January 27, 2023
Well, the 2023 movie year is off to a strong start. Avatar: The Way of Water continues to roll in the dough having become only the sixth picture to gross $2 billion at the box office. And some new releases are also doing well, including the bonkers horror-comedy M3GAN, which is performing way above expectations, demonstrating that horror is always a safe bet at the box office. It just passed $70 million and secured a sequel less than two weeks after its release. That, my friends, is box office gold for January.
With that in mind, I’m still wrapping up my series on the best of 2022, especially since some of the bigger titles are just now making their way into theaters and available at home. Speaking of which, one of my favorites from this past year, Women Talking, is just now being released in a wide selection of theaters. The release strategy on that film just baffled me, but more on that when I go through my top ten list.
This week saw the Oscar nominations come out with a few surprises and snubs as we have every year. I was happy some of my favorites (The Fabelmans, Tár, and The Banshees of Inisherin got a lot of nominations), still struggle to understand why the Academy didn’t go for Nope, and was disappointed that Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till) missed out on Best Actress nominations. But overall, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The film with the most nominations was Everything Everywhere All at Once, a strange sci-fi / adventure / comedy / drama that I struggled with when I saw it back in April. That may have had to do with the weird theater experience I had, but that’s a story for another day. I may give that one another shot before the Oscars to see if I like it better. I’ll do a full Oscar preview in a few weeks, but with the ceremony not until March 12th, you have plenty of time to catch up on the nominated films that interest you. Until then, let’s jump into some more movies that I really liked from 2022. If you missed parts one and two, you can read them here and here.
Horror Still Rules – Scream (2022)
If there is anything we’ve learned in the ever-evolving landscape of the theatrical business, it’s this: people will come out for tentpole franchise movies and horror movies. Everything else? It’s a crapshoot. For every The Lost City or Everything Everywhere All at Once unlikely successes, there are a dozen She Said, The Fabelmans, and Babylon box-office disappointments. But horror is a staple and will continue to be going forward. And the studios are learning. Paramount developed Smile for its streaming service, but decided to put it in theaters, where it became a massive hit, generating over $100 million. The Black Phone, a creepy 1970s film with Ethan Hawke as the villain, made over $90 million and even the lackluster Halloween Ends made over $60 million.
Another franchise that just keeps going is Scream, the series about the Ghostface Killer, who terrorizes the residents of a small California town. The fifth installment was released about a year ago and was very successful, becoming one of the top 25 grossing films released last year. In case there was any doubt, a sixth installment is coming in March. This time, Ghostface will be terrorizing its victims in New York City, a welcome change as I think the location of Woodsboro, California was getting a little stale.
The 2022 film (confusingly titled Scream and the first to be directed by someone other than Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015) once again features a group of high-school students being stalked by a mysterious killer. The writers of this film brought back some favorite actors from the first four movies, including Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette in supporting roles, but the hook of the new installment was very smart. The targets at the center of Scream are all related to victims from earlier films of the series. Like all Scream movies, we have plenty of jump scares, some gruesome slasher moments, and the usual meta jokes about what you typically see in horror movies. That latter point was a brilliant concoction in the first film and has stayed throughout the series. I thought this was a very good movie – probably not the best in the series, but still very good. I know I’ll be checking out Scream VI when it hits theaters in March. You can watch Scream (2022) on Paramount+.
A Horror Double Feature – Pearl and X
Sticking with the horror genre, let’s get into two movies that director Ti West brought us in 2022. That’s right – two movies in the same year. The first film is X, a slasher picture set in the 1970s. The premise is a group of people renting out a cabin on a farm to make an adult movie. When the old couple who own the farm get wind of what is really going on in their guest cabin, things start to get a little out of control. Now, here’s the fun part. Mia Goth portrays Maxine, one of the actresses, and also plays Pearl, the old lady living on the farm. You wouldn’t know it, given the incredible makeup job the filmmakers did to disguise her. Needless to say, bloody hijinks ensue, and this ends up being a fun slasher movie with a unique angle.
While on location in New Zealand filming X, West and Goth finished writing a script for a prequel story. West contacted the studio (A24, known for their edgy movies) and told them he wanted to stay on location and make the prequel while they had everyone there. They gave him the greenlight and six months after the release of X, we got Pearl, an origin story set sixty years earlier. This time Goth was able to portray the character without being buried in old-age makeup. This film was a different kind of horror story, albeit with similar themes, and is an acting showcase for Goth, who has a bright future ahead of her. Look for her in the creepy horror movie Infinity Pool in theaters now. Oh yeah, West and Goth are collaborating again – this time on a sequel to X, where her character pursues a career in the adult film industry in the 1980s in MaXXXine. As they have said in interviews, if you make a horror movie, you have to make sequels. As long as the box office keeps coming in, studios will keep financing them. X is now available to stream on Showtime. Pearl is available to rent on demand and should be available on Showtime later this year.
