The annual battle of narrowing down the top movies feels like trying to fit into your favorite pair of jeans after a holiday feast—quite the challenge! Here’s Dana’s top 10:
By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News
Movies can turn your world upside-down in all the best ways. Films can inspire, excite, and anger. I go to the movies to laugh, cry, and get swept away by a story and its characters. I go to the movies because I love the shared experience of seeing a film in the dark with a bunch of strangers and then talking about it afterward.
Speaking of movie-going experiences, I was among the first audience to see Alexander Payne’s shot-in-Boston boarding school dramedy “The Holdovers” in 35 mm at the Somerville Theater, where a scene from the film took place. So, I watched a movie showing the characters watching a film from the same seats I was in. That was a trip.
Another unexpected encounter happened while watching Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” have its way with aghast moviegoers, especially the men of a certain age with whom I screened the film. One friend is still rinsing his mouth with Diet Coke after Barry Keoghan slurped up the dirty water in the infamous bathtub scene. Ditto for another friend who had her eyes closed throughout most of “Poor Things.” That is not the Emma Stone she’s used to seeing. And that is what’s great about the pictures—being surprised.
My movie-watching year started out with a documentary titled “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck,” a practice that I’m still learning to perfect. It ended with “Finestkind,” a just meh fishing tale that’s part crime story, part family drama, and was filmed in New Bedford and Scituate. In between, I have convinced myself that the disembodied airport voice in the Meg Ryan/David Duchovny rom-com “What Happens Later” is indeed Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, working under the pseudonym Hal Liggett. I’m still scratching my head as to why Bruce Springsteen’s new original song, “Addicted to Romance,” for Rebecca Miller’s offbeat romance “She Came to Me,” starring Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, and Anne Hathaway, isn’t getting more attention. Talk about a plot twist.
Nothing beats a full-theater experience, but empty ones have their perks, too. A near-solo watch of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” afforded one-on-one time with Chris Pine and his candy-blue eyes. Not every film offers this kind of pleasure. But the ability to have something as majestic as “Oppenheimer,” as whimsical as “Wonka,” as tense as “Anatomy of a Fall,” or as tender as “Priscilla” wash over you is a powerful thrill. Ditto for Martin Scorsese’s radio epilogue in his epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with the director himself delivering the final powerful words to honor the murdered Osage people, reading Mollie Burkhart’s (Lily Gladstone) obituary. That scene was the most powerful ending to any film this year.
Give me a screen; the bigger, the better, because there’s no other way to watch Ryan Gosling croon the sad-boy ballad “I’m Just Ken” or watch Tom Cruise drive a motorcycle off a cliff, defying death yet again in “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One.” On a smaller screen, the visceral impact of a 400-pound coked-up bear chasing an ambulance in Elizabeth Banks’s horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear” is dramatically lessened, as is the propulsive beat of Rush’s classic anthem “Tom Sawyer,” playing when the Von Erich brothers—Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White—make their debut in the ring as a trio on the professional wrestling circuit in “The Iron Claw.”
The collective gasp during the cliffhanger ending in “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse,” or the group cheer when America Ferrera delivers her dynamite monologue in “Barbie,” or when the Flerkens from “The Marvels” wreak feline havoc with Barbra Streisand’s “Memory” from the Broadway show “Cats” playing in the background, or the retro ’50s kitsch set design of Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” or one last hurrah with Indiana Jones in “The Dial of Destiny,”—those were all worth the price of admission this year. And that’s just a handful of memorable moments in an outstanding year. In this age of streaming services, the magic of the movie-going experience (thanks, “Barbenheimer”) is still worth the effort. And so, without further ado, here are my top 10 movies of the year—each a ticket to pure exhilaration and escapism.
