best new movie in 2022

The 50 best films of 2022 in the UK

The No 1 film is a stunning directorial debut, one of the finest cinematic moments of any year – see which other movies you may have missed

• Read the US Top 50 movies of 2022
• More of the best culture of 2022

This list is compiled by the Guardian film team, with all films released in the UK during 2022 in contention. Check in every weekday to see our next picks, and please share your own favourite films of 2022 in the comments below.

Compartment No 6

Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen directs this answer to Before Sunrise, about an archaeology student who shares a train compartment with a boorish Russian; the pair connect despite their differences. Read the full review

• Top Gun: Maverick

Tom Cruise returns almost four decades on for another bout of speed and need: this time he is the mentor to a new generation of navy fighter pilots, led by Miles Teller, playing the son of Maverick’s late wingman, Goose. Read the full review

Paris, 13th District

The latest film from Rust and Bone director Jacques Audiard, here putting together a short story collection of sexual encounters and relationships in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, shot in tough black-and-white. Read the full review

Golden Lion-winning abortion drama, more relevant than ever, from director Audrey Diwan; a study of a woman (played by Anamaria Vartolomei) who becomes pregnant in early-60s, pre-legalisation France. Read the full review

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Entertaining second dose of Rian Johnson’s labyrinthine crime mystery, with Daniel Craig on good form as Hercule Poirot-esque detective Benoit Blanc, here investigating a murder-themed party that turns deadly. Read the full review

Split-screen dementia drama from Argentine provocateur Gaspar Noé, starring Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun as an elderly couple whose lives are dogged by the latter’s cognitive decline. Read the full review

The Woman King

Stirring period epic starring Viola Davis as the leader of the Agojie, a brigade of female warriors in west Africa who are attempting to see off threats from the Oyo empire as well as from slave-buying colonialists. Read the full review

Brian and Charles

David Earl and Chris Hayward’s story of an inventor’s relationship with his creation blends Caractacus Potts with Victor Frankenstein to heartwarming effect. Read the full review

French-Senegalese film-maker Alice Diop offers a sensitive portrayal of the disparate communities that live along one of Paris’s commuter rail lines, in a documentary predating her acclaimed fiction feature debut, Saint Omer. Read the full review

Everything Went Fine

André Dussollier and Sophie Marceau are outstanding in François Ozon’s wonderfully observed story about a father and daughter whose tricky relationship is upended when he asks for her help to die. Read the full review

Benediction

Terence Davies’s account of the life of Siegfried Sassoon (played by Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi in younger/older versions), tracing his career from lionised war poet to unhappy later life. Read the full review

Prayers for the Stolen

A heart-rending study of the traumatising life experience of a Mexican woman trying to ensure her daughter escapes the attentions of rapists and narcos who can apparently operate with impunity. Read the full review

Mysterious fable from Italian director Laura Samani, about a woman desperate to revive her stillborn baby who heads off on a quest to find the church that may be able to accomplish it. Read the full review

Great Freedom

Intriguing German drama about a former concentration camp inmate imprisoned after the war for gay sex acts, and who develops a complex relationship with his straight cellmate. Read the full review

Social-comment body horror from debut feature director Ruth Paxton, with Sienna Guillory as the apparently perfect single mother with two daughters, one of whom develops a mysterious eating disorder. Read the full review

All Quiet on the Western Front

Anti-war nightmare of bloodshed and chaos where teenage boys quickly find themselves caught up in the ordeal of trench warfare, in a German-language adaptation of the first world war novel. Read the full review

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s quiet fable, about a woman torn between social proprieties and respecting her daughter’s decision to get an abortion. Read the full review

All That Breathes

Two Indian brothers dedicate themselves to rescuing birds that are being poisoned by pollution in this complex and quietly beautiful film. Read the full review

Vicky Krieps puts in a star turn as lonely, patronised Elizabeth of Austria in Marie Kreutzer’s austere drama that functions as a cry of anger from the pedestal-prison of an empress. Read the full review

Crimes of the Future

As he did with 90s hit Crash, David Cronenberg’s horror sensation creates a bizarre new society of sicko sybarites where pain is the ultimate pleasure and “surgery is the new sex”. Read the full review

The Worst Person in the World

Thelma director Joachim Trier comes up with an unexpectedly moving drama about a twentysomething woman (played by Renate Reinsve in a star-making performance) as she navigates relationships and jobs at a tricky period in life. Read the full review

The Souvenir Part II

Second half of Joanna Hogg’s autobiographical drama, with Honor Swinton Byrne as film student Julie as she abandons her social issue documentary in favour of making her own autobiographical memoir. Read the full review

American Honey director Andrea Arnold’s meaty slice of bovine socio-realism, detailing the life of dairy cows with unflinching and empathic precision. Read the full review

Complex metafiction of fear in which now-jailed director Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself, forced to shoot his new film in a town near the border with Turkey. Read the full review

White Noise

Don DeLillo’s novel of campus larks and eco dread gets an elegant, droll film treatment from Noah Baumbach, starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig. Read the full review

The Gravedigger’s Wife

Gentle, funny drama of a man seeking money for his spouse’s operation and his sick spouse from Somali-born director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed. Read the full review

Fire of Love

Romantic portrait of passionate, doomed volcanologists embraces the mythology around Maurice and Katia Krafft, the scientists who died in the 1991 Mount Unzen disaster. Read the full review

Powerful documentary on the legacy of slavery showing how an illegal slave ship led to the creation of an Alabama community of inherited trauma but also defiance. Read the full review

Deeply disturbing drama about mass killer Martin Bryant which shies away from depicting the Port Arthur massacre itself – but outstanding performances mean it is still a highly unsettling story. Read the full review

The Innocents

Creepy-kid horror from Norwegian director Eskil Vogt (co-writer of The Worst Person in the World ), about two young sisters who make friends with other children who apparently possess supernatural powers. Read the full review

The Northman

Brutal Viking saga based on the same legend as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with Alexander Skarsgård as the chieftain’s son out for vengeance on the man who murdered his father and took his throne. Read the full review

Official Competition

Penélope Cruz is on fire in delicious movie industry satire in which she plays an eccentric director using unorthodox techniques to manage lead actors – and polar opposites – Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez. Read the full review

Exquisitely sad drama starring Bill Nighy in a Kazuo Ishiguro-scripted remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru about a man dealing with a terminal diagnosis. Read the full review

You Won’t Be Alone

Spellbinding horror movie from director Goran Stolevski, a witch story that follows a shapeshifter in a 19th-century village. Read the full review

Jason Isaacs and Ann Dowd are among the cast of a drama about the “healing” meeting between the parents of a high-school shooting victim, and the parents of the perpetrator. Read the full review

Bones and All

Teen cannibal romance with Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, who dazzle in Luca Guadagnino’s blood-soaked parable of poverty and rebellion. Read the full review

Seven-year-old Maya Vanderbeque is brilliant in this Belgian schoolyard drama, as a girl called Nora who tries to confront classroom bullies in this short, intense film. Read the full review

The Banshees of Inisherin

Guinness-black comedy of male pain in which Martin McDonagh reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in remotest Ireland for an oddball study of isolation and hurt. Read the full review

Moonage Daydream

Glorious, shapeshifting eulogy to David Bowie from director Brett Morgen, whose intimate montage of the uniquely influential artist celebrates his career, creativity and unfailing charm. Read the full review

Funny Pages

Deliciously dark coming-of-age comedy from Owen Kline, that fuses teen innocence with adult sexuality in a bad-taste debut film that recalls American Splendor and Crumb. Read the full review

Decision to Leave

South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s sensational black-widow noir romance, starring Tang Wei, keeps the viewer off-balance at every turn. Read the full review

Tilda Swinton joins forces with Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul for an English-language, Colombia-set fable about a woman who can hear sounds that others don’t appear to. Read the full review

Haunting adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s story of divine possession, with Florence Pugh as a nurse who is sent to a rural Irish village to investigate a young girl who appears to be perfectly healthy despite not having eaten for months. Read the full review

Multilingual, pan-Indian, historical-action-romance blockbuster set in the 1920s, following a pair of real-life revolutionaries as they take on the might of the British Raj. Read the full review

Hit the Road

Beautifully composed debut feature from Panah Panahi, the son of jailed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi, this tense family drama is drenched in a subtle but urgent political meaning. Read the full review

Licorice Pizza

70s-set romance from Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Cooper Hoffman as a former child actor who sets his sights on 10-years-older Alana Haim as he gets into the waterbed business. Read more

Distinctive fusion of documentary and animation from Danish film-maker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, outlining the journey and heartache of a gay Afghan man living in Copenhagen, having left his home country as a 10-year-old. Read more

Parallel Mothers

Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar collaborate once again to tremendous effect; this time Cruz plays a woman sharing the same maternity ward as a much younger, troubled mother to be (played by Milena Smit ). Read more

The Quiet Girl

Deeply moving tale of rural Ireland in which a silent child is sent away to live with foster parents on a farm, in a gem of a film from first-time feature director Colm Bairéad. Read more

Father-daughter bonding drama starring Paul Mescal and nine-year-old Francesca Corio, attempting to navigate post-divorce family life in a Turkish beach resort. A brilliant debut feature from Charlotte Wells. Read the full review

• Best films UK 2022
• Drama films
• Documentary films
• Action and adventure films
• Jacques Audiard
• Rian Johnson

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The Best Reviewed Movies of 2022

The year's 90 highest-rated movies at ign..

2022 was a solid year for moviegoers, as IGN has awarded 90 movies a review score of 8 or higher. Fans of nearly every genre have had reason to celebrate this year's film lineup, which has included the long-awaited Avatar sequel, an excellent animated feature from Pixar, one of the best-ever One Piece features, Steven Spielberg's autobiographical Fabelmans, Jordan Peele's Nope, the first proper Jackass movie in over a decade, a career performance from Brandon Fraser in The Whale, a new iteration of DC's iconic hero in The Batman, and so much more.

To keep track of the year's best new releases, we compiled a list of every movie released in 2022 that IGN scored an 8 ("great"), 9 ("amazing"), or 10 ("masterpiece"). Read on or click through the gallery below for our full list of 2022's best-reviewed movies.

Best Reviewed Movies of 2022

Review Score: 8 ("Great")

Anything's possible.

From our review : Anything’s Possible is a fun, frothy teen rom com that features a trans character front and center. Director Billy Porter brings his boundless energy and exuberance to every frame, which makes the romance between Kelsa and Khal so beguiling and inspiring to watch. By giving audiences an opportunity to celebrate their young love, and empathize with the concerns and worries associated around them, it moves us one step closer to wiping away the stigmas that exist. – Tara Bennett

Avatar: The Way of Water

From our review : Avatar: The Way of Water is a thoughtful, sumptuous return to Pandora, one which fleshes out both the mythology established in the first film and the Sully family’s place therein. It may not be the best sequel James Cameron has ever made (which is a very high bar), but it’s easily the clearest improvement on the film that preceded it. The oceans of Pandora see lightning striking in the same place twice, expanding the visual language the franchise has to work with in beautiful fashion. The simple story may leave you crying “cliché,” but as a vehicle for transporting you to another world, it’s good enough to do the job. This is nothing short of a good old-fashioned Cameron blockbuster, full of filmmaking spectacle and heart, and an easy recommendation for anyone looking to escape to another world for a three-hour adventure. – Tom Jorgensen

The Bad Guys

From our review : The Bad Guys is a slick, hilarious heist movie with buckets of laughs and a lot of heart. It’s Ocean’s Eleven meets Little Red Riding Hood with Sam Rockwell’s Wolf going on a charm offensive to stay out of jail… and he might just win you over in the process. Richard Ayoade has a blast as the sanctimonious Professor Marmalade and the entire voice cast brings their A-game with some stellar gags that will get you roaring with laughter. The Bad Guys is a fun, family-friendly caper that’s bursting with action and brimming with laughs. Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not us. – Ryan Leston

The Banshees of Inisherin

From our review : Colin Farrell plumbs emotional and comedic depths in Martin McDonagh’s witty and wistful period drama, with Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan on solid supporting duty. Set against the stunning vistas of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin tells an effective and corrosive tale of friendship. – Hanna Ines Flint

From our review : Barbarian is barbaric, comedically brutal, and the antithesis of contemporary horror trends. Some will despise exactly that, but it’s the risk of challenging viewers to reach or surpass their boundaries in one sitting. Zach Cregger embraces extremism in horror cinema that is a sensory overload of hyper frights, grindhouse lawlessness, and the ugliest characterization of society this side of 2022. It's not always sublimely successful and doesn't waste time on subtlety in a way that's a bit too much, but as a horror fan, my chin had to be peeled from the floor multiple times. Fire this one with a crowd and howl the night away — Barbarian comes out swinging and never stops. – Matt Donato

Bodies Bodies Bodies

From our review : Bodies Bodies Bodies’ great ensemble and delightfully chaotic script make for a tense and laugh-out-loud funny film. Though it falters a bit in portraying Gen Z talk, it still manages to capture the wild energy of the very best Among Us sessions. – Rafael Motamayor

Bones and All

From our review : A lush, richly conceived cannibal road-trip romance, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All lives in the intimate space between love and self-hatred, with characters who connect over their shared hunger for human flesh. Everything from its performances to its music feels fine-tuned to tell a story about reaching out through the void, no matter what reaches or bites back. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : Clerks III delivers all the inappropriate cuss-cluttered humor and pot smoke that is Kevin Smith's trademark but evolves his sentimentality beyond bong-rip wisdom. The third Clerks installment is a moving ode to working-class nobodies that amplifies Smith's touchstone sincerity above Randal's not-so-passive aggression or Jay's lit-for-days attitude. Smith might be the most in touch he's ever felt as a filmmaker, and it's a semi-departure that presents Clerks III as a precursor for what's still to come from the rebooted writer/director. Whatever my quibbles are with the film's length and less successful humor when being just another Clerks sequel are a critic's nitpicks — a critic who still felt satisfied by Clerks III in 36 more ways than presumed possible. – Matt Donato

Confess, Fletch

From our review : Confess, Fletch is a clever soft-baked cookie of a mystery, never getting too intense or presenting massive stakes, which is the perfect sandbox for a wise-cracking investigator like Fletch to play around in as he relies on a mix of charm, smarts, and luck to make it through to the other side. Jon Hamm is pitch-perfect as Fletch, a kittenish case-cracker designed to make you almost feel angry that you like him. – Matt Fowler

From our review : Devotion’s a respectful introduction to heroes the world should know and celebrate. Between J.D. Dillard’s thoughtful direction, the shocking clarity of Erik Messerschmidt’s cinematography, a rousing soundscape, and the tight editing, it’s a riveting drama ready to give even the best aerial war story a run for its money. – Ro Moore

From our review : Dual is a bleakly funny sci-fi story that puts a dying woman, Sara (Karen Gillan), on a collision course with her cloned replacement. Writer-director Riley Stearns transforms depression and disappointment into a hilarious confrontation of death and a peculiar tale of self-image in an uncanny film with a precisely bizarre lead performance. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : The Duke is a searingly funny, quintessentially British comedy with some truly joyous performances from Jim Broadbent and Dame Helen Mirren. The laughs are undercut with themes of social justice and progressive thinking, turning this almost-heist flick into more of a social satire. The Duke pokes fun at the establishment with a Robin Hood lead who might make you think twice about the TV licence fee. – Ryan Leston

From our review : Emergency is a generational stunner when it takes its stances. Stars Donald Elise Watkins, RJ Cyler, and Sebastian Chacon are authentic in their imperfect navigation of an absurd scenario, as the addition of cultural stakes obliterates buddy-comedy molds. KD Davila doesn’t lessen his script’s underlying protest, much like how director Carey Williams won’t sugarcoat climatic moments that intend to make our stomachs drop. Emergency grapples with multiple genres and wrestles its prevailing themes into a place of passionate pleas for better tomorrows, all unified by its final few minutes. The point of a gun, a puff of vape smoke, and the slam of a door in the face of white guilt is all it takes. It walks a tightrope with its topics, but Williams is delicate and confident with every step — his performers following close behind, dominating the screen. – Matt Donato

From our review : Fresh delivers a full-course meal with dazzling cinematography, disturbing imagery, and one of the best horror performances of the past few years. Sebastian Stan joins the pantheon of horror psychopaths as this delightfully gory movie explores the world of modern dating. – Rafael Motamayor

The Best Movies of 2021

Funny Pages

From our review : Owen Kline establishes himself as heir to the Safdie brothers' brand of stressful underworld cinema with Funny Pages. While this story of an arrogant aspiring comic book artist will be entirely off putting to some, it’s that very cringeworthy energy that makes it well worth your time, reveling in an often cruel teenager’s misguided flailing in brutal fashion. – Esther Zuckerman

The Good Nurse

From our review : The Good Nurse shines a light on the inherent darkness of a for-profit healthcare system while exploring the even darker recesses that allow a serial killer to thrive. Based on a true story, it’s a terrifying examination of systemic failures, not to mention a wild cover-up from self-interested hospitals. A creeping soundtrack and long, lingering zooms heighten the tension while Eddie Redmayne puts in a disturbingly believable performance as Charlie Cullen. Jessica Chastain casts a tense shadow as Nurse Amy, who grows more anxious with every scene. The Good Nurse is a wild combination of exposé and serial killer drama that cuts a stark storyline through the grim landscape of U.S. healthcare. After all, who can you trust with your life? – Ryan Leston

From our review : Hellraiser is a soulful revival of a soulless horror legend that never tries to oust Clive Barker's original. Director David Bruckner — alongside writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski — examines Hellraiser's themes with spectacle styles through addition. Jamie Clayton is the Pinhead a new generation deserves, awash in Bruckner's colder cinematography that stashes redder lighting to signify humanity is where true monsters reside. Hellraiser might be comparatively less grotesque, but a heady calibration of "pain or pleasure" storytelling brings Hellraiser 2022 screaming with glee into a reinvigorated ready-to-franchise configuration. It's cleverly calculated by saving gore for maximum impact and valuing the psychological edginess inherent in Cenobite storytelling, never getting lost in gooier intentions just for masochistic midnighter distractions. There are developments that feel slighter and less explored even at almost two hours, but that doesn’t stop Bruckner from delivering one of the best Hellraiser films since the original. – Matt Donato

The Innocents

From our review : The Innocents is a slow-burner that stars a majority small-fry cast and yet is far more poised and impactful than those descriptions suggest. Eskil Vogt commands a superhuman story that exposes the wild extremes of childhood experiences and throws in some unsupervised horror for good measure. Audiences of all ages can learn from knee-high characters discovering themselves, recognizing consequences, and standing up for what's right. The pace of this gorgeously shot Norwegian pseudo-fable will be a roadblock for some, but give Vogt a chance. Storytelling rewards are bountiful once The Innocents executes its conflicts well above the expected maturities of players on screen. – Matt Donato

From our review : Steven Soderbergh’s KIMI follows an agoraphobic tech worker forced to venture outside when she finds digital traces of a violent crime. With a simple but effective script and some fun visual experiments, it's an entertaining conspiracy thriller set in (and very much about) the post-pandemic world. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : Lou is a tight, gripping thriller that opens up a whole new genre for the ever-fabulous Allison Janney. Working off a smart script from Maggie Cohn and Jack Stanley, director Anna Foerster proves her skills as an action/thriller director. Janney, Jurnee Smollett, and Ridley Asha Bateman make a winning trifecta who sell the realistic physical and emotional aspects of the script without resorting to melodrama. They’ll have you rooting for them and perhaps wishing for more. – Tara Bennett

Lucy and Desi

From our review : A worthwhile documentary debut from Amy Poehler, Lucy and Desi chronicles the I Love Lucy couple from birth to death, while trying to mirror their personal lives with the stories they told on screen. It may not always succeed, but it arrives with an energy worthy of the TV comedy legends. – Siddhant Adlakha

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

From our review : Marcel the Shell With Shoes On suffers from an aimless plot that feels stretched too thin, but it provides one of the most endearing and adorable animated characters since Paddington Bear. It delivers enough heart, laughs, and innocence to forgive its shortcomings. – Rafael Motamayor

From our review : Director Mariama Diallo explores the creeping horrors of America’s past in Master, her New England-set feature debut about three Black women navigating a mostly white college built atop a Salem-era gallows. With a layered performance by Regina Hall as the university’s first Black dean of students, the film plays with familiar tropes and images from American horror, but re-fashions them into an unexpected, subdued story with a chilling emotional payoff. – Siddhant Adlakha

Master Gardner

From our review : Master Gardener rounds off Paul Schrader’s informal trilogy about tortured men reckoning with the past, present, and future, and may be his most accomplished film in years. Joel Edgerton plays a horticulturist with a dark history who mentors the mixed-race grand niece of his stern benefactor, leading to a domino effect of violence, mercy, and unearthed secrets. – Siddhant Adlakha

Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special

From our review : Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special — a one room, one take stand-up routine recorded before Macdonald’s death — captures what made him so uniquely and absurdly funny. It’s also followed by a fitting eulogy from six of his comedian friends, who share stories about him and try to unlock the person he was. – Siddhant Adlakha

The Northman

From our review : Robert Eggers’ viking revenge saga The Northman works best when it dives head-first into dreams and disorienting visions, but it slows down when it becomes a more traditional Hollywood narrative. With viciousness relegated to its margins, it often feels neutered and bloodless, but still ends up on the right side of entertaining thanks to its pulsating music and measured performances. – Siddhant Adlakha

Official Competition

From our review : Official Competition is a sharp black comedy that skewers grandiose wealth, egocentric artists, and how quickly art is swallowed by money and celebrity. Writer/directors Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn distill the worst cliches of narcissists and place them into four characters who torture one another because they get the funding to do so. Penélope Cruz is witty and beguiling in her curly red wig, trying to break two prestigious actors of their narcissism so they can make some art together. Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martínez continue to prove how versatile they are as actors, shifting from comedy to drama on a dime and making it all work seamlessly. And if peeling back the curtain on filmmaking is a genre of interest, this would make a fine viewing pairing with HBO's Irma Vep. – Tara Bennett

On the Count of Three

From our review : A buddy comedy about a suicide pact, On The Count of Three follows Val (actor-director Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) on their final day alive, when the rules of tomorrow no longer apply to them. Thoughtfully conceived and brilliantly acted, it’s one of the most bleakly funny films to come out this year. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey never lets up. It’s full of the Predator franchise’s trademark violence and tension, but it’s the ferocious, star-making turn from Amber Midthunder that stands as its greatest strength. The movie’s sole focus on her lead character, Naru, means that the supporting roster comes off a little wooden, but when Prey’s tracking the young warrior’s duel with the Predator -- full of powerful imagery and creative kills -- it rarely falters. – Tom Jorgensen

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

From our review : Not only does Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie function as a superb entry point for new fans, but it also commits to tonal and stylistic makeovers that elevate the franchise in unexpected ways. Not all of its emotional beats will stick beyond the credits, but it’s still fun to see just how much the Turtles have to grow in order to become the crime-fighting unit we adore. – Hayden Mears

From our review : Rosaline is charming, energetic, and gives Kaitlyn Dever another opportunity to shine. She proves to be just as adept at comedy as she is in the array of dramas she usually takes on. The script is an inventive romp through Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, giving the tragedy a lighter touch and a slight skewering regarding its approach to portraying acts of true love. – Tara Bennett

The School for Good and Evil

From our review : The School for Good and Evil goes full blockbuster scale in telling the stories of small-town besties – and potential witches – Agatha (Sofia Wylie) and Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso). It’s their friendship and care for one another that roots the sometimes over-the-top world into succeeding as a story that still feels intimate and true when all kinds of crazy is swirling around them. In particular, Wylie is the beating heart of the movie who sells both the unfiltered candor of Agatha’s disdain for the shallow motivations of the “Ever” students and her heart-on-her-sleeve support for her tempted friend, Sophie. Director Paul Feig also does an impressive job world-building a story that manages to differentiate itself aesthetically and tonally from other high-end, magic-centric movies and TV series. – Tara Bennett

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

From our review : Netflix’s Scrooge: A Christmas Carol was bound to be somewhat decent considering its timeless foundation. Its premise, slight deviations aside, is as worn as Tiny Tim’s shoes at this point. Thankfully, it does manage to stand out in the smallest, but still impactful, of ways. The animation is vibrant, with a bright color palette that nicely contrasts the tonally dark story, and the cast does a splendid job of portraying the film’s assorted characters. Scrooge won’t win over those who’ve grown tired of this tale, but it’s still more than enough to get folks in the holiday spirit. – Kenneth Seward Jr.

Shin Ultraman

From our review : Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno's Shin Ultraman manages to do for the tokusatsu superhero what the duo did for Godzilla, updating the classic character to modern times with a new origin and outlook while preserving the sensibilities and uplifting themes of the original show. It’s a joyful, uplifting ode to tokusatsu and to superhero tales, and well worth a watch no matter your level of familiarity with the character. – Rafael Motamayor

From our review : Showing Up tells the muted story of an artist suffocating beneath feelings of inferiority as she struggles to carve out a place amid her artistic community. The weight of expectation bears a staggering toll on Michelle Williams’ Lizzie as she prepares to make her mark, all while juggling the responsibilities others place upon her. Director Kelly Reichardt paints a subtle picture with fine strokes, painting in the details as we learn more about Lizzie’s history with those around her. It’s a beautiful portrait created by a master at work, with lingering shots that highlight the internal struggles of the starving artist while exposing the thoughtlessness of those around her. Showing Up takes a unique look behind the canvas, laying the artist bare. – Ryan Leston

Significant Other

From our review : Significant Other is a tight and well-constructed thriller that offers some genuine surprises and showcases the talents of Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy. A character study that takes some interesting story swings, it makes you wish more films of a similar ilk would take the same care and precision in finding fresh ways to mesh the intimate with high-concept ideas. – Tara Bennett

Something in the Dirt

From our review : Something in the Dirt is another genre-bending winner for filmmaking duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, a highly entertaining and mind-melting sci-fi film about two neighbors encountering mysteries much larger than themselves and getting trapped by their own obsession with truth and fame. Before they likely explode in popularity from their involvement in Marvel's Moon Knight series, this film encapsulates what makes them some of the most unique and important voices in genre filmmaking today. – Rafael Motamayor

Speak No Evil

From our review : Speak No Evil isn't for the faint of morality and weak constitution. Its message is simple — our world is full of monsters. Christian Tafdrup doesn't coddle his audience, nor does the film pad its landing. Speak No Evil hits with the impact of leaping off the Empire State Building and greeting 34th Street at full force, with the aftermath to match. Patience is rewarded by knock-down, soulless-nasty payoffs that cast an exquisitely malevolent cloud over humankind, which will lose some viewers — it's excessively backloaded, one of my only criticisms. But it's also proficient and tactical in its momentum buildup, meticulous in its naive stroll-about pace, which viciously sells an epic heel turn that will make you want to cancel plans for the next 24 hours of recovery. – Matt Donato

Thirteen Lives

From our review : Much like he did with Apollo 13, Ron Howard takes an outsized moment in history, the 2018 Thai soccer team rescue, and reshapes it into an intimate event that allows the audience to experience the intensity and stakes of the ordeal. Utilizing his recent skills in documentary-making, Howard highlights the timeline of the flooding, and subsequent rescue attempts, to create a subtle but effective ticking clock undertone that heightens the stakes and gives us a visceral sense of how overwhelming the endeavor was. As cameras follow the divers from the water-line into the impossibly cramped spaces they had to navigate, it makes for some unbearably intense cinematography that captures the claustrophobia needed to put viewers in the fins of everyone involved. The grounded and understated performances of the Thai and western actors, meanwhile, ensure that the story doesn’t veer into bombastic territory. – Tara Bennett

From our review : With a stunningly raw performance from Danielle Deadwyler, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till lives in the body of a traditional biopic — about Mamie Till-Mobley in the aftermath of her son Emmett’s lynching — but it turns real events into regretful, wistful memories, with a camera that refuses to look away from a mother’s pain. – Siddhant Adlakha

Triangle of Sadness

From our review : Triangle of Sadness pokes fun at the ultra-rich, playing their undoing for laughs in the worst of situations. It’s a masterclass in cringe comedy with Harris Dickinson playing it straight throughout as he finds himself in appallingly toe-curling situations. A spectacular turn from Woody Harrelson amps the laughs up even more, and while toilet humor literally erupts in the second half, it’s the performances of the film’s stellar cast that keep this ship on course. The script could’ve been tighter, but Triangle of Sadness keeps the laughs coming thick and fast, even well into the home stretch. Who knew class politics could be this much fun? – Ryan Leston

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

From our review : It probably goes without saying that Nicolas Cage obsessives will get precisely what they’re looking for out of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’s meta-exploration of the actor’s persona, but the real heart and soul of the picture is Cage’s on-screen bromance with Pedro Pascal’s Javi. Their chemistry carries the movie into far more memorable territory, and more than makes up for a few of the film’s less-interesting elements. – Alex Navarro

From our review : War Pony tells a surprisingly personal story of two young men trapped by their circumstances. Challenging perceptions of life on the poorest Native American reservation, the film highlights the struggles they face while desperately trying to grasp at a better life. Jojo Bapteise Whiting and Ladainian Crazy Thunder play two sides of the same coin and could easily be the same boy seen at different periods in his life. But their similarities, it seems, are a product of their environment. It’s up to them to change it. An effective debut feature from director Riley Keough, War Pony is a rare breed – a native story told by an outsider seeking to uplift the community rather than exploit it. – Ryan Leston

Wendell & Wild

From our review : Henry Selick returns to our screens with Wendell & Wild, a new stop-motion nightmare that brings an edgier and darker tone, more mature subjects, and even more laughs to the director's toolbox. Partnering with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, this is a feast for the eyes; a hilarious, spooky, empowering story; and a movie you'll want to add to your Halloween rotation. – Rafael Motamayor

We're All Going to the World's Fair

From our review : A technological horror drama with lingering transgender subtext, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair follows an online role-playing challenge connected to an urban legend. With a stunning debut performance from Anna Cobb, as a teenager in search of connection, the result is a moody, meditative film about loneliness in the digital age. – Siddhant Adlakha

When the Screaming Starts

From our review : When the Screaming Starts is a clever, cleaver-waving mockumentary that deals in the price of infinite recognition paid in flesh. Commentary behind Aidan's ambitions, Amy's gratifications, and Norman's obsession skewer why all these people would rather be known forever as malevolent bastards than live average, upstanding lives. Conor Boru might have directed When the Screaming Starts as a razor-sharp horror comedy, but it's effectively a morbid tragedy about the state of contemporary media. "Serial killers don't get forgotten — no one remembers the victims." A pointed screenplay and stellar ensemble of slashers slice-and-dice their way through true-crime obsessions that hold the audience accountable for what they're watching, presenting one of the year's surprise horror favorites like a body bag with a bow on top. – Matt Donato

When You Finish Saving the World

From our review : When You Finish Saving the World sees debuting director Jesse Eisenberg ironing out his visual wrinkles, as he spins an awkwardly funny, emotionally intricate tale about a disconnected mother and son. Led by moving performances from Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard, the film takes a roundabout approach to its drama, resulting in a realistic portrait of a relationship in stasis. – Siddhant Adlakha

The Woman King

From our review : The Woman King overcomes the perils of its overstuffed script with a collection of performances that elevate the whole. As expected, Viola Davis is the emotional center of the piece, masterfully fine-tuning her performance to go from fierce to vulnerable as needed. More surprising is breakout star Thuso Mbedu as the Agojie’s new recruit, Nawi. She drives the majority of the story and lands everything the movie asks of her and then some. What results is a crowd-pleasing movie featuring an inspiring array of female heroes who, even in 1823, are more than capable of saving themselves, and do it quite thrillingly. – Tara Bennett

Women Talking

From our review : A harrowing tale rooted in real events, Women Talking takes a stage-like approach to its debate between victimized women in a commune, but imbues it with cinematic flourishes. It’s also one of the rare ensemble movies where every single performance makes it worth watching. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : While its gnarly payoffs eventually peter out, X is filled with fun and intense setups that harken back to classic slasher fare. A story of a doomed porn crew shooting in the middle of nowhere, it has the makings of a traditional splatter-fest, but injects its story with an unexpected sympathy for its cleverly conceived villains. – Siddhant Adlakha

You Won't Be Alone

From our review : You Won’t Be Alone forges a melancholy coming-of-age nightmare that touches on all aspects of humanity. Elements of body horror and traditional folk horror carve a bizarre niche, while star Sara Klimoska traverses this strange new world with wide-eyed naivete. A stirring performance by Anamaria Marinca elevates a role that could exist within classic horror tropes to that of a Shakespearean tragedy. Less of a straight-up horror movie and more creeping dread, You Won’t Be Alone explores the spectrum of human emotion with an otherworldly curiosity. Perhaps it takes someone on the fringes of society to find out what it really means to be human. – Ryan Leston

Worst Reviewed Movies of 2022

Review Score: 9 ("Amazing")

The adam project.

From our review : The Adam Project is a thoughtful, witty mash-up of all the movies from my childhood. It’s Back to the Future meets The Last Starfighter with a slew of wonderful performances from a cast that clearly loves the concept as much as I do. Ryan Reynolds is on top form as Adam, while Walker Scobell matches him punch for punch with a great debut performance. The Adam Project is a love letter to the family sci-fi flicks of the ‘70s and ‘80s, packed full of Amblin-like charm. – Ryan Leston

From our review : A tale of love and death told through an android’s vivid memories, After Yang is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching sci-fi mystery about an aloof couple (Colin Farrell and Jodie-Turner Smith) discovering the secret life and hidden emotions of their artificial son (Justin H. Min). With melancholy performances and an eye for natural beauty, Kogonada’s second feature film draws from masters of the past to create a glowing and moving future. – Siddhant Adlakha

All Quiet on the Western Front

From our review : All Quiet on the Western Front is just as bleak as you might imagine, with an unflinching examination of the horrors of war. It’s a brutal, exhausting, and raw reminder of the evil humanity is capable of inflicting upon each other, and it couldn’t be more timely. Felix Kammerer stuns as Paul Bäumer with stand-out performances from Albrecht Schuch and Edin Hasanovic. The attention to detail is phenomenal, with director Edward Berger retelling this classic story in a new and interesting way. All Quiet on the Western Front is a grim, harrowing march towards an inevitable conclusion that’s held together by a minuscule thread of humanity. It’s a tough watch, but believe me, it’s worth every wince-inducing moment. – Ryan Leston

From our review : A dreamlike fictional biopic about Marilyn Monroe, Blonde features a stunning, volatile performance from Ana de Armas, whose daring vulnerability is matched by director Andrew Dominik’s equally daring formal approach, which keeps Marilyn in constant conversation with her iconic photographs, with the camera, and with the public at large. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : Bubble captivates both as commentary on the cyclical nature of existence and also a bittersweet sci-fi romance. Featuring gorgeous hand-drawn animation melded with fluid computer-generated graphics, a unique take on the beleaguered post-apocalyptic landscape, and a romance you'll want to root for right until it fizzles out, this is an anime film you'll want to add to your permanent collection right away. – Brittany Vincent

Catwoman: Hunted

From our review : Catwoman: Hunted proves Selina Kyle hardly needs Batman around to have a good time. This new DC Universe Movies release benefits from a strong, efficient script and a talented voice cast as it explores a jewel heist gone horribly wrong. But above all, it succeeds in merging DC's superhero universe with a strong anime aesthetic, resulting in a globetrotting adventure with strong echoes of Cowboy Bebop and Lupin III. That's great company to be in. – Jesse Schedeen

Cha Cha Real Smooth

From our review : "If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day." Those words by the great Jim Valvano apply to film as well. Movies like Cha Cha Real Smooth that make us laugh, think, and cry deserve special celebrations for encouraging viewers to feel less alone, filling our hearts with courage to weather life's oncoming storms. Cooper Raiff cements himself as an invaluable contemporary voice shaping American cinema's future through something so authentic and without emotional restraints. If all Raiff's stories are this vulnerable, reassuring, and spoken like a whisper in our ear during one long hug? I'll be first in line without even reading a tagline. – Matt Donato

Decision to Leave

From our review : Decision to Leave is Park Chan-wook’s unabashed ode to Hitchcock and Wong Kar-wai. Park Hae-il and Tang Wei have such potent, simmering chemistry that even when they’re just eating across from one another, they’re riveting. Portraying their shift from cat and mouse adversaries to unrequited soulmates is a journey that’s mature, surprising, and rather enthralling. – Tara Bennett

The Fabelmans

From our review : Steven Spielberg goes autobiographical with The Fabelmans, his warmest and most personal film to date. With a coming-of-age story that is universal in its portrayal of misunderstood artists and broken homes, but hyper-specific in its portrayal of the childhood that formed a legendary filmmaker, this is a therapy session turned into a hugely entertaining movie, aided by a fantastic cast, and one of John Williams' best scores in years. – Rafael Motamayor

Fire Island

From our review : Indie director Andrew Ahn creates a mainstream queer classic with the romcom Fire Island, his inventive modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Following a group of gay friends on a wild vacation, it features some of the funniest and most tension-filled scenes in any movie this year. As complete as any piece of entertainment can be. – Siddhant Adlakha

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

From our review : Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a bigger, bolder, funnier, angrier sequel that improves on almost every aspect of its predecessor. Rian Johnson plays with an air-tight script that targets the absurdity and stupidity of the one percent while delivering a hilarious murder mystery on the most luxurious private island not owned by a Bond villain. – Rafael Motamayor

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

From our review : Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a heartfelt dramedy about a middle-aged woman and the sex worker she hires and their candid conversations about life, shame, and acceptance. Director Sophie Hyde and writer Katy Brand beautifully explore aging women’s desires and needs and what it means to finally love yourself. Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack’s chemistry is intense and each give brilliant performances. – Laura Sirikul

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

From our review : The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special delivers all the Christmas cheer, sentiment, catchy musical numbers, and laugh-out-loud moments you could ask for in a quick 43 minutes. Kevin Bacon is hilarious as he plays himself in an insane situation, as is Dave Bautista’s Drax, but the real star here is Pom Klementieff as Mantis. James Gunn gives this former background character tons of layers, and Klementieff brings it all home with a charming performance. It all makes for a delightful addition to any MCU fan’s annual Christmas rotation. – Alex Stedman

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

From our review : Guillermo del Toro sprinkles his signature dark whimsy on a fairytale classic with stunning puppetry and catchy original songs. Filled with heart, humor, and historical grounding, it’s a phenomenal feat of animated cinema. – Hanna Ines Flint

From our review : The desire for justice becomes warped in A Hero, the story of a prisoner named Rahim, whose good deeds make him a micro-celebrity before his past comes back to haunt him. Told through director Asghar Farhadi’s signature brand of neo-realism, it pulsates with anxiety even in its quieter moments, thanks to the mounting realization that Rahim’s decency may not be enough to save his dignity. – Siddhant Adlakha

Hit the Road

From our review : Hit the Road is a masterful debut film for writer/director Panah Panahi. His skill at capturing this bittersweet chapter for this family so naturalistically, yet cinematically is breathtaking at times. The chemistry of the actors, who all give top-tier performances, is so potent that there isn’t a moment where you don’t believe they are an actual family, navigating this final road trip together with humor, sorrow, and vulnerability. – Tara Bennett

I Love My Dad

From our review : James Morosini’s shockingly funny I Love My Dad builds on the actor-director’s real-life tale of being catfished by his distant father. The story is told from the point of view of his dad, a character played with hilarious desperation by comedian Patton Oswalt, resulting in a bizarre act of cinematic empathy that’s as moving as it is intense. – Siddhant Adlakha

Jackass Forever

From our review : The final chapter in American comedy’s most chaotic saga, Jackass Forever is a hilarious last hurrah for its original crew. An extravagant stunt show filled with more cinematic homages (and more bodily fluids) than ever before, it takes an ill-advised trip down memory lane and raises the stakes in maniacal fashion. Few recent films have been funnier or more delightfully nostalgic. – Siddhant Adlakha

Jujutsu Kaisen 0

From our review : Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manages to work as both a standalone introduction to the anime and also a satisfying prequel to those familiar with this world. With stunning animation, complex and memorable characters, and a healthy dose of horror imagery, this is one of the best shonen anime films in a while. – Rafael Motamayor

From our review : The Menu is a hilariously wicked thriller about the world of high-end restaurants, featuring a stellar cast led by a phenomenal Ralph Fiennes, some of the most gorgeous food shots in recent film history, and accompanied by a delicious hors d'oeuvres sampling of commentary on the service industry, class warfare, and consumerism. – Rafael Motamayor

From our review : A hilariously bleak vision of the American dream, Jordan Peele’s Nope is a farcical love letter to Hollywood filmmaking. A sci-fi-horror-comedy that builds cinematic myths before casually knocking them over, it’s one of the most effective and purely entertaining summer blockbusters in years, from a studio director at the peak of his craft. – Siddhant Adlakha

Odd Taxi: In the Woods

From our review : Odd Taxi was one of the best anime of 2021, if not the past decade as a whole. In the Woods manages to make its epic, interconnected, funny, thrilling story more streamlined by focusing on its central mystery and peppering it with the character beats and hilarious banter that made the original so special. Fans of the show may not feel the need to revisit the whole story — though a new epilogue provides a satisfying closure — but newcomers may find a great gateway to both the world of Odd Taxi and anime in general. – Rafael Motamayor

One Piece Film: Red

From our review : One Piece Film: Red breaks the mold of the typical anime shonen film, capturing the magic of the series. It’s confidently a musical, too, with J-Pop star Ado providing several fantastic earworms as Uta Shanks doesn’t get as much screen time as fans may hope, but it’s still satisfying to spend more time with him. It’s not the movie that will convert non-believers into fans – it feels more like a lost episode than a cash grab for newcomers – but by heavily integrating itself with the main series and understanding the humor that makes it shine, Film: Red ranks at the top of One Piece’s features. – Just Lunning

Project Wolf Hunting

From our review : Project Wolf Hunting goes for broke in terms of exquisite beatdown violence in the pursuit of primal genre happiness. Writer/director Kim Hong-seon executes like there’s a going-out-of-business sale on fake blood, and we reap the benefits as showstopping displays of action-horror devastation take center stage. Fugitives and coppers aren't just killed; they're pummeled into oblivion until maybe half their identifiable traits remain — if lucky. Project Wolf Hunting is a cornucopia of killing-machine kookiness that keeps reminding us why South Korean horror frequently reigns supreme, and leaves us wanting more even after Boat to Busan docks for a refuel. – Matt Donato

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

From our review : Puss in Boots: The Last Wish takes not only the Shrek franchise, but DreamWorks Animation to exciting new places. This is a spaghetti western-inspired tale of an aging cowboy on one last adventure with some rather mature themes, aided by stunning animation that mixes 3D with 2D effects, and a painterly style that gives the film a unique look. – Rafael Motamayor

Resurrection

From our review : Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth deliver explosive, career-best work in Resurrection, a psychological thriller that takes shocking and upsetting turns. The film is powerful both in its quietly disturbing scenes — which toy with the perspective of a troubled mother who believes her traumatic past has returned — and in its most deranged and violent movements. – Siddhant Adlakha

From our review : The latest addition to the Scream franchise expertly blends reverence for the source material while creating something that feels almost completely new. All of the performances are pitch-perfect as the new generation of Woodsboro teens step into their futures, the kills are gnarly, and no version of toxic fandom is left unmocked. – Amelia Emberwing

The Stranger

From our review : The Stranger might just be one of my favorite films out of Cannes 2022. It’s dripping with gritty realism, cloaked in the shadows of a muted palette, and finished off with some truly inspired style choices. It’s the kind of thriller that only comes along every once in a while – truly unsettling and with enough twists and turns to not only keep you interested but on your toes. There’s plenty of great acting, too, with both Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris throwing their characters up against a wall and dissecting them with brutal efficiency. There’s a lot to love in The Stranger, and even more to wrap your head around. The reward is a rich, dark thriller that will be on your mind for some time. – Ryan Leston

From our review : Todd Field’s first feature in 16 years, TÁR is a richly detailed portrait of power and creative genius, led by Cate Blanchett’s towering performance as a world-famous composer whose private and professional life enters the public spotlight. A pressing film that feels distinctly of-the-now. – Siddhant Adlakha

Turning Red

From our review : A story of magical transformation as a metaphor for personal and cultural change, Turning Red (from Bao director Domee Shi) is Pixar’s funniest and most imaginative film in years. It captures the wild energy of adolescence, uses pop stars as a timeless window into puberty, and tells a tale of friendship and family in the most delightfully kid-friendly way. – Siddhant Adlakha

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

From our review : Weird: The Al Yankovic Story does for the music biopic what the real Weird Al did for many a hit pop song: it makes fun of it, reveres it, remixes it, makes it weirder, and improves it. With Daniel Radcliffe in the role he was born to play, Weird tells the definitive and totally true story of one of our greatest musicians and comedians while making you wish all music biopics were this funny or bizarre. – Rafael Motamayor

Werewolf By Night

From our review : Werewolf by Night is a wondrous homage to the classic Universal monster movies. It’s about as scary as those original films are to a modern audience, but that doesn’t matter – it faithfully evokes the kind of classic horror that we haven’t seen in decades. The style may be old, and the tropes may be well-worn, but the film’s Marvel twist is enough to keep it feeling relatively fresh while tapping into the nostalgia of horror film fans. Gael Garcia Bernal is excellent as Jack, and the dynamic between him and Laura Donnelly warrants further screentime. Werewolf by Night may not make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but it will keep you on the edge of your seat with a slow, creeping tone that captures the very best of classic horror. – Ryan Leston

From our review : The Whale forces us to face some uncomfortable truths, not just concerning its grotesquely proportioned protagonist, but about ourselves, too. Much of its power comes from breaking down the barrier between the audience and the film’s subject, forcing us to accept that there’s a human being beneath the fat. A powerhouse performance from Brendan Fraser explores every facet of the deeply complex man, while Sadie Sink digs deep for a quirky role that keeps you guessing. A sharp script is delivered with slow brutality by Darren Aronofsky who gets to the heart of what it means to be Charlie. The Whale isn’t just a great film – it’s an important one, too, delving into our own humanity with the dogged relentlessness of Ahab himself. – Ryan Leston

White Noise

From our review : White Noise holds up a mirror to contemporary America, forcing a self-examination that both amuses and terrifies. It may be set in the ‘80s but it’s as prescient as ever, forcing us to examine the failings of postmodern culture and face the comedy and terror inherent in our society. It may be funny, even light-hearted in places, but White Noise confronts heavy, poignant topics with a level of awareness that will make you laugh while your skin crawls. A flamboyant performance by Adam Driver drills down into our own inadequacies, while Greta Gerwig’s Babette keeps the whole sorry mess together with a graceful banality that’s beautiful in its ordinariness. White Noise is an overtly weird yet almost mundane take on some heavy existential issues. After all, aren’t we all tentatively scheduled to die? – Ryan Leston

The Worst Person in the World

From our review : Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World features a stunning lead performance and peppers its realism with occasional dreamlike flourishes. It explores several years of millennial uncertainty through the eyes of Julie (Renate Reinsve), an indecisive, self-loathing 20-something who switches careers and languishes in a doomed romance until she’s able to find fleeting moments of joy amidst emotional turns that twist like a knife. – Siddhant Adlakha

Review Score: 10 ("Masterpiece")

From our review : The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves. Robert Pattinson is great as a very broken Batman, but it’s Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano who steal the show, with a movingly layered Selina Kyle/Catwoman and a terrifyingly unhinged Riddler. Writer/director Matt Reeves managed to make a Batman movie that’s entirely different from the others in the live-action canon, yet surprisingly loyal to Gotham lore as a whole. Ultimately, it’s one that thoroughly earns its place in this iconic character’s legacy. – Alex Stedman

Watch The Batman on HBO Max on April 18, 2022.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

From our review : Everything Everywhere All at Once is a complex film that encompasses a variety of subjects, but it does justice to each of them with a carefully written script, marvelous performances, and a healthy dose of bizarre humor to counter its bleak story. Michelle Yeoh in particular gives a powerhouse performance in a story that puts a fresh, welcome spin on the idea of the multiverse. – Rafael Motamayor

This story was originally published on February 11. It was most recently updated on December 13 with the latest information.

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Best Movies of 2022

Amid endless agonizing over the State of Cinema, the actual releases proved a bounty for film lovers, whether fans of the art house or the multiplex.

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By Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott

Manohla Dargis | A.O. Scott

Manohla Dargis

The Most Fearless Visions

In 1985, The New York Times’s longtime film critic Vincent Canby wrote an inspired, admirably cranky essay about the future of cinema. The spark for his ruminations was “Room 666,” a documentary from Wim Wenders that had just opened in New York. Shot during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, the movie consists of different directors alone in a hotel room where they respond to a question that Wenders had written on a piece of paper: “Is cinema a language that is about to get lost, an art that is about to die?”

The first director — and the other inspiration for Canby’s disquiet — was Jean-Luc Godard, who described Wenders’s project as an inquest on the future of films. For the next 10 minutes or so, Godard, smoking his familiar cigar, meditates on this vexing, evergreen question with his characteristic intelligence, opacity and epigrammatic wit. The news isn’t good. “The dream of Hollywood is to make one film,” Godard says, “and it’s television that makes it, but which is distributed everywhere” — which is as good a description of our NetflixDisneyMarvel world as I’ve read.

For Canby, Godard’s prediction of a one-movie world had already come to pass. Acclaimed films from the likes of Jonathan Demme were struggling at a box office dominated by wide releases like “Beverly Hills Cop.” Canby believed that there was plenty of blame to go around, pointing to risk-averse money types and a “sheeplike” public. He wrote that “our society is being increasingly homogenized, possibly through the pervasive power of television to plant the same ideas, the same fears and the same fads in more people, more quickly, than has ever before been possible in the history of the world.” Yikes!

I don’t think Canby and Godard were entirely right (feel free to discuss among yourselves), but after nearly four decades and innumerable interchangeable franchise sequels, it’s clear they weren’t entirely wrong. Yet, all these years later — and even as the industry struggles through yet another of its interminable crises — I am again heartened by all of the good and great movies that continue to be released. People often ask me if I’ve seen any good movies lately. I have, many of them, this and every year, but if I can’t tempt you with one of my favorites of 2022, I suggest you watch a film or two by Godard.

His soul left the world on Sept. 13; his movies will live forever .

1. ‘EO’ (Jerzy Skolimowski)

Soon after this indelible heartbreaker opens, a little circus donkey called EO — named for the sounds he makes — sets off on a strange, at times phantasmagoric, adventure. Along the way, he encounters other animals but, more consequently, kind and cruel people whose treatment of him reflects the denatured world that we have made. Now 84, Skolimowski has made one of the rare movies that speak to life’s most essential questions, and he’s done so with the ecstatic vision and fearlessness of a cinematic genius who seems as if he’s just getting started. (In theaters.)

2. ‘Petite Maman’ (Céline Sciamma)

Set largely in and around a house nestled in the woods, Sciamma’s Lilliputian tour de force is a wittily modern fairy tale and model of elegant narrative economy. At its charming center is a young girl who together with another new acquaintance ventures forth on a modestly scaled yet expansive journey filled with delights and enchantment, one that finds our little heroine embarked on the greatest, most mysterious adventure of all: love. (Streaming on Hulu .)

3. ‘Nope’ (Jordan Peele)

For his latest, Peele has drawn on touchstones and assorted genres — it’s a horror movie, a family comedy, a revisionist western, a science-fiction freakout — to make something unequivocally his own. There’s a lot going on in “Nope,” but what lingers is how Peele seduces you with familiar film strategies for an elegiac meditation on people of color in an industry — in a country — that has turned their suffering into spectacle. It’s a history that Peele has already upended by becoming one of the most significant American directors working today. ( For rent on most major platforms . )

4. ‘No Bears’ (Jafar Panahi)

For years, the veteran filmmaker Panahi — a longtime critic of the Iranian government — has been making movies under profoundly challenging circumstances, including house arrest. In “No Bears,” he plays himself (presumably with some artistic license), a filmmaker named Jafar Panahi who has moved temporarily to a small town as he remotely directs a movie in nearby Turkey. It’s a difficult process as well as an act of profound resistance. Here, in a story of place and displacement, Panahi soars above borders both imagined and terrifyingly real. (Coming to theaters.)

5. ‘Kimi’ (Steven Soderbergh)

There isn’t a false or wrong note in this witty thriller about a woman facing multiple challenges, including her own (well-founded!) anxieties about the world. Set very much in the now — our heroine, a resourceful tech worker played by a terrific Zoë Kravitz, wears a mask when she goes outside — the movie touches on a number of intersecting subjects, including isolation and surveillance technology as a means of oppression. But it’s Soderbergh’s supremely assured filmmaking that has repeatedly brought me back to this playful delightf. (Streaming on HBO Max.)

6. ‘The Eternal Daughter’ (Joanna Hogg)

A stunning Tilda Swinton plays both a mother and her adult daughter in this beautifully controlled, affecting story about memory and grief. When it opens, the two are en route to a getaway at an elegant estate, a trip that soon turns beguilingly mysterious. With precision, gentle humor and some sly cinematic chicanery, Hogg and her brilliant actress turn something that looks ordinary into something quite extraordinary. (In theaters.)

7. ‘Happening’ (Audrey Diwan)

Based on the memoir by Annie Ernaux — who won the Nobel Prize in literature this year — “Happening” is one of several powerful recent movies that understand abortion as a fundamental right and an index of a culture’s attitude toward women. With intimacy and lucid resolve, Diwan makes it clear that abortion isn’t simply grist for hand-wringing and political argument; it is instead, a practical and necessary means by which her heroine can secure self-sovereignty, a future, a life. There is only one choice for her, and it is hers to make. (For rent on most major platforms .)

8. ‘Decision to Leave’ (Park Chan-wook)

One of the dizzying pleasures of this labyrinthine movie is that it’s a delirious riff on “Vertigo,” Alfred Hitchcock’s aching 1958 drama about a male detective’s obsession with a mystery woman. Once again, there is a man and a woman as well as love and betrayal. Yet as “Decision to Leave” unfolds and settles into its own distinctively kinked groove, the movie’s emotional focus progressively shifts from the obsessed lover to the object of his relentless, uncomprehending gaze, and Park’s clever homage turns into a poignant rejoinder. ( In theaters. )

9. ‘Expedition Content’ (Ernst Karel and Veronika Kusumaryati)

This documentary made for the weirdest moviegoing experience I had this year, partly because for most of its 78 minutes all it shows is a black screen. Although the movie includes a few brief visuals, the relative absence of imagery forces your attention on the soundtrack, which consists of audio recorded during the making of “Dead Birds” (1964), an ethnographic classic about the Dani people of New Guinea. The result is a mind-expanding inquiry on anthropology — how it speaks and for whom — and on cinema itself. (More information on the film is here .)

10. ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’ (Laura Poitras)

Poitras’s tough-minded, formally graceful portrait of the photographer Nan Goldin, her art and her activism, opens with Goldin huddled with some like-minded compatriots outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before long, Goldin et al., are staging a die-in inside the institution, one of many such protests that she and others mounted against institutions that had taken money from members of the Sackler family whose company, Purdue Pharma, developed the opioid painkiller OxyContin. As Poitras goes on to show, Goldin’s protest is just the latest chapter for an artist who draws beauty from bloodshed. (In theaters.)

And make sure to watch: “Armageddon Time”; “The Cathedral”; “Corsage; “Descendant”; “Dos Estaciones”; “Funny Pages”; “Futura”; “Great Freedom”; “Hold Your Fire”; “I Didn’t See You There”; “Intregalde”; “Lingui, The Sacred Bonds”; “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues”; “Nanny”; “Playground”; “Pleasure”; “Return to Seoul”; “Riotsville, U.S.A.”; “Three Minutes: A Lengthening”; “The Tsugua Diaries”; “Till”; “The Woman King”; and “The Worst Person in the World.”

The Best Questions Raised by Movies

Scrolling through my memories of 2022, I find a lot of interesting movies and a lot of anxious, contradictory opinionizing about The State of Cinema. Most of it had to do with one question: Would people venture back into theaters post-pandemic, or did the future belong to streaming? The boffo success of “ Top Gun: Maverick ” in May and “ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ” in November didn’t quite settle the issue.

Neither does the proliferation of movies that evoke the wonder and glory of the movie past. Cine-nostalgia has become a genre in its own right. Last year’s tender elegies to celluloid, “Belfast” and “The Hand of God,” were followed this year by “The Fabelmans,” Steven Spielberg’s reflection on his own film-besotted youth; Sam Mendes’s “Empire of Light,” set in a fading seaside movie palace in early 1980s Britain; and “Babylon,” a fever dream of old Hollywood from Damien Chazelle.

Sentimentality and self-consciousness can be signs of decadence. Set out to memorialize the glories of an embattled art form, and you may end up contributing to its obituary. Not that I think the movies are dying, any more than they have been dying for the past 90 years or so, as they were fatally menaced by sound, television, corporate greed and audience philistinism. The movies are always turning into something else, even as they drag their history along with them. Old styles persist alongside new possibilities, and originality finds a way to assert itself amid the thunderous conformity of the franchises and the howling wilderness of the algorithms.

Like every other art, film advances through criticism, by which I don’t mean after-the-fact assessments by people like me, but the skeptical scrutiny that filmmakers bring to bear on the conditions and traditions of their own creative practice. The two best meta-movies of the year, Jordan Peele’s “Nope” and Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” accentuate the negative in their titles, and take tough, contrarian stands against gauzy clichés about the magic of movies and the power of imagination. They remind us that magic is always the product of hard, unglamorous work, and that power is never innocent.

If one thing unites the 10 disparate choices on my list — which ranges from an old-fashioned French costume drama to an Afrofuturist science-fiction musical, with a couple of documentaries in the mix — it is that critical spirit. They seem to question not only the aspects of human experience they represent, but also their own methods and assumptions. They are pictures very much in motion, thinking out loud in the darkness.

1. ‘ Nope’ (Jordan Peele)

Some fans of Peele’s earlier films, “Get Out” and “Us,” may have been nonplused by this curious mash-up of western and science-fiction tropes. What was it saying? But the apparent absence of an overt allegorical or political message strikes me as an advance rather than a retreat. The movie is a genre joyride and a philosophical puzzle. And it has plenty to say — about labor, family, race, grief and (yes) movies — in a visual language that feels at once familiar and radically new. The playful, heartfelt performances (from Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun and Brandon Perea) achieve the same kind of improbable, thrilling balance. ( For rent on most major platforms . )

2. ‘ Neptune Frost ’ (Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman)

Speaking of radical and new, this masterpiece of anarchist aesthetics faces down our current dystopia — one in which African miners are worked to death to dig the minerals that power the West’s technology; sexual and political violence are endemic; ecological catastrophe and genocide are in danger of being normalized — and summons up a utopian spectacle of music, silliness, sex and beauty. A hundred years from now, if the planet survives, this will be counted among the classics of our sorry time, taught in schools and quoted in speeches. ( Streaming on the Criterion Channel and Kanopy . )

3. ‘ Mr. Bachmann and His Class ’ (Maria Speth)

When they aren’t hailed as heroes, schoolteachers are held up as scapegoats. The actual work they do is rarely examined with the kind of rigorous, sympathetic scrutiny that Speth brings to this portrait of a German educator approaching retirement. Her documentary is an argument for paying attention and a lesson in how to do it. ( Streaming on Mubi . )

4. ‘ Aftersun ’ (Charlotte Wells)

A father (Paul Mescal) and his 11-year-old daughter, Sophie (Frankie Corio), take a vacation on the Turkish coast, a trip filtered through Sophie’s adult memory. This debut feature feels so matter-of-fact and unaffected that you may not notice the complexity and assurance of its craft. Its emotional power, though, is unmistakable. (In theaters.)

5. ‘No Bears’ (Jafar Panahi)

Panahi, recently sentenced to prison in Iran (and previously banned from directing movies there), continues his relentless, humane investigation of his country and his vocation. Heartbroken but not quite despairing, he testifies to the power of cinema as a tool of resistance even as he reckons with its — and his own — limitations. ( Coming to theaters. )

6. ‘Tár’ (Todd Field)

Of course there is no such person as Lydia Tár, the problematic maestro of the Berlin Philharmonic. But also, thanks to Cate Blanchett’s galvanic performance and Todd Field’s ruthlessly precise direction, there is. ( In theaters. )

7. ‘ Lost Illusions ’ (Xavier Giannoli)

A breathless tour of the sleazy, seductive modern media system, in which reputations and loyalties are bought and sold, hype trumps truth and gossip makes the world go round. It’s early 19th-century Paris, but the period atmosphere only makes the present-day relevance more piquant. Benjamin Voisin plays Lucien, a young poet from the provinces who is all too happy to savor the corruptions of the capital. ( Streaming on Mubi . )

8. ‘ Flux Gourmet ’ (Peter Strickland)

A perverse, hilarious essay on the nature of art in the form of a fantastical tale about food, passion, flatulence and funny hats. ( For rent on most major platforms . )

9. ‘ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’ (Laura Poitras)

This documentary is a collaboration between two relentlessly honest artists : Poitras and the photographer Nan Goldin, whose candor about her own life is inspiring and sometimes terrifying. Goldin’s work and activism during the AIDS and opioid epidemics are the focus, but if this is a biographical documentary it’s also one that, like Goldin’s pictures, redraws the boundary between life and art. ( In theaters. )

10. ‘ Down With the King ’ (Diego Ongaro)

While not explicitly a pandemic movie, this quiet character study has many of the hallmarks of Covid cinema: a small cast; outdoor locations; uncomplicated scenes and a minimalist approach to plot. A hip-hop star, played by the real-life rapper Freddie Gibbs, has gone into the woods, like Henry David Thoreau, to live deliberately. His malaise, beautifully conveyed in Gibbs’s subtle, unaffected performance, is specific to his own professional and personal circumstance, but also captures what a lot of us have felt in the past few years. It’s easy to feel we must reset the terms and conditions of our lives, but very hard to figure out how. ( For rent on most major platforms . )

And 20 more …

“A Chiara” (Jonas Carpignano); “All That Breathes” (Shaunak Sen); “Armageddon Time” (James Gray); “Corsage” (Marie Kreutzer); “Descendant” (Margaret Brown); “Donbas” (Sergei Loznitsa); “Dos Estaciones” (Juan Pablo González); “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Daniels); “The Fabelmans” (Steven Spielberg); “Fire on the Mountains” (Ajitpal Singh); “Futura” (Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi and Alice Rohrwacher); “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Rian Johnson); “Happening” (Audrey Diwan); “The Inspection” (Elegance Bratton); “Lingui, the Sacred Bonds” (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun); “Marx Can Wait” (Marco Bellocchio); “Pleasure” (Ninja Thyberg); “The Woman King” (Gina Prince-Bythewood); “Women Talking” (Sarah Polley); “X” (Ti West).

