Here's a compilation of the best movies that I've watched in 2022 (I haven't watched the many)
Here's a compilation of the best movies that I've watched in 2022 (I haven't watched the many)
Delightfully bonkers on the surface, this inventive extravaganza from the directing team called Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) has a deep layer of family feeling and a well-earned emotional pull at the end. Michelle Yeoh is ideal and comically straight-faced as Evelyn, a harried laundromat owner with tax problems who enters a multiverse of alt-Evelyns. Exploding with colour, at times the film is a phantasmagoria of morphing identities and shifting universes – in one Evelyn does laundry, in another she's a movie star – yet it always remains true to its believably humane characters. It's the rare art film that can make audiences cry, and also rake in a ton of money, taking in more than $100 million at the box office worldwide.
Directors: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Box Office: $69.5M
A belated sequel to 1986's Top Gun seemed like a bad idea. But when Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) returned to the US Navy's elite fighter-pilot school, the resulting blockbuster wasn't just a thrilling showcase for some spectacular aerobatic displays, but a touching, bittersweet drama about getting older. It was also the year's most successful film. So... how did Cruise and co do it? Simple, really. They brought back all the elements from the original Top Gun, and then they improved every single one of them. Of course, it helps that Cruise looks better today than he did in 1986.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Box Office: $718.5M
Let's just flatly say: Kogonada is a genius. The director of the stylish character piece Columbus (2017), and a major force behind the exquisite Apple TV+ series Pachinko, he breathes new life and visual brilliance into After Yang's tired-sounding premise of an artificial intelligence with feelings. Colin Farrell is affecting as a father trying to repair his young daughter's beloved AI robot, Yang, played by Justin H Min with the unmistakable glimmer of a human soul. Filmed in a style that is still and beautiful, infused with golden light, and set in a timeless near-future, this transcendent film is stunning, from the exuberant family dance competition in the opening credits to its revelatory ending.
Director: Kogonada
Box Office: $672K
Its rear muscle car spoilers evoke devils in medieval paintings, and the fiery blast of its engine roars like a biblical dragon. Behind the wheel is someone equally otherworldly: A fully transformed Robert Pattinson brings a freakish spin to an enduring DC superhero. You've seen gritty Batman before. But you've never seen gritty Batman like this.
Director: Matt Reeves
Box Office: $369.3M
