2022 - A Beer In Review
With another year in the books it's time to look back at some of our favorite films and froth!
Favorite Film Of 2022
Issac P. Ale: I will say, this is always a difficult thing for me to decide on. I tend to have issues being decisive, especially when there's so many great films of 2022 I still haven't seen! However, there's definitely a handful of films this year that are contending for my favorite. One of the first films I saw this year, disproving holiday releases being better for awards, was Everything Everywhere All At Once and it is undoubtedly in my top 3. I've mentioned how fantastic of a movie this is and it is such a blast to watch over and over again. Top Gun: Maverick was also above and beyond what I anticipated and is a phenomenal film. I also thoroughly enjoyed Jordan Peele's NOPE and Robert Eggers' The Northman, both films by surefire auteurs that are in absolute command of their craft. But since I need to pick one and satisfy the idea of having a favorite, I'll say that the whodunnit mystery by Rian Johnson, Glass Onion, is my favorite film of the year! A film with massive rewatch potential, loads of fun, and some sidesplitting wit is right up my alley and I've enjoyed every viewing I've had of it!
Hopster: With an honorable mention to Top Gun: Maverick, perhaps the most rollicking movie of the year, five films stood above the rest for me in looking back on what was a somewhat lobsided year for movies. I share Isaac's passion for the Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once, which amazingly enough is the frontrunner for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. We've talked about this one a lot already, and I'm sure we'll have more to say about it in the coming weeks. Beyond that, Damien Chazelle's epic ode to Old Hollywood, Babylon, Todd Field's psychological drama, Tár, and Jordan Peele's neo-Western sci-fi horror film, Nope, are three of the year's best films, all of which made for awesome theater-going experiences. I'll always remember seeing Margot Robbie dancing in her red dress at the beginning of Babylon, Cate Blanchett dunking on everyone until karma ultimately catches up to her in Tár, and Daniel Kaluuya in an orange hoodie riding his horse, Lucky, in the third act of Nope. But if I'm forced to pick one, my film of the year was Martin McDonagh's black tragicomedy, The Banshees of Inisherin. McDonagh and his elite assemblage of actors deliver a story that is poignantly resonant and gutting in the most human way. This is not the time nor place to sing its praises -- that time is coming -- but for now let me just say that more than maybe any other film from 2022, Banshees was a cut above the rest.
Favorite Performance Of 2022
Isaac P. Ale: Ok I'm going to try and be brief here but it's going to be near impossible... Some of my favorite performances of 2022 have to include:
- Ralph Fiennes and Hong Chau in The Menu
- Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Alex Skarsgård in The Northman
- Mia Goth in X and Pearl
- Austin Butler in Elvis
- Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ultimately, there can be only one. My favorite performance of 2022 goes to Colin Farrell in The Banshees Of Inisherin! A film that is as profound as it is entertaining, full of sharp Martin McDonagh dialogue and ripe with themes ready for the viewer to extract. Farrell's pure and vulnerable performance pushes the narrative of the film unlike anything else and you can't help but feel connected to Padraíc to the point of feeling every emotion under the sun.
Hopster: Yes, yes, yes -- Mia Goth, Alex Skarsgård, Michelle Yeoh, and Colin Farrell are all standouts for me, too!! Here are a dozen others that come to mind:
- Jessie Buckley in Women Talking
- Paul Dano in The Fabelmans
- Danielle Deadwyler in Till
- Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
- Daniel Kaluuya in Nope
- Zoë Kravitz in Kimi
- Justin Long in Barbarian
- Paul Mescal in Aftersun
- Keke Palmer in Nope
- Tilda Swinton in The Eternal Daughter*
- Tang Wei in Decision to Leave
Two of the aforementioned performers, Colin Farrell and Mia Goth, were likely the MVPs of 2022. Goth was the unicorn at the center of Ti West's horror double feature, X and Pearl, and Farrell was outstanding in FOUR different movies: Banshees, of course, but also After Yang, 13 Lives, and The Batman.
But if I'm limited to choosing just one performance from 2022, it would have to be the undefeated Cate Blanchett in Tár. We line up for the next great Meryl Streep movie and wonder if Daniel Day-Lewis has one last performance in him, but let us not forget that Blanchett is one of our most captivating on-screen performers working today -- and what she pulls off in Tár is nothing short of extraordinary.
