THE YEAR IN FILMS
Our selection of films released or to come that you shouldn’t miss
With 2022 coming to a close, we look back at some of the year’s best films and series you might have missed, and a few of the big titles to look forward to next year.
In case you missed it, enjoy this summer!
In Cinemas
An epic historical action inspired loosely by the all-female army of the Agojie who defended the kingdom of Dahomey in present-day Benin between the 17th and 19th century. As blockbusters go, this black female-led cast starring a ferocious Viola Davis is fresh and nuanced.
Tom Cruise returns as ace pilot Captain “Maverick” in this standalone sequel to the 1986 classic film that proves that cinema culture is still alive and kicking. It’s gung-ho machismo propaganda for the masses, but wow – the spectacular aerial sequences are unlike anything else on the big screen. The film is also available for rent on Apple TV+ or Google Play, and on Showmax from 23 January.
A slow, steady and significant biographical drama starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about the investigative journalists whose Pulitzer Prize-winning work exposed movie tycoon Harvey Weinstein, kickstarting the #MeToo movement for social change.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Powered by very real emotion, superlative performances and a willingness to lean into comic-book goofiness, Ryan Coogler and his sizzling cast have pulled off a miracle in producing a sequel not only worthy of its record-breaking predecessor, but also of the memory of its beloved late star. Read (or re-read) the review by Kervyn Cloete and don’t miss this epic sequel.
***
Netflix
A sardonic thriller that would have made Hitchcock proud. A filthy-rich tech mogul who arrives at his holiday home with his wife only to be held captive by a seemingly clueless robber. With only four characters, whose chemistry is explosive, it’s full of sharp dialogue and dry social commentary.
***
Showmax
The creators of Devilsdorp dropped another shocking South African docuseries this year, this time unpacking the biggest corporate scam in the country’s history. The three-part series on the fall of Steinhoff highlights not only the infamous dealings of ex-CEO Markus Jooste, but also how corruption in the private sector all too frequently flies beneath the radar.
Minx Season 1
A sharp satirical rumination on feminism set in 1970s Los Angeles that flips sexualisation of the human body onto its male population. Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) teams up with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create a feminist journal which morphs into the first erotic magazine for women. The two actors’ rapport is what makes this topical, gender-conscious comedy so watchable.
***
DStv Box Office:
After a messy theatrical release, Robert Eggers’s most recent and biggest film is finally becoming available on streaming platforms. Trippy, theatrical and gruesome as you wish, it reinvents the glamourised depiction of Vikings in popular culture with a retelling of the Scandinavian legend that inspired Hamlet.
Directed by David Leitch, who did Deadpool 2, Brad Pitt plays an assassin in an equally ridiculous, dark, action-packed comedy. His handler (Sandra Bullock) renames him Ladybug in an attempt to shift his perception of his “biblical” bad luck, but it definitely doesn’t seem to be working based on his return to work for an apparently simple mission to pick up a briefcase on a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. Bullet Train is also available for rent on Apple TV or Google Play.
Three Thousand Years of Longing
An imaginative self-referential story about stories in which a narratologist (Tilda Swinton) stumbles upon a djinn (Idris Elba) with whom she trades tales in a sparring match of wits to figure out how to deal with the classic transaction of three wishes in exchange for freedom. Set aside your assumptions on what the movie could look like and revel in the unexpected nature of the characters’ relationship. The film is also available for rent on Apple TV or Google Play.
***
Prime Video
Everything Everywhere All At Once
A stunning gem of 2022 with widespread appeal, this hilarious, chaotic and emotional sci-fi adventure is a top Oscar contender. Michelle Yeoh plays an exhausted Chinese-American woman who runs a laundromat and is barely keeping her head above water as it is when her awareness of alternate versions of herself begins a metamorphosis into an unstoppable (slightly overwhelmed) force across infinite universes.
