Living

Although nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay (Kazuo Ishiguro) and Actor (Bill Nighy), this quiet masterpiece got lost in the sea of Oscar season’s front runners of original storytelling (Banshees of Inisherin, Triangle of Sadness) and dynamic visuals (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Elvis, All Quiet on the Western Front). 

However, hats off to this film— it is absolutely worth streaming at home. I may be overstating it just a bit, but Living has the power to be a life changer.

It’s a timeless story, as evidenced by its origins. The film was adapted by Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro from the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru (To Live). Ikiru itself was inspired by Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

In this version, the brilliant Bill Nighy (Love Actually) is a buttoned-up bureaucrat at a Public Works Department in 1950s London. You know, the kind that kicks petitions around different departments in the building and files anything that looks like a hassle in towering stacks of paperwork. His nickname at work is “Zombie.”

Faced with some interesting news, he alters his approach to life and work — looking towards the wildly different ways of a local bohemian and a wide-eyed new hire. No surprise, it’s a movie about transformation and about the power of one man doing one small thing. I won't share details here, but I found the final act profound.

Whether or not this story shakes you to the core (like me) or simply reminds you of an agreeable life lesson, it’s a powerful hour and 42 minutes.

In a nutshell: It’s a classic tale of confronting one’s life and finding new clarity with a second chapter, led by the underrated Bill Nighy. Keep the Kleenex nearby.

Award potential: This film was nominated for Oscar’s Best Adapted Screenplay and Actor. Deservingly so. Nighy’s less-is-more performance will shock those who know him as Billy Mack from Love Actually. Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sir Kazuo Ishiguro’s script should have been a contender. 

Not nominated, which is almost a crime, were cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay, Sandy Powell and her costumes plus Helen Scott’s production design — each gorgeously recreating 1950s London.

Where to find: Available to stream on VOD.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

Everything stat-tastic to win your Oscars pool all at once

Win your Oscars pool with this stat-tastic help

It's another unique year for Oscars so we’re gonna need some math to help your Oscar office pool. Here's everything everywhere which way on how to win:

Win the Best Director category

Go with whoever won the Director’s Guild of America award. Those winners have matched in 63 of 74 years. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the Dans) won for Everything Everywhere All At Once and are your best bet for Oscar night too.

Win the Best Foreign Feature Film category

This year, only one film is nominated for both this category and Best Picture. And the Oscar goes to Germany's All Quiet on the Western Front.

Win the Best Animated Feature Film category

12 out of 16 PGA-winning animated films also won the Animated Feature Academy Award. No lie, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is going to win.

Win the Best Music (Original Score) category

With 53 nominations, John Williams could become the oldest competitive winner this year for The Fabelmans. Son Lux is the opposite - the youthful newcomer for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Babylon has its supporters but only once in the past 19 years has this oscar gone to a film not nominated for Best Picture (Hateful Eight, 2015). This award most often (past 8 out of 10 years) aligns with the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, which honored All Quiet on the Western Front's fusion of classical and avant-garde sensibilities. 

Win the Best Visual Effects category

Since the VES Awards launched in 2002, the winner of its top film category has gone on to score the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 11 of the past 20 years. The Oscar goes to its winner, king of the world, Avatar: The Way of Water. This is the safest bet of the night

Win the Best Actor/Actress/Supporting Actor/Supporting Actress categories

The SAG voters are all actors and are the largest block of voters for the Academy Awards. They are a more diverse group, yet their picks align with Oscar more than any other. Last year, all the SAG winners repeated at the Oscars. This means Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan should polish their speeches now. 

In the closest acting race I remember, I expect a few of these to change. The Academy clearly loves Elvis more than Whale, so I predict Austin Butler to be the most likely one to shake up the SAG theory a bit and Angela Basset has her supporters too. Your call!

Win the Best Adapted Screenplay category

The USC Scripter Awards has accurately predicted this category for 9 of the last 13 years, but it has nominated Pinocchio, Living, She Said and Women Talking. Top Gun: Maverick's nomination was withdrawn. Living is a wild card (with good reason) but the top contenders are All Quiet on the Western Front and Women Talking. The math, and the wish to see a woman screenwriter such as Sarah Polley win,  says Women for the win.

