ol Parker, pushes all his senior outing movie clout to the center of the table on a bet that you can just put “George Clooney and Julia Roberts bicker” on a piece of paper and get $60 million to bring that vision to life. The entire film has big “special two part sitcom finale sponsored by the resort where they filmed” vibes. Estranged exes join forces to break up their daughter's impulsive wedding and you wonder if they are even in the wrong because the film never really gets around to providing any reasons she likes the guy other than he’s really handsome.
Tess Thought (80): I love in movies when you can tell people are just having fun with their pals, and by far the best/only good parts of this movie are when George and Julia are just being buds, having a visibly fun time bickering on vacation.
96. The Adam Project
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Four credited screenwriters sounds about right as this time travel flick is a bit all over the place. Director Shawn Levy, a producer on Stranger Things, knows better than anyone the power of aping vintage Amblin productions. He dusts off the 80’s aesthetic and 70’s rock soundtrack but confusingly grafts it onto a present day setting. As the titular Adam, child actor Walker Scobell does an admirable, highly punchable imitation of his snarky adult version Ryan Reynolds. Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner, in a 13 Going on 30 reunion, are both tremendous but underutilized as Adam’s parents. The pair work hard to sell some nice messaging about parenting and grief that tip toes right on the line of treacly. Unfortunately there’s a lot of incredibly generic sci-fi action and faceless henchmen in the way of building on that emotional framework. The bad guys flat out suck as the film has not one but two Catherine Keeners and doesn’t do anything with them.
Tess Thought (100): I would have preferred an entire movie about grown-up Ryan Reynolds realizing and reaffirming how great Jennifer Garner was as a mom.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
It boggles my mind that 20 years later JK Rowling crapped out a series that made almost the exact same mistakes George Lucas made with his Star Wars prequel trilogy. Once again expanded creator control compared to the initial series just leads to laborious stories that lean heavily on dumb flushed out backstories of minor characters and incidents that only the creators care about. Both prequel series also have a stupid election crucial to their plot and a central romance with 0 chemistry and even less audience intrigue. Here Jude Law’s Dumbledore is what Ewan McGregor’s Obi Wan was to the prequels. Both are far too handsomely bearded to be stuck dealing with such drivel filled scripts and so many wooden performances. This third and all but assuredly final entry in this woebegone franchise is much better than its nearly unwatchable predecessor but it is still not worth the time of anyone but the most ardent Potter heads. It should be noted that Mads Mikkelsen’s take on Grindewald is a huge upgrade on Johnny Depp’s cartoonish hot topic employee portrayal. His Grindewald is still evil but someone you could actually buy having some sane followers and getting romantically involved with the purest of hearts instead of just being My Chemical Romance Hitler.
Tess Thought (76): Glad this trilogy is over. Looking back, 76 is too high of a ranking for this, but it was a pleasant surprise after the flaming hot garbage that was the second movie.
94. Halloween Ends
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
The David Gordon Green and Danny McBride Halloween reboot saga was a very weird trilogy full of intriguing ideas and sloppy execution. The pair introduced a very cool survivalist version of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in their first outing, had her lay in a hospital bed the entirety of the second, now have her living a calm sweatered up Activa lifestyle writing a memoir for most of the third. Ends kicks off with a promising opening sequence that works well in concert with the iconic original before embarking on a slow burn psychological character study for much of its first half. Much of Michael Myers’ appeal is that he has no interiority to explore and is an inexplicable unyielding killing machine. He famously commits his first gruesome murder as a dead eyed child. He never speaks, so unfortunately the character examined is an entirely new and fairly dull one as the film actually features very little of Myers proper. The film still plays as a Carpenter homage but it’s a lot more Christine than Halloween. Like Halloween Kills before it, Ends is very heavy handed in its messaging about the cyclical nature of evil and the ripple effects of violence. These are interesting ideas to inject into a decades long saga but it is more than a little messy to have a hulking menace that is effectively evil incarnate roaming around the shadows and then have a simultaneous “one bad day could push any man to go mad” story going on. The biggest positive here is that the “Ends” does seem serious as the finale goes to comical lengths to assure the audience that no, really, this series is over.
Tess Thought (97): Also glad this trilogy is over, and again a pleasant surprise after an awful second installment!
93. The Whale
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65%
Where to Watch: Available for Purchase
Brendan Fraser tries his damndest and garnered some awards buzz under a heap of prosthetics as a dangerously obese English professor Charlie but yikes. This is flat out one of the most mean spirited films I’ve seen in quite some time. After he and Mickey Rourke so beautifully captured the existence of a broken down and damaged man in The Wrestler, director Darren Aronofsky seems to have mustered no sympathy at all for this main character. He goes so far as to play horror music when Charlie binge eats. At some points it’s supposed to be judging people for gawking at him but at no point is it shot in a way that treats Charlie like a human being instead of some grotesque Cronenbergian creation. I was not aware this film was based on a stage play going into our screening, but I was tipped off around the third time a character just shouted all their dialogue. I also did not realize you could just turn the teenage angst dial that high but apparently Sadie Sink found out it does indeed go up to 11.
Tess Thought (114): Unwatchable.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 34%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
A good chunk of this is a decent courtroom drama complete with southern gentleman lawyer David Strathairn and an intriguing murder mystery. Unfortunately that portion is bogged down by the repetitive hour of abuse and poverty drama at the front end. Apparently the girl who grew up alone and abandoned in the marsh (Daisy Edgar-Jones) had a rough life and was talked about cruelly by townspeople. Who knew? Better establish that ad nauseam. Generic nice guy that teaches the marsh girl how to read then ghosts her for years for undefined reasons is not the invigorating romance of the ages it seems it was intended to play out as.
Tess Thought (91): The two fellas in this movie look the exact same to me. Sure, they have different names, but I thought the character reinvented himself while away at college and started going by a nickname. I CONFIRMED with my associate, “This is the same guy, right?” to which he replied, “Yep.” So I was confused for a nice chunk of this until realizing they are absolutely two different guys.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 62%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu and HBO Max
An admittedly solid whodunnit that unfortunately takes a million years to just get to the damn titular death and ensuing mystery solving. The most ridiculous of these delays is the gritty WWI origin story of detective Hercule Poirot’s iconic mustache that opens the film. Director Kenneth Branagh continues to love weird shot framing almost as much as actor Kenneth Branagh likes doing cartoonish accents.
Tess Thought (75): “Enough champagne to fill the Nile!” is now a staple phrase in this house.
90-81: The Hierarchy of the DC Universe Remains Unchanged
90. Uncharted
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 41%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Helicopter lifted pirate ship aside, this adaptation of the Indiana Jones rip off video game series is a lot less bonkers or amusing than I would anticipate from the director of Zombieland and Venom (Ruben Fleischer). The biggest hampering is a bait and switch low energy villain while predictable double crosses occur throughout a generic treasure quest. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are an entertaining cross generational duo that bounce off each other well. I wish they were actually paired together for more of the proceedings instead of split up on meandering side quests.
