The 117 best films already released in 2022, in ranking

Release date : April 1

Daniel Espinosa (‘Life’) is in charge of the story set in the Spider-Man universe and focused on one of its most iconic villains: Morbius. Jared Leto will get into the skin of this vampire in this horror film that has not convinced the critics, and for good reason : it lacks tension and nerve, something that makes it a routine, conventional and even a bit boring film. A disappointment for the Marvel universe at Sony, which is getting closer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Let’s see if something sticks with Morbius in the future. It is, even so, among the best action movies of 2022.

Release date : September 16

It’s not one of the best vampire movies in movie history, that’s for sure. This gothic romance puts a spin on the typical Bram Stoker ‘Dracula’ story , but even Nathalie Emmanuel’s (‘Game of Thrones’) efforts as one of Count Dracula’s ‘girlfriends’ fail to excite us. Directed by Jessica M. Thompson, ‘The Invitation’ follows a lonely woman who falls for an aristocrat and finds herself in a nightmare of survival.

Release date : February 11

Kenneth Branagh returns with a remake of another Agatha Christie classic after the remarkable, if not extraordinary, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. And everything that was questionable about that was repeated in this sequel, ‘Death on the Nile’. The filmmaker returns to become the detective Hercule Poirot to discover on another trip, this time on a riverboat in Egypt, who is the suspect in the murder of an American aristocrat. Again, with a luxury cast, but who does not manage to squeeze all his potential from him. It’s already counted among the best recent movies on Disney+.

Release date : February 4

One of the best disaster movies we’ll see this year. In this new world disaster by Roland Emmerich, king of disaster movies after ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘2012’, it is the Moon that is in danger: as its name suggests, the film will show us how the Moon threatens to crash against Earth . Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson lead the cast of this cataclysmic action flick that’s so typical of Emmerich, but one that doesn’t quite match his greatest hits of the past. Why do we like disaster movies so much?

Release date : May 13

Stephen King’s film adaptations have brought us great joy, but this new version of ‘Eyes of Fire’ is not one of them. In 1984, Drew Barrymore already gave life to this very Eleven character (‘Stranger Things’), a girl with the psychic power to cause fires. More than 30 years later we see this story on screen again, in a film directed by Keith Thomas, produced by Jason Blum and starring Zac Efron .

Release Date : July 1 (Disney+)

A mix of action, female empowerment and adventure, this Hulu original production (premiered in Spain through Disney+) takes us on a violent odyssey for a princess to prove her worth . Starring Joey King, protagonist of the ‘My First Kiss’ trilogy on Netflix, the story follows a princess who refuses to marry a cruel sociopath, for which she is kidnapped and locked in the highest tower of the castle. It will be her responsibility to save the kingdom from this guy who is trying to take over her father’s domain.

Release date : July 15

Of all Jane Austen’s novels, ‘Persuasion’ is perhaps the least suitable to turn into a ‘Fleabag’-style adventure of contemporary tics and its protagonist, the shy and vulnerable Anne Elliot, into an Austenian heroine closer to the impudence of Elizabeth Bennet. But beyond the complaints that Jane Austen purists will have, this new ‘Persuasion’ lacks the comic tempo, romanticism and wit enough to stand out .

Release date : January 21

The year began with a meeting of international secret agents. Written and directed by Theresa Rebeck and Simon Kinberg, the story is set in motion when a top-secret weapon falls into the hands of mercenaries. An elite group (made up of Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o and Fan Bingbing) will go through Paris, Morocco or Shanghai on a top secret mission to save the world, and their loved ones.

Release date : February 18

Jennifer Lopez returning to romantic comedy is good news, especially one as horny, funny, and meta as this one . Marry me, marry me, say yes! We say “well, anyway”, because ‘Marry Me’ doesn’t exploit its full potential, but it does offer us some of the most adorable moments between the singer and Owen Wilson, who plays the heartthrob of the film. The songs, in which Maluma also participates, will stick with us. One of the best romantic comedies in history? Possibly not, but it’s enjoyable for a while.

Release date : September 30

Daisy Edgar-Jones (who rose to fame thanks to the series ‘Normal People’ and has now been seen in series like ‘Forbidden by Heaven’ and movies like ‘Fresh’) plays a woman who grew up in the marshes from the Deep South and becomes a suspect in the murder of a man she was once involved with. Based on the novel by Delia Owens, ‘Wild Girl’ wants to recreate the feeling of immersing yourself in the bestseller , but falls short.

Release date : January 14

The official synopsis reads as follows: “A woman returns to her hometown to try to find out who is committing heinous crimes . ” And better to know as little as possible to enjoy her surprises. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (‘Wedding Night’) take over from Wes Craven, and, although they certainly don’t reach the level of the master of terror, they leave an enjoyable adventure for fans. Unfortunately, Neve Campbell will not return to the ‘Scream’ saga.