The Fish Out of Water Comedy – Vengeance
He’s probably best known for playing intern Ryan on The Office, but B.J. Novak was also one of the show’s writers and was a driving force on the show, demonstrating that he was more than just a comedic actor. Following the show’s end, he bounced around a number of films, but always in supporting roles. He also wrote a few books and continued to work on various side projects. Last year saw Novak get the opportunity to bring an original story to the screen, and direct the project himself.
In Vengeance, Novak plays a writer, looking to make a break into the exploding industry of true-story podcasting. He feels like if he can just get that one break, his career will take off. One night he gets a phone call from someone who tells him that his girlfriend died in Texas. The problem – he didn’t have a girlfriend. She was a one-time hookup and told her family they were in a serious relationship. He decides to travel to the girl’s hometown to try to turn her story into a true-crime podcast.
The premise of Vengeance is one we’ve seen before – the fish-out-of-water character trying to fit into a different environment. In this case, it’s fussy city boy Novak who is in over his head in rural Texas. Luckily, with his writing and acting, Novak makes this work as a very good comedy, albeit with some darker themes. I loved the sequences where they were clearly making fun of the cliched nature of true-crime podcasts, especially where he is interacting with his producer (Issa Rae in an excellent performance) back in New York. The third act of the film is a little messy, despite a good turn from Ashton Kutcher, and I’m not sure it entirely worked, but overall I thought this was a very good movie. You can watch Vengeance now on Amazon Prime Video.
A Touching Family Drama – After Yang
There was one certainty from the last year of movies – Colin Farrell was the MVP. Hands down. No questions asked. Early in the year, he was outstanding as The Penguin (buried under a ton of makeup) in the very good (but way too long) new iteration of The Batman, with Robert Pattinson. This summer saw him co-star in the thrilling Thirteen Lives that I have covered previously. And he was just nominated for Best Actor in The Banshees of Inisherin, one of my favorite films that I will be covering in my top ten list. Lastly, he starred in After Yang, a picture that was made in 2019, but not released until 2022. I actually saw it as part of the virtual Sundance Film Festival a year ago. That’s four movies released in 2022 – and all of them were in my twenty favorite films of the year. Of course he is the MVP.
After Yang is a futuristic family drama written and directed by Koganda, the visionary filmmaker behind the excellent Apple TV+ series Pachinko. Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith play a couple who acquire an android teenage boy to accompany their younger adopted daughter. Before you start thinking that the android terrorizes the family (à la M3GAN), this is not that kind of movie. No, the android (named Yang, portrayed by Justin Min in a strong performance) malfunctions and the family is forced to decide what to do. A simple repair won’t work and the family is suddenly faced with having to say goodbye to a member of their family. Despite the futuristic setting, this is a movie less about robots and science and more about family and dealing with grief. Needless to say, Ferrell was fantastic in this role and if you compare his performances across all four movies from this year, he showed incredible range. He’s my pick for Best Actor, but he may face an uphill climb. More on that in a few weeks. In the meantime, you can watch After Yang on Showtime or rent it on demand.
Romantic Comedies Can Still Work – Ticket to Paradise and The Lost City
I don’t know if I learned anything this past year watching way too many movies. But I think I learned that romantic comedies can still work, with one caveat. You need to have a big-name movie star. Want some proof? In September, Bros, a film directed by Nicholas Stoller (who also made Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors) was a massive flop at the box office. It grossed only $11 million during its entire theatrical run. Stoller co-wrote the film with comedian Billy Eichner, who portrayed the leading character. When Bros performed poorly during its opening weekend, Eichner went on social media to proclaim that apparently “straight audiences just didn’t show up” to the story of a gay man looking for love in New York City. Yikes, way to insult people who might eventually rent the movie from home.
I actually thought Bros was pretty funny, even if I found Eichner a little annoying at times (he is one of those comedians who is “on” all the time and it wore me out). Some of the pushback about the film’s dismal box office performance was due to its marketing as a “landmark important” movie due to its representation instead of marketing it as a really funny comedy. Guess what? General audiences want to go to comedies to laugh – just tell them it’s funny. The other problem? Eichner is not a household name who is going to deliver a strong box office result as the headliner of a comedy. You know who is? Julia Roberts and George Clooney.
I almost didn’t watch Ticket to Paradise because the marketing department for Universal Studios committed what I consider to be the cardinal sin in creating the trailer – they showed the whole damn movie in the trailer! Even most of the jokes! Anyway, this is still a pretty good romantic comedy with Roberts and Clooney playing a divorced couple who travel to Bali to stop their daughter (played by the wonderful Kaitlyn Dever) from an impulsive marriage. Audiences liked this one a lot more than Bros. Ticket to Paradise brought in almost $70 million at the box office and has been a success at home, as well. And that makes sense – the audience for this movie is likely older people who are just fine waiting to watch something like this in their living room. The plot of Ticket to Paradise is a little thin, and the actual tension between the couple is exaggerated for effect, but that’s ok. The chemistry between Roberts and Clooney is fantastic, and there are a few genuine touching moments that remind you just how good they are together. This is a nice popcorn and candy movie to watch on a Friday night from home. And as much as I criticize the decision on the movie trailer, I have to give the filmmakers credit for putting some fantastic bloopers in the closing credits. Let’s keep doing this! Ticket to Paradise is now streaming on Peacock.
As well as Ticket to Paradise did at the box office, the clear winner of the romantic comedy race in 2022 was The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, with supporting performances from Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt. Bullock plays the author of a series of romantic-adventure novels who has become bored with writing the same old tired schtick. She is kidnapped by a billionaire (Radcliffe) who thinks she can help him find a lost treasure on a remote island. Tatum plays the cover model from her novels and sets out to rescue her. As much as he looks the part of a swashbuckling action hero (have you seen the previews for the next Magic Mike movie?), he doesn’t have much going on upstairs and hires a former military expert (Pitt, in a brief role) to help him out.
On paper, this looks a lot like Romancing the Stone, the 1980s film with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, and there are similarities in story and tone, but this is still a very good movie. Bullock is as sharp as ever and Tatum plays the sweet, but simple, leading man very well. Their chemistry is what makes the film work so well. In addition to showcasing this as a romantic comedy, the marketing team did something very smart with The Lost City – they highlighted the adventure component of the movie to make it appealing to both men and women. It’s probably why it made over $100 million at the box office. This was a great date movie – I know because my wife and I saw it together – and well worth the watch. The Lost City is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+.
A Biting Satire (See What I Did There?) – The Menu
I’m not a food guy. Don’t get me wrong – I love a wonderful home-cooked meal, or especially anything my wife bakes. Although her recent string of delicious breads is getting me worried about keeping the weight off. If you missed my Facebook post last week, just google “Bread Makes You Fat?” and laugh away at a scene from the wonderful Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I also love a good restaurant meal, but I’m more of a casual dining kind of guy, not a fancy restaurant kind of guy. Just not my thing. So, I was pleasantly surprised to watch The Menu, which pokes fun at the serious food culture world of fancy restaurants and the people who dine at them.
We begin The Menu with a group of restaurant tourists who are traveling to an exclusive restaurant on a remote island. The patrons include a wide variety of characters – the older wealthy couple, a food critic, a has-been movie star, three tech-bros, and our lead characters – a couple out on a date, played by Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult. He is the food connoisseur and she is just along for the date, not getting why this restaurant is such a big deal. The restaurant is run by Julian, a celebrity chef played to perfection by Ralph Fiennes. This might be a good place to pause and note that if you watched The Bear, the excellent Hulu show about a small restaurant in Chicago, you will laugh every time Julian’s staff (sycophants) respond “Yes, Chef!” to one of his requests. Well, you’ll laugh uncomfortably, because Julian is sadistic to say the least. He takes his food very seriously, and is determined to keep his guests in line, as he balances serving them gourmet food with torturing them throughout their evening.
It’s probably best not to spoil anything else about The Menu, as it’s best to watch it unfold without knowing too much. The film is meant to be a satire on the world of fine dining and those who might take it a little too seriously. So, don’t try to read too much into the realism of what happens on the screen. In addition to Fiennes’ strong performance, Taylor-Joy and Hoult are excellent – he is the fanboy who gushes over everything at the restaurant and she doesn’t take shit from anyone, regardless of their reputations. Speaking of which, I rarely highlight the production design of a film, but it’s worth noting that the location for this picture was outstanding – a perfect location for setting the vibe of this kind of story. One last note on casting – playing Julian’s top assistant is Hong Chau, who is excellent in this role. She also just received an Oscar nomination for her performance in The Whale. I actually think she was the best part of that movie, one that I didn’t like that much. But more on that another day. The Menu is now streaming on HBO Max.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with part one of my top ten favorite movies of 2022. If you’d like to find where to watch any of the films I write about, you can go to JustWatch.com and search for it there. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.