Halfway Mark 1: Fav Films & Miscellaneous Achievements of 2022 (thus far)
by Nathaniel R
The following list honors films released between January 1st, 2022 and June 30th, 2022. Obviously studios save the bulk of their perceived "prestige" pictures until the back half of the year but we always hope that lists like this will remind them they don't need to and to remind audiences that there's good stuff all year round. These are not official nominees for our own film bitch awards but they do function as reminder lists as we compile year-end stuff later on. If every Academy member and critic did this, awards season would be far more varied and film culture would be more robust because people would be seeing movies all year round and not cramming in only a small heap of them at year's end.
Okay off of the soapbox and on to the favourites of 2022 (thus far) in alpha order by category. The pictures do not indicate winners as they're all winners. This is just an appreciation for these artists and movies...
PICTURE
- After Yang (Kogonada) A24
- Downton Abbey: A New Era (Simon Curtis) Focus Features
- Elvis (Baz Luhrman) Warner Bros
- Everything Everywhere All At Once (The Daniels) A24
- Fire Island (Andrew Ahn) Searchlight Pictures
- Great Freedom (Sebastian Meise) The Match Factory
- Happening (Audrey Diwan) Wild Bunch
- The Northman (Robert Eggers) Focus Features
- Official Competition (Mariano Cohn & Gastón Duprat) IFC Films
- Turning Red (Domee Shi) Disney/Pixar
also recommended: Dog, Good Luck To You Leo Grande, Playground, RRR, and Top Gun Maverick
DIRECTOR
- Audrey Diwan, Happening
- Robert Eggers, The Northman
- Kogonada, After Yang
- Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Sebastian Miese, Great Freedom
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Cha Cha Real Smooth - by Cooper Raiff
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
- Good Luck to You Leo Grande - by Katy Brand
- Great Freedom - by Sebastian Meise & Thomas Reider
- Official Competition - by Mariano Cohn & Andrés and Gastón Duprat
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- After Yang - Kogonada based on the short story "Saying Goodbye to Yang" by Alexander Weinstein
- The Bob's Burgers Movie - Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith based on the Bouchard's tv series
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - Julian Fellowes based on his tv series
- Fire Island - Joel Kim Booster inspired by "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen
- Happening - Marcia Romano & Audrey Diwan based on the novel by Annie Ernaux
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- The Batman - Greig Fraser
- Elvis -Mandy Walker
- Great Freedom - Crystal Fournier
- The Northman - Jarin Blaschke
- Top Gun Maverick - Claudio Miranda
COSTUME DESIGN
- The Batman - Jacqueline Durran and Glyn Dillon & David Crossman
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - Anna Robbins & Maja Meschede
- Elvis - Catherine Martin
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - Shirley Kurata
- The Northman - Linda Muir
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- After Yang - Alexandra Schaller
- The Batman - James Chinlund
- Crimes of the Future - Carol Spier
- Elvis - Catherine Martin & Karen Murphy
- The Northman - Craig Lathrop
FILM EDITING
- After Yang - Kogonada
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - Paul Rogers
- Great Freedom - Joanna Scrinzi
- Happening - Géraldine Mangenot
- Top Gun Maverick - Eddie Hamilton
MAKEUP AND HAIR
- The Batman - Mike Marino and ?
- Crimes of the Future - Alexandra Anger, Monica Pavez, and ?
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and ?
- Elvis - Mark Coulier and ?
- The Northman - Maralyn Sherman and David White ?
VISUAL EFFECTS
- After Yang
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- The Northman
- Top Gun Maverick
ORIGINAL SCORE
- After Yang - Aska Matsumiya
- The Batman - Michael Giacchino
- Crimes of the Future - Howard Shore
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - Son Lux
- The Northman - Robin Carolan & Sebastian Gainsborough
ADAPTED SCORE (a mix of new and repurposed music)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Danny Elfman plus various composers
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - John Lunn reworking his own scores, plus standards
- Elvis - Elvis Presley, Elliott Wheeler, plus various artists
- Fire Island - Jay Wadley plus various pop artists
- Top Gun Maverick - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer, Lady Gaga, etc...
UPDATE: RRR should have probably been here but was screened after this posting.
