The 95th Academy Awards for films released in 2022 were held on March 12, 2023. Unpopular changes like handing out awards for the technical categories before the start of the ceremony were done away with and this ceremony embraced that it would be long, to the betterment of the ceremony. There were no major incidents or controversies though, as ever, the In Memorium could have included more people. Highlights of the night included Ke Huy Quan’s win for Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All At Once, an appearance by the “real” Cocaine Bear, and the performance and win of “Naatu Naatu” for Best Original Song from the hyper-entertaining Indian film RRR. Host Jimmy Kimmel made several jokes about the previous year’s slapping incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock, but he took no low shots at the nominated movies. Recently the ceremony has taken an embarrassed, almost apologetic tone towards the nominated movies. This year felt like a real celebration of movies.
As awards season rolled along and Everything Everywhere All At Oncepicked up more and more accolades, it suffered the same minor problem as Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water in 2017 in that its frontrunner status made it the conventional choice, though the movie is far from conventional. So, many of its wins did not come as total surprises, however, this did not stop the excitement of this sci-fi multiverse martial arts movie winning a total of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture. It is no overstatement to say that Everything Everywhere won big, picking up the most awards by a Best Picture winner since Slumdog Millionaire at the 2008 Oscars. The impressive tally of wins include: Best Picture, Director, Actress-Michelle Yeoh, Supporting Actress-Jaime Lee Curtis, Supporting Actor-Ke Huy Quan, Original Screenplay, and Editing.
The flipside of Everything Everywhere winning big, along with the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, which won 4 Oscars, is that films with multiple nominations like The Banshees of Inisherin (9), Elvis (8), The Fabelmans (7), and Tar (6) went home empty handed. Typically, the Academy spreads the wealth, but not this year.
Everything Everywhere is a fun and exciting choice for Best Picture, a nice change from the last couple years in which the Academy has awarded Best Picture to films that were good but not very daring. For me, the Best Picture nominees of 2022 were a mostly great selection of films and I was torn about which film would be my choice, if I had a vote, because for the first time in a long while not one but two of my absolute favorite films of the year were nominated for Best Picture. On my personal list of the best of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick and The Fabelmans are tied for first place, but if I can only award one…
There are scenes in Top Gun: Maverick that do not advance the plot but are important because they grow the characters. This is not done through dramatic monologues or speeches or cheap tricks but in intimate person to person moments. These moments feel honest; they add humanity into an action movie, something that is not strictly necessary but greatly enhances the movie. Jennifer Connolly’s character Penny is a great addition, a real challenge for Maverick, since flying comes so easy to him. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is close enough to the character you remember, but a lot of time has passed and the screenplay and Tom Cruise are not afraid to show us a different, mature version of a familiar character. The scenes of the F-18s in action will always dazzle and they are more than pure spectacle because of the work the cast and crew put into every aspect of the movie. It is difficult to blend action and emotion but, here, every thrill and every heartfelt moment are well earned. I can’t wait to watch it again.
It might seem odd to say that Steven Spielberg has never made a movie like The Fabelmans before. Yet, there are no aliens or dinosaurs or anything supernatural or futuristic, it is a period piece but not about a major historical event, nor is it an adaptation of a prestigious work. It is a family drama and a coming-of-age story. It is as though those superb, intimate moments of family life at the beginnings of JAWS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poltergeist (co-written and produced by Spielberg), or Catch Me If You Can get to play out in full. This is not precisely a biopic but it is a dramatization of Spielberg’s childhood and teenage years. Spielberg, of course, embraces sentiment but avoids schmaltz and solipsism and self-indulgence in both story and style to the betterment of his picture. Most importantly he also avoids false humility. Autobiographical aspects notwithstanding, only a master filmmaker like Spielberg could have made a movie as good as The Fabelmans, his best film in twenty years.
This story begins in 1952 in New Jersey as Burt and Mitzi Fabelman take their young son, Sammy, to the movies for the first time to see The Greatest Show on Earth (winner of the Best Picture Oscar that year). It is a life changing experience for Sammy. He is so affected by that movie’s incredible train crash scene that he has to recreate the moment, with the help of his understanding mother, with his toy train set and father’s home movie camera. Thus begins Sammy Fabelman’s life making movies, not as a hobby but because he has to. As time passes and the family moves first to Arizona then to California and Sammy becomes a teenager, and prefers to be called Sam, making movies allows him to see his family and his world in unexpected ways.
Michelle Williams receives top billing as Mitzi Fabelman, whose life is thrown off by the moves the family must make from one state to the next because of her husband Burt’s career. Williams is eccentric but not exactly over the top—a full blown over the top mother would feel too much like a Hollywood contrivance—though she seems to be channeling Liza Minnelli even in her less frantic moments. This is not a fault against her or the movie; her character carries the emotional burden that drives most of the story. Sam’s inner conflict comes in part from learning about his mother’s secret while editing a home movie. The Academy likes performances that it can “see,” so it is no surprise that she earned a Best Actress nomination. Paul Dano is cast perfectly as Burt Fabelman, an engineer working in the new field of computers who connects best with his loved ones when he is talking about technical things. He is a kind, gentle father and there is something of Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale, Sr. from Catch Me If You Can in Dano’s performance. As lovable “Uncle” Benny, Burt’s best friend and colleague, Seth Rogan gives a career best performance, though he is still playing a comic relief character. Benny is not just Burt’s best friend but also Mitzi’s best friend and confidant and perhaps the audience, like Grandma Fabelman (Jeannie Berlin), will pick up on what only Sammy’s camera sees.
Like a whirlwind, Judd Hirsch, funny, exciting, a little frightening, and unforgettable, enters the movie as Uncle Boris only to exit as unexpectedly as he arrived. He talks to Sammy about being an artist, about having to choose art over family, about how Sammy loves that (the editing machine and film) a little more than his family. Hirsch’s screen time is limited, but memorable enough to have earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Of course, the real star of the movie is Gabriel LaBelle as teenage Sam Fabelman. He does a great job as a teenager who feels out of place in his new home and at his new school. He also has to deal with two kinds of bullies: Logan, the blond “all-American” boy who singles him out because he is new, and Chad, who singles him out because he is Jewish. The antisemitism he experiences in the early 1960’s southern California feels like a real threat (Logan really is no better than Chad); at best his Judaism makes him a fetish object for Monica, his Jesus obsessed high school girlfriend. The final confrontation between Sam and Logan is one of the most interesting bully-victim interactions I’ve seen on film. In a different film, this antisemitism would be the focus of the movie; here co-writers Spielberg and, recent favorite collaborator Tony Kushner, present it as an unsettling part of everyday life.
Composer John Williams, Spielberg’s favorite collaborator for 50 years now, turns in his most memorable score since Catch Me If You Can. Williams has long favored big brass focused scores composed in the key of G, like his themes for Superman or Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his score for The Fabelmans is piano based and gentle. Janusz Kaminski, Spielberg’s favorite cinematographer for decades, tones down his ostentatious style from last year’s West Side Story remake to create a memorable but not distracting visual style.
At times The Fabelmans feels episodic, as any life story or memoir would, but it does not feel disjointed. It is a long movie but I do not think I would want anything cut. The small idiosyncratic moments that seem disposable are what create an authenticity that turn these characters into people.
This is not a love letter to movies, though it is filled with an unparalleled appreciation for the craft of making movies. I must admit that watching Sam figure out filming techniques reminded me of my own time at film school. I remember the excitement that Sam felt being able to film for six minutes without changing reels or the possibility of using a 16mm Arriflex camera, which I never got to do. For these reasons, the movie hit me in a certain way that I know will not work for everyone else. However, the emotions and themes at play throughout the story of the Fabelman family are universal and what really make it a great movie; it allows for a personal connection. In the final shot, Spielberg shows a playfulness and sense of humor that I have not seen in any of his other movies and that has endeared him to me most unexpectedly. Previous Spielberg movies have played with my heartstrings to great effect, but none have felt as close to my own heart as The Fabelmans.
Nominees: Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, producers
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Seth Rogan
Production Companies:Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Release Date: November 11th, 2022
Total Nominations: 7, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actress-Michelle Williams; Supporting Actor-Judd Hirsch; Director-Steven Spielberg; Original Screenplay-Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner; Production Design-Rick Carter, Karen O'Hara; Original Score-John Williams
“You’ve been feeling it too, haven’t you? Something is off. Your clothes never wear as well the next day, your hair never falls in quite the same way…”
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a wild, weird, zany, outlandish, and thoroughly entertaining film. Its premise feels original but, more importantly, it lives up to the promise of its fun title. Part sci-fi, martial arts movie, action, comedy, family drama, and mid life crisis movie, co-writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known together as The Daniels) crammed everything they could into their movie, and then squeezed in some more. The combination of over the type action, absurd sights, and a great cast led by Michelle Yeoh make Everything Everywhere All At Once one of the most memorable movies in years.
Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, a woman dealing with the drudgery of running a laundromat, overly friendly customers, unfriendly customers, the growing gulf between her and her daughter, Joy (Stepahnie Hsu), who wants to include her girlfriend Becky in their Chinese New Year celebration, though this would not be taken well by Gong Gong (James Hong), Evelyn’s ailing father who has come from China to live with them. She also finds out that her well meaning but floundering husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), has just filed for divorce, and has to deal with a confusing tax audit by a grumpy IRS agent (Jaime Lee Curtis). As if this wasn’t enough to handle, it turns out the fate of every possible universe rests with her.
In order to learn the skills she needs to fight the ultimate chaotic evil force out to destroy the multiverse, called Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn first has to learn how to “verse jump,” that is, to temporarily jump into a different version of herself from a different universe, pick up a special skill and jump back. If you have some trouble keeping track of which version of which character is where or the inner workings of the Alpha-verse and their technology, you’ll be in good company because it takes a while for Evelyn to accept and figure it all out herself. This might be the best thing about Evelyn as written by the Daniels and performed by Yeoh. She is a normal woman who has normal incredulous reactions to the outlandish and extraordinary things happening around her. In addition to believably handling all of the martial arts and action scenes, Yeoh handles the emotional scenes with the same expertise. A lot of the comedy comes from Evelyn’s confusion and attempts to explain everything to her versions of Waymond and Joy.
The rest of the cast also does an excellent job playing the different versions of themselves and it is easy to keep track of who is which version just from the performances. Ke Huy Quan as average Waymond is so mild mannered he puts Clark Kent to shame, but he brims with self-assurance as the successful businessman version of Waymond, and he is a believable fighter as Waymond from the Alpha-verse. Stephanie Hsu is great as average Joy, dealing with heavy internal conflict about her mother, but she really gets to shine as the multiverse villain Jobu Tupaki, who has been driven beyond madness into sinister nihilism by experiencing all possible universes simultaneously.
Perhaps the most important factor to the movie’s success and memorability is its willingness to be silly. Very, very silly indeed. There’s a universe where people literally have gigantic hot dogs for fingers; Evelyn misremembers Ratatouille and creates a universe with a cooking raccoon, voiced, briefly but perfectly, by Randy Newman. There is a universe where she trains to fight with only her pinky finger. In one of the less outlandish universes Evelyn is an action movie star not unlike Michelle Yeoh. Evelyn wants to just stay in this universe instead of fighting an all powerful cosmic being (who wouldn't?). Of course, this embrace of the silly leads to some good comedy. All of this multiverse madness is so broad and random that there is bound to find something that matches your particular comedic taste. The action and fights are well choreographed and exciting. They seem spontaneous and frantic, which is what makes them so fun.
All of this incredible and ridiculous action is not mindless or self-serving. It expresses and reinforces the conflicts that average Evelyn is facing in her normal life. Almost all of the action takes place inside the IRS building, a budgetary convenience turned thematic point. Evelyn’s journey from believing that her daughter is possessed by some evil force to realizing that Jobu Tupaki really is just Joy is the most important thing about her journey through a real multiverse of madness. Beyond the visual and conceptual spectacle, Evelyn’s emotional journey, as portrayed by Yeoh, her relationship with Joy and Waymond, and her reflection on her life choices are what will give Everything Everywhere All At Once a lasting resonance.
Nominees: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, producers
Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Screenplay: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis
Production Companies: IAC Films, Gozie AGBO, Year of the Rat, Ley Line Entertainment
Distributor: A24
Release Date: March 25th, 2022
Total Nominations: 11, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actress-Michelle Yeoh; Director-Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Supporting Actress-Stephanie Hsu; Supporting Actress-Jamie Lee Curtis; Supporting Actor-Ke Huy Quan; Original Screenplay-Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Costume Design-Shirley Kurata; Editing-Paul Rogers; Original Score-Son Lux; Original Song-Ryan Lott, David Byrne, Mitski for "This Is a Life"
The 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is good enough to stand alongside the best anti-war films, but it will stand out because it is one of the still small number of movies about the First World War, and, most notably, it is German made. Published in 1929,Erich Maria Remarque’s now classic novel about an eager, patriotic German teenager experiencing the true horrors of war on the Western Front in Northern France, was first adapted by Universal Pictures the following year. That film, directed by Lewis Milestone, won Best Picture at the 3rd Academy Awards and remains one of the great anti-war films, with sights that still shock and scenes loaded with undated pathos. The novel and film ran afoul of the emerging Nazi party, who sabotaged screenings before both the novel and film were banned after they took power. Another version of All Quiet on the Western Front (there is also a surprisingly memorable made-for-TV version from 1979), seems unnecessary, but director Edward Berger uses modern cinematic styles and techniques, in addition to modern technology and visual effects, to create a harrowing and effective anti-war film.
