Diana DiMuro and Mike Burdge take a trip to the Quantumverse to chat about the latest Marvel joint to drop. Big energy in this one guys, we promise. Listen on....

A Review of Hulu's The Drop Being a fan of projects associated with the Duplass brothers takes a lot of work. You never quite know just what kind of film you’re going to get, as the projects can range from heartfelt to absurd to downright uncomfortable. Where these films fall on the spectrum mostly has to do with the plot (which, duh, that’s the point of the plot), but in the case of this specific comedy troupe’s array of films, you’re really contending with how well you can handle the specific characters. A good majority of the time, this group of films tends to feature characters caught in a state of arrested development, children that have found themselves living in adult bodies who are constantly railing against the concept of growing up. You all know the type, and in fact, most of those in their 40s and 30s can closely identify with facets of these characters. But when you take these types of characters and mix them into the comedy genre, their worst attributes are magnified and the comedy tends to paint the characters as stupid, sex-obsessed, vain caricatures of real human beings, leaving the comedy to fall flat on its face. In the case of 2022’s The Drop (directed by Sarah Adina Smith and co-written by Smith and longtime Duplass collaborator Joshua Leonard), the film is riddled with characters such as these…but where the film subverts expectations is with the two leads, Anna Konkle’s Lex and Jermaine Fowler’s Mani. Lex and Mani are a loving couple who are trying for a baby, and who are also about to embark on a trip to spend time with Lex’s college friend group to see two of their own married. Among this friend group are Peggy and Mia (wives to be, played by Jennifer Lafleur and Aparna Nancherla), Lindsey and Josh (Jillian Bell and the aforementioned Joshua Leonard), Shauna and Robbie with their teenage son Levi (Robin Thede, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Elisha Henig)...and Peggy and Mia’s daughter, Baby Ani. It’s a real who’s who of Duplass brothers’ regulars. But of course, maybe the most important of these (non)regulars is Baby Ani herself, as it is she who will be dropped. Once all the friends are gathered together, in their grand reunion, Baby Ani gets passed off to Mani, who is then taken by Lex, who then, in a state of who-knows-how drops. The. Baby. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare for themselves, and pretty much everyone else’s worst nightmare if they’re holding someone else’s baby. Baby Ani ends up being just fine, and the film actually does take her possible injuries very seriously. She stays overnight at the doctor’s office while she’s monitored for concussion and cognitive reasons, and is released the next day with only a safety helmet. Baby Ani will never remember the traumatic event of being dropped, but the friend group certainly will. The Drop masterfully takes this tense situation and uses it as a lens by which to examine the power dynamics between a couple who are contemplating expanding their family. For Lex, it makes her realize that maybe she is not only unprepared for immediate motherhood, but maybe motherhood in general. For Mani, it makes him question if Lex is the type of person who he wants to start a family with. This conflict, undeniably, is what makes the film work. There are many subplots that include Lindsey and Josh trying to get their friends to invest in their resort, the actress Shauna wondering if she can work “the drop” into her next project and whether or not Lex would be offended, Levi’s teenage burgeoning sexual appetite, and the general discussion of Mia’s possible Republican affiliations…but none of these subplots are remotely interesting, nor are they funny. But what they are successful in managing is creating the space for the tension between Lex and Mani to grow. What The Drop subverts in Lex and Mani’s relationship are the general gender stereotypes regarding child rearing. Typically, in most comedies, it’s the male who doesn’t want to pursue starting a family, as it generally cramps their style. Not the case in The Drop . In fact, Mani makes it clear that he feels his life’s purpose is to be a dad. But that doesn’t mean that Lex is made out to be some “gross” or “raunchy” or “one-of-the-guys” type of lady. She’s just a woman who so happens to be placed in a situation where she begins to question if she’s ready to give up her autonomy to raise a child, or even if that’s something physiologically and psychologically her body can handle. This, of course, puts Mani and Lex at odds, and in true comedy fashion, they spend most of the film being incapable of communicating these very scary truths to each other. Can Mani trust Lex to be the mother he needs her to be, and can Lex give Mani what it is that he desires and deserves? These are honest and relatable questions all contemplative parents-to-be should be asking of themselves and each other, and hidden in the typical cringe-comedy of a Duplass production, The Drop answers them deftly and sincerely. The main selling point of The Drop is that the central conflict is happening to two committed people. The film does a great job of dispelling the myth that dropping a baby is uncommon (in fact, my own mother fell asleep in a rocking chair while rocking my baby brother and, well, dropped him) and instead takes that traumatic event and places the responsibility for truth on the couple at hand. This isn’t your typical romantic comedy where people have to question whether or not they should get together in the first place; these are two people who are, truly, in it for the hypothetical long haul. If they choose to let this event change their minds about each other, their lives will be affected. There’s really nothing funny about the end results if they choose to turn away from each other. We can be proud of them for making an adult and responsible decision, but there won’t necessarily be joy to be found there. Ever since Hulu’s pen15 , I am on a track to watch absolutely anything in which Anna Konkle is involved, and the same can be said about most of this cast for other reasons. If you can get past the din of the silly subplots involving ludicrous proto-humans, I guarantee the heart of The Drop will be well worth your time. For all the parents out there who have dropped a child, I’m certain an entire group of people are truly feeling seen and comforted, and what is the point of comedy if not to comfort us in our shared experience and flawed humanity? The Drop may be pitched as a cringe-comedy, but it’s more akin to a therapy session. Choose your humans, and choose them wisely. The good will accept you at your best, the best will accept you at your worst. Bernadette Gorman-White Managing Editor Bernadette graduated from DePauw University in 2011 with a Film Studies degree she’s not currently using. She constantly consumes television, film, and all things pop culture and will never be full. She doesn’t tweet much, but give her a follow @BeaGorman and see if that changes.

Bernadette and Mike continue their journey through the filmography of Toni Collette, this time focusing in on her rise to fame and international breakthroughs in the late 90s, with Emma, Clockwatchers, The Boys, 8 1/2 Women and Velvet Goldmine . Listen on....

Mike Burdge and Robby Anderson explore the Resident Evil franchise and all its gloriously horrific offerings of sequels, adaptations, remakes and more. Thump thump. Thump thump. Listen on....