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic of The Times since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Best New Movies of 2023 Ranked

Welcome to the best new movies of 2023, where you can discover the latest films championed by the critics community! Every movie on the list is Certified Fresh, meaning they held on to a Tomatometer score of at least 75% after a minimum number of critics review — 40 for limited or streaming releases, 80 for wide theatrical releases, with five of those reviews coming from Top Critics.

The year started off strong with successive surprise genre hits in January, like M3GAN (from Blumhouse ), Plane (starring Gerard Butler ), Missing , and Infinity Pool (see the best horror movies of 2023 ). Notably, no wide release in February went Certified Fresh, plus we saw misfires from the normally reliable Steven Soderbergh ( Magic Mike’s Last Dance ) and Marvel Studios ( Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ). By contrast, almost every week in March saw a new major release hit the Certified Fresh mark, including John Wick: Chapter 4 (starring Keanu Reeves ), Creed III , and Scream VI .

April was showered with inside-baseball basketball drama Air , anime fantasy Suzume , the return of Evil Dead with Rise , YA adaptation Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret , Kelly Richardt’s Showing Up , and The Covenant , Guy Ritchie ‘s best-reviewed movie ever. In May, summer season kicked off with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and while other blockbusters didn’t get as much critical fanfare ( Fast X , The Little Mermaid ), smaller releases like BlackBerry , You Hurt My Feelings , and The Wrath of Becky did.

June took us Across the Spider-Verse , over Asteroid City (with a stopover in Element City ), and into Past Lives . In July, Joy Ride and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One were a preamble to the dual juggernaut of billion-dollar Barbie and Christopher Nolan ‘s Oppenheimer . A24 also saw renewed horror success with Talk to Me , and then we got a new entry for the best Asian-American movies list with Shortcomings .

The summer closed out with one last superhero gasp, Blue Beetle , before the return of Denzel Washington in September’s The Equalizer 3 . Saw X and A Haunting in Venice surprised by becoming the first Certified Fresh entries in their respective franchises. And Wes Anderson notches two critical winners with the release of Netflix’s The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar , following Asteroid City from June.

Latest additions: Totally Killer , The Royal Hotel , Sitting in Bars with Cake , Strange Way of Life , Saw X , The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar , No One Will Save You , Flora and Son , Brother , Fair Play , Mutt , A Million Miles Away

Check back every week for the latest best new movies of 2023! — Alex Vo

The First Slam Dunk (2022) 100%

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) 99%

Past Lives (2023) 97%

BlackBerry (2023) 98%

Rye Lane (2023) 98%

Joyland (2022) 98%

The Beasts (2022) 98%

Full Time (2021) 98%

Aloners (2021) 98%

The Innocent (2022) 98%

Return to Seoul (2022) 97%

A Thousand and One (2023) 97%

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) 97%

Fremont (2023) 97%

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 96%

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) 96%

Suzume (2022) 96%

R.M.N. (2022) 96%

The Blue Caftan (2022) 96%

Earth Mama (2023) 96%

They Cloned Tyrone (2023) 95%

Anatomy of a Fall (2023) 96%

Blue Jean (2022) 95%

birth/rebirth (2023) 95%

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) 95%

Attachment (2022) 95%

Amanda (2022) 95%

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) 94%

Talk to Me (2023) 94%

You Hurt My Feelings (2023) 94%

Sisu (2022) 94%

Passages (2023) 94%

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) 94%

Flora and Son (2023) 93%

Saint Omer (2022) 94%

Nimona (2023) 94%

Smoking Causes Coughing (2022) 94%

The Night of the 12th (2022) 94%

Falcon Lake (2022) 94%

After Love (2020) 94%

Oppenheimer (2023) 93%

Air (2023) 93%

M3GAN (2022) 93%

Scrapper (2023) 93%

Reality (2023) 93%

Revoir Paris (2022) 93%

Alcarràs (2022) 93%

Bottoms (2023) 90%

The Starling Girl (2023) 92%

Godland (2022) 92%

Other People's Children (2022) 91%

Juniper (2021) 92%

Influencer (2023) 92%

War Pony (2022) 92%

Jethica (2022) 92%

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) 91%

Joy Ride (2023) 91%

Afire (2023) 91%

The Royal Hotel (2023) 91%

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) 91%

Chile '76 (2022) 91%

Aporia (2023) 91%

The Artifice Girl (2022) 91%

Leonor Will Never Die (2022) 91%

The Unknown Country (2022) 91%

Polite Society (2023) 90%

Brooklyn 45 (2023) 90%

Dreamin' Wild (2022) 90%

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future (2022) 90%

You Can Live Forever (2022) 90%

Sanctuary (2022) 89%

Sick of Myself (2022) 88%

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022) 89%

Barbie (2023) 88%

Creed III (2023) 88%

Showing Up (2022) 88%

Missing (2023) 88%

Emily (2022) 88%

Tori and Lokita (2022) 88%

A Million Miles Away (2023) 89%

Mutt (2023) 88%

Il buco (2021) 88%

Fair Play (2023) 86%

The Blackening (2022) 87%

Totally Killer (2023) 87%

Pacifiction (2022) 87%

Sick (2022) 87%

Brother (2022) 87%

Infinity Pool (2023) 87%

Of an Age (2022) 86%

The Five Devils (2022) 86%

The Wrath of Becky (2023) 86%

Theater Camp (2023) 85%

Cairo Conspiracy (2022) 85%

Evil Dead Rise (2023) 84%

Dumb Money (2023) 84%

Shortcomings (2023) 84%

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023) 84%

Rotting in the Sun (2023) 82%

Monica (2022) 84%

Jules (2023) 84%

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) 82%

Tetris (2023) 82%

No One Will Save You (2023) 81%

El Conde (2023) 82%

Linoleum (2022) 81%

Perpetrator (2023) 81%

Extraction 2 (2023) 79%

Enys Men (2022) 80%

Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023) 78%

Saw X (2023) 79%

Biosphere (2022) 79%

Scarlet (2022) 79%

Blue Beetle (2023) 78%

Plane (2023) 78%

Chevalier (2022) 77%

The Lost King (2022) 77%

Scream VI (2023) 76%

The Equalizer 3 (2023) 75%

Asteroid City (2023) 75%

A Haunting in Venice (2023) 75%

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) 75%

The Lesson (2023) 75%

Moving On (2022) 75%

Elemental (2023) 74%

The Offering (2022) 74%

Strange Way of Life (2023) 76%

Medusa Deluxe (2022) 72%

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The best movies of 2022

Here’s what excited us the most on screen this year

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From big theatrical events like Top Gun: Maverick to a shockingly good year in horror , it’s been a memorable year at the movies.

What makes a movie worth including as one of Polygon’s best? We like many different types of movies here, from genre fare to the kind of stuff that makes you think. If it made us laugh, made us cry, made us ponder, or made us squeal in excitement, it’s probably here.

We asked Polygon’s staffers to submit their favorite movies of the year. Some ranked theirs, some didn’t. Some included 25, some included five. We were able to take that data and translate it into this extremely scientific*, definitive** list of the best movies of the year.

Nobody has had a chance to see everything — we’re publishing this in early December, which meant collecting ballots in November. That means only a select few have seen The Way of Water , and very few people have seen Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio , The Fabelmans, or Glass Onion , to name a few examples. But that’s why we’re a team! With our powers combined, we’ve seen nearly all of the relevant 2022 releases, and we’ve sorted through our feelings to determine which ones are the best — just for you.

Below are Polygon’s top 10 movies of the year, as voted on by our staffers. We’ll also have movies that didn’t make the cut but were worth mentioning, as well as our staffers’ top 10 ballots for your perusal. Just don’t be a jerk about it.

And if you like lists, we’ve got more lists — specifically lists of the best TV , games , anime , and books of the year.

* There was barely any science involved. ** There’s no such thing as a definitive list of the best movies. That’s, like, your opinion.

The top 10 movies of 2022

10. everything everywhere all at once.

Genre: Sci-fi action Run time: 2h 19m Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis

People who only know filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert from their tongue-in-cheek 2016 indie-movie parody Swiss Army Man — yes, that’s the one where Daniel Radcliffe spends the whole movie as a vomiting, farting corpse — may be surprised at the sheer scope, scale, and ambition of the writer-directors’ movie Everything Everywhere All at Once , which absolutely lives up to its name. It’s a wild, winning multiverse comedy slash kung-fu epic about a depressed laundromat owner ( Michelle Yeoh ) who’s called on to save billions of alternate universes from evil, but that only scratches the surface of what the Daniels are out to achieve.

Part metaphorical attempt to reckon with the chaos of the internet age, part life-affirming argument against despair, and part reckless absurdist action movie, it’s simultaneously hilarious and touching, an impressive special-effects experiment and a tremendous mental reboot on the order of The Matrix . This is the only movie you’ll see this year (or probably ever) where one man gets beaten to death with oversized floppy dildos, while another changes the world with the Kurt Vonnegut-derived message “Be kinder to each other.” — Tasha Robinson

Everything Everywhere All at Once is available to watch on Showtime, or for digital rental or purchase on Amazon , Apple TV , and Google Play.

9. Ambulance

Genre: Action thriller Run time: 2h 16m Director: Michael Bay Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González

Ambulance follows two brothers who steal an ambulance after a botched bank heist and lead the Los Angeles Police Department on a chase across the city, all with a couple of accidental hostages in the back. The robbers are played by Yahya Abdul Mateen II, who brings a sympathetic presence to the high-stakes chase, and Jake Gyllenhaal at his unhinged best. But it’s action director extraordinaire Michael Bay who is the real star of the show.

After 10 years in the dark dungeons of Transformers sequels, Ambulance is the best version of Michael Bay. The movie has all the hallmarks of Bay’s best work, like The Rock and Bad Boys , mixed with the mastery of new technologies that he’s shown in more recent works like 13 Hours . Drone cameras soar through car chases, handheld shots give us an up-close view of panicked amateur surgery, and every explosion looks incredible. Does every ounce of the story make perfect sense and conform to the laws of reality? No, it absolutely does not. But it is a tremendously fun two-hour-long car chase, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It feels good to have Bay back at the top of his game. — Austen Goslin

Ambulance is available to watch on Prime Video , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play, and Vudu .

8. Aftersun

Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 42m Director: Charlotte Wells Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall

The human memory is, famously, unreliable — faulty to the point of being thrown out even when it’s your sworn testimony. Childhood memories are perhaps the best example of this: Even a small, isolated memory can completely change tone later when seen with the full spectrum of adulthood, filtered through the prism of concern and care that comes with it. It’s a tough concept to wrap your brain around at times. And so Aftersun feels like a small miracle in the ways it not only captures that scope but manages to frame the whole concept with grace.

Young father Calum (Paul Mescal) and his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) are on a rare resort vacation, a fading moment captured by her on a clunky camcorder (at least partially; you know what it’s like to hand a kid a video camera). While that plot is simple in construction, the execution of it is far more profound, capturing the wistful vantage points of both Calum’s and Sophie’s experiences on holiday with equal, vivid clarity. In Aftersun ’s hands, memory is just as slippery as it’s always been. Sometimes conversations wash over Sophie and threaten to drown Calum; growing up is seeing the full picture of their trip, and Aftersun is quietly devastating in its ability to capture that. It’s a testament to the performances at the center of it (Mescal’s compassionate weariness most of all) that the film manages to suggest so much without overstating its point. After all, memory may be unreliable, but sometimes memory — echoed in a grainy camcorder or the recollection of a warm embrace — is all we have. — Zosha Millman

Aftersun is available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.

Genre: Action horror Run time: 1h 24m Director: Jean Luc Herbulot Cast: Yann Gael, Mentor Ba, Roger Sallah

I don’t want to say too much about Saloum , because part of the joy of the movie is the way it dramatically unfurls in surprising directions. A charming group of mercenaries escorting a drug lord from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal have to land their plane unexpectedly early, and then things spiral from there. But I will say this: It’s a joyous genre mashup with gorgeous characterization, terrific lead actors, and a jaw-dropping third act. You won’t regret it.— Pete Volk

Saloum is available to stream on Shudder and AMC Plus through Prime Video , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon, Google Play, and Vudu .

Genre: Drama Run time: 2h 38m Director: Todd Field Cast: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant

Todd Field’s first film in nearly two decades stars Cate Blanchett as the eponymous Lydia Tár, a globally renowned (and entirely fictitious) composer-conductor who is faced with a professional and personal reckoning brought upon by her many transgressions and infidelities. Exquisitely well paced, scrupulously detailed, and impeccably performed, Tár marks the return of a director whose small body of work belies a mastery and vision seldom seen in all but the greatest of his contemporaries in their prime.

Field’s film is more ambitious and interesting than any simple screed either against or on behalf of so-called cancel culture. Over the course of its run time, Tár reveals itself as something far more complex and harder to nail down: an incisive exploration of the myriad ways in which the abuse of power, both institutional and personal, manifests, while also a story that attempts to dispel the myth of “genius” and the aura of exonerating virtue in which it is imbued, to probe at the ugly, complicated, and incontrovertibly human truth at its center.

The film accomplishes this by centering on a character who embodies a multitude of contradictions: a woman who is at once unquestionably gifted, indisputably reprehensible, and so coercively charismatic as to nearly, if not outright, elicit reluctant sympathy even when viewed at her worst. Blanchett so thoroughly inhabits the role of Lydia Tár that it feels impossible to even imagine this film existing without her, affording a performance befitting one of the greatest actors of their time. There is more to be said and written about Tár than can comfortably fit in the space of a paragraph, let alone a sentence, but the bottom line is this: Tár is one of the best films of the year, if not the best. — Toussaint Egan

Tár is available to stream on Peacock, or for rent or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.

5. Barbarian

Genre: Horror comedy Run time: 1h 43m Director: Zach Cregger Cast: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long

Perhaps the ultimate “don’t go into the basement” movie, Barbarian follows Tess, a young woman who has the unfortunate fate of getting double-booked at an Airbnb with a strange man in a less-than-ideal part of town. And then things get way worse. And then things get way worse again .

Barbarian is the rare horror movie that manages to keep upping the ante with new and bigger surprises every few minutes, without ever feeling like it’s holding anything back. Just when you think the creepy guy Tess has to stay the night with is going to be trouble, the movie opens up a whole subterranean basement of horrible twists and shocking grossness.

Maybe the most surprising of these twists is how frequently the movie jumps between its gruesomely violent moments and funny jokes, without ever letting either feel out of place and making the whole movie a shockingly fun time. — AG

Barbarian is available to stream on HBO Max , or for digital rental or purchase on Amazon , Google Play, and Vudu .

Genre: Sci-fi horror Run time: 2h 10m Director: Jordan Peele Cast: Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun

Nope is yet another thoughtful and fun sci-fi horror from one of the best filmmakers currently working.

Ostensibly a movie about trying to prove the existence of a UFO, Nope is a profound meditation on the role of cameras and filmmaking not only in our society, but also in the struggle against oppression and racism toward Black people in America. Two siblings on the outskirts of the filmmaking industry (but with deep ties to the history of cinema’s formation) use all the tools at their disposal (and their wits) to capture proof of something they know is true but others will not believe. It is not a big leap to connect their quest to that of the many brave Black Americans who have attempted to document injustices against them on camera, something Peele himself has talked about in the context of this movie. And Peele’s movie goes further, pulling in deeper themes about who gets access to the tools needed to document their stories, what support looks like in times of crisis, Cosmicism, and animal actors , all wrapped within a story of pursuing that one perfect shot.

Nope is also anchored by one of the best sibling relationships I’ve ever seen. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer have an electric chemistry that leaps off the screen, and you instantly believe they’d do anything for each other. It is also Jordan Peele’s ode to the filmmaking style of Steven Spielberg, and thus the most blockbuster-y of his oeuvre to date (with great monster design to boot).

Nope has only grown in my estimation since watching it, as my brain constantly finds itself returning to its powerful images and ideas. Nope serves as further proof of Peele’s mastery of both unforgettable ideas and arresting images, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next. — PV

Nope is available to watch on Peacock, or for digital rental or purchase on Amazon , Apple TV , and Google Play.

3. The Banshees of Inisherin

Genre: Dramedy Run time: 1h 54m Director: Martin McDonagh Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan

The Banshees of Inisherin is a bit of a miracle. Writer and director Martin McDonagh’s previous film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , received many Oscar nominations and took home two acting awards, most memorably for Frances McDormand. It’s an ugly film with a misguided interpretation of bigotry in America, but so was Crash , and that didn’t stop its creator from landing a Bond movie. That’s how things work: When an artist gets this much attention, they usually make the most of producers hoping to re-create similar success. Instead, McDonagh took the longest creative break of his career.

Four years later, McDonagh returns with a film that doubles as a conclusion to a loose trilogy of plays he’d abandoned in the mid-2000s. (Don’t worry, you needn’t have seen off-Broadway favorites like The Lieutenant of Inishmore to appreciate this movie.) The Banshees of Inisherin has a cinematic grace, the camera floating through the hills of a small Irish island. But the story has the premise of a killer play: an older artist (Brendan Gleeson) calls off a lifelong friendship with a farmer (Colin Farrell) with no warning and little explanation. The harder the farmer fights to reunite, the more extreme the artist’s efforts to break ties.

It doesn’t take a close inspection to spot McDonagh’s own questions about the prioritization of art and the artist. But McDonagh is too clever a writer to frame the farmer as some pure, noble good. He can be downright annoying. A troupe of characters fill out the spectrum of views between the farmer and the artist, and by the end, McDonagh has seemingly juiced this scenario for every philosophical and existential question it contains — never taking too clear a stance on any answer.

Banshees is the opposite of Three Billboards : vulnerable, beautiful, and utterly obsessed with the aching complexity of even the most banal life. McDonagh could have made a lot of money or a vanity project. Instead he took a beat, then made this quiet masterpiece. — Chris Plante

The Banshees of Inisherin is available to stream on HBO Max, or for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

2. Decision to Leave

Genre: Mystery romance Run time: 2h 18m Director: Park Chan-wook Cast: Park Hae-il, Tang Wei

Park Chan-wook’s follow-up to The Handmaiden is a completely different kind of love story: a police procedural about a detective, Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) falling for an insightful, soft-spoken woman he’s investigating for murder. This slow-burn story crosses through so many genres that it may leave viewers a bit baffled about what they’re watching, until, with a series of almost audible clicks, each segment of the puzzle-piece narrative falls together, building to an unforgettable conclusion. It’s the kind of immaculately crafted experience that may leave people wanting to watch it again immediately, just to appreciate the eventual impact of all the tiny details that didn’t add up the first time around. But by the end , it comes into focus as a portrait of obsession, devotion, division, and some very clever scheming. — TR

Decision to Leave is available to stream on Mubi, or for digital rental or purchase on Apple and Amazon.

Genre: Historical action epic Run time: 3h 7m Director: S.S. Rajamouli Cast: N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan

Every cinematic possibility explodes across the screen in S.S. Rajamouli’s three-hour historical action epic. Too much hype? There is no overselling the spectacle of RRR , which reimagines the real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem as superheroic protectors capable of outmaneuvering ferocious beasts, battling battalions of men into submission, and slapping imperialist assholes with motorcycles like Jet Li in The One . Rajamouli, seemingly fueled by 100 years of Eastern and Western classics, drops the film’s thunderous-applause-worthy moments with the precision of the jokes in Airplane ; just when you think dopamine levels might drop after a physics-defying rescue sequence, Rama (Ram Charan) and Bheem (Jr. NTR) hit the dance floor, snap their suspenders, and fight colonialism through the power of footwork. “Dance like a scorpion has bitten you!” they proclaim in Telugu, though their moves speak even louder than words. Every second of RRR is like this.

This may sound familiar in Hollywood’s mega-scale era, and RRR ’s bombast would be fluff if not for its human, melodramatic core. Charan and Jr. NTR, bona fide movie stars, balance ferocity with chumminess as they carry the life-or-death weight of a nation on their backs and ward off a violent British officer (played with mustache-twirling despicableness by Ray Stevenson). The way Rajamouli rewires the past has been rightfully interrogated for riding a fine line between patriotism and propaganda (in a way similar to Top Gun: Maverick ’s military sales pitch), but the director’s tight grasp on emotionality feels like the antidote. Bheem, a hero of India’s Gond tribe in search of an abducted girl, is a vulnerable man, even as he unleashes a wave of wild animals on his Western adversaries. Rama, the rare Indian member of the Imperial police who unknowingly hunts Bheem while also befriending him, is the definition of a compassionate Best Bud, though we know he’s sold his soul. All the complications and self-actualizing make RRR a dimensional work of pop fiction — and the kind you never see at this scale. — Matt Patches

RRR is available to watch on Zee5 , and the Hindi dub is available to watch on Netflix .

The best of the rest

The movies that just missed the cut (or had dedicated fans on staff who made damn sure they were included).

• We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 26m Director: Jane Schoenbrun Cast: Anna Cobb

Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun has created something truly special: a coming-of-age horror film for the generation that grew up too online. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair communicates the excitement and fear that accompany creating a new self on the internet, as well as the excitement and fear of encountering others online who think they know you.

Casey, an internet-obsessed lonely teenager (Anna Cobb, in an unforgettable feature film debut), stumbles across The World’s Fair Challenge, a horror-themed online challenge that promises physical changes to those who take part. Casey begins to create videos of her participation in the challenge, opening the door to new experiences (and spectators) in her physical and virtual lives.

With effective use of creepypasta aesthetics (including striking collaborations with real YouTube creators), We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is an unsettling, immersive internet horror experience that is at once new and familiar to those who have visited these remote corners of the internet. Schoenbrun’s feature debut is one to remember, and they’re a filmmaker to keep an eye on as new projects emerge. — PV

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is available to stream on HBO Max , for free with a library card on Hoopla, or for digital rental on Amazon and Apple .

Genre: Thriller Run time: 1h 39m Director: Romain Gavras Cast: Sami Slimane, Dali Benssalah, Ouassini Embarek

A pure adrenaline shot in cinematic form, celebrated music video director Romain Gavras’ feature debut is an unforgettable concoction of escalating tensions in a small French village. After a young boy is murdered, a community is thrown into turmoil and conflict with the police. Featuring some of the most stunning one-take sequences you’ll ever see, incredible leading performances, and the best title drop of the year, Athena is not one to be missed. Just watch the opening scene — you won’t regret it, and you’ll likely just keep going from there. It’s a shame the movie is exactly one scene too long, but even a bad ending can’t take away the power of this one. — PV

Athena is available to watch on Netflix.

Genre: Sci-fi Run time: 1h 36m Director: Kogonada Cast: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min

The latest from Columbus director Kogonada, After Yang is a melancholy science fiction movie that balances the question of how we should think about artificial life with the more intriguing question about how it should think about us. Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith star as adoptive parents raising a young Chinese girl, with the help of a “technosapien” — an android programmed as her language tutor, cultural advisor, and big brother. When his systems fail, the family goes through exactly what they’d experience at the death of any family member, with the added question of what his death tells them about their lives and relationships. It’s a small, quiet, meditative film, but it’s visually rich and packed with ideas about prejudice and assumptions, cultural assimilation, and the way everyone is navigating an inner life that would astonish everyone around them . — TR

After Yang is available to watch on Showtime , or for digital rental on Amazon , Apple TV , and Google Play.

• Catherine Called Birdy

Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 48m Director: Lena Dunham Cast: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Billie Piper

Lena Dunham’s adaptation of middle-grade historical novel Catherine, Called Birdy is the rare film version that strays from the book in a good way. Bella Ramsey stars as headstrong Catherine, a teenage girl in the Middle Ages who is frustrated with her limited options in life. While she wants to enjoy her girlhood and stomp around the mud with the goat boys, as the daughter of the village’s lord, she’s expected to be married off to whoever pays most handsomely for her hand. The book was a diary, focused on Catherine’s spunky voice and sharp observations, and while the movie keeps Catherine’s narration, it also offers a more nuanced look at the world around her. Catherine’s father, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), for instance, isn’t a greedy and lazy man who treats his daughter and wife as pawns, but a flawed person trying to rectify his mistakes and provide for his family and village. It’s a lovely little look into the daily life of a medieval lady, but also with a more overarching plot throughline than the book. — Petrana Radulovic

Catherine Called Birdy is available to watch on Prime Video.

Genre: Thriller Run time: 2h 7m Director: Asghar Farhadi Cast: Amir Jadidi, Sahar Goldust, Mohsen Tanabandeh

[ Ed. note: Farhadi has been accused of plagiarizing the idea of A Hero by a former student.]

Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi returns with another stunner, painting a beautiful, nuanced picture of a man in crisis. Amir Jadidi is phenomenal as Rahim, a charming man who simply can not get his life together, no matter how much his friends and family love him. When his girlfriend finds an abandoned handbag with gold coins inside, Rahim considers using the money to pay off his debt while out on a brief furlough from debtor’s prison. But after a series of events leads him to return the bag and money to a woman who says she’s the original owner, he becomes the subject of a local media frenzy for his charitable act.

A moving, challenging story about the difficulties of trying to do the right thing in an unjust world, A Hero is also a study of how difficult it is to pin down clear motives or objective truth, especially when facing a story filtered through layers of personal and organizational agendas. Even the truth about your own actions and motivations can be difficult to sort through. And if you do actually find it, is it actually for navigating the world? A Hero is a stirring, unforgettable work that should not be missed. — PV

A Hero is available to watch on Prime Video .

• The Woman King

Genre: Historical action drama Run time: 2h 14m Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood Cast: Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega

Gina Prince-Bythewood takes the next step onward from her pivot to superhero action, Netflix’s The Old Guard , and lays out a historical epic that’s rousing, thrilling, and fierce as hell. Viola Davis stars in The Woman King as General Nanisca, leader of the Agojie, an all-female band of elite warriors charged with protecting the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1820s, as a larger and more powerful neighboring tribe begins kidnapping Dahomey citizens to sell to European slave traders. The Agojie were real — they’re the inspiration for Black Panther ’s Dora Milaje — and Prince-Bythewood drew heavily from their real-life art, music, fashion, weaponry, language, culture, and fighting styles to give the film texture, though in other ways it’s as fictionalized as Braveheart , Gandhi , or any other Hollywood historical epic. The result is a rich and thrilling underdog story with Prince-Bythewood’s usual attention to character-building, relationship-building, and steeping all the big plot beats in believable human emotion. It’s a familiar good-versus-evil story with familiar beats, but told in a way that’s rare for American screens, and with a level of detail, energy, and verve that keeps it engaging and personal through every epic battle. — TR

The Woman King is available to watch on Netflix, or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

• Crimes of the Future

Genre: Science fiction Run time: 1h 47m Director: David Cronenberg Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart

The master of body horror returns with a shockingly prescient script written nearly 30 years ago, tackling subjects as varied as art and the creative process, our relationships to our bodies and governments’ relationships to them, disability and aging, and (as often is the case with his movies) queerness and sexuality at an angle. There’s a lot going on in Crimes of the Future , and it’s all contained within a fascinating sci-fi tale with efficient and evocative world-building, incredible production design (the chairs in this movie!!! Viggo’s coat!!!), and some of the best performances of the year. — PV

Crimes of the Future is available to watch on Hulu.

• The Northman

Genre: Historical epic Run time: 2h 17m Director: Robert Eggers Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman

Few things go better together than Vikings and revenge, and The Northman is the perfect proof. Drawing inspiration from the same Norse myth that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet , director Robert Eggers ( The VVitch , T he Lighthouse ) has created a historical epic of the sort we rarely get to see anymore. The story follows Amleth (Alexander Skarsgaard) as he seeks revenge against his Uncle, who murdered his father and usurped his throne.

The Northman is a brutal movie, but among Amleth’s epic battles and lava-soaked duals, there’s a surprising heart and humanity, giving the character more compelling motivation than most revenge movies manage. Eggers brings this balance to every aspect of the movie, whether it’s the beauty and harshness of the Icelandic landscape, or combining incredibly detailed realism with the more operatic side of Norse cosmology. With this careful symmetry of real and surreal, The Northman is about as close as any movie has come to bringing the fantasy of myths to a live-action film. — AG

The Northman is available to stream on Prime Video , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu .

• Top Gun: Maverick

Genre: Action Run time: 2h 11m Director: Joseph Kosinski Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Glen Powell

“The sequel was so much better than the original” isn’t something movie fans say or hear often, but it’s true in the case of Top Gun: Maverick , a 36-years-later check-in on the high-flying 1986 action movie that gave Tom Cruise the need for speed. Cruise is back as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the Navy test pilot who continually lives up to his name by breaking rules, flouting superiors, and charting his own course.

But Top Gun: Maverick walks far enough away from Top Gun ’s testosterone-scented smugness to consider the cost of the Maverick life: namely, reaching a point where a fed-up military is ready to put Mav out to pasture, and he has to settle for teaching a class of up-and-coming fliers, some of whom as are as cocky and off-putting as he used to be. Maverick is an intense action movie where the actors really are flying planes and filming themselves in the cockpits , and even though the ending is a foregone conclusion, director Joe Kosinski pulls off plenty of breathless “Is this where they all die?” action. But the film is more interesting and more satisfying for its emotional elements, which include a tearjerking salute to (and premature goodbye to) visibly ailing Top Gun star Val Kilmer, and Maverick making it clear that he still keenly feels the loss of his wingman Goose more than 30 years later. — TR

Top Gun: Maverick is available on Paramount Plus, or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple , and Google Play.

Baby Assassins

Genre: Action comedy Run time: 1h 35m Director: Yugo Sakamoto Cast: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa

A rare action comedy that is equal parts funny and kick-ass, Baby Assassins is an eccentric slice-of-life story about two (extremely) teenage girls who happen to kill people for a living.

