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Post by Jeremy on Dec 8, 2022 7:02:37 GMT -8
Can't have one of these retrospectives without the other! In some ways, the "best films of the year" talk can be more interesting than its TV counterpart, since there's likely to be less in the way of broad consensus, and the competition (if we can designate it as such) is prone to more surprises. Case in point: The Metacritic aggregate thus far has Top Gun: Maverick in strong position; it may be the first time in recent memory that the year's #1 financial hit (pending Avatar 2's box-office receipts) finishes in the top 5. Anyway, it will be at least a couple of weeks before I post my own top 10. But my picks for the 10 worst films of 2022 should be available shortly, because let's face it, the sooner we get past the year's duds, the better.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 8, 2022 9:10:37 GMT -8
Admittedly I'm not at the same level of movie watching as many on this forum or certainly the critics, but my two favourite movies of the year were Everything Everywhere All At Once and Bones and All, and I'm not entirely sure which one is first.
I don't think Top Gun belongs anywhere near these lists. It certainly has its technical achievements and as I argued does things very well in terms of execution of its desired purpose, but that's not enough when the depth is barely surface level.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 8, 2022 12:14:26 GMT -8
The Top Gun: Maverick hype has been something else. The National Board of Review just named it the best film of 2022. I think there's a decent chance it gets nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. I like the film, and it's definitely one of the broadest crowd-pleasers in memory, but this seems a bit much. Probably won't watch Bones and All in time for year's end (not the kind of film I'd seek out in theaters, particularly since I'm not a great Gaudagnino fan), but I have enjoyed telling people about the basic premise of the film and watching their facial reactions.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 8, 2022 16:32:01 GMT -8
It's so weird how Bones and All gets a genuinely wide release (given the premise, and the director's unproven track-record at the box office), yet Spielberg's relatively genial film about his childhood get a much more limited one. And I say that as someone who felt The Fabelmans was a bit bland, and leaned too heavily on unnecessary psychological exposition. (ETA: I just looked, and both films have made in the $6 million range worldwide, but The Fabelmans is on one-quarter as many screens.)
As for Top Gun: Maverick, yeah, beyond some solid technical achievements, I don't get the fuss...at all. And I'd say I'm surprised that Nope seems to be doing a bit better on critics' Top 10 lists thus far than EEAaO, but given the frenetic nature of the latter, it's not really that shocking (many critics, especially older ones, prefer the slow, restrained dramatic build). And I quite liked Nope, for its visual flair, but didn't feel it had anywhere near the emotional resonance or depth of EEAaO.
Aftersun, the top film on Metacritic's list of Top 10 lists thus far, is only playing in one Cineplex theater in Canada (in Toronto).
I'll be curious to see how the numbers shift once more of the fanboy-related sites submit their Top 10s (they're probably waiting to see the Avatar sequel first). I imagine EEAaO will move up then, and The Batman might slip into the Top 20 as well (given that, say, IGN gave it a 10/10, and whatnot). Mind you, both of those films may be feeling the impact of having been released very early in the year (and also franchise fatigue w/r/t the latter).
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 8, 2022 19:17:58 GMT -8
I do find it a little bizarre that Bones and All has been playing at my local theater these past two weeks, while The Fablemans has yet to make an appearance. Maybe they're trying to slowly broaden its release to build up buzz, but that seems unlikely for a Spielberg film. And I'd say I'm surprised that Nope seems to be doing a bit better on critics' Top 10 lists thus far than EEAaO, but given the frenetic nature of the latter, it's not really that shocking (many critics, especially older ones, prefer the slow, restrained dramatic build). And I quite liked Nope, for its visual flair, but didn't feel it had anywhere near the emotional resonance or depth of EEAaO. I'm seeing EEAaO rank higher than Nope on a number of lists; a little hard to tell which is more popular, since the Metacritic grading metric is a little screwy (e.g. they weigh #3 and #10 picks at the same level). I was amused by the number of people dunking on the NY Times and AO Scott over his ranking of Nope as #1 while ignoring EEAaO entirely, particularly since - as mentioned on Twitter - he's had more egregious picks in the past.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 8, 2022 19:57:37 GMT -8
On the plus side, though, I have a feeling that Michelle Yeoh is building up stream to win Best Actress at the Oscars, even if it might be a (sort of) consolation prize for the film itself not winning Picture or Director (it certainly has a shot at Original Screenplay).
