- Matthew Yglesias shares his ten favorite movies of 2022, plus a late-breaking favorite from 2021.
- He wanted to highlight the range of movies that came out this year, from arty films to blockbusters.
- He notes that many established directors are shying away from stories set in the present day.
- His favorite movie of 2021 is “I’m the Worst Person in the World”, a movie about a contemporary college-educated resident of a city in a rich country.
- His top movie of 2022 is “Tár”, a poster child for the death of cinema argument.
- His second favorite movie of 2022 is “Top Gun: Maverick”, a triumphant return of the non-MCU blockbuster.
- His third favorite movie of 2022 is “The Stars at Noon”, a plot-lite, vibes-heavy look at white people moonlighting in the developing world.
- His fourth favorite movie of 2022 is “She Said”, an adaptation of Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book about their reporting on Harvey Weinstein.
- He praises the movie for front-loading professional women’s outrage at Trump’s impunity.
- Steven Soderbergh’s Kimi is a great little paranoid thriller that taps into the psychological and sociological factors that shaped reactions to the Covid pandemic.
- Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey is a great example of how freshening up story templates with a more diverse set of heroes can be successful.
- Thor: Love & Thunder is a satire of MCU films occurring inside the MCU itself.
- Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is a bracingly ahistorical biopic that is faithful to itself.
- Avatar 2: The Way of Water is an extremely idiosyncratic project that cost $1 billion and is the most genuinely immersive moviegoing experience.
- Not Okay is a streaming-original black comedy that addresses contemporary reality and the ethical ambiguities of our modern world.
Click HERE for original. Published December 29, 2022