Chisato and Mahiro would like nothing more than to perform their killer duties and then just laze around their apartment all day. When they’re asked by their boss to get part-time jobs in an effort to better integrate into society, the two girls struggle to find an alternative means to conflict resolution… outside of murder.

More a fish-out-of-water comedy than pure action movie, the fight choreography in Baby Assassins is nonetheless great. It features exciting hand-to-hand combat and gunplay that works well with the comedy, with many physical punchlines. Gamers, take note: Action director Kensuke Sonomura is a celebrated video game fight choreographer who has done extensive work on the Devil May Cry and Resident Evil series, as well as Vanquish and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots . — PV

Baby Assassins is available to watch on Hi-Yah!, or for digital rental or purchase on Amazon , Apple TV , and Google Play.

• Turning Red

Genre: Family fantasy comedy Run time: 1h 40m Director: Domee Shi Cast: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh

It’s hard to look back fondly at the painfully awkward middle-school years, but Pixar’s Turning Red considers the tumultuous ups and downs of early adolescence without flinching, and with an astonishing amount of love. Domee Shi, who directed 2018’s Pixar short Bao , makes her theatrical debut with this one-of-a-kind movie that envelopes quirky magic, cultural specificity, and most of all, an absolute love for young girlhood in all its messy glory.

Thirteen-year-old Mei discovers that she turns into a gigantic red panda when she’s overwhelmed by strong emotion — a quirk all the women of her family have been burdened with since ancient times. Mei struggles to control the panda just as other family members have, but she also starts to discover her own identity outside of her family, and to embrace that side of herself. The giant-red-panda-sized emotions she feels at the cusp of adulthood translate into giant emotions for the audience, who can look back on that pivotal time of their lives where everything felt like so much all at once. Turning Red balances those deep emotions with some charming humor and genuine sweetness, and it’s one of the best and most unique films in Pixar’s canon. — PR

Turning Red is available to watch on Disney Plus , or for digital purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play and Vudu .

• Bones and All

Genre: Romance/horror Run time: 2h 10m Director: Luca Guadagnino Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance

Bones and All is a beautiful little love story between two teens who just happen to be born with the affliction to crave human flesh. It may sound gross, and at times it can be, but director Luca Guadagnino is a master of using grossness as a vehicle for intimacy, and he’s never been better at it than in Bones and All .

The film follows Maren (played marvelously by Taylor Russell), who’s recently run away from home after her latest incident. After a less-than-fortunate meeting with another “eater,” Maren meets Lee (Timothée Chalamet at his most gaunt, playing a careful mix of vulnerable and defensive), and the movie’s love story gets rolling as the two travel the back roads of America’s heartland in a beat-up truck. Guadagnino shoots the Midwest as if America had never seen a building taller than two stories and turns fields of grass and grain into a massive stage to host and contrast some of Maren and Lee’s most intimate and loving moments.

Thanks to the cannibalism of it all, Bones and All is also a movie that’s almost too easy to reduce to metaphors (for growing up, for falling in love, for being an outsider), but the outstanding performances from Chalamet and Russell keep the movie’s feet planted firmly on the floor of their romance, never letting anything, real or metaphorical, get in its way. Even with the cannibalism, Guadagnino’s tender filmmaking and his two excellent performances make Bones and All one of the sweetest and warmest road trip romances in recent memory. — AG

Bones and All is available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, and Vudu.

Genre: Historical fantasy/musical Run time: 1h 38m Director: Masaaki Yuasa Cast: Avu-chan, Mirai Moriyama, Tasuku Emoto

The latest surreal anime movie from Lu Over the Wall , Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! , and Ride Your Wave director Masaaki Yuasa features all his usual elements — wildly bending rubber-band bodies that look like nothing else in anime and energetic musical sequences, both being used to underline and emphasize the powerful emotions on display. But Inu-Oh goes further than usual with both. The story of a spirit-plagued mutant and a cursed biwa-playing monk who band together to revolutionize music in 14th-century Japan is part historical epic, part rock ’n’ roll origin story. There are some deep and painful themes here, about how regimes rewrite and reshape history with no regard for those who lived it, but they’re expressed with a joyful, often manic energy that becomes visually stunning on screen, especially during the extensive concerts that tell the stories of lost battles and lost souls. It’s a unique experience, like all Yuasa’s films, which each play with the range of human emotion in different ways. And like Yuasa’s recent work in general, it stretches the boundaries of anime — of what kind of stories can be told, and how. — TR

Inu-Oh is available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

• Fire Island

Genre: Romantic comedy Run time: 1h 45m Director: Andrew Ahn Cast: Joel Kim Booster, Conrad Ricamora, Bowen Yang

This delightful adaptation of Pride and Prejudice brings Jane Austen’s classic story to the gay vacation destination Fire Island. Comedian Joel Kim Booster wrote the movie and stars as Noah, the Elizabeth Bennet of this story. Noah and his friends travel to Fire Island every year to vacation for a week, but this year appears to be the last. Noah’s best friend, Howie (Bowen Yang, playing the Jane Bennet role here), has never been in a relationship, and Noah makes it his mission to get Howie laid this week. When the pair meet a group of rich guys also on vacation, tensions flare as some hit it off and some don’t.

Fire Island is the rare straight-to-streaming movie that doesn’t look like a cheap TV show, and director Andrew Ahn relishes the beauty present in both the people and the scenery. Every member of the cast is hilarious, with Booster and Yang earning the recognition they’ve already received for their particular takes on these long-explored roles. But for me, Conrad Ricamora as the Mr. Darcy of this world steals the show. While the other characters get lines filled with jokes and gags, Ricamora has to bring out the humor and charm in his character from moments of self-seriousness. It’s an impressive feat, and one that easily could have gotten lost under some of the energetic performances he’s acting across. Instead, it’s a star-making role in a lovely 105 minutes. — PV

Fire Island is available to watch on Hulu .

Thirteen Lives

Genre: “True story” thriller Run time: 2h 30min Director: Ron Howard Cast: Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton

Thirteen Lives , the adaptation of the true story of the 2018 Thai cave rescue, is a perfect match of director and material. Ron Howard is a deeply sentimental filmmaker who loves inspirational stories — Apollo 13 , Cinderella Man , and his excellent sports drama Rush , for instance — and there are few more inspirational stories in recent memory than this one. It’s also one that’s quite impossible for him to overdramatize, because of how unbelievable the true story is.

An old-school tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller, Thirteen Lives avoids the pitfall of similar Hollywood adaptations by not locating the story as a journey of a singular group of outsider heroes (in this cave, the eccentric specialty cave divers portrayed by Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell). Instead, the movie effectively showcases how this was a group effort by volunteers from around the world. The heroics of the divers wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of local villagers and other volunteers from around the world, and the movie does not forget it. The diving scenes are electric and incredibly tense, too — Howard and the crew built a gigantic set to replicate the caves, and Mortensen and Farrell shot their own diving sequences. — PV

Thirteen Lives is available to watch on Prime Video .

I Was a Simple Man

Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 40m Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi Cast: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu

August at Akiko ’s Christopher Makoto Yogi turns this ghost story into a slow-burn meditation on death, memory, and what lives on after we depart. As the elderly patriarch of a fragmented family (Steve Iwamoto, excellent in his first lead feature role) nears the end of his life, he’s visited by family in the present and ghosts from the past, including his long-deceased wife (Constance Wu). Intergenerational tensions arise as the ghosts of past conflicts return, too — squabbles and fights between family members long estranged, and historical conflicts around Hawaii’s path to statehood.

I Was A Simple Man takes us on this journey across different time periods and with evocative use of surrealism and dream aesthetics. A beautiful movie filled with stunning images of Hawaii’s gorgeous landscapes and rich textures, it won the Made in Hawaii Award for Best Feature at the 2021 Hawaii International Film Festival. I Was A Simple Man is an unforgettable experience that ventures to capture the final days of one life on Earth. — PV

I Was A Simple Man is available to watch on the Criterion Channel , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play and Vudu .

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Genre: Mystery comedy Run time: 2h 19m Director: Rian Johnson Cast: Daniel Craig, approximately every popular actor in the world

It’s certainly true that Rian Johnson’s sequel (and franchise-confirmer) Glass Onion is broader, sillier, and shallower than the film it follows, his 2019 whodunit Knives Out . The latter is as much a commentary on classism and racism as it is a murder mystery, while Glass Onion aims at broader, lighter targets, like skewering influencers, “disruptors,” and the cults built around figures like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. But the lightness actually makes Glass Onion a more agreeably weightless enterprise, where the all-star cast has more freedom in their farcical roles. Daniel Craig seems less exaggerated this time out as world-famous detective Benoit Blanc — or maybe he just feels like a more rational character next to Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Leslie Odom Jr. as a circle of wealthy success stories full of dark secrets. The mystery itself is cunningly constructed, full of verbal and visual gags, but packed with enough twists to feel like the Agatha Christie mysteries Johnson is openly evoking. In a year with even more mocking, scabrous “eat the rich” movies than ever, this one feels like a breath of fresh air — critical but not bitter, observational but not leaden with real-life parallels, and packed with winking surprises. — TR

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is available to watch on Netflix.

Genre: Sci-fi thriller Run time: 1h 40m Director: Dan Trachtenberg Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers

A return to form for a consistently fun sci-fi franchise , Prey dropped on Hulu ( for business reasons ) and quickly became the platform’s biggest success ever. A nice respite from how other franchises have approached world-building and stakes-setting in recent years, Prey relies heavily on the star-making performances of Amber Midthunder and Dakota Beavers, who shine as Comanche siblings in the Northern Great Plains who are stalked by the Predator.

Midthunder is Naru, a young woman who wants to prove herself as a warrior, despite the mockery of many young men in her tribe. It’s the perfect conflict for the Predator to wade his way into, as a creature whose only concern is challenging himself against the mightiest foes he can find.

A tense, economical thriller from director Dan Trachtenberg ( 10 Cloverfield Lane ), Prey is light on dialogue and high on excitement. — PV

Prey is available to watch on Hulu .

• Confess, Fletch

Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 39m Director: Greg Mottola Cast: Jon Hamm, Roy Wood Jr., Kyle MacLachlan

Buried by a bungled release this past September, the revival of author Gregory Mcdonald’s charming rabble rouser I. M. Fletcher stands out as one of the hidden gems of the year, a breezy mystery carried by actors at the top of their games. To fill the shoes of Chevy Chase, who played Fletch twice in the 1980s, writer-director Greg Motolla ( Superbad , The Daytrippers ) turned to Jon Hamm, who finds the rare role than support both his leading man swagger and weirdo comedic instincts.

Based on one of Mcdonald’s more revered stories in the character’s run, Confess, Fletch finds the investigate-reporter-turned-gun-for-hire tracking down a set of missing paintings that his Italian girlfriend Angela (Lorenza Izzo) needs to pay off the ransom for her kidnapped father. Not helping his situation: The day he arrives to Boston to track down the masterpieces, a woman is murdered in his rental home. Hamm matches the high-stakes caper like a dance, weaving in and out of police capture while setting up a series of rouses to solve the ticking-clock mystery. His low-key interrogations range from wild (Kyle MacLachlan’s as a germaphobe art dealer) to wilder (Barb & Star’s Annie Mumolo steals the show as a woman who may burn down her entire block making matzah ball soup), but Hamm and Motolla never let Confess, Fletch descend into sitcom territory. There’s a buttoned up, Negroni-sipping sense of cool from start to finish, even while provoking big laughs. The combination makes Confess, Fletch every bit as classic as Knives Out . — MP

Confess, Fletch is available to stream on Showtime Anytime and FuboTV, or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

Genre: Sports dramedy Run time: 1h 57m Director: Jeremiah Zagar Cast: Adam Sandler, Juancho Hernangomez, Queen Latifah

A love letter to the sport of basketball and one of the better sports movies released in years, Hustle is a terrific display for Adam Sandler’s talents and his love for the sport.

Sandler is Stanley Sugerman, a former college star who is now a veteran NBA scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. He has a close relationship with the team’s owner (Robert Duvall), a father-like figure to Sugerman who sees Stanley’s value as a basketball mind. The owner promotes Sugerman to assistant coach, a position where he can spend more time around his wife (Queen Latifah) and their young daughter. But when tragedy gets in the way of Stanley’s new job, he has to prove himself yet again and find a winning prospect for the team.

That prospect is Bo Cruz (played by real-life NBA player Juancho Hernangómez), who Sugerman spots dominating a local pickup game in Spain. The movie shines as it showcases Sugerman and Cruz’s developing relationship — the two rely on each other, and Hustle delivers a must-have for most sports movies with a terrific training montage sequence, featuring Sugerman repeatedly chasing Cruz up a hill with a car.

Hustle’s performances truly shine. Sandler’s centered, grounded portrayal of a man who loves what he does but would rather have the job he was promised is another terrific, layered role for one of our great modern actors. The cast is also filled with NBA players who deliver memorable performances, led by Hernangómez as the temperamental and talented Cruz and Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards as his trash-talking rival Kermit Wilts, a terrific addition to a long line of sports movie heels.

Bringing in real basketball players for leading and smaller roles lends authenticity to the whole thing, but especially in the scenes where the players actually play basketball. The camera is free to roam as athletes do what they do best, with thrilling basketball sequences that far outdo most sports movies that try to re-create the kineticism of live sports with non-athlete actors. — PV

Hustle is available to watch on Netflix.

Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 29m Director: Mamoru Hosoda Cast: Kaho Nakamura, Ryô Narita, Shôta Sometani

Just when you might think Disney’s permanently locked up the coveted title of “Best Animated Musical Rendition of the Beauty and the Beast Story,” along comes Mamoru Hosada’s Belle , which gives the “tale as old as time” a thrilling futurist spin. This anime feature from the director of Summer Wars , Wolf Children , The Girl Who Leapt Through Time , and Mirai re-imagines the classic fable as a conflict in a virtual-reality wonderland, where everyone’s digital avatars reflect their innermost selves. When withdrawn, mourning high-schooler Suzu enters the VR world, she becomes a beloved pop star, center of an energetic fandom — and equally energetic dismissal and criticism. Then she becomes obsessed with a mystery user whose avatar is a powerful, monstrous beast, and she starts trying to uncover his secrets.

This is a dizzying story that sometimes overreaches — Hosada is trying to take in everything from the addictive but destructive nature of online life to the importance of individual human connection, and there are so many threads (and romances, and secrets) that they aren’t all fully fleshed out. But it’s a heartfelt film full of big emotional beats and stunning animated sequences, and even if it doesn’t answer all the questions it raises, it at least seems determined to bring a familiar story to a bolder, brighter, more ambitious stage. — TR

Belle is available to watch on HBO Max , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play, and Vudu .

Orphan: First Kill

Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 39m Director: William Brent Bell Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles

Returning to a franchise a decade later to do a prequel with the same lead actor shouldn’t just be a recipe for disaster; it should have been completely impossible. As it turns out, Orphan is a very special series and its lead character/monster, Esther, is a very special child*.

Orphan: First Kill follows a 9-year-old girl named Esther who breaks out of a hospital in Estonia, then scams her way into the good graces of a rich American family in hopes of making off in the night with whatever she can. This setup is nearly identical to the original movie, but the prequel manages to play with those expectations in some very clever ways.

The original Orphan (also great) hinged on a twist revealed late in the film, but the prequel gets the reveal out of the way early in favor of letting audiences feel like they’re in on the secret and the joke that Esther, a 9-year-old, is still played by Isabelle Fuhrman, who is now 25, which the movie uses all kinds of fun tricks to hide. Thankfully, First Kill is in on every single one of its own jokes and manages to perfectly balance its tone between silly and a gruesome, well-made slasher, along with being one of the best “rich people are weird” movies of the last few years. — AG

Orphan: First Kill is available to stream on Paramount Plus , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon, Google Play, and Vudu.

Genre: Musical Run time: 2h 3m Director: Joe Wright Cast: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr.

Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac has been adapted for film many times in many ways, including as the modern-day Steve Martin/Daryl Hannah rom-com Roxanne in 1987, and the Toshirô Mifune action-drama Samurai Saga in 1959. As with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , its story about unrequited love (and arguably, complete romantic cowardice) resonates in any age, and crosses cultures easily. But there’s never been a production quite like this lavish movie adaptation of Erica Schmidt’s musical version of the play. Game of Thrones ’ Peter Dinklage stars as Cyrano, a French soldier and poet in love with his childhood friend Roxanne ( Swallow star Haley Bennett), but afraid to tell her because he’s certain she’ll reject him. When she falls for Christian ( Luce ’s Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a handsome newcomer in Cyrano’s regiment, Cyrano agrees to ghost-write Christian’s love letters to her, mostly so he can finally, fully express himself, even if she doesn’t know it’s him.

Joe Wright’s production is lush and glowing, with a soft visual warmth courtesy of his longtime collaborator Seamus McGarvey, cinematographer on his Atonement and Anna Karenina , among other titles. Dinklage’s singing isn’t very strong, but he still feels like he was born to play this pained, passionate swashbuckler, and the central trio all deliver fantastic performances that make this an authentic tearjerker. It’s a big-hearted project, full of outsized emotions that hit home powerfully. Don’t watch this right after a breakup, or after someone you’ve secretly longed for marries someone else. — TR

Cyrano is available to watch on Prime Video, or for digital rental or purchase on Google Play , Amazon , Vudu , and Apple .

Genre: Superhero Run time: 2h 56m Director: Matt Reeves Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano

Matt Reeves’ reboot of the Dark Knight isn’t as bold as it might be, but it sure is stylish. A long, slow-burning mystery in the vein of David Fincher’s Seven , The Batman infuses a familiar story with darkly beautiful imagery and magnetic performances from stars Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz. When it isn’t too enamored with ideas already explored in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy , The Batman lays exciting groundwork for a richer, stranger sort of Batman movie, which will hopefully materialize as a sequel reuniting everyone who made this one such a pleasure to watch. — JR

The Batman is available to watch on HBO Max , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play, and Vudu.

Genre: Thriller Run time: 1h 29m Director: Steven Soderbergh Cast: Zoë Kravitz, Byron Bowers, Rita Wilson

The protagonist of Steven Soderbergh’s tech-crime thriller Kimi moves through the world like she’s tapped directly into a power line, and is desperate to burn off all the excess energy. The movie operates at that same level of speed and ferocity. Essentially an internet-age take on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window by way of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Brian De Palma’s Blow Out (among many other cinematic touchstones), Kimi follows a Seattle tech worker who stumbles across evidence of a crime, and draws some dangerous attention when she tries to report it. Soderbergh and Panic Room screenwriter David Koepp strip that story down to its basics, jumping in and out of the action in a shockingly tight and stylish 89 minutes. The plot is simple and the ethos is go-go-go, which makes the film’s verve contagious and the action breathless. It isn’t deep, but it sure is fun. — TR

Kimi is available to watch on HBO Max , or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon , Apple TV , Google Play, and Vudu .

The Long Walk

Genre: Sci-fi Run time: 1h 56m Director: Mattie Do Cast: Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Vilouna Phetmany

Laos’ first and only female film director, Mattie Do, makes ghost stories: movies where characters interact with the dead and learn from them, but pay a price for that knowledge. Some of the themes of her debut feature Chanthaly (which she’s posted on YouTube ) and her followup, Dearest Sister ( streaming on Shudder ) get fuller, richer development in The Long Walk , a genre mashup that’s part time-travel story and part serial-killer story, but still keenly involved with the spirits of the dead, and how they both express their desires and enable the desires of living people.

A Lao hermit living in a tech-oriented future periodically travels 50 years into the past and intervenes in events in his own traumatic childhood, with the help of the ghost of a woman who died in the nearby forest when he was a kid. These are bold, striking elements that don’t entirely seem to fit together, but The Long Walk is exquisitely constructed in a way that reveals its puzzlebox methods slowly, building toward an emotional end that ties all its genres, timelines, and threads together in a startling, impressive way. — TR

The Long Walk is available to watch on Shudder , AMC+ through Prime Video for free with ads on Tubi, or for digital rental or purchase via Amazon, Apple TV , Google Play, and Vudu.

Also receiving votes:

Three Thousand Years of Longing , The Menu , The Fabelmans , Petite Maman, In Front of Your Face, Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul , Resurrection, Mad God , Lost Bullet 2 , Marcel the Shell With Shoes On , Babylon , Bodies Bodies Bodies , Jackass Forever , Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday , Memoria , Elvis , Benediction , Dual , Emily the Criminal , Fire of Love , Montana Story , Thallumaala, Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe , Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , Moonage Daydream , The Munsters , Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio , The Lost City , Goncharov (1973), The Deer King , The Innocents , The Last Thing Mary Saw , White Noise , Armageddon Time

The ballots

Every staff member who submitted a ballot is listed below, in alphabetical order by last name. While some staff members submitted more than 10 movies, only the top 10 are listed here. Some ballots may change as people catch up with more new releases in December — be sure to check back!

Toussaint Egan

Associate curation editor

• Decision to Leave
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
• Resurrection
• Everything Everywhere All at Once

Austen Goslin

Assignment editor, entertainment

Zosha Millman

• Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul

Matt Patches

Deputy editor, entertainment

• The Fabelmans
• Jackass Forever

Chris Plante

Editor-in-chief

• Petite Maman
• Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Petrana Radulovic

Staff writer, entertainment

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Goncharov (1973) remastered
• The Lost City

Joshua Rivera

• Bodies Bodies Bodies
• Three Thousand Years of Longing

Tasha Robinson

Editor, film and streaming

Curation editor

• In Front of Your Face
• White Noise

The best movies on Netflix right now

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The Best Movies of 2022

By Richard Brody

There is no end to the making of lists, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy reading them as much as I like making them. There’s a polemical side to criticism that finds a crystalline form in lists, but contentiousness isn’t their only value. For starters, lists are mnemonic, gathering things to remember, and also judgmental, asserting what’s worth remembering. That’s why I don’t limit myself to a Top Ten but stretch the list to fit as many films as I’m moved to include. The essential idea that guides me in criticism is that the world of movies is far bigger than the run of widely publicized releases. At year’s end, I compile the movies that imposed themselves on memory and which (even if their subjects are grim or their tones are severe) have provided enduring pleasures and illuminations.

This year, it’s all the more important to offer a widely inclusive list, because a wide range of American filmmakers have caught up with the inescapable phenomenon of the recent past: the resurgence of openly anti-democratic forces and brazenly hate-driven ideologies, the crisis of illegitimate rule, the menace of authoritarianism, the potential end of even our current debilitated American democracy. The phenomenon is certainly not limited to the United States, and filmmakers from around the world have long been confronting it in their own countries bravely, insightfully, and ingeniously. For years, many of the best American filmmakers have been making films of political outrage, with the unsurprising likes of Spike Lee , Jim Jarmusch , and Frederick Wiseman at the forefront, and such younger filmmakers as Jordan Peele , Garrett Bradley , and Eliza Hittman joining them. This year offers a shift in the cinematic paradigm by way of a host of memorable movies; there’s something new and extraordinary in the air, and it has precisely to do with history and memory—and, most powerfully, their intersection.

The ways in which the best American filmmakers are contending with the past reflect and resist the falsifications, denials, and suppressions of history that are integral to the right wing’s political agenda of miseducation. The past is the battleground on which the contest for American power is being fought. It’s a battle not for the American soul but for the choice between soul and soullessness, between a living democracy and the zombie one that has been envisioned in recent years in such movies as “ The Dead Don’t Die ,” “ Monrovia, Indiana ,” and “ Us .” For current filmmakers, the turn to the past is no retreat from present-day conflicts but a crucial, targeted, and deep-rooted contention with them—a diagnosis and an intervention. Their films expose the foundation, the substructures, the underlying abuses and sedimented forms of power that are manifested in today’s politics.

Walter Benjamin, in his final completed work, “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” from 1940, written in France after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, recognized the connection between history and political emergency. “To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was.’ . . . It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger,” he wrote. He acknowledged that turning to the past can be a present-tense political struggle, on the premise that “ even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he wins.” The lies being foisted on students in many states about Southern race relations and the Confederacy defile the experience of those who endured enslavement and Jim Crow, just as the prevalence of neo-Nazi ideology in the current-day Republican Party and amid media and social-media moguls is an offense to the victims of Nazism and those who lost their lives in the battle to defeat Nazi Germany.

This year, Peele, in “Nope,” connected the history of movies to the perpetuations of grand-scale evils; James Gray, in “Armageddon Time,” intertwined a childhood story of white privilege with the arrogant rise of the Trump family; David O. Russell, in “Amsterdam,” portrayed a trio of the First World War’s insulted and injured as they resist a Depression-era right-wing coup; Chinonye Chukwu, in “Till,” revealed the intimate heroism behind the creation of a historic moment; and Ricky D’Ambrose, in “The Cathedral,” working on a minuscule budget, dramatized the inseparability of family conflict and aesthetic education from the political crises of their time. All of these directors are taking part in the ongoing culture war over what stories of American life get taught. They’re taking up cinematic arms against nostalgia, cliché, and myth—against the notion that there’s one story to tell, and against grotesquely oversimplified ways of telling it. They don’t fall into the trap of mere topicality but devise distinctive and individual forms for the recuperation of history, for manifesting the ceaseless life of the past. And, as Great Britain backslides into its own imperial myths, British filmmakers such as Terence Davies and Joanna Hogg delved into the country’s actual past, with thrilling blends of confrontation and imagination.

The turn to history also reflects the outrageousness of the time: the seemingly overwhelming challenge of capturing, in the present tense, the open rise of American fascism amid the aftershocks of the COVID pandemic. In this moment, it’s worth consulting the movies of filmmakers working under censorious regimes, where pointing a camera in the street is a dangerous act of defiance, and also a maneuver in the culture war. In Iran, for example, such directors as Jafar Panahi (who’s currently imprisoned) and his son, Panah, film present-day stories on location, encapsulating a vast span of their country’s social crises by way of local and intimate dramas.

Such directors are keenly aware of the threat that their films may not be screened, or may become unavailable, and that movies from around the world are stringently blocked, too. In the U.S., the official censorship of films is rarely an issue; instead, the menace is one borne of commercial imperatives. Classic films risk getting swallowed up contractually: companies get bought, rights expire, and, whereas some movies slip away through the business model of planned scarcity , others vanish out of mere indifference. New films are pinched between the shift toward streaming (which favors serial TV over movies) and the effects of the pandemic, which has sharply cut into moviegoing habits, especially among older viewers of art-house films—as seen in the box-office failure of most of the late-year batch of Oscar-type releases. Slipping from limited theatrical release to rapid engulfment in an oceanic streaming domain, many movies of great merit remain nominally available but leave hardly a trace of their presence. Here, too, Panahi’s 2015 film, “ Taxi ,” with its depiction of the director’s own dealings with a friendly bootlegger of banned, self-burned DVDs, offers wise counsel for keeping ample lists: because it’s imperative to watch what you can when you can, as soon as you can.

With this bio-pic of the First World War poet and memoirist Siegfried Sassoon, Terence Davies creates a tautly controlled, scathing, yet often exuberant vision of creative fury, lost love, the cruel repression of queer lives, and the devastation of war. Its historical scope and personal passion are both enormous.

Jordan Peele’s cinema-centric science-fiction film is a superspectacle about the creation of superspectacles, a fantasy about the irrepressible reality of history, a metaphysical vision of the material world of the image—and a giddily imaginative, symbolically powerful thriller.

James Gray tracks the epicenter of American political pathology to his native borough of Queens in this quasi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, set in 1980, in which a middle-class Jewish family faces the chill winds of history—and in which the Trump family figures prominently.

Working clandestinely in Iran with the threat of arrest hanging over his head, Jafar Panahi plays himself in this wry, enraged metafictional tale about the prospect of exile and the insidious oppression of religious authorities, one that’s centered on his visit to a border town in order to tele-direct a film across the border in Turkey.

A radio journalist and a sports agent are haunted by the past, and by current-day social conflicts, in Claire Denis’s emotionally bruising romantic melodrama, which delivers fierce dialectical battles in an abrupt, pugnacious style.

A family’s car trip through rural Iran is shadowed by danger and strained by imminent separation in the first feature by Panah Panahi (Jafar’s son), which features one of the great antic, and poignant, child performances of recent years.

The traumas of the First World War (again), the rise of Fascism in Europe, and the true story of a failed right-wing coup against a Democratic President provide the historical framework for David O. Russell’s effervescent yet embittered comedic drama of friendship, romance, accidental heroism, and the American way of hatred.

The real-life story of a Senegalese woman in France who was charged with the killing of her young child—and of the French filmmaker Alice Diop’s own effort to document the case—is the premise of this fiction feature by Diop, who confronts the political and personal implications of the events.

Joanna Hogg’s wildly imaginative and meticulously crafted sequel to her two “ Souvenir ” films unfolds the sentimental and cinematic journey of a middle-aged filmmaker and her elderly mother, stars Tilda Swinton in both roles, and includes a ghost.

Ricky D’Ambrose’s second feature—an autobiography in familial and historical cataclysms, a coming-of-age story in visual whispers of beauty—is an original kind of personal film, which embraces a mighty scope on an intimate scale.

This historical drama of the lynching of Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955, is centered on the heroic effort of Mamie Till-Mobley, his mother, to publicize the killing and inspire resistance to the Jim Crow laws and practices that gave rise to it. The movie’s director, Chinonye Chukwu, develops a distinctive aesthetic that befits the subject.

Olivia Wilde’s fanatically detailed, emotionally off-kilter reconstruction of a nineteen-fifties planned community and its charismatic leader gives rise to a wild genre mashup and an incisive aesthetic critique.

Shown at festivals in 2019 but unreleased in the U.S. until this year, Lou Ye’s vision of spies versus spies, in the milieu of theatre, in internationalized Shanghai, under Japanese occupation, at the outset of the Second World War, is a dazzlingly complex thriller and a sharp allegory of current-day efforts to make art under a repressive regime.

The South Korean director Hong Sangsoo builds his dialogue-centered dramas around his performers, and this calmly ferocious fiction of a long-retired actress’s reckoning with mortality and art stars the acclaimed actress Lee Hye-young, who herself had been absent from movies for many years.

Richard Linklater’s quasi-autobiographical animated fantasy, about a fourth grader who’s recruited by NASA , re-creates family life in 1969, in the suburbs of Houston, in loving yet critical detail.

The filmmaker Chase Joynt’s rediscovery of an academic archive of interviews with gender-nonconforming subjects, conducted from 1957 to 1960, gives rise to a passionate and insightful view of trans lives, then and now, by way of reënactments and discussions with the reënactors.

The Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid furiously dramatizes a dissident Israeli filmmaker’s mind-bending confrontation with his past, and with the country’s current politics, during a trip to a remote village to present a film.

Another of the three films by Hong released in the U.S. this year, and also starring Lee, this is the ironic tale of a brusque, impetuous writer who stops writing and decides to try moviemaking.

The passion of Elegance Bratton’s quasi-autobiographical drama—about a twenty-five-year-old Black and gay man who, to escape homelessness, joins the Marines and endures persecution in basic training—transforms his realistic style into a bearing of witness.

