It isn't swayed by anything other than the truth as it crafts an uncompromising and steadfast deconstruction of whom the artist the world knew as XXXTentacion actually was. Moving beyond the headlines, it emerges as an absolutely essential piece of filmmaking.

If you were a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, you will love them doing The Universe. They haven’t changed a bit, even though the world around them has changed. It is delightfully charming and ridiculous and completely expected, in the best way possible.

Zinnemann is honest in his depiction of the raw, unfiltered emotions of displaced children, making The Search one of the most searing examinations of war’s impact ever put on screen.

It’s open enough to be perceived as a character study, a horror story, or something different altogether. But what is indisputable is the movie’s excellent use of wide shots and close-ups, the gorgeous production design and cinematography, and Woodvine’s quiet but compelling performance.

For me, it’s the film to beat this year, easily taking the crown as my favorite scary movie of the last several years — even if all the scares come from the idea of what might happen when your closest friends turn on you.

While the Hollywood legends don’t disappoint, it’s their children who steal the spotlight. Being able to hold your own in—let alone carry—a movie alongside those heavyweights is no easy feat, but it’s especially impressive considering Schuyler and Jake are not household names.

Hello Dankness uses a specific language that might alienate part of the public. But any attempt to make the movie more accessible would diminish the mesmerizing effect of watching a feature-length meme.

Part true crime legal thriller and part family drama, Triet's Palme d'Or winner is a thrilling story about perception, truth, and ambition.

Whatever you take away from it, the uniting fear Skinamarink creates ensures it will be remembered as an unparalleled achievement in horror cinema in how it paints a portrait of oblivion that beckons us into dark recesses from which there is no escape.

Poor Things is a staggering accomplishment of a movie, a film that feels so uniquely Lanthimos, and yet, with a heart and a shocking amount of joy and enthusiasm that shows the filmmaker pushing his style and boundaries as much as possible.

While the kills in the first movie were quite imaginative, they also erred slightly into the fantastical. The Wrath of Becky grounds its kills more in reality, but it doesn't pull back on the gore whatsoever.

Song’s work here is incredible, as this story of the past and present, and what it means for the future is a carefully handled story told with love and heart. Greta Lee, Yoo Teo, and John Magaro make an incredible trio of performances, each of which hits on a unique and important perspective on this tale, in a film that you won’t want to leave, and will stick with you for long after.

There is no comfort when watching 20 Days in Mariupol, but it's the bitter pill we must all swallow to remind ourselves of what people are going through every day in Ukraine. Chernov's account is but a snippet of the war and should galvanize people into action.

An immensely enjoyable treat, The Pez Outlaw is cleverly filmed with the highlight being Glew playing himself and seemingly having the time of his life. With references to Citizen Kane and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the whimsy is part of the effortless charm of the doc, and Steve and Kathy bring the heart.

Oppenheimer is a towering achievement not just for Nolan, but for everyone involved. It is the kind of film that makes you appreciative of every aspect of filmmaking, blowing you away with how it all comes together in such a fitting fashion.

Not only is it a stunning piece of filmmaking that is as rich in detail as it is patient in its exploration, but it also makes the most of absolutely every single element of its slice-of-life portrait.

What is undeniable is its sense of vision, a fully realized work that marks Colbert as a director to watch in absolutely anything she takes on next.

With BlackBerry, Johnson manages to craft a thrilling and moving story about friendship, pride, and the brutality of the free market.

The film masterfully balances comedy and crime-solving, showcasing the chemistry and wit of its lead characters.

A good thriller will ramp up the anxiety with each step as it hurtles towards its conclusion, and Fair Play does not let up until the very end, offering a twisted and toxic tale of a couple driven to the brink by a shift in power dynamics.

Once conceived as a faithful adaptation, it morphed into something that not only made it stand out, but surpassed the original. From changing the character dynamics to challenging the first film's reputation, it proved to be a beloved screwball comedy that still has viewers laughing more than 80 years later.

Everything is glued together by another Dafoe performance that proves he’s one of the greatest actors of all time, especially when given enough room to tap into the lunacy of his characters. In short, Katsoupis managed to craft a crowd pleaser that still has something interesting to say.

If there's one Hitchcock silent films fans should see, it's this suspense-filled thriller, which provides an early indication of why and how he earned his 'Master of Suspense' title.

Most importantly, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein doesn’t pretend to mask itself as something more than a cheap thrill, but it’s that tongue-in-cheek self-awareness that not only made it a box office smash, spawning several sequels, but the birth mother of an entirely new genre altogether.

