Wattching Movies 2022 Reviewed: Top 30
- Watt
- Mar 12, 2023
- 26 min read
Updated: Mar 13, 2023
30-21: Animation Domination
30. Turning Red
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+
A Pixar puberty parable about the confusing and powerful emotions that come with hormone induced teenage volatility. 8th grader Mei Lee struggles to balance being a “good daughter” that respects her parents with becoming an empowered independent person. On top of that, she turns into a giant red panda anytime her emotions get out of control. Good luck keeping those in check with a soundtrack laden with Billie Eilish penned boy band bangers. The film plays a bit like a middle school Lady Bird as Mei clashes with her embarrassing helicopter parenting mother played by Sandra Oh. In addition to its relatable tale about the messy and mistake prone early teen years the animation takes a page out of Sony Animation’s recent output and features some fanciful change of pace stylistic flourishes. It also features an all time on screen dad in the adorable Mr. Lee who desperately avoids confrontation, cooks the best food in town and dispenses game changing advice.
Tess Thought (47): Very cute but not top tier Pixar like I had hoped. The dad was adorable and we do not get enough of him.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
After a decade dormant, Dreamworks returns to its bread and butter fairy tale series with a significantly improved animation style and the strongest story in the entire Shrek pantheon. Parts of this look like a painted storybook illustration kinetically brought to life as opposed to the round blobby typical Dreamworks house style. There are a lot less modern pop culture references than previous Shreks with a focus instead on fairy tale jokes like Goldilocks and The Three bears forming a crime family and a knock off Jiminy Cricket that tries to give morality lessons to the John Mulaney voiced villain. The Big Bad Wolf rules as a terror both physical and existential for a down on his last of 9 lives Puss in Boots. The Wolf is voiced menacingly by Wagner Moura, Pablo Escobar from Narcos no less. This sensational swashbuckling outing by Antonio Banderas really made me want to watch Mask of Zorro again.
Tess Thought (20): Dare I say best in the Shrek franchise.
28. Till
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Danielle Deadwyler, a scene stealer in last year’s The Harder They Fall, has these big expressive eyes and my goodness does director Chinonye Chukwu know how to shoot and frame those watery money makers for maximum heart wrenching impact at all times. Deadwyler gives in equal measure a fierce and moving performance and I’m baffled that her courtroom testimony long take will not be playing for a Best Actress Oscar reel. Deadwyler captures the unfathomable grief, resilience and determination to ensure that her son did not die in vain that defined Mamie Till. Till’s tale is tastefully told but without shying away from the horrors of what occurred. A long lingering shot on the terrified and knowing face of his uncle as young Emmett is driven away never to return has more impact than any graphic re-enactment of the heinous crime could have produced.
Tess Thought (42): Jalyn Hall steals your heart right away, making it all the more devastating.
27. Return to Seoul
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Where to Watch: North American Distribution Still Rolling Out
This French-German-Belgian coproduction from Cambodian writer/director Davy Chou is a well made and captivating character study about a young Korean woman who was adopted by a France family and returns to her birth country for the first time. First time actress Ji-Min Park commands the screen in multiple languages as Freddie Benoit. The film features a series of time jumps as we watch the progression of Freddie’s years-long journey of self discovery spurred by this investigation into her origin. At each step of the way Freddie tries to will herself to apathy with drink, dance, and meaningless sexual encounters yet she can’t seem to shake the lingering questions about her place in the world.
Tess Thought (23): First. Time. Actress. 😱 Amazing.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
A long time passion project of Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro that has been kicking around in development for the better part of 15 years. All that hard work and painstaking stop motion animation pays off beautifully as intricate puppets and fantastic creature design give new dark life to a timeless tale. The screenplay by del Toro and animation veteran Patrick McHale (Adventure Time, Over the Garden Wall) transposes the living puppet action to WWII era Italy. Del Toro is sure to throw some pot shots at Il Duce himself for a scene featuring a Mussolini that is a 2 ft. tall dullard voiced by Spongebob. A puppet/fascist metaphor is fairly obvious yet is woven in masterfully as the plot follows the familiar Pinocchio story beats but recontextualizes them within this period setting like having a training camp for child soldiers take the place of Pleasure Island. One of the largest delights of this movie season was seeing two time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett in the credits and then realizing which character she voices.
