At last, it’s time to reveal the five films that made the last twelve months feel worth it…
5 – GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Not only was Rian Johnson’s anticipated follow-up to his murder-mystery homage Knives Out worth the hype, but it also laid the foundations for what could potentially be Netflix’s way forward in the current debate between streaming and theatrical – not to mention being an incredibly entertaining movie that raised the bar higher than even its predecessor.
Daniel Craig shined once more as that Southern gentleman of a sleuth Benoit Blanc, this time catching some rays, and maybe even a murderer or two, on the private island of Edward Norton’s Musk-baiting tech billionaire and his renegade band of friends. It was the perfect setting for this cast of characters to shine in plenty of hilarious and unexpected ways, from Kate Hudson’s amusingly ignorant fashion designer, to a standout Janelle Monáe in a mysterious role that throws everyone and everything out of the window in ways that you can’t even begin to imagine. Johnson’s sly sense of humour, here tackling everything from tacky and eerily plausible celeb-endorsed products (it’s safe to assume, though, that the world won’t be experiencing Jared Leto’s kombucha any time soon) to the unchecked power of wealthy idiots, keeps you fully invested in the unfolding plot all the way up to its explosive climax, by which point you’ll be so engaged with what’s going on and how it’s all coming together that not even the slightest of conveniences can derail how much fun you’re having whilst solving this mystery.
It’s also noteworthy to mention Netflix’s unheard-of release pattern for this film. In a first for the streamer, they agreed with some of the world’s top cinema chains to screen the film for a week exclusively in cinemas, a whole month before its online debut – now, Netflix has given many of its films a brief theatrical window over the past few years (mostly to qualify them for awards consideration), but those were strictly limited to a few boutique cinemas, and were often a week or so before their actual streaming debuts. This was the first time you could truly go to your local multiplex and see a major streaming title on the big screen, and it was a gambit that initially paid off with the film scoring a healthy $13 million during its one week in cinemas, which given the limited amount of time it was theatrically available as well as the small number of screens it ended up being on is quite something to behold. However, many exhibitors weren’t too pleased about the limited theatrical window, and most audiences didn’t necessarily want to wait a whole month before seeing it again, so the hope is that Netflix will take this example and the lessons that came with it to give more films (and not just the starry blockbusters like this one) the opportunity to connect with audiences in the one place that truly matters: on the big screen, surrounded by plenty of other cinemagoers who want to experience the film alongside yourself.
Whether or not Netflix goes this route remains to be seen, but there’s great precedence for them to continue this tradition, especially when their films can be as enjoyable as Glass Onion is…
What the idea of “pure cinema” is to someone is entirely subjective. To some, it may be the final farewell between E.T. and his human friend Elliott; to others, it might be defined through the stark cinematography of Citizen Kane. And then, there’s movies where Johnny Knoxville and his band of aging buddies get together to repeatedly kick themselves in the nuts or launch each other into the air via massive cannons – that is, well and truly, pure cinema at its finest.
Of course, Jackass Forever – the fourth and final (?) big-screen outing in the long-running MTV franchise – is by no means high-art, but that’s precisely why it endures. You watch a Jackass movie to laugh, wince, and on occasion worry about the physical and mental health of its brave-as-hell performers, and here you get some of the funniest and most painful stunts that this series has ever produced, which not only gives you exactly what you want but also emotionally makes you feel comfortable taking in all of the intelligent stupidity that you’ve come to know and love over the years. All of these movies have been hilarious and endlessly rewatchable, but there is something special about this one which almost feels melancholic as you watch these people, who have clearly aged since the last Jackass outing, do what they love the most while taking into account some serious repercussions that could impact their health in their approaching middle-aged existence. That, mixed in with the absence of late cast member Ryan Dunn and the controversial exclusion of Bam Margera (who was fired from production after allegedly breaking his sobriety), makes this the most emotional out of the lot, and a fitting farewell to this troupe of trailblazers should this indeed be the final time we see them all together.
On a more personal note, Jackass Forever does have a special place in my heart this year, because of how it ended up being an unexpected source of comfort during a difficult time. Earlier this year, my grandmother – who I had been very close to throughout my entire life – passed away after a long bout with cancer, and it ended up being one of the most emotionally devastating times of my life when she died. I remember feeling this great hole giving way when I heard the news, and had no idea how to initially fill it, because she was such a special person with all the love and care you could ask for, so to no longer have any of that warmth and kindness in my life was a lot to bear. I eventually decided that the best thing to do to lift my spirits would be to go out and take in the power of cinema – and take a wild guess as to which film happened to be showing that day. Somehow, seeing a film where Ehren McGhehey gets a pogo stick bounced onto an athletic cup that barely covers his genitals, and where Johnny Knoxville gets knocked unconscious (and subsequently hospitalised) after being run over by a bull, gave me the emotional kick that I desperately needed at that difficult time, because what better medicine is there in the immediate wake of grief than laughter at the pain of other men? Either way, it really helped me get through this difficult time for myself and my family, and for that I’ll always have a special place for it in the annals of film history.
