THE 2022 MOVIE GUIDE: PART I

A quick note: I’m thrilled to report that movies feel like they’re back. One blockbuster was the definitive movie of the summer, but there were plenty of offerings that all generated buzz, had solid grosses, and feel like they were really a part of the culture. Whether it’s my parents, my wife, my coworkers or my friends, the awareness level of what’s playing, what’s coming soon, and what other people seem to think about them. This is a good thing!

Typically, I wait and deliver this report in February or March before the Oscars, after I’ve had a chance to see the most relevant stuff. However, with so much still yet to come, I figured sharing my perspective on the year along with what I’m still planning on watching would be a worthwhile exercise.

The “A” Movies:

• Top Gun Maverick (A)

  • I think my high opinion of this film has as much to do with the state of blockbuster entertainment today as anything great about this movie, but man does it rip. It’s a simple formula that’s executed incredibly to create a total package blockbuster: there’s occasional poignance, the nostalgia for the original product is thoroughly baked in without it being thrown in the audiences’ face, the humor is sparse but deft, the romance is delightful, the glamor drips off the screen, and the action is brilliant. If you’re seeking any artistic insight into the human experience, you probably should look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a rousing, competent, and thrilling blockbuster that feels ostensibly set in the real world with real people, then it’s better to do than to think. And this is done spectacularly.

• The Batman (A-)

  • While I’m admittedly a sucker for another dark, gritty, “realistic” and “grounded” take on a billionaire who dresses up like a bat to beat dudes up, I think Matt Reeves turned in something special. His conception of Gotham City perfectly splits the difference between the recognizable and the fantastical, and by working in a cinematic legacy that includes Hitchcock and Se7en he gives us a comic book movie that feels unique and authentic. I’m a huge fan of the performances, particularly Robert Pattinson’s take on a Bruce Wayne who has completely lost himself in his alter ego. The film gets a little too ambitious as it tries to balance being a serial killer murder mystery, a seedy noir, a conspiracy thriller, a meditation on Batman’s purpose, and an evocation of radicalized online communities. At its best however, it really sings.

• The Northman (A-)

  • What happens when you give someone who’s crafted two interesting horror movies with a unique vision for craft and lingual authenticity $100 million to make a Viking epic? The answer is an oft-hallucinatory, slow-burn, bare-knuckled revenge epic content to take pages out of Shakespeare and subvert audience expectations. The fact that Eggers had to compromise some of his vision is palpable, but characterizing this film as deeply flawed feels inaccurate. It’s mythic, philosophical, occasionally existential, and occasionally mired down by its slow plotting; in those moments the characters are more sharply rounded out, so there’s truly no wasted time here.

• RRR (A-)

  • S.S. Rajamouli’s bombastic Tollywood historical fiction epic has been a sensation in the United States this year, and for good reason: it’s just plain awesome. It’s three-hour-plus runtime is going for broke in every second, it fully embraces its fantasy elements to create some ludicrously thrilling action set pieces featuring superhuman feats of strength. The two lead performances are charming, the musical numbers – a Tollywood and Bollywood staple – fit spectacularly, and the film is full of plot twists, tension, and righteous anger.

• After Yang (A-)

  • This quiet sci-fi movie might be rated PG, but I wouldn’t say it’s for children; it just succeeds in landing a sweet emotional punch without strong language, sex, or violence. Kogonada’s conception of this world where the futuristic technology is rarely onscreen peels away the typical trappings of the genre to truly communicate how technology both connects and isolates. There’s been plenty of “robot disguised as human ponders the meaning of life” films, but After Yang stands apart. Most of Yang’s existential ponderings are done silently, and what’s more important is how the humans around him react to him and begin to contemplate life without him.

The “B” Movies

• Kimi (B+)

  • Another year, another solid-to-great movie that dropped quietly onto HBO Max from Steven Soderbergh. KIMI is a wonderful update to Rear Window that’s got the pulse of the modern age, incorporating both corporate surveillance/listening devices, the oft-repulsive duty of online content moderation, and COVID quarantine directly into the plot in a way that feels totally natural and justified. Zoe Kravitz gives a terrific performance as the usually anonymous content moderator suffering from agoraphobia who succumbs to deeper and deeper suspicion of everyone around her as the film progresses; this is as easy to recommend to adults who enjoy small-scale thrillers as they come.

• Everything Everywhere All at Once (B+)

  • The buzzy indie film sensation of the year is a multi-dimensional tale of sometimes fraught familial love and the extraordinary in the ordinary. The filmmaking is a solid match for the ambition of the tale, with extended sequences cross-cutting between the various realities at a frenetic pace. The movie demands that you meet it on its terms, and though it’s a unique experience anchored by strong performances, the Daniels’ youthful energy and innovative style also translates to a lack of emotional depth and nuance – the movie wants you to be kind and doesn’t have much else to say.

