That opportunity arrives Jan. 20-Jan. 29 at the Sundance Film Festival, which returns to live screenings after two virtual versions and offers a robust showcase for some of the best features the world has to offer.

Numerous world premieres and buzzy titles will attract movie lovers, ear-muffed celebrities, journalists, publicists, studio reps and onlookers to Park City, Utah.

But if you can’t make it there, know that some of the titles will be available to stream beginning Jan. 24. More information on these and more films is available at festival.sundance.org.

Here are 15 to look out for, a number of which have Bay Area associations.

“Stephen Curry: Underrated”: Award-winning Oakland documentary-maker Peter Nicks (“Homeroom,” “The Waiting Room,” “The Force”) bring his ever-observant eye to the life and career of one of our most popular and respected NBA players — Golden State Warriors icon Stephen Curry. Filmmaker and Oakland native Ryan Coogler is one of the producers of this Apple TV+ documentary, which relates the inspirational story of Curry and how the four-time NBA champ defied naysayers and became a phenomenon. Sadly, it’s not available online, and there’s no word yet on when Apple TV+ will release it.

“Shortcomings”: Sacramento-born graphic novelist Adrian Tomine has drawn deserved comparisons to America’s most daring cartoonists. If you haven’t read any of the UC Berkeley alum’s rich works — and you really should — this edgy adaptation from director Randall Park (yes, the cute actor from “Fresh off the Boat”) will likely make you a fan. It follows three Berkeley chums fumbling about with love, desire, heritage and expectations. It’s available online.

“Fremont”: For his fourth feature film, Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali comes up with a novel and timely concept.  A former Afghan translator (newcomer Anaita Wali Zada) finds herself saddled with an empty life in the titular East Bay city, but things change when she assigned to write Chinese fortune cookie messages at the factory where she works. “The Bear’s” Jeremy Allen White costars. Shot in B&W, Jalali’s feature will be available online.

“Earth Mama”: Some films get snapped up by studios and distributors even before they get their world premiere at Sundance. Such is the case with 29-year-old Savanah Leaf’s debut feature set in the Bay Area. A24 swooped in to grab the former Olympic volleyball player’s coming-of-age drama about Gia (Oakland newcomer Tia Nomore), a pregnant single mom with two other children in foster care. The film is not available online, and there’s no release date from A24 yet.

“Fairyland”: Debut filmmaker Andrew Durham wrote and directed this adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s memoir about growing up in the ‘70s with a free-spirited father (Scoot McNairy) following the sudden death of her mother. Alysia is often left to her own devices as her father begins to date men once they relocate to San Francisco. Geena Davis, rock singer Adam Lambert and Maria Bakalova costar. The film is not available online.

“Fancy Dance”: Sundance loves coming-of-age stories. This exciting release from first-timer Erica Tremblay attests to that. The world premiere drama is about two girls from an Oklahoma reservation — the resourceful Jax (Lily Gladstone) and her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) — taking a road trip to find Roki’s missing mother. It’s available online.

“Cassandro”: Gael Garcia Bernal lands a juicy, high-profile role as the real-life gay luchador (professional wrestler) Saúl Armendáriz, who, with the assistance of his trainer, breaks barriers by assuming the identity of an alter ego — the out and proud Cassandro. This is documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams’ feature debut, and it looks like a winner. Bad Bunny and Raúl Castillo costar. It’s not available online.

“Infinity Pool”: His horror freakout (“Possessor”) rattled Sundance a few years ago, now director Brandon Cronenberg (David Cronenberg’s son) follows it up with what looks to be another unabashedly bizarre and brazen horror shocker. Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård lend their magnetic star power to this dark look at the festering underbelly of tourism. It might even make you think twice about booking that next trip to a tropical paradise. It’s not available online, but will arrive in theaters to disturb Jan. 27.

“Mamacruz”: Dramas about sexual awakenings (or re-awakenings), in general,  tend to focus on characters under the age of 50. Director/co-writer Patricia Ortega makes an exception here with a story about a buttoned-up, religious grandmother who dares to dip into porn and talk more freely about sex — to the chagrin of some, and the acceptance of others. Kiti Manver will be a Sundance standout. It’s available online.

“You Hurt My Feelings”: Nicole Holofcener writes and directs what sounds like another one of her refreshingly unique dramedies. It’s her fourth film at Sundance and follows novelist Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and how she reconsiders her relationship with her therapist hubby Don (Tobias Menzies) when she overhears him dissing her new novel. Oops. It’s not available online.

“Rye Lane”: Director Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut is a romantic dramedy wherein a teary-eyed Dom (David Jonsson) gains more pep in his step courtesy of a wild day spent in South London with Yas (Vivian Oparah). It looks to be a charming and telling look at two 20-something people of color who might be ready to fall in love. It’s not available online.

“Twice Colonized”: What often distinguishes the Sundance is its dedication to illuminating various perspectives, cultures and ideas. Such is the case with this topical and engrossing documentary from director Lin Alluna on Greenlandic Inuit lawyer and activist Aaju Peter. It’s a fascinating character portrayal that takes the time to reflect on the Inuit experience and on colonialism. It’s available online.

“Magazine Dreams”: Expect Jonathan Majors’ career to soar higher than ever after the world premiere of director/writer Elijah Bynum’s character study of a fiercely devoted bodybuilder. Majors, so great in “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” physically inhabits the part in what promises to be a gritty, explosive and complex look at the world of bodybuilding. It has the potential to be one of the biggest talkers at Sundance, and it’s available online as well.

“Cat Person”: Ready to get a bit uncomfortable? The perils of dating will likely come into all-too-sharp focus in this drama by director Susanna Fogel (a co-writer on “Booksmart”) about a 20-year-old student (Emilia Jones) learning that the alleged “cat person” (Nicholas Braun) she’s dating isn’t exactly who he pretends to be. Screenwriter Michelle Ashford adapts the New Yorker short story that was a viral sensation. It’s also available online.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com

“The Last of Us”: HBO/HBO Max’s big-budgeted dystopian spectacle succeeds where most action-driven series fail — making us care about a post-apocalyptic world where everyone’s fate is unpredictable. With impressive special effects and some sharp storytelling instincts, “Last of Us” ups the playing field for not only streaming services but movie blockbusters.

Based on the massively popular 2013 video game of the same name, it’s a doomsday road picture that’s perfect for anyone who loved Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” Stephen King’s “The Stand,” Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” and Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later.” The comparisons might sound like someone just went in and ransacked the cinematic fridge of leftovers. Not so. The nine-episode series (creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are said to be awaiting to commit to a second based on how the first fares) creates a unique, harrowing survivors’ narrative set in 2033 and then gives us King-like characterizations, conflicts and confrontations.

