Note: Deadline presents the 46th episode of its video series Take Two, in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy tackle the artistry of films just opening in theaters every weekend. Each has reviewed and written about the craft for decades and built a remarkable breadth of knowledge of films past and present. What we hoped for when we asked them to do this was a concise, mature and thoughtful conversation comparable to what we saw from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
For this final week of 2022, Take Two zeroes in on our individual takes on the year’s top five movies, a deeper video dive into those movies that made the cut, and including only one film that made both lists. There is also a fierce argument over a certain major award-winning film that one of us has in our Top 5 and the other couldn’t stand, in fact wanting to walk out on?
Earlier in the week, we both posted our annual 10 best list (and then some) on Deadline (read Pete’s here, and Todd’s here). Here we offer our final word — with pictures — on what we view are the best of 2022. Happy New Year.
To watch our conversation click on the video above.
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Hammond has been Deadline’s Awards Columnist for the past decade, covering what now seemingly is the year-round Oscar and Emmy seasons. He is also Deadline’s Chief Film Critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, Boxoffice magazine, Backstage, Hollywood.com and Maxim, as well as Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, for which he was a contributing editor. In addition to writing, Hammond also hosts KCET Cinema Series and the station’s weekly series Must See Movies.
McCarthy is a veteran trade publication film critic, columnist and reporter who has also written several acclaimed books and documentary films. He served two stints on the staffs of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter and extensively covered film festivals internationally for both publications. His film Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography won the best documentary prizes from the New York Film Critics and