31. Confess, Fletch – This is the kind of shaggy, low-key, mid-range, thoroughly enjoyable comedy we rarely see any more. I don’t know if they’ll make another of these, since this one barely got a release, but I hope they do because Jon Hamm, in the titular role, has finally found his perfect follow-up to Don Draper.

30. Ambulance – This is Bayhem (aka, that unique form of cinematic action mayhem that only Michael Bay can deliver) at its best. The drone shots, one of which goes under a jumping car, are next-level.

29. Hustle – I always appreciate seeing Adam Sandler in a dramatic role. In this, he plays a long-suffering NBA talent scout who discovers a rookie phenom in Spain. This movie hits all the expected sports movie beats/clichés, and it couldn’t be more satisfying.

28. Three Thousand Years of Longing – For better and for worse, this is George “Mad Max” Miller’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; for better because, like Terry Gilliam’s Munchausen, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a gorgeously presented narrative about epic storytelling (in this case, they’re stories told by a long-imprisoned Djinn); and for worse because, also like Gilliam’s movie, Miller’s latest was, undeservedly, a huge flop at the box office.

27. Funny Pages – This grimy, sweaty, darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an aspiring cartoonist is something of a Ghost World/Crumb mash-up. I would love to see the casting descriptions for this film, because it’s filled with some very unique faces.

26. Glass Onion – Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out is another fun, twisty, whodunit with an all-star cast. I particularly appreciated the Frank T.J. Mackey reference.

25. Athena – Filled with technically mind-blowing, one-take action sequences, Athena is an intense, almost real-time narrative about a political uprising in some projects on the outskirts of Paris.

24. She Said – I love a good journalistic thriller, and this solid, emotionally stirring, well-acted film about the investigation into the repellent sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, by New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, more then delivers the goods.

23. Elvis – Baz Luhrum, the king of cinematic excess, gives Elvis, the king of … well, I’m not sure what he’s supposed to be the king of, entertainment?, the full Baz-treatment. I enjoyed every over-the-top, two and a half-plus hours of it.

22. Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook’s noir-ish mystery contains one exquisitely directed scene after another. I knew I was in for something special when, in the first few moments, there’s an extreme close-up from the point of view of a corpse’s eye ball that shows an ant walking across it/the screen.

21. Men – Alex Garland’s impeccably composed psychological horror mood piece is about a woman (Jessie Buckley) who, in an attempt to mourn the loss of her husband, rents a house in a quaint English town that’s populated by a bunch of weirdos, all of who are played by Rory Kinnear. Its last act contains some of the most crazy, you-have-to-see-them-to-believe-them images I’ve ever seen.

20. Petite Maman – I wish I knew nothing about this before I watched it, so all I’ll mention is that it’s about a young French girl who comes to understand her mother in a new way. One of the best things about this beautiful film is that it’s only 73 minutes long.

19. Kimi – Steven Soderbergh is the master of economical, precise storytelling, and this taut thriller, about an agoraphobic tech worker who may have heard a crime being committed on one of the Alexa-like devices she’s tasked with monitoring, shows him at the top of his game.

18. Blonde – I can understand why so many people didn’t like – even loathed – Andrew Dominik’s (based upon the novel by Joyce Carol Oates) largely/somewhat (?) fictional Marilyn Monroe bio-pic, but I found it completely mesmerizing. It’s also, to my mind, one of the few films that makes the shifting aspect ratio-thing work.

17. X – Ti West has been dabbling in different types of genres, particularly horror, for a while now. He’s always been decent-to-pretty good at aping the requisite tropes, but X is the first time he’s really hit it out of the park, at least as far as I’m concerned (I do recall quite liking The House of the Devil). Set in the 70s, this one’s about a group of youngsters who rent out an old farmhouse in order to shoot a porno. The owners of the property don’t seem to approve, so some good ol’ gory killin’ starts a happenin’. This flick’s a blast.

16. Vengeance – I love to be surprised by a movie, to have no idea what it’s about or where it’s going, and B. J. Novak’s writing/directorial debut, about a guy who … nah, I’m not going to say anything. Just go in blind, and be prepared to constantly have your expectations upended, particularly by the best performance Ashton Kutcher has ever given.

15. Cyrano – There’s a sequence in this musical about letters being sent home by some soldiers on the front lines, right before they go into what is likely their final battle, that instantly became one of my all-time favourite cinematic musical moments. The rest of the movie, particularly the wonderful performance from Peter Dinklage and the superb score/compositions by Aaron and Bryce Dessner (of the band The National), is petty great, too.

14. The Fabelmans – As superbly crafted as you’d expect from one of cinema’s best-ever storytellers, Steven Spielberg’s quasi-autobiography shows us why he makes movies, or, rather, why he can’t not make movies, and what the cost of such an artistic pursuit can be.

13. The Banshees of Inisherin – There are movies about superheroes trying to save entire galaxies, and ones about action heroes trying to save boatloads or carloads or trainloads of people, and ones about big-time lawyers defending or prosecuting society-changing cases, and then there are movies like The Banshees of Inisherin, which are about the smallest, most personal of everyday problems, such as one man deciding he no longer likes another man and therefore doesn’t want to be friends with him anymore. In the latter’s case, in the hands of writer/director Martin McDonagh, the fate of the world may not be at stake, but the drama is no less important or compelling or emotionally stirring.

12. Mad God – Don’t ask me to explain what actually happens in Phil Tippet’s 25-years-in-the-making, mostly stop-motion opus. And don’t ask me to explain what it’s about, either. From what I can discern, it’s a descending tour through various, ever-increasingly dark and disturbing layers of a post-apocalyptic world, and, I would assume, the equally dark recesses of master stop-motion animator Tippet’s mind. What I can say is that Mad God is a magnificently horrific, visually astounding marvel.

11. Emily the Criminal – Written and directed by first-time filmmaker John Patton Ford, this smart, tense character study/thriller is also maybe the best example of Aubrey Plaza’s unique and compelling, expertly cultivated and employed, screen presence.

10. Top Gun: Maverick – I’m fully aware this is propaganda for the military industrial complex war machine, but it’s also a perfectly designed and executed Hollywood blockbuster, so … I guess that makes it all okay?

9. Prey – This Predator prequel has everything I need in a movie: it’s a forest survival story (there’s something about this environment and scenario I really dig); it’s got a tight, clever script with a great set-up/pay-off structure; it’s well-choreographed and shot action scenes are fresh and exciting; and it’s got a very strong lead performance (by Amber Midthunder). I even didn’t mind the rather janky CG animals.

8. The Batman – Because the character of Batman is so close to my heart, I have very specific things I’m looking for and hoping to see in a Batman movie, which is why it took me a second viewing to fully appreciate what Matt Reeves has done here. He and DP Grieg Fraser nail the mood with every uniquely composed, incredibly gorgeous frame. Extra bonus points are awarded for not including flashbacks of Bruce Wayne’s parents getting killed.

7. Avatar: The Way of Water – While the story and character dynamics are fairly standard (I don’t say this as a criticism; it’s just a recognition that it’s not breaking new ground in this regard), it all takes place in a decidedly non-standard, completely photo-realistic, mostly never-before-seen environment, with a lot of never before-seen beings. This combination of both the familiar and the unfamiliar is a large part of what makes this movie work so well for me. Of course, the other key to its success is the unrivaled filmmaking skill of writer/director/producer/editor/innovator/explorer/fellow-Canadian James Cameron.

6. Barbarian – My feelings on this incredibly enjoyable, consistently surprising, sometimes very funny, edge-of-your-seat-scary horror film can be summed up in two words: Fuck yeah!

5. C’Mon C’Mon – What I most liked about Mike Mills’s deeply humanist film, which follows a single man (Joaquin Phoenix) who unexpectedly finds himself looking after his young nephew for an extended period of time, is that it’s free of any kind of narrative contrivance. There are no forced plot turns that try to shoehorn characters into seemingly artificial situations and no one-note antagonists who’re only there to add unnecessary conflict. This is an exceedingly nice movie (a true rarity these days) about interesting people who’re just trying to figure out how best to live their lives.

4. RRR – This go-for-broke, so-over-the-top-it-redefines-the-term-“over the top” Tollywood historical epic starts with two sequences that could have been the finales in lesser movies – one guy is chased through the jungle by a tiger and another guy literally fights a thousand men – and then proceeds to somehow keep one-upping itself. I saw RRR by myself in an empty theatre, and it was a mind-blowing, ear-shattering (because they had the volume seriously cranked) experience.

3. Nope – If Nope only offered up big-screen spectacle, it would still be one of the most spectacular films of the year for me. That it also explores such rich themes as the Hollywood dream/nightmare machine, black cinematic history, and trauma, in addition to containing some incredible, state-of-the-art, day-for-night photography, just makes it all the more of an accomplishment for writer/director Jordan Peele.

2. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – To borrow (and slightly augment for my purposes) a quote from the TV show My So-Called Life, “Sometimes something really small just fits right into this empty space in your heart.” This is how I felt about both the stop-motion character Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – exquisitely, hilariously, heart-breakingly voiced by Jenny Slate – and this mock-documentary that bears his name.

1. Tar – From its opening reverse end-credit sequence to its (perplexingly controversial) finale, with every impeccably composed shot (be it a dazzling single-take or otherwise) and aural cue and mysterious narrative twist and gesture and movement by its actors in between, I was completely transfixed by Todd Field’s bio-pic about fictional EGOTer and conductor Lydia Tar.