Modernizations aside, the biggest difference between this version and the classic film and novel is the addition of scenes of the German High Command negotiating the armistice. Daniel Brühl plays real life German official Matthias Erzberger, who works to negotiate a quick armistice. He is not presented as heroic, but he is frustrated by the stubbornness of the German generals and the arrogance of the French generals, who understand that they are winning. While the politicians and generals quibble over words and protocol, teenage Paul, who joined the German army in spring of 1917 full of patriotic idealism, and his fellow soldiers are suffering and fighting and dying in mud and squalor, in conditions that before 1914 were unimaginable. The sharp and jarring juxtaposition of these scenes is intentional and highly effective. The First World War was called The Great War and The War To End All Wars because the methods of the war and conditions it created were so awful that, surely, there would be nothing after.
Berger’s film excels at something terrible, successfully conveying the horrors of modern industrial war: the grueling and terrible conditions of trench warfare; stabbing a man multiple times only to be trapped in a bomb crater with him as he dies slow enough to make you realize his humanity; the absurd and terrifying sights of soldiers in gas masks; a friend exploding into a spray of blood; WWI era tanks, lumbering steel rhombuses slouching forward and spitting explosions; soldiers with guns that throw fire instead of bullets.
As Paul, Felix Kammerer is good at being simultaneously a generic stand-in for any young person caught up in their country’s war and a distinct person, easy to distinguish and follow. Albrecht Schuch is memorable as “Kat,” a veteran of the trenches. Paul and Kat have quiet moments together, cherished for their calmness and connection. Paul has an arc, though it is uncomplicated (patriotic idealism into jaded realism), and the rare moments of calmness do not build character so much as they maintain humanity. The amazing and moving speech Paul gives to a group of high school students at the behest of his former teacher (whose words inspired him to enlist), where he tells them that it is awful to die for your country, as well as the final image of the 1930 version, one of the most famous and poignant in film history, are replaced with a new gut wrenching ending.
I read one critic describe Sam Mendes’s WWI film 1917, a Best Picture nominee of 2019, as a movie not about the horrors of war, but a horror movie about war. I am not sure I agree with regards to that movie (I found it extremely tense and affecting, but a bit too thrilling to convey horror), but I believe this sentiment is true of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, and, now, perhaps, Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front; time will tell. This is a rough movie to watch, and I probably would not have seen it if it had not been nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. I was much more willing to watch the 20-minute vomiting and diarrhea scene from Triangle of Sadness than to watch this movie. However, this is one remake I will never begrudge because its effect and the effect of the 1930 version and the novel remain the same: war is cruel and disgusting and the ones who fight and suffer and die have no say in how it is fought or when it ends.
Nominees: Malte Grunert, producer
Director: Edward Berger
Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell; based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl
Production Companies: Amusement Park
Distributor: Netflix
Release Date: October 28th, 2022
Total Nominations: 9, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: International Feature Film-Germany; Adapted Screenplay-Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell; Cinematography-James Friend; Production Design-Christian M. Goldbeck, Ernestine Hipper; Makeup and Hairstyling-Heike Merker, Linda Eisenhamerova; Original Score-Volker Bertelmann; Sound- Viktor Prasil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, Stefan Korte; Visual Effects-Frank Petzold, Viktor Muller, Markus Frank, Kamil Jaffar
I was skeptical, more than skeptical actually, about a sequel to Top Gun thirty-six years later. Even though I enjoy the original very much, and am a big Tom Cruise fan, I was flat out dismissive after seeing the trailer. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel that no one asked for, is not just a fantastic, entertaining summer action movie, it is a masterfully crafted, exciting, and fun movie that every big budget action movie should strive to be like. If it was released in the 1980’s or 90’s this might be just another action movie, but in 2022, Tom Cruise, as star and producer, and director Joseph Kosinski have created a dazzling technical achievement, a thrilling entertainment, and something truly special.