SOUND
ORIGINAL SONG
- "1 True Love" - Turning Red
- "Hold My Hand" - Top Gun Maverick
- "Nobody Like You" - Turning Red
- "U Know What's Up" - Turning Red
UPDATE: "Naatu Naatu" - RRR
HERO OF THE YEAR
- Batman (Robert Pattinson) in The Batman
- Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) in Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Maverick (Tom Cruise) in Top Gun Maverick
- Meilin (Rosalie Chung and animators) in Turning Red
VILLAIN OF THE YEAR
- Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) in The Lost City
- Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) in Elvis
- Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) in AmbuLAnce
- Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu) in Everything Everywhere All At Once
- The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
DIVA OF THE YEAR
- Bri Loves (Jane Bender) in Senior Year
- Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu) in Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) in Official Competition
- Maverick (Tom Cruise) in Top Gun Maverick
- Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman) in The Northman
SEXPOT OF THE YEAR
- Elvis (Austin Butler) in Elvis
- Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) in Good Luck to You Leo Grande
- Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor Joy) in The Northman
- Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) in The Batman
- Will (Conrad Ricamora) in Fire Island
MUSICAL SCENE IN A MUSICAL (OR PERFORMANCE HEAVY PICTURE)
- breakout performance - Elvis
- "If I Can Dream" (protest) - Elvis
- "Suspicous Minds" (opening night) - Elvis
- "Trouble" (riot) - Elvis
- "Tutti Frutti" (watching Little Richard) - Elvis
MUSICAL SCENE IN A NON-MUSICAL
- Crimes of the Future - "it is time to stop speaking"
- Fire Island - "Sometimes" Karaoke
- Fire Island - Will's dance-off
- Senior Year - "Consent"
- Turning Red - "U Know What's Up"
UPDATE -danceoff in RRR (which was screened after this list was made
ACTION SEQUENCE
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Attack on Kamar-Taj
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Zombie Strange vs Scarlet Witch
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - entire film (would have to see again to know where one action setpiece ends and another begins)
- The Northman - Volcanic duel
- Top Gun Maverick - Final mission
UPDATE: any of RRR's setpieces, screened after this list was made
KISS
- Cha Cha Real Smooth - Dakota Johnson & Cooper Raiff
- Elvis - Austin Butler & actresses as fans
- Firebird - Tom Prior & Oleg Zagorodnii
- Fire Island - Joel Kim Booster & Conrad Ricamora
- Top Gun Maverick - Tom Cruise & Jennifer Connelly
SEX SCENE
- Crimes of the Future - Léa Seydoux & Viggo Mortensen
- Good Luck to You Leo Grande - Emma Thompson & Daryl McCormack
- Firebird - Tom Prior & Oleg Zagorodnii
- Great Freedom - Franz Rogowski & Anton von Lucke
- The Northman - Anya Taylor Joy & Alexander Skarsgård
OPENING SCENE
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - Wedding
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - Chaos in laundromat
- Firebird - Night swim
- Great Freedom - Criminal behavior
- Top Gun Maverick - "Darkstar" shutdown
ENDING
- Crimes of the Future - the body is ready
- Fire Island - at the dock
- Good Luck To You Leo Grande - the mirror
- Great Freedom - Waiting for the police
- The Northman - Valhalla
CREDIT SEQUENCE / TITLE DESIGN
- After Yang - (opening) dance battles
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (closing) inkblot mirrored
- Elvis - (opening/closing) rhinestone explosions
- Jackass Forever - (opening) dick kaiju
- Turning Red -(opening) Meilin's intros
OTHER GREAT INDIVIDUAL SCENES
- After Yang -Memory tour
- Crimes of the Future - Autopsy
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - Final scene of movie within movie
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - The Movie Star Life
- Everything Everywhere All At Once - Rocks
- Fire Island - Sunset countdown
- Fire Island - Marisa Tomei
- The Northman - Queen Gudrun's confession
- The Northman - Visiting the seer
- Turning Red - 4Town Shakedown
Haven't yet screened: Benediction, Jerry & Marge Go Large, Lightyear, Marcel with Shoes On, Men, Mothering Sunday, Nitram, and Pleasure
Other films screened but not shortlisted in the categories above: The Adam Project, Alice, Apollo 10: A Space Age Childhood, Dog, Fistful of Vengeance, Fresh, Jurassic World Dominion , Morbius, and Spiderhead
Reader Comments (8)
omg i haven't many of those
But for villain of the year surely we could find a spot fo Nick Adams
Now streaming on Netflix, RRR, the 2022 box office hit ($160 million) epic adventure from India, deserves a spot on this list, certainly for action sequence when Ramu Raju thrillingly battles a horde of violent protesters as well as visual effects sequence when the streak of hungry tigers are unleashed on the garden party of the British oppressors.
I loved this movie. So far, it is my favorite of 2022.
RRR should definitely be in contention for Best Original Song as well as Nathaniel's musical sequence and action sequence categories. But Best Original Song should be tried to made happen by the pre-Oscars lot.
You should check out Kimi starring Zoë Kravitz on HBO Max. It's a very effective thriller.
God I haven't seen much this year!
Joel Kim Booster for sex pot of the year.
Just watched Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Gosh... unfortunately it's not a great movie, is it? I had such high expectations. It felt like an ADHD anime that decided to be a live-action film (I still remember how unbearable Paprika was, for example).
There are some absolutely astonishing scenes here. The rocks communication scene truly stands out. But overall, is it a masterpiece? No, I can't say it is.
Far too many action scenes. Also, everything felt too explained.
Where is the acting categories?
Nice to see "Official Competition" in Original Screenplay, after this I'm considering to refer as Óscar 'sharp-tongue' Martínez because he is terrific delivering bitchy punch lines like here, in "El Cuento de las Comadrejas" (The Weasel's Tale) and in a more savage and particular way: "Toc Toc".
All the EEAAO and Fire Island love warms my heart. Would like to submit for consideration Brittany Snow's rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" in the movie X for Musical Moment in a Non-Musical. In fact she should also be on the longlist for supporting actress this year so far IMO.