Release date : July 29

Based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne and starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes , ‘The Forgiven’ follows a wealthy couple on the verge of divorce who travel to Morocco, where a tragedy turns their luxury vacation plan upside down. As the critics of ‘The Forgiven’ in FOTOGRAMAS certify, it is “an elaborate thriller of deception”.

Release date : March 11

During the years of the Spanish Civil War, the combat has left thousands dead in the trenches, and when a captain falls prisoner of the Republicans, something forces them to collaborate together: the dead are rising from their common graves and a war has begun that requires an impossible collaboration .

Release date : January 21

Will Smith gets into the skin of the father of Venus and Serena Williams, in a role for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor (controversy of the slap to Chris Rock through) . ‘The Williams method’ is a kind of biopic that tells how Richard Williams turned his daughters into two celebrities in the world of tennis against all the obstacles that lay ahead as a modest and African-American family in a deeply racist United States.

Release date : June 17

While Pixar’s best recent films (such as ‘Red’, much higher positioned on this list) go straight to Disney +, its most formulaic film, ‘Lightyear’, has had its theatrical release. Even so, as the critic of ‘Lightyear’ says, their power “results from their joyful commitment to the most traditional adventure, from the love that is breathed towards the most referential science fiction, and, of course, in that they are insurmountable, from its wise balance with the hilarious, the tender and the dramatic” . And watch out for the Pixar calendar with dates for its next movies and series, which is loaded.

Release date : June 17

The director of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, Joseph Kosinski, doubles in 2022 with this Netflix action movie starring Chris Hemsworth and where he also meets Miles Teller. Prison drama with sci-fi twists, the film takes us to the near future where inmates are offered the opportunity to undergo medical experiments to shorten their sentences . One of those who accepts is injected with a drug that generates feelings of love and soon begins to question his emotions.

Release date : March 11

Joe Wright’s new film brings back the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, a 17th-century French novelist and playwright, which we have seen countless times on film and television. Here, Peter Dinklage takes on the role in a musical proposal that shines in some sections and falls flat in so many others. It is one of the best love movies of 2022.

Release date : February 11

Beyond being Spidey, there are many who want to see Tom Holland develop faculties in the adaptation of the popular video game franchise. Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas also join him in the cast, and the result is an enjoyable action adventure between ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ . Already one of the best Tom Holland movies.

Release date : May 27

The Mexican Michel Franco recruits an international cast led by Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg for this new film, which seems to come a little outside the currents of contemporary cinema and tastes of a certain auteur cinema and the cruelty of the past. The story follows a wealthy British family vacationing at a resort in Acapulco, but when an emergency forces them to pack their bags, the father pretends to have lost his passport and stays in Mexico.

Release date : April 22

Venice becomes the setting for a slasher in this new film by Álex de la Iglesia . ‘Veneciafrenia’ stars a group of Spanish tourists who travel to the Italian city to have a good time and enjoy their vacations, but soon they will have to fight for their survival among the gondolas. The horror film stars Ingrid García Jonsson, Silvia Alonso, Goize Blanco, Nicolás Illoro, Alberto Bang, Cosimo Fusco, Enrico Lo Verso, Armando di Razza, Caterina Murino and Nico Romero . In addition, it is already among the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video.

Release date: March 11 on Netflix

After ‘Free Guy’, Ryan Reynolds has more projects pending with Shawn Levy, including this one . Here the filmmaker and the actor come together under the auspices of Netflix to tell a story with trips to the past in order to prevent future catastrophes. Something sounds like fiction from past times. That is why it has raised so much expectation. Zoe Saldana, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo accompany Reynolds. This, for now, is one of the best movies to watch as a family on Netflix.

Release date : September 9

Julia Roberts and George Clooney, good friends in real life, could not be a better couple in this funny and charismatic romantic comedy. They both play a divorced couple trying to keep their daughter (played by Kaitlyn Dever) from making the same mistake they do. As the critics of ‘Journey to Paradise’ say, it is a most enjoyable film.

Release date : March 18

This Spanish thriller has everything we look for in the genre: tension, rhythm, intelligence, labyrinthine plots, surprises around the corner, Luis Tosar… Everything works in its favour. The story follows Juan, a man who works for the secret services and who enters into a complex relationship with Wendy, the Filipino maid who lives in the house of some arms dealers that he is investigating.

Release date : February 25

Winner of the award for Best European Comedy at the European Film Awards, this French film manages to break prejudices and combine the dramatic with the comic to surprise and convince . The story follows Etienne (Kad Meran), an endearing actor who runs a theater workshop in a prison, and there he brings together his students to perform Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Release date : February 25

This delirious comedy starring Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz and Óscar Martínez manages to make fun of the acting profession without losing an ounce of respect for it . The film, directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, follows two antagonistic actors who are brought together by an eccentric film director to make a movie.

Release date : June 9

One of the best recent anime films, ‘The Deer King’ is based on the work of Nahoko Uehashi to tell the story of a soldier who is taken as a slave after defending his land against a powerful empire. In the end, he ends up being sent to the salt mines, where a mysterious illness will later spread. The protagonist and a little girl will be the only survivors of this plague and they will start a journey together.