Tess Thought (60): Mark Wahlberg’s absence for much of the film was noticeable, but Tom Holland is so charming I didn’t care.
89. Strange World
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney Plus
Strange World contains a cool metaphor about how humans interact with their environment that it eventually gets around to revealing but this is one of the most forgettable and boring Disney animated films in quite some time. Perhaps destined to be that one weird kid’s favorite film like fellow box office bomb Treasure Planet, the film does boast some interesting creatures. The best of which is Blobby who is essentially a blue flubber that communicates with R2D2 style beeping and whirrs. Writer and co-director Qui Nguyen who penned the much more enjoyable Raya and the Last Dragon really beats the audience over the head with a very well worn central moral of it being okay for kids to choose different paths than their parents.
Tess Thought (99): I’m not sure who this movie was intended for. I don’t think it’d be very enjoyable for anyone.
88. Black Adam
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 39%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
A foreign occupied middle eastern nation with a morally gray super powered former slave as its guardian is a potentially fruitful idea but not in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s heavily focused grouped hands. Tess was very annoyed when I nudged her after correctly guessing the exact slowed down orchestral needle drop that would appear based off the film’s title alone. The villain is so lame I couldn’t in a million years tell you what their name was let alone their goals. The “anti-hero” led film annoyingly tries to pull a Terminator 2 with a sassy skateboarding street youth that teaches Adam the power of catchphrases. The whole concept of a superhero lightning bolting some anonymous mercenaries doesn’t seem like a bold new direction in the Snyderverse where the Batmobile has machine gun turrets. Now that DC has abandoned Zack Snyder’s universe, I hope this is the final film that uses his signature 300 super slo-mo and cgi sludge backgrounds as their aesthetic center. Pierce Brosnan’s Dr. Fate is the only cool digital creation in an avalanche of video game cutscene effects. Brosnan knows corny digital spectacle when he sees it and how to lend the middling film some gravitas it does not deserve.
Tess Thought (82): I don’t like spoilers of any kind, so there’s nothing more annoying than a nudge after a voiced prediction comes true.
87. Spirited
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Apple TV+
The movie opens with a delightful Christmas Carol meets Monsters Inc. conceit, wherein an entire ghostly theater troupe performs the whole 3 visiting specter rigamarole to one carefully selected Scrooge-like person each year. Unfortunately, just like Ferrell’s last big musical movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, this thing is much too long. They probably could have cut one or two of a literal dozen songs by the broadway duo Pasek and Paul (Dear Evan Hansen). A tacked on romance with Octavia Spencer could be wholly excised as well. We all know Ferrell sings surprisingly well, it’s a major plot point of Step Brothers so the novelty evaporates fairly quickly. Director Sean Anders and his co-writer John Morris also made Daddy’s Home and Instant Family and like they did in the latter, play a little fast and loose with serious subject matter like a teen suicide for middling family comedies. The film is not without its charms such as Broadway vet Patrick Page’s Jacob Marley, a deep voiced delight whenever he gets to perform a tune, and a very merry number called “Good Afternoon” that Reynolds sings in a silly Dick Van Dyke style fake British accent.
Tess Thought (67): Good? Not really. Fun? Yes, it sure is.
86. Beast
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime Video
I can see why Idris Elba’s real life daughter was so upset she didn't get cast as his daughter in this film. How much chemistry do you need to spit a couple sentences of exposition and intermittently ask “Dad where’s the lion?!” Perhaps she could not quite sell hearing the deep velvety voice of her father over a walkie talkie in the middle of the uninhabited brush and responding “Dad? Is that you?” Beast’s director Baltasar Kormákur also made Contraband which is one of the most outright forgettable films I’ve ever seen, so I was surprised to see so much attempted flare here, particularly a frequent use of long takes. A couple of the oners are even effective in heightening the tension. Others are just pointless extended tracking shots following a character moving from the kitchen to outside as if they needed to get some camera movement reps in before those more stylistic moments. Some people knock the cop out ending of The Grey but if the decade later CGI on display here is any indication, Joe Carnahan was absolutely right to cut to black instead of showing the Liam Neeson vs wolves fight.
Tess Thought (96): I rated this lower than I thought and I can’t remember why. Not enough Idris Elba vs. lion combat? I really need to write these thoughts down as we go rather than several months later.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime and Paramout+
Nearly 30 year old me didn't enjoy this sequel as much as the first Sonic due to the reduced James Marsden buddy comedy but as a youth that would play Sega Dreamcast at my friend DJ’s house for hours and loved Batman Forever this would be neck and neck with Spy Kids as my favorite movie circa 2001. Jim Carrey continues to go for broke and scores some solid chuckles. I do appreciate that Marsden got to go to Hawaii, Ben Schwartz continued to get his guy Adam Pally paid and Schwartz slipped in a Jean Ralphio line delivery:
Tess Thought (87): Reduced James Marsden content really hurt this one.
84. Spiderhead
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 39%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Here we have a sci-fi parable that doesn’t hold too many surprises, nor raise any ponderous questions, but does have a delightfully smarmy dancing Chris Hemsworth and a deep roster of yacht rock bangers: Supertramp, Doobie Brothers, Hall and Oates, and Chuck Mangione. The gang’s all here. There’s not as much edge as you may anticipate from the writers of Deadpool. I will give Miles Teller and director Joseph Kosinski a pass because their other 2022 collaboration whips significantly harder (See #8)
Tess Thought (81): They can’t all be winners.
83. White Noise
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
This apocalypse comedy was not my cup of tea but I do respect Noah Baumbach pulling an all time prank by getting $100 million from Netflix to follow up his by the numbers awards bait dramedy Marriage Story and then turning in an LCD Soundsystem music video with an 130 minute esoteric preamble about the existential crises inherent to life in late stage capitalism. I will need to check out the book by Don DeLillo sometime where actors don’t have to deliver the offputting dialogue and chapter breaks can make the shifting story beats not feel quite so incongruous. It reminded me a lot of Under The Silver Lake, which was another highly idiosyncratic movie I thought had a lot to say, but just not to me.
Tess Thought (112): Not a Noah Baumbach fan.
82. The Gray Man
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
The Russo Brothers attempt to make John Wick by way of Mission Impossible but they can’t shoot/edit fight scenes and all the exotic locales look incredibly fake, at least when they aren’t entirely obscured in smoke. There are just way too many cuts with no spatial awareness established as they jump from shot to shot. Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas have both previously shown an aptitude for fight choreo so I don’t know why you don’t just let them cook. The Russos must have gotten too used to shooting action involving flying guys with lasers and robot arms they could add in post. They toss in some useless drone shots that the novelty would wear off quickly from even if Michael Bay hadn’t already done them better this year (See #35). At least Chris Evans has a good time cutting loose as a douchey rival assassin.
Tess Thought (79): Perfect film for my dad to turn on, sleep through, and then when you ask how it was, say “fine.”