1. OPPENHEIMER: Christopher Nolan’s star-studded character study about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer blew me away from start to finish. Cillian Murphy, my choice for best actor, plays “the father of the atomic bomb” alongside an ensemble of Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Jason Clarke, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Olivia Thirlby, Matthew Modine, and Alden Ehrenreich. That’s an ensemble for the ages. (Available to rent via video on demand)
2. THE HOLDOVERS: How three lonely souls who sort of can’t stand each other muddle through the Christmas break at an elite Massachusetts boarding school turned out to be one of the year’s most heartwarming human stories. Director Alexander Payne, working from a script by David Hemingson, finds just the right mix of sentiment and cynicism, all propped up by a fantastic cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’vine Joy Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa. The film was also shot in Massachusetts, so the local scenery is fun. (Streaming on Peacock)
3. SCRAPPER: In Charlotte Regan’s British indie, Harris Dickinson, currently garnering acclaim for his role as one of the Von Erich brothers in “The Iron Claw,” plays an estranged dad trying to reconnect with his 12-year-old daughter Georgie (Lola Campbell), who pops up after the girl’s mother dies. Dickinson is terrific as usual, but Campbell steals the show, playing a feisty youngster who’s the cleverest person in the room. Regan crafts a touching (and humorous) narrative about grief and the bond that develops between father and daughter. It’s impossible not to be charmed by Dickinson and Campbell, one of the year’s best screen duos. (Streaming on Paramount+ and Showtime)
4. FULL TIME: A cinematic panic attack (think: “Uncut Gems’), “Full Time” stars French actress Laure Calamy (“Call My Agent!”) as a struggling single mother juggling everything: her job as a chambermaid, wrangling children, a dodgy ex-husband and a Parisian transit system that has come to a halt. Director Éric Gravel’s César-nominated film turns motherhood into a nail-biting thriller that keeps you sweating through a tense 87 minutes. (Streaming on Prime Video)
5. AMERICAN FICTION: Cord Jefferson makes a strong directorial debut. Jeffrey Wright finally becomes the leading man, playing a struggling novelist from Boston trying to make it big. He finds sudden success after dropping a satirical novel under a secret name, blowing the lid off the publishing world’s hypocrisy with Black fiction. The film is such a sly and satirical look at race and culture that you won’t even know what hit you. Rounding out a stellar ensemble are Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown. Bonus: the movie was filmed in Boston and on the South Shore. (In theaters)
6. BARBIE: Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster took over cinemas last summer with blonde ambition—and abandon. Her toy story has been a cash juggernaut, pulling in a whopping $1.4 billion, smashing records left and right at Warner Bros. It seems the world was indeed open to a girl power tale that kicks toxic masculinity in the balls. Margot Robbie is a straight-up living doll, and America Ferrera delivers a showstopping monologue on the impossible double standard of being a woman. Plus, Ryan Gosling has “Kenergy” to spare. (Streaming on Max)
7. ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET: Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig totally nailed Judy Blume’s beloved 1970s coming-of-age classic in this adaptation. It’s got all the awkward stuff—puberty, periods, training bras, and crushes—all cringeworthy but totally relatable. Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, and Kathy Bates drew viewers right into that preteen headspace. It was a blast from the past. I’ve been hooked on this film since it dropped in April, and let me tell ya, not many flicks stick with you like this one does. We must! We must! (Available to rent via video on demand)
8. AIR: The movie tells the story of Nike’s courtship of superstar Michael Jordan and the birth of those iconic red-and-white high-tops bearing his name. Cambridge native Ben Affleck takes charge as director, producer, and part of the stellar cast, bringing the heat with Alex Convery’s smart, Sorkin-style script. Check out this dream team: Affleck as Nike bigwig Phil Knight; a pudgy Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, the brains behind Air Jordan; Jason Bateman as marketing whiz Rob Strasser; Chris Messina as Jordan’s agent, David Falk; and the incredible Viola Davis as Michael’s mom, Deloris. “Air” tips off strong and keeps slam-dunking right through. (Streaming on Prime Video)
9. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: Lily Gladstone has won dozens of awards and will nab many more in the weeks to come for her searing portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, the real-life Osage wife of Leonardo DiCaprio’s scheming Ernest Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s gripping fact-based thriller about betrayal and greed. Gladstone is the film’s beating heart; she’ll win your heart, too. At 80, Scorsese is as legendary as ever. (Streaming Jan. 12 on Apple TV+)
10. SALTBURN: Emerald Fennell follows up her Oscar-winning #MeToo drama, “Promising Young Woman,” with a wicked tale of privilege and desire. Barry Keoghan plays an Oxford student drawn into the filthy rich world of a classmate (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to his family’s titular estate for the summer. From bathtub-licking to graveside humping, the film is filled with the year’s most twisted cinematic moments. The movie wasn’t for everyone, but whatever “Saltburn” was, I was there for it—twice. (Streaming on Prime Video)
THE NEXT 10: “Zone of Interest,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Past Lives,” “Somewhere in Queens,” “Priscilla,” “The Covenant, “Poor Things,” “The Taste of Things,” “You Hurt My Feelings,” “Emily.”
TOP PICKS FOR TRUE TALES: “It Ain’t Over,” “The Deepest Breath,” “Beyond Utopia,” “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Four Daughters”
THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL: “Shotgun Wedding,” “Paint,” “Spinning Gold,” “The Tutor,” “Dicks: The Musical”
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