Highs and Lows On Screen in 2022 

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• Courtesy Of Christopher Moss/A24
• Mia Goth and Emma Jenkins-Purro in Pearl

Movie theaters are open again, but is anyone buying tickets? Or rather, is anyone buying tickets this year to films that aren't part of the Marvel, DC Comics or Avatar franchises?

Movies aimed at adult audiences — which include most of the likely award contenders — have had a lackluster performance in theaters in 2022. There were some exceptions: Top Gun: Maverick soared on the wings of nostalgia to become the year's top-grossing film (so far). Where the Crawdads Sing brought out crowds for an old-school coming-of-age story. The unclassifiable Everything Everywhere All at Once was a word-of-mouth hit.

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• Courtesy Of Sony Pictures
• Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing

But other, highly touted films were box office disappointments, including the rom-com Bros, the ripped-from-the-headlines drama She Said and Steven Spielberg's autobiographical The Fabelmans, which was released on premium video on demand after playing in less than 1,000 theaters.

The fate of The Fabelmans is especially worrying not just because Spielberg helped usher in the era of modern blockbusters but also because this particular film is both accessible and acclaimed. It received a rapturous reception at the Toronto International Film Festival and won an American Film Institute Movie of the Year award. It has heartwarming scenes perfect for holiday viewing. It's all about the magic of the big screen.

Now, if you choose, you can rent it at home. Tom Brueggemann, writing recently in IndieWire, suggests that The Fabelmans represents a turning point: "It could be the film to tell us that even within the Oscar corridor, major dramas by major filmmakers can not necessarily expect a significant theatrical response."

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The problem, in Brueggemann's view, is not that such films are disappointments or poorly marketed but that their "primary audience now expects early home availability." In short, the pandemic experience trained people to stay home and wait for streaming. When they do go out now, I would guess, they go to blockbusters whose plotlines are more likely to be spoiled on social media — films that make them feel like part of a conversation.

And now, a confession: I'm part of the problem. It still takes a lot to get me into a theater, partly because I don't want to spread disease to an elderly loved one. When I do venture out, though, it's usually for the "smaller" movies, ones that we're lucky to have the opportunity to see in theaters at all.

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• Courtesy Of A24
• Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in Aftersun

Reviews don't mean much to people deciding whether to buy a ticket for Thor: Love and Thunder or The Batman. But they could inspire someone to see a visually stunning foreign film such as Decision to Leave or a brainy, absorbing drama such as Tár or a flawed but enthrallingly ambitious thriller such as Nope.

Here are some of my highlights and lowlights from this year's releases. When applicable, I've noted where the films (or series) are streaming with a subscription. Many can also be rented on demand, and a few have yet to be released here. Happy moviegoing in the New Year!

Worst hospitality

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• Courtesy Of Kevin Baker/A24
• Men

In the pre-Airbnb days, we had horror films about buying a dream house and finding out it was haunted. Now we have horror films about the pitfalls of short-term rental. In Men, a grieving widow (Jessie Buckley) rents a house in a picturesque village that turns out to be toxic masculinity incarnate. An accidental double-booking is just the first of the twists and turns in the fine cult hit Barbarian (HBO Max), all centered on an unassuming bungalow rental in Detroit's decaying urbanscape.

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Most gripping documentary

Every year brings us documentaries about artists and documentaries about activists. But Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed combines these two perennial subjects into a dynamic whole. Photographer Nan Goldin narrates a film that splits its focus between her backstory — a deep dive into the '70s and '80s counterculture — and her recent efforts to pressure art institutions to stop taking donations from the Sackler family, of Purdue Pharma infamy. The common thread is Goldin's contagious, grief-driven passion to bring justice to outsiders and outcasts.

Least boring biopic

Dramatized biographies are my least favorite award-season genre. They give stars a chance to emote nobly, playing real people whose less noble qualities are typically expunged from the screenplay. All too often, biopics are well intentioned and stiff and ... safe.

That's why I have to give a tip of the hat to both Blonde (Netflix) and Elvis (HBO Max). The first, actually an adaptation of a novel about Marilyn Monroe, is an absurdly over-the-top psychodrama. The second is, well, Baz Luhrmann doing Elvis: a delirious 159-minute musical montage that occasionally slows down enough to let Tom Hanks ham it up with a terrible accent. I don't know if I would call either of them good movies, but they weren't boring.