Tess Thought (36): Very, very cool stop motion animation. I did not care for where del Toro took the story though.
25. The Fabelmans
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Steven Spielberg, one of our greatest living directors, delivers a deeply personal autobiographical film about the way movies impacted his childhood. Working from his own script for the first time since 2001’s A.I, Spielberg and co-writer Tony Kushner examine movies as a potent magic but not in the cockeyed optimistic way the trailer presents. Instead, film creation is shown as a necessary coping mechanism for Spielberg to express himself and process his feelings. During a pivotal scene Spielberg’s stand-in Sammy Fabelman’s view of a familial argument even shifts to a 16mm film grain as if he’s shooting the scene unfolding rather than actively participating in it. The two sides of Spielberg, a sentimental emotion driven artist and a precise technician with preternatural gifts for staging and framing, are represented by the often clashing personalities of his movie parents in a pair of phenomenal performances from Michelle Williams and Paul Dano. Watching Sammy Fabelman make the type of home made movies Spielberg made as a kid is a treat as you see the inventiveness on display and watch him learn the impact his images can have on an audience. Judd Hirsch shows up for roughly 5 minutes of screen time but absolutely earns his Best Supporting Actor nomination as Sammy’s uncle explaining the toll the intoxicating pull of art can take on one’s life.
Tess Thought (11): This movie was magic.
24. Barbarian
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
The less you know about the plot of this horror film the more enjoyable the experience it becomes. What you do need to know is that this is an impossibly confident solo directing debut from former Whitest Kids U' Know member Zach Cregger (The less said about Miss March, the hastily and cheaply produced comedy he co-directed with his late great compatriot Trevor Moore over a decade ago, the better). Cregger uses masterful framing, cool cuts, and interesting shots to create a pitch perfect claustrophobic atmosphere. The booming synthed up score and set design only enhances that spookifying effect. Cregger’s script has a very unique and pleasing structure I’ll try not to spoil but a tense first act gives you the willies then Cregger just fucking goes for it. Justin Long is pitch perfect as one of the most loathsome characters ever put to screen. It’s no surprise given Cregger's comedy background that this horror film is actually quite funny throughout. Like fellow sketch comedian pivoting to horror maestro Jordan Peele, Cregger understands that the formulas for getting audiences to produce laughter and terror both share a careful structure of set up, punchline, misdirection, and playing with expectations.
Tess Thought (26): At every single point in this movie I did not have a single clue what was coming next which was very fun.
23. Prey
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
1987’s Predator is a perfect film. The muscle mass assembled alone is unprecedented: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura seem like they could barely fit in a chopper let alone have additional machine gun toting associates accompany them. While admittedly Prey’s cumulative muscle mass falls way short of the original, its thrills do not. Again, Predator’s plot is perfect: badass warriors take on a 7 foot tall alien killing machine. There is no need to deviate from that basic formula. The inventiveness comes in with who those warriors are and where you place them. This time a Comanche tribe in pre-Revolutionary War North America faces down the extraterrestrial terror. Native American actress Amber Midthunder (Legion) kicks so much ass in this. The combat is more hand to hand this time around instead of bulbous biceps firing the largest guns you have ever seen. Thankfully, this version is all well choreographed and properly shot action featuring some digitally enhanced impressive practical effects vs the weightless CGI spectacle that marred the Predator’s last outing. Some french fur traders get absolutely cooked by the steampunk ancestor of Arnold’s jungle adversary.
Tess Thought (88): I liked Predator! Maybe taking place in the year 1719 lost me from the start, but I did not experience any thrills.
