The Film Experience

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 © A24

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

Daniel Scheinert & Dan Kwan. Photo © Rich Furry/Getty Images

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 © AppleTV+

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

HAPPENING © Wild Bunch

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 © Warner Bros

The Batman - Greig Fraser
Elvis -Mandy Walker
Great Freedom - Crystal Fournier
The Northman - Jarin Blaschke
Top Gun Maverick - Claudio Miranda

COSTUME DESIGN

DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA © Focus Features

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

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE © NEON

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

GREAT FREEDOM © Match Factory

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

ELVIS © Warner Bros

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

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS © Disney/Marvel Studios

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)

FIRE ISLAND © Searchlight Pictures

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

TOP GUN MAVERICK © Paramount Pictures

ORIGINAL SONG

TURNING RED © Disney/Pixar

"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

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE © A24

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

AMBULANCE © Universal

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

THE NORTHMAN © Focus Features

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

FIRE ISLAND © Searchlight

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)

ELVIS © Warner Bros

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