The film industry is in a state of flux – streaming is more popular than ever but only fitfully profitable, while big budget blockbusters can still draw out crowds, but are more formulaic and derivative than ever before. Still, we did enjoy quite a bit of the movies released this year, and we decided to highlight them below. This isn’t a ranked list – it’s three “must-watches” each from three guys who enjoy spending their time in dark rooms with strangers. If you’ve seen any or all of these movies, we hope we’re able to echo what you liked about them – if you haven’t seen them, we hope you check them out.

The Banshees of Inisherin

The premise of Martin McDonagh’s first film in five years is almost too simple – Pádraic (Colin Farrell) wakes up one morning and finds out that his best friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. In fact, Colm is so devoted to shutting Pádraic out of his life that he threatens to cut off one of his fingers each time Pádraic tries to engage with him. Pádraic spends most of the rest of the film trying to get Colm to talk to him again, weathering the consequences and coming up with convoluted plots to prove that he isn’t as dull and simple as Colm claims.

Whereas McDonagh has always had a shaky grasp of American culture and politics (don’t get me started on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), he’s firmly in his wheelhouse with Banshees, which is set on a fictional isle off of Ireland’s west coast during the nation’s civil war. Like his much celebrated In Bruges, Banshees is also an exploration of purgatory – Pádraic is more than happy to immerse himself in the mundanity of farming and drinking,but  his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and the aforementioned Colm strive for something more, and the film’s conflict is a reflection of the flawed, maladjusted ways they try to escape from their drab, damp environs. Farrell, Gleeson, and Condon all spin gold out of McDonagh’s sharp and funny script, but the real standout is Barry Keoghan as the rascally Dominic, a kind of village outcast who just wants to find love and provides the film with an offbeat, almost mystical energy that adds some magic to what’s otherwise a story about misery. But what funny, well-rendered misery it is. – Michael Lovito

Barbarian

I am not usually one for spoiler warnings but walking into Barbarian with as little knowledge as possible is for the best. Georgina Alice Campbell plays Tess Marshall, a woman trying to move forward with her life who is then thrust back into a system of brutality by the hand of fate and her caring nature despite her own awareness. To discuss anymore is to reveal its surprises so, readers beware.

Barbarian is an example of how showing the subtlety of a villain can often reveal more about their core, especially in a brutal horror film. The tactless and selfish washed-up director AJ Gilbride (Justin Long) is revealed as wracked with guilt. The horrifying nuances of the blackened heart of the titular barbarian are revealed by the hellish landscape he created and inflicted upon his victims. The monster is revealed as a person, shaped beyond recognition by brutal forces instinctively clinging to the sole VHS of motherly care found in her world. – Chris Choban

Confess, Fletch

An interesting picture of a blundering yet skillful investigator, the Jon Hamm vehicle Confess, Fletch is a fun watch. Despite the imperfect story, I found myself having fun at every moment while taking in enjoyable performances from new and veteran actors alike. A mix of solid wit and slapstick leaves Confess, Fletch feeling like an updated version of its 80s ancestor while only feeling a little out of time. One of the few examples of a film made about an already-formed character Confess, Fletch feels like a movie Hollywood doesn’t seem to make anymore, which makes me think the adorable character romp may be lost forever. – CC

Crimes of the Future

When you think of a David Cronenberg film, you can already picture it in your head. Viewers think of images of body horror and stories of bleak science fiction. Yet, oddly, Cronenberg has not made a science fiction film since 1999. Crimes of the Future is his grand return to the genre he is most closely associated with, based on a script he has been working on since 2003. Even odder, this is Cronenberg’s second film titled Crimes of the Future, the first of which released way back in 1970. They share nothing in common besides the title. This film follows similar territory to Cronenberg films of the past, but also seems to be an evolution of their themes.

Viggo Mortensen plays Saul Tenser, an Andy Warhol-like figure who deals in artwork. His medium of choice? Self-mutilation. In this future setting, surgery is the new sex, as some of the humans in this film are slightly further on the evolutionary scale than others. As a result, these evolved individuals develop organs they don’t need. Tenser is one, and he sells admission to his organ removals to the “hipsters” that dominate this film’s culture. Léa Seydoux plays his partner, both professionally and romantically, who performs the surgeries. Together, they are a performance art duo taking this world by storm.

Mortensen continues to be one of the greatest actors working today ,absolutely shining as the leperous Tenser. Rounding out the cast are Kristen Stewart, playing a fangirl of Tenser and investigator for the National Organ Registry, and Scott Speedman as a mysterious, candy bar-eating figure. Cronenberg’s script is a delight to behold. It evokes a classic film noir story with a sheen of cyberpunk, combined with the stripped down nature of a Yorgos Lanthimos film, owing, no doubt, to it being shot in Greece. This is the only film this year where you’ll see a grotesque Ear Man in all its glory. The camera doesn’t shy away from these kinds of images. If you can stomach the body horror, this is one of the best films to watch this year. – Louis Ryan

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Though it has made it to a lot of these lists this year, I think Everything Everywhere All at Once actually deserves that distinction. This is one of the few films to discuss the existential threat of nihilism and face it down with something more nuanced than just sheer willpower. 

Veteran kung-fu actor Michelle Yeoh plays workaholic tiger mom Evelyn Quan Wang as she deals with the destruction of her business, the dissolution of her marriage, and the existential angst of her American daughter. Yet even this is an oversimplification of the film, which is truly an acton-absurdity three-hander between Yeoh, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu).

Rarely have I seen a film intermesh form with function so consistently in so many layers. It starts with helping you to understand the emotional core of Evelyn’s struggle early in the film, genuinely showing how she cares for her family, even if it is un-nuanced and overbearing. Yet even this lack of nuance is shown to be largely a symptom of the pressure cooker of expectations Evelyn has built for herself. Then the film rips the carpet from under our feet along with Evelyn. As it slowly reveals the subtleties of the characters to Evelyn through the medium of kung-fu action and absurdist set pieces, we find a picture of a family in turmoil. Where other films might paper over these issues with grand acts of sacrifice, Everything Everywhere All at Once faces the issues as a family might: with righteous anger that eventually turns into listening and understanding.

At the core of the film is the idea that those things which are profoundly absurd may also be absurdly profound. What is profound and what is absurd are often not in contradiction, but highlight each other even when juxtaposed together.  – CC

The Fabelmans

One would be forgiven if, after suffering through Kenneth Branagh’s sappy Belfast last year, they were wary about The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s roman à clef about his own childhood. But whereas Belfast was a story about a boy who used art as escape, The Fabelmans is a story about a boy who used art as a method of discovery, revealing things about his family, friends, enemies, and himself that, at times, he may have rather kept hidden. The headline here is the divorce of Sammy Fabelman’s (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord and Gabriel LaBelle) parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams), an episode that, in our world, informed Spielberg classics like E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Catch Me If You Can, but The Fabelmans isn’t merely a domestic drama or bildungsroman. It’s an odd, episodic film, and it’s best moments come when Sammy is in close quarters with his peers, be they a jock shaken by the way he’s depicted in one of Sammy’s movies, or a pious girlfriend who literally tries to breathe the Holy Spirit into her Jewish boyfriend. Anyone’s who’s tried to pursue an art will recognize the burden that Sammy’s talent and passion places on him – it’s the only thing he wants to do, and yet every movie he makes take a little bit out of him, pushes someone in his life a little further away, makes him a little more vulnerable. Thankfully for us, the real life Sammy Fabelman stuck it out. – ML

Shin Ultraman

Believe it or not, there are people out there that just aren’t fans of kaiju movies. For some, watching giant unthinking monsters pummel each other and causing city-wide destruction just doesn’t make for an engaging film. Films like these have to pad out the unintelligible spurts of monster body slams with uninteresting humans trying to make sense of anything that’s going on. That’s why the time was ripe for something like 2016’s Shin Godzilla to come along and dazzle audiences with its fresh take on Godzilla and kaiju movies. Such a fresh and smashing success, that term “shin” (which is just Japanese for the word “new”) has spawned its own franchise reinvigorating classic Japanese properties like Godzilla and Kamen Rider.