22. The Outfit
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
This is a reallllll twisty old fashioned chamber piece. The action takes place in the single setting of a 1950’s Chicago tailor shop and is dialogue heavy like a stage play but with enough stylistic flair from debuting director Graham Moore to justify the medium choice. A dialogue laden chamber piece makes for a very smooth transition to directing for the Academy Award winning screenwriter (The Imitation Game). Fellow Academy Award winner Mark Rylance makes everyone forget all about his execrable performance in Don’t Look Up with an absolute heater as the puttering proprietor of the shop. Zoey Deutch does strong work as Rylance’s secretary with a few secrets up her sleeves and Dylan O'Brien does his best stereotype Chicago accent as part of two warring factions of gangsters that pop in and out of the shop on one fateful night. With each incursion the tension rises and the script’s twists stack up until a propulsive finale.
Tess Thought (15): Mark Rylance reminded me so much of the old man who fixes up Woody in Toy Story 2, and watching him tailor is nearly as satisfying as watching this scene.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu and HBO Max
This feature length adventure for the Belcher clan feels just like an extended episode which is perfect because Bob’s Burgers is one of the most charming and delightful television programs of the last decade. At it’s best, Bob’s is one of the few shows to ever operate at a level of comedy anywhere approaching The Simpsons at its Conan O’Brien produced peak. Co-written and co-directed by series creator Loren Bouchard, the movie delivers all the zany characters, comedy star voices, and Little King Trashmouths that fans crave. The expanded animation budget of a big screen adventure allows for more intricate showpieces for a handful of the show's signature snappy tunes and a high stakes chase scene without losing any of the heart and warmth the show has come to be known for.
Tess Thought (27): If you like the show, you’ll love the movie, and if you don’t like the show, you’re wrong.
20-11: There Will Be Blood
20. The Woman King
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood follows up her enjoyable Netflix action hit The Old Guard with a rip roaring historical action epic. An imposingly yoked Viola Davis leads the Agojie, a group of hardened female warriors that takes on Portuguese slavers and a rival tribe working alongside them. South African actress Thuso Mbedu, in her feature film debut, serves as audience surrogate as a new recruit to the Agojie. I could have done without the tacked on romance Mbedu gets but that’s my only real quibble with this grand epic. There is some impeccably shot hand to hand close quarters combat throughout and a sprawling battle late in the 2nd act that is one of the best action set pieces of the last 5 years. Davis is the star but frankly Lashana Lynch walks away with this movie. She displays all the action superstar characteristics you look for with off the charts charisma, badass physicality, and she’s funny enough to drop some quips. Bond producers are fools if they’re not even considering keeping her around as 007.
Tess Thought (14): Five stars for the fight choreography.
19. Armageddon Time
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Writer-Director James Gray (Ad Astra, a film of which I am an inordinate fan) produces a 1980 NYC set coming of age autobiographical tale that also functions as a critique of the casual cruelty, inherent racism, and hypocrisy of bootstrap rhetoric and “The American Dream.” The film shows how folks get ground up by the pressures of systems where everyone is striving to get a leg up and a “seat at the table” while stepping on each other to get there. Banks Repeta gives an outstanding performance as Gray stand-in Paul Graf, an artistically inclined 12 year old ball of anxiety. Gray argues that when “keeping up with the Joneses,” assimilation and conformity become the goals. In this framework a clearly gifted and imaginative boy is labeled as slow and a problem. Gray seems to be truly haunted by his role in a string of indignities suffered by a black friend he was too skittish or naive to properly assist. No disrespect to the actual nominees but Anthony Hopkins should be taking home another Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Graf’s grandfather that tries to impart worldly wisdom to the young lad.
Tess Thought (28): At the time I remember liking this movie and specifically loving Anthony Hopkins. Now, 4 months later, I am having a hard time remembering it at all. We may watch too many movies which could be part of the problem, but still, I think it says something when no aspect of a movie lingers.