Win the Best Original Screenplay category

It's a tight race between two highly-original films — Banshees of Inisherin and the film that could sweep every major award of the night. The respected Writers Guild (WGA) is the closest guide and they chose Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Win the Best Music (Original Song) category

There’s not a lot of math for this category, just remember that all members (not just musicians) vote in this category. The spirited Naatu Naatu from RRR has an edge, literally, over Lady Gaga and Rhianna's pop ballads. It's song was more central to its movie while the other songs played over credits.

Win the Best Sound category

War films usually win here so All Quiet on the Western Front checks all the boxes. But does military-based Top Gun: Maverick count for that math? Let's go with Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Sound Mixing Award-winner, and loud ear-ringing Top Gun: Maverick. Everyone wants to see this film win something.

Win the Best Editing category

Throughout history, this award always has a Sound nomination too. The ACE EDDIE Awards rewarded Top Gun: Maverick. The math is in its favor, however, sorry Tom, I think an Everything sweep is underway and editing is its strongest point. 

Win the Best Cinematography category

The cinematographer's award (ASC) is a good one to watch —those specialists rewarded the artistry of Elvis, thank you very much. On the Oscar ballot, only the film name is noted — so Elvis' Many Waler, the first possible female to win this award— is less of a factor when voting. However, the Academy membership is bigger and broader than ASC's cinematography crowd. It's a little more like The British Film Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) which chose All Quiet on the Western Front. The Oscar goes to...All Quiet on the Western Front.

Win the Best Production Design category

This award, the 2012-renamed “Best Art Direction" award, doesn’t usually match Best Picture (Just 4 times since 2000). The winner of this category often aligns with the winner of Art Director's Guild Award. The AGAs went to Babylon (Period film), Everything Everywhere All at Once (Fantasy film) and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Contemporary film) — and not past front-runner Elvis. And the Oscar goes to Babylon..

Win the Best Costume Design category

Babylon and Black Panther have been award-season frontrunners, but then Everything Everywhere (Sci-FI/Fantasy), Glass Onion (Contemporary) and Elvis (Period) each won at the Costume Designer Guild Awards. I think the overall love of Elvis shows up here. The devil in disguise takes this one.

Win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category

After the MUAHS award rewarded Everything Everywhere (contemporary), Elvis (Period) and The Whale (Special) and Black Panther and Elvis (hair), the race for Oscar is wide open. Since Oscar voters usually vote for the most visible transformations, but Elvis and The Whale have risen to the top. Go with the more loved, more-nominated film, Elvis.

Win the Best Documentary Feature category (Feature)

This year's topics are all Oscar bait so it may come down to which films were seen — but oops four of five are very accessible. All That Breathes (Saving Bird of Prey, Netflix), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Photographer, HBOmax), Fire of Love (scientists and lovers in a volcano, Disney/Hulu), A House Made of Splinters (Ukraine children's home, VOD) and Navalny (Russian assassination attempt, HBOmax). 

Fire of Love has passionate fans. I'm going with the most riveting one that everyone voting stayed awake for — Navalny.

Win the Best Animated Short Film category

While I'd love the Academy to pick a more original choice such as Ice Merchants or My Year of Dicks, the celebrity VO and wide distribution of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse should win. Its animation and beautiful brushstrokes are eye-catching even if adults may chuckle at its trite, bumper sticker wisdom. I had to be reminded, while watching and chuckling in intended spaces, "this is for young kids!" Put your votes on: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse to fly away with this one.

Win the Best Documentary Short category

There's not any math for this category. Your choice between The Elephant Whisperers (a couple in South India, who devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant) and Strangers at the Gate (A Marine plans a terrorist attack in a mosque in a small American town, until he meets his potential victims). Honestly, I'm going with the one most accessible — on Netflix — The Elephant Whisperers.