A viral epidemic consumes the world, and fungus is to blame, turning the afflicted into killer Mushroom People (called Clickers). What could have been a laughable premise turns into something quite terrifying with Pedro Pascal — in one of his best performances — playing the hardened but resourceful Joel, who traverses through devastated U.S. cities (the special effects are jaw dropping) with the super-smart and foul-mouthed Ellie (Bella Ramsey, an incredible performance). I gobbled down five episodes — the first one dropping Sunday is nearly an hour and a half — and I can’t wait to watch more. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; debuts Jan. 15, with each episode dropping on consecutive Sundays; HBO.

“Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches”: After a bold and sexy reworking of Anne Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire,” AMC lets down numerous fans with a weakly executed and watered-down version of her “Mayfair Witches” saga. Scattered in its worldbuilding and ineffective in creating an atmospheric spell, this eight part series  (only five parts were made available for review) is erratic in tone, lacking in conviction and generally devoid of purpose. Alexandra Daddario is miscast as a San Francisco neurosurgeon who discovers she’s inexorably linked to a legacy of witches in New Orleans and a mysterious presence named Lasher. While there are surprising turns, and the series does improve as it progresses, “Witches” never grabs you with the power that “Interview” did. Stick to the books instead. Details: 2 stars; available on AMC and AMC+.

“Plane”: Director Jean-François Richet and a willing cast — Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Oakland native Daniella Pineda and Yoson An — help dust off the kind reliable but ridiculous action-disaster flicks that thrived in the ‘90s. They’ve done a commando job of cranking out a retro guilty pleasure, one that’s as predictable and as lovably dumb as the films it cribs from. The titular plane here, piloted by Brodie (Butler) and co-piloted by Dele (An), gets forced into a white-knuckle landing because of idiotic commands from higher ups that the crew fly into a lightning storm. The bad luck only persists when they plunk down on a Philippines island where a violent militia rules. Will anyone get out alive? C’mon. “Plane” makes for an enjoyable R-rated throwback and gets particularly spirited whenever Mike Colter — as a fugitive on the plane — teams up with Butler to take down the baddies. Details: 2½ stars; in theaters Jan. 13.

“The Devil Conspiracy”: Few films dare to even approach the go-for-broke quackery of Nathan Frankowski’s cult classic in the making. It doesn’t matter that screenwriter/producer Ed Alan’s script jumps off its rails from the opening line, “Conspiracy” jovially catapults audiences into the pits of hell and back then back to Earth. A chained-up Lucifer down below summons his legions to rip off the Shroud of Turin from the Vatican City so he can futz around with Christ’s DNA for hell-bent purposes. Meanwhile a hunky priest (Joe Doyle, in on the joke and having a blast) reveals his true alter ego while a mad scientist/entrepreneur tinkers with DNA to make baby Michelangelos and other legends so he can then sell them off to the highest bidders. Incredibly, things get weirder than that! With tongue in cheek and a devotion to be as preposterous and over the top as imaginable, Frankowski’s frenzied horrorpalooza never lets up. Is it a good movie? Not by any means. But is it fun? A hell to that yes. Details: 2½ stars; in theaters Jan. 13.

“Copenhagen Cowboy”: Nicolas Winding Refn’s neon-lit surreal curiosities are often stranger and more depraved than even David Lynch’s films. His Netflix series is one for his diehards fans, those inclined to wade into a predatory swamp and swim with imprisoned sex workers, criminals, grudge-holders, rutting pigs, a creepy family of bloodsuckers and a blue-tracksuit-wearing waif protagonist from another planet. If that sounds good, this six-parts series will itch that weird scratch. While I appreciated many elements — particularly the look and surreal vibe —  “Cowboy” moseys a little too slow for my tastes. That said, Winding Refn is a true original. Details: 2½ stars; on Netflix now.

“Mars One”: Director/screenwriter Gabriel Martins turns to the resiliency of a Black Brazilian family living on the fringes in this buoyant but intense drama that’s filled with many memorable and original characters — a daughter falling for a rich young woman, a son interested in science more than soccer and parents coping with their own internal struggles. “Mars One” (the original title was “Marte Um”) is a delightful, joyous celebration of the unbreakable bonds that keep us tethered through the most challenging of times. Details: 3½ stars; now on Netflix.

“Corsage”: In her very fictionalized look into the claustrophobic, intensely scrutinized and criticized life of the unconventional Empress Elisabeth of Austria, writer/director Marie Kreutzer capitalizes on the ace up her sleeve, lead Vicky Krieps. The German actor is stupendous, never overstating her character’s moroseness in a society that stifles women and puts them in their place. The period details are sensational, the cinematography stunning. “Corsage” fashions a film bio that’s very different from the events in Elisabeth’s life, and while some factual details could have actually helped the film, “Corsage” is still a fascinating commentary about celebrity that echoes loudly in an era when Prince Harry’s tell-all has the world talking. Details: 3 stars; in theaters now.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

Colin Farrell’s heartbreaking performance as a lost soul trying to figure out why his friendship fell apart in “Banshees,” along with Kerry Condon’s incredible supporting performance as his sister ,who is itching to move away from a claustrophobic village, was also awarded by the group. Condon, however, is sharing her honors with Jamie Lee Curtis, hilarious as an IRS worker with a weird trophy and bizarre sausage fingers in that metaphysical adventure  “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

“Everything,” a head-tripper of a film, was one of the few breakout indie hits in 2022. Along with “Tár,” it was presented with four honors. “Goonies” star Ke Huy Quan’s acclaimed supporting performance in “Everywhere” as the harried, compassionate family guy trying to wade through not only laundry and debt but the multiverse won the group over.

Todd Field’s virtuosic, unconventional flourishes behind the camera with “Tár” landed the heralded filmmaker — who hadn’t made in a movie in 16 years — best directing and best original screenplay honors while Cate Blanchett won for her electrifying turn as a lauded conductor who sabotages her own career.

The group also singled out the Amazon Prime comedy with bite “Emergency” — which debuted at last year’s Sundance Film Festival — with its Special Citation for Independent Cinema.

Here are the group’s awards.

Best picture: “The Banshees of Inisherin” 

Best director: Todd Field, “Tár”

Original screenplay: Todd Field, “Tár”

Adapted screenplay: Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”

Actor:  Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Tár”

Supporting actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Supporting actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (tie).