Favorite Beer Of 2022
Hopster: By all accounts, a good year in film was a great year in froth. In keeping with Film & Froth's dedication to IPAs, I would be remiss if I didn't give a shoutout to Rogue Ales' Batsquatch Hazy IPA, which is an aromatic, fruitful, and all around delicious. Another delight was the nitro Scottish Ale from Bellhaven Brewery Company, of which I enjoyed two feckin' pints after my rewatch of Banshees. And lastly, I'll shoutout the Shaved Black Truffle Pilsner from Moody Tongue Brewing Company -- this is a bougie beer that might've been served at the exclusive culinary private island by Julian Slowik in Mark Mylod's The Menu.
Scottish Ale Scottish Ale - Scotland | 5.2% ABV Bellhaven Brewery Company Ltd. @bellhavenbrews
Batsquatch Hazy IPA New England IPA - American | 6.7% ABV Rogue Ales @rogueales
Shaved Black Truffle Pilsner German Pilsner - Germany | 5.0% ABV Moody Tongue Brewing Company @moodytongue
Isaac P. Ale: I don't know why we subject ourselves to whittling down all of the wonderful things we enjoyed last year into one definitive answer. I've had such amazing beers in 2022, and I'll have to muster all my strength to decide on one final favorite. First off, one beer I enjoyed immensely is from one of my favorite brewers here in Seattle, Fast Fashion Brewing. This one is a double IPA called Double Bagel Mode and let's just say you definitely wanna go bagel mode in 2023 if you can. Unbelievably light yet packing a nice wallop of flavor and aroma from some exquisitely selected hops. Another great one on the other end of the flavor spectrum is courtesy of Aslan Brewing and is an imperial coffee stout by the name of Satan's Airport. I'm not one to usually enjoy time in an airport but I wouldn't mind a long layover in this one! A brew so thick you may as well chew the thing, but not to an uncomfortable point. Not to mention the flavor profile is a complex mesh of coffee, toffee, nuts, and some downright delicious roasted malt that is a wonderful experience. However, if there can be only one then the crown goes to the 2022 release of From the Vault by Fremont Brewing. I paired this illustrious brew with my favorite film of the year, Glass Onion, and the two are a match made in heaven. From the Vault is an amalgamation of various stouts from Fremont Brewing all aged in a bourbon barrel that marries the flavors in a rich and complex way. Every sip you take it tastes like a different beer in the most exciting way possible. I urge you to pounce and snag a bottle or five if you see this on the shelf, I still need to pony up and buy myself some more because it was a spiritual experience.
Double Bagel Mode Double IPA - American | 8.2% ABV Fast Fashion @fastfashionbeer
Satan's Airport Imperial Stout - American | 9.5% ABV Aslan Brewing @aslanseattle
From the Vault (2022) Cuvee - American | 13.5% ABV Fremont Brewing @fremontbrewing
Most Anticipated Film Of 2023
Isaac P. Ale: I will fight the temptation to just start screaming about Dune: Part Two in order to maintain some journalistic integrity, however let the record reflect I am excited for it. The future really is bright for the movies it's almost surreal because plenty of people were clamoring about saying movies and theaters were dead in the water following the pandemic. Little did they know Tom Cruise flying planes and James Cameron splashing about annihilated this preconceived notion. Now we have some other incredible directors bringing movies back next year, some I'm most excited about are:
- Greta Gerwig's Barbie
- Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer
- David Fincher's The Killer
- Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon
But what really takes the cake for me, writing this on January 10th the day the trailer dropped, is Beau is Afraid. The new Ari Aster nightmare comedy epic starring Joaquin Phoenix looks to be as bat shit crazy as his previous two films Hereditary and Midsommar but with another dosage of LSD laced with your worst nightmares. Combine that with the gravitas acting capabilities of Phoenix and you've got yourself one damn fine film.
Hopster: You bastard, Isaac -- you took all the good movies. I know there isn't a rule that we can't overlap, but you left me the scraps here!! You can keep your high-brow, auteur cinema. Call me Blue Collar Hoppy, aka Popcorn-Flick Hopster, and give me John Wick: Chapter 4, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, and Wonka!!!
Some other honorable mentions:
- Wes Anderson's Asteroid City
- Luca Guadagnino's Challengers
- James Mangold's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Isaac P. Ale: The Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget 2023 Best Picture campaign begins now!