Win the Best Live Action Short Film category

Your choice of Le Pupille (girls in a boarding school in WWII Italy) and An Irish Goodbye (estranged brothers in Ireland are reunited). One smart choice is to go with the more accessible one here too (Le Pupill on Disney +). In a record year for Irish nominees, I think one of them finally wins here. An Irish Goodbye gets my feckin' vote.

Win the show’s running-time tiebreaker.

In 2002, the show ran for four hours and 23 minutes. It's been trending down ever since, until last year's slap.  

Here are the timings for the past ten years:
2009: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2010: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2011: 3 hours, 15 minutes
2012: 3 hours, 14 minutes
2013: 3 hours, 35 minutes
2014: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2015: 3 hours, 43 minutes
2016: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2017: 3 hours, 49 minutes
2018: 3 hours, 53 minutes
2019: 3 hours, 23 minutes
2020: 3 hours, 36 minutes

2021: 3 hours, 19 minutes

2022: 3 hours, 40 minutes

Win the Best Picture category

Since the preferential voting system was added, all the old stats don't matter. All Quiet won BAFTA. Fabelmans and Banshees won the Golden Globe, whatever.

However, the PGA has a preferential voting ballot. While they are a conservative group, they chose Everything Everywhere over Top Gun:Maverick, Fabelmans and Banshees. It has a lot of love across the board as witnessed at the SAG awards.

In the 27 years in which SAG, the PGA and DGA have all presented their top honors, only one film (Apollo 13 in 1995) has won all three but then lost the best picture Oscar.

The math says it all. The Oscar goes to Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Good luck with your Oscars pool everyone!

All the Feckin' Irish Oscar Nominees - and where to watch 'em

Kenneth Branagh's Belfast scored six nominations in 2022. In The Name of the Father scored seven nominations in 1994. But 2023 is the year Oscar went big-time Irish. For Oscars 2023, a record 14 feckin' nominations are from Ireland.

Lucky coincidence that Oscar Sunday kicks off the week of St. Patricks Day.

Martin McDonagh's Banshees of Inisherin has nine top nominations. Paul Mescal (Normal People) is also up for best actor for his unforgettable turn in indie fave Aftersun. And other nominations include Best International Film and Best Live Action short. Sounds like some good streaming choices leading up to Oscar Night and St. Paddy's weekend, doesn't it? Here's what you need to know.

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 so 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.

Banshees is nominated for all the major awards: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing, Score and four acting nominations (Colin Farell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

Where to watch: In theaters and available on HBOMax and VOD

Aftersun

Born in Maynooth, Ireland Paul Mescal scored his first TV acting job as Connell in Normal People. He was nominated for an Emmy.

His first movie role? The young father in Aftersun, a well-loved movie that is sitting on Rotten Tomatoes at 95%. He's nominated for Best Actor and yea, he is the next big thing.

Aftersun is a daughter's (Frankie Corio) memory of a vacation in Turkey with her idealistic father, lovingly told. With patience given for its slow pace, tiny details and minimal plot, the film delivers on storytelling and its unexpected sweetness stays with you long after.

Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD

An Irish Goodbye

At a farm in rural Northern Ireland, a pair of estranged brothers are reunited after a premature death. Kinda the opposite story of feckin' Banshees of Inisherin in that it may move you to reconnect with a loved one.

The relationship of Turlough (Seamus O’Hara) who returns home and his brother Lorcan (James Martin) completely works. An Irish Goodbye is a contender with a nomination for Best Short Film — Live Action.

Where to watch: In theaters playing the Short Films and available on RealGood TV

The Quiet Girl (An Cailin Ciuin) 

"The Quiet Girl" has been nominated for an Oscar for Best International Feature film, the first Irish-language film to be so honored.

I have not yet seen this film, a coming-of-age drama about a nine-year-old who’s abandoned by her poverty-stricken parents and sent to live with distant relatives. It is nominated for Best International Feature Film.

Where to watch: Opened this Friday in theaters.

Additionally, Jonathan Redmond was nominated for best editing for his work on Elvis and Richard Baneham was nominated for best visual effects for Avatar: The Way of Water. With St. Patrick's Day coming up soon and the Oscars even sooner, it looks like a good excuse to fire up the TV and have a gargle.