It strikes at the core of what makes us human, our hopes and fears and the relationships we invest ourselves in. It is community as art as activism in one giant loop, filtered through the gaze of a woman so unflinchingly tireless in her efforts that you cannot help but be on her side.

It epitomizes and distills all of Hammer's hallmarks into a product that’s so damn good, it’s hard to find fault.

As an example of artistic propaganda, a film that drives home a message while maintaining creative credibility, it remains second to none.

Anderson has executed an unbelievably rare feat: a big-budget studio action film that maintains his specific tone and style, with a film that feels essential to our troubled modern times.

It’s evident right away that the people responsible for Being Mary Tyler Moore, a two-hour documentary about the personal and professional life of comedic-leaning actress Mary Tyler Moore, cared deeply about its subject.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande demonstrates that sex can be exciting and humorous and pragmatic and transactional all wrapped up into one. Most importantly, it can also be a connection that doesn't require love to leave both people wholly transformed by the experience.

It’s rare to feel the tension built inside a theater to the point where everyone is holding their breath, but Red Room is a unique movie that defies expectations and keeps pulling the audience deeper into the dark abysm of human nature.

Riseborough’s impeccable performance cannot be overstated. Her passion shines consistently whether Leslie has hit her lowest low or is riding her highest high. All of this contributes to the film’s poetic ending, which is sure to leave you teary-eyed and reinvigorated with a new lease on life.

Breaking is a powerful film that will leave audiences reeling as the credits roll. Corbin and Armah neatly adapted a tragic reality and presented it with grace and understanding, which will hopefully force audiences to think about the reality they live in.

Morgen manages to encapsulate that intimate relationship between artist and audience with Moonage Daydream, using only disparate pieces of footage and some clever illustration to nail exactly what it’s like to adore David Bowie.

Fans of Mackesy’s book will be utterly delighted to see that the hand-drawn illustrations translate beautifully to the screen without losing any of its neat-yet-messy aesthetic. Because the lines are literally pulled from the pages of the detailed original work, the movie feels less like a short film with a progressing story and more like a moving book.

With its strong character work that gets interwoven with a striking story of sabotage, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a riveting tapestry of the plight facing the modern climate justice movement.

There is no simple solution. All Bad Axe offers is a portrait of an American family coming together in a time of conflict and what they can overcome when they stick together, and sometimes that's enough.

In a world of so much noise, it is Reichardt’s Showing Up that proves to be present and powerful in its accumulation of small moments that come together into something spectacular.

With little-to-no accountability when it comes to the YouTube industry, Under the Influence makes a clear case that mainstream media outlets should be turning a more scrutinizing eye toward the community, and the community itself perhaps needs to differentiate the difference between what is considered 'drama' and what is a criminal offense.

The conclusion might leave some throwing their hands up in frustration and others applauding its audacity, but it's an ending that will definitely leave you with something to talk about and ponder long after the credits finish rolling.

Shot in three-strip Technicolor, it’s simply one of the most gorgeous films ever made, and in terms of composing a frame, Michael Powell was a master.

With a stellar cast and inspired direction, Master is a thrilling and potent horror story about academia that has made its impact.

With Chivalry, John Woo scored an early hit that’s too often overlooked and under-appreciated. It’s a film of tremendous skill and promise, and a masterpiece in its own right.

Across the Spider-Verse isn't just easily one of the best films of 2023 and one of the best animated films in years, it's also in the running for best superhero film ever, and arguably cements Miles Morales as the best Spider-Man we've seen on the screen so far.

On the heels of Girl on the Third Floor and Jakob’s Wife, Stevens continues to prove that he is one of the best indie horror directors to emerge into the mainstream. He has a deft understanding of the genre and is keenly aware of when to dole out jumpscares, visual cues, and just the right amount of gore to delight horror lovers who favor psychological thrillers just as much as bloody horror.

Deadstream is more than great found footage; it’s one of the best horror movies of the year, period.

With eye-popping animation, a fresh story that challenges tropes, and an energetic voice performance by Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular character, Nimona is nothing less than a triumph.

Every minute detail and artistic decision Hitchcock makes contributes to the film’s eeriness, though it’s Leigh and Perkins’ captivating performances that turn this into the terrifying tale so entrenched in Hollywood history.

In addition to just being side-splittingly funny, Young Frankenstein is an aesthetic triumph.

