Steve Davis' Top 10 Films of 2022
Fri., Dec. 16, 2022
1) The Banshees of Inisherin Martin McDonagh's tone-perfect mordant comedy about a friendship asunder seeps deep into your bones.
2) TÁR Pride goeth before the fall in this elegantly understated drama set in the cancel culture age, featuring a magnificent Blanchett.
3) Vortex Adulte terrible filmmaker Gaspar Noé unrelentingly charts the anguish of old age without resorting to his usual stunts.
4) Moonage Daydream This audacious documentary about David Bowie is a uniquely sensory experience, the first midnight movie of the Imax age.
5) Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio The highly imaginative Mexican filmmaker brings the darkish tale of the wooden boy-puppet to brilliant life.
6) Everything Everywhere All at Once A multiverse extravanganza that tickles the senses, as uplifting as any other movie this year.
7) Aftersun Memory mixed with melancholy in Charlotte Wells' astonishing debut about a young woman piecing together the reality of her father.
8) Lost Illusions Hardly a stuffy period piece, this lively French film about unscrupulous journalists in 19th-century Paris is unapologetically entertaining.
9) The Black Phone Creepy Ethan Hawke channels the unholy ghosts of Seventies serial killers stalking teenage boys in this savvy horror film.
10) Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood I grew up in the Houston 'burbs during the 1960s. Thank you, Mr. Linklater.
Near Misses: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Nope, Top Gun: Maverick
Most Overrated: The Fabelmans, Triangle of Sadness, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Most Underrated: Blonde, Don't Worry Darling, I Love My Dad
Wild Card: The year one-word horror got scary good: Barbarian, Fresh, Pearl, Piggy, Smile, X.
Acting Kudos (Male): Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway)
Acting Kudos (Female): Cate Blanchett (TÁR), Hong Chau (The Whale), Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris)
Best Director: Todd Field (TÁR), Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All), Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), B.J. Novak (Vengeance), Seth Rice and Will Tracy (The Menu)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alice Birch, Sebastián Lelio (The Wonder); Dean Fleischer-Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On); Sarah Polley (Women Talking)
TV Series/Event: Heartstopper. Wish there'd been a sweet TV show about first love like this British series when I was a gay teenager.
Worst Film: The Lost City. A charisma-free Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum ain't no Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in this clumsy Romancing the Clone.
The Little Film That Could: Bad Axe. The immigrant American dream struggles during summer 2020 in this brave though uneven home-movie documentary.