Release date : June 15

The new film by Daniel Calparsoro (who, in addition, has the series ‘Hasta el cielo’, based on his own film, pending release on Netflix) is pure adrenaline, motorcycles and tension in the underworld for those looking for one of the best action movies on Netflix. With a cast made up of Àlex Monner, Begoña Vargas, Carlos Bardem, Edgar Vittorino and Patricia Vico, the story follows a young man addicted to strong emotions and speed who struggles to become a professional motorcycle racer , until he discovers that the mother of his son has a debt with some drug traffickers.

Release date : July 8

The review of ‘Mali Twist’ in FOTOGRAMAS declares that the new film by Robert Guédiguian “is pure cinema”. He continues: “And it is because of the universality of his emotions, because of the classicism of his love story, because of the living portrait of this post-colonial Mali that is opening up to an improbable socialist revolution” . The French film set in the African country focuses on the characters of Samba, a young socialist, and Lara, an energetic young woman who wants to run away from her forced marriage.

Release date: July 15 (theater) / July 22 (Netflix)

A dynamic action thriller full of adrenaline scenes, but that seems to suffer from the same impersonality as other Netflix productions. Based on the novel ‘The Gray Man’ by Mark Greaney and a mix of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and Tom Clancy, ‘The Invisible Agent’ follows CIA agent Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), alias Sierra Six, who is pulled from a federal prison recruited by his supervisor, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton). Though he used to be the one chasing down criminals, now he’s the one being hunted around the world by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a sadist who will stop at nothing to take him down . Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) covers his back.

Release date : February 18

Winner of the 2022 Oscar for Best Picture (and therefore entering the list of Oscar winners), in addition to the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur . Remake of the French ‘La familia Bélier’, this film by Sian Heder was a sensation at the Sundance Festival. The story follows a young woman (played by a brilliant Emilia Jones) who must deal with the fact that she is the only person she hears in a deaf family.

Release date : May 20

The two most iconic Mr. Darcys, Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen, come together to stop the Nazis in this historical spy film that runs like clockwork. It tells the true story of a group of British agents who, in 1943, in the midst of World War II, plot a master deception to prevent a massacre . As a curiosity, in this plan Spain has a great role, so the film has Pedro Casablanc and Javier Godino, among others, in the cast.

Premiere date : February 10 (HBO Max)

Steven Soderbergh’s new movie has premiered directly on streaming , but don’t let that go unnoticed: it’s a great intrigue thriller with a fantastic Zöe Kravitz . The story follows an employee of a technology company who suffers from agoraphobia, and one fateful day she discovers a crime and tries to alert her superiors. It will not be easy. ‘Kimi’ is simple, but effective, with echoes of Brian de Palma and a great example of a corporate thriller.

Release date : April 15 (Disney +)

How difficult it is to flirt today. If not, let them tell the protagonist of this hooligan film by Mimi Cave, that she doesn’t seem to find her better half and, when she seems that she has, it turns out that not everything was as beautiful as it seemed. This macabre, at times funny and bloody film invokes the slasher with a new eye . A film that would have been greatly enjoyed at the Sitges Festival, but which has come directly to Disney+.

Release date : July 8 (Netflix)

Written and directed by Chris Williams, who has worked as an animator on such Disney hits as ‘Bolt’, ‘Big Hero 6’ and ‘Vaiana’ (some of Disney’s best animated films), ‘The Sea Monster’ is a great adventure familiar that deals with the importance of defying conventional wisdom and figuring things out for oneself. The story follows a fearless girl and a famous sea monster hunter who join forces to find a powerful beast.

Release date : June 9

The director Nely Reguera signs this emotional film presented at the last edition of the Malaga Festival, and where Carmen Machi also shines in drama (because in comedy we already know that she is the queen). The story follows a woman who, tired of her retired life, decides to travel to a refugee camp in Greece and volunteer , feel useful, do her bit. Arriving there, she discovers a reality that she could not have imagined.

Release date : July 22

Alex Garland, director of ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Annihilation’, is back in 2022 with this disturbing feature film written and directed by himself, and starring Jessie Buckley. After suffering a personal tragedy, Harper (Buckley) retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping that she has found the ideal place to heal. But something or someone seems to be stalking her. As the review of ‘Men’ in FOTOGRAMAS says: “Scary movie with the aroma of an episode of ‘Hammer House of Horror’ , reminiscent of titles like ‘Ana y los lobos’ (C. Saura, 1973), ‘I’m thinking to leave it’ (C. Kaufman, 2020) or the modest but effective ‘Lucky’ (N. Kermani, 2020), films all of them metaphorical and also with poor masculinity embedded there”.

Release date : June 9

Before the obsession with cat videos on social media, there was Louis Wain, a British artist who left some of the most fascinating and surreal works around cats for posterity . His drawings became a hit at the time and remain iconic to this day, but the character’s life was filled with both joy and sorrow. Benedict Cumberbatch played him in this fanciful and stylized Will Sharpe film, which also features Claire Foy (‘The Crown’) in the main cast.

