Photo caption: Cillian Murphy in OPPENHEIMER. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here are my Best Movies of 2022 and Best Movies of 2021 lists. To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
I’ve seen 130 2023 films so far, but I have yet to see a few promising prestige films like Zone of Interest and American Fiction. Pretty sure some of those will end up high on my list when I finalize it in a couple months. (BTW that 130 total for 2023 doesn’t include the 89 festival submissions that I’ve screened (those will be 2024 films) nor the 121 movies from earlier years that I watched this year.)
I almost always pick an international film like Drive My Car or Incendies or an indie like Winter’s Bone, Hell or High Water or Leave no Trace as my top movie of the year. This year, my top pick is a big summer blockbuster, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. I especially admired Oppenheimer for these reasons:
Christopher Nolan’s imagination in threading together two riveting stories. The first is the Manhattan Project, the mastering of all the scientific and technological challenges in developing the first nuclear weapon, in a race with the worst villains in the history of the world – that’s fodder for an epic movie in itself. The second is the psychological study of a man who was brilliant enough to lead the development of the first atomic bomb, but who could not grasp that he would then lose all control on its use.
The brilliant performances of Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey, Jr, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon and Benny Safdie.
Oppenheimer is visually thrilling, thanks to the collaboration of Nolan, Dutch-Swedish cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema and editor Jennifer Lame. Ludwig Göransson’s music is pretty great, too.
Together the filmmakers have made a movie that runs for three hours without a single slow or dry moment, despite spending two hours on nuclear physics. I am confident in predicting that Oppenheimer will receive (and deserve) at least ten Oscar nominations and could challenge the record of fourteen.
My number two film, Anatomy of a Fall, is good enough to have been my top in almost any other year.
ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of NEON.
Here’s the entire list:
OPPENHEIMER: creator of a monster controlled by others. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ANATOMY OF A FALL: family history, with life or death stakes. In theaters.
PAST LIVES: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: an epic tale of epic betrayal. In theaters and will stream on AppleTV sometime after December 4, perhaps as late as January.
Daniel Kaluuya in NOPE. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here are my Best Movies of 2021 and Best Movies of 2020 lists. To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
I’ve seen one hundred-and-three 2022 films so far, but I have yet to see promising prestige films like Women Talking, Broker, The Son, Empire of Light and The Whale. Pretty sure some of those will end up high on my list when I finalize it in a couple months. (BTW that 103 total for 2022 doesn’t include the 86 festival submissions that I’ve screened (those will be 2023 films) nor the 79 movies from earlier years that I watched this year.)
I almost always pick an international film like Drive My Car or Incendies or an indie like Winter’s Bone, Hell or High Water or Leave no Trace as my top movie of the year. So, readers may be surprised that my top choice his year was Nope, a sci fi and horror film -a popcorn movie. (I did pick a science fiction movie, Ex Machina, as my top movie of 2015.) I especially admired – and recommend – Nope because of:
Jordan Peele’s ingenious take on our current culture – instead of seeking to battle or befriend space aliens, Peele knows many would ask, how can we monetize this?
The deep, textured and fresh characters of OJ, Emerald, Angel and Jupe – unusual for a popcorn movie.
Nope’s reflection of Peele’s love of movies with its combination of the horror, sci fi, western, comedy and show biz movie genres.
My hopeful thought. Will Jordan Peele bring young moviegoers to theaters for horror thrills and teach them to expect SMART movies?
Here’s the complete list:
Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in AFTERSUN. Courtesy of A24.
Anyway, after catching up with some 2021 straggler movies, I have finalized my own list of the Best Movies of 2021 (follow the link for full reviews, images, trailers and how to find them, plus some bonus picks). Here are my top fifteen movies of last year:
Photo caption: Hidetoshi Nishijima and Tôko Miura in DRIVE MY CAR. Courtesy of The Match Factory.
somehow managed to watch 137 2021 movies (and another 170 movies from earlier years). Here are the ones that I most admire and engage with. (Note: I still haven’t seen The Tragedy of Macbeth or Parallel Mothers.)
To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here are my Best Movies of 2020 and Best Movies of 2019 lists.
To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
THE BEST OF THE YEAR
Here’s the running list as of mid-July:
Riders of Justice: A character-driven comedy thriller, embedded with deeper stuff. Marvelous. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): Questlove’s magnificent revelation of the long-overlooked 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival – glorious musical performances at an important moment in our history and culture. In theaters and streaming on Hulu.
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: An unusually profound, revealing and unsentimental biodoc of a complicated man – a shy bad ass, an outwardly cynical romantic, a brooding humorist. A triumph for director Morgan Neville, Oscar-winner for 20 Feet from Stardom.
About Endlessness: The master of the droll, deadpan and absurd probes the meaning of life. One of the best movies of the year, but NOT FOR EVERYONE. Streaming on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Slow Machine: An incomprehensible art film that is surprisingly engrossing.
Special mention: Lune: This Canadian indie, the Must See at this year’s Cinequest, is an astonishingly authentic exploration of bipolar disorder. A mother and teen daughter must navigate the impacts of the mom’s illness. Played by writer and co-director Aviva Armour-Ostroff, the mom Miriam is the most singular movie character I’ve seen recently. Miriam’s streams of manic speech have the rhythm of poetry. On the festival circuit and not yet available to stream.
Note that you see Summer of Soul and Roadrunner in theaters this week, and you can stream Summer of Soul and Riders of Justice at home.
There’s still plenty of room for more excellent 2021 movies. I’m especially eager to see the new works from directors Sean Baker, Asgar Farhadi, Joachim Trier, Hong Sang-soo, Todd Haynes, Joanna Hogg, Pedro Almodovar, Jacques Audiard, Emmanuelle Bercot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Arnaud Deplechin, Leos Carax, Francois Ozon, Paul Verhoeven, Ruben Ostlund and Valdimar Johannson. Stay tuned.
Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson in SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
The first four are the gold standard of Shakespeare movies: Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet, Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 Ran, Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 Henry V and Orson Welles’ 1965 Chimes at Midnight.
THE VERY BEST
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in ROMEO AND JULIET. Photo by Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock.
Romeo and Juliet (1968): The director Franco Zeffirelli made the highly original choice to cast actual teenage actors in what is supposed to be a story of teen passion, with its hormone-driven urgency. He also chose to depict sex in a romance. The film benefits from a magnificent score by Nino Rota. It’s also an exceptionally beautiful film, which won Oscars for cinematography and costume design. The luminous Olivia Hussey plays Juliet. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Tatsuya Nakadai (right) in RAN
Ran (1985): The great director Akira Kurosawa set King Lear in feudal Japan. Kurosawa perfectly captures the vanity of the old king and his shock of his betrayal. This is one of the most visually spectacular films of all time, and certainly the most cinematic of Shakespeare films. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Christopher Ravenscroft, Brian Blessed and Kenneth Branagh in HENRY V
Henry V (1989): The actor and director Kenneth Branagh is the best modern interpreter of Shakespeare (and shows up on this list three times). Branagh gives us a Henry that is not just a Dead White Guy, but a young and impulsive king, fueled more by personal ambition and testosterone than national interest. Branagh’s St. Crispin’s Day speech is superb. As in all of Branagh’s adaptations, there is a solid cast, this one includes Brian Blessed, Derek Jacobi, Paul Schofield, Ian Holm, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane and, in a very early performance, Christian Bale. Vudu, Redbox and few others.
Orson Welles and Keith Baxter in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
Chimes at Midnight: Orson Welles’ Shakespearean masterpiece. Welles’ genius was in braiding together parts of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, some Richard III, Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor into a cohesive story of what he called “betrayal of friendship”. There’s a thrilling medieval battle scene, and when the friendship is betrayed, it’s devastating.
Chimes at Midnight was extremely hard to find until very recently, except for a bootleg on YouTube and a 2015 DVD released in the UK. It’s still not available to rent on DVD. Fortunately, Chimes at Midnight has become available to stream on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and FilmStruck. And, of course, it plays occasionally on Turner Classic Movies.
THE REST OF THE BEST
Francesca Annis and Jon Finch in MACBETH
Macbeth (1971): Roman Polanski set Shakespeare’s definitive study of vaulting ambition in an especially dank and gloomy medieval Scotland. Unsurprisingly for a Polanski film, the witches and Macbeth’s visions are nightmarishly trippy. And Polanski makes Birnam Wood march on film as Shakespeare could not have dreamt of doing on stage. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Kenneth Branagh in HAMLET
Hamlet (1996): Kenneth Branagh reshuffled the deck by setting his unabridged (242 minutes) Hamlet, not in a gloomy medieval castle, but in an opulent 19th century palace – and shot in the real Blenheim Palace. It’s another impressive British cast featuring Branagh along with Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Nicholas Farrell, Brian Blessed and Kate Winslet; John Gielgud, Richard Attenborough and Judi Dench all show up, along with the decidedly non-British Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon and Gerard Depardieu. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Ian McKellen in RICHARD III
Richard III (1995): This version stars Ian McKellen as Shakespeare’s most deliciously unashamed bad guy. The most interesting artistic choice here is that it is set in a fictional 1930s fascist Britain. Vudu.
Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Much Ado About Nothing(2013): Director Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) takes a break from pop with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It’s set in current times (with iPods and cupcakes) and filmed in black and white at Whedon’s Santa Monica home. It worked for me. Whedon’s version brings out the screwball comedy sensibility of the tale. Indeed, there’s really nothing uniquely 16th century about the plot: one couple is perfectly matched but they think that they despise each other, another couple is head over heels in love and a mean, unhappy villain wants to break up the romance. It’s all good fun, and there’s no need to review the play before enjoying it. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Much Ado About Nothing (1993): Comparatively few of Shakespeare’s comedies have become good movies, but Kenneth Branagh made the best of the good ones. Set in sunny Tuscany, this is a visually and thematically bright film. The best part, of course, is the war of wits between Branagh and then-wife Emma Thompson. They are surrounded by a typically excellent Branagh cast – Denzel Washington, Imelda Staunton, Brian Blessed and Kate Beckinsale. Unfortunately, Keanu Reeves has also wandered into to this movie and glowers a lot for no apparent reason. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Ralph Fiennes in CORIOLANUS
Coriolanus (2012): The actor/director Ralph Fiennes has done well to set Shakespeare’s tale of ancient Rome into the present. This story of war and politics comes alive in today’s world of cable television news, with its crawling captions and pundits, protest demonstrations and soldiers in Humvees. By stripping away the swords and togas, Fiennes helps us recognize the ambition, personal stubbornness, political treachery and the fickleness of public opinion at the core of the story. Coriolanus benefits from splendid performances by Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Al Pacino in MERCHANT OF VENICE
Merchant of Venice (2004): Amid the robes of medieval Venice, the actor Al Pacino puts a modern take on Shylock in this fine adaptation. This film addresses antisemitism with an added opening that explicitly describes persecution of Jews in medieval Venice = and Pacino eschews the traditional and offensive fake nose. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Al Pacino in LOOKING FOR RICHARD
Looking for Richard (1996): This is an excellent documentary of the actor Al Pacino’s process in developing his lead portrayal in a stage production of Richard III. It’s not just about the hump. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
The Taming of the Shrew (1967): Franco Zeffirelli makes the list again with this vibrant and boisterous film. Who to star in this battle of the sexes? Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, by all accounts, shared a disorderly relationship marked with passion, humor and tumultuous upheavals. All of that comes through in their portrayals of two type A personalities crashing into romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Gwyneth Paltow and Joseph Fiennes in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Shakespeare in Love (1998): Well, this did win the Best Picture Oscar. It’s also very funny, and wonderfully takes us into the grimy world of Elizabethan show biz; as in Hollywood, the writer (Joseph Fiennes as Will himself) is low man on the totem pole. Geoffrey Rush is excellent as a producer, and Gwyneth Paltow, Tom Wilkinson and Judi Dench all sparkle. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
And NOT on this list…
Okay, why is there no Laurence Olivier (Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III, Othello)? And why aren’t Orson Welles’ Othello and Macbeth on this list? Indeed, Olivier was greatest Shakespearean stage actor of his age and made several movies that capture those performances. I guess that it’s a just matter of taste. To my contemporary eye, Olivier’s grab-the-skull-and-gesture-dramatically-and-start-declaiming style of acting just doesn’t work for me.
Laurence Olivier as HAMLET
And Welles? Welles aspired to make groundbreaking cinematic Shakespeare. Unfortunately, Welles’ artistic self-indulgence had frozen him out of Hollywood financing. Therefore, his low-budget indies Othello and Macbeth are too low-budget, and the low production values are distracting. But his Chimes at Midnight makes up for it – another Welles masterpiece.
Lizzy Auna and Axel Arenas in AGUA ROSA. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
The Mexican drama Agua Rosa begins with a young couple heading to stay a few days at an isolated property. We first see them mostly in long shot, often from the back, with very little dialogue, and we need to connect our own dots. Who are they? Why are they here? What are they to each other? That last question is what Agua Rosa is all about.
Mauricio (Axel Arenas) has inherited the place from his father and he’s settling the estate with his significant other Ana (Lizzy Auna). Mauricio is angry at his dad for abandoning his mom, so he’s unhappy and not fun to be around. His anger is leaking on Ana, and I kept hoping “don’t blow it with her by being such a jerk”. But maybe he’s also unhappy with something in their relationship…
Agua Rosa is co-written and co-directed by Miguel López Valdivia and Ca Silva (together credited as Antónimo). It’s their first feature film. They are able to make a languid pace work because Agua Rosa is only 71 minutes long.
The filmmakers use long shots and shots of long duration to emphasize the couple’s isolated setting and the potential isolation from each other. This makes the tight closeups at the climax all the more powerful.
I screened Agua Rosa for its world premiere at Cinequest; you can stream it during the festival for only $3.99 at Cinequest’s online Cinejoy.
Frances McDormand in NOMADLAND. Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.
Recently catching up with Nomadland, Sound of Metal, Mayor and Black Bear has allowed me to finalize my Best Movies of 2020. In the Year of Pandemic, I somehow managed to watch one hundred and fifteen 2020 movies (and another one hundred and forty-nine movies from earlier years). Here are the thirteen that I most admire and engage with.
To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
Chadwick Boseman in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
Chadwick Boseman in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
In the Year of Pandemic, I somehow managed to watch one hundred and fifteen 2020 movies (and another one hundred and forty-nine movies from earlier years). Here are the Best Movies of 2020.
Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here’s last year’s list.
To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later. I haven’t yet seen Nomadland, Mayor or The Sound of Metal, and I will add films to the list as I see fit.
BEFORE THE FIRE: world premiere at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
2020 sucked so badly that several of my favorite movies weren’t from 2020. Noir CIty led me to discover the Czech neo-noir masterpiece …And the Fifth Horseman Is Fear and the amazing German romantic tragedy Black Gravel. And I loved A Colt Is My Passport on Turner Classic movies, a 1960s Japanese hybrid – a Spaghetti Western in the guise of a Yazuka film.
These 2012-2018 Cinequest favorites are available to stream now:
FEEL GOODS AND COMEDIES
Quality Problems: A screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Venus: Meeting your kid for the first time while transitioning. Amazon, iTunes.
The Sapphires: Here’s a crowd pleaser – Motown meets Aborigines. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play.
Threesomething: Original and cheeky. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
The Grand Seduction: An entire tiny hamlet is enlisted in an absurdly elaborate and risky ruse in this Canadian knee-slapper. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Hunting Elephants: Apparently, Israelis see just as little generosity, fair-mindedness and decency in their bankers as we do in ours. iTunes.
Andrew Jenkins in Chris Scheuerman’s brilliant debut LOST SOLACE
INDIE DRAMAS
The Center: Sliding into a cult. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Lost Solace: a psychopath afflicted by empathy. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Dose of Reality: You won’t predict this ending. For SURE. Amazon.