You can find each of the Story Screen Family's "Best Of 2022" favorite film and tv lists ALL RIGHT HERE! **** STAY TUNED: Story Screen will be posting our "Best of 2022" video (edited by our very own Mike Burdge and Robby Anderson) SOON! PODCAST: Story Screen's Best of 2022 Mike Burdge, Diana DiMuro, Bernadette Gorman-White, and Robby Anderson chat about some of their favorite films of 2022, including The Batman, We're All Going to the World's Fair, The Fabelmans, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Aftersun, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, TÁR, The Banshees of Inisherin and more! Listen on... ARTICLES: Mike's Top 22 Films of 2022 "These are my mov(i)es." By Mike Burdge Superficial Wounds & Fave Film Tropes Damian's Favorite Films of 2022 By Damian Masterson The Most Movie of the Year Jeremy's Top 10 Films of 2022 By Jeremy Kolodziejski The "Long Year" Comes to an End Diana's Favorite Films from 2022 By Diana DiMuro The Ascendance of Hulu's Original Programming Reeya's Best of 2022 in TV and Film By Reeya Banerjee When Life Resumed: Bern's Favorite Films of 2022 By Bernadette Gorman-White 2022: Go Big or Go Bigger Scotty Arnold's Picks for favorite films of 2022 By Scotty Arnold Be Positive: BaeBae's Top Ten of 2022 By Robert Anderson We here at Story Screen can't thank you enough for reading, listening, and watching with us. Thank you, -The Story Screen Family

Story Screen Reports is our team REACTING to the top 5 film, television and entertainment news stories of the month. Join us as we dissect and comb through everything from upcoming releases to studio drama. On this episode, Diana DiMuro hops on to discuss a narrative change in the upcoming Avatar sequels, and a certain Anaheim bubs talking like he was born in Mississippi in the 1930's, as well as a few other stories. You can find those stories, and the sourced articles, linked below. 1. Jake Sully Will Be Replaced By His Lo’ak As Narrator For Future Avatar Films Written by Ryan Dinsdale at IGN 2. Netflix Says It Never Canceled A Successful Show Interview by Lucus Shaw at Bloomberg 3. Austin Butler Stuck With Accent Forever Written by Leah Bitsky at Page 6 4. Zach Cregger’s Next Movie Weapons Is Happening Written by Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter 5. Tomb Raider Series In The Works At Amazon From Fleabag Writer Written by Kat Bailey at IGN Listen on....

Your reviewer is one of the laziest writers this program has ever produced. His exploits.… are legendary. His deadlines…. flown by. His content…. nearly non-existent. What he has to tell you about 2022 movies may very well mean the difference between finally watching that weird-looking drama you saw the trailer for on YouTube last August or, like, not watching it. Maybe you’ll watch something else. It’s one of life's great mysteries. I just wanna manage expectations. Let’s punch it. 22. Resurrection Resurrection is a twisty and twisted tale of psychological abuse and the ramifications such acts can have on both the abused and abuser, as well as, the people connected to them. An eternally timely theme, that’s made all the more insane by doling out information in a way that makes the audience question their own beliefs on what is actually happening. The performances of the film’s leads, Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, are what truly make the film shine. Each has their own reasons for their actions and variations of shared history, but are equally captivating and insane. 21. Great Freedom It’s as empathy driven as a story can get. Franz Rogowski continues to be one of the most powerful actors of the time, exuding pain and pleasure, and everything in between, with the slightest of looks or body ticks. Great Freedom is a film that encompasses what it means to be loved, hated, broken, despaired, brave, and scared, but ultimately, what it means to be human. 20. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish This film is truly a special experience. Much has been said about the cat cartoon sequel, but I’ve yet to meet someone who has seen it that isn’t as vivaciously interested in talking about it as I am. Once you’ve tasted the sweet fruit that is PIB2 , there’s no going back. Fully displaying the true power of making an animated film for the sake of cinema and pure entertainment over the expectations of an audience, it never lets that affect the storytelling or its central theme: that those who you love will help you conquer all, even death. 19. After Yang Just as exquisite and captivating as Colin Farrell’s ‘stache — this tale of a family grappling with the loss of a servient robot, who is also clearly a member of their family (if not at least, a part of their family unit), starts off with a banger of an opening. The story’s characters dance wildly - but still in choreographed unison - against other families doing the same, immediately bringing to mind the performative nature of how each member of the family is supposed to act in order for the full group to be. And the most beautiful part of this comes not from the expected need to be loved as one within the group, but the revolution of a mind to be unique within instead, be it artificial or just a Daddy. 18. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Marcel the Shell is a glorious display of modern animation utilizing technology that has been around for decades. It continuously tops itself, scene after scene, with cinematography that envelops the viewer into its fabricated world of miniatures and cut-outs, all while planting emotional seeds with character and storytelling that eventually burst - both apart and together in a third act that can only be described as harmonious. 17. Hit the Road It’s simplistic and exploratory at the same time. A road trip movie that truly dilutes down what makes the sub-genre so engaging, wrapped up in a story that feels alive and unpredictable, even as we slowly learn there can be only one end to this tale of family, trust, rebellion, and imagination. 16. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair Wildly creative for the tone the movie wants to set, it’s equal parts pandemic-era Zoom filmmaking and “creepypasta” antirealism. I caught this one a bit later than most but watched it in the best of environments: 3 am in the morning, alone and completely unaware of what it was. I suggest you do the same if you haven’t already. 15. The Batman Matt Reeves has always been a go-to director for me. From the immensely underappreciated framing of Cloverfield to the undeniable extravagance of his Apes films, Reeves has time and time again proven himself to be a talent of story, character, and tone. These are things that a new iteration of the Batman character truly needed in order to break away from the most recent versions, which at times, (both successfully and unsuccessfully) focused on the internal conflict of the Caped Crusader as a theme, rather than a character trait; attempting to wrap the ideology of the world of Gotham into “why Batman does what he does.” Reeves’s take, and Robert Pattinson’s WILD performance, lead to a different understanding of what would truly make a man like this do the things that we expect him to do, the things a Batman does. And in this new variation, we are given a very simple (and thematically appropriate) question with no answer: Why should the Batman exist? 14. Murina Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s immaculately executed Murina is a wonder to behold. While the Daddy Issues© present are, of course, right up my alley, what’s more intriguing is the film’s portrayal of a young woman coming to learn the great lesson of teenage life: no matter what you think you want, you’re probably wrong, and the only person that can change that is you. Murina , on a fable level, is at all times dread-filled and hopeless, while also operating on the same wishful abandon of our main character, Julija, continuously diving forward with ever-increasing difficulty. At its end, we are left with only a sliver of a tale of this young woman’s coming-of-age, which allows us to know that she’ll make it through, if only she chooses to swim far enough. 13. The Northman The Northman is an elevating experience in Robert Eggers’ filmography. It’s a movie that was pitched as a Viking-action-smorgasbord, complete with super cute A-list actors, that actually reveals itself to be more of a Shakespearean-esque Ocean's 11 riff. It’s bookended by some of the best looking, and more importantly, most character-driven, action set pieces to be projected on a screen in years. The Northman is blatantly unashamed of what it is, even as it knows it’s pushing boundaries with its audience, much like Eggers’ The Lighthouse and The VVitch , and it was both pleasing and a relief to see that the writer/director did not lose that fine touch with such an epic scale before him. 12. RRR RRR is an absolute, balls-to-the-wall instant classic of experiential cinema. Some movies use tropes, and some subvert them, all in an effort to create an experience that differentiates from the rest of the medium. RRR , and what S.S. Rajamouli has executed with it, transcends what the model for the genre-based cinema experience can be, full stop. It is a revelation in sincere, populace artistry, while also acting as a battle cry for the fun that can be, and often is lost, in this same medium. It rocks, it rules, and it revolutionizes. 11. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 2022: The Year of Pinocchio. To most, it is simply the year that an inexplicable amount (3) of Pinocchio adaptations were bombed upon an unexpecting world. To some, it is the year that they were first introduced to this little wooden boy with a hankering for misguided adventure. And for me, it was the year I finally realized that it’s one N and two C’s, not the other way around (similar to what I refer to as the “Great Vacuum Paradox”). While I’d love to compare del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s utterly mesmerizing feature to that of my boy, Bobby Z’s, I haven’t yet brought myself to watch what I can only assume is Tom Hanks’s second most insane performance of the year, and I’m using the word insane in the most disrespectful way text can allow. GDT’s Pinocchio is a marvel, an exquisite display of form, medium, and story that (close to literally) blew my brain out of my skull. The heaviest of contenders for Best Animated Feature this year, it's the special type of movie that you’ll never forget the first time you saw it. 10. Watcher Chloe Okuno has done what so many have tried but very few accomplish: created a fully original horror film using the basic elements of a tirelessly mined genre, and executed it in a way that would make Hitchcock put down his whole roast chicken in attentive tension. Watcher is a wildly entertaining movie with a third act that will rip the face off even the most scholared horror movie lover. Maika Monroe continues to kill it - not only at picking amazing horror projects, but also just absolutely slaying it with her approach to her character - she interacts and services the overall theme and story of the film. And I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out one of my big dogs in the character-actor world, Burn Gorman, who puts in a performance that had me absolutely LOSING IT on functionality acting and character-driven affectation. Baller stuff. 9. The Inspection There were a lot of movies this year (even more than Pinocchios), made by directors who attempted to tell their personal stories through that great lens of cinema. Elegance Bratton’s entry is one of the perfect balance between nightmare and dream, failure and survival, hate and love. While the depiction of boot camp told through the eyes of an outsider is very specific in this example, and honestly, that aspect is the thing that really gives this movie its teeth, it’s the empathy of the film’s characters that truly gives the movie soul. Jeremy Pope is ridiculously good as our surrogate through the trials of military training and the hardships of attempting to mold yourself into what you need to be to successfully exist in a unit, while never losing who you truly are, bringing a refreshingly hopeful meaning to the second part of the Marine motto: “the few, the proud.” 8. The Banshees of Inisherin One of the most celebrated films of 2022, Banshees operates on a level so similar to that of a stage play (which makes sense given McDonagh’s past work). McDonagh keeps the tried and true trick of having a small ensemble of absolutely stellar actors in all the roles and swaps out theater sets with a hypnotic and otherworldly Irish isle. The result is a film all about distance and disconnection, pulling you closer and closer as the tale unfolds. It’s easily one of the most quotable films of the year, which came as a shock to me after hearing Barry Keoghan talk for five seconds, but hey, that’s the magic of the movies, baby! 7. Decision to Leave Crushes everything on every level of what a movie in this genre (and maybe three others) should crush. Tang Wei is L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y unbelievable, and Park Hae-il is the leading man we all deserve; put him in every movie now. But truly (and of course), it is the great Park Chan-wook that gets this bad boy up to such astronomical pleasures. Not only is the staging and lighting in this beast just top-notch in its mood, but the story is simultaneously simple and mindblowing in its construction; it was just such a miracle to behold. It immediately becomes one of the movies you wish you could see for the first time again as soon as the much-deserved credits roll. Chan-wook just knows how to make a movie that simply and purely slaps. 6. Tár Tár is a maddening, towering, and infuriating journey into the mind of a certain type of artistic talent that has existed for hundreds of years. Its story is told through the lens of observing a human being that believes they have grown beyond such limitations. And that’s just a bit of what’s going on with this thing. Tár hit as an instant classic for me, something I had been truly crossing my fingers for given the early response the film had gained over the long journey of its pre-wide release, and it did not disappoint. It’s cruel and despairing, while also, surprisingly, albeit uncomfortably, funny throughout. The story unravels with these tools just as elegantly as Cate Blanchett handles the inner workings and actions of this utterly unique character. 5. The Fabelmans Of course, I was going to love The Fabelmans . I’m one of the biggest defenders of Spielberg I know, which just gets crazier and crazier to think about the longer that time marches on, but here we are. The latest film by the aforementioned director, “FINALLY telling THEIR story,” very justly earned its fair share of eye rolls and heavy sighs. Must we? The marketing and release “strategy” of Fabelmans left much to be desired. Not only in communicating what type of film it was, but also, in how audiences should feel about it going into the movie, or at the very least, how to properly gauge expectations. I’ll admit, I too, was nervous as the lights went down on Thanksgiving Eve. But much to my delight, the film was more than: “Behold the power of cinema!!! This is how it saved I, Your God of The Movies, who in turn, has saved thee!” It was much more of a: “Families are pretty messed up, huh? Also, I think I have a massive problem and I refuse to go to therapy, but fuck it, I’m Steven Speilberg!” The line between reality and fiction in The Fabelmans is blurred, for the most part, by the very legend of the man himself (can you imagine if the main character in this movie was named Stevey Spielberg?). This helps the film lift itself up for all to gaze upon as more of the story of an extremely talented and revered man reconciling with his past traumas, than a very wealthy director telling us just how he got that juice. The juice was always there, and that juice messed up a lot of things for the man when he was young, especially when he didn’t know exactly how to control and harness it yet into the acts of magic and goodness that we all know him for today. Steven, you talented, emotional, absolute lovely thing of a man, you did it. Big hug. 4. Barbarian Barbarian is one of the funnest experiences a person can have watching a movie - alone at home, in a crowded theater, and everywhere in between. I’m not going to get too specific for the sake of any reader that hasn’t been able to catch this one yet (the less you know the better; go watch it now, please?) but three amazing movies are operating within this film that would each be fantastic full-length horrors in their own subcategories. The film’s merciless tone of anxiety, distrust, and danger is mixed to perfect chemical perfection with moments of laugh-out-loud lunacy, be they comedic, cathartic release or horrific insanity made visible to the eye. I just haven’t been able to get over how tight and entertaining this movie is. I could watch Barbarian every day for the rest of my life. 3. Everything Everywhere All at Once One of the earliest highly anticipated films of the year, due in large part to an amazing marketing and release strategy (looking at you, Fabelmans ), EEAAO quickly shot to the top of everyone’s lists as an early contender for the best movies of the year, and it seems to have stuck there for the majority. And this is all rightly so. The film is as unique as one can get, and it remains unique and surprising, even after multiple views. It’s layered to the bone with metaphor and emotion and action and googly eyes, never missing a bit for something funny or cool or silly or sad or all of that, all at once. Moments of EEAAO feel like jumping into an ice-cold pool on the hottest day of the year in the worst place you can imagine, only to be submerged and consumed by the feeling of truly experiencing a shift in the way your very body is operating. The Daniels have done it yet again, after their ridiculously perfect debut film, Swiss Army Man , which hit my number one spot back in 2016. The praise EEAAO has garnered is beyond earned and one of the best parts about looking back at this film years from now upon rewatch will be remembering the completely miraculous way it was welcomed, with open arms, pretty much across the board by a landscape of film lovers and general audiences alike. Except for assholes. They can’t stand how much we love this thing, making it all the more sweeter to enjoy. 2. Top Gun: Maverick Top Gun: Maverick is a wonder. It’s easily one of the best sequels ever to be popped onto screens, and arguably, it’s the best legacyquel to come out during the past couple decades of people doing shit like this. Operating on true, earnest love for the original film and the types of movies it spawned, Maverick, reaches the highest of heights time and time again throughout its not-that-slim runtime, but it never drags or feels monotonous in its execution. All of its goofy moments feel like they are filled with so much sincerity and love that it’s hard to not go along for the ride. (Let us remember: simplicity does not equal bad). If the immersive yet straightforward action-rollercoaster of a story designed around set pieces, doesn’t do it for ya, and it should, well you’re in luck. The meta-commentary this film holds on both the state of movie watching in the Summer of 2022 and the career and legacy of Tom Cruise, surely will do just that. It’s equal parts what the movies were made for, what makes them so special, and where they can go. Not only is Maverick a fantastic action movie and a thrillingly executed sequel that blows expectations out of the air, but it should also be noted that this movie pulls off one of the hardest feats Hollywood has been trying to accomplish for over a decade: making you actually root for Miles Teller. 1. Aftersun When I first saw Aftersun , I immediately thought to myself, “This is it. It has to be, right?” The movie awed the crap out of me for 100 minutes and then shook me to my core during its final moments. It’s one of the most earned visceral experiences I’ve had watching a film in my entire life. Hey, it’s my number one, we’re gonna get a tad hyperbolic here. After watching all the 2022 films I had the time to consume during my catchup this past month, I always found myself asking “But Aftersun , tho, right?” Even after rewatching the above movies I loved in an effort to see if maybe some fresh watching would shake something loose, Charlotte Wells’ BEAUTIFUL story just remained locked at the top. And once I gave the film a rewatch shortly before finalizing my list, it hit me why. I’d never seen anything like it. Sure, there are plenty of movies that deal with the topics of this film, in more ways than I can count. Of course, there are loads of movies that utilize intimate, grainy, and atmospheric framing to grab hold of the mood and time they are exploring. But like many of my favorite pieces of art, it's not just what’s on display for experience and interpretation, it's how the artist makes the impossible look so simple and so damn easy. These are the aspects of telling a story that come from the truly unique place of the artist's view on how it should feel, not just what happens and how it looks. That’s the transcendent trick to how the film plays out, shifts and changes, and lands where it ultimately, and unfortunately, needs to. It’s a story about growing up, about letting go, about being yourself, about the devastations of the mind and the toll that can take on a person, but also, the toll it takes on those around them, regardless of their best efforts to stop just that. But it’s not just about that at all. It’s about love, the trickiest of things. It’s a movie that has truly changed me in a way that I still might not have had the time, or will, to confront, but I can sense the change is there, and I feel as though, in their own way, everyone I’ve talked to about the film that has seen it feels something similar. And that’s something special. And I’m just saying: Stanley Kubrick never used “The Macarena,” in any of his movies. So, think about that. Honorable Mentions: Ambulance, Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Crimes of the Future, EO, The Eternal Daughter, Glass Onion, Halloween Ends, Jackass Forever, Karaoke, Men, The Outfit, Pearl, Petite Maman, Prey, 5cream, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Turning Red, X. Mike Burdge Editor-in-Chief Founder of and programmer for Story Screen. Lover of stories and pizza in the dark. When he isn't watching movies, you can find him reading and listening to things about people watching movies. He currently resides in Poughkeepsie, NY, and most assuredly is going through a French Connection phase.

Jeremy's Top 10 Films of 2022 Hi! Thanks for clicking. I am a film worker in the Hudson Valley, a frequent supporter of the Story Screen Beacon Theater, and an occasional contributor to the Story Screen website. I have been gracefully asked to share my top 10 favorites of the past twelve months. What strikes me as unique about the list I’ve procured this year as compared to previous years, is just how many big-budget crowd-pleasing blockbusters made it high into my favorites. While in previous years, I tended to gravitate towards smaller and more innovative genre fare (and still do), it felt as though in 2022, the powers that be of the entertainment industry finally remembered that if you spend a large amount of money on actual big ideas that resonate, and execute them with earnestness and confidence in actually capable hands, you get large returns. It’s a nice change of pace. As always, here are some honorable acknowledgments of films I really enjoyed but did not quite make the cut of my final top 10. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair Prey Dragonball Super: Super Hero Terrifier 2 Emily The Criminal Saloum Tár Crimes of the Future Everything Everywhere All at Once The Northman The Batman Now here’s the actual countdown!: 10. Barbarian When friends and family ask me what films I look forward to in the coming year, I always give the same answer: It’s always the surprises. It’s always the films that come out of nowhere and knock me off my feet and deliver me a rollercoaster of a film I did not know I was going to get going in. Barbarian expertly balances grisly imagery and clever, unexpected humor leading to a memorable theatergoing experience. 9. Jackass Forever/Jackass 4.5 It’s great to catch up with old friends and find comfort in the fact they have not lost their goofy and irresistible charms, just maybe become a little older and a little wiser. Actually, maybe not wiser. While I do not know any of the members of the Jackass crew personally, the films invite you into their antics and make you feel as though you are just as much of a participant in the wild and baffling stunts as they are. You laugh with them, and you feel the excruciating pain they go through. After 20 years, the Jackass veterans haven’t lost an ounce of their comedic and death-defying touches, and the new blood they introduce feels as though they’ve been a part of the crew since the beginning. 8. The Banshees of Inisherin This is a film that takes place in a very specific (and fictional) place, during a very specific time in history, and many of the characters speak in very specific cultural colloquialisms, yet the film speaks to an entirely universal truth. Sometimes, in life, the person who has been your day one may one day disappear and you will truly have no idea why, and that confusion, that pain, that sense of emptiness is something we have all experienced in one form or another and is reflected beautifully in Martin Mcdonaugh’s tragic and hilarious Irish folk tale of love and grief. 7. Avatar: The Way of Water Went to a newly opened casino the other week to check it out. Saw a guy make a bet against James Cameron. A whole bunch of mysterious figures swarmed him and violently carried him out of the casino, never to be seen again. He had it coming. In all seriousness, when you spend over a decade, hundreds of millions of dollars, and invent new incredible pieces of filmmaking technology to recreate the world you see when you go to sleep at night, you see every ounce of engineering and creativity put into every second of the project. It is a miracle that it exists and we should be grateful that James Cameron is doing as much as he can to push the medium of digital filmmaking forward, with a gripping and engaging story of parenthood and revenge. 6. Decision to Leave It is nice to know that it’s not only James Cameron pushing the medium of digital filmmaking forward, but it is also being pushed forward around the world too, such is the case with Park Chan-wook’s latest police procedural romance, exploring identity, trust, and the ways we communicate with each other in modern life. There are shots and sequences in this film that broke my brain and my perception of what can be accomplished visually. POV shots of cell phones, rack focuses changing within reflections, transitions that feel like magic tricks, this has it all! Not to mention a terrific neo-noir romance with one of my favorite endings in years. 5. Top Gun: Maverick The platonic ideal American blockbuster. This is what we should all be striving for. This should be our standard, not the exception, as exceptional as it is. My younger brother told me that he couldn’t use the armrest because I was gripping it too tightly during the film’s third act. What’s that tell you? As exciting and as spectacular as its aerial sequences are, it never forgets to populate its spectacle with memorable characters with sincerity and heart which makes the aforementioned aerial sequences all the more exciting when its characters you love and care about are in the…danger zone. 4. Ambulance Speaking of cinematic surprises: I was the most surprised to discover the film that was the most scathing and visceral indictment of our country’s broken medical and police system comes from Michael Bay of all directors ? Who would have thought? Not me. Not only is that true, but it is also true that this is Michael Bay’s best film in years, potentially ever, and one of the best, most emotional, and most unforgettable films of the year. Nobody has ever been locked into Michael Bay’s particular brand of chaotic energy quite like Jake Gyllenhaal and Yayha Abdul-Mahteen were. Michael Bay is a man who loves America, but he is also not afraid to drive a stolen ambulance, with fire and blood, into its heart. We don’t stop. 3. The Fabelmans It is incredible and humbling to see that you could be someone like Stephen Spielberg, a director who has shaped modern pop culture with more films than you can count, be on top of your game over 50 years into your career, and yet still be haunted by your childhood traumas and mistakes. This is not an average film about the magic of movies , it is a film about how art can be used as a tool for therapy, a tool to calm anxiety, and at the same time, how art can be addictive as a drug and can give you an overwhelming sense of grief, regret, and pain if you let it consume you. Incredible to see a director so on top of the world let himself be so vulnerable and human. 2. Nope As much as I’ve spoken to a majority of the films on my list being big bombastic Hollywood spectacles, Nope comes around and starkly reminds us that these spectacles should not be taken for granted and can come at a cost. Over the past couple of years, I’ve worked under and alongside hundreds of wonderfully talented and hard-working below-the-line people in the film and television industry in the Hudson Valley and beyond, dedicating their whole lives to their craft and not always getting the recognition they properly deserve. Nope is one of the only examples I can think of that pays proper tribute to those kinds of workers. These special people using their unique and specific talents to come together to create an image despite their odds is the true heart of Nope. It also helps that the film contains some of the most frightening sequences and images I’ve ever seen. A true masterwork. 1. RRR I mean, it has to be RRR. Not only is this my pick for my favorite of the year, but it is also the most movie of the year. Three hours of some of the most special image-making, one jaw-dropping sequence right after the other, that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. It is nearly impossible to sum up what makes RRR so special with just a paragraph, so I urge you to go out and see it (preferably in a theater that may be doing a special screening of it). It must be seen to be believed. Thank you for reading. I hope you seek out one or all of these films and get as much out of them as I did. Jeremy Kolodziejski Jeremy is younger than he looks, and has passionately studied the art and craft of filmmaking for as long as he can remember. He is a film worker in the Hudson Valley. You can follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd .

Reeya’s Best of 2022 in TV and Film The gang at Story Screen usually does their yearly "Best of" lists about their favorite movies of the year. My partner and I currently live in a part of New York where the closest movie theater to us is a small one in Bennington, VT that doesn't get many major releases, forcing us to go to Saratoga Springs or Albany for anything else. Consequently, we have seen a lot more TV in the past year than we have films - but we're not complaining, because 2022 had some exceptional television programming this year, especially from the multitudes of streaming services available for us all. This was a year where it's become very clear that network TV needs to work hard to keep up with the superior output from their streaming competitors and trust me, we are here for it. That said, I did manage to see some films this year, and three of them rose to the top for me, so let's get those out of the way first before I go into my 2022 TV Roundup: The Good Nurse A true crime story, The Good Nurse follows Jessica Chastain as Amy Loughren, a night nurse who begins to suspect that her colleague and best friend Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is a serial killer, murdering patients at random. It depicts her efforts to discover the truth and assist the detectives in looking into a series of suspicious deaths at hospitals where Cullen worked in the past. Chastain is always a delight to watch, and Redmayne does an eerily good job at portraying the seemingly kind-hearted and gentle Cullen, hiding a vicious and horrendous secret. Noah Emmerich, a reliable favorite of mine, also gives a great performance as Tim Braun, one of the detectives investigating Cullen, and manages to bring some nuance into what might have been a fairly rote police character. The Menu I wrote about this for Story Screen and I don't need to rehash it here. This is a fantastic, unsettling black comedy about restaurant kitchen culture and the cult of celebrity chefs, with great performances from Ralph Fiennes as Chef Julian Slowik, who has lost his way after becoming a chef of world-renown, and Anya Taylor-Joy as a skeptical dinner guest, Margot, who figures out his true motivations during a private dinner seating. You can read my piece analyzing it further, or better yet, just watch it. The Banshees of Inisherin Yet another black comedy film I wrote about for Story Screen (in fact, I literally JUST wrote about it last month). Again, I won't rehash it here. Career-best work from Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin. Wonderful work from Brendan Gleeson as his foil, Colm Doherty. A heartwarming performance from Kerry Condon as Pádraic's sister, Siobhán. And the cutest co-star of the year: Jenny, the miniature donkey. Watch it. Seriously. Colin Farrell is going to win so many awards for playing Pádraic, and you need to see why. Now that we've gone over my (admittedly) paltry list of 2022 movie favorites, on to the meat of my entertainment in 2022: an excellent year of television. Severance This drama series from Apple TV+ has a deep, thorny premise that on its face might sound appealing for any of us sick of the grind of corporate work - if we don't think it through too much. Lumen is a company that facilitates the separation of their workers' consciousness from their “work selves” and their “out-of-work selves”) via a technology that surgically divides their memories. Their work lives are known as "Innies," and their home lives are "Outies." Lumen has strict regulations to prevent the Innies from knowing anything about their Outies (and vice versa). This is ostensibly to promote a healthy work-life balance but in reality, has deep psychic implications for the characters within Lumen. Lumen itself is revealed to be a dystopian organization, where the work its employees do is vague (and perhaps nefarious?). They have created a workforce that adheres to company policies with vigorous compliance, and those who rebel against the protocols (like the new employee, Helly) are subjected to extreme and inhumane punishment. Over the course of this exhilarating first season, Helly slowly convinces her colleagues that living this way is not normal, and they begin to fight back against the strange work rules they are forced to abide by, resulting in a nail-biting season finale with a cliffhanger for the ages. The cast is helmed by Adam Scott as Mark, a previously compliant worker whose own suspicions about a former co-worker's passing allow him to be swayed by Helly's arguments about the bizarre nature of their work lives. Britt Lower does amazing work as the rebellious Helly. They are joined by Zach Cherry as Dylan, a colleague who really enjoys Lumen's company perks until he inadvertently learns that his Outie has a young son, and he is profoundly disturbed by how much he doesn't know about his life. John Turturro plays Irving, a long-time Lumen employee who is a stickler for company policy but finds himself drawn romantically to Burt (Christopher Walken, for once not Walken-ing through a role), the head of another Lumen department. Patricia Arquette is their unsevered boss, Harmony Cobel, who has a fierce, cult-like devotion to Lumen's founder, and Tramell Tillman plays Seth Milchick, the unsevered supervisor of the severed employees who are there to dole out the upsetting punishments for non-compliance to company rules but also the strange (but sort of fun?) rewards for good performance. This is by far the best program on Apple TV+ after Ted Lasso , and I am eagerly awaiting Season 2 to see what happens to the severed Lumen gang. Dopesick With a huge cast that includes: Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, John Hoogenakker, Will Poulter, Rosario Dawson, Mare Winningham, Kaitlyn Dever, and Michael Keaton, Dopesick is an ambitious, sprawling structure spanning nearly two decades, cutting back and forth between the past and the present. It gives a thorough unpacking of America's struggle with opioid addiction, especially in poorer areas of the country like Appalachia. This was a wonderful show. We get to see the corruption of Purdue Pharma, the company that develops OxyContin, and how go to any length to improve their profits, convince doctors that the drug isn't addictive while selling larger and larger doses, and ignore the very real consequences of their actions. We also explore the story of a DEA investigator working to take down Purdue, two US attorneys trying to build a legal case against Purdue, and two characters struggling with their own addictions to the drug. Michael Keaton, as Dr. Samuel Finnix, an Appalachian small-town doctor, is the beating heart of this show and he has racked up several awards in the process. The time-jumping show structure makes it hard to follow at times, but the exceptional performances by Keaton and the rest of the cast make this an absolutely gripping and devastating miniseries and well worth watching. Hulu has had a fantastic year in the streaming arena, and this was its first major achievement in 2022. I'll have more to say about other Hulu programming in this roundup, so keep reading... The Dropout The Dropout is another Hulu program, based mostly on the podcast of the same name, produced by ABC News, and also, partly on the Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou's book, Bad Blood , along with his companion podcast, which explores the rise and fall of Silicon Valley health technology startup, Theranos, as well as its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, and her boyfriend and colleague (and co-conspirator?), Sunny Balwani. This show also features a sprawling cast (including Elizabeth Marvel, Laurie Metcalf, Bill Irwin, William H. Macy, Stephen Fry, Alan Ruck, Josh Pais, Rich Sommer, and Sam Waterston), and a plotline that spans several years of Holmes' life, from her preteen years to her exposure in her adult life as a fraud, peddling unsafe and unreliable technology to healthcare providers and patients all for profitable gain. Amanda Seyfried gives a riveting performance as the (quite frankly bizarre) Holmes, and Naveen Andrews proves to be a fantastic foil as Balwani. This show unfolded shortly after the real-life Holmes was found guilty of defrauding Theranos investors and was awaiting sentencing, and shortly before the real-life Balwani faced similar charges in court. (The real-life Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was recently revealed to have bought a one-way ticket to Mexico after her conviction, thus proving that she has not learned a single thing from her experiences.) I've written about The Dropout for Story Screen previously, in my article, “Grifter Horror and the Problem of Startup Culture,” so if you want a deeper dive into the show, feel free to check that out. Under the Banner of Heaven Hulu delivers again! This miniseries covers the backstory of a real-life brutal crime connected to a prominent Mormon family in East Rockwell, Utah, based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. Andrew Garfield gives the best performance of his career as Jeb Pyre, a Mormon police detective who struggles with his faith as he gets deeper into the investigation of the murder of a Latter-day Saint mother, Brenda Lafferty, and her baby daughter. While Jeb Pyre and his partner Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham, as one of the few non-Mormons in the community) are fictional characters, they are used as an entry point into the world of Mormonism and its fundamentalist offshoots. The show itself is an ambitious deep dive into the history of the Morman religion, the rise of religious extremists, and the crime itself, all without becoming dry and didactic. Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a strong performance as the murder victim, and Wyatt Russell, as Brenda's power-mad fundamentalist brother-in-law Dan, is outright terrifying. This can be a hard show to watch given its subject matter. Still, Garfield's performance anchors it so well, depicting a complicated man who is gentle in nature, but extremely passionate about justice. The Offer This miniseries, released by Paramount+, about Hollywood producer Albert S. Ruddy's experiences producing The Godfather , has been criticized for being self-indulgent ( The Godfather was a Paramount film), overly pandering, and didactic in its analysis of the film's true meaning, and why it struck a chord with audiences. The parts where Ruddy (played here by Miles Teller - who replaced Armie Hammer in the role once that whole cannibalism and sexual abuse stuff came out) works with director Francis Ford Coppola (Dan Fogler), screenwriter Mario Puzo (Patrick Gallo), who wrote the book the film was based on, actors Marlon Brando (Justin Chambers), and Al Pacino (Anthony Ippolito) - seen here as a young, self-conscious, sensitive young man who barely speaks above a whisper, a far cry from the bombastic performer he has since become - are honestly, not that interesting. Any narrative tension around the making of the film (Oh no! Paramount thinks Pacino is too short and weird to play Michael Corleone and won't approve of his casting! Paramount thinks Brando is washed-up and a pain in the ass and doesn't want him to play the Don! Paramount thinks filming in New York and Sicily will be too expensive! Paramount thinks the script is too long! Paramount has no faith in Coppola! Paramount thinks that Puzo won't be able to write an adaptation of his novel!) is completely undercut by our knowledge that of course, Brando and Pacino were in the film. Of course, Coppola was heralded as pioneering a new take on the traditional gangster film, and of course, Puzo wrote a great script, and of course, they filmed it in New York and made it to Sicily too. It significantly bogs down the plot. That said, the really interesting stuff in the series makes up for the silly manufactured tension of the pre-production and production of the film by seeing how far Ruddy went to fulfill Coppola's vision and deliver a great film for Paramount, with support from his assistant Bettye McCartt (Juno Temple), and an unlikely alliance with the real-life leader of one of the Five Families, Joe Columbo (Giovani Ribisi, almost unrecognizable), flamboyant Paramount studio head, Bob Evans (Matthew Goode, having the time of his life in the role), and Burn Gorman as head of Paramount's parent company Gulf-Western (also having the time of his life in the role), with Colin Hanks as Gulf-Western accountant, Barry Lapidus, who hates Evans and wants Ruddy to fail. Teller does a great job of making Ruddy warm, likable, and someone to root for, and I honestly cannot imagine this series working with Armie Hammer in the role (regardless of his questionable offscreen proclivities, the man has always been a cold fish on screen). If you're a movie geek like me (I am a lapsed film student after all), you'll enjoy the parts of the miniseries that depict the complicated process of being a producer. And you may feel inspired to watch The Godfather (again? for the first time?) afterward too. Better Call Saul - Season 6 I've already written a fairly comprehensive exploration of Better Call Saul as a whole in the form of a listicle about villains in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe , so I don't know how much more I can say about this except that, unlike Breaking Bad , Better Call Saul stuck the landing of their series finale perfectly, and in the process showcased already exceptional actors Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Giancarlo Esposito, and the sublime Tony Dalton really going above and beyond to bring this sordid simultaneous prequel/sequel story of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman embracing his true nature and taking accountability for his bad acts (unlike a certain Walter White) to a terrific and satisfying end. The final scene between Saul (Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Seahorn) is a beautiful homage to classic film noir and made me so sad that we will never see these wonderful characters again. If you haven't seen Better Call Saul yet, what are you waiting for? You don't even have to have watched Breaking Bad to understand it (though if you have, you'll have a deeper appreciation for a lot of what you see). This is one of the few network shows on my list, proving that despite several blunders after the end of Breaking Bad and Mad Men , AMC is still capable of delivering really compelling Prestige TV. The Outlaws - Season 2 This Amazon Prime series, produced in association with the BBC, probably slipped under your radar when season one was released in 2021. I know it did mine. The first season covered the antics of seven strangers from different walks of life in Bristol, who have run into various forms of trouble with the law, coming together to complete England's version of community service. They stumble upon a bag of money hidden in the community center they are working to restore, and their luck seems to change (though not necessarily for the better, as they are unaware that the money belongs to a dangerous drug-dealing criminal syndicate based in London). The series is co-created and written by Stephen Merchant, which should give you an idea of the brand of humor on display in this series - with strong performances by Rhianne Barreto as Rani Rekowski (an Oxford-bound student arrested for compulsive shoplifting), Eleanor Tomlinson as Lady Gabriella Penrose-Howe (a member of the landed gentry and social media influencer with a history of anger management and substance abuse issues), Jessica Gunning as Diane Pemberley (the community service supervisor with an overblown sense of her own authority), Christopher Walken (yes, really,) as Frank Sheldon (an American former conman living with his estranged daughter), and Merchant himself as Greg Dillard (a socially awkward lawyer trying to move beyond his grief over his recent divorce). The first season was a fun romp. But that was in 2021. The second season, airing last year, took a darker turn, as the characters' theft of the found money sucked into the world of drug dealing in order to pay back “The Dean,” the terrifying leader of the London criminal outfit. While there is still a hefty dose of the usual Merchant fare of cringe-comedy, season two delves deeper into the backstory of all seven community service workers and we see Rani abandon her Oxford scholarship and essentially "break bad" as she discovers she's quite good at running a drug dealing operation, much to the dismay of her boyfriend Ben Eastfield (Gamba Cole), who grew up in squalor with a drug addict mother. Christopher Walken definitely Walkens his way through season one but shows some admirable depth in season two as he begins to come to terms with how badly he mistreated his family during his younger conman days. This show deserves more recognition and you should watch it. That's all I gotta say about that. The Patient I've also already written a fairly comprehensive deep dive into this miniseries (also from Hulu) a while back on how Steve Carell cements his transformation into a serious actor with believable and heartbreaking gravitas in this series with his performance as therapist Alan Strauss. The Patient also features a quirky and unsettling performance by Domhnall Gleeson as Sam Fortner, the serial killer who takes Strauss hostage, and a surprisingly poignant performance by none other than David Alan Grier as Charlie Addison, Strauss' former therapist, and mentor. This is a series full of tension and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure was through the roof during the climax of its final episode, but it's great stuff. Well done everyone (and Hulu). The White Lotus - Season 2 One of my biggest regrets is that due to a logistically complicated year (as my boyfriend and I relocated from the Hudson Valley to the Capital District), I was unable to write a piece for Story Screen about the first season of The White Lotus in 2021. Originally intended as a miniseries, it proved to be so popular that it evolved into an actual drama series. I especially wanted to analyze the character of White Lotus General Manager, Armond (a brilliant performance by Murray Bartlett, finally getting recognition after years of amazing work as a character actor). This is also one of the few programs on network television (well, HBO is a premium subscription, but you know what I mean) on my list, but both seasons are available to stream on HBOMax if you missed either (or both). While the first season of The White Lotus , set in Hawaii, focused on money and white privilege, the second season, set in Sicily, focuses on money, sex, and sexual politics, with yet another huge cast. Rising to the top of this list of formidable actors are Aubrey Plaza as Harper Spiller, dealing with her troubled marriage, Meghann Fahy as Daphne Sullivan, who has found a way to manage her own secretly troubled marriage, Simona Tabasco as Lucia Greco, a feisty and intelligent hustler and sex worker, Beatrice Grannò as Mia, an aspiring musician who gets pulled into sex work by Lucia, Jennifer Coolidge, reprising her role as the hapless and clueless billionaire Tanya McQuoid from season one, and Tom Hollander as Quentin, a wealthy ex-pat with nefarious plans for Tanya. There is A LOT going on in this season, and I don't want to give away anything, so you should go check it out when you get a chance. But watch season one first, if only for Murray Bartlett. Welcome to Chippendales Chippendales is yet ANOTHER wonderful Hulu miniseries. While this show technically aired its last few episodes in January 2023, it premiered in November 2022 and the bulk of the show took place last year. This story features the rise and fall (and continued existence) of the male-stripping franchise Chippendales, and the corruption and greed of Somen "Steve" Banerjee (NO RELATION TO ME!!!), the owner and founder of Chippendales, as he becomes more and more wealthy from his sensationalist creation. Kumail Nanjiani does a terrific job in his first real dramatic role as Steve, and the show features great performances by Annaleigh Ashford as Irene, Steve's wife and the club's accountant, Juliette Lewis as costume designer Denise, and of course, the genius that is Murray Bartlett as choreographer Nick De Noia. Who knew that Chippendales had such a turbulent and violent origin? Not I! The show began to run out of steam during its last two episodes, but it did stick the landing in the end and the rest of the run - especially its first two episodes - are close to perfect and a pleasure to watch. This is an awfully fun show despite it being a true crime story, and worth it for Nanjiani and Bartlett's friendship-turned-bitter rivalry alone. Overall, as I mentioned, 2022 was a great year for Hulu, who as far as I'm concerned is giving all of the other streaming services a major run for their money. If you aren't a subscriber yet, I strongly urge you to sign up NOW and catch up on these shows I mentioned. I'm super excited to see what Hulu gives us this year and to see if any of the other streamers can catch up to them. Reeya Banerjee Staff Writer Reeya is a musician and writer based in NY's Capital District. Her debut album The Way Up was released on January 27, 2022. She can frequently be seen in her car on the NYS Thruway cursing traffic on her way to the Hudson Valley for band rehearsals or to Brooklyn for recording sessions. In her other life, she works as a staff accountant for a management company that oversees veterinary practices nationwide, enjoys watching Law & Order SVU returns while eating gummy bears, and has a film degree from Vassar College that she does not use.

Scotty Arnold's Picks for favorite films of 2022 “If you never go over the top, how will you know what’s on the other side?” - Jim Steinman At a time when we feel more divided than ever, each down our own rabbit hole that we’ve spent the last ten years building in collaboration with the tech gods, it’s rather surreal that we all went through the same truly bizarre past three years, and that we’re all the same amount of time out from what was so strange, and became so normal so quickly. I didn’t see the trend coming—didn't even notice it until I could stare at this year’s list: 2022 went big. Call it maximalist, call it “yes, and,” call it over the top if you have no sense of adventure, but these nine films are each bigger than they would have been last year. Maybe our imaginations were nourished in lockdown in ways that are just now showing up. Maybe we’re all really tired of the repetitive mundanity that life can serve. In many ways, 2022 was a frustrating continuation where we wanted a release, and maybe that release found its way to us through film. I’m grateful for these movies that shook me out of myself, dislodged me from some ruts, and inspired me to imagine to eleven. In alphabetical order, nine films that went big into my heart in 2022: BABYLON Written and directed by Damien Chazelle There aren’t many moments in history as magical in the imagination of the average American as the golden age of Hollywood, and Damien Chazelle’s insistence on showing us the seedy underbelly that’s been cropped out of the photos in our minds manages to show the scene from a different angle without sullying the larger picture. Babylon is not a happy movie; its outlook is bleak. But even if happy endings are just in the movies, this is still a place and time where dreams came true fast and loose, and watching this buzzingly alive cast of characters climb their way to what they think they want is thrilling. The frenetic action gives way to some beautifully still set pieces as the film reaches and grabs toward its inevitable conclusion. Sure, you should be careful what you wish for, but gosh those dreams shine. BARBARIAN Written and directed by Zach Cregger It’s very possible that you’ll start Barbarian and think it’s not for you. Friend, push through. Rich rewards await you on the other side of this twisty-turny film. The restless imagination of Zach Cregger has borne a dark and twisted tale as funny as it is scary, and it’s a joyride. Forgive my brevity on this entry, but Barbarian is hard to talk about with no spoilers – just something you have to see for yourself. ELVIS Screenplay by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner; directed by Baz Luhrmann Baz is back! Taking a figure that has long since turned into a lifeless caricature in the eyes of pop culture and breathing life back into him, not through subtlety but bombast, is quite a trick. Austin Butler's viscerally innocent performance looks all the better next to whatever the hell Tom Hanks is doing, but even an actor reaching for a role he was never meant to play can’t hold down this going-on-three-hours jolt of a film. With Butler’s heart to ground the film, Luhrman provides the grand scale with every aural and visual trick he knows. Each shot of this film is a work of pop art, bursting with color and movement and always in service of the larger-than-life story unfolding. Maybe the biggest compliment I can give is that the movie made me like Elvis, which I never saw coming. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert There are no Marvel or DC movies on my list this year. What once thrilled me has grown stale with overuse and over importance, moments and feelings trumping storytelling and ideas until I’m numb under the surface. But God bless superhero movies for lacing hay-filled ideas and vocabulary into the culture that the Daniels can spin into beautiful, absurdist, aching gold in Everything Everywhere All at Once . This wild ride rescues multiverses and action heroes from having to carry movies on their own and uses them in service of a much more human endeavor. The absurdity of this movie disarms, leaving the viewer to meet its big heart with defenses down. GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Written and directed by Rian Johnson Sometimes a genre pic comes along that makes you wonder why you haven’t devoted your life to that genre. Glass Onion makes the whodunit look so easy and fun that it seemed everyone I know went searching for more, more, more, but the futile attempt only makes this movie shine brighter. Debate prattles about which, between the initial and subsequent appearance of Benoit Blanc, is the superior film — I think it’s less about quality and more about which coast you identify with. Being a born-and-bred Californian, I like this one. The movie’s engine seems to be joy: each character, each plot twist, each clever line stretched my smile bigger and bigger until its very satisfying end. This group will be hard to top, but I look forward to seeing what kind of trouble Blanc finds next. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON Screenplay by Jenny Slate, Elisabeth Holm, Dean Fleischer Camp, and Nick Paley; directed by Dean Fleischer Camp It may seem strange to be labeling Marcel the Shell with Shoes On maximalist. Still, there’s something truly wild about the conviction that a shell with a googly eye and a pair of shoes can support a YouTube short, much less a series of shorts, much much less a feature film with pathos and comedy in equal measure. The absurdity of the concept continues to delight even as the harsh realities of Marcel’s current life come into focus. The larger world and its pain hover around Marcel in a way that brought me back to childhood, where bad things were felt, if not quite understood yet. It’s a small, fragile, hugely goofy movie that sneaks into your heart. ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL Screenplay by Dennis Kelly; directed by Matthew Warchus True musicals are hard to do. I’m not talking about a musical biopic like Elvis or a Bollywood entry like RRR – those are great, but they play by their own rules. I’m talking about a musical theater piece, with songs that come from characters and further story – I’m talking about Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. Tim Minchin’s catchy score captures the pure heart and bombastic wickedness of the source material with a mischievous grin. While I loved every minute of the more than two-and-a-half-hour musical on stage, the cuts and trims are perfect to tell the story on film. The original creative team behind the musical adapts the material themselves, and it’s a testament to their continued creativity that they manage to improve upon the storytelling and reinvent the story visually without losing any of what made the stage show so wonderful. THE NORTHMAN Screenplay by Sjón and Robert Eggers; directed by Robert Eggers It’s largely a relief to be removed from the necessity of the brute force, tribalism, and primal impulses of yore, but it’s also dazzling to see them come to life in Robert Eggers’ visceral film. For those familiar with Shakespeare’s Hamlet , The Northman will have you cocking your head – the film tells the story of the Norse myth that inspired Shakespeare, but it’s a little like the difference between a Disney movie and a Brothers Grimm original. This film fully commits to a world where conflicts are resolved through battles of strength so fully that it awakens those sleeping voices within us, like watching a house cat suddenly hunt prey. This stoic past is in all of our bones, and it’s thrilling to be reminded of how far we’ve come, and what’s still lurking deep within ourselves. RRR Screenplay by S. S. Rajamouli and Vijayendra Prasad, directed by S. S. Rajamouli I’ve never seen a film like RRR. It's an earnest epic with its heart on its sleeve, fully committed to some of the most amazing action sequences on film, while also invested in a tender friendship. And musical numbers! Somehow none of it feels disjointed because it all flows from the open heart of this film. There’s a lot to love about this movie, but one thing stuck out to me on a very personal note. The US has put out its fair share of buddy action-comedies, and one of the guarantees in movies like that is some inevitable no-homo jokes when things get intimate. This three-hour movie did not have one moment of judgment for the affection between these two men. Arriving at the celebratory end of RRR without having had a hint of mockery of male intimacy felt like noticing the water we swim in for the first time, and learning that there’s a better way to tell a story. HOTTIE OF THE YEAR: Ram Charan, RRR Scotty Arnold Musical theater writer, champion-level chocolate milk drinker, dog dad to Parmesan, eligible gay bachelor. scottyarnold.com

Mike Burdge, Diana DiMuro, Bernadette Gorman-White and Robby Anderson chat about some of their favorite films of 2022, including The Batman, We're All Going to the World's Fair, The Fabelmans, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Aftersun, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, TÁR, The Banshees of Inisherin and more! Listen on....

A review of Murina When I was younger, I remember meeting some of my friend's parents and thinking, even for just a moment, “I bet it would be pretty cool if these people were my parents.” Director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s film, Murina, takes that premise and runs with it. Julija (Gracija Filipovic) lives on a beautiful Croatian island that many tourists frequent as a vacation destination, but as a teenager, she constantly clashes with her controlling and somewhat abusive father Ante (Leon Lucev). Her beautiful mother, Nela (Danica Curcic), tries her best to act as a moderator, but even she is often at the mercy of her husband’s wicked temper. When a wealthy friend of the family, Javier (or “Javi” as he lovingly is called - played by the ever-charming Cliff Curtis), comes to visit, everyone must be on their best behavior to impress the special guest, but along the way, Julija starts to have other ideas. Murina is a slow burn of a film, but a beautiful one at that. The cinematography lets the viewer take in the vast landscapes of living by the Adriatic Sea in what initially seems like an idyllic locale. Gracija Filipovic is fantastic as Julija. This is her second time working with Kusijanovic, after starring in her short film Into the Blue . She is in many ways a classic teenager: angry, stomping around, and defiant. The few times Julija seems carefree are while she is spearfishing. Murina is slang for moray eel in Croatian. Julija claims to hate fishing, but she loves freediving and the control of holding her breath. Despite the gorgeous scenery, the set of a small island begins to feel more and more claustrophobic as Julija struggles to find ways to leave it behind. Julija’s father hopes to convince Javi to purchase the land that he owns in order to leave island life behind, and finally, get an apartment in the city. He goes out of his way to make his wife and daughter cater to Javier’s whims, hoping to win him over. Julija begins to realize that there is more to the history between Javi and her family (in particular, between him and her mother). Javi's blatant affection for both her and her mother emboldens Julija to make up her mind to “replace” her father with Javi. But not everything goes according to plan. Without giving too much away, Murina is about placing your hopes for a better life on others and realizing that, in the end, you have to make your own changes. Kusijanovic’s film is well worth the watch and I look forward to whatever she creates next. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro