TL;DR – This is a list of not what we think will win in the 2023 Academy Awards but who we would give the awards to if we could.
Article –
It is Oscars time again, and thanks to some well-timed leave, I get to watch them live this year. So here we will be going through all the nominees and picking which ones we would have chosen if we were a voting academy member.
I should preface this with the notice that we have not seen every film nominated, so we will only pick from those we have seen. We will only cover the categories where we have seen at least three nominees. Also, if you want to see our reviews for said films, you can click on the links to be taken to them. So without any further prattling on, here are the nominees.
However, in this last entry into our Best of 2022 awards, we crown our Best Film winner of 2022.
All films are subjective, so our list might look completely different from yours. Of the 102 films we revied last year, 92 had their Theatrical/Streaming in 2022, which is the list we draw our entries from. You can see the complete list of movies HERE.
Much like last year’s list, we have had many staggered releases towards the end of the year. So we may have films here that were released in 2021 for you but 2022 for us, and there may be some omissions here because we won’t get those films until later in 2023.
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s dive into the first entry in our list of Best Films of 2022.
One of the benefits of film is that it is a visual medium, which means that it can do in a frame what it might take a book several pages of description to pull off. We see this the most in its ability to build worlds in front of our eyes.
These worlds could be great space operas exploring galaxies, small period piece that looks back in time, or anything. But when every part of the film is used to tell a story, you know it is good.
So without further ado, these films showed excellence in Worldbuilding 2022. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the movies in question.
One factor that I will always look out for in a film is the musical score. I can get caught in the world of music as it sits in my head in the days, weeks, months, and even the years that come. There is immense artistry in weaving emotions from music, having us slip into the world that is created, fear the oncoming dread even if we do know why, or rejoice in the triumph of that final victory.
Music charts the cinematic world, as it guides us, lifts us up, and can crush our souls. This is its power. So without further ado, these are the musical score that moved us in 2022. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question.
Cinematography is an art form that can be as bold as a gong crashing after a moment of silence or as subtle as the tide coming in. It elevates a film to the heights of accolades or becomes frustrating when it misfires.
While at the heart of cinematography is the Director of Photography or Cinematographer, to get something from the script to the final shot takes a whole team of professionals, and it is their talent that we champion today.
So without further ado, these moments of cinematography took our breaths away in 2022. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers for the films in question.
A good action sequence is genuinely amazing to watch, as it can be as expansive as explosions crashing across the screen or more intimate, like a duel between two people. This gives the best action scenes such a range, and in 2022 we were given some unique spectacles.
For me, the best action scenes excel in every element, whether that be live actions, special effects, digital effects, or animation and bring every facet to shine. It is also the category that looks at some of the department’s people don’t often fully understand, like stunt coordination or the 2nd unit.
2022 was also the year of action, so my usual hope to keep these entries down to 5 or 6 got thrown out the window.
So without further ado, these are the moments of action that awed us in 2022. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the films in question.
TL;DR – You may have been told how wild this film is, but trust me, whoever was talking to you was completely underselling it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene
Disclosure – I paid to see this film
Everything Everywhere All at Once Review –
The word surreal gets thrown around quite a bit and usually means something that might be a bit cerebral or weird or maybe both. But for something to be genuinely surreal, it needs to challenge the nature of reality, to contest the very bedrock we live our lives on. Films will often dip their toes into the surreal, but every now and again, a film will dive in headfirst. Today, we are looking at just such a film that just might nail everything it sets out to do.
So to set the scene, in a city in America, Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) lives above the laundromat that she runs with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). Things are pretty stressful for Evelyn at the moment. The IRS is auditing the business. She is trying to put together a party for he estranged father, Gong Gong (James Hong), she is feuding with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and Waymond is about to drop divorce papers on her. As they arrive at the IRS to be audited by Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), Waymond suddenly changes into a completely different person. He declares that Evelyn is in trouble because a force from another universe is hunting her down, and it just might have found its prey, and that is when the alarms go off.