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 9, 2022 11:47:39 GMT -8
Just posted my picks for the 10 worst films of 2022. It was kind of tough whittling it down to 10 picks, but I managed it somehow. Please check it out before we turn our focus to the good stuff.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 9, 2022 17:37:40 GMT -8
Didn't mind #9 and #10, and I'm still going to give Amsterdam a look (for free, from my public library), even though I'm sure it's not very good. The rest of the choices seem fair enough.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 10, 2022 16:37:34 GMT -8
I'd say the #10 and #9 picks aren't really "bad" films; I just needed some disappointing/mediocre films to round out the top 10. I considered including some of the forgettable streaming-exclusive films I watched this year (Samaritan, The Princess, Hocus Pocus 2), but they just felt like tossed-off filler flicks with no great pedigree, and I didn't feel they were worth the same roasting as some of the others.
Also spared from the list was Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which is a mediocre film I have mostly forgotten about (except for the bizarre 10-minute interlude where it randomly turns into an episode of Bridezillas).
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Post by guttersnipe on Dec 16, 2022 17:45:20 GMT -8
This has been an exceptionally rare year for me in that I actually watched a fair chunk of things actually from the year itself, partly due to the nature of my work and partly due to piggybacking on my girlfriend's subscriptions to Disney+ and Netflix:
1) Crimes of the Future 2) Blonde 3) Turning Red 4) Thor: Love and Thunder 5) Aftersun 6) The Love Box in Your Living Room 7) Bones and All 8) Avatar: The Way of Water 9) The Bob's Burgers Movie 10) The Good Nurse
BEST SHORT: My Butt Hazza Fever BEST DOCUMENTARY: Andy Warhol's America BEST MUSIC VIDEO: Christina Aguilera and Tini - Suéltame
My top films seen in 2022 will have to wait as I don't have access to my film log at the moment.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 17, 2022 11:06:45 GMT -8
I'm surprised not to see more international fare on your list, though I suppose some of them can be difficult to see (at times) in their year of release. I was pretty tired when I started watching the Cronenberg movie a few months ago, and his work is an acquired taste in the best of times (often very cold and dry), so I kept falling asleep, rewinding and rewatching scenes, and eventually gave up. Aside from my general tiredness during the day (when I'm usually sleeping, as I work an overnight shift), CotF didn't really seem to provide me a point-of-entry, character-wise, to get invested, at least in its early stages. Perhaps I'll try it again at a later date.
I should've checked out The Good Nurse a while ago, given that I have Netflix, because I like Jessica Chastain, but clips from it didn't seem to (at least visually) distinguish it all that much from standard network hospital dramas (and I never seek out conventional cop, lawyer, or hospital series these days). I'm sure it's got more going for it than those TV shows in some ways, though, and I'll give it a look at some point.
I still remain rather surprised that Bones and All got a wide theatrical release, given that the director had only made niche arthouse films prior. Is it actually partly a horror film, or is the cannibalism treated matter-of-factly, in a sort of romantic-dramedy context?
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 17, 2022 13:31:55 GMT -8
This has been an exceptionally rare year for me in that I actually watched a fair chunk of things actually from the year itself, partly due to the nature of my work and partly due to piggybacking on my girlfriend's subscriptions to Disney+ and Netflix: 4) Thor: Love and Thunder Well, I didn't expect that to make it onto your list, lol. I miss Flight of the Conchords-era Waititi.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 17, 2022 16:46:59 GMT -8
This has been an exceptionally rare year for me in that I actually watched a fair chunk of things actually from the year itself, partly due to the nature of my work and partly due to piggybacking on my girlfriend's subscriptions to Disney+ and Netflix: 1) Crimes of the Future 2) Blonde 3) Turning Red 4) Thor: Love and Thunder 5) Aftersun 6) The Love Box in Your Living Room 7) Bones and All 8) Avatar: The Way of Water 9) The Bob's Burgers Movie 10) The Good Nurse I love that I've heard of 90% of these. And yes, quite surprised about the Thor pick. (Though in retrospect, it might have been the best Marvel film of 2022 - not saying much, but still.) I assume you're not including any films that had an initial release (however small) sometime in 2021? There are a number of great films that only became widely accessible in 2022, but technically opened internationally or at film festivals in 2021. I have yet to develop a consistent standard as to what qualifies as an "official" release date for films like that. (I am also scratching my head at the number of critics who are putting Licorice Pizza on their current-year lists for a similar reason.)
