My Top Ten Movies of 2022 (so far)

I intended to do this at the mid-year point, but due to shifting schedules and the general chaos of life, it’s now an August event. Because of this, there are definitely some films on here that are more recent than the mid-year, but my hope is that it will be diverse enough from my end-of-year list that they will be able to function as separate lists. From the Space Age to the ’60s, Nic Cage to the Dark Knight, slasher homages to viking epics, and the emotionally heartfelt to the gripping drama of real life, this list has it all.

The Lenient Critic Podcast Episode 20: Morbius, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Apollo 10½, The Bubble

This is a week of shit, but also a week of excellence! Shane Conto returns to the podcast to discuss the morbid Morbius, the dashing Lost City, the spectacular Everything Everywhere All At Once, the charming Apollo 10½, and the beautiful failure The Bubble. Plus, their top five standalone sequels or spin-offs, and what they’ve been watching lately. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts!

Travel Back to the ’60s in Linklater’s Magical “Apollo 10½” (Review)

I wasn’t alive during the moon landing, but sometimes I wish I had been. To be a part of history, even in an observatory fashion, must have been remarkable — but let’s be honest: what kid wouldn’t have wanted to do even more?

Enter Stanley, played by Milo Coy, the protagonist of Richard Linklater’s new film Apollo 10½. At the very start, Stanley is lifted from the playground and recruited directly by the United States government for a top-secret mission. They’ve accidentally built the initial lunar module too small, and they need someone to take it to the moon as a test run for the upcoming Apollo 11 launch.

“Everyone was doing something for NASA, one way or another.”

Image courtesy of Netflix

But that’s not what Apollo 10½ is really about. Through Stanley and his family, we get a powerful sense of the culture in the late 1960s. The Space Race was going strong, hatred and fear were high for the Soviet Union, and there was a hopeful change in the social consciousness brewing that indicated everything would be shifting sooner rather than later. This is how my father grew up, and based on what I know, I believe this is the best representation of the time period that’s ever been put to screen. It makes perfect sense that it’s partially based on Linklater’s own upbringing, seeing as he would have been eight years old at the time of the moon landing.