Release date : January 28

Although he walked away with nothing at the 2022 Oscars, it doesn’t matter: Kenneth Branagh’s new film takes us back to the violent and divided Belfast of his childhood with great success . It is the memories of him and his family that make up this portrait of the city in the late 1960s, which stars Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench and Caitriona Balfe in the cast.

Release date : August 5

Brad Pitt ‘s star power leads this fun and violent action movie directed by David Leitch , director of ‘Deadpool’ and who was a specialist in ‘Fight Club’ with Pitt. The two come together to tell the story of a hit man who is sent to Japan aboard a bullet train to retrieve a briefcase, unaware that other professional assassins have the exact same mission.

As the critic of ‘Bullet Train’ in FOTOGRAMAS says: ” ‘Bullet Train’ smiles with its convoluted series of connections that lead to a final tie-up with a katana blow , daggers, sleeping pills, macguffin briefcases , assassins with job doubts and others lethal objects. Will it become one of the best Brad Pitt movies?

Release date : September 30

As the critic of ‘Smile’ in FOTOGRAMAS points out, the film has the vocation to be “terrifying” in each sequence, and “happens in those small big spaces that every fan of the genre remembers like the best/worst nightmares”. That is its best quality: to be scary without concessions, without half measures, to be pure horror genre. Now, director Parker Finn also leaves us with a message: what is the culture of modern happiness hiding?

Release date: August 26

Clio Bernard’s latest proposal left very good reviews at the last Seville festival. The filmmaker brings a story set in the north of England, starring two characters who feel alone. They meet through Sofia, the daughter of Ali’s Slovak tenants whom Ava takes care of. A connection will begin to grow between them, despite the aftermath of Ava’s previous relationship and Ali’s emotional turmoil, all fueled by their passion for music.

Release date : September 2

The incredible and inspiring true story of the Spanish water polo team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is captured in this film directed by Dani de la Orden and Àlex Murrull, and starring Álvaro Cervantes and Jaime Lorente. Ducks to the water: ’42 seconds’ takes us through the hard training of a group of men willing to fight for gold despite the odds being against them.

Release date : June 24

Scott Derrickson, director of ‘Doctor Strange’, returns to terror with this film starring Ethan Hawke, and that offers us scares and surprises in equal parts. One of the best adaptations of Joe Hill (son of Stephen King), follows a boy who has been kidnapped by a creepy killer and locked in a basement, where a phone connects him with past victims. As the review of ‘Black Phone’ reads in FOTOGRAMAS: “naïf and murky in equal parts, ‘Black Phone’ offers predictable (and enjoyable) Bogeyman-style scares, yes, but also vestiges of genuine childish angst capable of disturbing any adult not entirely reconciled with his past” .

Release date : March 25

Mamoru Hosoda’s new film (‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’) is a reinterpretation of the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in the key of a virtual future . The story follows Suzu, a 17-year-old girl who, after losing her mother, moves to live with her father in the outskirts of Kochi prefecture. Heartbroken and estranged from the world, she discovers “U”, a virtual space in which she assumes the role of “Belle”, a successful singer whose identity is a mystery.

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‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

Release date : July 15

Writer-director Michael Sarnoski (the director of the ‘A Quiet Place’ spin-off) debuts, stars Nicolas Cage and is a riveting adventure through friendship, loss and good food . It tells the story of a lonely truffle hunter in Oregon, owner of a game sow that has been kidnapped. This will force him to return to the old Portland grounds and confront his past.

Release date : July 8

Terence Davies’s sweeping sensibilities shine again in this British film starring Jack Lowden, and based on the true story of Siegfried Sassoon, a writer and poet whose anti-war poems showed his war wounds . And we see that in ‘Benediction’: his experiences in the First World War, his later critical position against armed conflicts and also his homosexuality, which he had to hide at the time behind incomplete marriages and passionate poems .

Release date : September 30

Horror cinema has always found a great ally in children, capable of transmitting innocence and, at the same time, of being the most disturbing in the place . That balance is in ‘The Innocents’, an atmospheric horror film from Norway with great reviews, and that follows a group of children with telekinetic powers and who live in complex situations while the adults don’t know anything.

Release date : July 29

In her review of ‘Vortex’ in FOTOGRAMAS, Desirée de Fez assures that it is “one of the films that has ever best described what it means to grow old (physically and mentally) both for those who age and for those who closely observe decrepitude and the slow farewell to their loved ones” . The new Gaspar Noé is certainly shocking and decidedly emotional and intimate, with a portrait of the last days of an elderly couple with dementia.

Release date : April 13

Critics fell in love with this Finnish film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe. That’s nothing. And director Juho Kuosmanen has achieved all of this thanks to his portrayal of an unlikely traveling couple who find a place of refuge in their respective solitudes . The story follows a young Finnish woman who takes a train to Moscow to go to the archaeological site of Murmansk and will have to share her compartment with a stranger, who will end up becoming her adventure partner.