81. Not Okay
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Title’s a bit harsh of an assessment, I thought it was fine. Zoey Deutch is quite good at playing a piece of shit (see 2020’s Buffaloed). The film is definitely much better in the latter half when it gives up on its limp satirizing of influencer culture and takes a more serious tone about the impact of Deutch’s character’s deplorable actions. Teen actress Mia Isaac does strong work in that section as a young activist/poet. Dylan O’Brien does what he can as a quasi Paul brother but it's difficult to effectively parody living jokes.
Tess Thought (73): This is not a good movie, but Zoey Deutch is SO. GOOD. ALWAYS.
80-71: Let’s Get Weird
80. I Want You Back
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
I didn’t think you could make a romantic comedy version of Strangers on a Train but Charlie Day and Jenny Slate more or less pull it off as schemers out to sabotage the other’s ex’s current relationship. The two make for appealing leads while Scott Eastwood is wooden as always as Slate’s former beau. It’s a little long but passes along amicably enough for what it is. The film’s director Jason Orley is working on a Joey Ramones movie with Pete Davidson (who makes a brief cameo here). I am a lot more interested in that.
Tess Thought (38): I was laughing out loud and thinking we were all having a great time and falling in love with Charlie Day and Jenny Slate, then I turned and saw a grumpy, uninterested look on Ryan’s face.
79. Windfall
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 59%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Co-writer/star Jason Segel and director Charlie McDowell (son of Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen which is a wild one time celebrity couple I was not aware of until this very moment) combine with Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker to make a low stakes Coen Brothers knockoff. Jesse Plemons is good as always as a weaselly tech billionaire, McDowell’s wife Lilly Collins play’s Plemons’s wife, and Segal plays an in over his head burglar. An old-timey Oboe heavy Noir mystery score with title fonts to match set the scene for a promising opening, slow moving middle, and predictable conclusion with a heavily foreshadowed twist.
Tess Thought (85): Heavily foreshadowed twist was a surprise to me, but overall an uneventful watch.
78. Sr.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
A fittingly unorthodox documentary about Robert Downey Sr. who lived an eccentric life as an underground filmmaker. Throughout his life he is constantly filming and working on absurdist avant garde films that appear quite haphazard with minimal in the way of scripts. Even while this documentary is being filmed by documentarian Chris Smith (American Movie, Fyre) and his famous son Robert Downey Jr., Sr. is shown gathering and editing material to make a separate cut of the film. The film raises some interesting questions about the nature of creatives that seem to continuously be working on a new project. What’s artificial? What’s real? Where do the two blend? It is all a bit head spinning and provides some insight into why Downey Jr. had such a tumultuous period in his life prior to his Iron Man superstardom.
Tess Thought (83): I put a lot of pressure on documentaries to move me in some way, and I was really surprised that this one did not.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Apple TV+
Director/writer/star Cooper Raif, makes a film about the ennui of your early 20’s where you don’t fully know who you are or what you’re doing. Examining existential listlessness seems a bit rich coming from someone in their mid 20’s with two feature films under their belt and enough industry clout to score Leslie Mann to play their mom. While intermittently charming, particularly during scenes involving neurodivergent actress Vanessa Burghardt who is fantastic in this, I found the film’s wishy washy pontificating quite tiresome. Raif has big Rivers Cuomo energy. He comes off as a self aware performative loser that thinks being willfully lame somehow makes him actually endearing and cool. I think he portrays the main character as sincere but he struck me as someone being cloyingly earnest for “good guy” points rather than genuinely feeling that way. Raif’s the kind of guy that writes himself a makeout scene with a Manic Pixie Dream Milf played by Dakota Johnson but has his character be the one to say “Wait, no, we shouldn’t do this.” I don’t know, maybe it’s jealousy over a 26 year old selling his second independently produced movie to Apple for $15 million but he just rubs me the wrong way. My feelings on Raif closely parallel Orson Welles’s thoughts on Woody Allen:
Tess Thought (19): Despite wanting Dakota Johnson to never find work again, I loved this movie. Cooper Raif was endlessly charming. I must be a sucker for acknowledging a good mom because his quick comment about his childhood to Leslie Mann turned me to mush.
76. The Bad Guys
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
I don’t have a lot to say about this one other than it was pretty fun. I enjoyed its very stylish story book looking animation similar to that of The Mitchells Vs. The Machines. It has a fairly generic heist story but some kinetic action sequences and Sam Rockwell is a hoot as a sleazeball as always.
Tess Thought (77): Disappointing. Not a hoot to be had.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
This meta reboot of the old Disney afternoon classic has some pretty good gags throughout but there’s only so much punching up you can do on a script for a half baked mystery-less Who Framed Roger Rabbit riff produced by the dire minds behind Dolittle and Magic Camp. Bless the Lonely Island for trying and perfectly deploying comedian Tim Robinson as “Ugly Sonic” in their efforts. The filmmakers both take full advantage of Disney’s extensive content library and skirt a number of copyright laws through parody use to lightly lampoon some animation stalwarts.
Tess Thought (59): Anything involving the Lonely Island gets so many bonus points in my book.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Where to Watch: Streaming for Free on The Roku Channel
Have you already seen and enjoyed Walk Hard? Then you’ll likely be amused but to a slightly lesser degree by this latest take down of the overblown music biopic. A parody film would be the only fitting tribute to our greatest living parody artist. The Roku Channel is a good landing spot for it as well as the modern day equivalent of UHF channels. Weird is riddled with cameos of Al’s funny friends having a good time like Jack Black getting to riff with a Wolfman Jack impression and Conan O’Brien dressing up as Andy Warhol. Like Weird Al, it's always amusing and sometimes even hilarious but it does get a bit tiresome after 100 min. Director and co-writer Eric Appel expands from his original fake trailer and you do feel the bit stretching to its limits to reach that feature length at times. Luckily Daniel Radcliffe is very game and in the film’s best and subtlest bit worked out to get inexplicably jacked for the title role.
Tess Thought (98): I guess I just didn’t get it.
73. Breaking
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Showtime
A rock solid bank standoff thriller centered around a showcase performance from John Boyega as a mentally unstable veteran at the end of his rope. The recently departed Michael K. Williams does his standard nuanced work in one of his final roles as the empathetic negotiator. The film, based on a true story of a marine corps veteran, has a lot to say about how the system chews up and jerks around many who have made tremendous sacrifices for this country, but gets a bit scattershot at times as the narrative focus shifts between characters. Boyega commands the screen when the film is locked in on him channeling John Q era Denzel Washington.
Tess Thought (61): You have to be in the mood to watch a movie like this.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Apple TV+
Director Peter Farrelly got a fat check from Apple after his Green Book took home Best Picture to pump out another Forrest Gumpian boomer memory box. Don't expect the most nuance or subtlety, this guy made a movie where Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear play conjoined twins. Human labrador Zac Efron plays a merchant marine that smuggles himself into Vietnam and learns that actually war is complicated and sometimes there aren't just clear cut good guys and bad guys. The film hums amicably along dropping some choice era appropriate tunes as this doofus bops from military base to military base delivering his pals, doing their best New Yawker voices, some brews. Vastly overqualified Russell Crowe lends it all some gravitas as a grizzled war correspondent. The film plays a bit like The Post for dummies as Efron’s Chickie discovers the government might not be telling the whole truth about the US’s righteous domination over the evil Vietcong.
Tess Thought (69): I’m just so thrilled to see Zac Efron out of his Neighbors, Dirty Grandpa, Baywatch era.
71. Kimi
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Of the “agoraphobic woman solves a mystery” films of the last couple years, this is the best, although The Woman in the Window is not an especially high bar to clear. Director Steven Soderbergh uses a shaky handheld camera in odd angles to effectively depict the disorienting anxiety Zoe Kravitz’s character experiences when she does venture to the outside world. Fitting for a movie about someone potentially hearing a crime in the background of an audio file, it features a lot of inventive sound design like dropping out diegetic sounds when Kravitz places her noise canceling headphones on. It plays a bit like a modern day version of Blow Out which is a phenomenal film with an all timer ending that you could fire up on HBO Max instead. Beastie Boys do play a crucial role in Kimi’s climax which is always worth some points though.
Tess Thought (103): I don’t ever need to watch another movie about an agoraphobic woman.
70-61: I See A Bad Gru Rising
70. Dual
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
A pitch black dry comedy starring Karen Gillan in a dual role as a once dying woman and her clone replacement. When the original version makes a miraculous recovery, the two must duel to the death to eliminate the redundancy. Robotic flat line delivery by all parties adds to the surreal nature of the story. It reminded me quite a bit of the films of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite) but it’s not quite as delightfully unhinged. Aaron Paul works well in a supporting role as a combat trainer. The film plays off viewer expectations to deliver one of the best gags of the year but unfortunately its climactic twists fall a bit flat.
Tess Thought (62): Superior to The Favourite. Not sure I want to see The Lobster.
69. Lucy and Desi
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
Working from extensive archive footage and never before heard audio interviews, director Amy Poehler assembles the life and love story of two Hollywood titans. On top of creating one of the most successful and beloved tv shows of all time, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez ran a major television production studio while navigating a tumultuous marriage. There is a lot of ground to cover in its soup to nuts story of the groundbreaking female comedian and her Cuban immigrant husband. The documentary filmmaking itself isn't anything too remarkable but the story is enthralling.
Tess Thought (74): Another unmemorable documentary. :’(
68. Mad God
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Shudder
Writer/Director Phil Tippett was the longtime animation head at Industry Light and Magic working predominantly in stop motion to bring to life iconic effects in blockbuster films like Star Wars, Robocop, and Jurassic Park. Mad God is the passion project he started working on while honing his craft on these high profile movies. For 33 years he toiled away in fits and starts on one of the least commercial films I could possibly conceive. Just imagining decades of Tippett phoning his high powered Hollywood associates and taking lunch meetings to help pay for the copious amount of goo and wieners for his meticulously detailed tumor monsters tickles me. There’s no dialogue as the camera wanders a subterranean wasteland full of cruel hellish creations brought to life almost entirely through old fashioned hand crafted still photography stop motion animation where it takes 24 pictures to form a single second of footage. There are just a few chintzy looking live action sequences inserted no doubt to help pad the run time. I warned Tess multiple times before viewing that she would not like it.
Tess Thought (113): Impossible to stay awake.
67. Elvis
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Austin Butler is up there giving it his all channeling one of the most electric performers of all time for some truly show stopping numbers. It’s a shame the four credited screenwriters never got around to crafting much of a character for Butler to play between those moments. The maximalist style of director Baz Luhrman seems tailor made for the story of the rise and fall of our most flamboyant of rock stars and there are sequences where that synergy really pops. Much of the movie is made up of rapid fire montages rather than what would conventionally be considered a scene. This can occasionally make the whole ordeal feel more like an extended trailer than a cohesive narrative. At its dizzying best, the film truly captures the magnetism that made Elvis one of the all time electrifying entertainers but the remainder translates shockingly little of what made the complex man tick in a sprawling two and a half hour run time. It is truly bizarre for so much of the script to instead tell a rambling Col. Tom Parker story with a Christmas obsessed prosthetic covered Tom Hanks puttering around talking like a Festrunk brother.
Tess Thought (72): I knew the minute they revealed the Presley family loved the movie that it wasn’t going to show much of Elvis’ struggles, which is a huge disservice to a movie about Elvis. I think the camera pans over some pills for a brief second and that is the only mention of his drug use. Austin Butler gives the best performance he could ever hope to give but everything else is just meh.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
A solid dialogue heavy two hander set almost entirely in a single hotel room as a repressed widowed former school teacher (Emma Thompson) has a series of rendezvous with an impossibly charming gigolo (Daryl McCormack). These encounters, ostensibly meant for a late in life sexual awakening, instead function as quasi therapy sessions for both parties. The film gets a bit messy in the conflicts it raises that unfortunately lean into some negative stereotypes but overall it has a generally forward thinking sex positive approach to the subject matter.
Tess Thought (65): I enjoyed the quasi therapy sessions and was then very disappointed when I didn’t feel that it got sewn up very nicely in the end.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
I’ve really come around recently on these little yellow goobers and this is an enjoyable quick goofy outing to showcase their zany antics. The period setting of this prequel affords the opportunity for a slapping 70's soundtrack and Michelle Yeoh to teach the lads some Kung Fu. Jean Claude Van Damme, Danny Trejo and Dolph Lundgren get to be in a crew of pun named villains. Not a marvel of storytelling by any stretch of the imagination but if minions dressed like 70’s housewives selling tupperware and a tiny Steve Carrell singing “Bad Gru Rising” to the tune of CCR doesn't put a smirk on your face, I don’t know what to tell your cold dead heart.
Tess Thought (64): Put a minion in a wig and it’s funny. I don’t know why.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Fubo and MGM+ which I can’t imagine is a streaming service anyone on earth actually pays for
Visionary director George Miller follows up his magnum opus Mad Max: Fury Road with a much lower octane piece about the mystery and magic of the world being displaced by technology. The film plays as a series of vignettes as a djinn played by Idris Elba tells Tilda Swinton tales of his previous masters while the pair occupy a hotel room. This is probably a bit under ranked because a 10pm weeknight screening was probably not the right move for heady philosophical discussions about storytelling and desire. It’s a little boring in places but full of Miller’s trademark visual splendor.
Tess Thought (71): This is one I would suggest watching the trailer for beforehand. I had no idea what I was in for and given that the movie started at 10pm, I was already 75% asleep.