18. Bones and All
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
Director Luca Guadagnino adapts a cannibal coming of age road trip romance into an artsy Near Dark for the A24 crowd. Mark Rylance continues to atone for Don’t Look Up playing a terrifying Gollum like figure. In a cast also featuring acting dynamos Michael Stuhlbarg and Timothee Chalamet, little known actress Taylor Russell shines brightest as a teen coming to grips with the horrific nature of her being. She and Chalamet have a moving romance as two broken people trying to jam their jagged edges together to be whole if only for a fleeting moment. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provide their standard awards worthy score with a mix of longing acoustic strums and pounding synths to soundtrack a journey across the sweeping plains of the midwest populated by broken down homes and rusted trucks. Squeamish viewers perhaps intrigued by a romantic junky allegory should be forewarned, Guadagnino reminds you he not only directed the coming of age romance Call Me By Your Name but also the gnarly Suspiria remake with some truly gruesome moments.
Tess Thought (16): The soundtrack had me so entranced. I was caught up in the blossoming romance and road tripping on a sunny day. Somehow this was so tender! Eating people was secondary and I often forgot that was part of it. (There’s probably a joke in there about the meat being tender but I’m just remembering the delicate moments of the movie and getting swept up again.)
17. Babylon
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 56%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+
Writer/director Damien Chazelle puts all his chips on the table for this one. I always respect when a filmmaker builds up an ironclad cache, puts it all on the line for the one audacious movie that has consumed their psyche and wipes their ass with any studio note that happens to comes their way. He crafts a true “my parents left me home alone for the weekend with way too much pizza money” movie. The sprawling story follows the rise and fall of various Hollywood archetypes as movies make the transition from silent to sound. There’s a wide eyed gofer that works his way up to being a studio exec (Diego Calvo in what could be a star-making turn had the movie not historically bombed), a wild party girl turned A list star (Margot Robbie, going for it), a fading leading man (Brad Pitt in effortless movie star mode), and to an underdeveloped extent the indignity filled careers of two minority stars (Jovan Adepo as a trumpeter and Li Jun Li as a Chinese Cabaret singer). This film is certainly not for everyone. There are some incredible scenes like the chaotic filming of a pre-Hays Code battle scene or a depiction of the herculean efforts it took to first capture sound. There are also multiple scenes where folks are defecated upon and Tobey Maguire shows up as a complexion challenged rich ghoul with yellow teeth. I did not enjoy all 3 hours of its chaotic retelling of salacious old time Hollywood myths but I have to tip my cap to Chazelle for at no point not going for broke.
Tess Thought (35): Once Tobey Maguire showed up the movie totally lost me.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
Director Edward Bergera asks, “What if we just made the whole movie out of the Storming of Omaha Beach scene from Saving Private Ryan?” Accompanying countless scene of trench warfare brutality is the most unnerving sound in a score since Annihilation. The film diverges from the celebrated source novel with some added sequences of officials and generals eating opulent meals and chatting about potential ceasefires while battered grunts are out dying in the muck that really drive home the dichotomy between those placed in charge of a global conflict and those who actually fight it. French director Francois Truffaut argued on a few occasions that there is no such thing as a truly anti-war film because “to show something is to ennoble it” which gets especially tricky given the inherent spectacle of recreating combat. While I think he makes a good point, I don’t think I’ve ever had the absolute futility of war sink in quite like the end text that pops up here mentioning how the western front barely moved in 3 years of the gruesome mud caked conflict Bergera shows us, what amounts to just a harrowing glimpse of, for two grueling hours.
Tess Thought (25): War movies must be seen on the big screen. Having to pause this for puppy potty breaks really changes the experience.
15. Aftersun
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Available for Rental
The muddled framing devices didn’t land for me as well as they seem to have among the critical consensus but I thought the story told between them is utterly fantastic. The film depicts a 11 year old girl and her father on vacation at a Turkish resort. While the preteen is off hanging with some older teens and coming of age, her struggling father falls apart in the background trying desperately to hold it together around her. Paul Mescal gives an all time performance as the father who became a dad early in life before separating fairly amicably from the girl's mother. In fleeting words and expressions the audience catches how deeply simple offhand comments from his daughter cut him like a knife. As a child you don’t really grasp that everyone close to you has their own rich internal life going on full of complex thoughts and emotions that you’ll never know the true scope of, but as you get older, experience more, and gain empathy you come to realize what all may have gone into something like providing a simple carefree day at the beach for you. Come for that journey of existential understanding, stay for the all time cathartic needle drop at the climax.
