It’s me! Kevin! And here are the films I thought were the best and/or my favorites of the year.
To kick things off, I must say it was a good year for horror! And I’m not talking that Longlegs (Nic Cage as Mrs. Doubtfire) nonsense or the over-hyped giggle-fest that was Nosferatu (or as I like to call it, “Anastasia’s Great Uncle Who Didn’t Get Invited to the Ball, and Shows Up Wet and Pissed”) See below for my Wickedly Wild and Remarkable Top 15 list of Substance!
- THE BRUTALIST – This almost four–hour story of an architect who flees post-war Europe in 1947 and then thrives and survives with the help of a wealthy client is one of the most beautiful and compelling films of the year. Buoyed by excellent performances from Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce and masterpiece-defining direction from former actor Brady Corbet, the running time (complete with intermission) flies by.
2. THE SUBSTANCE – This small body-horror film with a big message makes us think, laugh, cringe, and look away in equal measure. Fascinating from start to finish, it won’t be for everyone, but Corralie Fargeat’s confident direction and superb performances by Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley elevate this film from “just another horror film” to “masterpiece.”
3. WICKED – Jon Chu’s adaptation of the long-running Broadway hit is a fun, emotional, and dazzling ride through the world of Oz. With a star-making turn by Ariana Grande and a thoughtful, powerful performance by Cynthia Erivo, this is one of the best times you’ll have at the movies this year.
4. THE WILD ROBOT – Dreamwork’s animated masterpiece is visually stunning, hopelessly emotional, and a classic in every way. It tells the tale of a robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) who bonds with nature, animals, and a baby goose and accomplishes so much thanks to its fantastic vision.
5. THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN – This documentary centers on Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer born with a degenerative muscular disease that robbed his body of speech and movement, and how he affected so many of his gaming friends around the world, is a startling look at empathy, and the impact people have on others without ever knowing it. It is an emotional and uplifting film about the power of connection.
6. DADDIO – Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in this two-person drama about a woman traveling from JFK back to her apartment in NYC and the taxi driver who takes her there. It’s a surprisingly beautiful story about two very different humans who connect in a remarkable way. They may not always see eye-to-eye, and they might have opposing perspectives on a number of topics, but they listen to each other. They see each other as something more than black-and-white souls existing in pre-determined boxes. They prove even profound connections can occur between people in the most unlikely of places.
7. NATIONAL ANTHEM – This gorgeous queer drama by renowned photographer turned director Luke Gilford is a tender exploration of what it means to leave the confines of the life you’ve always known and then meet the life you have always needed to live. It is a revelatory addition to queer stories and one that uplifts with a combination of both hope and awe. It’s one of the most important films of the year.
8. FALLING STARS – This slow-burn horror film revolves around a small California town where evil witches are real and arrive on the first night of the harvest to steal people away in the blink of an eye. There are no jump scares or big “let’s take the witches down” machinations. It’s simply about curiosity, its repercussions, and how these people go about trying to amend it. And throughout, this mounting dread that looms over everyone and everything – one of the bigger surprises of the year.
9. ODDITY – This surprise horror film from Ireland, directed by Damian McCarthy, is one of the scariest and most fun horror films of the last decade. With a compelling and twisty story and one of the best jump-scares in recent memory, Oddity has a lot of ideas, but they all come together in a spine-tingling and satisfying way. – a true gift to horror fans.
10. ARCADIAN – Benjamin Brewer’s monster movie is not only scary, touching, and white-knuckle suspenseful, but it has some of the best creature effects of the last decade. Nic Cage stars (but takes a bit of a back seat) as a father of two boys in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by alien creatures that come out at night to attack. While the film is a nail-biter on many levels, the relationship between the brothers is not just realistic but also complicated. It’s a desperate world full of desperate people striving to connect with each other and make sense of it all. And those creatures are some of the coolest, scariest, and wildly weird we’ve seen in years.
11. FEMME – Starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George Mackay (1917), this film about an effeminate gay man in London, pursued sexually and romantically by a hyper-masculine bully, is a riveting look at a masculinity that masks and confines a more complicated reality. It also sensitively shows us just how different the world could be if those who are different weren’t targeted as something to be feared.
12. HANDLING THE UNDEAD – A zombie film used as a meditation on grief and letting go, this is a horror film that has some thrills but chooses to avoid suspense and horror for a profoundly empathic look at loss. Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In), this one took me by surprise in the best of ways.
13. THE FIRST OMEN – Another complete surprise, this prequel to the 1976 horror classic finally gets these decades-later story continuations right. Telling the tale of how Damien (the anti-Christ from the original film) was birthed, this truly frightening, quietly unsettling film has everything going for it. With a clever script, incredible direction by Arkasha Stevenson, and an Oscar-worthy lead performance by Nell Tiger Free (Apple TV+’s Servant), this one will get under your skin and stay there throughout. Truly one of the best prequels to a horror film ever made.
14. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN – James Mangold’s latest bio-pic concerns the early musical life of genius Bob Dylan. Played with precision by Timothee Chalamet, with support from Monica Barbero and Elle Fanning, this look at a legend follows a tried and true path for these types of stories, but it is infused with a curiosity and care that draws you to our three leads, even when Dylan isn’t being the nicest of people. The extended music scenes add to the tangible feel of the film and allow it to rise above the crop of bio-pics we’ve seen in recent years.
15. RED ROOMS – This French-Canadian psychological thriller concerns a young woman who becomes obsessed with a serial killer on trial for the murders of three teenage girls. While attending the on-going trial she befriends another groupie, and slowly finds her obsession with the case taking over. This is a tense, unpredictable film that had me hooked from the start. It’s worth it for one courtroom scene that had me gasping at one character’s audacity. It’s an electric, thoughtful, nerve-wracking film.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Smile 2, Challengers, Blink Twice, A Real Pain, Anora, Woman of the Hour, Dune 2, Emilia Perez
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