Oscar's Best International Film nominees - which to stream, which will win

 

You can't go wrong streaming the best of international cinema for 2023, but with less than three weeks until the Academy Awards, which films should you stream right now? Three should float to the top of your streaming list. All Quiet on the Western Front, Argentina 1985 and EO. These are excellent films.

The Best International Film award race is a two-horse and one-donkey competition with those three. However, one horse is a full lap ahead. All Quite on the Western Front is also nominated for Oscar's best picture, adapted screenplay, international feature, cinematography, production design, score, sound, visual effects, makeup and hairstyling.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)

All Quiet is a classic, anti-war novel about the horrors of The Great War as told by a German soldier. It has been retold as a movie by a German director, Edward Berger, in the German language.

If it sounds familiar, this is the third retelling including the 1930 film that won the Oscar for Best Picture. The tale follows a soldier's journey from an idealistic young man into a shell-shocked, changed man at war. Artfully made. Wide in scale. Brutally bloody. Heartbreaking. WWI was fought by kids and this film importantly reminds future generations of the cost of war. 

It's a front-runner for Best Picture and Best International Film. A rare feat.

Where to watch: Netflix

Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)

If you're not up for a bloody war film, I have a good option for you. Argentina 1985 took the Golden Globe from All Quiet, and it's an easier watch.

In this true-to-life film, a team of lawyers takes on the heads of Argentina’s bloody military dictatorship during the 1980s in a battle against odds and a race against time. It stars and was produced by the country’s most celebrated actor Ricardo Darín as eccentric lawyer Julio César Strassera, as well as Luis Moreno Ocampo as public prosecutor Peter Lanzani.

While this film plays out like every public court movie before it, including the big court scene with applause and symphony score, it packs an emotional wallop. Most especially when each prosecutor's family approaches them in the third act. I may have to watch this one again before Oscar night.

Where to watch: Amazon

EO (Poland)
With this nominee and nine nominations for Banshees of Inisherin, it was a big year for donkeys in cinema. EO follows a donkey who encounters good and bad people, and experiences joy and pain, exploring a vision of modern Europe through his eyes. Inventive. Moving. EO has an unusual perspective to show us the world may sometimes be cold and cruel but doesn't have to be. 

Where to watch: VOD

The Quiet Girl (Ireland)
2023 was a good year for Ireland too — with 14 nominations including noms for Irish actors Colin Farrell, Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan (Banshees), plus Paul Mescal (Aftersun). That's a quarter of the acting nominations. Additionally, An Irish Goodbye received a nomination for Best Live Action Short and The Quiet Girl for Best International Film.

A quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer — and she discovers a secret.

Where to watch: In select theaters.

Close (Belgium)
A friendship between teenagers Leo and Remi is disrupted in this tale of friendship. Close was released theatrically in late January, and is building momentum. Close took the Grand Pix prize at Cannes. 

Close is not currently streaming and I have not seen it.

Where to watch: In select theaters.

Where is RRR? (India)
The international film of the year and perhaps decade, RRR, was not eligible to be nominated as India submitted Chhello Show for consideration instead. It was not nominated. If you're interested in the wild, innovative possibilities of cinema's future, stream this amazing production and you'll wonder why Marvel, DC, and the Fast & Furious flicks are just mailing it in.

Where to watch: Netflix

Golden Globes - here's who wins

The Golden Globes, whether we wanted them or not, are back. Historically, the Hollywood Foreign Press is all-over-the-place and everything everwhere all at once: Working Girl, Mrs. Doubtfire The Hangover and The Martian have actually won Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical. The judges, members of the Foreign Press, have exactly zero overlap with Oscar voters.

But rest easy, The Ten Buck Review has an 82% correct prediction rate (film categories) that could help you win your awards pool (or at least look really darn smart during the telecast).