63. Devotion
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+
It’s a real bummer this came out so close to Top Gun: Maverick as it is difficult to not ding it a bit for not living up to those high flying aerial combat standards. Glen Powell being here certainly doesn’t help keep the comparisons away. There is some solid aerial combat action but nothing close to the thrills of Maverick and it is much more obviously digitally padded. Unlike Maverick though, Devotion is based on a true aviation story focusing on the Korean War and a sadly forgotten hero, Jesse Brown, the first African American naval aviator. The film suffers some serious pacing issues but Jonathan Majors crushes his lead role. Majors is captivating talking to himself in the mirror repeating all the vile things said to him over the course of Brown’s life and his expressions communicate the crippling doubt he had to battle every day. It’s crushing when Brown explains how he can't even trust his spotters lest they be trying to crash him on purpose. Adonis Creed and The Avengers have their work cut out for them trying to take on this powerhouse.
Tess Thought (58): Glen Powell can be anything, let’s not pigeonhole him into being a pilot forever.
62. Slumberland
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
The century old comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland is adapted by effects driven director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) into a pleasing Inception riff for kids. Kyle Chandler is the best dad casting there is and in just a few minutes has this whole wonderful relationship created with his daughter Nemo. Hot take, but slot the charismatic Jason Mamoa into any role given to The Rock and it will be improved. He is delightful here as a horned outlaw legend of dreamworld. I will say that casting the smooth irish brogue of Chris O’Dowd and having him do an American accent should be against the Geneva Convention. I will also note it is a little silly to have an entire force of dream cops and not spring for Cheap Trick on the soundtrack. Perhaps these gripes are why this enjoyable family film didn’t seem to connect with critics.
Tess Thought (53): If you’ve been here a while you know Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) is my guy. Once I got over my initial disappointment (not a spoiler) that he’s not in this movie very much, I had a surprisingly fun time.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are both at the top of their games as a consummate showman and his supportive wife pushed to her limit in this skewering of televangelists. Full of forced smiles, fake laughs, southern passive aggression (“bless your heart”), ostentatious headwear and hypocrisy. A mockumentary portion adds to the tension as you see the cracks forming in the duo’s facade as they make a comeback from a slowly revealed scandal. The film covers a lot of the same fertile ground sowed by HBO’s hilarious Righteous Gemstones. There’s nothing as electric as a gut busting Edi Patterson monologue but a car ride “Knuck If You Buck” performance comes close.
Tess Thought (63): Solid but adding the Gemstone boys would’ve really put it over the top.
60-51: Time For Some Season’s Beatings
60. Bros
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Comedian Billy Eichner gets the Apatow produced raunchy rom-com push to stardom Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer, and Pete Davidson have gotten before him. Luke Macfarlane, the Hallmark Hunk cast opposite Eichner, is very charming which does well to offset a sometimes grating protagonist. Eichner and director/co-writer Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) deliver all the standard Apatow rom com beats, gross out gags and all, but do them well. The script takes repeated efforts to fill the audience in on some basic gay history and lifestyle notes. Sure it has a lot of scenes that feel more like sketch ideas or twitter threads on topics like gay dating apps but many of them are very amusing. The script makes abundantly clear that this was a very personal project for Eichner so I can understand why he was so hurt when the box office wasn't up to snuff.
Tess Thought (66): I tried and tried but couldn’t connect with this one. And it was criminal how underutilized the Dean was.
59. Hustle
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Hustle is a paint by numbers sports movie but it executes the formula well. Big basketball guy Adam Sandler was clearly very enthusiastic about the project and gives a surprisingly checked-in performance for a direct to streaming affair. NBA player Juancho Hernangomez is serviceable in a supporting role as a promising Spanish prospect Sandler’s 76ers scout character hopes to bring to the league. Fellow NBA player Anthony Edwards on the other hand, is an absolute star as shit talking antagonist Kermit Wilts. There’s a bright secondary career ahead for Edwards if he ever takes some more time off from dunking fools into oblivion.
Tess Thought (86): I believe in the power of Adam Sandler and love sports movies as much as the next person, but I just found this one boring.
58. Vengeance
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
First time director/Ryan from The Office BJ Novak crafts an interesting companion piece to Nope about the contentification of modern life where, “Everything means everything so nothing means anything.” Novak plays a pretentious self obsessed writer, which isn’t much of a stretch for a Harvard alum starring in their own directorial debut working from a self penned screenplay. There’s some good fish out of water humor as Novak’s yuppie New Yorker travels to Texas to solve a mystery about the overdose death of a promising young singer. Boyd Holbrook brings a greasy William Forsythe energy to the proceedings as the victim’s brother. Novak tries to say a lot at once touching on the division and disconnect in the country, the opioid crisis, and technology changing personal relationships. The script successfully juggles these fruitful topics for a long time but briefly loses sight of a couple of the balls with a messy conclusion.
Tess Thought (51): All I remember from this one is we need to try Whataburger.
57. The Fallout
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Former Disney star Jenna Ortega is becoming ubiquitous, scoring the lead in the popular Netflix series Wednesday and making her second appearance in the Scream franchise. There’s a reason for it as her nuanced lead performance here as a high schooler who withdraws from her family and strikes up unlikely friendships in the aftermath of a school shooting shows she has the goods. The film is a poignant examination of the various coping behaviors people can turn to in order to overcome trauma. Released just months prior to the tragic Uvalde shooting, the gut punch of an ending becomes more and more prescient with each passing news story of another senseless gun tragedy.
Tess Thought (90): Unremarkable. Fine.
56. Dog
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime and Paramount+
Channing Tatum and his Magic Mike screenwriter Reid Carolin make their co-directorial debut in a charming film that plays to a lot of the strengths of that series. Far from the standard corny dog movie it’s trailer made it out to be, the film is really more of a rumination on trauma and what being a “war hero” truly entails. The script by Carolin holds few surprises but hits all the emotional marks as a deceptively broken Tatum bonds with his out of control mutt. Tatum is a very lovable galoot whose innate goofiness somehow makes the pathos of his character’s struggles hit harder.
Tess Thought (39): Still in complete shock that Frankie the Enforcer from Boy Meets World was in this movie.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Warner Bros. Animation consistently puts out these colorful, light hearted, fun for all ages romps (see also The Lego Batman Movie, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies) that sprinkle in deep DC lore yet Warner Bros. proper gave a $70 million redo to the guy allergic to proper saturation that had Wonder Woman beheading folks in the Crimean War. Director Jared Stern and his co-writer John Whittington, were writers of the aforementioned Lego Batman and bring that same goofy charm to an adventure that made me wish for a full on Justice League movie in the same style. Natasha Lyonne steals the show as a vision impaired turtle imparted with superspeed. The Rock doesn’t sound quite right voicing a super pooch but I’m gonna need more Keanu Reeves voicing Batman asap. Here is where I can also mention that the Q-rating obsessed Dwayne Johnson had it in his Fast and Furious contract that he couldn’t lose a fight. That is a truly bizarre clause for a man that sold Stone Cold Stunners like he’d been struck by lightning. I think he just hates Vin Diesel that much.
Tess Thoughts (22): Just a delight and I liked it even better the second time when I watched with Winnie. Dogs, superheroes, AND Kevin Hart? This was made for me.
