Best of 2022
The best entertainment of the year, as chosen by Vultures critics.
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Fans ofPrey,Disenchanted, andGlass Onionbemoaned the full theatrical releases that could have been.
The future of theaters remains uncertain, but our critics are cautiously optimistic.
(Its inadvertently turned critics into industry cheerleaders, which is not their job.)
Alison Willmores Top 10 Movies
10.Flux Gourmet
10.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofFlux Gourmetand Rachel Handlersinterview with writer-director Peter Strickland.
9.Saint Omer
9.
8.The Banshees of Inisherin
8.
Read Alison Willmoresreview of The Banshees of Inisherin.
7.Nope
7.
6.Both Sides of the Blade
6.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofBoth Sides of the Blade.
5.RRR
5.
4.All That Breathes
4.
Its people who may prove more fragile in the end.
3.Tar
3.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofTar.
2.Aftersun
2.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofAftersun.
1.No Bears
1.
Heres one that actually makes bold choices, exploring its subject in a way that emphasizes its human dimension.
We see a lot of coming-of-age movies and tales of family conflict; rarely are they this anxiety inducing.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofMurina.
Witness this latest effort from the veteran Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (A Screaming Man,Abouna).
As the devout mother helps her daughter seek an abortion, a tense, tender story emerges.
We arethere.Linguiis a transporting movie, but not an escapist one.
It plunges us into its world so vividly that the characters anxieties become our own.
7.Compartment No.
Its not particularly welcoming inside the train, either.
These two people couldnt be more different.
6feels not so much like a movie you saw but a real-life encounter that you yourself had.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofCompartment No.
Read Bilge EbirisreviewofThree Thousand Years of Longingand hisinterviewwith director George Miller.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofCyrano.
3.Both Sides of the Blade
2022 should have been the year of Claire Denis.
One of these days it will dawn on all of us what a miracle this movie is.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofAthena.
Many of those selections appear above in our Top 10 picks.
Below are more of the films (but not all) that stood out to them this year.
Alison Willmore
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofBelleand Rafael Motamayorsinterview with director Mamoru Hosoda.
First comes the stunt, then comes the agony and, finally, the camaraderie.
While enormously fun, this is a more emotional movie than previous entries.
You sense that among the people onscreen, and you might also sense it in the audience.
Watching these middle-aged masochists keep hurting themselves for our pleasure reminds us of the passage of time.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofJackass Forever.
These characters arent neatly good people with perfect politics who say what they mean and mean what they say.
They fuck up, in sometimes glorious ways, and are accountable for those fuckups.
The story quietly washes over you until you realize youre drowning in waves of acute emotions.
Angelica Jade Bastien
Read Angelica Jade Bastiensreview ofThe Worst Person in the World.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofKimi.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofPlayground.
The results are intensely dramatic more survival flick than disaster porn.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofAfter Yang.
As a result,The Batmans darkness never feels fashionable, or opportunistic, or cheap.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofThe Batman.
These women are oppressed by everybody.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofHudas Salon.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofTurning Red.
Interesting setup, but what makesAheds Kneeso powerful is the way the movie detonates before our eyes.
So the film asks: At what point does constant aggrievement become its own toxic form of aggression?
At what point does rage become cruelty?
And at what point does merely going about ones business perpetuate great evil?
Humanity has never had easy answers to such questions, and neither does this movie.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofAheds Knee.
ButXhas more on its mind than just basking in the tropes of the classic slasher.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofX.
Intregalde
The most riveting film youll ever see about three Romanian social workers stuck in the mud.
But the real standout isformer child actor Ke Huy Quan, ofIndiana Jones and the Temple of DoomandThe Goonies.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofEverything Everywhere All at Onceand Bilge Ebirisinterview with star Ke Huy Quan.
Read Roxana Hadadis review ofNitram.
April
Babi Yar.
Ultimately, whatBabi Yar.
Read Roxana Hadadisreview ofHit the Road.
As his mother, Queen Gudrun, Nicole Kidman offers an off-the-rails monologue for the ages.
Its hard to imagine any other movie this year going quite so hard.
Their characters impossible interlude together is touching without ever being cloying.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofPetite Maman.
Vortex
Gaspar NoesVortexis perhaps the most human movie hes ever made.
