So far, at the 2022 global box office, every film in the top 10 is a sequel. Each of them.
Moviegoers often criticize Hollywood for not having an imagination. Ah, the innocence of non-pros! They don’t understand that Hollywood just gives the public what they want. It’s a business, and the suites/franchises keep the lights on in the studios.
But there are those who persuaded money people to take big risks. So let’s salute the filmmakers and studios who haven’t played it safe this year.
Everything everywhere all at once
Writer-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert take their characters through multiple realities. It’s great fun, but it can be confusing at first — “The bagel will show you the true nature of things” — but it all comes together and includes a timely message: “We need to be nice.” Please be nice. Especially when you don’t know what’s going on. Besides the Daniels, the film features stellar work from the actors and talents behind the camera.
©MGM/courtesy Everett Collection
bones and all
Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino risked alienating the arthouse crowd, the Timothee Chalamet fanbase and horror aficionados by telling a sensitive tale of young love and the breakdown of society – and using cannibalism as a metaphor for these ideas. That works. As a bonus, it gives great roles to veterans of its previous films, including Chalamet, Jessica Harper and Michael Stuhlbarg, and a stage turn from Mark Rylance.
Courtesy of Focus Features
Tar
After the (long) opening credits, which usually come at the end of a film, writer-director Todd Field offers a (long) scene of Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) being interviewed in front of an audience. It’s just two people talking, filled with exposition and musical names (Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, et al).
This is followed by a (long) scene of Tar giving a lecture to his class. Field seems to challenge the audience: “Here’s what the movie is. Are you with us or not? »
©MGM/courtesy Everett Collection
Three thousand years of nostalgia
“Everything Everywhere” received attention as the most trippy film of the year. But director George Miller’s film also qualifies, as it once again defies expectations with thoughtful work that’s beautiful to watch. It didn’t set the soundtrack on fire, but it will clearly gain followers over the years. It’s rich and complex and people will walk in without “Mad Max” style expectations.
©Orion Pictures Corp/courtesy Everett Collection
women who talk
The title says it all: it’s about a group of women sitting in a barn talking. On paper it doesn’t look like much, but on screen it’s a knockout on every level. Thanks to writer-director Sarah Polley (adapting Miriam Toews’ novel), it’s one of the best films of the year.
On top of that, some movies were reminders that, in the right hands, a sequel CAN be imaginative, bold, and original.
Warner Bros.
The Batman
After 30 years of Batman movies, Tim Burton’s 1989 game-changer, and Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, some audiences may have believed they didn’t need another one. However, Matt Reeves, co-writer Peter Craig and their colleagues have shown there’s a lot more to be said. It’s very different from previous incarnations, going back to Batman’s origins in Detective Comics as a crime solver. It is striking and breathtaking to see and hear.
©Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Top Gun: Maverick
It’s such a hit ($1.4 billion on the soundtrack alone) that it’s hard to remember it was indeed risky business: a sequel to a 36-year-old film. , with a 60-year-old lead actor. Tom Cruise, Paramount and crew insisted on a theatrical release only, at a time when other studios were panicked by COVID and sending their movies straight to streaming. The film’s launch was repeatedly delayed. In other words, everything was against, but the bet paid off. And the film served as a reminder that cinema in theaters was not extinct.