Winnie’s Wisdom (Winnie Ranking: 1): Woof! Woof! Bark! Bark!
54. The Lost City
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime and Paramount+
The Nee Brothers, directors of the indie quirk modern day Tom Sawyer adaptation Band of Robbers make the jump to studio filmmaking with a Romancing the Stone riffing comedy adventure buoyed by the himbo perfection of Channing Tatum and his strong chemistry with a very game Sandra Bullock. There’s not a surprise to be had in the story other than a fantastic cameo unfortunately spoiled by the film’s trailer but it pushes all the right buttons. Daniel Radcliffe delights in chewing some scenery as the film’s villain. The humor is a little hit or miss as to be expected with 4 credited screenwriters but the leads carry you through the lulls.
Tess Thoughts (37): Channing Tatum is certified in CPR and Crossfit and has snacks. The humor does not miss.
53. Causeway
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Apple TV+
Brian Henry Tyree scored a very surprising Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in this slight story about two broken people bonding. Jennifer Lawrence stars as a combat vet coming back from a traumatic brain injury who befriends Tyree’s kindly auto repairman hiding the scars of a life changing tragedy of his own. It’s not that Paper Boi doesn’t give his standard phenomenal performance, it’s just not an especially showy role and the film itself is fairly well done low stakes slice of life fare which, removed from Apple’s deep award campaign dollars, wouldn’t seem to generate such buzz. While Tyree got the nomination, the film really functions to remind the masses that Lawrence still has the goods after a string of critical and commercial duds following the conclusion of the Hunger Games series way back in 2015.
Tess Thoughts (40): I love that nothing really happens in this movie, and I was still hanging onto every word. However, with all due respect to Paper Boi, Ke Huy Quan better wipe the floor with him.
52. Women Talking
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
An isolated Mennonite enclave has been shaken by a string of violent sexual assaults in this stirring chamber piece from writer/director Sarah Polley. While all the men are in town either in jail or negotiating bail, the women debate what they should do. Based on a book, the film feels a lot like a play as most of the action takes place in a barn as the women discuss their options. There is an array of strong performances from a loaded ensemble including Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, and Jessie Buckley. I shouldn’t ding the movie too much for this but Academy Award winner Frances McDormand peaces out almost immediately despite prominent placement in the trailer. The debate gets a bit circular as the women more or less seem to be all settled in their final opinions from the start. A potential romance angle did not add much but I don’t think anyone’s eyes have maintained peak saturation without overt tears for as long as Ben Winshaw’s do here as the college educated villager tasked with taking the minutes of the discussion.
Tess Thoughts (24): Perhaps just slightly too much talking but amazing performances across the board.
51. Violent Night
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
From Tommy Wirkola, the Norwegian director of the zany nazi zombie movie Dead Snow, and the writers of the two Sonic movies come a goofy and even more overtly Christmas version of Die Hard with David Harbour as a drunken disillusioned Santa Claus subbing in for John McClane. One of the underrated action hero aspects is taking a beating and Harbour always looks like a man that can take a good lump and just keep coming. Fun festive touches abound like a wounded Claus using wrapping paper and ribbon for a tourniquet. John Leguizamo, a John Wick franchise veteran, relishes the opportunity to finally get to do some fights for once. Whoever cut the trailer’s incredible tagline “season’s beatings” from the final film deserves a lump of coal.
Tess Thought (33): Hallmark Christmas meets John Wick. Love it.
50-41: It Feels Like a Movie. It Feels Like a Real Like Go To The Theater Film Movie
50. Fresh
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Music video director Mimi Davis makes the jump to feature films with a stylish Get Out style comedy thriller about the horrors of dating in the internet age. Cave comes out swinging with an audacious opening credits drop over 30 minutes into the movie once its true nature has been revealed. Sebastian Stan is the perfect mix of charm and menace shimmying up a storm to some choice 80’s tunes as a suitor with sinister intent. 24 year old Daisy Edgar-Jones shines in her first lead film role as the resourceful woman caught in his devious web.
Tess Thought (54): A thrilling, gross ride. We saw two movies about people eating people this year and that does feel like too many.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
The hubbub of behind the scenes drama and the film’s memeified debut at the Venice Film Festival overwhelmed its release cycle, but the end product was actually fairly solid. With Booksmart, director Olivia Wilde made one of the best comedies of the last 5 years so now she makes her Jordan Peele swing at an allegorical horror/thriller. Not nearly as deft a touch as the maestro but she hits some of the right notes. The production design is especially on point creating an idyllic 50’s suburbia with, would you believe it, a dark underbelly. Florence Pugh, as always, puts the team on her back. Chris Pine is fantastic if slightly underused as a charismatic leader of the mysterious company every man in town works for. I don’t want to put too much emphasis on how wooden Harry Styles’s performance was but he was at least one blue fairy wish away from being a real boy.
Tess Thought (45): I would love to see this with Shia LaBeouf instead of Harry Styles like it was originally cast.
48. Lightyear
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
A bit more repetitive and less nuanced in its “teamwork makes the dream work” messaging than the usual Pixar gold standard but still a rip roaring space adventure full of cool robots, spaceships and lasers that would certainly move quite a few action figures were it not saddled with a convoluted connection to an existing character that befuddled many. After nearly 3 decades, it’s kind of an afterthought for Pixar features but the animation is just incredible in this. The details capture the same lived-in beat up feel crucial to the Star Wars universe. I’m a little higher on this than most likely because I have fond memories of the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command tv show from the early 2000’s with Patrick Warburton as Buzz so Tim Allen’s absence didn’t chap me too much.
Tess Thought (78): Hugely disappointed in this. I was not the least bit interested in the story and was 1,000% chapped by Tim Allen’s absence.
47. The Menu
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
From a pair of writers and a director who worked on Succession comes a black comedy skewering the rich. The trio push the spoofing of the detestable opulent to outright cathartic murder. The film would make a tasteful three course meal paired with Pig and Ratatouille in a takedown of pretension centered in the world of high end food. Nicholas Hoult is a hoot as an insufferable foodie. Ralph Fiennes revels in the opportunity to deploy his prime and proper energy as a malicious head chef. An intense sous chef played by Hong Chau is a perfect accomplice to his torturing of his detestable clientele. Pretty straight forward with few deviations from hammering home the thesis of the odiousness of wealth but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Tess Thought (21): Incredibly bizarre and not at all what I expected, but I absolutely loved it. Obviously not nearly as good as the perfection that is Clue, but gathering a group of strangers for a tense dinner gave me major Clue vibes.
46. Wendell and Wild
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Henry Selick, the visionary director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline teams up with writer Jordan Peele for another goth stop motion film overflowing with ideas. This time he pushes the darkness up just a titch to earn the PG-13 rating. Lots of gobbledygook about hellmaidens, blood binding, soul jockeys, clairvoyance, and wild ideas like a hellish amusement park built on the stomach of a gigantic demon voiced by the Arby’s guy can make it feel overstuffed at times. Luckily there are some interesting characters including a reunited Key and Peele playing the titular bickering shyster demon brothers and an always welcome James Hong performance. All the wild elements aside, some pretty straightforward messaging about the evils of prison privatization and the prison pipeline told through beautiful, distinct, stop motion animation. It’s a real shame this got buried on Netflix with little fanfare, as it would have had the Hot Topic goths piling into the criminal reform rallies.