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Streaming-only film most deserving of a theatrical release

Disney's Turning Red is a sweet, funny, kinetic, beautifully animated story about a preteen girl discovering the beast within. You couldn't see it in theaters, only on Disney+. Was it because Disney execs feared that the Chinese Canadian characters wouldn't be relatable to a mass audience? Or because the screenplay dares to acknowledge the existence of menstruation? Either way, it's worth seeking out.

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Streaming-only film least deserving of a theatrical release

So you're browsing Netflix one night, and you catch sight of Oscar winner Allison Janney. Wow! She's playing a gun-toting, badass retired spy! Whoa! In an action thriller coproduced by J.J. Abrams! Woo-hoo!

The movie's called Lou, and I suggest you save yourself the brain cells you'll expend trying to make sense of it. Rewatch "Killing Eve" instead.

Best blockbuster-adjacent blockbuster alternative

I grew up on the Star Wars franchise, but I lost interest in the movies a few sequels and prequels ago. So, it took some coaxing to make me try "Andor" (Disney+), a series that explores the history of Diego Luna's Rebel spy character from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I'm so glad I did. With evocatively retro production design and powerhouse performances from an ensemble cast that includes Fiona Shaw and Stellan Skarsgård, this slow-burn political thriller is the Star Wars story I've been craving as an adult.

Best end credits

Pearl is the sweet little story of a farm girl chasing the American dream with music and dance ... and a pitchfork and an ax and murderous rage. I was the only person at my screening. The credits play over a five-minute close-up of Mia Goth's Pearl grinning at the camera, her joy gradually turning to tears and demented resolve. Goth redefines "cringe" in a performance so intense I thought she might step through the screen and wring my neck. It was my favorite movie moment of the year.

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Most quotable screenplay

"How's the despair?" a priest cheerfully asks a parishioner. A young man declares himself adamantly opposed to "wars and soap." Asked why he's suddenly refusing to give his best friend the time of day, Brendan Gleeson's character growls, "I just don't like ye no more."

Martin McDonagh is an acclaimed playwright turned writer-director, and it shows in the practiced rhythms of The Banshees of Inisherin (theaters, HBO Max). The dialogue is so much fun that the darkness of the story sneaks up on you.

Honorable mentions go to Sarah Polley's screenplay for Women Talking, which reads like a luminously intelligent play but is actually a novel adaptation; and Todd Field's scathing screenplay for Tár, which takes us deep inside the insular classical music world.

Most timely film

Released in the U.S. this year, Audrey Diwan's Happening (AMC+) is based on a novel set in 1963 France, but it couldn't be more relevant. Star Anamaria Vartolomei has a presence fierce and intelligent enough to sear a hole through the screen. She plays a student seeking an illegal abortion — not because she's a victim of rape or incest but because she isn't ready for a child. And she never apologizes for it.

Most riveting performance

While Cate Blanchett gave us an unforgettable character study in Tár, this year I was most impressed by couples, triads and ensembles. Gleeson and Colin Farrell play off each other with delicious deadpan humor in The Banshees of Inisherin. Women Talking has an ensemble like a finely tuned orchestra, each actor contributing an indispensable part. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio seem so natural they could be a real father and daughter in Aftersun. But it's hard to beat the wonderful family trio of Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once (Showtime, Paramount+).

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Best film

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• Courtesy Of Allyson Riggs/A24
• Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once

I don't like naming a single best film of the year. First, because there are potential contenders that I haven't yet been able to see, including Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Babylon, Avatar: The Way of Water and The Whale. And second, more importantly, because it's tough to judge movies on a single scale. The ones I love all fill different little holes in my heart that I didn't know existed.

I can tell you that the outrageous three-hour Indian historical epic RRR (Netflix) sated my desire for operatic action moves better than Top Gun: Maverick did. But, beyond the technical aspects, there are few points of comparison between RRR and the exquisitely shot thriller Decision to Leave or the brutally satirical Tár or the darkly comic tall tale of The Banshees of Inisherin.

All these movies are on my "best of" list, but two did perhaps stand out the most. Everything Everywhere All at Once is as frenetic and high-concept as any blockbuster. Aftersun is molasses-slow and naturalistic. Both are about family love and its pain and complications. I loved them both.

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