The 3 Best Movies of 2022 (and where to find them)

In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick And Avatar brought people back to the theaters (hurray). Aftersun, this year's C'mon C'mon, gave the feels. Elvis and Tar delivered uneven musical wows. Fablemans, Empire of Light and Babylon were maybe one too many films about Hollywood. And Everything Everywhere All At Once showed Dr. Strange and Marvel how to do the multiverse. But what films topped my list? Three very different films each bring laughs and tears in very different ways.

Best Dark Comedy: The Banshees of Inisherin

Colin Farrell, the actor who stars in a lot of movies you expect to be good, but aren’t, is finally in a good film. It’s feckin’ good. Banshees reunites In Bruge actors Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as frenemies living on the made-up Irish island of Inisherin in the 1920s. 

The island may not be real but from its thatched roofs, thick accents, local characters and dark brew pubs, this gorgeous film sure makes it seem so. Writer and Director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Illinois) has assembled a dark comedy about two men and a friendship severed while giving a finger to predictive storytelling.

Where to watch: In theaters and available on HBOMax

Best Bright Comedy: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Here's to dreams of all sizes. This film has no mention of the multiverse or hammer-wielding heroes, just the charming delight of grand British actress Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, The Crown) as a widowed, cleaning lady from London who dreams of buying a couture dress in Paris. 

The delight of the film exudes from Manville's charismatically authentic performance, director Anthony Fabian's attention to detail, a stunning peek into the lavish house of 1950s Dior and the contagious giddiness around the idea of pursuing a somewhat silly dream. Yes, it's a predictable rom-com in disguise. But it is the escapist film I've been waiting for.

Where to watch: Peacock and VOD

Best Documentary: Good Night Oppy

If you've been looking for the next My Octopus Teacher, it has landed. Good Night Oppy is about Spirit and Opportunity. Literally. Spirit and Opportunity are the names given to two rovers sent to Mars in 2003. They were expected to last 90 days but lasted an unprecedented 7 and 14 years respectively. Shown via FX from Industrial Light and Magic, we have the opportunity to see what wasn't shot on Mars and glimpse the semi-humanness of the rovers. I dare say that it will take you by surprise.

Where to watch: Prime Video

The Ten Buck Review: All worth ten bucks.

*Not available yet, but excited to see Living, Glass Onion and Women Talking before end of year.

Good Night Oppy

This is a film about Spirit and Opportunity. Literally.

Spirit and Opportunity are the names given to two rovers sent to Mars in 2003. They were expected to last 90 days but lasted an unprecedented 7 and 14 years respectively. This new documentary captures the story of the team behind the rovers from launch until the final moment of communication, but it feels like the story of two rovers with personalities all their own.

If you've been looking for the next My Octopus Teacher (2021 Best Documentary Oscar winner), it has arrived.

The rovers captured images of Mars, not themselves of course. Shown via FX from Industrial Light and Magic, we have the opportunity to see what wasn't shot on Mars and glimpse the semi-humanness of the rovers. I dare say that it will take you by surprise. From guiding the rovers through survival moments where centimeters matter to asking Oppy to take a selfie, the Mission Control team and rovers featured in this document offer genuine cinematic entertainment. Good Night Oppy offers the chance to see engineers and scientists problem-solve, and also solve how to work together. It is truly fascinating and inspiring to be behind the scenes.

All this didn't need a voiceover by Angela Bassett (What's Love Got To Do With It, Wakanda Forever) to be big, but it does have that too. These rovers delivered more emotional wallop of the year than all the Avengers, Horror villains and mavericks that graced the cinema this year.

In a nutshell: A snappy, lighthearted crowdpleaser with heart. One of the best films of 2022.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Award potential: Should be a frontrunner for Best Documentary. It's unlikely to make the Best Picture list, but I got more out of it than The Fablemans, Tar and other films in the running.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

The Fablemans

Last year, Spielberg delivered the most expertly crafted film of 2021. West Side Story was a film that didn't need a remake but proved its worth — earning seven Oscar nominations. His follow-up film, The Fablemans, is a love letter to moviemaking and is his most personal film to date.

It was just named the Best Picture of 2022 by Time magazine and stands at the top of Oscar predictions for Best Picture. So that you can enjoy the film more than I did, let me dismiss all that and tell you that it's pretty good and pretty overhyped. Hopefully, you can now avoid the disappointment I felt and enjoy a pretty fine film.

The Fablemans is a family drama and a "fable" of Spielberg's coming of age between 1952 and 1965. Sammy Fableman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) is inspired after his parents (Michelle Williams and Paul Dano) take him to see Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth. Sammy's pursuit of moviemaking as "more than a hobby" is supported by his concert pianist and artistic mom but not taken seriously by his electrical engineer dad.

That conflict is only part of the family story as Sammy's camera learns more about his family than anyone wanted. It's a heartbreaker.

On the level of craft, the film is impeccable from Spielberg's gift at wringing emotion from small moments to John Williams's soaring score. Scene by scene, everything worked. But as a whole, I never figured out which of the two stories the film wanted to be, or why it needed to be told in 151 minutes.

Kenneth Branaugh's semi-autobiographical Belfast (2021) had me invested for its clever 98 minutes. I walked out loving that film and was moved by its emotional highs and lows. That's why The Fablemans is worth your ten bucks but not the top ten hype.

In a nutshell: Steven Spielberg turns the lens on himself in a technically impressive film that ironically misses on that Spielberg magic. He didn't phone it in, but he didn't phone home either.

Where to see it: In theaters now. Available on VOD December 13th.

Award potential: It looks to be a threat in all categories from Best Picture and Director to Original Score and acting. 

Michelle Williams may win Best Actress, although her heart-wringing-wrangling scenes were undercut by her take on a 50s homemaker. To me, it was a distracting Judy Garland impression. Cate Blanchett's consistent Tar is the better performance and lacks the false bravado. There were so many scene-stealing performances (Judd Hirsch, Paul Dano, and one surprise) that these supporting slots may cancel each other out or impress with a category takeover. Time will tell.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.