• ·Prey (B+)

  • Yes, I’m tired of the never-ending stream of IP. Yes, I was highly suspicious of this movie when I saw the trailer. Yes, I was wrong to doubt. This movie is a fresh breath of air in a franchise that’s experienced some ups and downs and plays like both a faithful ode to the true source material in a modern, non-winking way. The setting of the film allows for a showcasing of Native American life seen through its own lens, not through that of some outsider. Rather, the time before our heroine, Naru, begins doing battle with a predator is spent establishing her motivations as a product of her tribe’s way of life, which makes the rest of the story feel so natural. The action is bare-knuckled featuring some cleverly nasty kills, but the movie is fully anchored by a physically tough performance from Amber Midthunder.

• Hustle (B)

  • This movie feels like the opposite of EEAAO by working in a well-worn genre, following a well-worn formula with a few fresh ideas and approaches. Stuffed with real NBA players including Juancho Hernangomez and Anthony Edwards turning in strong performances, the crisp photography and direction featuring authentic trappings elevate this film far above what you typically find sitting on Netflix these days. Adam Sandler is perfect as the world-weary scout/aspiring coach struggling to ensure his bet on an unproven talent will pay off. Oh, the team he works for is the Philadelphia 76ers – I suppose this is what “fan service” feels like.

• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (B)

  • This two-person, dialogue-driven charmer is just sitting on Hulu! Though not exceptionally cinematic, a minimalistic approach allows its two lead performers to fully inhabit the scenes and deliver strong performances. Emma Thompson tackles aging through a character who goes from being ashamed and self-loathing about her changing appearance and wasted marriage to bravely accepting and self-confident. I would love for her to get some awards recognition for a type of performance we rarely see out of movie stars, and Daryl McCormick is a young performer to keep tabs on.

• Elvis (B-)

  • This movie has the potential to be the House of Gucci of this year: an overblown memefest featuring an actor in a fat suit and heavy makeup doing ridiculous voices. However, where Gucci stuffed itself with fashion and hammy acting, Elvis stuffs itself with visual flair courtesy of Baz Luhrmann’s always-unique vision. Austin Butler’s turn as Elvis, on the other hand, is unironically spectacular and while he lives up to the movie’s inherent sense of bombast, he clearly got the message to dial it back somewhere that Tom Hanks ignored. In the theaters, this was a bloated and rocking experience like we rarely get anymore. All to say: I would easily recommend this very flawed movie to most casual movie watchers if they’re looking for a good time.

• Cha Cha Real Smooth (B-)

  • Cooper Raiff is a very promising young talent who has now written, directed, and starred in 2 solid, small, heartfelt films that could very well be direct sequels. In the first, Shithouse, he captures the uncertainty and occasional loneliness of going away to college, and in Cha Cha Real Smooth he chronicles what happens when a similarly directionless young man returns home after college with no plan. He develops sweet friendships including one with an autistic upper teenage girl, is basically the nicest guy ever to his tween younger brother, flirts with romance with Dakota Johnson, and faces no consequences for anything at any time in the movie before landing a job at a nonprofit like he always wanted. Whose experience is this meant to reflect again?

The “C” Movies

• Blonde (C)

  • I was really anticipating Ana de Armas in front of the camera as Marilyn Monroe and Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) behind it. When the news broke that the film received a rare NC-17 rating, I was even more intrigued. What I got, however, was a grueling three-hour marathon that was essentially nothing but the death spiral of a fictional Monroe who was abused as a child and an adult while being the literal embodiment of Daddy Issues. While I don’t mind movies taking liberties with the truth, this takes such great liberties in some senses while remaining extremely faithful down to the smallest detail in others. I also don’t mind the message that Hollywood, and America, uses and abuses women and that they are often viewed more as bodies or meat than as people. The only thing to recommend this film is that it is an extraordinary visual and sonic achievement, but it is a repetitively excruciating experience with no nuance or variety in either idea or experience in sight.

• Spiderhead (C-)

  • Hmmm. The premise of this movie, featuring convicted criminals testing behavior-altering drugs in a program that becomes increasingly fishy, could have led to a fascinating and compelling movie. If you take a drug that can create feelings of love, how will you know when you’ve found genuine love? The film isn’t ultimately interested in anything as deep as all that, but rather chooses to play as a thriller (that doesn’t often thrill), but Chris Hemsworth is giving a rather comedic performance, Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett turn in vulnerable semi-tragic performances, so the movie really doesn’t know what it wants to be and it shows.

The Remaining Watchlist:

• ·Most Interesting:

  • Petite Maman, The Fabelmans, Babylon, Armageddon Time, Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Tár, Benediction, Stars at Noon, Decision to Leave, Aftersun, All Quiet on the Western Front, Nope, The Woman King, Women Talking

• Awards Season Might Make Me:

  • Empire of Light, Bardo, The Whale, She Said, Thirteen Lives, Living

• My Wife Might Make Me:

  • Don’t Worry Darling, Stutz

• I Simply Refuse:

  • Anything involving Ryan Reynolds, The Gray Man, most superhero stuff, plenty of horror, plenty of Netflix