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Post by guttersnipe on Dec 18, 2022 4:06:04 GMT -8
I'm surprised not to see more international fare on your list, though I suppose some of them can be difficult to see (at times) in their year of release. I was pretty tired when I started watching the Cronenberg movie a few months ago, and his work is an acquired taste in the best of times (often very cold and dry), so I kept falling asleep, rewinding and rewatching scenes, and eventually gave up. Aside from my general tiredness during the day (when I'm usually sleeping, as I work an overnight shift), CotF didn't really seem to provide me a point-of-entry, character-wise, to get invested, at least in its early stages. Perhaps I'll try it again at a later date. I still remain rather surprised that Bones and All got a wide theatrical release, given that the director had only made niche arthouse films prior. Is it actually partly a horror film, or is the cannibalism treated matter-of-factly, in a sort of romantic-dramedy context? Yeah, that's the thing. A lot of overseas, arthouse and indie fair takes time to trickle down so I usually only arrive at most of my favourites a couple of years after their first release date (I'll address that in Jeremy's point in a minute); for example I wouldn't be surprised if Almodóvar's latest film ends up being one of my top picks of 2021, but I doubt I'll see it this side of 2023. 2022 has seen new films from Hirozaku Kore-eda, Park Chan-wook, Terence Davies, Bertrand Bonello, Masaaki Yuasa, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis, Hong Sang-soo (two in fact), Mia Hansen-Løve etc, but it'll be a while before I have any means of seeing them. Cronenberg is I suppose a "difficult" director, but as a long-time fan of his I was delighted to see no compromise on the obfuscation front. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice for our six-month anniversary as my partner was more "intrigued" than enamoured, but I guess that's a little selfishness on my part. I did warn her, to be fair. I think the marketing of Bones and All is slightly cheeky, because with a lot of Guadagnino's films character motivation is largely subdued and obtuse, and to say it's the conventional romance implied by the poster is definitely misleading; it's more of a dependency/outcast story than one of love, but there's a touch of Badlands to its approach and I appreciated the subtext of its LGBTQ and junkie metaphors. Given the topic it does an admirable job of not feeling like the ostensibly-similar Trouble Every Day and only really feels like a conventional horror film in its denouement, by which time is not only earned but pretty emotionally satisfying. It's runtime does make it feel baggy however, though perhaps that was because of my full bladder.
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Post by guttersnipe on Dec 18, 2022 4:37:41 GMT -8
Well, I didn't expect that to make it onto your list, lol. I miss Flight of the Conchords-era Waititi. My fondess for Waititi aside, I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about seeing it given my indifference to Thor as a character, ingrained Marvel burnout and whoever loved the fourth installment of a series? So I ended up joining colleagues for a work outing one day on the road, and honestly it worked a little magic. Part of what I appreciated was the extent of the humour; it's tongue-in-cheek from the outset (even undermining the drama of the opening sequence in which the antagonist loses his daughter and becomes disillusioned by his gods), which at this stage I really needed, because I think that the Marvel train has been running for so long that it kind of requires suspension of its own disbeliefs and plays all of its touchstones for laughs. Secondly it's a hugely colourful film; there's rarely a moment that isn't bright, almost lending an almost Minnelli or Mankiewicz sense of colour to the proceedings. I understand if folks find that garish but that's rarely been a problem from my perspective. There's nary a blue that couldn't be bluer, a red that couldn't be redder. This is sharply contrasted with the Shadow Realm parts, which are so chiaroscuro that they're positively inky, and both seem to really impact visually. And on the subject of rainbows... Finally (as you've probably heard), it's more "gay" than any superhero film I've ever seen (at least intentionally). The historian part of me that's spent twenty-odd years searching classics for reference and subtext found some release in a blockbuster that just lets rip with the camp, knowing that rarely before in history has there been the opportunity or platform to express "fringe" expressions, attitudes and culture in such a grand gesture. Having said that, it does soft-pedal its actual physicality, presumably due to sceptical parenting and pressures from phobic international markets. But it does what it can as a stepping stone for young LGBTQs, and I find myself reminded (as I often do) of Harvey Fierstein's comment on "sissies" in The Celluloid Closet: "My view has always been visibility at any cost". (Its main subversive element is suggesting that the women in the film are the real heroes.)
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