This year, we got a fresh take on the classic hero Ultraman, who is basically popular enough to be considered his home country’s answer to Superman. Ultraman is a giant silver-and-red alien who looks kind of like a robot. It’s also incredibly tall. Ultraman switches places, when not fighting, with an ordinary human named Kaminaga, a la Captain Marvel (the original one, of course). Kaminaga works for the SSSP, which is an agency tasked with dealing with the kaiju that show up to terrorize Japan. Obviously, this means Kaminaga is leading something of a double life, as he is technically a kaiju, at least part-time.

Shenanigans ensue as the SSSP deal with many kaijus throughout the film, each one getting more and more powerful. Director Shinji Higuchi keeps the film humming along at an effervescent pace. To a layman only slightly familiar with Ultraman, you will find yourself charmed and delighted. This is the kind of film that makes you stand up and cheer. While not as radical a reinvention of its central character as Shin Godzilla, mostly sticking to slapping a new coat of paint on a 50-year old property, this film has delights for people of all shapes and sizes, especially for those who claim to be kaiju agnostics.

(Shin Ultraman has only screened theatrically a small handful of times here in North America. It will be receiving a two-day wide release, courtesy of AMC Theaters and Fathom Events, on January 11-12, 2023. The film is highly recommended to all those interested.) – LR

Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick was supposed to be released in 2019 but, thanks to reshoots and COVID-19, was pushed all the way back to 2022, by which point its broad appeal and practical effects took on a whole new meaning. With the movie theater industry teetering on the edge and superhero blockbusters the only reliable business, the blood and guts earnestness of Top Gun: Maverick feels defiant, even if it is based on 35-year-old IP. The geopolitics may not make sense, nor does the musical taste of the young pilots (Foghat? Jerry Lee Lewis?), but this is as emotionally piercing a movie built around high-octane thrills can be. Come for the sonic booms and bombing runs, stay for the tender reunion of Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Iceman, played by the actually cancer stricken Val Kilmer. More than just an effective emotional beat, it’s a reminder of what the modern, Disney-dominated media landscape threatens to take from us, and a respectful tribute to the kind of man Hollywood might otherwise dispose of. It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot, indeed. – ML

You Won’t Be Alone

You probably haven’t heard of director Goran Stolevski, but it’s a name you might want to remember in the years to come. If this debut film is any indication, he might be a director to keep an eye on. This is a deeply assured film in the way it approaches dialogue, camera placement and editing choices. Whatever was left of the marketing budget for this film seemingly fell of deaf ears. I haven’t seen much discussion of this film online. Could this film be a victim of the post-COVID box office? It’s certainly possible.

The film concerns witches, in a style that, coincidentally enough, evokes memories of Robert Egger’s 2015 film The Witch. Old Maid Maria is a long-storied witch that appears to a newborn and her mother in the early 19th century. Maria wants to claim the newborn for herself, while the mother protests. They end up striking a deal where the mother will raise the girl, Nevena, until she is 16, when she will then be handed over to Maria, who cuts the baby girl’s vocal cords as a condition. The mute Nevena is hidden from Maria in a cave, isolated from all human contact except her mom. Sixteen years later, Nevena is found and the witch takes her, introducing her into the world of witchcraft.From there, the film takes a winding journey into the world of shapeshifting and assuming identities. The film is told mostly through visuals and expects the viewer to pay attention to what is happening on screen. The editing will leave you in the dust if you are distracted for too long. Don’t we all wish we could be somebody else sometimes? Isn’t that why we go to the movies? – LR