Tess Thought (57): Being named “Wendell and Wild” I thought the characters Wendell and Wild were going to be a little more prominent than they ended up being.
45. Pearl
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Writer/director Ti West in New Zealand wrapping up filming his 2022 horror film X (see #42), the sets were still up, the Avatar film crew happened to be available down there on a brief hiatus from shooting space whales, so they said screw it, let’s make a second movie right now while we're still in protocol. Mia Goth plays a burgeoning sociopath with her dead eyes set on becoming a star on the herky jerk black and white silent screen in this X prequel. This is even more of a showcase piece for a convincingly unhinged Goth as she dreams of leaving her miserable existence, featuring an invalid father, domineering German mother, and a husband away in the trenches of WWI, for a life of fame. The climactic monologue where the camera stays locked on her face for 6 min as she reveals the full extent of her depravity belongs on an awards reel. West takes advantage of the period setting to deploy some old timey wipes and a fitting classical film score. Stay for the end credits to witness Goth’s unnerving commitment to the bit.
Tess Thought (55): I preferred this (slightly) to X. Mia Goth is a scary, crazy star.
44. See How They Run
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
This is a lively meta whodunnit that feels a lot like Knives Out if it was directed by Wes Anderson. Clever winks to mystery queen Agatha Christie abound in a sprightly script centered around an ill fated film version of The Mouse Trap. If he was gonna bite a director for his first feature, there were a lot worse folks for Tom George to emulate than Anderson. The framing, the staging, the split screens, title cards and narration all reek of Wes. George even snagged a number of Anderson’s regular players in Saorise Ronan and Adrien Brody who both bring the appropriate screwball energy.
Tess Thought (43): I was hoping for a top 10 movie here because whodunnits are my favorite. It’s not quite everything I wanted it to be, and I found the Wes Anderson tactics to be a bit distracting at times, but it’s still a good time.
43. Scream
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+
The long running meta horror series returns after a decade long absence to comment on the legacy sequel/requel(reboot/sequel) trend that has become all the rage in film (Halloween, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Force Awakens) and the toxic internet culture that craves and disdains them in near equal measure. Scream has been a surprisingly consistent series through 5 iterations with only the 3rd being anything really approaching a dud. The series entries have always been more whodunnit than straight slasher but with no Wes Craven for the first time, new helmers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett up the gore factor a bit. The nerdy but charming Jack Quaid (The Boys) is a perfect new addition to the saga while David Arquette represents the old guard with a series best performance.
Tess Thought (31): Yep, just go ahead and keep making more of these.
42. X
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Showtime
Writer/Director Ti West crafts a throwback 70’s style slasher not for the faint of heart. The film is indulgent with gore galore in the form of some grisly kills on top of plentiful nudity. Mia Goth pulls double duty as a porn actress and the elderly proprietor of the ranch she and her friends rent to shoot their latest film. True to the period, West deploys grainy film effects alongside some traumatizing split screens and match cuts while 70’s radio hits abound on the soundtrack. X is a bit more sex positive than the actual horror films of the era it depicts as its antagonist has a bit of a twist in their typical kill the sinning youth motivations. In a change of pace for A24 horror, rather than subverting expectations the focus is delivering the bloody goods rather than any muddled metaphorical messaging.
Tess Thought (56): The only thing scarier than regular Mia Goth is elderly Mia Goth.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
Much like it’s utilization of ILM’s cutting edge visual production set The Volume, it’s a bit hit or miss throughout but the good parts (the Sin City-esque Shadow Realm battle, creepy Christian Bale is a successful spooky bad guy after some duds (Mads Mikkelsen in Dr. Strange, elf guy no one remembers from Thor: The Dark World)), outweigh the intermittent wonkiness (tone shifts, improv uneasy Portman). With his last entry, director Taika Waititi saved the blandest Marvel franchise by making it funny. Now the expectation was for the humor to deliver. For the most part it hits but occasionally the irreverent Waititi humor brushes up awkwardly against more poignant plot points about love and loss. While it lacks the novelty of Ragnarok it still has a lot of its charm.
Tess Thought (48): Torn because I love Taika’s Thor, but I actually prefer Natalie Portman in the first two boring Thor movies.
40-31: Time For Some Action
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
Legendary director Sam Raimi only really gets to cook about 30% of the run time but his 30% absolutely rips. Alternate universe heroes meet grisly demises, a lovecraftian creature has its giant eyeball popped out, wild POV shots are deployed, and a zombie version of Strange wears a cape made entirely of ghouls. Raimi brings in his longtime editor Bob Murawski to help the copious franchise required exposition go down smooth with superimposed faces and spooky transitions. Fellow Raimi collaborator Danny Elfman brings a new ripping score and contributes to an inventive musical note fight. Hopefully Raimi can sneak off with a few bags full of the Scrooge McDuckian box office haul while he still has some heaters left in him and go do something zany far away from rooms made entirely of green screens. There’s a witch and all sorts of sorcerers doing their glowy finger waggling but the real magic is the 20 minute stretch Raimi pulls off near the end where Benedict Cumberbatch appears to be having a non contractually obligated good time.
Tess Thoughts (49): I have the first Doctor Strange ranked 27/30 on my Marvel list so my expectations for The Multiverse of Madness were incredibly low, and the bar was cleared. I actually really liked the horror spin it had. What I don’t understand is how we must drop everything and save this one random girl (who’s a smidge on the annoying side but OK fine she can travel between universes), no matter the cost, when there are plenty of other casualties/destruction along the way we don’t seem to care about.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
Following up the cultural phenomenon of Black Panther was a daunting enough task but throw in the tragic passing of star Chadwick Boseman and the endeavor seems unfathomable. It really speaks to how stacked the original Black Panther cast was that they still deliver a worthy tribute. Angela Basset scored a well deserved Academy Award nomination doing much of the heavy lifting. You could hear a pin drop in the packed theater when the Boseman montage Marvel Logo played before the opening title. Writer/director Ryan Coogler addresses the loss head on with a story that explores the many ways people experience grief. On top of that emotional top layer Coogler also introduces an advanced mesoamerican culture led by ankle winged ruler Namor to serve as an underwater foil to Wakanda directly created by the damage of colonization. The film spins these two plates well but wobbles a bit under the pressure of fitting into a demanding larger Marvel universe with plot threads and characters that don’t really matter to its story. Most egregiously a purple streaked Elaine Benes introduced briefly in post credit scenes and streaming series, steals screen time that should have been given over to America’s sweetheart Winston Duke.
Tess Thoughts (50): Very tough to release this the same year as Avatar: The Way of Water. I thought everything that took place underwater was terrible.