Hard Boiled escalates perfectly, with the action starting out spectacular, and then getting increasingly grand in scale and ambition as things march along. The whole final act is particularly great, and largely responsible for making the movie an all-timer among action/crime flicks.

Cameron’s epic can still thrill the audience with breathtaking set pieces, bring them to tears with moving moments, and amaze people willing to explore a fantasy land like no other. Every frame is developed with such care that the movie remains one of the most beautiful works of art ever created by Hollywood. [2022 re-release]

My Best Friend’s Exorcism has something for everyone: strong female characters, spooky atmosphere, humor, heart, a bitchin’ 1980s setting. There is a lot to like here, and plenty to enjoy all year round.

By boldly balancing historical responsibility with modern social critique, Poitier establishes his Western masterpiece as both a time capsule and timeless adventure, flowing effortlessly between the genre’s entertaining shootouts and robberies and the prescient commentary of subverting racist systems by all means necessary.

If We Have Never Been Modern had been produced in Hollywood, Křenková would be an early candidate for an Academy Award thanks to her passionate take on Helena. Chlupáček knows that character should be at the center of a movie that’s all about the human experience, which is why the director gives Křenková plenty of space to shine. And shine she does.

Enola Holmes 2 is tightly paced, leaving just enough breathing room for the characters to thrive and do what they do best. It is a film with a lot of moving parts, but not so many that the audience will lose track, and in that way, is a film deserving of a rewatch — or several.

It is a deft mix of comedy, romance, and suspense typical of Hitchcock’s formative British years.

When talking about Top Gun: Maverick, it’s hard not to sound hyperbolic, but this is the rare case where it absolutely deserves all the massive praise. Top Gun: Maverick improves upon the original in every conceivable way (well, the soundtrack doesn’t have Berlin, so that’s one strike against it), and does so in a way that might make this one of the greatest sequels ever made. It’s also hard not to say this might have some of the most exciting action scenes to ever hit the skies, and gives Cruise one of his best performances by returning to the role that made him a star. Top Gun: Maverick is a marvel of a film, one that will truly take your breath away.

Spielberg has given us all so much magic over the course of our lives, and The Fabelmans becomes yet another Spielberg masterpiece, but this time, by showing us how this magic came to be in his own life.

752 Is Not A Number is not only a depiction of one man's grief and search for answers where justice is impossible, but is also one of many prologues in a much longer story about the fight for lasting change.

War is hell and for a little over two and a half hours, All Quiet on the Western Front displays its ghastly horrors without ever venturing into voyeuristic consumption, opting instead to unsettle its audience with bleak realities and sobering truths.

Tokyo Story, Ozu’s 1953 magnum opus, has frequently been acclaimed by filmmakers and critics alike as the greatest film ever made, and it very arguably could be. Regardless of where you’d place it on the hierarchy of the “best ever’s", Tokyo Story is certainly the ultimate family film—that is, the ultimate film about family and what family actually means.

While the humorous heights of both the situation and the people within them can be exaggerated for comedic effect, the conclusion we arrive at is anything but. When we see these people for who they are and the frightening whole they have come, it will leave you shaken to the core because you can recognize just how familiar this all is.

While there is often a necessity to condense potentially decades of context to fit within a bounded runtime, history is much broader and more expansive than that. What makes The Territory such a stunning and standout work is that it never loses sight of this history that is inexorably intertwined with those living with its repercussions now.

The way the visuals all dance across the screen in flashes of brilliance that strip away the barriers between form and feeling until they become one is nothing short of spectacular.

It is a dynamic, deadly work of filmmaking that achieves all its lofty ambitions and then some to become an absolute masterwork.

River is a poetic argument made potent.

Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, and Jack Warden lead a cast that glues you to the screen and never lets you go till the final verdict.

It’s so much fun to watch Johnson in this mode, especially with a cast this relentlessly fun and playful. With Glass Onion, Johnson proves himself to be a film disruptor of the highest order.

With only two films, Raiff has proven himself to be one of the most exciting filmmakers today, telling stories that are emotionally honest and lived in, without any pretensions and with an unabashed tenderness.

Maestro is a refreshing subversion of the classic biopic.

I never once rolled my eyes at a joke that was clearly dropped in, so it could be a zinger and make it to the trailer. It successfully silenced a rather jaded MCU fan by offering a story that had it all without having to sacrifice its soul to the MCU machine that is eager to churn out stories for future phases.

Meta-filled mayhem that plays on some of the corniest and most familiar Star Wars tropes is the perfect piece of cinema for long summer nights.

When all the echoes which Jackson delicately explores come into harmony, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt strikes a resonant chord that will be heard for time eternal.

An Cailín Ciúin is one of the most masterful meditations on childhood, family, and love.

Sweeney's take on Winner reflects the emotional whirlwind the young woman went through after FBI agents showed up in her footsteps. Thanks to her, Reality is a mesmerizing experience that doesn’t hold any punches and will shake any viewer to their core.

While it is undeniably a character study with both the actors at the very top of their game, the story itself is perfectly suited for them to shine.

Creed III honors the past while looking forward to the future, and gives Jordan—both the actor and the director—the spotlight in a way that shows his immense talents.

Babylon is often pure mayhem, but it’s the beauty of life and film itself underneath that makes this one of the best movies about movies this year, and one of the best films of 2022.

Lawrence flexes her comedy muscles in both her dialogue and physical comedy, taking some bold swings with some of the things she does on screen, and it pays off extremely well.

In Clerks III, Smith returns to where his career began and has made one of his best films in decades, a tender and compassionate look at friendships that last no matter what, a remembrance of where Smith came from, and an appreciation for all those who helped him along the way.

Despite some missed payoffs for rich storylines introduced early on, The Birds more than earns its legendary status, with its beautiful direction, sharp performances, and an inventive and metaphorical premise.

Even as the film pulls out all the stops, the character work remains subtle in a way that gets under your skin. The magnificent performances of Reyes and Ireland align perfectly, peeling back the humanity their two characters had only tenuously been clinging to.

The fast-paced, vaudevillian-style humor keeps us laughing despite the fact that we never really have any clue what any of the Minions themselves are saying. This movie affords itself more surface-level moments with lesser-developed villains because of the relationships we're immediately invested in between Gru and his Minions.

Sometimes, Deshon’s obsessive attention to detail drains some of the fun from Daughter, and the movie might burn too slowly to please every horror fan. Still, the movie is a rare achievement, turning a small budget and a simple story into a cinematic experience we can unravel to find new things over multiple viewings.

The Persian Version isn't quite the quirky family comedy the trailers make it out to be. It's funny, but it's also raw. It's emotional and heartwarming in its truths. It will also leave you wanting to call your mother.

Even as it eventually loses steam on the way towards a rushed conclusion, the film’s prevailing charm and characters shine through such struggles.

The film has the power to bring its audience to tears because the story is powerful, and the thoughtful creative decisions do justice to it.

Daniels explores the hopelessness of depression, the little miracles that truly make life worthwhile, how acts of kindness can be an extraordinary asset, and—most fitting to this film—how it’s OK to be a mess.

Sometimes I Think About Dying is a dark comedy of restraint and quiet, but that silence holds an incredible amount of power and emotion. Ridley gives what might be her best performance, and Lambert knows exactly how to balance the delicate mood of the film.

We are left with a shattering sequence of bittersweet joy crossed with sadness that serves as a testament to the power cinema has to linger forever in our memories.

Like the sparse land of its setting, Inisherin is a film that reveals multitudes through observation and reflection. While I’m writing mostly of its emotional seriousness, it is also compassionate and humorous.

The remarkable details in how information is revealed entirely through a central performance is the reason TÁR excites. Not what it has to say, but how it tells us the story through a dual execution of performance and writing preparation.

Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an ingenious parody of our IP-obsessed culture that also manages to show how joyous and brilliant this combination and celebration of old properties can be when done extremely well.

It is not only one of the best animated films of the year, but it's one of DreamWorks' best, and one that will strike a chord with moviegoers of all ages. It's equal parts exciting and hilarious as well as earnest, it never feels like it is talking down to anyone.

West has made an extraordinary tale of the personal universes we all inhabit, the strange messiness of life, and the beauty of how everything all shakes out in the end.

It’s exploitative and empathetic. That’s why it feels like it spits you out in an alley to pick yourself back up. Blonde is an alienating movie. To me, that makes it a disarming and effective experience.

Fleischer-Camp and Slate are able to expand Marcel’s story in a way that doesn’t stretch out this concept, but rather, expands the possibilities of Marcel’s grandiose world and shows us our world from an entirely new perspective. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is a film with massive ambitions and an even larger heart.

The main characters of Femme are more than one-dimensional representations of the part they play in society. They are complex human beings, filled with contradictions and trying to get by despite past traumas.