A charming black-and-white film based on auteur writer-director Mike Mills’s relationship with his own son. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a radio journalist who tours the country interviewing children while struggling to take care of and understand his nephew. Also available for purchase on Apple TV+ or Google Play.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Amazon’s prequel series expands Tolkien’s works with the most dazzling CGI money can buy, bringing a host of new characters and locations to the screen. If you have time for fantasy this summer, you’d be best advised to choose Rings of Power over its disappointing rival series, House Of The Dragon.
***
Apple TV+
Director Guillermo Del Toro’s return to neo-noir could not have been more seamless than this detailed, hypnotic period drama set in the sleazy carnivals of the 1930s. Co-producer Bradley Cooper stars as a deceitful carny who teams up with a corrupt psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) in an attempt to dominate the dangerous underbelly of the sideshow business. Nightmare Alley is also available on Google Play.
Jordan Peele’s freaky sci-fi spectacle is ambitiously crammed with surprises. It’s a self-referential take on the classic UFO summer event film which, ironically, will be remembered as a defining film of that genre partly because of its branching out into others; also available on Google Play.
***
MUBI
2022’s Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards went to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s gentle, cynical and effortlessly poetic adaption of Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s minimalist writing. A great watch for the holiday break.
***
What to look for in 2023
Pale Blue Eye: 6 January 2023 on Netflix
Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Batman trilogy) stars in his first Netflix film – a crime mystery adapted from Louis Bayards’s novel of the same name. Set in West Point in 1830, it follows a detective (Bale) hired to investigate the strange murder of a cadet. Finding it impossible to overcome the other cadets’ code of silence, he enlists the help of an eccentric cadet with a disdain for the military – Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling). Directed by Scott Cooper, who spent nearly a decade on the project, and with music composed by Howard Shore of the Lord of the Rings films, Netflix is hoping for an early hit in 2023.
Sharper: 17 February 2023 on Apple TV+
A con artist takes on the billionaires of New York in a thrilling drama. Whether traipsing in the opulent penthouses of Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, or skulking around deep Queens, secrets abound and the answers are never what you rightfully suspect. Expectations of this mysterious histrionic project are high for both director Benjamin Caron and the star-studded ensemble cast led by Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, newcomer Briana Middleton and John Lithgow.
Killers of Flower Moon: estimated release in May 2023 on Apple TV+
A highly anticipated Western by Martin Scorsese which has been delayed several times due to Covid-19 and Paramount’s concerns about Leonardo DiCaprio’s switching roles during the production of the film, leaving Jesse Plemmons in the lead role. The film is adapted from a 2017 book of the same name about a series of real murders in Oklahoma in the 1920s which targeted wealthy members of a Native American tribe.
Roosevelt: July 14 2023 in cinemas
Would you believe it – another delayed release by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Not much has been released yet about the film, which focuses more on Theodore Roosevelt’s (DiCaprio) early career than his time as the 32nd president of the US, during which he had to navigate the Great Depression and World War 2.
Oppenheimer: 21 July 2023 in cinemas
Christopher Nolan directs a grand-scale biopic about the reluctant “father of the atomic bomb”, American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer played by Nolan’s frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy. The clout that Nolan built from the Batman films never wore off – his films are grand-scale events that attract not only a massive audience, but all-star actors. Oppenheimer’s supporting cast includes Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jnr, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, and more.
Dune: Part Two: 3 November 2023 in cinemas
The sequel to the film event of 2021 is scheduled to be released in theatres late in 2023, with Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson and others from the original cast reprising their roles, joined by Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Lea Seydoux. Director Denis Villeneuve says the film will cover the remainder of Frank Herbert’s 1965 seminal science fiction novel.
Paul Atreides, on a warpath to avenge his family, must unite with Chani and the Fremen and choose between love and the fate of the universe. You can rewatch the first film, Dune, on Showmax, or rent it on DStv Box Office, Apple TV or Google Play. DM/ML
You can contact Keep An Eye Out via tevya@dailymaverick.co.za
Become an Insider
Comments - Please login in order to comment.