Release date : January 28

After several delays, the long-awaited horror film directed by Paco Plaza and written by Carlos Vermut arrived in Spanish cinemas in January to become one of the best horror films of 2022 . The story follows a young model who must leave her glamorous life in Paris to take care of herself in Spain for her grandmother, who has just suffered a stroke. Starring Almudena Amor, one of the Goya nominees for Best New Actress (although she went for ‘The Good Boss’).

Release date : April 13

We see so few genuinely funny, romantic, parodic and sexy adventure movies that we can’t help but applaud ‘The Lost City’ , with charismatic Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum leading the cast. This is a romantic comedy in which Bullock plays a novelist who finds herself involved in an affair with the model on the cover of her latest novel. Wow, a kind of ‘Behind the Green Heart’ of the 21st century with great moments and a lot of sense of silliness. Without a doubt, one of the best comedies of 2022.

Release date : May 26

Three years have passed since the first planned date of its premiere, but the wait has been worth it: ‘Top Gun’ has returned in top form, as much as Tom Cruise himself . Thirty years after the premiere of the first part, and as the critics of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ point out, it recovers some iconic characters (among them, also Val Kilmer’s) and adds new signings (such as Miles Teller) to return to the game the skies with absolutely stunning images. A great action and adventure movie in the purest Hollywood style . We’re already wondering: when and where will ‘Top Gun Maverick’ be streaming?

Release date : October 7

Penélope Cruz and Luis Tosar join Juan Diego Botto in directing to sign one of the most forceful Spanish films of the year . Three characters move through a set of intertwined stories that show us the state of a country and the struggle of its inhabitants to achieve some justice. Evictions are at the center, but also immigration and personal relationships.

Release date : February 11

Leïla and Damien love each other madly and both struggle to keep the family together, but something constantly gets in the way of their family balance: Damien’s bipolarity . This fabulous film by Joachim Lafosse shows us the difficulties that this couple faces, focusing on the most intimate and significant moments and not focusing on the most sensational.

Release date: May 6

At the last Cannes Film Festival, Sean Baker delighted critics with this story about a former porn actor who returns to his hometown. Simon Rex, who was actually a porn actor, plays the lead and fills him with charisma and expectations, becoming the soul of the film. With touches of comedy and drama, the director collects in ‘Red Rocket’, as in ‘Tangerine’ or ‘The Florida Project’, samples of the margins of American society, to which he puts a lot of color . It is also one of the best movies about the world of porn.

Release date : September 23

David Cronenberg returns to the New Flesh with this extreme futuristic film starring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux . The story places us in a not too distant future where the human body no longer feels pain and, therefore, is subject to new transformations and mutations. An artist and his partner turn these mutations into a show that questions us about art, the body and the human being.

Release date : April 29

The new proposal that A24 brings is directed by Ti West, and with a story that has captivated critics. Recognized for his work in the horror genre, the filmmaker brings a story set in the late 1970s and loaded with cinephile references . The story follows a group of young filmmakers who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but their elderly hosts have other plans. “A single lewd and bloody nightmare where desire and pain, and coitus and murder, were inseparable parts of the same organic, animal and profoundly human act”, says the review of ‘X’ in FOTOGRAMAS.

Release date : January 12

Joel Coen’s new film is ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (in Spain, simply ‘Macbeth’), a powerful adaptation of William Shakespeare’s work . We already know the story (a harbinger of witches feeds the ambitions of a lord to become the next king of Scotland), but what Coen offers (for the first time without his brother Ethan Coen) is an expressionist staging and amazing.

Release date : September 28 (Netflix)

The Marilyn Monroe biopic has not left anyone indifferent, nor has the interpretation of Ana de Armas, who could be nominated for an Oscar despite the controversies surrounding the film. In his review of ‘Blonde’ in FOTOGRAMAS, Manu Yáñez writes: “With its contradictions, its leaps into the void and its lacerating impetus, ‘Blonde’ leaves in its wake a set of images, emotions and reflections that broaden our knowledge of that construct that we have come to call Marilyn Monroe , a myth that Dominik and de Armas come down from the legendary pedestal to confront the ghosts of a past that still haunt our present”.

Release date : March 4

We’ve seen a lot of Batman over the years, but Robert Pattinson’s is certainly different. With a much darker tone and a desire to look at the Batman from a new perspective, ‘The Batman’ opens a new era for the character at the hands of Matt Reeves . Thus, we meet a Bruce Wayne marked by trauma and determined to purge the souls of Gotham City. When an assassin targets the elite with a series of sadistic machinations, the hero will have to follow the clues. The criticism of ‘The Batman’ made it clear that we are facing a great movie, although the order of the DC Comics movies is still not very clear.

Release date : May 13

After portraying the tragedies of unemployment in ‘The Law of the Market’ and the trade union struggle in ‘At War’ (2018), director Stéphane Brizé closes his work trilogy with this impressive film presented at the Venice Film Festival. In it, an honest businessman (Vincent Lindon) must contend with a global corporate jungle, as well as a failing marriage and the psychological breakdown of his son. The result is a great moral fable about humanism against the dehumanizing force of capitalism .

