The Fabelmans

Who else could tell Steven Spielberg's adolescent life from his fascination with making films, dealing with antisemitism, witnessing his parents' marriage dissolve, and getting his foot in the door to Hollywood than Spielberg himself with The Fabelmans. While it's mostly semi-biographical as Steven's equivalent is named Sammy Fabelman, you can tell how passionate he is about telling the story of his childhood and what drove him to the career we all know him for. Everything about this film is pure Spielberg, all thanks to his direction and the writing he shares with Tony Kushner, the exquisite cinematography from Janusz Kaminski, and John Williams's regular collaboration gives us one of his strongest scores. The performances, meanwhile, is the very center of this film thanks to Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as his parents, and Judd Hirsch and David Lynch in small but highly impactful roles as Sammy's circus lion taming granduncle and John Ford. One negative I do have is that the pacing is a little dodgy, however what makes Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar's editing is that since it's meant to be all seen through the eyes of a child it works in that regard. The Fabelmans is not only a beautiful movie but also one of the greatest love letters to cinema there's ever been. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. The Fabelmans

2. Top Gun: Maverick

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

4. Strange World

5. The Black Phone

6. Nope

7. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

8. The Northman

9. The Batman

10. Pearl

11. Lightyear

12. Dog

13. Everything Everywhere All at Once

14. X 2022

15. Scream 2022

16. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

17. Bullet Train

18. Halloween Ends

19. Thor: Love and Thunder

20. Jurassic World: Dominion

21. Black Adam

22. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

23. Uncharted