Will Brendan Fraser show up? No. Will he win? Probably. See the predictions and what else is gonna happen:

Best Motion Picture — Drama

Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

Winner: The Fabelmans
Spoiler: Elvis

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Triangle of Sadness

Winner: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spoiler: The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Director — Motion Picture

James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Baz Luhrmann, Elvis
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Winner: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spoiler: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture

Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans

Winner: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Spoiler: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama

Austin Butler, Elvis
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Hugh Jackman, The Son
Bill Nighy, Living
Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Winner: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Spoiler: Austin Butler, Elvis

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama

Cate Blanchett, Tár
Olivia Colman, Empire of Light
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Winner: Cate Blanchett, Tár
Spoiler: Viola Davis, The Woman King

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Diego Calva, Babylon
Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Adam Driver, White Noise
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ralph Fiennes, The Menu

Winner: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Spoiler: Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Margot Robbie, Babylon
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu
Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Winner: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spoiler: Margot Robbie, Babylon

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brad Pitt, Babylon
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse

Winner: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spoiler: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Dolly de Leon, Triangle of Sadness
Carey Mulligan, She Said

Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spoiler: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Motion Picture — Non-English Language

All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Close
Decision to Leave
RRR

Winner: RRR
Spoiler: All Quiet on the Western Front

Best Motion Picture — Animated

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Inu-Oh
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red

Winner: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Spoiler: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Best Original Score — Motion Picture

Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Hildur Gudnadóttir, Women Talking
Justin Hurwitz, Babylon
John Williams, The Fabelmans

Winner: John Williams, The Fabelmans
Spoiler: Justin Hurwitz, Babylon

Best Original Song — Motion Picture

"Carolina" by Taylor Swift, from Where the Crawdads Sing
"Ciao Papa" by Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Gullermo del Toro from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
"Hold My Hand" by Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice from Top Gun: Maverick
"Lift Me Up" by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
"Naatu Naatu" by M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj from RRR


Winner: "Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Spoiler:"Naatu Naatu" from RRR

RRR

Remember the moment right before you watch RRR because afterward the possibilities of cinema will seem changed forever. 

I don't know how I missed this film earlier in the year but watching this on my television felt like an IMAX. I've never seen anything quite like it. RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt) is a wildly entertaining adrenaline rush that reimagines the story of Indian revolutionaries Raju and Gheem who contested the oppressions of British colonial power. While there's no record that they ever met, director/writer S. S. Rajamoul imagines them in the bromance of the 20th Century.

Rajamouli shoots the action with supercharged energy, amazing set pieces, heightened visuals and lean-forward originality. You won't be bored for a single second by the action — or the story. 

Marvel and DC should take note quickly.

It's the best action film of the year in what I'd describe as "superheroes meet Hong Kong action films meet the Matrix meets the Avengers and that T2 supercop meets Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."  Yet, somehow it's something brand new.

It's also the musical of the year. Seriously. Bollywood meets the West Side Story Jet Sharks dance-off meets Les Miz meets something entirely original.

All of this above, yet it was played with conviction by the two Tollywood superstars; I was genuinely moved. As a warning, it is violent. It is an emotion-driven film built around a revolution started by aggressive oppression (both seen on screen), so it is bloody and heart-breaking in places. If you can get past an early horrifying scene with, perhaps your hands in front of your eyes, you'll realize it's worth it. Perhaps you'll be as invested as I am in seeing how the revolution plays out.

Like Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, T2 and Toy Story for me, it is next-level. Watching this film, I feel like cinema skipped to the next beat and I can't wait to see what it inspires. I hope RRR garners Oscar attention and returns to the theaters. I'd love to see this one on the big screen with a crowd. EncoRRRe, please!

In a nutshell: Exhilarating. Bursting with action, wild animals, showdowns, musical numbers and originality, RRR earns its three-hour running time. You won't be bored for a second.

Award potential: While not eligible for the Best International Feature Oscar, it is a contender for Best Non-English language film (Golden Globes). Fingers crossed the Academy sees it and considers Best Picture, Director, Actors and Screenplay. The song Naatu Naatu recently became the first Indian song to make the Oscar's shortlist for Best Original Song — hopefully, a nomination into the top five follows.

Where to watch: Netflix shows the Hindu-dubbed version. I used the subtitles in the settings. There are optional dubs in English and other languages.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

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.