Tess Thought (2): The muddled framing devices completely worked, as did everything else. I watched the entire thing through tears in my eyes and never wanted it to end.
14. Tar
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
Cate Blanchett should be a lock for Best Actress with this powerhouse performance. Todd Field’s character study of a renowned female conductor/composer feels a bit like Uncut Gems in its singular focus on an odious protagonist that keeps escalating their bad decisions as comeuppance closes in. The film examines cancel culture and whether you can separate art from artist without hand feeding the audience a clear cut answer. The cinematography by Florian Hoffmeister is tremendous in this with some beautiful shots and framing you might not expect from someone with Johnny English Strikes Again on their IMDB page. He and Field stage some impressive long take “oners” and capture some wonderful revealing shots of Blanchett’s eyes in a rearview mirror. The film starts a bit slow but once the pieces and narrative path are revealed it cruises with some surprising humor injected along the way as Tar’s artistic triumph and personal downfall come barreling down the pike on a collision course. “Apartment For Sale” was robbed of a Best Original Song nomination.
Tess Thought (13): It took me a very long time to get into this movie, but once I did - wow. The second half was bananas.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu
Despite being up for Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Foreign Film at the previous year’s awards, this Norwegian film didn’t actually score a proper US release until February of last year so we’re counting it here. The film feels a lot like a novel, as it is told in 12 chapters complete with omniscient narration. Writer/director Joachim Trier beautifully captures the ennui and doubt of pre-middle age alongside the moments of blissful clarity that exist in between, shown in a signature sequence where time literally stops as the main character realizes she needs to pursue a new gentleman caller. Actress Renate Riensve (who looks distractingly like Dakota Johnson at times) delivers a performance that flatteringly calls to mind Greta Gerwig’s similar turn in Frances Ha as a former “gifted kid” who can’t seem to get out of her own way. It speaks to the strength of her performance that such a flighty character who changes careers and passions on a whim, which should be infuriating, remains someone you can’t help but root for to figure it all out.
Tess Thought (12): Yes, I walked in thinking this was a Dakota Johnson film and was very taken aback when the subtitles began. Glad it wasn’t Dakota #1, and #2 the scene where time stops will live rent free in my mind forever. It is wonderful.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
It’s no surprise that Rian Johnson can deliver a sensational sequel that cleverly plays with fan’s expectations. Yeah, I said it, force ghost Yoda and that throne scene rule. Fight me haters. While the first Knives Out had it’s murder seemingly solved in the first act, this one features a nifty structural twist near the midpoint that turns the whole affair on its head. Janelle Monae, who I had previously only seen in brief roles in Moonlight and the god awful Steve Carell action figure movie Welcome to Marwen, is a revelation here in a quasi lead role. Sorry to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days lovers but Kate Hudson has never been funnier, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc with his cartoonish accent and odd parlance remains delightful, Dave Baustista gets to play a Joe Rogan riff that lives with his mom, and Ed Norton takes full advantage of his very punchable face.
Tess Thought (10): How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is in a league of its own. I loved this movie too but please - show some respect.
11. The Northman
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
Director Robert Eggers’s previous bizarre film, The Lighthouse, is one of me favorite movies. This outing is a straight forward revenge tale as old as time based on the same Scandinavian legend that inspired Hamlet. Eggers seems to know this is the biggest budget an idiosyncratic filmmaker like himself will likely ever get to play with so he throws his gnarliest visions up on the screen for a true viking epic. There are several visceral long takes during action sequenced honed in on Alexander Skarsgård’s hunched over hulking physique and animalistic movements. Guts are spilled and heads are lost en route to a show stopping final fight held within a volcano. Fret not fellow Lighthouse Lads, Willem Dafoe makes a brief appearance being an absolute loon to the delight of all. I might have this higher than most but an insatiable bloodlust for vengeance really hit home for me during a screening where a person seated in front of me openly scrolled through apps and watched videos on their brightly lit phone the entire time.
