Every year a terrific number of films get released. Too many for any one person to keep up with. So Daily Info has scoured the top streaming platforms for the best films of 2022 that you can catch over the festive period.
Netflix
With a conveyor belt of new releases throughout the year, you may have missed some of the big Netflix releases this year. Animation has had a banner year on the streaming platform, with the likes of The Sea Beast, Wendell & Wild and Apollo 10½ all standing out as the best of their respective art forms. And Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is one of the year’s best, a powerfully moving take on the much-told story. Del Toro can also be found on Disney Plus with the darkly brilliant Nightmare Alley. Costume dramas have found a home on Netflix with a wealth of handsomely mounted films to choose from. There’s the Fleabag-ification of various literary properties with both Jane Austen (Persuasion) and Sherlock Holmes (Enola Holmes 2) getting big starry versions. The Wonder is more of a deconstruction of the genre, whilst Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a seductive take on the famed text.
And for those looking for something new, there’s the much-hyped Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion, arriving on December 23rd, packed with stars, laughs and mysteries. Or there’s White Noise (December 30th), Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s acclaimed novel, starring Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Don Cheadle.
Prime
Amazon Prime has several of the very best films of the year on offer. Everything Everywhere All at Once is simultaneously a sprawling sci-fi epic that traverses the multiverse and a beautifully drawn, intimate drama following a family going through change. It is a proper masterpiece. X is a gloriously violent homage to the slasher genre and is director Ti West at his best. Whilst The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent continues Nicholas Cage’s recent career renaissance in gloriously meta fashion.
There are also original fare to be found, with the year’s standouts being uncomfortable new horror, Nanny, and the spikily enjoyable rom com, I Want You Back.
Now
The Batman is a surprisingly strong reboot for the Caped Crusader, mixing propulsive action and moody visuals for a sprawling epic. It can be found on Now, along with the likes of Michael Bay’s electrifying Ambulance, Robert Eggers’ gloriously bonkers Viking epic The Northman, and the enjoyable Romancing the Stone-lite, The Lost City.
And a real gem that’s coming over the festive period is Dreamwork’s The Bad Guys (26th December). This witty, beautifully animated family treat is a terrific send-up of the heist movie and is better than it has any right to be.
Disney Plus
Some of 2022’s finest releases can be found on Disney Plus, with big award contender The Banshees of Inisherin arriving on 21st December. The Irish comedic drama is a heartbreaking exploration of friendship and loneliness that goes to some really dark places. If you want something lighter, there’s the delightful murder mystery romp See How They Run (with a finale in our local town of Wallingford). Or there’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie, which is both a great introduction to the long-running cartoon and a wonderful expansion of it.
There are of course those films that go straight to streaming, which, bizarrely includes one of the best Pixar films in years, Turning Red, and the exceptional Prey, a sequel that makes the Predator franchise work.
Apple TV
While it may have the smallest catalogue of the streaming services, there are still some films worth your time on Apple TV. Spirited is, perhaps, the most prominent new festive film this year, with a starry cast (Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Tracey Morgan), songs from the La La Land and The Greatest Showman writers, and a familiar narrative (it’s another version of A Christmas Carol). So if you want something new and festive this is it.
Having won the big prize at this year’s Oscars with Coda, Apple TV has a habit of picking up festival gems in the hope of repeating their success. And Cha Cha Real Smooth, having won one of the Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival fits that bill as an indie crowd-pleaser. Or you could go with Causeway, an award contender with stellar turns from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry.