Justin Chang

Tom (Jonathan Tucker) cultivates a sense of dependency in 17-year-old Lea (Lily McInerny) in Palm Trees and Power Lines. Momentum Pictures hide caption

Catherine Clinch plays Cáit in The Quiet Girl. Super Lt hide caption

Emily speculates about the life of the 19th-century English writer Emily Jane Brontë (Emma Mackey) in the years before she wrote Wuthering Heights. Bleecker Street hide caption

Max (Salma Hayek Pinault) convinces Mike (Channing Tatum) to join her in London in Magic Mike's Last Dance. Warner Bros. hide caption

Rémi (Gustav De Waele) and Léo (Eden Dambrine) are childhood friends who begin to pull apart from each other in the Belgian film Close. Lukas Dhont/Kris Dewitte Menuet hide caption

Ben Whishaw, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy star in Women Talking, which tells the story of a religious colony devastated by sexual violence. Michael Gibson/Orion hide caption

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself in No Bears. TIFF hide caption

Critic Justin Chang's picks for the best movies of 2022 include (clockwise, from top left): The Eternal Daughter, Crimes of the Future, EO, Tár, Decision to Leave and No Bears. A24, Neon, Festival de Cannes, Focus Features, MUBI, TIFF hide caption

Filmmaker James Cameron returns to the world of the Na'vi people in Avatar: The Way of Water. 20th Century Films hide caption

Charlie Hodson-Prior as Bruce Bogtrotter and Meesha Garbett as Hortensia in Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical. Dan Smith/Netflix hide caption

Tilda Swinton plays two characters, a mother and a daughter, who have gone to spend a winter holiday at a hotel in Wales in the new movie The Eternal Daugher. A24 hide caption

New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor (Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan) investigate allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in She Said. Universal Pictures hide caption

Angela Bassett is Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Marvel Studios hide caption

Young Sammy (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) experiences the magic of the movies with his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) in The Fabelmans. Universal Pictures hide caption

Banks Repeta plays 11-year-old Paul Graff and Anthony Hopkins is his grandfather in Armageddon Time. Anne Joyce/Focus Features hide caption

Colin Farrell plays a sweet-souled farmer whose best (human) friend abruptly dumps him in The Banshees of Inisherin. Jonathan Hession/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

Jalyn Hall plays Emmett Till and Danielle Deadwyler is his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in Till. Lynsey Weatherspoon/Orion Pictures hide caption

Cate Blanchett plays a world-renowned conductor in the film Tár. Courtesy of Focus Features hide caption

Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix film Blonde. Netflix hide caption

Nanisca (Viola Davis) wields a sword and hacks her way through the many men who get in her way in The Woman King. Ilze Kitshoff/CTMG hide caption

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall play a Southern Baptist pastor and his wife trying to redeem their legacy in the wake of a public scandal in Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Steve Swisher/Pinky Promise LLC hide caption

Tilda Swinton plays a literary scholar and Idris Elba is the Djinn she conjures in Three Thousand Years of Longing. Festival de Cannes hide caption

Aubrey Plaza plays an art-school dropout who resorts to credit card fraud in Emily the Criminal. Courtesy of Sundance Institute hide caption