Top Films at the Domestic Box Office 2022

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 THE BIG CHRISTMAS releases disappointed, and the top 10 films at the domestic box office remained a dreary mélange of sequels and/or reboots, but it has nevertheless been a surprisingly robust year at the movies (for those possessed of the ability to understand them, at least).

Michelle Yeoh guided us through the hot dog-fingered multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once; French-Senegalese filmmaker Alice Diop’s Saint Omer presented a harrowing exploration of motherhood, race and postcolonialism; Aftersun and The Banshees of Inisherin explored the ties that bind; while RRR and Top Gun: Maverick had us at the edge of our seat, propaganda be damned.

At the heart of the year’s best films were performances that thrilled, chilled, and occasionally even moved us to tears. These dazzling turns were a reminder that all the technical wizardry in the world does not hold a candle to masterful acting.


Taylor Russell, ‘Bones and All’

As Maren, one half of the fine young cannibal couple tearing through Reagan-era America, Taylor Russell is more than just the audience’s subcultural tour guide in Luca Guadagnino’s road movie — she’s the beating heart of a film that’s all dirty hands and sharp incisors. The moment we see her character bite off a fellow student’s finger at a sleepover, Russell quickly flips this everyteen into berserker mode, offering a sneak peek of what eventually puts her on a crash course with fellow outcasts and flesh-chompers. Yet she never plays Maren as a monster, just someone with a craving she can’t comprehend, always wary of letting anyone too near. (Watch how the actor’s eyes constantly dart through every encounter, always clocking the nearest exit.) And once she meets up with Timothée Chalamet’s dirtbag dreamboat, you understand the relief and the terror she feels about having a partner in crime. There’s such a boldness and a sensitivity to how Russell lets this young woman give in to her tendencies, the way she communicates both liberation and shame over satiating herself. It’s an emotionally transparent, four-course meal of a performance. — D.F.


Sami Slimane, ‘Athena’

Each year, the movies offer an array of extraordinary debut performances. Agathe Rousselle’s reptilian car-fucker (Titane), Suzanna Son’s small-town firecracker (Red Rocket), and Cooper Hoffman’s teenage Hollywood hustler (Licorice Pizza) were but a few of 2021’s standout newcomers. Aftersun’s precocious 11-year-old, played by Frankie Corio, and Sami Slimane fit the bill this year. In Romain Gavras’ Athena, Slimane is Karim, an Algerian banlieusard whose little brother’s killing — presumably at the hands of French police — transforms him from disaffected youth to fiery revolutionary, leading the brown and Black young men of his council estate in an all-out war against an army of (predominantly white) baton-wielding riot cops. Amid the hail of fireworks, Molotov cocktails and tear gas, Slimane’s steely resolve cuts through like a knife. It is in his heavy eyes, though, where you see all that’s been lost.  — M.S.


Jon Hamm, ‘Confess, Fletch’

It’s the rare actor who can hit the bullseye between smarm and charm, much less step into another comedian’s signature character and not be eclipsed by their shadow. But it only takes a few minutes of Jon Hamm ambling through a crime scene in director Greg Mottola’s mystery-comedy to erase any Chevy Chase comparisons. Fletch is your guy now, Hamm — congratulations. Gregory Mcdonald’s louche, snarky journalist-hero is definitely a perfect fit for the former Mad Men star’s matinee-idol-meets-class-clown sweet spot, which still doesn’t explain the ease in which he sells this breezy, throwback good guy nosing around a mystery. Whether he’s parrying with annoying cops or trying to avoid being killed (or attacked by Marcia Gay Harden’s horny Italian countess), Hamm gifts us with the sort of genuinely old-school movie-star turn — part screwball, part goofball and 100-percent screen charisma — that’s practically extinct now. He makes you wish they still made movies like this just to see him smirk. — D.F.

The following are films currently showing online in Cinemas

Those are recommendations for cinema films showing on New Year's Eve. Enjoy watching.

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