Marjorie Baumgarten's Top 10 Films of 2022

1) TÁR With exacting precision this movie demonstrates how great women are subject to some of the same faults and foibles as great men.

2) Bones and All The most compelling and impassioned movie since Queen & Slim about young outsiders on the lam.

3) The Banshees of Inisherin Great writing, acting, and a peculiarly perverse premise rocket this one into the Top 10.

4) EO An amazingly empathetic account of what it's like to walk in another's hooves.

5) Everything Everywhere All at Once Pure inventiveness, surprises, and fun.

6) Holy Spider Everyone is gaga for true-crime stories these days, and this one that exposes how misogyny is often cloaked in religion is a real terror.

7) All Quiet on the Western Front An invented subplot not in the novel or previous film adaptations adds a distinctly German perspective on the costs of losing a war.

8) Happening This first-person depiction of the panic and desperation of a woman carrying an unwanted pregnancy in 1963 France could not be more pertinent.

9) Armageddon Time Evocative tale delves into a boy's discovery that the universe is unjust.

10) Moonage Daydream David Bowie lives: His legacy here is everything everywhere all at once.

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Near Misses: Women Talking, The Fabelmans, RRR

Most Overrated: Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, Elvis

Most Underrated: Bones and All, Call Jane, Causeway

Wild Card: The uncommon theme of older women and younger men hooking up is central to Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; Cha Cha Real Smooth; and Empire of Light.

Acting Kudos (Male): Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Mark Rylance (Bones and All), Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Acting Kudos (Female): Cate Blanchett (TÁR), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)

Best Director: Todd Field, (TÁR), Daniels, (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All)

Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Todd Field, (TÁR), Daniels, (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell (All Quiet on the Western Front); David Kajganich (Bones and All); Marcia Romano, Audrey Diwan (Happening)

TV Series/Event: The televised hearings of the House January 6 committee

Worst Films: Nothing seen this year was terribly bad, but then again, I have so many more films of 2022 yet to see that something horrible is bound to turn up.

The Little Film That Could: Everything Everywhere All at Once, though not ultra-low-budget, has recouped its costs and become one of the most financially successful films of the year.