It ain’t Citizen Kane, but when you’re laughing uncontrollably at some of the most outrageous stunts ever conceived, who’s complaining?
There was an unusual intake of Pinocchio movies this year, some bad (like Disney’s live-action remake of their classic animated version), and some so awful that online memes based on them briefly circulate the internet (four words: Pauly Shore as Pinocchio). However, it goes without saying that by far the best of the lot came courtesy of Guillermo del Toro, who utilised stop-motion animation to tell his long-gestating version of the Carlo Collodi fairy tale with some incredibly emotional, and profoundly grown-up, results.
Co-directing with Mark Gustafson, del Toro retells the adventures of the wooden boy puppet with his signature style of imagination, which both honours the darker tones of the original story as well as aspects of the more light-hearted Disney cartoon, which the filmmaker clearly takes a lot of cues from while still making it very much his own. There are things that he ends up doing with the story that few, if any, other versions have yet dared to accomplish, such as updating the setting to Fascist Italy wherein everyone was expected to fall in line and propaganda for Mussolini’s regime was woven into just about everything – neither of which, as you can imagine, are things that the unruly Pinocchio wishes to do on his quest to become real. Guillermo del Toro chooses to celebrate exactly that here, the unwavering desire to be a misfit in a society that dictates one and all should be the same, in a profoundly anti-fascist message that is simple yet powerful in its execution as much as it is in its conception. That alone makes this version of Pinocchio stand out amongst many of the other classic adaptations, because it’s doing something that’s legitimately fresh while still staying true to the spirit of the original tale, and it makes things feel as though you are being told this familiar story for the first time once again.
It’s also an exceptionally emotional rendition, where from the very first few frames of the beautifully rendered stop-motion animation you get to know and empathise so much with many of these characters. Old favourites like Geppetto and the cricket (the latter being as far removed from Jiminy Cricket as possible) are given plenty of new dimensions as well as some tragic backstories that leave you utterly devastated, while others like the Blue Fairy and the big sea monster are given terrifying make-overs that add to del Toro’s creative vision as well as call back to former styles of stop-motion such as that of Ray Harryhausen. There is so much life to all these characters – even a squealing monkey, voiced by Cate Blanchett (!), is given a meaningful arc – that you often forget that they are just tiny models being moved frame by frame via hand, and it’s a testament to the spirit and passion of del Toro and his many collaborators that you feel utterly transported to this dark and unforgiving world without once questioning the integrity or storytelling capacities of these masters at work.
It’s a beautiful, engaging, funny, and utterly wonderful tale that only a true visionary like Guillermo del Toro could make, and after all the other Pinocchio movies this year, I am so thankful that he did…
Well, this is embarrassing. All the way back in April, when I first saw Robert Eggers’ astoundingly epic Viking revenge thriller, I declared right there and then that no other film would top its sheer majesty, and that come year’s end it would surely be at the very top of this exact list. Yet, here we are, with the film peaking at second place – but in no way should that diminish how unapologetically awesome this movie really is.
Eggers takes heavy inspiration from the same source that Shakespeare did for his own Hamlet, that being the ancient Nordic tale of a young prince who vows revenge against his uncle for the murder of his monarch father. However, the filmmaker – who, between The Witch, The Lighthouse and now The Northman, really has become a leading auteur in his own right – goes to some heavily gruesome and bleak-as-all-hell territory where nobody, not even our jacked lead Alexander Skarsgård, is above the brutal murder, rape, enslavement, torture and manipulation of those around them. The violence in this movie is so direct and shown with enough roughness to make the strongest stomachs churn, but Eggers chooses to balance his visceral style with a perfectly paced story and characters who you can easily understand beyond their simple attributes, all acted brilliantly by performers who know exactly the kind of over-the-top delivery to give, which makes the end result feel so much more satisfying.