Sophia Tolstoy is the only onscreen character in the documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s one-woman drama, which relies on the artifice of on-camera monologues to get at the politics of domestic life and the power struggles embedded in the history of art.

The hidden racist background of a small New England liberal-arts college returns with a metaphysical force in Mariama Diallo’s harrowing first feature, which expands its historical scope daringly far.

This drama, directed by Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes, about a movie cast and crew working under the stress of their pandemic bubble in rural Portugal, is the most original fictional film to date about the age of COVID , not least because of its day-by-day chronological structure, which runs backward.

Rebeca Huntt’s first feature is a documentary self-portrait, in which she discovers that her parents’ lives and her Manhattan upbringing are inseparable from local and global political currents and finds that on-camera interviews with family members are fraught with unresolved conflicts.

Ougie Pak’s tense drama of artistic myths and realities, about a South Korean theatre company rehearsing a production of “Agamemnon” in a rented house in Greece, is centered on a young actress who endures emotional abuse from a charismatic male director.

This historical action-fantasy (the title stands for “Rise Roar Revolt”), directed by S. S. Rajamouli, imagines the encounter and shared combat, in the nineteen-twenties, of two real-life Indian revolutionary leaders, with results that are as phantasmagorical as they are melodramatic.

The third new film of Hong’s to be released in 2022 is a romantic drama of an astonishing spareness, about a young South Korean man who follows his girlfriend to Germany. What emerges are irreconcilable differences between parents and children, and a grim over-all vision of generational conflict.

The destiny of members of a Chinese theatre troupe, from the nineteen-twenties and the Second World War to the Cultural Revolution—and even into the afterlife—is showcased, with wry theatrical artifice, in Qiu Jiongjiong’s allusive approach to the history of twentieth-century China.

In the octogenarian Jerzy Skolimowski’s audacious remake of Robert Bresson’s 1966 classic, “ Au Hasard Balthazar ,” a donkey’s journeys through Poland and Italy provide a diagnostic cross-section of human cruelty and compassion.

Margaret Brown’s documentary traces the discovery, in Mobile, Alabama, of the submerged wreckage of the last-known ship that brought captive Africans to the United States, in 1860, and the town’s enduring legacy of enslavement and Jim Crow-era exclusions and discriminations.

The clever, tender, quietly melancholy feature-length expansion of the Web series by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer Camp is a metafictional blend of animation and live action, in which Camp (playing himself) encounters the living shell (voiced by Slate) and decides to make a film about him. ♦

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The 35 best films of 2022

The essential movies of the year: from ‘The Woman King’ to ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

It’s not been your standard, regular, common-or-garden year at the movies so far. The slate of big new movies remains a little (okay, a lot ) skinnier than usual and release dates have continued to shift, with more than one big release decamping to the safer surrounds of 2023. But even the lingering impact of Covid hasn’t stopped it being an often crowd-pleasing, occasionally electrifying year. From awards picks like Parallel Mothers and Licorice Pizza, to virtuoso indie gems like British chef thriller Boiling Point   and   Aftersun to popcorn perfection like RRR  and Top Gun: Maverick , there’s been much to celebrate. Here’s our best of the best of the year.

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🔥  The best films of 2023 (so far) 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2022 😬   The best thriller films of all-time 🤣   The best funny films of all-time 🌏   The best foreign films of all-time

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The best movies of 2022

35.  Turning Red

Awkwardly, no Pixar film had been solo directed by a female filmmaker until Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Domee Shi came along with this cute-as-buttons creature feature about a 13-year-old girl who turns into a red panda when big emotions come knocking. It’s based on her own childhood – okay, not the panda part – and comes freighted with the authentic growing pains of adolescence. The only pity is that it went straight to Disney+, because its surprisingly Godzilla-esque climax would have looked epic on the big screen. What we said : ‘Its boldest move is tackling female puberty in such a candid, empathetic way.’

34.  Utama

In few places are the effects of climate change more acutely felt than among Bolivian farmers, for whom devastating drought represents an existential threat. In photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s captivating film, a married pair of llama farmers (assuredly played by non-professionals) face an uncertain future as their community, herd and way of life perish. The result is the most surprising widescreen experience of the year. What we said : ‘It’s best enjoyed on a screen so big you’ll move your head reading the subtitles.’

33.  Bones and All

Like Badlands  plonked into the midst of Reagan’s America, this sensitive yet spiky adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’s coming-of-age novel charted a couple of outsiders navigating the outskirts of a shut-off society. Oh, and they just happen to eat human flesh. No biggie. On the surface, it’s a mile away from director Luca Guadagnino’s sun-kissed  Call Me By Your Name , beyond starring Timothée Chalamet, but there’s connective tissue in its deeper exploration of young love and the tentative connections of sensitive souls. Look out, too, for an eyecatching turn from Taylor Russell.

What we said : ‘It flows like a Joy Division song: moody and ethereal until it escalates into a burst of sonic violence.’

32.  Fire of Love

• Documentaries

This elemental, awe-inspiring doc follows two volcanologists – Maurice and Katia Krafft –  to the ends of the earth and witness their passion: for this molten geological marvels and, even more movingly, for each other. It’s narrated by indie doyenne  Miranda July  and was a Sundance breakout hit at the beginning of the year, but it feels like one of pieces of non-fiction filmmaking that will stand the test of time. It shows us the kind of spectacular fiery abyss that most blockbusters can only dream of – and not a drop of CGI in sight. What we said : ‘There are only so many times you can shout ‘‘woah!’’ at yourself during one film, but this doc pushes that number up.’

31.  RRR

There’s a reason Telugu director SS Rajamouli sits so high on our list of the 50 coolest filmmakers in the world : his OTT epics are just absurdly fun. And this year’s RRR , the third highest-grossing Indian film ever, could be the most fun of them all. The ‘Rs’ stand for ‘rise, roar and revolt’, themes that play out in a Raj-era storyline about British colonialism and an abducted child that occasionally pokes through all the insane fight scenes, razzed-up dance routines, exploding trains and tigers (there are a lot of tigers). It’s the perfect gateway drug to the highs of Telugu action cinema.

What we said : ‘Rajamouli has a knack for finding stars who command the screen and setting them loose on bonkers-sounding adventures.’

30.  Cow

Aside from being absolute gold for pun-lovers, this moo-tion picture is a bold doc from British indie director Andrea Arnold ( American Honey ) that’s set entirely among a herd of dairy cows. On one level, it’s just 90-minutes of voiceover and explanation-free bovine action – a whole world of moos and manure. On another, it’s a moving cycle-of-life examination of a cow’s life that’s far too unsentimental to try to steal your heart but kinda manages it anyway. What we said : ‘Arnold gives us a straightforward slice of a cow’s relentless life of muck, milk, breeding and feeding.’

29.  Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

A perfect marriage of filmmaker and source material if ever there was one, Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animation gives Carlo Collodi’s fairytale a beautifully intricate, tactile and enchanting new adaptation. With co-director Mark Gustafson, he sends his newly carved wooden toy on a mission to become a human boy, bringing light to his grieving carpenter creator Geppetto and scuttling joyfully though magic realms, and among frowning townsfolk and fascists alike. It’s a family film that comes without the sugarcoating: a real treasure for older kids and grown-ups, and the perfect gateway drug to Pan’s Labyrinth et al .

28.  Boiling Point

Proving that he can do just about anything, Stephen Graham fuels this terrific one-take drama with skittish, sweaty energy as a chef on the edge in a buzzy London restaurant – all while shucking oysters like a pro. As an advertisement for getting into the hospitality industry, it’s pure nightmare fuel. As a viewing experience, it’s a thrilling watch that left everyone who caught it feeling rinsed out like a kitchen sink at the end of a dinner service. 

What we said : ‘Stephen Graham and Vinette Robinson help make this the best kind of worst ever restaurant trip.’

27.  Bergman Island

It’s takes chutzpah to rock up to the home of one of the true titans of cinema and make a movie that riffs on his life and work, but Mia Hansen-Løve’s sunlit relationship story set on Ingmar Bergman’s island of Fårö pulls the feat off with aplomb. Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth play two writers whose relationship seems to be hitting the skids almost imperceptibly, as they joust gently in their supposed creative haven. There are sharp observations galore here – about relationships and women’s creative emancipation – as well as a juicy, meta twist to keep you on your toes.

What we said : ‘Hansen-Løve has a real genius for amplifying small moments in relationships, and she finds deft collaborators in Krieps and Roth.’

26.  Jackass Forever

When a film gets described as a touching treatise on nostalgia, friendship and growing older, it doesn’t usually also feature a half-naked man hang-gliding into a cactus. But that’s the unique joy of this unexpectedly glorious sixth outing from Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and the gang – a movie that combines the hilariously puerile with the gently profound, while introducing a new generation of willing young pain-junkies to the joys of the Port-A-Potty and the human ramp. It still hurts just to watch it, mind you.

What we said : ‘This franchise is far more than just a patchwork of batshit crazy hijinks and dick jokes.’

25.  Prey

• Action and adventure

Fittingly for a movie with a cloaking device at its heart, we did not see this period-set  Predator  flick coming, Sure, the trailer looked sufficiently promising to banish awkward memories of the last few outings from this creaking franchise, but just how much fresh life talented  director Dan Trachtenberg  has managed to inject into it amid all the gory, inventive offings still came as a very happy surprise. Yes, it belongs on the big screen rather than a straight-to-Hulu release but at least it's easily rewatchable – and with part-Sioux actress Amber Midthunder providing its ridiculously engaging action hero and that mandibled space bastard actually scary again, it'll be on our favourites list for years to come. 

What we said : ‘ Aided by a forceful performance from relative newcomer Midthunder, this Predator movie is full of surprises.’

24.  Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Last year saw Ryusuke Hamaguchi break through to western audiences with the Oscar-nominated Drive My Car . His quickfire follow-up, a triptych of loosely connected relationship tales, made fewer waves but is just as worthy of the clamour. Its beguiling trio of 30-odd-minute vignettes takes the perspective of three different women, each with a deeper heartache and confusion that steers them in emotionally dangerous directions. Together they make for a magnetic slice of slow cinema.

What we said : ‘The writer-director’s greatest gift is in wringing intense emotion from each moment.’

23.  Elvis

The trailers made it look a little, well, hammy, but Baz Luhrmann’s ode to the King turns out to be a hip-shaking and hypnotic experience. Is it occasionally over-the-top? Yup. Are the maximalist visuals a lot to absorb over two-and-a-half hours? Sure. Does Tom Hanks’ waxy, fat-suited version of Colonel Parker seem to be in danger of melting from contact with the nearest bright light? That too. But for all its flaws, Elvis is an irresistible night at the pictures: a more-is-more collage of music, history and Presley pilgrimage that’s lit up by the spectacular Austin Butler.

What we said : ‘Just when Baz Luhrmann’s hyper-stylised visions were starting to feel played out, he delivers his best film for 20 years.’

22.  A Hero

A kind of Iranian Ken Loach, Asghar Farhadi is a master at weaving thorny morality tales into a wider social framework. This Cannes hit is another probing look at life in a hierarchical, judgmental society. Its protagonist, Ramin, emerges from imprisonment for bankruptcy and finds a shot at redemption in the form of 17 gold coins found by his girlfriend. Does he do the right thing or milk the situation for financial or social capital? The genius of A Hero is in the ways Farhadi finds to turn this basic moral dilemma into a nightmarish Gordian knot that shows up a malfunctioning social order for what it is. What we said : ‘It’s a superb morality play that keeps us guessing right to its powerful final shot.’

21.  Belle

‘It’ girls, grieving high-schoolers and cyber dragons collide in Mamoru Hosoda’s dazzling anime skew on ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The tunes are banging, the visuals eye-popping and the ideas, exploring life as a digital native and the oldies who forlornly try to help Gen Zers navigate it, richly conceived. The Japanese animation master has come a long way since being fired as director on Howl’s Moving Castle .

What we said : ‘It’s high time to mention Studio Chizu in the same breath as Studio Ghibli, because this one is an absolute feast.’

20.  Benediction

Great War poet Siegfried Sassoon gets the touching, immaculately mounted Terence Davies treatment in a biopic that manages to be both heart-wrenchingly sad and PG Wodehouse-funny. Peter Capaldi plays the once-closeted gay writer in his older, embittered years, but it’s Jack Lowton who really catches the eyes as the younger version, who struggles to find himself amid the buzzing gadflies of London’s post-war social scene. The writing is bayonet sharp, as when Sassoon is haughtily informed that his poetry ‘has gone from the sublime to the meticulous’. Benediction is yet more proof that Davies’ filmmaking remains sublime.  

What we said : ‘A glidingly elegant, emotionally ransacking story of queerness, repression and the past.’

19.  The Woman King

A historic action epic about Black women, The Woman King is as entertaining as it is culturally significant. It's immense fun watching Viola Davis and her Amazonian warriors train up and fight the bad guys in 1800s Africa, and it’s moving when you realise how groundbreaking and empowering this is. Already a big hit in America, it’s proving that Black female stories can smash it at the box office. Bring hankies for this emotional epic in the vein of Braveheart and Gladiator .

What we said : ‘It’s a story of sisterhood and racial identity that deserves to pack in the crowds.’

18.  Decision to Leave

Forget the hammer smashes and octopus guzzling of  Oldboy , because this   Park  Chan-wook movie showcases the  slowburn, cerebral side of the Korean auteur. It’s a Busan-set  puzzle box of a thriller  that sees a detective and a young widow locked in a complex dance involving a murder, an investigation and a lot of barely suppressed desire. As you can tell, it takes a leaf out of the  Hollywood erotic thriller   handbook – albeit with a chillier atmosphere and even more satisfyingly mazy plotting. What we said : ‘ Park Chan-wook slows things down with a woozily seductive and r idiculously elegant  murder-mystery.’

17.  Nope

While the rest of us were mastering sourdough, Jordan Peele spent the pandemic fusing sci-fi, horror and westerns to create a whole new kind of monster movie. The result – with no disrespect to any our baking efforts – was even better: an unnervy, unsettling and frequently funny third Peele effort, lit up by Keke Palmer’s livewire performance, a killer score and terrifying sound design. It’s easy to over-lionise the filmmaker as the savour of horror – as one poor tweeter discovered – and Nope isn’t without flaws. But it’s a blockbuster that’d unafraid to be depart radically from the norm, securing a likely spot in the midnight movie pantheon in the process.

16.  All Quiet on the Western Front

Seen 1917 ? Brace yourself for 1918. Netflix’s often awe-striking German-language reimagining of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic antiwar novel takes place in the dying embers of the Great War. And ‘dying’ is the operative word, because this vision of conflict is as violent a film as you’ll see this year – a cacophony of screaming shells, rumbling tanks and the rat-a-tat of flying bullets. In the middle of it all is a young German conscript (talented newcomer Felix Kammerer) just trying to stay alive. It’ll leave you dazed.

15.  Hit the Road

It’s been a bittersweet 2022 for Iranian filmmaker Panah Panahi: his dad, legendary auteur Jafar ( The White Balloon ), was sentenced to six years in prison by the country’s oppressive regime; but it’s also been the year his debut film, a beguiling but quietly tumultuous family drama set on the dusty highways of Iran, met its public. And what a debut it is – filled with wry wit and barbed social comment about modern life in the country, and with an outstanding performance from six-year-old Rayan Sarlak as the rascally youngster in the back seat of his family’s SUV. The Little Miss Sunshine comparisons are unavoidable, but Hit the Road ’s destination is altogether more impactful.

What we said: ‘It’s a  road trip movie with an aching heart that’s filled with wry relatability.’

14.  Three Minutes: A Lengthening

At a sliver over an hour long and built around a restored 180-second-long piece of home video footage from a American couple’s 1938 journey through Europe, the raw materials for this Holocaust doc might feel slight, but their impact is monumental. Part act of memorial, part moving exploration of our relationship with the past, and part detective story, filmmaker Bianca Stigter (partner of Steve McQueen IRL) plunges us into, and beyond, the celluloid to reveal the real people whose lives would soon be snuffed out by the Nazis. Helena Bonham Carter’s probing voiceover only adds to a sense of immediacy that makes its small crowds of Polish Jews feel like new friends by the end. The effect is haunting and deeply emotional.

13.  Brian and Charles

Ridiculously charming, playful and touching, this bittersweet British comedy is the year’s surprise package. An oddly-shaped package, sure, what with its titular robot, Charles Petrescu, being built from an expressionless mannequin’s head plonked on top of an old washing machine. But through a much-harder-than-it-looks feat of physical comedy, off-beat dialogue and pure heart, his – ‘its’ doesn’t feel right – bond with lonely inventor Brian Gittins (David Earl) sparks into a magical bromance that delves deeply into what is it to be human – and half-washing machine.

What we said : ‘ Funny and touching, this bittersweet robot buddy movie is the oddly-shaped surprise package of the year.’

12.  Triangle of Sadness

Sure, it’s not always subtle – no film with a six-minute barf-athon right in the middle ever is – but that’s not to say that Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning comedy, a film that channels the spirit of Swift and Golding, isn’t sophisticated. The Swede slowly saws at the chair legs of entrenched power structures – fashion, money, class and race – until they crash to the floor in the sublimely executed chaos of the third act. Harris Dickinson and the late Charlbi Dean are great as the model/influencer couple at the heart of the storm, but  Filipina actor  Dolly De Leon steals the show as the ‘overseas worker’ who executes Triangle of Sadness’ s memorable coup.

11.  Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Science fiction

Somewhere out there is a small but fanatical posse that holds Swiss Army Man on their shoulders as an unheralded classic. For the rest of us, this high-concept multiversal sci-fi is the first proper showcase of what directing duo the Daniels could do. With Michelle Yeoh launching from laundromat owner going through marital strife – basically a Mike Leigh character – to action star and back again, and then into a multitude of other adventures, Everything Everywhere All At Once does exactly what the titles implies and sends you spinning through time and space in exhilarating style.

What we said : ‘The Daniels juggle silly gags and weird visuals like cackling Dadaists.’

10.  The Quiet Girl

Like its title character, the shy nine-year-old  Cáit , this Irish surrogate family drama is as delicate as porcelain – and just as beautiful. It reads like an evacuee story from the pages of Enid Blyton – a young girl is sent from her warring family home to stay with two strangers and slowly opens their hearts – but The Quiet Girl  tells it with deep feeling and freshness. That it leans so heavily on two first-timers, filmmaker Colm Bairéad and his 12-year-old star  Catherine Clinch, makes it all the more remarkable, The  Banshees of Inisherin may not be the only Irish story in town at this year's Oscars.

9.  Living

Some movie do-overs feel entirely superfluous (see: just about any Hollywood remake of a Scandi thriller), but others just make perfect sense. So it is with this sublime reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 masterpiece Ikiru , in which Bill Nighy’s terminally ill civil servant rages, very politely, against the dying of the light, with some help from  Sex Education ’ s Aimee Lou Wood as his life-positive underling. Nighy has never been better, delivering a remarkable turn that should, in a fair world, be rewarded with Oscars. Props, too, to  South African director Oliver Hermanus, who has an instinctive grasp of stuffy English internality, and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro,  who rivals his work on ‘Remains of the Day’ with a moving, deeply humane script.

8.  Happening

In a year in which the US Supreme Court put Roe v Wade in its crosshairs, Audrey Diwan’s tumultous, hard-hitting drama arrives to show the realities of illegal abortions. It’s not for the faint hearted – it goes further than Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake in depicting this bleak world – but it’s a gripping story of a pregnant student who risks prison in ’60s France, and Anamaria Vartolomei makes a luminous heroine full of gritty determination.

What we said : ‘An atmospheric, gripping drama full of poignant contemporary relevance.’

7.  The Worst Person in the World

Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve is the heart and soul of this touching and inventive account of one millennial life that unfolds over several years in Oslo. Very much not the worst person in the world, her medical student-turned-writer is a perfect avatar for the uncertainties and confusions of young adulthood: a whole mess of conflicting desires, moments of directionless and emotional rawness that feels endlessly relatable. And her showstopping run through a freeze-framed city is possibly the movie moment of the year so far. 

What we said : ‘Any film that can combine questions of mortality with funny, fully alive scenes of sex, social awkwardness, professional screw-ups and throwaway fun is a rich one.’

6.  The Banshees of Inisherin

In Bruges  is an all-time comedy great, so the reunion of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson under the watchful eye of director Martin McDonagh is an enticing prospect for any movie lover. And boy, does this fizzingly funny and flawlessly acted anti-buddy movie live up to expectations. Instead of a gobby hitman and his long-suffering colleague, the pair play a couple of old pals on an Irish island whose friendship hits the skids in a big way. Peppered with its writer-director’s trademark dark wit, it carries at its heart an p oignant political allegory for the sorrows of The Troubles. 

What we said : ‘With apologies to Three Billboards fans, this is Martin McDonagh’s best film since In Bruges .’

5.  Parallel Mothers

Pedro Almodóvar gets serious with this poignant investigation of Spain’s buried Civil War trauma, although without ever sacrificing his light touch and delight in giddying melodrama. Penélope Cruz lights it all up like a starburst, with her performance as a new mum caught up in a case of mistaken identity in the maternity ward a career high, even by her own lofty standards. In a just world, she would have picked up her second Oscar for it.

What we said : ‘Entering Almodóvar’s world is a pleasure, even when we’re faced with pain and tough lessons.’

4.  Aftersun

Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells announced herself as a major talent with this sun-washed and achingly poignant drama about a divorced dad (Paul Mescal) and his young daughter (the effortlessly cool Francesca Corio) navigating the highs and lows of an eventful Turkish seaside holiday. All framed in flashback, Wells mixes up the visual aesthetic to communicate the way gauzy, long-ago memories can sink into your bones. Th e past is a foreign country, a s another coming-of-age classic, The Go-Between , once noted.   Aftersun was a gorgeous passport that took us there and left us richer, if more tear-stained, for the experience.

What we said : ‘A father-and-daughter drama that will stop you in your tracks.’

3.  The Northman

‘A widescreen rallying cry for cinema in the age of streaming’. So read Time Out ’s admittedly fairly breathless appraisal of Robert Eggers’ brilliant, blood-soaked Viking epic when it landed in (smashed into? Ransacked?) cinemas in April. But the sentiment stands, because in an age increasingly dominated by streaming sites, The Northman is a useful reminder that the place to witness the grandest, boldest cinematic visions is on the biggest screen possible – and unless you live in an IMAX, that won’t be in your front room.  

What we said : ‘Thank Odin for Robert Eggers and his mad, brilliant, violent, hypnotic, trippy Viking opus.’

2.  Top Gun: Maverick

Okay, hands up who saw this practically flawless blockbuster coming? A few people probably did – this long-in-the-making Top Gun sequel was originally due out two years ago – but that enforced delay detracts not one iota from the purest widescreen thrill ride of the year so far. Tom Cruise’s ace pilot provides heart, soul and some fighter jet manoeuvres that we’re pretty sure defy every law of physics in the book. Mind you, the book gets binned early (and literally) in this one, to reinvent the so-called ‘legacy sequel’ into something that soars way above hollow Hollywood cash-ins. What we said : ‘Tom Cruise owns a crowd-thrilling sequel that easily surpasses the original.’

1.  Licorice Pizza

Paul Thomas Anderson delivered his sunniest film with this ‘70s nostalgia trip to the San Fernando Valley about a cocksure teenager trying to win the heart of a drifting twentysomething. Somehow that teenage-gaze premise never comes over remotely Porky’s , helped by two breakout lead performances from Cooper ‘son of Philip Seymour’ Hoffman and Alana Haim, some A-list turns (Bradley Cooper as Hollywood producer-stroke-total-maniac Jon Peters), and PTA’s usual godlike touch behind the camera. What we said : ‘Paul Thomas Anderson’s sweet coming-of-age yarn is free-spirited and fun as hell.’

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The 24 Best Action Movies of 2022

A handful of highly anticipated action flicks finally came out this year.

Whatever genre you love, from comedy to horror to documentaries, 2022 has been a fun year, as studios catching up on pandemic delays finally released the films we've been waiting as long as two or three years for. 2022's slate of action films was especially exciting, with several beloved franchises and star directors returning with new installments of our favorite movies. From John Wick to Thor to Top Gun , here's your guide to the best action movies of 2022 (so far).

'Ambulance'

Release date : February 18, 2022

Starring : Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González, Garret Dillahunt, Keir O'Donnell, Moses Ingram, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Kayli Tran

Why it's worth watching : Transformers director Michael Bay is always good for a great action sequence, and his newest film has some intense stakes. A vet (Mateen) who needs a fortune for his wife's surgery joins in on his friend's (Gyllenhaal) bank robbery. The pair end up hijacking an ambulance and taking an EMT (González) and a critically-injured cop as hostages.

'The Adam Project'

Starring : Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, and Zoe Saldaña

Why it's worth watching : This is both a fun sci-fi adventure and an adorable situation: what happens when grown, time-traveling Ryan Reynolds needs the help of his younger self?

'The Batman'

Release date : March 4, 2022

Starring : Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Keoghan, Peter Sarsgaard, John Turturro, Paul Dano, and Colin Farrell

Why it's worth watching : When we heard that Pattinson would be playing the Caped Crusader, everyone wondered what kind of Batman film we would get. The trailers have shown a dark, brutal story featuring several famous DC villains (including Kravitz as Catwoman ), and we can't be more excited.

'The Lost City'

Release date : March 19, 2022

Starring : Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Patti Harrison, Oscar Nunez, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Why it's worth watching : It's great when a high-paced action film is also hilarious, and this movie has us excited on both counts. Bullock plays reclusive romance novelist who gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt in the jungle while on a book tour with her cover model (Tatum).

Release date : March 24, 2022

Starring : N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Twinkle Sharma, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran, and Samuthirakani

Why it's worth watching : This maximalist film has everything from extravagant musical numbers to epic, mile-a-minute battles.

'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Release date : March 25, 2022

Starring : Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Stephanie Hsu, Andy Le, Brian Le, Harry Shum, Jr., and Jenny Slate

Why it's worth watching : Michelle Yeoh accessing the memories of infinite versions of herself and kicking ass across the multiverse? Sign me up.

'The Northman'

Release date : April 22, 2022

Starring : Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Claes Bang, Anna Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, and Björk

Why it's worth watching : An exiled Viking prince vows revenge on the uncle who took everything from him in this gritty saga.

'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness'

Release date : May 6, 2022

Starring : Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong,  Chiwetel Ejiofor, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Patrick Stewart

Why it's worth watching : Marvel hero Doctor Strange is finally getting his standalone sequel, with tons of multiverse mayhem and an assist from post- WandaVision Scarlet Witch.

'The Roundup'

Release date : May 20, 2022

Starring : Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee), Sukku Son, Choi Gwi-hwa, Ha-jun, and Park Ji-young

Why it's worth watching : A sequel to a beloved action thriller (2017's The Outlaws ), this Korean film sees The Eternals ' Ma Dong-seok reprising his role as the "Beast Cop" Ma Seok-do.

'Top Gun: Maverick'

Release date : May 27, 2022

Starring : Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Monica Barbaro, and Jon Hamm

Why it's worth watching : Thirty years after the original film, the Top Gun sequel shows Maverick (Cruise) passing on his wisdom and training a new cast of pilots.

'Jurassic World: Dominion'

Release date : June 10, 2022

Starring : Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda, Kristoffer Polaha, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern

Why it's worth watching : Dinosaur fans, get ready. The Jurassic World series is finally coming. back, three years after a cliffhanger that saw dinosaurs running wild outside of the park. The upcoming film also brings back Neill, Goldblum, and Dern, reprising their roles from the original Jurassic Park films.

'Lightyear'

Release date : June 17, 2022

Starring : Chris Evans, Taika Waititi, Keke Palmer, Uzo Aduba, Efren Ramirez, Peter Sohn, and James Brolin

Why it's worth watching : Toy Story fans, this prequel will show what Buzz Lightyear was getting up to before he met Woody and the rest of Andy's toys.

'The Princess'

Release date : July 1, 2022

Starring : Joey King, Dominic Cooper, Alex Reid, Katelyn Rose Downey, Veronica Ngo, Ivo Arakov, and Mitko Angelov

Why it's worth watching : King plays a warrior princess who refuses to be married off to a sadistic royal (Cooper) in this action-comedy.

'Thor: Love and Thunder'

Release date : July 8, 2022

Starring : Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson, Christian Bale, Karen Gillan, and Russell Crowe

Why it's worth watching : The next Thor standalone movie is bringing back the God of Asgard's love interest from the first two films, Jane Foster (Portman). However, in wild Taika Waititi fashion, Foster won't be standing on the sidelines of the action. She'll reportedly become the first female Thor, picking up the hammer when the original (Hemsworth) becomes unworthy.

Release date : July 21, 2022

Starring : Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor

Why it's worth watching : This inventive prequel from the Predator franchise follows Naru, a Comanche warrio living in 1719 who has to protect her people from Buffalo-hunting fur traders and a vicious alien that hunts humans for sport.

'The Gray Man'

Release date : July 22, 2022

Starring : Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Regé-Jean Page, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Julia Butters, Alfre Woodard, Billy Bob Thornton

Why it's worth watching : This spy film from the Avengers -directing Russo Brothers pits the CIA's top spy gone rogue (Gosling) against his sadistic former colleague (Chris Evans in a mustache) after the spy learns a dark secret about the agency. (Also the return of Regé-Jean Page!!!)

'Bullet Train'

Release date : August 5, 2022

Starring : Brad Pitt , Sandra Bullock, Joey King, Andrew Koji, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Bad Bunny

Why it's worth watching : This new film from Atomic Blonde director David Leitch takes place on the titular high-speed train in Tokyo, following five assassins who realize their assigned targets are related. If you want to see Brad Pitt and Bad Bunny in a no-holds-barred fight, put this release on your calendar.

Release date : August 19, 2022

Starring : Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Sharlto Copley

Why it's worth watching : While on a trip to Africa, a recently-widowed man (Elba) and his two daughters get trapped in the crosshairs of a mysterious, extra-vicious lion.

'The Woman King'

Release date : September 16, 2022

Starring : Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren, Thuso Mbedu, Jayme Lawson, and Jordan Bolger

Why it's worth watching : This historical epic from The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood is inspired by The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was protected by female warriors.

'The School for Good and Evil'

Release date : TBD

Starring : Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, Sophie Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Rachel Bloom, Laurence Fishburne, and Ben Kinglsey

Why it's worth watching : This fantasy adaptation with a seriously stacked cast takes place in a world where fairy tales are history, at a magical school where kids learn to be heroes or villains.

'Black Adam'

Release date : October 21, 2022

Starring : Dwayne Johnson, Pierce Bronson, Sarah Shahi, Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Quintessa Swindell, and Chaim Jeraffi

Why it's worth watching : Our favorite action hero (a.k.a. The Rock) is finally becoming an official superhero, playing an ancient anti-hero with powers from the Egyptian gods.