Animated feature: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

International Feature Film: “Decision to Leave”

Documentary feature: “All That Breathes”

Cinematography: Florian Hoffmeister, “Tár”

Production design: Jason Isvarday (production designer), Kelsi Ephraim (set decorator), “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film editing: Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Original score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Women Talking”

Special Citation for Independent Cinema: “Emergency”

Marlon Riggs Award: Phil Tippett

“M3GAN”: The premise holds such ghoulish promise — an A.I. toy that looks like a creepy doll/child flips out. But this rather perfunctory Jason Blum and James Wan production doesn’t go far enough with the humor or the scares. Where director Gerard Johnstone’s sucker punch to bad parenting, the greedy toy industry and workaholism blows its gasket is in its play-it-traditional script. That’s a crime given there are definitely some worthwhile moments that Johnstone (“Housebound”) ekes out from Akela Cooper’s screenplay. Allison Williams stars as ambitious toy developer Gemma, an obsessive who tinkers with her latest creation till it evolves into freaky M3GAN, then tests it out as a companion for her grief-stricken niece Cady (Violet McGraw) who has survived a freak accident that killed her parents. “M3GAN” stocks up on jump scares and keeps the violence PG-13, but fails to make us care about any of the humans in the path of M3GAN. Each character is a rote as an assembly-line toy. Still, there are moments — a scene at a camp in the woods almost earns “M3GAN” another half-star. Details: 2 stars out of 4; in theaters Jan. 6.

“A Man Called Otto”: Some might well advise you to read the novel upon which this is based, “A Man Called Ove,” or the first film adaptation, which came out in 2015. Sound advice, but it doesn’t mean director Marc Foster’s take on the story about a cantankerous widower (played here with a Walter Matthau-like grumpy endearment by Concord native Tom Hanks) doesn’t stand on its own. The “action” so to speak transfers from Sweden to the cookie-cutter sameness of the American suburbs (Philadelphia subbing in for that), which is where the very particular Otto Anderson finds himself about being shoved out the employment door at the age of 60. It’s a moment of reckoning in Otto’s organized world of rules and order and all but launches a nascent decision to end his life. Otto’s suicidal plan fuses well with the grey domestic surroundings and dour look created here. But don’t let that fool you. “Otto” refuses to be a downer, nudging and reminding us to experience life robustly while embracing the messiness within ourselves as well as in others. It’s a redemptive tale told well with a wonderful supporting cast that includes Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Cameron Britton. It leaves an earned lump in the throat. Details: 3 stars; opens Jan. 6 in Bay Area theaters.

“Living”: Tender, humane and featuring an impeccable performance from Bill Nighy, this remake from director Oliver Hermanus (“Moffie”) is as elegantly, precisely crafted as a Swiss timepiece. Based on Akira Kurosawa’s stirring “Ikiru,” its follows a British paper-pushing manager (Nighy) who discovers how to live upon receiving a fatal prognosis from his doctor. Imbued with realistic hope and filled with rich period details, it reminds us all to live in the present before it’s too late. Details: 3½ stars; opens Jan. 6 in Bay Area theaters.

“The Pale Blue Eye”: If you want to experience chilly scenes of winter and and plunge into an inventive Gothic mystery in the process, director/screenwriter Scott Copper delivers with this deliciously sinister mystery. Christian Bale — something of a Cooper regular — is superb as 1830’s sleuth August Landor. Wearing his grief like a boulder on his shoulders, he investigates a string of gory slayings at a secretive West Point where, it just so happens, a quirky cadet named Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling, ideally cast) emerges as one of a number of suspects. Strategically paced and gorgeously filmed, “The Pale Blue Eye” is adapted from Louis Bayard’s novel of the same name, and subtly says something meaty about the military mindset, family lineage and the hazards of prolonged grief. An outstanding supporting cast — Gillian Anderson, Toby Jones, Timothy Spall and more, further class it up. Details: 3 stars; debuts Jan. 6 on Netflix.

“Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical”: With little hoopla, Netflix threw into its end-of-the-year gift bag this gem from Tony Award-winning director Matthew Warchus, a spirited adaptation of the book and stage musical. It deserves better treatment from the streaming platform since it retains the edginess of Dahl’s story and refuses to sugarcoat it. Alisha Weir makes a captivating Matilda Wormwood, a bookworm ignored by her narcissistic, buffoonish parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough). Sloughed off to a boarding school run by a combat-boots-clad tyrant (Emma Thompson, chewing every bit of scenery that surrounds her), Matilda defies the fascist ways of the school and discovers that one’s family can come from other sources, in this case Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch). The musical numbers are catchy while the production values are top-notch. If you loved “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” or “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” this one might well be your golden family ticket. Details: 3 star; available on Netflix.

“Women Talking”: Sarah Polley achieves a cinematic miracle of sorts with her exquisite and wise adaptation of Miriam Toews’ celebrated novel, which was loosely based on actual events — the drugging and rape of women within a Bolivian Mennonite community. Anchored by an incredible cast that includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand — one of the film’s producers — “Talking” finds a group of survivors of relentless abuse inflicted by the men and boys around them collaborating in a hayloft about what their next steps should be — staying or going. While that might sound like a bitter pill to spend 100 minutes with, Polley’s life-affirming film — shot exceptionally well by Luc Montpellier and featuring an outstanding score from Hildur Guonadóttir — “Women Talking” moves you in profound ways and is sometimes funny and hopeful. From the acting to the directing and on to one of the best screenplays of the year, it is a tour-de-force in every sense. Details: 4 stars; opens Jan. 6 in Bay Area theaters.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

But the film, like the book itself, finds light within the darkness and draws its power and inspiration from candid conversations between a tightly-knit group of fictional female survivors as they gather in a hayloft to debate what their critical next move should be – to leave or to stay. “Women Talking” opens Jan. 6 in select Bay Area theaters.

Polley, the versatile 43-year-old Canadian director, screenwriter, author and actor, has won praise for her previous directorial features – 2006’s “Away From Her,” 2011’s “Take This Waltz” and 2012’s piercing familial documentary, “Stories We Tell.” With her latest, she isn’t out to shock, outrage or leave audiences drained and filled with despair.

“It’s not a film to sink you into grief and rage or to trigger you (and) make things harder,” Polley said in early December while she was in San Francisco to accept the SFFILM award for storytelling.

“It’s actually designed as a kind of off ramp, as there’s a sense of thinking about going forward and a way of healing and recovery and what a just world could look like,” she said. “It’s not a trauma dump. And it’s not a beating of fists. It’s something else. It’s like a love letter to survivors.”

Polley’s affinity to the material and her introduction to it came during a book club meetup, when a fellow reader, who wanted to see her adapt the book into a film, “took me aside in the kitchen and said, ‘I’m going to tell you about the backdrop of this book, and you won’t want to make it into a film.’”

“The backdrop is not what the book is about,” the book club member said. “It’s not about the past. It’s about this amazing conversation between these women in the hayloft and trying to figure out what they’re going to do before the men come back.”

Polley was already a Toews fan, so she promptly read “Woman Talking.” Riveted, she began thinking about it nonstop. She wanted to make a film out of it, her first in 10 years, since being sidelined from directing due, in part, to a debilitating head injury. Shortly after finishing the book, she discovered on social media that producer Dede Gardner and actor/producer Frances McDormand – who owned the film rights – were in the gestation process of getting a film off the ground.

“I reached out to them, and within the same hour, they reached out to me. It was really strange,” she recalled.

