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Song of the Day #5,355: ‘Be My Baby’ – The Ronettes

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#6 – Barbarian

In this age of ubiquitous social media, advance press, and spoiler-filled trailers, it’s almost impossible to be surprised at the movies anymore.

The sad epitome of this dynamic came with Spider-Man: No Way Home, where not only was the participation of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield spoiled months in advance, fans even pieced together some of the film’s dramatic beats by analyzing the trailer.

I’m sure it’s possible to go into a new movie with zero advance knowledge if you try hard enough, but for somebody who consumes entertainment culture as much as I do, it rarely happens.

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Song of the Day #5,354: ‘Lucky You’ – The Lightning Seeds

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#7 – Aftersun

Writer-director Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun is a movie that leaped in my estimation after a second viewing because the first time through I didn’t know what it was about until the end.

I suppose some could call that a problem with the movie. Or was I just too obtuse during my initial watch to spot the breadcrumbs Wells was sprinkling throughout?

Either way, I’m a firm believer that movies are best appreciated after multiple viewings, and Aftersun is built for return visits.

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Song of the Day #5,353: ‘Christ Went Up Into the Hills Alone’ – John McCormack

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#8 – The Banshees of Inisherin

I don’t remember the exact circumstances of most of my moviegoing experiences. I mean, nine times out of ten I know I saw the movie at my local Cinemark, but beyond that the particulars of each visit blend together.

That decidedly isn’t the case for The Banshees of Inisherin. I saw this movie on a cold, damp day in Norwich, England, with my older daughter at my side. She had recently been discharged after ten days in a university hospital and we were spending a week at an Airbnb before flying back home to the states.

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Song of the Day #5,352: ‘Time’ – David Bowie

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#9 – Everything Everywhere All at Once

When I first walked out of this magnificent film, almost exactly a year ago, I would have called you crazy if you told me it would be the front-runner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

I’d point to its sci-fi premise, its kung-fu action scenes, its juvenile humor, its primarily Asian cast, and a dozen other attributes that make this wildly inventive movie the opposite of Oscar bait.

And yet here we are, a year later, on the verge of watching it take home the big prize. Even it goes home empty-handed, the fact that it led the field with 11 nominations in the first place is remarkable.

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Song of the Day #5,351: ‘This is the Lost Generation’ – The Lost Generation

I swear I never set out to have my top ten movies of the year cover a broad range of genres and styles but that has refreshingly been the case, especially in recent years.

This year’s list includes films by debut directors and legends. It includes dark comedies, tense thrillers, family dramas, and mind-bending sci-fi.

It also features something new for me: a healthy dose of horror. That includes today’s film, which as it happens is also a dark comedy, tense thriller, family drama and mind-banding sci-fi movie all in one. I guess that makes it the perfect way to kick things off.

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