'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' 

Release date : November 11, 2022

Starring : Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaaluya, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, and Angela Bassett

Why it's worth watching : Most of the plot details of the Black Panther sequel have been kept under wraps following Chadwick Boseman's untimely death. With the absence of T'Challa, we're assuming that the women of Wakanda, including his genius sister Shuri (Wright) and new addition Ironheart (Thorne), will lead the film.

'Strange World'

Release date : November 23, 2022

Starring : Jake Gyllenhall and Alan Tudyk

Why it's worth watching : This new Disney animated film follows a family of adventurers as they explore a new world filled with mysterious creatures.

'Avatar: The Way of Water'

Release date : October 18, 2022

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Best horror movies of 2023 to stream on Netflix, Max, Hulu, Shudder and more

The best horror hits to land on streaming services during this year

Yes, it just so happens that our best horror movies of 2023 to stream list has turned up during the unofficial ‘spooky season’, but seeking a scare isn’t just for Halloween. This horror-filled list is a year-long affair spanning many-a-streaming platform and terrifying many-a-watcher. 

It’s been a year of abundance in the horror genre, with entries on our list spanning indies, iconic franchises, and streaming exclusives to provide the thrills from the comfort of your home. Although… there’s definitely nothing comfortable about these flicks.

The best streaming services have made it possible for horror to be right at our fingertips whenever we want it and has even become the sole home to some of our picks. We’ve slithered through the thrillers on offer in 2023 to determine the best ones to watch across the likes of Netflix , Hulu , Max , Disney Plus and more. To be on this list, movies must have arrived on streaming services for the first time during 2023 – so there may be movies released theatrically in 2022, and you don't find movies that have only been at theaters so far.

M3GAN (2023)

Runtime: 102 mins Director: Gerard Johnstone Age rating: PG-13 Where to watch: Amazon Prime (US), Sky/NOW TV (UK), Netflix/BiNGE (Aus)

There’s a lot of terrifying possibilities to explore if you explore the question, what can go wrong with artificial intelligence? Turns out M3GAN is happy to oblige with a demonstration for us. A lifelike robot doll created by Allison Williams ( Get Out ) that was programmed to be a unique and lovely friend for a little girl turns out to be not so lovely at all. Not one bit. Believe us when we say it’s not as easy as taking the batteries out of M3GAN when you don’t want to play with her anymore. This movie is at the milder end of the scariness spectrum, but it's also a great satire of technology – it opens with a very Paul Verhoeven-like fake advert, and we loved it from that moment.

Totally Killer (2023)

Runtime: 106 mins Director: Nahnatchka Khan Age rating: R Where to watch: Amazon Prime (Global)

From production company Blumhouse – known famously for Paranormal Activity , Insidious , Get Out , and more terrifying titles – Totally Killer is a time-traveling teen slasher flick hit. Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) is thrown back in time to 1987 to stop a serial killer before they can start their murderous spree. The mash-up of fear and fun has many horror fans excited for something a bit different with an impressive 87% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. If you’re into ’80s slashers, Totally Killer will have you totally thrill-ered…

No One Will Save You (2023)

Runtime: 93 mins Director: Brian Duffield Age rating: PG-13 Where to watch: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (UK/Aus)

In another twisty genre mix, Hulu’s No One Will Save You is horror hanging from a sci-fi hook. Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) lives an exiled life in her hometown before an alien invasion sees her life infiltrated by their haunting presence. Overwhelming, heart-palpitating quiet tension is truly front and center with only one line of dialogue uttered throughout the whole movie. This almost absolute silence has, in turn, left viewers teeming with the same levels of anxiety as Brynn as she takes on a full blown extraterrestrial takeover. It's especially great if you have a good sound system.

The Nun II (2023)

Runtime: 110 mins Director: Michael Chaves Age rating: R Where to watch: Max (US), rent or buy in UK/Aus

Sequel to 2018’s, you guessed it, The Nun , and another addition to The Conjuring franchise, The Nun II is one of the newest additions to our list, landing exclusively on Max in the US just in time for Halloween 2023. Sister Irene returns for more demonic nun horror by once again coming up against Valak, this time in France. It’s a familiar formula for the iconic franchise that’ll have you jumping out of your seat even when you really do sense it coming.

Talk to Me (2023)

Runtime: 95 mins Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou Age rating: R Where to watch: Netflix (UK), rent or buy (US/Aus)

This Australian movie is one of the best horror explorations of viral teen "dare" sensations, peer pressure and casual drug use, all at once. Someone gets hold of a hand that enables you to speak to the dead when you hold it, providing a thrilling rush unlike anything on Earth. It becomes a hang-out activity that people record each other doing, but not everyone can handle it as well as others, some younger teens naturally want to prove they're as cool as the older ones, and if you do it wrong… well, then things take a turn into some excellent(ly disgusting) body horror.

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)

Runtime: 97 mins Director: Michelle Garza Cervera Age rating: N/A Where to watch: AMC Plus/Shudder (US), Shudder (UK), AMC Plus/Shudder (Aus) 

A 97% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes is one helluva status for this horror indie from Mexican filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera. When pregnant Valeria finds herself cursed by an evil spirit, she must descend even deeper into dark magic to rid herself of the hex before it’s too late. A Shudder exclusive, the horror-themed streaming service is full of niche chillers, and Huesera is in a perfect setting to tell viewers a terrifying tale. You’ll have experienced bone-breaking before in horror films, and you’re sure as heck about to see it again.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Runtime: 96 mins Director: Lee Cronin Age rating: R Where to watch: Max (US), Netflix (UK)

Breathing new life (appropriately) into Sam Raimi’s iconic Evil Dead franchise, horror filmmaker Lee Cronin is at the helm to tell a twisted tale of the Deadites doused in his own unique vision. Two estranged sisters, Beth and Ellie, are thrust together to battle the undead after uncovering the Book of the Dead following an earthquake. It’s a true survival nightmare as the once home-y apartment in Los Angeles becomes a gorey hellhole where your most trusted people are now horrors that taunt you.

Sick (2022)

Runtime: 83 mins Director: John Hyams Age rating: R Where to watch: Peacock (US), Sky/NOW Cinema (UK)

This Peacock Original is pandemic-based horror, because it felt like it was only a matter of time before they made those lockdown days even worse. Quarantining at her family’s lakehouse, Parker (Gideon Adlon) and her best friend Miri think they’re alone in an idyllic location to wile away the days. That is, until they realize they’re definitely not alone. Quarantining felt incredibly long, but we’re sure it feels even longer when you’re just trying to survive just one night alone in the darkness with a knife-wielding killer stalking you.

The Boogeyman (2023)

Runtime: 98 mins Director: Rob Savage Age rating: PG-13 Where to watch: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (UK/Aus)

Based on Stephen King’s 1973 short story of the same name, The Boogeyman is brought to life (through the threat of death) when a therapist and his two daughters are haunted by a terrifying supernatural entity that wants to prey on the family. If it’s not enough that they’re mourning the death of their mother, the girls have to navigate grief whilst being haunted from the shadows. It’s mainstream horror with jump scares a’plenty as The Boogeyman finds the darkest places to hide.

Scream VI (2023)

Runtime: 122 mins Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett Age rating: R Where to watch: Paramount Plus (US/Aus), Paramount Plus/Sky/NOW TV (UK)

It’s been 27 years and counting for the iconic Scream franchise as Scream VI continues to instil fear with this spine-chilling entry. The new cast unites again, after 2022’s Scream V , for another self-aware slasher. A year after the Woodsboro killings, they’ve headed to pastures new in New York City, but Ghostface can’t be escaped. When you think it’s over, they keep coming back. First-rate oh-no-they're-behind-you action, suitably horrifying masked murdering rampages, and a shocking killer reveal makes for another Scream scaring masterclass.

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The 25 Best New Movies to Stream in November 2023

Michael Fassbender is an assassin in David Fincher’s “The Killer” while Sandra Oh and Awkwafina team up in “Quiz Lady”

November has arrived, and with it a bevy of exciting, engaging and fresh new movies to stream on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. As fall is in full swing, the tone and tenor of new movies is starting to shift in a more dramatic direction while studios begin to trot out their awards contenders. A few of those arrive this month, including true stories “Nyad” and “Rustin,” but it’s not all serious business — the Awkwafina/Sandra Oh comedy “Quiz Lady” and David Fincher’s take on a B-movie “The Killer” both arrive this month as well.

And that’s not to mention the cornucopia of library titles that are newly streaming this month, including a host of Christmas classics. Whether it’s Netflix , Prime Video , Max , Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+ or Disney+, we’ve got you covered with our curated selection of the best new movies to stream in November 2023 below.

“The Social Network”

Netflix – Nov. 1

One of the definitive films of the 21st century, David Fincher’s “The Social Network” feels more relevant each and every day. The film chronicles the origins of Facebook through the eyes of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his college friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), covering the ups and downs of those early years and the Machiavellian maneuvering that saw Eduardo shoved out of the company he helped create. A perfect marriage of writer and director, Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-winning screenplay is full of wit and vigor while Fincher brings a meticulous touch with a wry undercurrent of cynicism that would ultimately prove more tame than people knew. And did we mention the Oscar-winning score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross? – Adam Chitwood

“Desperado”

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez became a household name with his second feature, 1995’s “Desperado.” A continuation/remake of his first film, “El Mariachi,” which was famously made for a little over $7,000 after Rodriguez volunteered for a medical experiment. (He was fine!) Impressed by the success of “El Mariachi,” originally intended for the direct-to-video market but given a theatrical release by Columbia, the studio signed Rodriguez for a really-for-real movie. And what a movie it is! Antonio Banderas stars as the titular desperado, a mythical mariachi with a guitar case full of weapons, who is seeking revenge against the dastardly villain who wronged him (the great Joaquim de Almeida, who took over after Raúl Juliá tragically passed away). An absurd amount of fun, the film is dotted with appearances from folks like Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino, Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo, and served as the breakthrough role for Selma Hayek, as the woman who falls in love with the mariachi. If you’ve never seen it, the movie is an absolute blast. Rodriguez followed it up with a third film in the loose trilogy, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” which is fun but doesn’t reach the heights of “Desperado.” – Drew Taylor

“Snake Eyes”

Paramount+ – Nov. 1

Director Brian De Palma and screenwriter David Koepp followed up their blockbuster “Mission: Impossible” with a bonkers thriller starring Nicolas Cage and set inside a seedy Atlantic City casino. It was plagued with production problems, including a rotating docket of stars that dropped in and out of production (including Will Smith) and a visual-effects-laden climax that was completely scrapped (you can see part of it in the great documentary “De Palma”), and yet still manages to be something of a low key De Palma classic. Cage plays a loudmouth, morally compromised cop who is drawn into a dangerous web after the Defense Secretary is murdered at the casino’s boxing match. The conspiracy itself is both needlessly complicated and relatively straightforward, not that any of that matters considering how much fun De Palma is having, from the unbroken opening shot (which brings to mind the filmmaker’s own “The Bonfire of the Vanities”) to a moment where a camera scans over several hotel rooms as we look down, voyeuristically, at what is going on inside of them. And yeah, the whole thing doesn’t quite gel because that spectacular finale was abandoned without cause, but everything up until that point, including great supporting performances from Gary Sinese, John Heard and Carla Gugino, and a beautifully operatic score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, make it very much worth watching. It’s an underrated, grime-covered gem in De Palma’s sparkling oeuvre. – Drew Taylor

“The Counselor”

With “Napoleon” just around the corner, why not celebrate Ridley Scott’s extensive filmography with a very different movie? The only original screenplay famed novelist Cormac McCarthy ever wrote, “The Counselor” stars Michael Fassbender as the titular lawyer, a spineless creep who gets himself involved with (among others) the Mexican cartel as he is trying to marry his beautiful girlfriend (Penelope Cruz). As you can imagine, nothing goes to plan. Full of colorful characters (played by Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt among others), endless philosophizing and bursts of shocking value, it is unlike anything Ridley has ever done. It barely registered upon release, eking out a profit but angering audiences (it earned a scathing D+ CinemaScore), but in the years since its release has been reappraised as something of a cult classic, with high profile defenders like Guillermo del Toro. It speaks to Scott’s versatility and imagination and deserves to be mentioned alongside some of his very best, more widely embraced movies. – Drew Taylor

“An American in Paris”

Prime Video – Nov. 1

While “Singin in the Rain” rightly gets the bulk of the attention, another Gene Kelly musical that will surely lift your spirits is “An American in Paris.” Released in 1951, the film – directed by the great Vincente Minnelli – follows a World War II veteran living in Paris trying to make a living as an artist. Romance and comedy ensue, all set to the music of George Gershwin. This one’s a feast for the eyes and the ears. – Adam Chitwood

The “Batman” Franchise

Program yourself a mini-Batman marathon on Prime Video with four older films in the franchise. Tim Burton breathed live into the franchise and the comic book movie genre as a whole with his 1989 adaptation, which introduced Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader and featured Jack Nicholson as The Joker (and a soundtrack by Prince). But it’s his grisly, playful and wilder sequel “Batman Returns” that stands the tallest in this quartet. Michelle Pfeiffer is phenomenal as Catwoman, Danny DeVito is a devilishly good Penguin and Christopher Walken fits right into Burton’s Gothic aesthetic. Your mileage may vary on the Val Kilmer-led “Batman Forever” and George Clooney-fronted “Batman & Robin” which skewed much younger in audience, but taken as a whole these films offer a fascinating look at the evolution of Batman on the big screen. – Adam Chitwood

“Christmas with the Kranks”

“Christmas with the Kranks” will never be mistaken for a holiday classic. But it still deserves an annual re-watch. It’s the story of a married couple (Christmas king Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis), who decide to skip a big family Christmas with their family (their grown daughter isn’t coming home) and instead book a tropical cruise. Their attitude angers their neighbors and friends, who feel like the Kranks are turning their back on the yuletide spirit. Of course, when their daughter decides to come home (with her new fiancé), the entire community has to band together to put on a Christmas that nobody will ever forget. Written by Chris Columbus and based on a novel by, of all people, John Grisham, with direction from studio exec Joe Roth that can charitably be described as “workmanlike,” there’s still a lot to giggle at in “Christmas with the Kranks” – Dan Aykroyd as the militant pro-Christmas neighbor; a sequence where Tim Allen gets Botox and can’t properly chew hospital cafeteria fruit; and lovely supporting performances by Cheech Marin and M. Emmet Walsh. Yes, it kind of sucks. And yes, we love it all the same. It’d take a real Grinch to fully hate this one. – Drew Taylor

“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”

Prime Video — Nov. 1

Maybe you’ve seen the memes, but in truth Peter Weir’s sea-set 2003 film “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” is a towering achievement, and once you watch it you’ll be angry they didn’t make four more of these. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Russell Crowe stars as Captain Jack Aubrey who is tasked with intercepting a French privateer. Sea battles and a sojourn to the Galapagos Islands ensue, with Paul Bettany playing a Charles Darwin-esque surgeon aboard Crowe’s ship. – Adam Chitwood

“Superman” director Richard Donner and Bill Murray crafted one of the more inventive takes on “A Christmas Carol” with 1988’s “Scrooged,” which reimagines Ebenezer Scrooge as a heartless TV executive who’s visited by three ghosts on the eve of the premiere of his own raunchy twist on the Charles Dickens classic that’s due to air live across the nation. Come for the media satire, stay for Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present. – Adam Chitwood

“The Devil Wears Prada”

Max – Nov. 1

This 2006 bestseller adaptation has become a comfort food favorite for many. “The Devil Wears Prada” stars Anne Hathaway as a college graduate who lands a job at a lauded fashion magazine run by its feared leader, played by Meryl Streep. Emily Blunt co-stars as Hathaway’s co-worker in her breakout role, and Streep picked up an Oscar nomination for her chilly turn as the Anna Wintour-inspired boss. Extremely outdated soundtrack aside, this one’s a wish-fulfillment delight. – Adam Chitwood

Kick the holiday season off in style with one of the purely funniest Christmas movies ever made: “Elf.” Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human raised by elves who travels to New York City in search of his biological father, played by James Caan. It’s a fish-out-of-water story, heartwarming holiday film and “SNL” sketch all in one, complete with Zooey Deschanel as a charming department store worker. Ferrell’s performance is lightning in a bottle – often imitated, never replicated. – Adam Chitwood

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”

Another holiday classic (Max has a lot of these this month, take note). The 1989 film is the third in the “Vacation” franchise but captures something that few holiday films dare to touch: the stress of spending Christmas with your entire family. It’s a very specific yet harsh truth, and Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo milk it for all it’s worth as the Griswolds are beset by visitors far and wide. Highly relatable. – Adam Chitwood

“The Holiday”

Hulu – Nov. 1

Nancy Meyers + Christmas = one of the most rewatchable movies ever made. “The Holiday” premise is kind of genius: Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz play two strangers unlucky in love who decide to swap houses for the holidays, with Winslet’s character relocating to a Los Angeles mansion and Diaz’s character posting up in an English cottage. The vibes are off the charts in this film and Jude Law and Jack Black make for incredibly charming leading men, while a subplot involving old Hollywood and Eli Wallach is an extra treat for movie nerds. – Adam Chitwood

Peacock – Nov. 1

Before Gina Carano rose to fame in “The Mandalorian” and burned it all down thanks to her odious right-wing politics, Steven Soderbergh hired her after seeing her compete in mixed martial arts one night on late night cable. And you know what? As a non-actor she’s surprisingly terrific in “Haywire,” which mixes Soderbergh’s love of James Bond movies and Blaxploitation. Carano plays a spy who is double-crossed by pretty much everybody she works with, leading her to strike out on revenge. Soderbergh massaged her performance, digitally pitching her voice down (and having some of it overdubbed by Laura San Giacomo) and emphasizing her physicality. And he surrounds her with heavy-hitters like Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Mathieu Kassovitz. It’s so much fun, with a rollicking score by David Holmes and some truly outstanding set pieces (including a Fassbender/Carano showdown as good as anything in “The Killer”). It’s a shame that Soderbergh didn’t make five more movies with Carano (and that she veered into the far-right). The world could have used more “Haywire.” – Drew Taylor

“Mystery Men”

Talk about ahead of its time. “Mystery Men” lampooned superheroes (and superhero movies) way back in 1999, before Sam Raimi’s first “Spider-Man” movie and almost a decade before the MCU. You could see why it was something of a disappointment at the time. The movie is based on some independent comics characters and pitched as a movie by Mike Richardson, the head of Dark Horse Comics, who at the time had a development deal with Universal. An all-star cast was assembled, led by Ben Stiller and including William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear, Janeane Garofalo and the late, great Paul Reubens. It’s an odd mash-up of comedic sensibilities but ultimately works, thanks to a nimble script by Neil Cuthbert and stylish direction by Kinka Usher, a commercials whiz who had such a terrible time making “Mystery Men” he went back to commercials and never directed another movie again. Truly, our loss, because the film is hilarious and visually stunning. Also Michael Bay makes a cameo as a villainous frat boy whose only line is “Can we bring the brewskis?” Chances are you probably have never seen “Mystery Men;” it has zero cultural footprint and opened the same weekend as “The Sixth Sense.” But it really is ripe for rediscovery. Check it out. And absolutely bring the brewskis. – Drew Taylor

“The Hunger Games” Movies

Peacock is your destination to prepare for the new “Hunger Games” movie. The first four films in the series tell the story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a reluctant rebel in a dystopian society. Gary Ross directed the adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins’ series with a surprising groundedness, while Francis Lawrence took over as director for the following three films that upped the visual ante as the tone got darker and stakes grew higher. “Catching Fire” is still the high point, but this series is worth a revisit. – Adam Chitwood

Netflix – Nov. 3

Get ready for your new favorite inspirational based-on-a-true-story sports drama. In “Nyad” Annette Bening plays Diana Nyad, who, three decades after giving up professional swimming, decides to do the impossible – swim from Cuba to Florida, a 110-mile journey that will test her mentally, physically and spiritually. And at the age of 60, without a shark cage, might be impossible. Jodie Foster also stars as Bonnie Stoll, Nyad’s former lover, lifelong BFF and current coach. Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the Oscar-winning filmmakers behind “Free Solo,” and photographed by Claudio Miranda (“Top Gun: Maverick”), “Nyad” is a rousing story of perseverance and tenacity and a testament to the unflagging power of the human spirit and the fact that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. It’s full of rousing performances and action sequences that will have you holding your breath. It might be good practice for a career in swimming, actually. Just watch out for the box jellyfish. – Drew Taylor

“Quiz Lady”

Hulu – Nov. 3

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina star in “Quiz Lady,” a new road trip comedy that sees the actresses playing sisters who are looking to retrieve their mother and pay off their mother’s bookie. And the best way to do that, of course, is to compete on a televised game show (hosted by Will Ferrell in full Alex Trebek mode). Yes, this does sound like the “Grab That Dough” episode of “The Golden Girls.” No, that doesn’t make us any less excited. Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor, Tony Hale and the late, great Paul Reubens co-star. This looks like a hoot. – Drew Taylor

Sylvester Stallone comes into the spotlight thanks to his own documentary feature. “Sly” was directed by Thom Zimny, who has also made films on such American icons as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson, and who treats his latest subject with the same kind of reverence. There’s an elemental power to the story of Sylvester Stallone, as a hardscrabble childhood became fodder for a truly zeitgeist-capturing smash in “Rocky.” (While a lot of time is spent on the making and release of the first film, the doc admirably goes into how autobiographical the entire franchise is, from the character’s brushes with fame to the complicated relationship with his son.) Considering Stallone produced the movie, there is a level of superficiality (allegations of steroid abuse and details of earlier romances are untouched), but it’s also probably deeper than you were probably expecting, with an elder Stallone looking back on his life and the heartache he endured, including his troubled relationship with his father. It’s pretty miraculous what he’s accomplished. And this documentary will make you even more appreciative of his life and career. Even if it doesn’t mention “Rhinestone” or Planet Hollywood. – Drew Taylor

“Spider-Man: Far From Home”

Disney+ – Nov. 3

The middle part of the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man trilogy might be the best. It follows Peter Parker (Holland) and his buddies as they embark on a summer trip to Europe, where they encounter Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a character seemingly from another dimension, and are escorted by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). This is the funniest, most light on its feet entry in the saga; it’s not bogged down by excessive mythology and, since it is set right after the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” has some nice emotional weight with Peter struggling with the death of his mentor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) It’s also the most assuredly directed entry in the franchise, with Jon Watts unafraid to mix in elements of teenage sex comedy (particularly during the bus tour section) and gentle psychedelia. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” seems even more charming given how overblown and unnecessarily complicated the MCU has become. – Drew Taylor

“Insidious: The Red Door”

Netflix – Nov. 4

Ready to keep feeling “Insidious?” Because the series, which began with James Wan’s creepy original film back in 2011, is moving forward. “Insidious: The Red Door” is the first entry in the franchise since 2015’s “Insidious: Chapter 3” to feature Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins and Rose Byrne. This time around the family’s young son (Simpkins) is headed to college and starting to get drawn back into the ghoulish netherworld of The Further, with his father (Wilson), going through a divorce and also getting pulled back in. There are some good jump scares and Wilson’s direction is solid. If you’re a fan of the franchise, then this one is for you. – Drew Taylor

“Edge of Tomorrow”

Hulu – Nov. 7

“Edge of Tomorrow” is one of the best movies Tom Cruise has ever made, and that’s saying something. The film takes place in a near future in which aliens have invaded Earth and humans are in an all-out assault on the deadly species. Cruise plays a public affairs officer who is forced to fight in a major invasion of France after he pisses off the wrong person, but when he gets killed almost immediately by an alien during the military push, he wakes up to relive the previous morning all over again. Stuck in a time loop, he works to figure out why he keeps reliving the same day over again and connects with someone else – a famous soldier played by Emily Blunt – who intimately understands his predicament. – Adam Chitwood

“The Killer”

Netflix – Nov. 10

David Fincher returns. The filmmaker behind such darkly hued modern classics as “Zodiac,” “Gone Girl” and “Seven” is back with “The Killer,” based on a French comic book series of the same name by Alexis “Matz” Nolent and Luc Jacamon. Michael Fassbender plays the title role, an anonymous assassin who, after a hit goes wrong, seeks revenge. It’s perhaps Fincher’s most straightforward and deceptively simple movie yet, but there’s plenty underneath the surface, from Fincher’s willing deconstruction of the “cool guy” hit man trope (dating back at least to 1967’s classic “Le Samouraï”) to his barbed commentary on the gig economy and the brutality of freelancing. In the title role, Fassbender exhibits machinelike precision, which is perfect for an exquisitely crafted movie like this, allowing the supporting performances (from Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard and Tilda Swinton) to fill in the necessary color. Fincher and his team of regular collaborators, including cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, editor Kirk Baxter and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, all put in exemplary work. Watch this one as soon as it beams onto Netflix. It’s a movie that everybody will be talking about. – Drew Taylor

“Albert Brooks: Defending My Life”

Max – Nov. 11

Albert Brooks is the subject of a feature-length documentary. It’s about damn time. Brooks, of course, is the Academy Award-nominated comedian and filmmaker behind modern classics like “Lost in America” and “Defending Your Life,” who also happens to be the actor who has turned in memorable work in movies like “Taxi Driver,” “Out of Sight,” “Drive” and, of course, “Finding Nemo.” This new film was directed by Rob Reiner and features archival materials mixed with new interviews with Sharon Stone, Larry David, James L Brooks, Conan O’Brien, Sarah Silverman and Jonah Hill. What more do you want? – Drew Taylor

Netflix – Nov. 17

Bayard Rustin was a civil rights leader and one of the key architects of the March on Washington. And yet his role in the movement has been marginalized, perhaps because he was openly gay, maybe because at the time there were members of the movement uncomfortable with his outspokenness. But his story is about to be told, with Colman Domingo starring in the title role. His Rustin is prickly, for sure, but someone with a true mind for both the emotionality and the practicality of what he and the rest of the movement were trying to get done. (He had a somewhat difficult relationship with Martin Luther King Jr., played here by Aml Ameen.) It’s a rousing, true-life story, brought to life with wit and sophistication by director George C. Wolfe and screenwriters Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black. And if that wasn’t enough, do consider the all-star supporting cast that includes Chris Rock, CCH Pounder, Jeffrey Wright, Audra McDonald, Bill Irwin and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. There’s a reason Domingo is already amassing Oscar buzz. He’s that good. – Drew Taylor

Nov. 21 – Netflix

Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler) is a grade-school iguana who, after 74 years inside a terrarium, longs for life outside of the classroom. But after he starts getting taken home by the kids and helping them with some of their problems, he soon learns that maybe his place is among the children. “Leo” was co-written and produced by Sandler, with his longtime collaborator Robert Smigel co-writing the script and directing with David Wachtenheim and Robert Marianetti. (Together they had all worked on “Hotel Transylvania 2.”) Handsomely produced and surprisingly moving, “Leo” is something of a surprise, a movie whose sweetness sneaks up with you and one where emotionally rich storytelling exists next to bonkers flourishes and laugh-out-loud jokes. It’s an intoxicating confection. “Leo” is one of the very best animated movies of the year. Get ready to fall in love with a weird old lizard. – Drew Taylor

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The 46 Best Movies of 2022

Rom-coms, slashers, the multiverse, and legendary directors. 2022 has got it all.

2022 was a great year for film, and a better year for movies. From movies that will hit you with you an emotional punch that could stick with you for years to giant blockbusters and everything in between, there was something for truly everyone. And we mean everyone: from horror to comedy to superheroes to action, a lot of really innovative movies from talented filmmakers hit the screen. Seriously—from stuff like the majestic-looking Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to The Fabelmans and Tár, we got the full smorgasboard of movies . And, hell, we're a bit more than halfway through the year, and already have tons of movies that have entertained us, made us think, and downright awed us.

A little weird! But mostly just semantics. Anyway, here are the movies we've loved in 2022 (though we haven't seen everything, and this list can always change)—and more that we're still super eager to check out.

The new Scream, the fifth in the slasher whodunit series, had a lot working against it. It's been more than a decade since Scream 4 hit theaters, and in the time since, Wes Craven—who directed every prior movie in the series—died. Another sequel could've been a disaster. Luckily, Scream was made by directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin with the main goal of being something Craven would be proud of—and they achieved that mission. Legacy cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette are joined by exceptional newcomers like Jack Quaid , Jasmin Savoy-Brown, and Jenna Ortega, for a movie that's entertaining and fun, but most importantly just feels like a Scream movie . Scream 6 has already been ordered, and to that we say: hell yes.

jackass forever

The guys—Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, et cetera—may have gotten older, but the fun, thankfully, remains the same. jackass forever is the high-quality lowbrow humor that fans of this franchise have been loving for 20+ years (even longer if you count the original MTV series). And as long as these guys want to keep taking part in this madness, we'll be watching.

Stream It Here

The term "Hitchcockian" gets thrown around far too often, but one filmmaker who can actually try to be like the master of suspense and come through with 100% success is the great Steven Soderbergh. Sodey teams up with Zoë Kravitz for a fantastic thriller that's got a simple, premise: basically a modern version of Rear Window. And it crushes it.

I Want You Back

I Want You Back is fairly standard stuff for a rom-com, but it's got a wildly charismatic cast, led by a pair of great leads ( Charlie Day and Jenny Slate) and fun supporting players (Gina Rodriguez, Manny Jacinto, and Scott Eastwood). The movie zigs a little bit from the standard formula along the way, and ultimately proves to be a worthy comfort movie for anyone who needs one.

We've seen lots of Batman before, but The Batman is something different. We've got a new Dark Knight in Robert Pattinson, an actor known to take huge risks. We've got a super cool Catwoman in Zoë Kravitz, a Zodiac Killer-esque Riddler played by Paul Dano, and a totally unrecognizable Colin Farrell in a brand new take on the Penguin. Director Matt Reeves has helmed more than a few good movies, and his neo-noir, unique take on Batman is another one for the list. Now, we just wait to see what he does next.

Sebastian Stan is having himself a year. While he spent a few weeks grinding everyone' gears as the boorish rocker Tommy Lee in Hulu's Pam & Tommy , he dove all the way into the creepy/horror/ genre with his portrayal of the charming-on-the-surface-but-with-some-dark-secrets boyfriend of Daisy Edgar-Jones ( Normal People ) in Fresh . The movie earned raves out of Sundance and made similar waves when it landed on Hulu and word of its twisted plot hit the internet. Horror fans won't want to miss this fun one.

Writer/director Ti West is at his best when he's in nostalgia-horror mode (check out The House of the Devil! ), and he went for it big time with X, an A24-produced comedy about a group of young filmmakers (including lead Mia Goth, playing a dual role, along with Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, and new Scream Queen Jenna Ortega) who set out to make an adult film in Texas, before shit gets really out of control. The movie is a slow-burn, but really pays off in the end—and is a far better tribute to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre than the other 2022 movie that actually holds that franchise's name .