After his program testing experimental supersonic jets is shut down in favor of a drone program, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is called back to the Navy’s elite pilot training program known as Top Gun. However, Maverick won’t just be teaching young pilots, he will be training them for an almost impossible mission deep in enemy territory. Like the first Top Gun movie, the “enemy” is never specified or seen up close. Like the first Top Gun, this film can be seen as patriotic Navy propaganda or an elaborate recruitment video. However, like the first movie, Top Gun: Maverick is neither political nor mindless. It is a thrill ride with enough sense to allow room for characters to grow and even emotions to build.
This older version of Maverick is a more mature character, deeply informed by the tragedy in his past, the death of his best friend and F-14 Tomcat partner, Goose (played by Anthony Edwards in Top Gun). Maverick is concerned with the safety of his students, but not his own. It is interesting to note that in Top Gun, characters are referred to almost exclusively by their call signs. Before watching the sequel I could not have guessed Maverick's real name. In Top Gun: Maverick, he is called Pete more than a few times. In the training scenes and in the air, Tom Cruise shows us Maverick. In the scenes on the ground, in scenes showing concern and vulnerability, Cruise lets us see Pete Mitchell. I’m a huge fan of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies, but this movie's Oscar nominated screenplay allows for character driven acting that we haven’t seen from Cruise in a while.
Jennifer Connolly plays Penny, a divorced mother and owner of a bar in Fighterown, USA, the location in San Diego of the Top Gun training facility. She is also an old flame of Maverick. They reconnect in a pretty amusing scene of him violating her bar policy and having to pay for everyone’s drinks. But there are other scenes where Connolly gets to play a mature character, not just a trophy. These more intimate scenes I enjoyed as much as the rest of the movie.
The other important relationship for Maverick is with Bradley Bradshaw, callsign Rooster, who is Goose’s son and also a Top Gun pilot. I’ve been no fan of Miles Teller, but he does a fine job as Rooster, the cautious flyer with a chip on his shoulder. Maverick pulled strings to set back Rooster’s career as a Navy pilot to keep him safe. Now, Maverick must decide on sending Rooster on a mission with slim chance for survival. Visually, Teller is essentially cosplaying Anthony Edwards as Goose; his entrance is played on the right side of parody. Character-wise Teller and the screenplay avoid the pitfalls of this kind of character; he never comes across as whiny or over burdened, nor is he simply a rehash of Goose. I would have liked more time with the other new pilots (Hangman played by Glen Powell and Phoenix played by Monica Barbaro) but, as is, they are all the movie needs.
Maverick’s biggest supporter, and the reason he still has a Navy career, is his old rival turned friend, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now an admiral and commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Iceman is suffering from throat cancer, similar to what Kilmer experienced recently in real life, so he and Maverick communicate via text messages. Kilmer has only one scene where he and Cruise meet face to face and it, like so much of the movie, avoids pitfalls even though it plays out how you might expect. It is a wonderful and emotional character focused scene.
Top Gun: Maverick received 6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song for “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga and Bloodpop, Visual Effects, Sound, and Editing. Curiously absent is a nomination for the outstanding cinematography by Claudio Miranda. It is not just that there are great landscapes captured from the air by zooming jets. New techniques were developed to mount the IMAX quality cameras to the jets and Miranda worked with Sony to develop cameras that would fit inside the F-18s. This thrilling point of view footage combined with the excellent and rightfully nominated sound design really make you feel like you are in the jets, flying at supersonic speeds, trying not to blackout as the jets and pilots are pushed to their limits. Cruise made it well known that this movie used real jets and real G-forces and not only did I feel that in the theater, I even felt it watching at home on my regular TV with a regular sound set up. The cinematography and sound and editing and visual effects do more than just create thrills; they effectively convey the danger facing the pilots, which enhances the drama, which in turn adds another layer of substance.
The references to the first Top Gun are more than just pandering winks and nods. Miles Teller plays “Great Balls of Fire” on a bar piano just like Anthony Edwards did in Top Gun, but this segues to a flashback to the first movie that builds drama while also functioning as exposition. The ending feels contrived but action movies, like horror movies, don’t have to be realistic, they just have to be good and Top Gun: Maverick is the best of the best.
Nominees: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer, producers
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Screenplay: Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks; based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connolly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Val Kilmer
Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, Skydance, TC Productions, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 27th, 2022
Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Adapted Screenplay-Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, Justin Marks; Editing-Eddie Hamilton; Original Song-Lady Gaga, BloodPop for "Hold My Hand"; Sound-Mark Weingarten, James Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor; Visual Effects-Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott R. Fisher