Tess Thought (30): The Lighthouse is perhaps one of the worst movies ever made so my expectations were very low. This is definitely not a movie I would rewatch, but I was unexpectedly invested the first time through. Skarsgard catches a spear and throws it back.
10-1: The Power of Friendship
10. Nope
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Peacock
After Jordan Peele knocked it out of the park with his first two films Get Out and Us, his budget has been bumped up to blockbuster and boy oh boy does he deliver with Spielbergian delights in a “Do it for the Vine” horror parable. The film explores both the exploitative nature of the film industry as well as the proliferation of video sharing sites and social media creating an atmosphere where everything is viewed through the lens of content and spectacle. Folks are addicted to getting “the shot” at the expense of safety and well being, all the while rubbernecking tragedy, and commodifying trauma. As a grizzled cinematographer played by Michael Wincott knowingly rasps, “This dream you’re chasing, where you’re at the top of the mountain, all eyes on you? It’s the dream you never wake up from.” There is stellar sound design throughout including Keith David’s rich baritone and Peele pulls off the same spookification of Corey Hart’s immortal “Sunglasses at Night” that he memorably gave to “I Got 5 On It” for Us.Keke Palmer gives her best performance since “Sorry to this man.” The slowly built up to “Gordie’s Home” sequence is the most harrowing moment in film this year.
Tess Thought (29): Visually very cool but my expectations were so high after Get Out and Us that Nope just did not quite live up to them.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
Where to Watch: In Theaters. Go See It On The Biggest Screen Still Available To You
Like the original 13 years prior, this is an absolutely insane technical achievement. Director James Cameron takes every marvel of Pandora one step further by shooting large segments underwater and throwing in the absurd flex of placing a human boy in much of the action interacting with environments and 8 foot tall blue people just to say to the audience “Yeah, we really shot a bunch of this.” I can’t even begin to comprehend how they did it. There is some awesome creature design in this particularly in its second act which plays like the highest budgeted episode ever of Planet Earth. The third act is full of action that positively embarrasses much of the muddled rushed CGI we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. The lighting and detail underwater is mind boggling. Cameron is an absolute madman and I pray he gets to complete all 5 of his planned entries in this saga. This would be ranked even higher but they made Jemaine Clement do an American accent which should land somebody in Gitmo.
Tess Thought (9):
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+ and in my dreams when I think of blockbuster spectacle
Tom Cruise is a maniac. The third act of this movie is insane but truly from start to finish this film is old school big screen blockbuster perfection. The flight action has to be seen to be believed. I’m not entirely convinced they didn't actually blow up several million dollars worth of military aircrafts. After enjoying last year’s Val, I was quite pleased to see Kilmer back on screen and incorporated quite tastefully as one of the film’s emotional linchpins. The film serves as a succinct metaphor for the state of the industry where the pencil pushers at Naval command want swaggering Maverick being replaced by drones, while capital S movie Stars like Cruise are being replaced by costumed heroes and digital effects. Mav is trying to teach the young pilots how to fly what some might say is an impossible mission of sorts while Cruise is on set showing charismatic young stars Glen Powell and Miles Teller how to deliver the goods. Cruise continues to make crystal clear that he is absolutely willing to die for the right to bring us cinema spectacle. I cannot imagine even thinking of breaking Covid protocol and delaying this lunatic from a minute of work without fearing for my family.
Tess Thought (8): I’m not sure why Jennifer Connelly’s character needed to be a part of this, but this is an otherwise perfect film. If any person needs a movie recommendation, watch this one. It has something for everyone. And I obviously can’t write a Top Gun: Maverick thought without including a shoutout to ~that~ Miles Teller scene.
