Nanny 2022

 

Nanny 

Nikyatu Jusu’s acclaimed horror movie “Nanny” won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival at the start of the year. 

Anna Diop gives a breakout performance as Aisha, an undocumented Senegalese Immigrant nanny who gets hired to work for an Upper East Side family in New York City. The job doesn’t go according to plan. “In this bold debut, writer-director Nikyatu Jusu conjures figures from West African folklore to critique 

                                             

another myth: the American Dream,” writes Variety critic Peter Debruge. “Jusu brings fresh eyes to this widely accepted story dynamic, so rarely seen from the perspective of the immigrant worker herself.”

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The Night House 2022

The Night House 

Rebecca Hall goes through the wringer as a wife whose husband’s untimely death leads to a series of clues pointing to a mysterious house. 

                                

This Sundance 2020 title was held for a 2021 release, but it barely registered even with horror movie lovers. As “The Night House” heads to Hulu this month, it’s a perfect time to discover one of the most overlooked horror movies of the last few years. 

Thanks to Hall’s disquieting shock as she learns more and more about her husband’s secret life, this puzzling feature hypnotizes the view with blinding twists and an overwhelming sense of dread and paranoia.

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Amsterdam 2022

Amsterdam 

David O. Russell’s star-studded “Amsterdam” is one of the biggest flops of the year with just $14 million made at the domestic box office. 

That’s a huge miss for a movie that stars the likes of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Zoe Saldana and more. Critics weren’t too kind to the movie either (Variety film critic Peter Debruge called it an “overstuffed social satire”), 

                                          

which follows three friends trying to clear their names of murder. With “Amsterdam” coming to streaming, expect many moviegoers to see what all the bad fuss was about. 

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Emancipation 2022

 

Emancipation 2022

“Emancipation” might be the biggest streaming gamble of the month as it marks the first major release for Will Smith following the 2022 Oscars, where he slapped Chris Rock.

                             

 The film is based on a true story and stars Smith as a runaway slave named Peter, known better to the world as “Whipped Peter” after photographs of keloid scarring on his back were distributed to show the brutality of slavery. The film follows Peter as he navigates the swamps of Louisiana to escape the plantation owners that nearly killed him. Smith said in an interview that he “completely understands” if moviegoers ignore the movie because they aren’t ready for his comeback so soon after the Oscars slap, adding,

 “The people on this team have done some of the best work of their entire careers, and my deepest hope is that my actions don’t penalize my team. At this point, that’s what I’m working for.”

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Emily the Criminal 2022

 

Emily the Criminal

Aubrey Plaza is earning rave reviews for her role on

“The White Lotus” Season 2, but she delivered another incredible performance

                                                                   this year in the underseen indie gem “Emily the Criminal.” Plaza plays a young woman in student debt who turns to scamming in order to gain a quick fortune. From Variety’s review: “Plaza, who also produced the film, is strong as a scammer who invites sympathy and simultaneously pushes it away…

It’s a fluorescent-lit noir that spends a fair amount of time near the anonymous big box stores scattered across Los Angeles, which as cinematographer Jeff Bierman sees it, is a city that’s dim even in the daylight.”

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Lady Chatterley’s Lover 2022

 

Lady Chatterley’s Lover 

Emma Corin and Jack O’Connell have an affair to remember in “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” French director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s adaptation of the scandalous D.H. Lawrence classic. From Variety’s review: “In an admirable bid to make ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ at once respectable and arousing, 

                                 

the ‘Mustang’ director embraces the erotic nature of its source, while making it something you can still recommend to your mom, assuming she’s got nothing against a nude romp in the rain… 

In the end, the couple’s chemistry is off the charts, and that’s all that matters.”

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Sr. 2022

 

Sr. 

Robert Downey Jr. turns the camera on himself and his father, the iconic cult filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., in Netflix’ “Sr.” From Variety’s review: “’Fyre’ director Chris Smith lets underground movie icon Robert Downey Sr. have a hand in shaping how his life will be remembered in this unexpectedly revealing documentary…

                    

it’s a a loose seemingly seat-of-your-pants portrait of the antiestablishment director (perhaps best known for siring ‘Iron Man’ star Robert Downey Jr.) that sneaks up on you, emotionally speaking, 

seeing as how it doubles as a kind of farewell exercise between the two generations (plus grandson Exton) in the months before Downey succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease.”

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