And yet, somehow, its also the cruelest.
Its visually striking and quite beautiful, but also profoundly unsettling.
Noe, being Noe, goes in the opposite direction: He rubs our faces in it.
But do not mistake this relentlessness for coldness or distance.
Every second seethes with emotion of an intensely personal kind.
This is a director confronting the darkest, saddest corners of his mind.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofVortexand Simon Abramssinterview with star Dario Argento.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofChip n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
Chandras husband is a foolhardy drunk, and her widowed sister-in-law is embittered.
But watching this sequel to a 36-year-old blockbuster also makes for a surprisingly emotional experience.
The image of America from the originalTop Gunstill haunts the empty spaces of the new movie.
Dont be surprised if you leave the movie in tears.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofTop Gun: Maverick.
(In its day, it ran on PBSs American Playhouse to poor reviews and little viewer interest.)
The film is a genuine discovery, and it makes Roemer 3-for-3 when it comes to belated appreciation.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofVengeance Is Mine.
But to call this a biopic would be giving biopics a bit too much credit.
Davies is one of the most expressive of directors, but hes always scratching away at something seemingly inexpressible.
We sense the sadness and the gathering doom, of course, but theres something more here.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofBenediction.
But its not just the newspaper industry that works in this way.
The results are hugely entertaining.
B.E
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofLost Illusions.
They are consumed with guilt, having caused death and ruin through their exercise of free will.
Hes also quite funny, and his performance here might well be the best thing hes done.
Part of the pleasure of watching this picture is simply waiting to see what Hemsworth will do next.
B.E
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofSpiderhead.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofGood Luck to You, Leo Grande.
This might seem like a pretty thin idea on which to hang an entire feature.
Slowly but surely, it goes from being about Marcel to being about the rest of us.
B.E
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofMarcel the Shell With Shoes On.
Its so thoroughly immersive it might make you believe in sea monsters.
So dont worry its a family film after all.
While theres certainly something familiar aboutThe Sea Beast, its a welcome familiarity.
This feels like the kind of rip-roaring, old-fashioned live-action seafaring adventure Hollywood often promises but rarely delivers.B.E.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofThe Sea Beast.
The Kraffts footage is remarkable, but their story is what makesFire of Loveunforgettable.A.W.
Naturally, each protagonist is on a crash course with the others reality.
Read Alison Willmoresguide to this summers indie movies.
Almost immediately, this woman who seemed so confident turns into an exposed nerve.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofResurrection.
The drifty, multicharacter story returns us to the summer of 2020.
Everybodys in everybody elses business, yet each of these characters is resoundingly, paralyzingly self-absorbed and alone.
All their interactions seem poisoned.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview of Traveling Light.
The result feels like someone crossbredKill Billwith aFinal Destinationmovie.B.E.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofBullet Train.
Oswalt is alarmingly convincing as the hapless parent who means well but always seems to ruin everything.B.E.
Read Chris Leesinterview with writer-director-star James Morosini.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofEmily the Criminal.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofBeast.
But warning signs abound.
Blanco has devoted all his efforts to the idea of equilibrium or, rather, the appearance of equilibrium.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofThe Good Boss.
Is it about male violence against women?
Read Wolfgang Ruthsinterview withBarbarianstar Justin Long.
Art isnt everything, but what a ridiculous luxury it is to pretend otherwise … however briefly.A.W.
But the film is brutal.
Loaded with provocations, itdoesnt purport to be factual.
Instead, it veers between myth and nightmare.
But she still has traces of her accent, which the film doesnt hide.
Rather, the role of Marilyn Monroe inhabits Ana de Armas like a tortured, possibly malevolent spirit.
The results may be upsetting, butBlondeis beautiful, mesmerizing, and, at times, deeply moving.B.E.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofBlondeand Angelica Jade Bastiens essay The Hollow Impersonation inBlonde.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofCatherine Called Birdy.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofBros,and listen to Sam SanderssInto Itpodcast interview with Guy Branum.
There isnt much of a central story here.
We see their racism, their classism, their self-absorption, but these people are not grotesques.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofArmageddon Time.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofThe Menu.
Read Alison Willmoresreview ofGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Read Bilge Ebirisreview ofWhite Noise.
And of course, for all of our heroes, the fall comes even quicker than the rise.
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