While the film was shot during strict COVID restrictions, one of the benefits of having a slower timetable was the ability to pinpoint the right actors, who could not only play their own roles but play off each other.

“You couldn’t cast one person until you had everybody,” Polley said, “because everyone is so dependent on each other.”

Polley’s brother, John Buchan, returned as her casting director, and soon, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, McDormand and Ben Whishaw, who plays the notes-taking August, signed on.

While Polley’s screenplay hews closely to the novel, a big change between book and film is the narrator. August narrates the novel, but the teen-aged Autje (Kate Hallett) provides the voice-over in the film.

“It works in a book that it’s a male narrator, but in a film you really need to hear the voice — the voice of someone who has experienced the assaults,” Polley said.

And the decision to not show incidents of sexual assault on film was intentional.

“For me, seeing sexual assaults depicted on screen is so rarely additive, and (it’s) harmful in some ways,” Polley said. “I knew I didn’t want to show it, but also in terms of the film itself, what’s important is the impact it has on these women and how they move alongside it and through it, not the details of the assault.”

Since most characters are female, and the movie highlights women attaining power and insight from each other and then enacting change in solidarity, there was a discussion about “Women Talking” hiring a female-only crew. Polley didn’t like that idea. She didn’t want to leave behind the “guys I have worked with on the last three or four projects who were the kind of men who were supportive and helpful before it was cool…before anyone required it of them.”

As the conversation unfolded, Polley said, “We’re not lugging a bunch of people along with us who have been obstacles to us. We’re bringing along the good guys who actually made this industry bearable in a time when it was mostly unbearable to be female. I just had a real ethical moment around that of bringing these guys with us also because they’re my team and they’re a big part of it.”

The result was a “really nice balance of things.”

Polley started acting at an early age, appearing in the “Ramona” TV series as well as the “Road to Avonlea” series from 1990 to 1996. But she found work on the 1988 set of Terry Gilliam’s fantasy, “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” as an 8-year-old so challenging, she wrote about it in her 2022 book, “Run Towards Danger,” talking about how she felt unsafe during the cult classic filming.

While her three children appear ever so briefly in “Women Talking,” she doesn’t think it’s right to have children in film.

“I don’t think they should be there,” she says emphatically. “But in a way, having my own kids in that group of kids was a good insurance policy. My eye is very acutely trained on kids when they are on set, because I don’t know how ethical it is to have kids in a professional environment.”

That ethical dilemma is particularly acute in the case of child actors who attain fame, popularity and even idolatry at a very young age.

“I had a lot of luck,” Polley said. “I think I would have fallen off the rails, if I hadn’t had that luck. I just don’t think it’s a fair position to put a kid in, to have that kind of attention at an early age. I think so many people I know who were child actors … the rest of their lives were kind of this dull echo of the glory that they had as a child.”

As for casting a child in a lead role, Polley stands firm: “I would never have a kid as a lead in a movie. Never. Not in a million years.”

Meanwhile, Polley is pursuing what she really loves, including writing a novel and continuing to direct. And while she remains committed to pursuing more indie features, she recently discovered a soft spot for one filmmaking genre that’s been criticized by other filmmakers – superhero flicks.

“Oddly now, as I get older, I have more fun going and seeing blockbuster movies,” she said.

During her last pregnancy, when she was feeling tired, depressed and hardly able to move, she started “watching every Marvel movie. I had never seen any Marvel movies” before. “I feel like I’m not an old snob about it anymore,” she said.

Unlike higher-profile narratives pumped out by big studios, the documentary doesn’t require nor inspire big financial and promotional budgets. That leads to a bruising reality that many just come and go away too fast for us to see or take notice of them.

This year produced another gold mine for nonfiction filmmaking, both in theaters and on streaming platforms.

“Fire of Love”: Berkeley filmmaker Sara Dosa gave us a full-blown sensory experience like none other seen or heard in a documentary in 2022. Narrated with wistfulness by Miranda July, Dosa’s elegantly edited marvel celebrates both the daring, groundbreaking work of the late married French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft as well as the feisty vision of French New Wave. Turn the volume up, sit back and watch in wonder on the biggest screen possible. Where to see it: Available on Disney+.

“Bad Axe”: David Siev turned the cameras on his colorful Cambodian-Mexican family when he and his girlfriend, now his wife, moved back home from the East Coast to the rural community of Bad Axe, Michigan, due to COVID-19 and shutdowns. Siev filmed his family as they struggled to keep their restaurant afloat during tenacious times, and stood up against racism after George Floyd’s murder as they encountered their own backlash and dealt with painful reminders from the past, including their patriarch’s scars from fleeing the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. “Bad Axe” delivers not only a time capsule for that unprecedented period in America but of the resilience and resolve of one tightly knit family dealing with universal issues. This is no mere snapshot of our times, but a photo album of it. Where to see it: Available on various platforms.

“Retrograde”: Director Matthew Heineman’s immersive experience follows U.S. troops as they break try to meet an impossible deadline to exit Afghanistan and the resulting chaos as Afghan General Sami Sadat confronts a no-win situation with the Taliban taking over community after community. Heineman didn’t intend to get swept up in the swirling madness and danger, but like other great documentary makers and their original concepts — such as Orlando von Einsiedel’s “Virunga” and Bryan Fogel’s “Icarus” — his being willing to take a treacherous detour results in a better, more telling piece of journalism than imagined. “Retrograde” illustrates the futility of war and the tragedy of its fallout. Where to see it: Available on Disney+.

“Good Night Oppy”: Another documentary that appears at first to be simple and straightforward but is more complex is Ryan Murphy’s quietly profound and sweet to the core account how NASA researchers and scientists bond with two Mars rovers, Opportunity (Oppy) and Spirit. Murphy uses stellar animation to bring the two rovers and their expedition to Mars to life, a journey that lasted far longer than the expected 90-day mission. What makes “Oppy” such a warmhearted joy is seeing how scientists grew to love both ‘bots. Murphy’s family-friendly celebration of science also imparts a tender message about growing older, be it a ‘bot or a human. What a shame it didn’t land on the Oscar documentary shortlist. Where to see it: Available on Amazon Prime.

“The Territory”: Alex Pritz’s eye opener couldn’t be more relevant or timely. In a taut 88 minutes, with the backing of producer Darren Aronofsky, it throws us into a roiling battle in Brazil’s rainforest, where members of the Indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau community are trying to boot out illegal settlers who are homesteading on their land. Told from various perspectives — activists, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people and so on — it’s an exceptional film that offers shards of hope as a younger generation takes matters into their own hands. Now that’s worth cheering on. Where to see it: Available on Disney+ and Hulu.