38. The Wonder
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Once again, a grief stricken Florence Pugh finds herself caught up in vaguely supernatural intrigue in a foreign land. This time it’s a period piece adapted from an Emma Donoghue (Room) novel where Pugh plays an English nurse called to an Irish village shortly after the famine to investigate a young girl that claims to have sustained herself purely on manna from heaven for 4 months. A slow burn deliberate first half ramps up quite a bit to a near thriller as the nurse tries to figure out what to do as the girl's health begins to dramatically deteriorate. Well executed lighting and cinematography alongside an eerie ethereal score and sound design with echoing whispers make for a potent tale about trauma, grief and how those two can often mutate into guilt. The film also presents a timely discussion of the appeal of fanaticism in uncertain times.
Tess Thoughts (52): I knew this wasn’t going to be my thing, but I could describe my hypothetical worst possible movie - and you throw Florence Pugh in the mix and I will at least kind of like it. Heck, maybe she could’ve saved The Bubble a bit.
37. The Black Phone
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
Working from Stephen King’s son’s short story (say that 5 times fast) writer/director Scott Derrickson (Sinister) returns to the horror genre with a taut thriller about a mentally disturbed child snatcher. The supernatural elements of clairvoyance and ghostly jump scares are actually probably the shakiest parts. The real to life fears are what hit hardest and Derrickson aides those in the first act establishing a lived-in 70’s Denver neighborhood complete with assorted bullies and Little League games. A barrel chested Ethan Hawke just sucking wind slouched over on a chair ready to reawaken at any moment is scarier than just about any monster my mind could conjure. Like the best kind of horror villains he’s just an enigmatic malevolent presence with a bare minimum of backstory and motivation divulged about the man behind a creepy modular white mask with interchangeable faces.
Tess Thought (41): I jumped several inches out of my seat on two separate occasions, and the guy behind me got a real kick out of that.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Writer/director Richard Linklater deploys rotoscope animation once more for a wide eyed pure uncut nostalgic look back at how cool it was to be a kid growing up in Houston at the time of the moon landing. A half ass framing story about how the lunar module was built too small so they actually sent a child to do the Apollo 11 mission thrown in the mix but never the center of attention. Narrated by Linklater’s School of Rock star Jack Black, the docudrama may test the patience of some viewers (at one point Black just lists all the cool tv shows that were on at the time) but coasts along copacetically for fan’s of Linklater’s hangout movies (Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!!) capturing both the low stakes thrills of juvenile summers and the excitement of witnessing history.
Tess Thought (70): Not for me.
35. Ambulance
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
I hope to one day find something that gives me as much intrinsic joy as director Michael Bay gets from rotating cameras and pinwheeling cars. It is really remarkable how entertaining a film he can make when his CGI robot budget is presumably diverted directly to cocaine instead. A 15 minute shootout followed by a 90 min car chase are the exact right uses for Michael Bay’s directorial talents. A blatant rip off of the Heat shootout shot on drones is the right chaotic stylistic swing in an increasingly bland action landscape. Plot and character choices do not make a lick of sense but Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II look very cool throughout and in perhaps the scene of the year, sing along to Christopher Cross mid high speed chase. I liked it enough to look into Bay’s previous film 6 Underground. Not enough to watch it but I Googled it to see if anyone liked it. Dear readers, they did not (36% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Tess Thought (32): Just a ton of fun from start to finish. My sister gets bored so easily during movies and prefers to be on her phone the whole time and not pay attention and even she liked it.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
A debauchery filled “hurricane party” quickly turns into a spooky whodunnit as the bodies begin to pile up. There’s a murderer afoot but the deepest cuts come from the toxic Gen Z “friendships.” Minor grievances and pet peeves have calcified into full blown resentment as rich vapid self absorbed drug addicts begin cruelly tearing at each other and their deepest insecurities. Borat 2’s breakout star Maria Bakalova proves she’s not a one hit wonder displaying some dramatic range as the naive foreign girlfriend dragged into the squabbles. There are some stellar sequences shot in close up with practical seeming lighting as partiers traverse the pitch black mansion, ever present cell phones illuminating the cavernous halls. This amusing black comedy thriller has everything that perplexes older generations: Tiktoks, podcasts, Tinder, groupchats, and Pete Davidson
Tess Thought (34): Never once predicted the correct culprit, which is my favorite for a whodunnit.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
A suicide pact buddy comedy is a wildly difficult needle to thread and it definitely bumps against the sides a few times but I’ll be damned if comedian and first time director Jerrod Carmichael isn’t all set to sew. Carmichael is one of the most important voices in comedy today and while this film is genuinely hilarious at times, like it’s well-deployed usage of Papa Roach, the mental illness of both men is always taken seriously. Alongside a loaded cast of supporting players including Lavell Crawford, JB Smoove, Tiffany Haddish, and Henry Winkler, Carmichael plays a depressed mulch shoveler and Christopher Abott does strong work as his institutionalized friend. The script by Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch does well to color in the true tragedy of the pair’s lives and the hopeless feelings of their depression. Both men are trying to save each other from pain they can’t keep away from themselves. The ending is a little shakey but just like in life, I’m not sure there’s ever a totally satisfactory way to wrap things up.
Tess Thought (18): My heart was simultaneously racing and crumbling the entire 86 minute run time.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Starz
As a vocal Face/Off enthusiast Nicolas Cage playing an exaggerated version of himself is the main draw to this action comedy but Pedro Pascal is truly a comedic revelation here. It is truly shocking how hilarious Pascal is in this movie given how dire his other 2022 comedy was (see 113). The deliriously funny smile he delivers when his character is rolling on LSD should live in internet infamy forever. Cage gets to winningly riff on both his on and off screen personas including playing his height of fame younger self as a spirit guide of sorts. As is the case frequently with studio comedies, unfortunately a majority of the film’s best comedic bits were given away in the film’s multiple trailers but they do all hit hard so I see the impulse to put their best foot forward.
Tess Thought (68): An unbearably massive disappointment after every joke was in the trailers. :(
31. Bullet Train
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Director David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2) watched Brad Pitt in the Once Upon A Time in Hollywood climactic acid cigarette scene and said yes, do that the entire movie and it still hits. This action comedy has some serious early Guy Ritchie vibes with a colorful ensemble of nicknamed characters and a flashback filled twisty narrative. If you’ve seen those films you probably know where it's all headed but it's still a lively ride getting there. Triple named Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry walk away with the movie as bickering British brother hitmen. In a similar tradeoff to that seen in his last directorial outing Hobbs and Shaw, Leitch stages some excellent close quarters combat and some questionable larger set pieces. This ranking is slightly inflated by the Russian nesting doll of some of my favorite actors that made up every character reveal in the second half.
Tess Thought (17): This is where Bryan Tyree Henry should’ve grabbed his Oscar nom. I had an absolute blast with this. Remove the insufferable Joey King (who is doing a bogus accent) and it may crack my top 20.
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