Ti West and Mia Goth have a second elite horror movie in 2022 with Pearl, an origin story prequel to X. The film follows Goth as the titular character, set against the backdrop of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Where X is more of a slasher, Pearl is a horror-driven character study that builds and builds as it goes; West has described it as a "demented Disney movie," and that feels just about right. You'll need to lock in to appreciate the intricacies of this character-driven story, but the last 20-30 minutes or so—and Goth's masterful performance within it—make it so, so worth it.

With these two X films—and a third, titled MaXXXine coming soon—West and Goth have created the best original horror franchise of the last decade.

We're All Going To The World's Fair

We're All Going To The World's Fair was a hit at Sundance back in 2021, but it was officially released—and later landed on HBO Max —in 2022. The movie is a low-budget but incredibly inventive and interesting type of grounded horror centered on the modern world of internet "challenges" and the kinds of weird things that can stem from them. Part real horror, part unsettling realism, if you'd imagine a combination of Candyman, Unfriended, and The Ring with the terrifying realism of the little-seen Compliance, you'd get We're All Going To the World's Fair. And for my fellow short attention span havers, even more good news: it's only 85 minutes or so long.

The Lost City

We're not going to pretend like this Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum vehicle is about to win any Oscars, but it's fun. Bullock plays a writer of romance adventure novels, while Tatum is the guy depicting her fictional characters on the covers of the books. Add in Daniel Radcliffe as a crazy rich guy who thinks something written in her books is a real treasure hunt, and so he drops the two of them into the jungle. A fun movie with incredibly fun lead performances. A truly great smooth brain cinematic experience.

OK, fine: CODA technically came out in May of 2021. But most of us either saw it in the lead-up to, or aftermath of, the 2022 Academy Awards. Because in case you didn't watch, something far more interesting than the slap-heard-around-the-world happened (in the world of cinema at least): a movie with the majority of its dialogue in American Sign Language won best picture. CODA isn't breaking any film barriers with its story (you've seen this arc before), but it's a delightful, feel-good film that has a few moments that are just beyond affectionate. Troy Kotsur, who is deaf and uses ASL, was a well-deserving winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his role as unfiltered fisherman father Frank Rossi .

Everything Everywhere All At Once

You're going to be hard-pressed to find a movie more universally acclaimed—by both critics and fans alike—than Everything Everywhere All At Once. This multiversal tale has it all: action, drama, humor, intrigue, and even deeply emotional moments. It's a triumph of storytelling and film, and despite its release in the first half of the year, stands a real chance of being an awards contender. You won't forget the performances by Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis any time soon.

The Northman

After doing a combination old-school monster movie/slow-burn psychological thriller with his last movie The Lighthouse, director Robert Eggers switched things up and making an epic with The Northman. Alexander Skarsgård stars as a Viking prince who seeks revenge for his murdered father; Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe are among the rest of the stacked cast. This movie is an artsy take on an epic, and the violence is INTENSE. But stick around for the performances and the sheer visuals of it all; Kidman delivers a knockout, and Anya Taylor-Joy has a late monologue that will blow you away.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

If you're a sucker for meta, you'll be very into The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which centers on Nicolas Cage playing...Nicolas Cage. This fictionalized movie takes the notorious and eccentric actor on an adventure where he gets involved with a drug lord (Pedro Pascal) who loves his work. Imagine Cage's turn in Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation, but updated and made a lot, lot, goofier. Fun stuff.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Superhero and horror movie godfather Sam Raimi gets to a little bit of both of those specialities in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , which has proven to be one of the more polarizing Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to date. We fall on the side of loving it—Raimi's directorial flourishes are all over the movie, which is something that you rarely see in a movie with as many chefs in the kitchen as a Marvel film. At the end of the day, you'll be thinking about the horror elements that the director snuck in, and Elizabeth Olsen's dynamic performance as Wanda Maximoff—who has become without question Marvel's most compelling post- Endgame character.

Top Gun: Maverick

The sequel to Top Gun may have come decades after the 1986 original, but man oh man was it worth it: Maverick is an upgrade in just about every way possible. The action, visuals, and sound here are incredible, and in case you may have been worried, the story and characters aren't too shabby either. Tom Cruise leads the way here of course, but this theme park ride of a movie (in a good way! a great way!) also includes great performances from the likes of Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Glen Powell . The movie has absolutely crushed at the box office, and will continue to be talked about all year long.

The Black Phone

Ethan Hawke plays a creepy villain named The Grabber in The Black Phone, a horror based on a story of the same name from Joe Hill . The movie marks a return to horror for director Scott Derrickson, who most recently directed Doctor Strange, but before that was behind Sinister (also with Hawke!) and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Hustle is both one of the best sports movies and one of the best Adam Sandler movies you'll ever see. That's right—it's joining prestigious lists that include Field of Dreams and Moneyball and Uncut Gems and Billy Madison. The movie tells the story of an NBA scout (Sandler) who believes he's found the next international superstar (played by real-life NBA player Juancho Hernangomez). Countless NBA figures make cameos, and the movie is a compelling and fun watch.

If you were worried about Jordan Peele keeping his winning streak going, well, it's time to stop. Nope is different from his other films, going for something bigger in scale and spectacle than either Get Out or Us, but it still works to perfection, in that exact Jordan Peele manner. AKA: you'll be thinking about Nope, and talking about Nope, long after you have actually seen nope. Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, and Michael Wincott are all fantastic in this movie—one of the very best of the year.

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Bodies Bodies Bodies is one of the most unique, fun, and stylized horror movies in recent memory (and, my goodness, what a great theme song from Charli XCX ). Centered on a group of 20-somethings stuck in a mansion (including Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalava from Borat 2, Rachel Sennott from Shiva Baby , and Pete Davidson among others) during a hurricane (along with an older dude played by Lee Pace), the movie has twists and turns that you won't see coming. It's funny, disturbing, and truly subversive.

Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.

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The Best Movies of 2022

A buzzy psychological thriller, a guaranteed Pixar classic, and (gasp!) an Adam Sandler flick—all right here.

Well, we’re now closing in on the end of 2022, which means that the year in movies is coming to a close. Since the prehistoric days of January, we’ve been compiling and periodically adding to our list of the best films of the year, In this final installment, we’ve added new titles that we here at Esquire believe are not only worth checking out, but will also still hang around in the pop-culture conversation well into 2023—and certainly after year-end Top 10 lists are trotted out.

TÁR follows conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) as she is accused of offering her assistants quid pro quo sexual favors in exchange for promotions in the industry—whether the allegation is true or not. She is viewed as a visionary in the music industry, and her downfall is the first film of the last few years to truly explore the journey of a celebrity getting canceled in real time. Blanchett's performance as Lydia Tár is a tour de force, with Oscar consideration just about guaranteed. You might even say that TÁR is a TÁR iffic film. Sorry. —Josh Rosenberg

The Eternal Daughter

In The Eternal Daughter , Tilda Swinton stars in a dual role as an aging mother and her daughter, who are both returning to a gothic mansion that holds many family memories. Half ghost story and half meditative drama, The Eternal Daughter is clearly a very personal work for director Joanna Hogg. You truly feel the film's depth in its devastating final moments. Swinton also gives so much life to both of her characters that I genuinely often forgot she was playing both roles. —J.R.

Broker is a heartfelt film about found families and children who are left behind. The story is another tear-jerker from South Korean director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who somehow figured out how to follow up 2018’s fantastic Shoplifters with another unforgettable work . Broker is led by Parasite ’s always-captivating Song Kang-ho, who was named Best Actor for his performance at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. —J.R.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , director Ryan Coogler genuinely did the impossible. Even within Marvel’s bloated cinematic universe, Coogler and the cast of Black Panther were able to tell a story that both pays respect to the legendary Chadwick Boseman and lays the groundwork for the franchise to continue beyond the actor’s death. Featuring what may very well be the best film score of the year, Wakanda Forever will make even the most stubborn MCU skeptic shed a tear. —J.R.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh is back with one of the most hilarious dramas of the year. The Banshees of Inisherin takes place on a small island off the coast of Ireland, where a tiff between two friends tears their relationship apart. Starring Brendan Gleeson, a cute miniature donkey named Jenny, and some of Colin Farrell’s greatest eyebrow acting in his career, Banshees is a simple tale about friendship, heartbreak, and the absurdity of everyday life. —J.R.

The Fabelmans

Going into The Fabelmans, I expected everything the film was hyped to be: an incredibly well-painted portrait of Steven Spielberg's coming-of-age as an artist, directed by the legend himself. A holy-shit performance from Michelle Williams. Gabriel LaBelle's arrival. The Fabelmans is all of those things. What I didn't expect was Spielberg's harrowing ultimatum on what it means to choose a life in the arts—and the turmoil caused by merely chasing your dreams. —Brady Langmann

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Praise Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is precisely as fun as it needed to be. Read: a hell of a lot of fun. Following a whole-new crew of A-listers (Kathryn Hahn! Janelle Monáe Dave Bautista!), with whodunit potential, Glass Onion delivers both a tastier mystery and a sharper satire. Did I mention that Daniel Craig's unhinged Benoit Blanc is one more Knives Out mystery away from becoming one of my all-time favorite movie characters? —B.L.

Bones and All

Bones and All lives up to the one-sentence logline provided to the masses: Timothée Chalamet cannibal movie. It's an absolute feast. —B.L.

Jordan Peele has yet to disappoint me. And for that, I am grateful. His third film, Nope —starring Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya—dove into the mysterious and terrifying world of aliens. As with all of Peele’s films, Nope was ripe with metaphors, jump-scares, witty dialogue, and hell, even commentary on humans' relationship to animals. But where Nope truly shines is in its pacing. Clocking in at two hours and ten minutes, the film does an exceptional job of drawing you in without giving anything away. What begins as a slow-paced mystery, quickly turns into a gruesome nightmare. How could we ever forget the chimpanzee scene?!— Bria McNeal

Don't Worry Darling

Sure, Olivia Wilde’s Don't Worry Darling was a bit overhyped, but luckily, it turned out to be incredibly entertaining. The film follows Jack (Harry Styles) and Alice (Florence Pugh), a young couple who live in an idyllic '50s suburb called Victory. Every day, the men in town leave their wives to work on a mysterious project, while the women spend their days drinking, gossiping, shopping, and tending to the house. For Alice, it’s the perfect setup... until a tragic event makes her wonder what the “Victory Project” really is. Though Don’t Worry Darling did include a few plot holes (what happened to the airplane?) Pugh's stunning performance vaults the film on this list.— B.M.

Watch on Amazon

WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story

WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story delivered on the weird. The biopic subject himself, Weird Al Yankovic, co-wrote the film with the first-time feature firector Eric Appel, turning a Funny or Die sketch from a decade ago into a wild and wacky joyride. Daniel Radcliffe takes on the titular role, and although Mr. Potter may seem like an odd choice, it works. Radcliffe takes on the role with panache, rocking Weird Al's curly hair and stache, fighting off Pablo Escobar, making out with Madonna, and coming up with “Eat It” before Michael Jackson. The events in the film may or may not be even close to reality, but they’ll absolutely make you laugh—and maybe even touch your heart.— Sirena He

The Gray Man

You probably heard that The Gray Man wasn’t very good. How do I know? Because the Internet was absolutely buzzing with takedowns of the expensive action thriller from the Russo Brothers in July. It was inescapable and, guess what, the posts weren’t even true. Is the plot a touch thin? Sure. The backstory of the main characters a bit under-developed? Okay, you’ve got me there. Is the villain—a mustached Captain America—flat in his all-out evilness? Jesus! Yes, get off my back. The Gray Man isn’t going to win an Oscar but I’d bet my career that Ryan Gosling knew that when he signed on the dotted line. What it will do, however, is entertain you for all two hours and two minutes of its two hours and two minute runtime. There are big stars. Big biceps. Quips. Things that go boom. Don’t overthink this. — Madison Vain

Watch on Netflix

Crimes of the Future

Over the course of films such as Videodrome and The Fly , Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg built up a cult audience that appreciates his insistence to make movies that are hard to watch. Crimes of the Future , his first theatrical release in eight years, is no exception. He builds a future wherein humans no longer feel pain and are growing new organs. A performance artist (Viggo Mortensen) views his new internal functions as little sculptures, and he puts on live shows in which his partner (Léa Seydoux) performs surgery on him to reveal his latest “creation.” It’s a bizarre film for sure, but Crimes proves that after 50 years, Cronenberg still has some of the best new ideas in sci-fi—even if they’re freaky, twisted, and downright gut-wrenching ideas. —J.R.

Watch on Amazon Watch on AppleTV+

Orphan: First Kill

You may be wondering if the prequel to 2009's Orphan is worth the hype. Or even really needed a follow-up, 13 years later. Well, guess what? Director William Brent Bell's stab at an origin story for the precocious Esther might just be better than the original. Orphan: First Kill finally gives us a look into how Esther came to be in the adoption system, when she’s actually a 30-something-year-old mental institution escapee. Horror movie logic! Never gets old. This prequel takes the wild concept of the original and spins it in an entirely new direction. We don't want to spoil anything for you, but there are quite a few unhinged scenes that’ll have you cheering for an unexpected hero.— Sirena He

Fire Island

Updating Jane Austen is never easy, but in Fire Island , Joel Kim Booster sure makes it look that way. In this moving modern romcom, Pride and Prejudice is transplanted to the Fire Island Pines, where groups of gay men descend on the island in search of a legendary summer adventure. Booster reimagines the Bennet sisters as a tight-knit group of friends vacationing together, casting himself as the proud and principled Noah opposite Conrad Ricamora’s aloof, romance-averse Will. Bowen Yang shines as the Jane Bennet analogue, mapping poignant themes of loneliness and queer desire onto Austen’s familiar tale. Funny, heartfelt, and often vulnerable, Fire Island proves that there are still new shades to discover in Austen.— Adrienne Westenfeld

Watch on Hulu

BWUUUUM. BWUUUUM. BWUUUUM! Look behind you. See him? Yeah, that's Robert Pattinson in the goddamn Batsuit, and he wants to kill you. Or at least rough you up a little. Listen, I was skeptical about Matt Reeves's The Batman — even after I saw it . It's jarring to see a capes and costumes flick like The Batman dare to experiment with cinematography! Music! But after a rewatch at home, my that was pretty good! response to The Batman turned into a do I like this better than Christopher Nolan's Batfilms? I've gotta say: I'd take Pattinson over Bale any day. The Batman dared to be vibe-y, heavy on detective work. That's not even mentioning the nuclear amount of prosthetics that turned an unhinged Colin Farrell into one of my favorite movie villains of all time. Let's just hope Reeves makes the sequel just as special . —B.L.

Watch on HBO Max Watch on Amazon

Watch on AppleTV+

Where the Crawdads Sing

In recent years Reese Witherspoon has taken a deviation from acting, instead putting time and resources into creating beautiful cinematic adaptations of incredible books. She’s given us Little Fires Everywhere , Big Little Lies , and now, Where The Crawdads Sing . For the latter, we really must thank her for taking us through the heartbreaking journey of Kya Clark, (Daisy Edgar Jones), an abandoned young girl who raises herself in the Marshlands of North Carolina. Having been an outcast from her society for much of her life, she now becomes the lead suspect in the murder of her town’s golden boy. As the case unfolds, the story becomes not just a gut wrenching tale of a girl with all odds stacked against her, it unravels into something much greater: a thoughtful commentary on society’s treatment of its rejects. —Ammal Hassan

Jackass Forever

Look, you’re either a fan of the sadistic cinema of Johnny Knoxville and his band of merry pranksters or you’re not. There’s really daylight in between the two poles. But if you’re willing to submit to sheer dumbass joy of their nut-cracking pranks and daredevil stunts, you may find yourself discovering something else along the way: A bunch of aging Evel Knievels who underneath their dim-bulb machismo actually care about one another deeply. Their onscreen camaraderie is as undeniable as it is infectious–and, yes, even kinda touching. If you’ve seen any of the previous Jackass outings then you know what you’re in for. But after two years of soul-grinding political- and pandemic-related heaviosity, watching these jackasses’ exploits feels like a healing balm of idiocy.

Read the Esquire review.

No doubt you heard about this Ben Affleck-Ana de Armas erotic thriller when it first released on Hulu in April. And let me guess, you’ve either heard that’s absolute steaming garbage or that it’s absolute steaming garbage that’s amazing, right? I personally not believe in the idea of “guilty pleasures.” If something brings you joy then why should you feel any remorse? That said, I can see why people would call Deep Water one. It tap-dances on the fine line between cheese and fromage. I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoyed the hell out of it. Based on a kinky Patricia Highsmith story, director Adrian Lyne’s return to his ‘80s erotic-thriller pinnacle ( 9 ½ Weeks , Fatal Attraction ) stars Affleck as a filthy rich dude who made his fortune dealing death as a designer of military drones who now spends his early retirement riding his mountain bike, tending to his collection of snails, and fuming with jealousy while his wife (de Armas) flirts and has affairs with a string of young men in plain sight. Lyne is a maestro of this kind of softcore skinemax stuff, and he ratchets up the heat like the old horndog that he is, but it’s the two stars who turn Deep Water into such naughty fun. Is Affleck behind the disappearances and deaths of his wife’s stud lovers? Is de Armas bedding these guys just because it gets a rise out of him? And what exactly is with the snails? Watch Deep Water and come to your own conclusions. Just don’t let anyone give you any shit about it.

If you’re looking to double down on horror, this creepy Hulu offering makes a solid bottom half on a double-bill with X . Although not quite as clever as that film, Mimi Cave, making her promising feature directing debut, delivers the fright-night goods and them some, especially if your sweet tooth in the genre runs toward Eli Roth’s Hostel films. Fresh is far less misogynistic than Roth’s oeuvre, but gender studies majors and dating-app junkies will still have plenty to discuss after the end credits roll. Normal People ’s Daisy Edgar-Jones plays a young single woman tired of the artifice and theater of modern dating. That is, until she meets Sebastian Stan’s Steve—a handsome, funny surgeon who seems too good to be true. And wouldn’t you know it, he is! It would be churlish to spill too much about the film’s gruesome plot (I didn’t know anything about it going in, and I’m glad I didn’t), so I’ll just say this: Steve takes surgery very seriously (especially in his chic home’s designer dungeon basement) and Edgar-Jones isn’t the first woman to fall for his sadistic ruse. Warning: Not for vegans.

Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.

Chris Nashawaty is a writer, editor, critic, and author of books about Roger Corman & Caddyshack. 

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22 Best Movies New to Streaming in November: ‘Spider-Verse,’ David Fincher’s ‘The Killer’ and More

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

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The holiday movie season kicks off in November, and the streamers are providing no shortage of Christmas movies to subscribers this month. Whether it’s the reemergence of beloved classics (see “Elf” making its way to Hulu) or streamers offering up new originals (Disney+’s “Dashing Through the Snow,” for instance), holiday movie lovers will have plenty of options to help them get into the Christmas spirit this November.

It’s also a big month for Netflix, as the streaming giant debuts several Oscar contenders on streaming after limited theatrical releases last month. Two of Netflix’s biggest acting contenders can be seen in “Nyad” (Annette Bening) and “Rustin” (Colman Domingo), both of which hit streaming before Thanksgiving. Netflix is also launching David Fincher’s “The Killer,” a thriller starring Michael Fassbender as an assassin come undone. But the biggest movie on Netflix this month will undoubtedly be “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the Sony comic book tentpole that is one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023.

Check out the full rundown below of new films coming to streaming this November.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Oct. 31 on Netflix)

Technically, Sony’s exhilarating “Spider-Verse” sequel debuted on Netflix on the final day of October, but that won’t stop it from being the biggest new tentpole on streaming this November. “Across the Spider-Verse” earned critical acclaim and $690 million at the worldwide box office. It was also named  one of the best films of 2023  so far by  Variety:  “Given the pop-art bedazzlement — and the thrilling retro comic-book classicism — of 2018’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ what could the makers of the sequel do for an encore? How about go bigger, go trippier, go even more Jack-Kirby-meets-punk-meets-Warhol-coloring-outside-the-lines crazy, all in the service of the rare story that makes good on the promise of the multiverse: that it’s a space as ominous as it is brain-bending. The adventure of Miles Morales deepens, multiplies, and acquires newly urgent stakes. And seriously, when was the last time you could say a comic-book movie did that?”

The Killer (Nov. 10 on Netflix)

David Fincher’s “The Killer” is based on the French graphic novel series by Alexis Nolent and adapted by the director’s “Fight Club” screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. It stars Michael Fassbender as an assassin who finds himself unraveling after a job gone wrong. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard and Sophie Charlotte. The film, backed by Netflix, world premiered at the Venice Film Festival to strong buzz.

From  Variety’s review : “Just watching Fassbender do push-ups in his black rubber gloves wires up the atmosphere. When the killer puts music on his earbuds (the Smiths’ “Well I Wonder”) to get into his groove, it becomes the needle drop as homicidal pop-opera soundtrack. The target arrives, and as we watch him move about the apartment, the film generates the hypnotic tension one remembers from ‘The Day of the Jackal’ or certain moments in Brian De Palma films. We realize that the chemistry of cinema hasn’t just put us in the killer’s shoes — it has put us on his side. We want to see him do the deed.”

Rustin (Nov. 17 on Netflix)

Emmy winner Colman Domingo is a leading candidate for the best actor Oscar thanks to his riveting performance in Netflix’s “Rustin,” which centers on civil rights leader Bayard Rustin’s attempts to plan and execute the historic March on Washington.  Variety  film critic Peter Debruge  called the film  a “career-defining” moment for Domingo, adding: “Most Americans don’t know the name of the man standing over MLK’s shoulder during the March on Washington, but a galvanizing performance and equally compelling script are sure to change that…Directed by George C. Wolfe with the same passion and conviction that defined its subject, ‘Rustin’ reminds that the pursuit for equality has never been and should never be satisfied with the advancement of a single group.”

Nyad (Nov. 3 on Netflix)

Annette Bening is earning Oscar buzz for best actress thanks to her leading turn in Netflix’s biopic “Nyad,” directed by documentary Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin in their narrative feature debut. The film details the quest by American marathon swimmer Diana Nyad (Bening) to complete a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida through open ocean and without a shark cage. Jodie Foster co-stars.  Variety  film critic Peter Debruge  wrote in his review  that Bening and Foster make a “terrific team,” adding that Bening’s performance “feels every bit as committed as the athlete she’s depicting.” Expect Bening to factor into the upcoming awards season. 

American Symphony (Nov. 29 on Netflix)

Matthew Heineman’s moving “American Symphony” is a bonafide Oscar contender for best documentary feature. The film centers on Grammy-winning music star and Oscar winner Jon Batiste in early 2022 as he finds himself composing an original symphony for a performance at the storied Carnegie Hall in New York City. His career milestone is upended by personal struggle when his life partner, Suleika Jaouad, learns that her long-dormant cancer has returned. From  Variety’s review : “It’s essentially a living-with-cancer drama first and portrait of an artist at work almost secondarily — or at least it’s the only film you’ll see that spends equal amounts of time at Carnegie Hall and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where Jaouad is undergoing bone marrow transplant treatment.”

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (Nov. 3 on Peacock)

Nia Vardalos’ “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” franchise continued this year with a bit of a whimper, as the third installment in the romantic-comedy series only managed $38 million at the worldwide box office. For those who missed the film in theaters, it is now streaming exclusively on Peacock. Vardolos and John Corbett return to lead the franchise, as their couple travels to Greece for the first time with the entire family in tow. From  Variety’s review : “Franchises rarely get better as they go along. Unfortunately, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ is no exception to the rule, as the expanded saga of the Portokalos family becomes less compelling, introspective and funny the more time we spend with them.”

Insidious: The Red Door (Nov. 4 on Netflix)

Patrick Wilson made his feature directorial debut with “Insidious: The Red Door,” the fifth installment in the long-running Blumhouse horror franchise. The film, a summer box office hit with $188 million worldwide, finds the Lambert family still tormented by the trauma created in the original film 10 years prior. They’re forced to put their demons to rest by facing them one last time. From  Variety’s review : “A parallel-reality fear zone. Faces in the dark. The return of repressed family demons. These are the elements that ‘Insidious’ elevated (and that Ari Aster sprung ‘Hereditary’ from), but depending on their design and execution they can be spooky — or banal — as hell. For a first-time director, Patrick Wilson doesn’t do a bad job, but he’s working with tropes that have already been worked to death. It’s time to close this carnival of souls down.”

Leo (Nov. 21 on Netflix)

Adam Sandler’s Netflix run takes an unexpected turn as he provides his voice to the upcoming animated musical comedy “Leo.” Per the official logline, Sandler voices Leo, a class pet who discovers that he only has one year left to live. Faced with the prospect of imminent death, Leo decides to head out and explore the outside world. However, he finds his plans derailed by the students of his classroom and a mean substitute teacher. The comedy boasts an impressive cast, with Bill Burr voicing a fellow class pet and turtle named Squirtle. “Saturday Night Live” alum Cecily Strong, Oscar-nominated “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actor Stephanie Hsu and “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander round out the cast, along with Sandler’s own wife, Jackie Sandler, and their two daughters Sunny Sandler and Sadie Sandler (“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah”).

Quiz Lady (Nov. 3 on Hulu)

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh join forces as mismatched sisters in Hulu’s zany original comedy film “Quiz Show,” launching on the streaming platform this month after a successful world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The two actors play estranged sisters who are forced to cover their mother’s gambling debts. Their bright idea? Set out on a road trip so that Awkwafina’s Anne can participate in her favorite gameshow and win the ultimate cash prize. The film is directed by Jessica Yu, who won the Oscar for best documentary short subject in 1996 for “Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien.” Variety wrote in its review that the two stars are “hilarious together,” and their crackling chemistry make “Quiz Lady” worth the watch.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (Nov. 17 on Peacock)

Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, the “Saturday Night Live” trio better known as Please Don’t Destroy, are becoming movie stars in their Judd Apatow-produced feature “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain,” launching Nov. 17 on Peacock. Here’s the official logline: “John Goodman narrates the adventure of Ben, Martin and John, three childhood friends turned deadbeat co-workers, who fend off hairless bears, desperate park rangers (played by Meg Stalter and X Mayo) and a hypocritical cult leader (Bowen Yang) in the hopes of finding a priceless treasure, only to discover that finding the treasure is the easiest part of their journey. Oh, and Conan O’Brien plays Ben’s dad in it.” The film was originally intended for a theatrical release in August, but Universal pivoted to a streaming release instead.

Now and Then: Last Beatles Song (Nov. 1 on Disney+)

Disney+ served as a hot destination for Beatles fans when it world premiered Peter Jackson’s acclaimed “Get Back” documentary in 2021. Now the streamer will once again be a must-have for fans as it launches the 12-minute documentary “Now and Then,” which chronicles the decades-long construction of the “final” Beatles song of the same name. The single “Now and Then” is being touted as the group’s‘ “last song,” and it includes contributions from all four members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Written and directed by Oliver Murray, the mini-doc includes behind-the-scenes footage of the track’s making and launches a day before the song gets officially released.

Sly (Nov. 3 on Netflix)

Directed by Thom Zimny (“Springsteen on Broadway,” “Elvis Presley: The Searcher”), “Sly” is described as an “intimate and unexpected look” at the early life of the action star Sylvester Stallone and a reflection on his decade-spanning career. The documentary chronicles Stallone’s rough beginnings as a troubled kid in New York City, where he would distract himself from the outside world by writing movie scripts. His career exploded when “Rocky,” a role he created and had to fight to play, catapulted him to a new level of fame.  Variety  film critic Owen Gleiberman called the documentary “headier than you expect” in  his review , adding that it’s “an infectious and fascinating portrait of Stallone and his movies.”

Elf (Nov. 23 on Hulu)

Will Ferrell’s holiday classic “Elf” arrives on Hulu this month just in time to kick off the holiday movie season on streaming. From  Variety’s review : “Ferrell graduates to his first solo leading role with flying colors in a holiday comedy about a clueless innocent who saves Christmas and fosters a renewed sense of family in his reluctant father. Sweet-natured outsider fantasy neither skimps on nor overplays its sentimentality, which should make it a major family audience draw through the holidays.”

Spider-Man: Far From Home (Nov. 3 on Disney+)

Spider-Man finally web-slinged onto Disney+ in April with the debuts of Tobey Maguire’s trilogy and Andrew Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” These films were the first batch of Sony-owned superhero movies to debut on the Disney streamer. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man joined wit the May arrival of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” followed by the launch of Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” in August. Now another Tom Holland effort, 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” joins the Disney+ streaming library this month. Holland’s Peter Parker heads overseas with his classmates but is forced to bring Spider-Man with him when a global crisis involving Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes shape. From  Variety’s review : “Tom Holland grows in the role of Peter Parker in a ‘Spider-Man’ sequel that spins a web of illusion, proving the MCU can fly after the Avengers”

Dashing Through the Snow (Nov. 17 on Disney+)

From Disney: “Eddie Garrick (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) is a good-hearted man who has turned his back on Christmas due to a traumatic childhood experience. At the request of his wife Allison Garrick (Teyonah Parris), from whom he is separated, Eddie takes his 8-year-old daughter Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum) out with him on Christmas Eve, where they meet a mysterious man in a red suit named Nick (Lil Rel Howery). Eddie, who is a social worker, thinks the man is delusional and needs professional help, but when he evokes the wrath of a local politician (Oscar Nuñez), he and his daughter are taken on a magical adventure that just might restore his faith in Christmas.” The film is directed by Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Fantastic Four”) and written by Scott Rosenberg.

“The Hunger Games” Franchise  (Nov. 1 on Peacock)

With $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office, the four-film “Hunger Games” franchise was such a worldwide sensation that it’s no surprise a prequel film, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” is on the way this month. Before “Ballad” hits theaters Nov. 17, all four original “Hunger Games” movies are arriving on Peacock so that fans can catch-up on all the brutal twists and turns of Panem. Jennifer Lawrence was already an Oscar nominee for “Winter’s Bone” when the first Gary Ross-directed “The Hunger Games” debuted and made her an instant worldwide star. 

Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (Nov. 11 on Max)

The upcoming HBO documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” chronicles the comedian’s very early work all the way to present day while exploring the evolution of his career and the impact he has had on the world of comedy. Championing Brooks’ influence in the comedy and entertainment world is a host of celebrity interviewees that include Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Wanda Sykes, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Steven Spielberg, Sarah Silverman, David Letterman, Larry David, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Sharon Stone, Brian Williams, Anthony Jeselnik, Tiffany Haddish, Alana Haim, Nikki Glaser, James L. Brooks and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Chile 76 (Nov. 1 on Kino Film Collection)

Kino Lorber’s new streaming library launches this month, and one of the first highlights among its offerings is Manuela Martelli’s expertly crafted character study “Chile ’76.” The film, set three years after dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rise, centers on a middle class housewife who reluctantly becomes a nurse to a young man who is fighting in the resistance against Pinochet’s rule. From  Variety’s review : “Martelli’s threading of the personal and the political doesn’t just splinter the story out into her country’s history, but formally toys with genre expectations. What begins as a muted marital melodrama slowly boils into a restrained political thriller, with an ease and skill all the more impressive in a first feature.”