Release date : April 8

It is Andrea Arnold’s first documentary, but that does not mean that the British actress has abandoned everything that characterizes her: ‘Vaca’ is, like other of her films, a portrait of the female working class facing the difficulties of the capitalist system . Only, in this case, the protagonist is a dairy cow, whom we follow throughout a large part of her life.

Release date : October 14

Along with ‘Alcarràs’, this year’s Spanish phenomenon film has been ‘Cerdita’, Carlota Pereda’s debut feature which has been shown at festivals all over the world and has won the favor of the public . “ ‘Little Pig’ invites you to reflect on a (global) scourge, while delving into the horror in a creative way, through format, planning, lighting or sound. Will any viewer feel unexpectedly questioned and ashamed before their message? Will they choke on the popcorn? Hopefully”, writes Pere Vall in the review of ‘Cerdita’ in FOTOGRAMAS.

Release date : April 8

Jacques Audiard went through the Cannes Festival with his latest work and then the Seville European Film Festival, where it served as the opening film. And what a great movie: ‘Paris, 13th arrondissement’ is a portrait of modern relationships in the ‘millennial’ generation. Without judging, without hesitation and with total honesty, the film is a portrait of love in these times.

Release date : September 23

The new film by Alberto Rodríguez once again confirms him as one of the best narrators of our cinema, and also one of the most skilled when it comes to making us look at the past of our country and making stories from the past become more relevant than ever . In ‘Modelo 77’ we learn about the history of the Modelo prison in Barcelona in 1977, a historical moment in which the Transition to democracy forgot about those who were behind bars . Fortunately, some of his prisoners are willing to fight for their rights.

Release date : July 1

Mia Hansen-Løve’s brilliant new film follows a couple of American filmmakers who retreat to the island of Fårö , where Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman lived, in search of inspiration to write their next works. As summer progresses and his fascination with the mysterious landscapes of the island increases, the border between reality and fiction will soon blur…

Release date : March 4

Asghar Farhadi’s new film (Oscar nominee for Best International Film) once again demonstrates his talent for showing how ordinary people get caught up in personal and bureaucratic drama in today’s Iran . In ‘A Hero’ we meet Rahim (Amir Jadidi), who is in jail for a debt he has not been able to repay and, during a two-day leave of absence, tries to convince his creditor (Mohsen Tanabandeh) to withdraw his claim for disbursement of part of the payment.

Release date : February 18

Directed by Andreas Fontana, this Swiss-produced film manages to be a thriller without any big fireworks, but rather a brilliant intelligence and sense of mystery and tension . The story follows Yvan De Wiel, a banker from Geneva who travels to Argentina in the middle of the dictatorship to replace his partner, the subject of the most disturbing rumors, and who disappeared overnight.

Release date : March 4

In a village in Kosovo, families headed by women struggle to make ends meet waiting to hear from the men who went to war. However, the protagonist, Fahrije, will have to do more than wait: when her bees stop producing honey, she decides to get her driver’s license and sell homemade ajvar in a store, but the ultra-conservative society in which she lives will make her life impossible. Director Blerta Basholli paints a forceful portrait of patriarchy .

Release date : September 23 (Netflix)

‘Atenea’ has the most incredible scene of the year, an eleven-minute opening sequence shot without cuts that leaves us breathless as soon as it begins. And what’s left. The film by Romain Gavras, co-written with Ladj Ly (‘Les Miserables’), is a portrait of an immigrant France that is fed up with institutional abuse and rebels against the death at the hands of the police of a thirteen-year-old teenager . With two brothers separated on the two fronts of this armed war, the film is a shocking account of violence, dignity and injustice.

Release date : April 1

Jonas Carpignano completes his trilogy of Italian mafias (after ‘Mediterranea’ and ‘A Ciambra’) with this fabulous film , in which he once again blurs the borders between reality and fiction with non-professional actors (the entire Rotolo family, recruited to play the Guerrasios) and looking for the more humane side of organized crime cinema.

Thus, the Italian director tells the story from the perspective of a teenager, Chiara , whose life turns upside down overnight when she realizes something she has always turned a blind eye to, perhaps because she never quite understood it. everything: his father is a mobster, and now he’s in trouble.

Release date : March 11

If ‘Luca’ was, at first, the particular ‘Call me by your name’ of Pixar, this new story would be the tape similar to Hulk within the flexo company thanks to its Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type premise. But beware, that’s where the similarities end. Domee Shi, the director of the short ‘Bao’, brings this plot about a teenage girl who transforms into a giant red panda every time she gets too excited , and what she ends up with is a great portrait of adolescence in the early 1900s. 2000 with its boybands , fan fictions and eccentricities between friends. Direct to our ranking of Pixar movies.

Release date : April 1

‘Mass’ was the great forgotten of the Oscars 2022, and what a great injustice. His time at numerous festivals around the world, including San Sebastián (where he won the Young Jury Prize), Gijón and Americana Film Fest (which awarded him the audience and critics’ jury prizes) only confirmed that It was one of the movies of the year .