7. The Batman
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
When you are the 5th director to deliver your vision of a live action Batman to the screen in the past 35 years you have to make some choices to set yours apart and nearly all of Matt Reeves’s connect. Making Bruce Wayne an emo dweeb that never leaves his house other than roaming the rooftops of Gotham doing Travis Bickle journaling is a fruitful pivot from the slick billionaire playboy alter ego. Michael Giacchino’s score built out from an interpolation of Nirvana’s haunting “Something In The Way” matches that grunge mood perfectly. Merges a few iconic comic storylines into one film long mystery where the “world’s greatest detective’ angle of Batman is played up for the first time ever as he solves a PG-13 version of Seven. Cinematographer Greig Fraser who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Dune, brings a different technical mastery here. Instead of grand space operatic spectacle here shallow focus is utilized heavily so everything feels narrowed to Batman’s ground level perspective. The memorable stationary camera on a moving vehicle shot Reeves did with a tank in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes shows up here a few times and still kicks unlimited amounts of ass. The film delivers on moments of a grimdark Batman, ex. snarling that he’s “vengeance,” while over the course of film slowly putting a knife in that tired version of the character by poking fun at that self seriousness and arguing Batman needs to do more than just dole out viscous retribution.
Tess Thought (7): Brooding Batman just works. My only (minor) criticism was that the last act drags a bit.
6. After Yang
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Fubo
South Korean filmmaker Kogonada adapts a short story about a “technosapien” named Yang that falls into disrepair. Yang was originally purchased by a couple (Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner Smith) to serve as a sibling and cultural teacher for their adopted Chinese daughter. While working to get Yang repaired, Farrell discovers a memory bank that reveals a whole rich life of his own Yang was living outside of his programmed duties. As Farrell delves deeper into these memory files a quiet yet profound philosophical rumination on what life is all about and what it means to truly live unfolds. It’s not always the big events that stick in your mind but often the small beautiful moments that linger. As part of developing a fully realized believable version of the near future the film contains one of the best title sequences of not just this year but all time. Farrell, who gets to wear some dope sunglasses to view Yang’s memories, is on an all time run since his turn in the unfairly maligned second season of True Detective and appears 3 times in my top 7 movies for this year (See #7 and #4).
Tess Thought (5): This movie is slow but it feels kind of like a dream, a wonderful dream. I wish watching memories using dope sunglasses was a real thing because I am obsessed with these memory sequences.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Showtime
Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp expand on their popular youtube video into a beautiful poignant exploration of life, loss, and change. The film seamlessly blends live action and stop motion animation to bring Marcel to life. A shell with a googly eye glued to it that sleeps between two pieces of white bread had the whole theater sobbing multiple times. Between all the heart there is still quite a bit of laughter like when Marcel takes his first road trip complete with some truly adorable bouts of car sickness. The film provides a sage message that while nothing ever remains the same, that doesn't mean we have to fear the future and the change that comes with it. When a worried Marcel asks, “What if everything changes?” his Nana Connie, given such a warm presence by the voice work of Isabella Rosellini, doesn’t try to divert the young shell’s fears but rather calmly just assures him “It will” with the knowing confidence that comes from a long life of being adaptable and rolling with life’s many curveballs. The whole endeavor is wholesome and moving without being treacly or twee. It is just what the doctor ordered for these increasingly turbulent times of uncertainty.
Tess Thought (3): The second they introduced a grandma shell I knew I was done for.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Where to Watch: Streaming on HBO Max
Writer/director/playwright Martin McDonagh reunites his In Bruges stars for a pitch black breakup comedy set on a beautiful Irish isle. Colin Farrell’s eyebrows are otherworldly expressive in an awards caliber performance as a simpleton who one day finds his best friend no longer wishes to speak to him. Brendan Gleeson gives an equally outstanding performance as the former friend experiencing an existential crisis brought on by one too many lengthy conversations about the contents of barnyard animal excrement. Gleeson also gave us perhaps the only good SNL promo ever while promoting the film. Many of us can relate to both parties in terms of having had former friends or close associates that just grate on you a bit for long enough that you grow fed up with the whole affair or on the flip side have had someone just cut you out with no explanation, ghosting you, in the parlance of our time. These harsh and sudden exits can cause doubt and disillusionment just as Farrell experiences with only his trusty donkey to comfort him. Yet sometimes you can bring yourself even more hardship when you just don’t know when to leave well enough alone and let it go. In addition to the two phenomenal leads, Barry Keoghan gives a surprisingly moving performance as the only bigger dullard than Ferrell on the isle, while Kerry Condon has taken home some well deserved supporting actress hardware for her turn as Farrell’s sister who is just exasperated by the whole fecking silly ordeal.