“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues”: Whenever a documentary focuses on a musical artist, the result can be fawning and overly precious. Doesn’t happen with Sacha Jenkins’ brilliant, nuanced portrayal of the jazz trailblazer. Jenkins doesn’t overlook the standard bio details — touching on Armstrong’s upbringing, his love for jazz and his relationships. But this vibrant portrait achieves more than that, hitting hard about how Armstrong fell out of favor in a changing environment, even as his actions led to changes beyond the parameters of the music industry. Because of that insistence to sidestep pat Wikipedia cataloging, Jenkins’ work is as rich of a portrait as if it were told in book form by classy biographers of the caliber of Ron Chernow or Doris Kearns Goodwin. Where to see it: Available on Apple TV+.

“Navalny”: Alexei Navalny, the political thorn in the side of Soviet President Vladimir Putin, gets the pulse-pounding documentary he deserves here. Daniel Roher’s film focuses on the brave Putin detractor and political adversary and his shocking, near-fatal poisoning. Roher digs into what happened and provides a damning indictment, from the finds of a journalist and others, that implicates Putin in the attempted assassination. “Navalny ” grips you from start to finish, and shakes, rattles and angers you in equal measures. Where to see it: Available on HBO Max.

“Nothing Compares”: Kathryn Ferguson asks us to revisit the public outrage and vitriol hurled the way of singer Sinead O’Connor, who, despite her extraordinary talent, might be best remembered as the troubled “SNL” guest who ripped apart the photo of Pope John Paul II. This poignant documentary provides the context on what led O’Connor to this act — a protest over the sex abuse of children within the Catholic Church — and creates a perspective-shifting watch. Ferguson’s impressive feature provides us with a harrowing portrait of the artist, who survived a horrible childhood. It goes well beyond the headlines and knee-jerk public reactions and becomes a testament to resiliency. Where to see it: Available on Showtime and Paramount+.

“Limitless With Chris Hemsworth”: OK, OK. It’s a documentary series not a standalone, but each 45-minute-plus episode of Disney+’s six-parter is densely packed with relevant tips and revelations about living better and confronting our inevitable mortality. Some might scoff that the “Thor” star has the clout, money and time to perfect his health and body. But he comes across as a vulnerable and sensitive soul with a curiosity, humor and fearlessness about living to his fullest potential that is admirable and moving. That final episode will lead to torrents of tears. I guarantee it. Where to see it: Available on Disney+.

“I Didn’t See You There”: Former Oakland filmmaker Reid Davenport offers us his unvarnished perspective from the vantage point of the wheelchair he commanders across the tricky streets of Oakland and beyond. The award-winning documentary from Davenport, who has cerebral palsy, takes an experimental approach to his experiences, illuminating what it feels like to be a person who exists in the shadow of the big top from the past. Where to see it: Debuts Jan. 9 on the PBS series POV where it will be available until Feb. 9.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

Here’s what’s worth watching.

“The Whale”: Brendan Fraser’s phenomenal performance — one of the best of 2022 — elevates Darren Aronofsky’s heartfelt and emotional but sometimes overdone adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s brilliant stage play. Fraser taps into the beauty and warring demons of Charlie, an obese and gay online writing teacher who struggles to make amends with his angry and bitter daughter (Sadie Sink) in a critical few days that find him being visited by his enabling caregiver (Hong Chau), an alcoholic ex-wife (Samantha Morton) and a missionary (Ty Simpkins). But can anyone save the broken Charlie, who is inching closer to death? Aronofsky knows well how to convey the perils and stranglehold of addiction (“Requiem for a Dream”) and he creates a claustrophobic and suffocating environment for Charlie. Unfortunately, a rather clumsily executed use of CGI to make Charlie larger intrudes as a visual distraction in what is, in essence, a very human story about a sensitive, still-grieving person who inexorably realizes that he can’t escape from his past or his present. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; in theaters Dec. 21.

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”: Every year there’s that late surprise (think “Encanto”). DreamWorks’ hilariously entertaining sequel to the 2011 stand-alone Puss in Boots film is such a treat. The fractured fairytale comes from the fertile “Shrek” universe and brings back Antonio Banderas as the commitment-phobic feline who craves the spotlight. Puss, this time out, faces a kitty crisis when he learns that his adventure-seeking exploits have gobbled up eight of his nine lives. To get some back, he ventures into the Dark Forest to find the elusive Wishing Star. But others want to get Star as well, including the maniacal Goldie (Florence Pugh) and her Three Bears Crime Family (voices of Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Samson Kayo); the voracious Jack Horner (John Mulaney) and the menacing judgment-day Wolf (Wagner Moura). Directed with comedic gold by Joel Crawford and written with sass rather than snark by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, this Puss features a scene-stealing orphan canine who impersonates a cat, a character who furthers the themes that a “family” isn’t always made up of blood relations. Details: 3½ stars; in theaters Dec. 21.

“Babylon”: Even when it’s at its most unwieldy and excessive, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle’s extravagantly wild, bold and spectacular take on how the talkies destroyed both dreams and the dreamers of the silent-film era rambunctiously entertains and enthralls. Aggressively over-the-top and ecstatic, Chazelle’s film dive-bombs into the dark, depraved side of the movie biz. And it’s reflected through various, blood-stained eyes, mostly, from three main characters: the unhinged and dirt-poor Nellie LaRoy (a sensational Margot Robbie), the can-do-anything Mexican American film assistant and romantic Manny Torres (Diego Calva, making a big splash) and the wild-boy alcoholic actor Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt). But with a movie this large and lavish (it clocks in at over 3 hours) there are numerous other larger-than-life secondary characters, including gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart, who has one of the film’s best exchanges, with the fading star Pitt), a Black jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) and a singer leading a double life Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li). Jam in a wild, hard-R rated, coked-up opening party sequence a guest appearance from Tobey Maguire as a mob boss with horrific teeth, massive set pieces featuring gads of extras, a “Singin’ in the Rain” tribute and you’re in for one of the most outlandishly energetic, sinful and ambitious cinematic experiences of this year. The score by Justin Hurwitz could well land him another Oscar. Details: 3½ stars; in theaters Dec. 23.

“Wildcat”: There’s a large canon of documentaries and narrative features illustrating the emotional, life-changing connection we have with animals, both domesticated and wild.  That bond gets movingly related in directors Melissa Lesh and Trevor Beck Frost’s lovely yet hard-hitting nonfiction account of how a once-suicidal Harry Turner, a British war veteran who served in Afghanistan and is in his early 20s, forms a kinship with a baby ocelot named Keanu in a Peruvian rain forest. Lesh and Beck don’t turn the camera away when the handsome, heavily tatted Turner spirals out of control and lashes out, much to the worry of Samantha Wicker, who runs the wildlife and rehabilitation center and enters into a relationship with Turner. “Wildcat” relates a poignant story about two wounded entities who become more whole once their paths cross. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Dec. 21, on Amazon Prime Video Dec. 30.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”: Better than the first delicious mystery, this sly bamboozler finds detective Benoit Blanc (played to the nines by a vamping Daniel Craig) again investigating murders most foul. Annoying, full-of-himself tech titan (Ed Norton) initiates the backstabbing by inviting former chums/now frenemies to his lavish digs on a Greek island. With not-so-hidden secrets, beefs between friends and skimpy swimwear galore, the suspects (Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr. and so on) disembark into an Agatha Christie-like mousetrap where dead bodies happen. Leave it to screenwriter/director Rian Johnson to give us the perfect holiday after-dinner aperitif, a sparkler worth imbibing more than once with family and friends. Details: 3½ stars; available on Netflix Dec. 23.

