Movie Reviews Let Me Take You On A Journey
1. Everything Everywhere All At Once
While “Dr. Strange and the Multi-Verse of Madness” made off with more money, it’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” that left the bigger impression. A big enough impression that it took my number 1 spot. Directed by the Daniels (the dynamic duo behind the endlessly eccentric “Swiss Army Man”), this stunning achievement stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, a woman who heads out on a mind-bending adventure. In order to save the world, she finds herself connecting with the alternate lives that she could have led. As you probably already guessed, to accurately describe this movie is no easy task. Only to say that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is as profound, heartfelt, and poignant as it is irreverent, offbeat, and bonkers. And while there are plenty of creative visual effects and technical attributes to marvel at, it’s the performances by Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong, and Stephanie Hsu that make this movie soar. Doubly so in regard to Ke Huy Quan (who you may remember as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and Data in “The Goonies”) as Evelyn’s shy, sweet-natured, and loving husband, Waymond. If Quan isn’t showered with unlimited love on the awards circuit for his stellar work in this film, I’ll be incredibly disappointed.
2. Top Gun: Maverick
No big studio release in 2022 came close to matching the sheer exhilaration of the long-delayed “Top Gun: Maverick.” No…Not even “Avatar: The Way of Water.” This is what all sequels should aspire to be. And in fact, while I recognize that “Maverick” couldn’t exist without the first film, it is vastly superior. “Top Gun: Maverick” finds Tom Cruise’s title character training a new team of hot shot pilots, including Rooster (played by Miles Teller), the son of his late partner Goose (played by Anthony Edwards.) The aerial work in this movie is beyond thrilling. You’ll feel like you’re up there, flying with the best of the best. And you have to hand it to the incomparable Cruise…This man will do anything in the name of our grand entertainment. This includes jumping into the cockpits of those planes himself! Beyond that, from a character standpoint, Cruise’s rapport with Miles Teller is spot on as is his chemistry with a wonderful Jennifer Connelly as a flame from his past. Their courtship in this picture is much sweeter than the relationship at the core of the original movie but then, at this point, Maverick is in his late 50s so he clearly has more on his mind than a wham bam thank you, ma’am. I also like that “Top Gun: Maverick” isn’t particularly agenda-driven in any way. Hell, even the enemy at the center of the action is faceless. This is just a good old-fashioned blockbuster. The kind that we very seldom see anymore. An all-immersive event movie that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible!
3. Brian and Charles
This might be the best little movie that hardly anyone out there has even heard of. From Jim Archer comes this quirky, endearing charmer about a lonely and eccentric inventor in a small Wales village who constructs a child-like robot out of spare parts. What follows is a sweet and funny tale of a most unexpected bromance. This is a small film with a great big heart and I found myself smiling throughout. Wonderful comic timing between stars David Earl and Chris Hayward. A wonderful film. Perfect for cynical times.
4. Pearl
2022 proved to be a banner year for horror and of the lot, Ti West’s “Pearl” was my favorite. In “Pearl,” Mia Goth is the title character, a young woman emotionally trapped in an isolated farmhouse by a domineering mother and a deathly-ill father. As she waits for her husband to return home from the war, Pearl continues to dream of becoming a star. A nearly unobtainable dream, particularly given her circumstances. As this woman continues to deal with a somewhat volatile home life, it soon becomes abundantly clear that an eccentric and slightly unhinged Pearl may have a bit of a screw loose. While the creative “X” played more like a fusion of “Boogie Nights” meets “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” this surprising prequel is more of a throwback to the melodramas of the 50s mixed with shades of “The Bad Seed,” “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,” and–if you can believe this– “The Wizard of Oz.” “Pearl” is punctuated by a positively stellar Goth, who also penned the script with West. I thought “X” was terrific but this film was stronger!
5. Pinocchio
Guillermo Del Toro’s decidedly darker take on the famed fairy tale is a stop-motion animated technical triumph. True, while not necessarily for kids, del Toro puts his own unmistakable stamp on the proceedings giving us a “Pinocchio” that takes themes of death, grief, and guilt, head-on. Ewan McGregor does wonderful vocal work as the cricket and the decision to have him reside in the heart space of wooden boy Pinocchio was an appropriately creative one. Again, dark around the edges but I admired the poetic spirit of this breathtaking film.
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