Little Richard: I Am Everything (Nov. 23 on Max)

“Lisa Cortés’s film, in perceiving Little Richard as a wild genius of Black and queer culture, sees him more clearly than ever,” reads  Variety’s review  of “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” which was named a Critic’s Pick out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film uses archival footage and performances to dive deep into the entertainer’s upbringing and music career, while featuring interviews with the likes of Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Billy Porter, Nile Rodgers and John Waters. The review adds: “It’s the enthralling documentary that Little Richard deserves. It’s a movie that understands, from the inside out, what a great and transgressive artist he was, how his starburst brilliance shifted the whole energy of the culture — but also how the astonishing radical nature of what he did got shoved under the rug of the official narrative of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story (Nov. 17 on Prime Video)

Tyler Perry’s historic Hollywood rise gets the documentary treatment in “Maxine’s Baby.” Directed by Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz, the documentary presents a “tender, intimate portrait” of the director, actor and producer, with its title being a nod to his late mother Willie Maxine Perry, who died in 2009. Born Emmitt Perry Jr., he changed his name to Tyler Perry due to his estranged relationship with his abusive father. “I just could not understand how this man could look at me and hate me with such passion,” Perry recalls in the doc. But his father wasn’t his only adversary. Once Perry arrived in Hollywood, he battled other naysayers who couldn’t see the vision for his career. “I had all these people tell me what I would never be. Nobody said what I could be,” Perry adds.

Evil Dead Rise (Nov. 23 on Prime Video)

“Evil Dead Rise” has been available to stream on Max, but it’s now making its Amazon Prime Video debut at no extra cost to subscribers. Halloween may be over, but demons last all year. The latest blood-soaked entry in the “Evil Dead” franchise is set in a single apartment complex as evil spirits possess a single mother and put her three children in harm’s way. From  Variety’s review : “When the lights go out, the body count mounts in Lee Cronin’s effective urban nightmare… A kinda-sorta sequel, it offers incontrovertible evidence that predatory and possessive bogeymen are just as frightful when their hunting ground shifts from a cabin in a dark corner of the woods to a gone-to-seed apartment building in downtown Los Angeles.”

A Good Person (Nov. 28 on Prime Video)

Florence Pugh headlines Zach Braff’s “A Good Person” as an addict trying to overcome personal demons after accidentally causing a tragic accident involving her boyfriend’s family.  Variety  film critic Owen Gleiberman  called the film  a “return to form” for Braff as a director, adding: “It’s an addiction drama that has scenes you can bicker with, a few contrivances, and other peccadilloes. Yet beneath the middlebrow situational conventionality, there’s a core of raw feeling and truth to it. The movie creates a highly specific situation — about its heroine, and about an entire family — that it carries right through. It’s not a melodrama about scraping bottom. It’s a story of lives that have been frozen by tragedy, and of how the unfreezing happens.”

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The 10 best new movies on netflix in november 2023.

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'Whiplash' stars Miles Teller as Andrew, an ambitious young drummer.

The new month has brought a fresh slate of movies to Netflix's NFLX extensive catalog. As we dive into the month, a mix of critically acclaimed dramas, exciting thrillers, and family-friendly features have made their way to the streaming service, offering something for every type of movie enthusiast. From Oscar-buzzed new releases to beloved classics now available at the click of a button, I've curated a list of the top ten movies you can't miss on Netflix in November 2023.

In the first section, you’ll find the ten movies I love the most, the ones I find most intriguing. And at the end of the article, you’ll find a comprehensive breakdown of every single new movie available to Netflix subscribers. All in all, I’ll provide a complete rundown of the standout additions that are worth adding to your watchlist.

The 10 Best New Movies on Netflix in November 2023

Nyad (2023).

NYAD dives deep into the extraordinary tale of Diana Nyad, charting her stirring return to the grueling world of marathon swimming. Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmakers Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the film stars Annette Bening as Diana, a former swimming champion turned journalist, who at the cusp of her sixtieth birthday, sets her sights on a daunting goal that once slipped through her fingers: the arduous 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. Unshaken by the looming dangers of the open sea and without the protection of a shark cage, Diana, supported by her steadfast friend and coach Bonnie Stoll, portrayed by Jodie Foster, embarks on an exhilarating quest that challenges both body and spirit.

Has ‘Loki’ Season 2 Been A Mini ‘Avengers Endgame’ This Whole Time?

New tv shows and movies to stream this weekend on netflix hulu paramount apple tv and more, controversial sound of freedom coming to amazon prime next month, whiplash (2014).

Whiplash is a tour-de-force drama that strikes a chord with its intense portrayal of ambition and obsession in the pursuit of artistic greatness. Directed with a rhythmic brilliance by Damien Chazelle, the film features a riveting performance by Miles Teller as an aspiring jazz drummer, whose passion is tested by a fearsome instructor, played masterfully by J.K. Simmons. The movie's electrifying music sequences and psychological tension form a crescendo that captivates viewers, making it a must-watch for anyone who appreciates a deep dive into the sacrifices and struggles on the road to perfection. Its pulse-pounding storytelling and high-stakes emotion will leave you as breathless as its final drum solo.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

In Drag Me to Hell , director Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots and delivers a terrifyingly fun ride that ingeniously blends jump scares with a wicked sense of humor. Alison Lohman stars as a loan officer cursed by an elderly woman she's wronged, leading to a series of spine-chilling and often grotesquely comic encounters. Raimi’s knack for creating suspense with a side of slapstick shines throughout, offering a viewing experience perfect for those who love their horror with equal parts scares and laughs. This film's creative special effects and relentless pace make it an exhilarating watch that’s both an ode to classic horror and a fresh take on the genre.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Big Lebowski rolls out an effortlessly cool vibe in a story that's as meandering and hypnotic as a smoke-filled bowling alley. This Coen Brothers' cult classic features Jeff Bridges as ‘The Dude’, whose slacker existence is upended in a case of mistaken identity. With a supporting cast including John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, the film weaves a rich tapestry of bizarre characters and memorable dialogue. It’s a film that invites viewers to indulge in its quirky world, rewarding those who appreciate sharp wit and a story that abides by no rules but its own. Fans of offbeat comedies with a dash of noir should definitely check out this iconic flick for its unique humor and lasting charm.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Pitch Perfect hits a high note in the world of musical comedies, directed with an upbeat tempo by Jason Moore. Starring Anna Kendrick as a rebellious newcomer to the competitive college a cappella scene, this film is packed with dazzling performances and heartwarming humor. With a cast that harmonizes comedy with catchy covers, including Rebel Wilson's breakout performance, it's a movie that resonates with anyone who loves a good underdog story with a side of song and dance. Pitch Perfect is the perfect pick for a feel-good movie night that will have you tapping your feet and maybe even singing along.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi thrusts viewers into the intensity of modern warfare, with Michael Bay at the helm, bringing his signature explosive action to the screen. This gripping tale of heroism is based on the true events of the 2012 Benghazi attack, as John Krasinski leads a cast of elite ex-military operators on a mission to protect their CIA outpost. The film is a must-see for action enthusiasts and history buffs alike, providing a visceral depiction of bravery and sacrifice. With its unrelenting suspense and powerful performances, 13 Hours offers a stark reminder of the chaos of conflict and the valor of those who face it head-on.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World offers a high-voltage, comic book-style escapade directed by Edgar Wright that's as visually inventive as it is narratively off-the-wall. Michael Cera stars as the eponymous Scott, a bass guitarist who must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes in an array of fantastical duels. A visual feast combining the aesthetics of video games and indie comics, the film is an adrenaline-pumping ride for fans of alternative romance, sharp humor, and dynamic storytelling. This unique cinematic experience stands out for its originality, fast-paced action, and clever script, making it a cult favorite that continues to charm and entertain audiences eager for a blend of comedy, action, and romance.

Sixteen Candles (1984)

Sixteen Candles is a quintessential coming-of-age comedy that continues to be a touchstone for teen angst and romance. Directed by John Hughes, it features Molly Ringwald in her breakout role as the lovelorn Samantha Baker, grappling with the chaos of her sixteenth birthday which her family has forgotten. The film's blend of heartfelt moments and 80s-era humor makes it a must-watch for those who appreciate the highs and lows of growing up. Hughes's keen understanding of teenage woes and comedic timing shine through, ensuring that Sixteen Candles remains a beloved classic for new generations to discover.

The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network , directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, delivers a riveting drama about the controversial birth of Facebook. Jesse Eisenberg portrays Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard undergrad who becomes the youngest billionaire in history, but not without sparking a series of legal battles and personal conflicts. This film stands out for its sharp dialogue, compelling narrative, and award-winning score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It's a film that offers more than just a biopic; it's a study of ambition, betrayal, and the complex relationships that fuel the drive for success in the digital age.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

13 Going on 30 brings a charming twist to the wish-fulfillment fantasy genre, directed with a warm-hearted spirit by Gary Winick. Jennifer Garner shines as Jenna Rink, who makes an extraordinary leap from awkward adolescence to a glamorous life as a 30-year-old fashion magazine editor overnight. It's a story that resonates with anyone who's ever been tempted to rush through life, only to realize the importance of the journey. With a mix of comedy, romance, and a touch of 80s nostalgia, 13 Going on 30 teaches us that the essence of who we are is often found in the dreams of our youth.

Every New Movie on Netflix in October 2023

• November 1: 13 Going on 30 (2004); 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016); Black Christmas (2019); Cold Pursuit (2019); Desperado (1995); Drag Me to Hell (2009); Downsizing (2017); Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019); Godzilla vs. Kong (2021); Hurricane Season (2023); Locked In (2023); Nuovo Olimpo (2023); Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009); Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 (2015); Pitch Perfect (2012); Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010); Sherlock Gnomes (2018); Sixteen Candles (1984); Strawberry Shortcake: Perfect Holiday (2023); Ted 2 (2015); The Addams Family (1991); The Big Lebowski (1998); The Change-Up (2011); The Mummy (2017); The Scorpion King (2002); The Social Network (2010); The Transporter: Refuelled (2015); Think Like A Dog (2020); Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion: The Movie (2006); Whiplash (2014); Wingwomen / Voleuses (2023); Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)
• November 3: NYAD (2023); Vacaciones de verano (2023)

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17 Best Movies to Watch During Hanukkah

Stream these films during all eight nights with friends and family.

Shout out to Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights for its overt reference of Hanukkah in the film’s title and plot alike, but how many other Hanukkah movies come immediately to your mind? (Go ahead, we’ll wait.)

The fact is, when it comes to holiday movies, the Jewish community is badly lacking in representation. But that doesn’t have to mean your TV must go dark during the Festival of Lights. That's why we've rounded up the best movies to watch during Hanukkah . Our list includes a range of films just right for all eight nights of Hanukkah, for viewers of all ages.

So light the menorah and get your decorations ready , stack a mountain of delicious latkes and sufganiyot on the coffee table, and cozy up under a blanket on the couch for these Hanukkah movies and movies with Jewish themes, from poignant to just plain silly.

Need more entertainment? Look to these Hanukkah games , party ideas and amazing recipes !

Menorah in the Middle

Lucy DeVito, Jonah Platt and Sarah Silverman star in this movie that came out in 2022. Sarah (played by Lucy) returns home for the holiday to introduce her family to her fiancé, but that becomes the least stressful event of her stay after she finds out her family is on the verge of losing its bakery ... and her new love is the one who wants to take it over.

Eight Gifts of Hanukkah

Inbar Lavi stars as Sara Levin, an optometrist who receives a special gift each night of Hanukkah from a secret admirer. It has all the hallmarks of, well, a Hallmark movie, but it is the company's first fully Hanukkah-focused film.

Mistletoe & Menorahs

A hard-working toy exec has to learn about Hanukkah — fast — to seal the deal with a new account. So she reaches out to her co-worker’s friend, who’s consumed with trying to turn his bachelor pad into a winter wonderland to impress his girlfriend’s dad. After initially failing to get along, they realize they need each other’s holiday knowledge. Eventually, they learn just how much they have in common… and, of course, romance ensues.

Eight Crazy Nights

Adam Sandler plays a 30-something party animal who overdoes it enough to face legal trouble. It’s the holidays, so the judge gives Sandler’s character one more chance to redeem himself: He can avoid jail time by doing community service as a referee for the youth basketball league. He thinks it’s a great deal… until he meets his boss. Although it's animated, it’s hardly for the littlest kids: Toilet jokes and other off-color humor make this one PG-13.

All I Want Is Christmas

This flick plays on the theme that Jewish kids feel left out of all the magic that goes along with Christmas. Here, a Jewish boy on his way to disappointingly sunny Florida tries to pursue his holiday dreams by swapping plane tickets with another kid, who is on his way to a wintry wonderland in Christmastown, Washington.

Little Fockers

This sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004) provides some comedy relief for your Hanukkah nights. Or at least it tries to: the third film in the trilogy was utterly panned by critics. In this plot, the Fockers meet up for a celebratory holiday gathering. And for its misses, at least you get Barbra Streisand and Ben Stiller — and that’s a lot.

Hitched For The Holidays

A commitmentphobic bachelor goes online in an attempt to fulfill his grandmother’s dying wish to see him find a partner. There, he meets another Jewish single New Yorker trying to appease her family by appearing to be coupled up. The pair agrees to pretend they’re together to get through Christmas and Hanukkah with their families. Spoiler: Romance ensues.

Double Holiday

Hallmark Channel’s much-touted Hanukkah movie is also kind of Christmas-y, which isn’t surprising. In the movie, a hard-charging career woman gets a promotion opportunity that dashes her Hanukkah plans. The boss asks her, as well as her main competitor for the promotion, to work together on the office Christmas party to demonstrate cooperation and flexibility.

Crossing Delancey

A single woman in New York is consumed by the bookshop where she works and the intellectual community that swirls around it. But her grandmother isn’t exactly satisfied with this lifestyle for her granddaughter, so she enlists the services of a Jewish matchmaker. Enter: a potential suitor, who is a working-class Jewish pickle vendor, vying for her attention against another suitor, who is decidedly not those things.

A Serious Man

If you are a fan of the Coen brothers’ style of filmmaking, here’s your dark Hanukkah movie. It focuses on a Jewish physics lecturer in Minnesota in the ‘60s; he is a very serious man. He’s also in the midst of a tangle of utterly messed-up life circumstances, and seeks advice from rabbis to help steer him.

Full-Court Miracle

Disney Channel based this original Hanukkah movie on the real story of Lamont Carr, the beloved basketball coach. In the movie, a college basketball star is sidelined from the game because of a knee injury, so he becomes the head coach of a yeshiva’s hapless team in Philadelphia.

The Hebrew Hammer

The Hebrew Hammer is an orthodox Jew (played by Adam Goldberg) who goes on a mission to save Hanukka from Santa’s evil son, Damian (Andy Dick), who wants to destroy it along with Kwanzaa.

The Night Before

It’s Christmas Eve and a group of childhood guy friends (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie) usually spend the night getting wild. But they’re adulting now, so the tradition is changing big time. Still, they set out to find the most major Christmas party ever, the Nutcracker Ball. As usual, Rogen brings the Jewish humor in this holiday flick.

An American Pickle

Seth Rogen stars as both Ben and Herschel Greenbaum in this movie, which dives into Jewish family love and tradition across generations. It’s not specifically a Hanukkah movie per se, but it’s funny, poignant and actually kind of deep fare that’s just right for holiday time. Originally available on HBO Max, this movie is now widely available for streaming.

An American Tail

Who could forget the ‘80s’ lovable animated Fievel? He’s a young Russian mouse who finds himself separated from his parents on the way to America, where they’re headed for safety because they think it’s a land without cats. When he gets there, he tries to find his family and keep up hope… all while dodging cats.

Fiddler On the Roof

This musical comedy-drama is an adaptation of the 1964 Broadway show by the same name. The plot focuses on Tevye, a poor dad to five daughters in pre-revolutionary Russia, and his efforts to keep up Jewish traditions against antisemitism — and the will of his kids.

Holiday Date

Oops, this Hallmark Channel Hanukkah movie is kind of about Christmas. But suspend your disbelief and enjoy: A woman gets dumped right before Christmas and enlists an actor to play her boyfriend for the holidays. But he turns out to be Jewish, which isn’t exactly what her family was expecting.

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2022 Movie List

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

PG-13 | 161 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T'Challa.

Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Letitia Wright , Lupita Nyong'o , Danai Gurira , Winston Duke

Votes: 288,742 | Gross: $453.72M

2. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.

Director: Taika Waititi | Stars: Chris Hemsworth , Natalie Portman , Christian Bale , Tessa Thompson

Votes: 381,929 | Gross: $343.26M

3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl from his dreams who can travel across multiverses, to battle multiple threats, including other-universe versions of himself, which threaten to wipe out millions across the multiverse. They seek help from Wanda the Scarlet Witch, Wong and others.

Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch , Elizabeth Olsen , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Benedict Wong

Votes: 457,643 | Gross: $411.33M

4. Halloween Ends (2022)

R | 111 min | Horror, Thriller

The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in the final installment of this trilogy.

Director: David Gordon Green | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis , Andi Matichak , James Jude Courtney , Rohan Campbell

Votes: 68,061

5. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

PG-13 | 192 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , Sigourney Weaver , Stephen Lang

Votes: 465,946 | Gross: $659.68M

6. Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

PG-13 | 147 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, Biosyn operatives attempt to track down Maisie Lockwood, while Dr Ellie Sattler investigates a genetically engineered swarm of giant insects.

Director: Colin Trevorrow | Stars: Chris Pratt , Bryce Dallas Howard , Laura Dern , Sam Neill

Votes: 194,135 | Gross: $376.85M

7. The Batman (2022)

PG-13 | 176 min | Action, Crime, Drama

When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.

Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Robert Pattinson , Zoë Kravitz , Jeffrey Wright , Colin Farrell

Votes: 740,343 | Gross: $369.35M

8. Scream (I) (2022)

R | 114 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

25 years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, Calif., a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin , Tyler Gillett | Stars: Neve Campbell , Courteney Cox , David Arquette , Melissa Barrera

Votes: 150,368 | Gross: $81.64M

9. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022 TV Special)

TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket, Mantis, and Groot engage in some spirited shenanigans in an all-new original special created for Disney+.

Director: James Gunn | Stars: Luke Klein , Sean Gunn , Michael Rooker , Pom Klementieff

Votes: 88,435

10. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

PG-13 | 142 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Professor Albus Dumbledore must assist Newt Scamander and his partners as Grindelwald begins to lead an army to eliminate all Muggles.

Director: David Yates | Stars: Eddie Redmayne , Jude Law , Ezra Miller , Dan Fogler

Votes: 160,800 | Gross: $95.85M

11. Uncharted (2022)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure

Street-smart Nathan Drake is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor "Sully" Sullivan to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan, and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada.

Director: Ruben Fleischer | Stars: Tom Holland , Mark Wahlberg , Antonio Banderas , Sophia Ali

Votes: 240,158 | Gross: $148.65M

12. Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

PG | 87 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.

Directors: Kyle Balda , Brad Ableson , Jonathan del Val | Stars: Steve Carell , Pierre Coffin , Alan Arkin , Taraji P. Henson

Votes: 79,830 | Gross: $369.70M

13. Morbius (2022)

PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

Director: Daniel Espinosa | Stars: Jared Leto , Matt Smith , Adria Arjona , Jared Harris

Votes: 143,631 | Gross: $73.87M

14. Black Adam (2022)

PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods--and imprisoned just as quickly--Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra | Stars: Dwayne Johnson , Aldis Hodge , Pierce Brosnan , Noah Centineo

Votes: 261,877 | Gross: $168.15M

15. Glass Onion (2022)

PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig , Edward Norton , Kate Hudson , Dave Bautista

Votes: 415,384

16. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

PG | 102 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish.

Directors: Joel Crawford , Januel Mercado | Stars: Antonio Banderas , Salma Hayek , Harvey Guillén , Florence Pugh

Votes: 158,844 | Gross: $168.46M

17. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Drama

After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

Director: Joseph Kosinski | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jennifer Connelly , Miles Teller , Val Kilmer

Votes: 638,382 | Gross: $718.73M

18. Jackass Forever (2022)

R | 96 min | Documentary, Action, Comedy

After 11 years, the Jackass crew is back for another crusade.

Director: Jeff Tremaine | Stars: Johnny Knoxville , Steve-O , Chris Pontius , Dave England

Votes: 49,912

19. Moonfall (2022)

PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit and sends it hurtling on a collision course toward earth.

Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Halle Berry , Patrick Wilson , John Bradley , Charlie Plummer

Votes: 94,302 | Gross: $19.06M

20. Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania (2022)

After one experiment, Johnny turns into a monster and everyone else becomes human. Now it has to be seen whether they will be able to reverse this experiment.

Directors: Derek Drymon , Jennifer Kluska | Stars: Andy Samberg , Selena Gomez , Kathryn Hahn , Jim Gaffigan

Votes: 36,785

21. The Tinder Swindler (2022)

TV-MA | 114 min | Documentary, Crime

Posing as a wealthy, jet-setting diamond mogul, he wooed women online, then conned them out of millions of dollars. Now some victims plan for payback.

Director: Felicity Morris | Stars: Simon Leviev , Cecilie Fjellhøy , Ayleen Charlotte , Pernilla Sjöholm

Votes: 70,852

22. Bullet Train (I) (2022)

R | 127 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller

Five assassins aboard a swiftly-moving bullet train find out that their missions have something in common.

Director: David Leitch | Stars: Brad Pitt , Joey King , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Brian Tyree Henry

Votes: 391,353 | Gross: $103.37M

23. The Lost City (2022)

PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.

Directors: Aaron Nee , Adam Nee | Stars: Sandra Bullock , Channing Tatum , Daniel Radcliffe , Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Votes: 144,592 | Gross: $105.34M

24. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

PG | 117 min | Animation, Drama, Family

A father's wish magically brings a wooden boy to life in Italy, giving him a chance to care for the child.

Directors: Guillermo del Toro , Mark Gustafson | Stars: Ewan McGregor , David Bradley , Gregory Mann , Burn Gorman

Votes: 106,248

25. Turning Red (2022)

PG | 100 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

A thirteen-year-old girl named Mei Lee is torn between staying her mother's dutiful daughter and the changes of adolescence. And as if the challenges were not enough, whenever she gets overly excited she transforms into a giant red panda.

Director: Domee Shi | Stars: Rosalie Chiang , Sandra Oh , Ava Morse , Hyein Park

Votes: 142,674

26. Return to Space (2022)

TV-MA | 128 min | Documentary

Offering rare inside access to NASA and SpaceX, this is the thrilling story of the nearly 20 year journey to send American astronauts back to space aboard U.S. rockets, from filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.

Directors: Jimmy Chin , Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | Stars: Elon Musk , Bob Behnken , Douglas Hurley , Jim Bridenstine

Votes: 5,484

27. The Adam Project (2022)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future.

Director: Shawn Levy | Stars: Ryan Reynolds , Walker Scobell , Mark Ruffalo , Jennifer Garner

Votes: 221,875

28. Jackass 4.5 (2022 Video)

TV-MA | 90 min | Documentary, Action, Comedy

Through outrageous, never-before-seen footage, witness the making of the Jackass crew's last go at wild stunts.

Votes: 13,677

29. Prey (I) (2022)

R | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Naru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.

Director: Dan Trachtenberg | Stars: Amber Midthunder , Dakota Beavers , Dane DiLiegro , Stormee Kipp

Votes: 216,870

30. Werewolf by Night (2022 TV Special)

TV-14 | 52 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Follows a lycanthrope superhero who fights evil using the abilities given to him by a curse brought on by his bloodline.

Director: Michael Giacchino | Stars: Gael García Bernal , Laura Donnelly , Harriet Sansom Harris , Kirk R. Thatcher

Votes: 67,262

31. Blonde (2022)

NC-17 | 167 min | Drama, History

The story of American actress Marilyn Monroe , covering her love and professional lives.

Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Ana de Armas , Lily Fisher , Julianne Nicholson , Tygh Runyan

Votes: 69,178

32. Vesper (2022)

Not Rated | 114 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Struggling to survive with her father after the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, 13-year-old Vesper must use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the future.

Directors: Kristina Buozyte , Bruno Samper | Stars: Raffiella Chapman , Eddie Marsan , Rosy McEwen , Richard Brake

Votes: 20,042

33. Violent Night (2022)

R | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller

When a group of mercenaries attack the estate of a wealthy family, Santa Claus must step in to save the day (and Christmas).

Director: Tommy Wirkola | Stars: David Harbour , John Leguizamo , Beverly D'Angelo , Alex Hassell

Votes: 78,847

34. Spirited (2022)

PG-13 | 127 min | Comedy, Family, Musical

A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey.

Director: Sean Anders | Stars: Will Ferrell , Ryan Reynolds , Octavia Spencer , Patrick Page

Votes: 43,356

35. Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel.

Director: Mike Barker | Stars: Mila Kunis , Chiara Aurelia , Finn Wittrock , Connie Britton

Votes: 53,753

36. Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

PG-13 | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

Now a detective-for-hire, Enola Holmes takes on her first official case to find a missing girl as the sparks of a dangerous conspiracy ignite a mystery that requires the help of friends - and Sherlock himself - to unravel.

Director: Harry Bradbeer | Stars: Millie Bobby Brown , Henry Cavill , David Thewlis , Louis Partridge

Votes: 93,777

37. Slumberland (2022)

PG | 117 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.

Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jason Momoa , Marlow Barkley , Chris O'Dowd , Kyle Chandler

Votes: 28,026

38. M3GAN (2022)

PG-13 | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own.

Director: Gerard Johnstone | Stars: Allison Williams , Violet McGraw , Ronny Chieng , Amie Donald

Votes: 130,438 | Gross: $93.88M

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The 7 Best New Movies on Netflix in November 2023

November has plenty of movies for subscribers to be thankful for.

Netflix subscribers have plenty to be thankful for this November 2023 , as the streaming giant is releasing more than a few big movies this month. The diverse line-up includes everything from adult dramas to family-friendly animated entertainment, so there is something for everyone this Thanksgiving season. This month, Netflix fans can expect to see the return of a cult-classic icon, a gripping aquatic biopic, a new thriller from David Fincher , a nostalgic Christmas comedy, an emotional true story about a civil rights icon, a heartfelt animated feature, and a wacky family feud.

To learn more about just some of the films you can expect to see on Netflix this month, here are seven of the best movies coming to Netflix in November 2023.

'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' (2010)

Available: November 1 | Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Jason Schwartzman, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Keita Saitou, and Shôta Saitô

While not a new movie per se, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World could not be coming to Netflix at a better time. That's because later in the month, we're getting the all-new animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - a retelling of the beloved story featuring the entire main cast of the aforementioned feature film. The surreal comic book and video game-inspired movie sees down-on-his-luck guitarist Scott Pilgrim ( Michael Cera ) on a desperate search for love after a bad breakup, all while his band Sex Bobomb are trying to prove themselves as serious artists. Scott finally sees a second chance for love when he meets Ramona Flowers ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead ), but the only way he can date her is by defeating all seven of her evil exes in combat.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will be available to stream on Netflix starting Wednesday, November 1st.

Watch on Netflix

'Nyad' (2023)

Available: November 3 | Directors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Cast: Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans, Luke Cosgrove, and Erica Cho

Nyad tells the dramatic story of real-life athlete Diana Nyad ( Annette Bening ). However, her story has become somewhat controversial as her claim of swimming 110 miles in the open ocean has been disputed. Regardless, the emotional tale, directed by Free Solo duo Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi , will showcase Nyad's series of events, preparing to do an open swim from Florida to Cuba, all with the help of other friend Bonnie Stoll ( Jodie Foster ) and navigator John Bartlett ( Rhys Ifans ).

Nyad will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, November 3rd.

'The Killer' (2023)

Available: November 10 | Director: David Fincher

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, and Kerry O'Malley

After getting some Oscar gold for Netflix in 2020's Mank , David Fincher is back in the director's chair to back to his thriller roots with The Killer . Starring Michael Fassbender as the titular assassin, ending a long hiatus for the acclaimed actor , The Killer follows a man on the edge after a hit job gone wrong. As his former friends and employers hunt him down, the Killer soon starts to rethink the dangerous career he has dedicated his life to.

The Killer will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, November 10th.

'Best. Christmas. Ever!' (2023)

Available: November 16 | Director: Mary Lambert

Cast: Brandy Norwood, Heather Graham, Jason Biggs, and Matt Cedeño

Brandy Norwood and Heather Graham unite for holiday high jinks in Best. Christmas. Ever! Here, Charlotte Sanders (Heather Graham) and her family find themselves becoming the unexpected guests of the Jennings family. The household's mother, Jackie Jennings (Brandy Norwood), is an old frenemy of Charlotte's. She has always had a bitters sense of jealousy for Jackie, but hopefully Charlotte puts those feeling aside to give her family the Christmas they deserve.

Best. Christmas. Ever! will be available to stream on Netflix starting Thursday, November 16th.

'Rustin' (2023)

Available: November 17 | Director: George C. Wolfe

Cast: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Audra McDonald, and Jeffrey Wright

Another dramatic biopic from Netflix coming in November, R ustin shines a light on the often-overlooked story of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin ( Colman Domingo ). A close companion of Martin Luther King Jr. ( Aml Ameen ), not only did Rustin challenge the status quo for race relations as a Black man, but he also fought a personal battle against homophobia as a gay man. Coincidentally, the film also star Chris Rock , who was recently announced to be directing a new biopic about Martin Luther King Jr .

Rustin will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, November 17th.

'Leo' (2023)

Available: November 21 | Directors: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, and David Wachtenheim

Cast: Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Rob Schneider, Allison Strong, and Jo Koy

Adam Sandler stars as an aging, kind-hearted iguana in his first animated role since the Hotel Transylvania films with Leo . The titular lizard wants a more exciting life than the one he has now living as a pet in a classroom, and escapes one day against the advice of his turtle roommate Squirtle ( Bill Burr ). Once out of his pen, Leo finally finds the purpose he's looking for by giving advice to the students of his class.

Leo will be available to stream on Netflix starting Tuesday, November 21st.

'Family Switch' (2023)

Available: November 30 | Director: McG

Cast: Jennifer Garner, Emma Myers, Ed Helms, Brady Noon, Rita Moreno, Pete Holmes, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Matthias Schweighöfer, Paul Scheer, and Fortune Feimster

What if the magical body swap scenario of Freaky Friday applied to an entire family instead of just the mother and daughter ? That's the question that McG 's Family Switch asks, with the various members of the Walker family waking up in completely different bodies . Now, the family members of Jess ( Jennifer Garner ), Bill ( Ed Helms ), CC ( Emma Myers ), and Wyatt ( Brady Nonn ) must figure out why this happened and how they can get back into their own bodies.

Family Switch will be available to stream on Netflix starting Thursday, November 30th.