Richard (Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd) meet with Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) about their children . From Fran Kranz’s film it is better to know few details. Of course, it will not leave anyone indifferent.

Release date : June 9

Named the Best European Comedy at the last edition of the European Film Awards, ‘Ninjababy’ is a funny, touching and naughty vision of Peter Pan syndrome through an unwanted pregnancy. Produced in Norway and directed by Yngvild Sve Flikke, it shows that it can go beyond the clichés or the shadow of ‘Juno’ to offer a revealing, thoughtful and even adorable story .

The story follows Rakel, a 23-year-old woman who is stunned when she is told by the doctor that she is pregnant. The worst of all? She is six months pregnant and abortion is no longer an option. Without a very prominent belly and her usual life chaos, Rakel didn’t even notice her, and now her whole life based on beer, drugs and sex without commitment is turned upside down .

Release date : March 11

What would we do without Hong Sang-soo? Every year, the South Korean director presents us with new stories faithful to his style, eminently conversational and deep in a minimalist way, which are absolutely irresistible . ‘Introduction’ is no exception.

The story follows Youngho, a man who navigates between his dream of becoming an actor, his love dilemmas, and his parents’ expectations. When Ella’s girlfriend Juwon decides to travel to Berlin to study fashion design, Youngho surprises her with a visit from Ella. This one has already succeeded, but there are other Asian films that will succeed in 2022.

Release date : May 20

Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s debut feature swept the Malaga Festival with five awards, including Best Film, and there is no doubt that it is one of the best Spanish films of 2022 and one of the best national debuts of the last few years . Starring an immense Laia Costa alongside Susi Sánchez, Ramón Barea and Mikel Bustamante, the film also participated in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival and has received critical acclaim.

The story follows Amaia, who has just become a mother and realizes that she doesn’t really know how to be one . When her partner is absent for a few weeks for work, she decides to return to her parents’ house, located in a beautiful coastal town in the Basque Country, and thus share the responsibility of caring for her baby. What Amaia does not know is that although she is now a mother, she will not stop being her daughter.

Release date : June 24

The best Elvis Presley movies gave us the myth, but Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ offers us the man on a platter, the young rebel, the crazed artist… The legend, in one of the best musicals of the year.

As Beatriz Martínez says in the review of ‘Elvis’ in FOTOGRAMAS, the film has “its own style that breaks with any type of pre-established norm in which hedonism, formal exuberance, expressive baroque madness and the sublimated mixture of genres throb to paroxysm” .

Release date : May 27

In his review of ‘Memoria’, to which he gives five stars, Sergi Sánchez defines the film as “a fundamental experience for understanding the future of contemporary audiovisuals” . And a question is asked: “how have we lived without ‘Memory’ until now?”. They are not exaggerations, but the result of the new feat of the Thai Apichatpong Weerasethakul, an essential figure to understand contemporary cinema.

In this film starring Tilda Swinton, we follow a British botanist settled in Colombia who begins to hear a strange, otherworldly sound . Jessica will become obsessed with finding the origin of this phenomenon, and she will go deep into the heart of the jungle, where she will find a man who keeps the memory of the place.

Release date : February 4

That little world to which the title refers is, neither more nor less, than a schoolyard . That is the setting for the moral conflicts of the young protagonist in this acclaimed film by Laura Wandel, a true gem in 2022 that should not go unnoticed.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Award in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival , ‘A Small World’ follows Nora, a girl who has just entered primary school and, if finding her place among her classmates is not enough, she discovers what they are doing bullying his older brother, Abel. Wandel shows us how the young woman will deal with very complex feelings: keep silent to integrate or do something?

Release date : February 18

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut has been widely acclaimed around the world since its time at the Venice Film Festival (where it won Best Screenplay), and it’s no wonder: the actress-turned-director manages to turn the novel into Elena Ferrante in a gripping portrait of motherhood , with an excellent Olivia Colman (Oscar nominee) leading the cast.

The story follows Leda (Olivia Colman), a woman who decides to take a solo beach vacation, but her tranquility is soon interrupted by a young mother (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter, who cause her to awaken nightmare memories of her own. experience as a mother .

Release date : September 2

The review of ‘Pacifiction’ in FOTOGRAMAS gives 5 stars to the new album by Albert Serra , and with good reason. As the critic Sergi Sánchez writes: “The most admirable thing is how Albert Serra uses the poetics of slow cinema to strip his film of all realism and lead it towards a certain abstraction, which coincides with the progressive dissolution of his antihero (…) Serra thus turning what seems like his most narrative film into a walk through purgatory, before the apocalypse sweeps away our lost paradises”.

The Catalan director had a great reception at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival, and is once again confirmed as the most irreverent and daring author of our country . ‘Pacifiction’ is set on the island of Tahiti, where the representative of the French State takes the pulse of a local population, whose anger can be aroused at any moment.

