From Top Gun: Maverick to Elvis – the 10 best movies of 2022
THIS year has seen Tom Cruise’s return flight, Elvis coming back to life and Emma Thompson twirling kids by their hair and hiring a gigolo.
Dulcie gives her top ten films of 2022.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
(12A) 131mins
With all the adrenaline, spectacular stunts, humour and heart of the first blockbuster, this sequel also has an all-action storyline of bombs and baddies to beat Bond.
It’s 36 years since we last saw Tom Cruise slipping on his aviator shades as test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
The stunts are so spectacular and death-defying, you can feel the G-force hitting you from the big screen
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2. BARBARIAN
(18) 102mins
A horror film that begins as a relatable nightmare with Tess (Georgina Campbell) arriving at her Airbnb to find Keith (Bill Skarsgard) has already rented it.
So the pair decide to share and find much going bump in the night in the basement.
Like riding a rollercoaster, it will make you laugh, scream, and want to get off. And then want to go again the moment it’s over.
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3. A BUNCH OF AMATEURS
(12A) 95mins
This heart-warming documentary points the camera at the wannabe-Spielbergs of the Bradford Movie Makers, who have held a meeting every Monday since 1932.
The community spirit and pure passion, brought to light by director Kim Hopkins, is a reminder that Britain is full of truly beautiful souls.
4. MATILDA THE MUSICAL
PG (117mins)
This anti-authority satire — which called on the nation’s kids to rise up against their overbearing parents and strict head teachers — sees Emma Thompson as headmistress from hell Miss Trunchbull, the English Hammer Throwing Champion 1959 who now takes to twirling pupils into the sky via their pigtails.
The huge choreographed numbers, set to comedian Tim Minchin’s whip-smart lyrics, could be watched again and again.
There is nothing to criticise in what is the best family movie since Paddington 2.
5. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
15 (128mins)
A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, it also stirs such emotional turmoil and creates the sensation of ripping your still-beating heart from your chest and stamping on it.
Julie (Renate Reinsve) is about to turn 30 and doesn’t know what she wants in life and we follow her desire to find something.
Certainly not the worst person in the world — just a complicated human who has to carry the weight of her decisions with her for ever.
6. BOILING POINT
15 (94mins)
Remarkably all shot in one take and on one location, the film is set in a high-end, exclusive restaurant in Dalston, East London.
Head chef Andy (Stephen Graham) is a highly agitated man who is about to start a night’s work.
Following the evening, the movie has a real “out of the frying pan into the fire” feel.
Technically astounding, it is both intimate and explosive — and a wonder to watch.
7. TURNING RED
PG (100mins)
Pixar has parked any prudishness to create this bold, hilarious and strangely beautiful take on a 13-year-old girl’s trip into the land of no return — adulthood.
Studious schoolgirl Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) finds a sudden — and very passionate — crush on a local boy turns her, quite literally, into a raging, hormonal, giant red monster with body odour.
A joyful movie that addresses the journey to womanhood refreshingly well.
8. ELVIS
12A (159mins)
Get all shook up by this high-tempo, ferociously flamboyant take on Elvis Presley’s life — all with a huge dollop of glitz, glamour and decadence sprinkled on top, courtesy of director Baz Luhrmann.
The biopic focuses on his chaotic relationship with Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), which, ultimately, kills him.
With a hypnotic performance from Austin Butler as Elvis, it’s a shake, rattle and roll through the life of the biggest star the world has ever seen.
9. GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE
15 (97mins)
Sex with a stranger can be awkward. But what is it like when you’ve paid that stranger?
This is something comedian Katy Brand explores in the film she has written about the delicate transaction of buying sex.
We are invited to peep behind the velvet curtains of a plush hotel room where nervous widow Nancy (Emma Thompson) has hired a male prostitute, Leo (Daryl McCormack).
This sexy, clever and moving film is what Hollywood has been missing for so long.
And it feels hugely liberating to see it on the big screen.
10. CYRANO
12A (123mins)
A swooningly romantic musical by director Joe Wright, is the story of unrequited love and loss for Cyrano (Peter Dinklage) who adores friend Roxanne (Haley Bennett).
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He expresses this via good-looking soldier Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr) who he ghost-writes love letters for and, of course, Roxanne falls for.
With superb songs and stunning scenes, this film will break the blackest of hearts