Tess Thought (6): Colin Farrell (in my #5, #6, and #7 movies this year) has solidified himself as a favorite.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Paramount+
Comedian Conan O’Brien has long opined that the height of comedy is the “strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid. There are a lot of people that believe the two cannot coexist. But God, I will tell you, it is something that I believe religiously: I think when smart and stupid come together—it’s very difficult—but if you can make it happen, I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.” I can think of no finer example of this exact phenomenon than the Jackass crew’s elaborately constructed pranks and stunts converging in hearty laughs at the pure distilled stupidity inherent to their execution. These hooligans engineered a special rig so they could light a fart on fire underwater. It’s that perfect alchemy of lowbrow ingenuity that makes it the best legacy sequel since Blade Runner 2049 and scored it a previous lengthy write up as my favorite film of 2022 during my recently concluded “Watt A Life” series.
Tess Thought (46): I was not super impressed with the new recruits and do not like reduced screen time for Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville. I don’t care how old they get, they will always be the best.
2. RRR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix
This is the most expensive Indian film ever made and every rupee is put to deliriously good use. When a little girl is stolen from her village, one man is tasked with retrieving her and one man must guard her for the British officers he serves that hold her captive. The two cross paths in a daring horse and motorcycle aided rescue of a little boy from a flame engulfed river. A bromance for the ages quickly emerges. The action produced by director S. S. Rajamouli is positively insane. This film is the hyper stylized thrill ride that Zack Snyder would make if he was 50% less into Leonard Cohen music and had just let Batman and Superman be buddies that give each other rippling forearm shakes. The film’s fights are almost exclusively performed via WWE finishing moves. Flaming motorcycles are used at bludgeons and projectiles in equal measure. At one point a leopard is thrown at a British officer. The soundtrack positively bangs including the dance number of this century “Naatu Naatu” which will cause me to rise, roar and revolt if it does not take home Best Original Song at the Oscars.
Tess Thought (4): Fully anticipated to be disinterested and on my phone for this one, but go ahead and try it, you won’t be able to. The merriment of the bromance is too infectious.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Where to Watch: Streaming on Showtime
Directing duo The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the visionary creators of Swiss Army Man and the positively bonkers “Turn Down For What” music video produce a truly one of a kind trip across the multiverse. Michelle Yeoh gets to play countless alternate versions of her Chinese immigrant character which serves as the ultimate showcase of her diverse array of talents as both an actress and martial artist. As good as Yeoh’s Oscar nominated lead performance is, actor Ke Huy Quan may be even better as the various iterations of her beleaguered husband Waymond. As a child Quan played two iconic 80’s roles as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies but he had not appeared in an American theatrical release since the 1992 comedy classic Encino Man. In the meantime he worked on stunt crews for films like X-Men and the coincidentally multiverse centered Jet Li film The One. He shows off those fight skills in a show stopping fanny pack aided kung fu fight scene. The whole film plays like The Matrix on acid overflowing with excellent office space based combat and a brilliant diy sci-fi visual aesthetic like putting 93 year old Hollywood icon James Hong in an exosuit made of old desktop computers. The Daniels even secured Randy Newman for an extended joke about the misremembered title of a Pixar classic. Somehow with all the gleeful insanity that unfolds on screen, the film remains anchored by its moving story about family. This wonderful film serves as an excellent antidote to the creeping nihilism and near constant existential crises of today's times. Little in this world makes sense so cherish the beautiful moments that do when spending time with those we love and above all else, be kind because we're all in this together just doing our best in this mixed up crazy world.
Tess Thought (1): Give Ke Huy Quan his Oscar already. The best movie I have seen in a long time.
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