“High Heat”: In this awards season, where movies clock in at over three hours, there’s reason to rejoice over Zach Golden’s lean, tidy and efficient comedic spy thriller. Set mostly during a restaurant’s opening and its bullet-riddled aftermath, James Pedersen’s jewel of a screenplay presents Olga Kurylenko and Don Johnson roles that play to their strengths while allowing them to have as grand a time as we do watching them. Chef Ana (Kurylenko) along with her in-debt to the mob hubby Ray (Johnson) become targets of loan collectors along with former KGB agents from Ana’s past. What brings “High Heat” to a boil are the performances — including Kaitlin Doubleday and Chris Diamantopoulos as feuding married agents/parents — along with a quick-witted screenplay and taut direction. Details: 3 stars; available on Vudu, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

But both couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could ever pull off such a raunchy, over-the-top spectacle — and convince a major studio to financially back a 3-hour-plus film with hundreds of extras and an array of lavish, period sequences without the use of CGI.

“I felt like who is really going to be able to make this happen?” Calva recalls. “Damien was saying ‘I would like everything for real.’ I was like this is madness. It’s not going to be like that.”

Turns out, it was exactly like that. And it worked.

Calva, the Mexico CIty-based actor and director, is poised to make a big splash with his first major Hollywood role playing Manny Torres, a romantic Latino go-getter immigrant who gets swept into the hyperactive Wild West 1920s-era moviemaking turnstile. In this fever-induced, make-it-up-as-you-go industry, he encounters another dreamer, the mercurial, tormented actress Nellie LaRoy (Robbie).

The hard-R-rated “Babylon,” opening Dec. 23 in theaters, also stars Brad Pitt as alcoholic matinee idol Jack Conrad, Jean Smart as gossipy newspaper columnist Elinor St. John and Jovan Adepo as Black trumpeter Sidney Palmer, to name a few.

Early in December, Calva and Robbie blitzed their way through the Bay Area where Robbie received the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting from SFFILM. Chazelle was slated to present the honor but had to cancel since he and his producer wife Olivia Hamilton were expecting another baby around that time.

Robbie, the Oscar-nominated star of “I, Tonya” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” as well as the upcoming feminist-tinged satire “Barbie” from director Greta Gerwig, said she shared Calva’s sentiments as she read Chazelle’s screenplay.

“My first reaction was I have to be a part of this,” she recalls. “For me it felt like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘La Dolce Vita’ had a baby — the wheels had come off.”

That love child description fits ever so well since Chazelle, the cinematic wunderkind who is the youngest director (at 32) to collect an Oscar for 2016’s “La La Land,” is a huge Fellini fan. “Babylon’s” jaw-droppingly decadent opening party sequence harkens to the debauchery that unfolded in Fellini’s influential 1960 classic.

Chazelle had been researching this dark Hollywood tale for some 15 years before putting it to film.

“Right from the onset, I found myself fascinated by stories that I read about the fallout of the transition to sound in the late ‘20s,” he said from Los Angeles. “Stories of actors killing themselves. Stories of people putting guns to their heads, of drug overdoses, and the spate of suicides that swept through Hollywood. There was something that gripped my imagination like, ‘Wow, how could things have gotten this dire?’” (The film pays homage to the sweeter version of the story told in the classic 1952 musical, “Singin’ in the Rain.”)

Though the film references several actual events, Chazelle chose not to focus on anything specific.

“It’s like I had a growing collection of anecdotes or people from real life who inspired me or I was fascinated by and if anything they became the seeds for people in the movie.”

And while the scope of the movie was huge, the reality was he needed to keep to a relatively low budget ($78 million), which required a lot of prep-work for the 70-day shoot.

That was the longest time Chazelle’s ever had for filming, but given the broad reach of the story Chazelle felt — as he did with 2014’s “Whiplash” with Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons — he and the cast and crew needed to “hit the ground running” every day.

“We’ve just got to be running and gunning every day. It’s just got to be high energy every day and in some ways I think that it’s kind of appropriate to the spirit of the movie.”

For Robbie and Calva that on-set momentum Carried into their days off.

“During the weekend we were supposed to rest, but I was afraid I would get tired,” Calva said.

Says Robbie, “You know when you get sick after you finish a job? I was so scared that if I slowed down on the weekend I would completely fall to pieces.”

“I said I thought after doing ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ that I would never be on a set like this again and then this role came along 10 years later,” she adds.

But this experience might never be replicated again, Robbie laments.

“A lot has happened in the last couple years and I don’t know if anyone is ever going to be on a set again with 100 extras (with) practical explosions and an orchestra playing. That size it’s just too economical with CGI. You have to have someone like Damien who is hellbent on doing it all for real and all practically and to have the weight behind him so people actually say ‘OK we have to do it the way he wants to do it.’”

Robbie knows about having to make compromises to get films done, she and her husband Tom Ackerley and two others, founded the production company LuckyChamp Entertainment, which produced “I, Tonya,” “Birds of Prey,” “Promising Young Woman” and others.

“The way that I felt on set as an actor, there were no compromises,” she said. “It never felt like we held back in any way. I’ve done films where I play characters that I’m kind of constrained due to a PG rating — like I’m not saying what my character would actually say right now. I’m not acting authentically. I’m controlling myself and I’m putting shackles on my character right now for a certain rating or certain plot points. That didn’t feel like it existed in this movie.

“I felt like Nellie was off leash and I was off leash. But really it was the first time in my whole career (where) I felt like there were absolutely no boundaries.”

What became obvious early into this cinematic year was the utter disdain, sometimes loathing, select filmmakers had for the privileged and wealthy. It was evident in the rich getting royally skewered in Ruben Ostlund’s yacht-of-the-damned “Triangle of Sadness”; Rian Johnson’s ever-so sly “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”; debuting director Nikyatu Jusu’s supernatural-tinged “Nanny” and “The Menu”; which deliciously hurled sharpened cutlery at the the culinary elite.

What were big hits were crowd-pleasers such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Much to the chagrin of the film festival crowd, indie filmmaking confronted dwindling audiences, with but a handful that ignited box-office sparks, such as the quirky multiverse crossover “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale,” which is generating take-notice numbers in limited release before expanding Dec. 22. But most often, many critical darlings — including Todd Field’s tour de force “Tár” — didn’t draw folks into movie theaters.

One trend was the emergence of introspective semi-autobiographical musings from veteran directors. We got that in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” which dug up tangled roots of uncomfortable family dynamics, and James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” which was stripped of any sugarcoating in its remembrance of a youthful past. Audiences didn’t show up in bulk for either.

Regardless, the quality of filmmaking was on a high this year, particularly with new faces staking out a claim in Hollywood and beyond.

Here then are my picks of the Top 10 films of 2022, ranked from top to bottom, as well as five honorable mentions.

In January, we’ll whip up a separate Top 10 for documentaries, which are not included on this list.

1. “Everything Everywhere All at Once”: Rocks and laundry bags sporting googly eyes. Two lead characters flashing hotdog fingers. An obscene-looking IRS trophy ensconced on a desk. These wacky and indelible images are now seared forever into our own cinematic multiverse for years to come. Add in ambidextrous performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, and the spirited direction and imaginative writing from the dynamic duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and this innovative journey hit a savory spot for everyone, and even made us bawl in the end. “Everything” does cover everything, and is a meditation on life, second chances, family and rebirth. It never failed to surprise while saying something deep and meaningful about appreciating what you have. Yeoh played her role to the hilt. Where to see it: Available to stream now on multiple platforms.

2. “Women Talking”: Every minuscule detail, every exacting decision that goes into Sarah Polley’s evocative, eloquent retelling of a same-titled novel about a group of sexually abused Mennonite who gather to discuss their critical next move is quietly earthshattering. It seems impossible to make an uplifting film out of such horrific truth-based events, but Polley, her perfect cast, the film’s composer and cinematographer have done just that. “Women Talking” celebrates the power of womanhood and sharing and appreciating each other’s perspectives. It also features one of the best screenplays in years. Where to see it: Opens in Bay Area theaters in January.

3. “Close”: During an idyllic summer, two 13-year-old boys form a gentle and intimate bond, a closeness which then comes under scrutiny, consternation and ridicule once they return to school and are forced into compartmentalizing what their love for each other is, and isn’t. Belgian director Lukas Dhont has made a gorgeous testament to not defining closeness between people, and it exquisitely balances heartache with compassion. It’s a film of poetic grace, structured and photographed beautifully throughout. “Close” shatters you and then extends a hand so you can piece yourself back together again. Where to see it: Due in bay Area theaters late January and early February.

4. “Aftersun”: Not much appears to be happening early in Charlotte Wells’s tear-stained eulogy to a troubled father, played with reservoirs of veiled torment by Paul Mescal. But first impressions are often deceiving. With a Richard Linklater-like grasp of capturing moments of fragile innocence that is just about to run into adult reality, Wells creates random mementoes from a summer vacation spent with 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio, in an extraordinary performance) and her father Calum. It all coalesces to a staggering finale, one that wrecks you. Where to see it: In select theaters now; slated for On Demand release Dec. 20.

5. “Tár”: Unconventional in every move it makes — it opens with end credits and then launches into a long-winded onstage interview — Todd Field’s heady character study of an accomplished but manipulative fictional conductor (Cate Blanchett in a chew-it-all-up performance) who gets ground up in cancel culture due to her own wince-inducing actions is a cinematic triumph. This is a film with zero interest in coloring within the defined lines of filmmaking, and requires careful attention and dissection. It’s the very antithesis of the “Hollywood movie.” I say bravissimo to that! Where to see it: Available to stream now on various platforms.

6. “RRR”: Few films — with the notable exception of Damien Chazelle’s wackadoodle “Babylon” (more on that later) — come close to the gargantuan audacity, in terms of scope and scale, of S. S. Rajamouli’s genre mashup, an over-the-top firecracker that snaps, crackles and pops as a bromance, a martial arts flick, a romance and a teardown of colonialism. From its catchy songs to the incredible action set pieces, the 3-hour epic breezed by and enthralled and wowed us every frame of the way. Where to see it: Now available on Netflix.

7. “Avatar: The Way of Water”: No matter what your opinion is of showboating filmmaker James Cameron, you have to admit he is a visual showman with few peers. And does he ever know how to wow us, even if his screenplays don’t. But in this undersea sequel — coming 13 years after the original — about the Blue People of Pandora and the Earth invaders who want to strip a special land of its resources, he unflaggingly delivers, more so than in his first trip to this magical land. Sweeping, visually stimulating and above all emotional, “Avatar: The Way of the Water” plunges us into an undersea wonderland and the result is a thrill ride that’s better than anything that Disneyland or Universal could dream up. It’s epic, astonishing, and even left me in tears. Where to see it: In theaters now.

8. “Top Gun: Maverick”: Tom Cruise and a whole new set of flyboys and flygirls jetted us off to the danger zone and beyond with this pure, bathed-in-butter popcorn movie, a top-flight affair. Sure, the plot was predictable. No matter; this was comfort food for the cinematic palate. It not only took off like a fighter pilot from the start but also gave us one of 2022’s most tender exchanges, a bittersweet, brief reunion between Maverick and Iceman (Val Kilmer). To coin a song from the 1986 film, it simply took our breathe away. Where to see it: Available now on various streaming platforms.

9. “Babylon”: Depraved? You betcha. Over the top? Oh, deliciously so. Damien Chazelle’s frenzied one-flew-over-the-cuckoo’s-nest approach to the sin-stained birth of Hollywood and how it created big dreams and later destroyed the dreamers when talkies came around did something so rare for the normal Hollywood production: It refused to toe the mainstream line, preferring instead to be larger-than-life and fearlessly decadent and original. Kudos to that. The trio of leads — Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Brad Pitt — couldn’t be better. “Babylon” isn’t only wild, though, it’s wildly entertaining. Where to see it: In theaters Dec. 22.

10. “Barbarian”: Horror movies appealed to not only audiences but critics alike in 2022. While a bigger audience flocked to the surprise hit “Smile,” that’s no reason to dismiss actor-turned-director Zach Cregger’s diabolical hell house experience. Few films pulled the narrative rug right out from under us with such “Gone Girl”-like expertise and zeal like this one. How so? Mum’s the word on that. Justin Long’s ridiculously good performance as an un-woke actor brings even more gravitas to this destined to be a genre classic. Where to see it: Now available on Hulu.

The runners up

“Eo”: A cute donkey brays his way through a rough world in which he encounters self-absorbed humans, some decent, others cruel.  At 84, Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski hits it out of the park as we watch life reflected brilliantly through an animal’s eyes. Where to see it: It select theaters now.

“Decision to Leave”: The plot sounds terribly familiar: A detective investigates a suspicious death and then swoons all over the enigmatic wife who might have had a hand in it. But nothing’s rote about “Old Boy” Park Chan-wook’s evocative neo-noir effort, and this femme fatale attraction turned into one of the best romances of the year. Where to see it: Available on Mubi.

“You Won’t Be Alone”: An encounter with a witch in 19th-century Macedonia leads to a young woman’s transformative journey, wherein she hopscotches into the skins of other people, and animals. Director Goran Stolevski plumbs grand-scale issues of identity and gender while creating a bold, highly visualized “Orlando”-like horror mindbender. What a debut. Where to see it: Available to stream on multiple platforms.

“Living”: A filmmaker is just asking for trouble when remaking an Akira Kurosawa classic. Not so Oliver Hermanus. His reworking of Kurosawa’s sad story about a man learning to live once he gets a terminal diagnosis sets the story in 1953 London and gives Bill Nighy one of the best roles in his storied career. Where to see it: Opens Jan. 6 in San Francisco, with a wider release Jan. 13.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

I dunno. But I can say that the 3-hour-plus epic is tremendously entertaining and visually dazzling.

But if you still not interested in this sequel to Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi epic, there are other choices this weekend, including a Netflix rom-com and an Amazon Prime thriller that just got renewed for two more seasons.

Here’s our roundup.

“Avatar: The Way of Water”: It’s been some 13 years since James Cameron catapulted us to the planet of Pandora, a moon where the blue Na’vi live amongst a bounty of resources coveted by Earthlings. Given that hefty time gap, will anyone want to revisit the story and catch up with its two lovers, Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña)?

Naysayers be damned. Mr. Tech Wizard Cameron manages to pull off one tough feat, concocting a sequel that’s better than the original, which remains one of the biggest American blockbusters in film history. How does he do it? The 3-D special effects remain exceptional, but the screenplay is better this time, with a storyline more emotionally engaging than in the original. When people and critters die, we feel it this time.

The setup finds the genial forest existence of Jake and Neytri’s Omaticaya community shattered by the arrival of earth’s brutish military. Leading the charge is Jake’s rabid-dog nemesis Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). He and the others in his troop have, like Jake, assumed the physical image of the Na’vi. Jake and Neytri now have four children, one of whom possesses special powers and is adopted. Jake knows Quaritch has targeted him and the Omatikaya clan he leads for extermination, so they flee to a new area near the sea where they get refuge from the initially wary Metkayina clan overseen by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). The plight of the uprooted Omatikaya clan is clearly meant to reflect on our world’s refugee crisis and Cameron handles this well.

And when the Omatikaya clan settles by the water, Cameron and an amazing array of animators plunge us deep into the big blue, where we are treated to a dazzling area of undersea creatures, some familiar, some extraordinary. It’s a magical, ethereal experience that shapes a solid story, allowing Cameron to crib some of the best scenes from his previous films, “Terminator,” “The Abyss” and “Titanic.” The action-packed 30 minute finale will have you on the edge of your seat.

“Avatar: The Way of Water’s” 2 hour, 40 minute running time did not stop me from being mesmerized by the film and its robust worldbuilding, from the first scene to the last. It’s one the best films of 2022, but here are two bits of advice: Pay extra for the 3-D and don’t expect any morsels for the upcoming sequels popping up near the end credits. Details: 4 stars out of 4; in theaters Dec. 15.

“Retrograde”: In this sobering and searing documentary on the impact of the abrupt U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the ensuing turmoil and chaos, director Matthew Heineman again puts a human face on a historical turning point while digging deeper into the headlines of our times. “Retrograde” illustrates how the 20-year Afghanistan war exacted a huge, devastating toll on everyone involved: Afghani and U.S. troops, and civilians, especially those who fear for their lives once they get left behind without any safety net.

Heineman and his crew follow Afghan General Sami Sadat as the U.S. military prepares to depart upon the orders of President Biden. Sadat and his troops have an impossible task ahead of them, trying to fend off the encroaching Taliban. “Retrograde” is an  intense, immersive experience that reminds us how ineffective and destructive war can be. Details: 4 stars; on Disney+ now.

“Smiley”: The essential ingredients of a rom-com series are a nimble, relatable storyline and two likable on-again/off-again lovers. Showrunner Guillem Clua’s eight-episode guilty pleasure breezes by on that. Set in Barcelona, it’s a classic odd couple mismatch with a fit but unlucky in love bartender (the dashing Carlos Cuevas) leaving an angry message to the wrong guy, an architect (Miki Esparbe) who then takes a shine to him. With an entertaining supporting cast of characters, “Smiley” performs exactly what its title foretells: It puts a smile on your face. Details: 3 stars; now available on Netflix.

“The Devil’s Hour”: Amazon Prime is sometimes horrible about promoting a good series, and this supernatural-tinged one is a doozy: suspenseful, well-acted and full of surprises. Tom Moran spearheads this ominous story that seems like it’ll be a routine serial killer whydunnit but turns out to be much more. A social worker mom (Jessica Raine, in an incredible performance) matches wits with a cagey prisoner who keeps an eye on key people. Lucy (Raine) lives a life that’s off-balanced, trying to maybe patch things up with her husband (Phil Dunster) while tending to her emotionless son Isaac (Benjamin Chivers, who entirely inhabits the part) and waking up alarmed at 3:33 every morning. What’s the significance of that time and how does the prisoner Gideon (Peter Capaldi) figure in the equation? All those questions do get answered in six unpredictable episodes. The last 10 minutes of episode 6 spun me on my head. I can’t wait to see what the next two seasons bring. Details: 3½ stars; on Amazon Prime now.

“The Leech”: Oh, the horror of it all — the holidays, that is. This year, we’re seeing a bloody lot of Christmas horror films, including his scrappy, fierce indie that was shot on a shoestring budget but is funny, weird and features two hilarious lead performances. With Christmas fast approaching and hardly any parishioners in his church, the pious, buttoned-up Father David (Graham Skipper) decides to help the downtrodden by taking in the unhoused and uncouth Terry (Jeremy Gardner), who later moves in his girlfriend Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke). She brings handcuffs and other S&M accouterments. This sexually active couple upend the narrow life of Father David, kneading him to the breaking point. Director and screenwriter Eric Pennycoff’s black comedy is outrageous fun and promises a bright future for all involved. Details: 2½ stars; available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+.

“Emily the Criminal”:  Aubrey Plaza is an MVP in any film, TV sitcom or drama. Just check out her performance in this season of HBO’s jaw dropping “The White Lotus.” Earlier this year, the scene stealer finally landed a lead role that’s smart enough to take full advantage of her ability to seamlessly switch from drama to comedy with only one ironic look. This exceptional thriller, the debut from feature filmmaker John Patton Ford, is tricked out with on-target social commentary, with Plaza playing one of the many Americans saddled with impossible college debt and a trumped-up rap sheet that makes her immensely un-hirable. Working at a restaurant delivery service, she gets a bead on a new money making gig but it involves credit card fraud. Soon, she’s zipping up the ranks. “Emily the Criminal” is dicey, daring and unpredictable and should cast a broader spotlight on both its star and its filmmaker. Details: 3½ stars; now on Netflix.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.