While the movie certainly became a hit with critics, its underperformance at the box office – while not unexpected for a non-IP historical action-thriller with few crowd-drawing stars and a filmmaker known more for arthouse work than big-budget blockbusters – seems to have seriously dampened its longevity with audiences. I do feel that is a serious shame, because not only are they missing out on a fine piece of cinema that works as well on a smaller screen as it does in cinemas, but it also spells potential doom for mid-budget movies like this that do take giant and ambitious risks. The overall box office still isn’t near where it was pre-pandemic, with an alarming number of people still anxious to go out and see something that isn’t a big superhero movie or the latest in a familiar franchise, which makes it hard for films like The Northman to find their theatrical audience until they’re sought out on streaming or on-demand. Sadly, it looks like we’re in for a period where studios will take fewer and fewer financial risks with their projects, at least until audience numbers eventually get back up the record highs of 2019, by which point the die might have already been rolled to decide their fate. Hopefully, though, it won’t be that long until we can declare the mid-budget drought to be over, and that films with as much, if not more, ambition than The Northman can be made and released to wide and long-lasting acclaim.
Until then, it’s merciful that an awesome movie like this even exists, because the world would be much grimmer without it. However, while it’s undeniably worth checking out, there is one movie that turned out to define 2022 as a whole…
If there was one film that dominated the hearts, minds, and souls of both critics and audiences this year, it was Top Gun: Maverick. The long-in-development sequel to the 80s cultural phenomenon, which also helped launch Tom Cruise to A-list stardom, had been repeatedly pushed further and further back due to the pandemic, waiting for the right time to emerge and give audiences around the world a big-screen experience that would, however briefly, unite everyone in their adoration for the kind of blockbuster that you just don’t see much of anymore. As it turns out, they couldn’t have picked a better time than May 2022, when the world was in desperate need of something to elevate their spirits after a two-year pandemic, violent warfare in Eastern Europe, growing political division, and new waves of anti-Semitism and further racial bigotry.
Of course, Tom Cruise flying real fighter jets on missions to blow up nuclear sites didn’t entirely solve the problems of the real world, but for a magical two-and-a-bit hours, all of it was pushed aside by a cavalcade of entertainment, filled with heart-pumping action, light-hearted comic relief, tender romance, fist-pumping comradery, and even some heavy moments of bittersweetness. It was, to put simply, the film that we all needed in 2022, and is a slam-dunk choice for the top of this year’s list partly because of it.
Joseph Kosinski’s film also happened to be pretty great anyway, regardless of when it came out. Held together by a straightforward plot with exposition and character set-up that was easy to understand, alongside characters both old and new who each came into their own as individual people you could cheer for or against, and of course some of the most enthralling set-pieces of any blockbuster within the last decade, this was the rare decades-later legacy sequel that didn’t necessarily require in-depth knowledge of Tony Scott’s original to know what was going on. Kosinski, with cinematographer Claudio Miranda on hand to help deliver some of the absolutely stunning aerial imagery, honoured the late director’s visual style with a modernised, but still sunset-drenched atmosphere where you could practically feel the sweat and testosterone of our central characters, and brought the exploits of ace pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell to a whole new level that allowed audiences to connect with the iconic character in ways they weren’t able to previously.
A lot of that comes down to Cruise himself, who here brings out the best of himself in all of the right areas. Here, he’s not just big-time daredevil movie star Tom Cruise, performing all these death-defying stunts without the aid of CGI or body doubles, but he’s also the genuinely great dramatic actor Tom Cruise as well, bringing his action movie persona a level of humanity as he faces genuine uncertainty over his future in addition to being at risk of falling prey to the rapidly changing environment around him. This was a movie star performance that had it all: charm, charisma, empathy, passion, and above all else sincerity, which Cruise often does put into a lot of his performances anyway, but here it feels extra special as he brings forth new sides to one of his most famous characters. In scenes opposite a now-voiceless Val Kilmer, he shows real emotion that reminds you how great an actor he can be, while showing he still has a natural smoothness opposite romantic leads like Jennifer Connolly, and of course he puts his all into performing some mind-blowing stunt work that makes it hard to believe that he has yet to have been awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar for all of his hard work both on and off the camera to deliver that magical feeling one gets at the movies.
It’s a movie that you can just keep coming back to over and over again, and you’ll never get bored of seeing all these incredible filmmaking and storytelling techniques to create such a crowd-pleasing joy that truly set the box office alight, gained instant acclaim from everyone who went to buy a ticket, and even now is being touted as a serious contender for a lot of awards this upcoming Oscar season. Could this be the first true blockbuster to take home the Best Picture trophy in years, or even decades? Going by the way that it’s already being treated as a modern classic, not to mention of the best blockbusters and indeed films of the last decade, it’s certainly shaping up to be a genuine possibility.
For now, though, it can rest easy knowing that it has won the top spot on our annual list of films that have, as ever, reminded us all about the power of film that will shine bright for years upon years to come…
Tomorrow, we begin our ten-year anniversary with a special look at the biggest films coming our way in 2023, as well as some exciting news about our own future…
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