Release date : September 30

It comes as no surprise to us that this new work by Santiago Miter won the Audience Award at the San Sebastian Festival: it is a brutal portrait of a key historical moment in Argentina where the historical chronicle, the judicial drama and even the touches of comedy. Ricardo Darín leads a brilliant cast and, as the review of ‘Argentina 1985’ in FOTOGRAMAS points out, gives us an important lesson: “In times of oblivion and regression, perhaps we need all the hype and saucer to dispel the doubt about truths that today they are denied to us”.

Set, as its title indicates, in 1985, the film is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team who dared to accuse those responsible for the Argentine military dictatorship in court . Against all odds, against the clock, and under constant threat, these heroes waged a David vs. Goliath battle.

Release date : April 22

The third feature film by Robert Eggers after ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ has dazzled critics, and we are not surprised: we can already count it among the best Viking films in the history of cinema thanks to its violent, bloody and epic proposal where there is not a single moment of rest and Norse mythology (from the tree of life to the Valkyries) come into action with unforgettable images .

With Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgaard meeting again, accompanied by Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, Claes Bang and Björk, ‘The Northman’ is set in 10th-century Iceland to tell us a story of revenge based on in a legend that inspired William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ .

Release date : February 25

Winner of the Golden Giraldillo at the Seville European Film Festival, this Austrian film by Sebastian Meise manages to combine romance with historical cinema and cinema of social denunciation . He talks about the consequences of imprisonment, but also queer persecution throughout the country’s history.

‘Great Freedom’ tells the true story of Hans in three moments (the years 1945, 1957 and 1969) of his relationship with Viktor , a convicted murderer. Everything begins because of the repression to which homosexual people were subjected in post-war democratic Germany, and from there we live both a personal and a collective evolution.

Release date : February 18

It has made history at the 2022 Oscars by being nominated in the categories for Best Documentary, Best Animated Film and Best International Film in the same edition . And although he did not take any in the end, his merits speak for themselves. This Danish film connects with a present tainted by war, violence and intolerance, and its way of telling it is innovative and beautiful.

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, ‘Flee’ is based on a true story, that of an Afghan refugee living in Denmark who agrees to tell his story without revealing his true identity . Thus, through animation, Rasmussen takes us through his incredible and devastating story.

Release date : February 11

Paul Thomas Anderson returns to the 1970s, a time he explored in ‘Boogie nights’ or ‘Puro vice’, to create a heartfelt portrait of a place he knows very well: the San Fernando Valley in California. The director recruits newcomer Alana Haim (HAIM band member) and heir Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philipp Seymour Hoffman) . And what a great couple they make in this brilliant film.

‘Licorice Pizza’ is based on the true story of Gary Goetzman, a PTA friend who had great experiences as a child actor in Hollywood. Transformed into Gary Valentine for the film, the young man becomes the protagonist of a story of personal and collective changes, of moving into adulthood and of a country that was entering the darkest parts of its history . Of him.

Release date : March 18

Winner of the Golden Lion at the last edition of the Venice Film Festival, critics of ‘The Event’ confirm that it is one of the great French films of the year . In it, director Audrey Diwan adapts Annie Ernaux’s already brilliant novel, and the result is a harrowing portrait of a woman’s struggles to gain control of her body and, consequently, her future. .

Set in 1963 France, the story follows Anne, a bright young student with a promising future who discovers that she is pregnant and, despite not having the help of her friends or society as a whole, decides to find the way to abort, even if it means pain or even a prison sentence.

Release date: April 29

Winner of a historic Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, ‘Alcarràs’ is possibly one of the best Spanish films of the 21st century, and an essential film in 2022 . After ‘Summer 1993’, the filmmaker Carla Simón returns with another family drama set in rural life, specifically in Alcarràs, a Catalan town. There, after eighty years, the Solé family meets to make their last harvest together.

“To all the suffering that losing some land can cause because its owner wants to install solar panels on it, there is also the pleasure of community work, of family reunions with grilled snails as the star dish, of children’s games in the orchards of the neighbor… As Renoir said, everyone has their reasons, and in each plot, Simón adds, there is a different emotion, which this generous film shares with the viewer without asking for anything in return “, reads the review of ‘Alcarràs’ in FOTOGRAMAS , with five stars that certify that no one will move it from the podium this year.

Release date : February 11

Winner of the 2022 Oscar for Best International Film, ‘Drive my car’ is one of the great masterpieces of this 2022 . Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s film has not ceased to amaze the film community since it was presented at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay and FIPRESCI Award, and its global impact was evident with its historic nomination for Best Film at the Oscars 2022, in addition to Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. Of course, neither the awards nor the criticism of ‘Drive my car’ has left no doubt about its absolute mastery.

Adapted from a story by Haruki Murakami , ‘Drive my car’ follows an actor and theater director, Yusuke Kafuku, who, in order to get away from his demons and personal tragedies, agrees to stage the play ‘Uncle Vanya’ at a festival in Hiroshima. There he is assigned a reserved driver, Misaki, with whom he will end up establishing a close relationship.