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‘Top Gun,’ ‘Black Panther’ sequels make USA TODAY’s 2022 top film list
USA TODAY film critic Brian Truitt reveals his top 10 films of 2022. The list includes ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and more.
Entertain This!, USA TODAY
Some of 2022’s big movies sported a Wisconsin accent. But more than a few under-the-radar releases did, too.
Possibly the most Wisconsin movie of the year, “Small Town Wisconsin” had its world theatrical premiere in June at Milwaukee’s Oriental Theatre, after screening at the all-virtual 2020 Milwaukee Film Festival. It was shot in Palmyra, East Troy, Mukwonago and Milwaukee, with American Family Field, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Pfister Hotel receiving prominent cameos. Producer-director Niels Mueller grew up in Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay; his co-producers include Scott Foley, from Marinette, and Josh Rosenberg, from Green Bay; and the cast includes Whitefish Bay and Emmy winner Kristen Johnston as well as Milwaukee filmmaker Mark Borchardt.
In the movie, a deadbeat dad (David Sullivan) takes his young son (Cooper J. Friedman) on one last road trip to Milwaukee; dad tells son, “Everything good comes from Milwaukee — beer, Bucks, Usinger’s.”
RELATED:‘A love letter to Wisconsin’: After a pandemic detour, ‘Small Town Wisconsin’ is ready for its in-person premiere in Milwaukee
RELATED:31 movies with Wisconsin ties in 2021, from ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ to ‘No Time to Die’
“Small Town Wisconsin” wasn’t the only movie with notable Badger State connections. Here’s a look at 30 more movies released this year with notable state ties, in alphabetical order (by movie title).
Mark Ruffalo in ‘The Adam Project’
In this time-traveling action movie from Netflix, Ryan Reynolds plays a fighter pilot who travels back in time and ends up joining forces with his younger self to stop some very bad stuff. Kenosha native Mark Ruffalo takes time away from being the Hulk to play Reynolds’ genius scientist dad.
Justin Hurwitz, the Nicolet High School alum who won Oscars for best original score and original song for Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” wrote the music for Chazelle’s latest, “Babylon.” His score is already on the shortlist of movies contending for the Academy Award.
Steve Boettcher, Mike Trinklein behind ‘Betty White: A Celebration’
Prolific Milwaukee-area documentary filmmakers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein put together this valentine to TV legend Betty White, who died Dec. 31, 2021, and got it into theaters a month later.
Oscar- and Tony-winning actor Mark Rylance, who went to University School of Milwaukee, plays an aging cannibal out to cause problems for a pair of young “eaters” on the run (Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell) in Luca Guadagnino’s horror-romance-road movie.
Sam Page in ‘Brazen’
In this Netflix thriller based on a Nora Roberts novel, Alyssa Milano plays a crime novelist who decides to investigate when her sister’s murder reveals her sibling’s double life. Whitefish Bay native Sam Page (born Sam Elliott) plays the detective trying to warn her off and, of course, falling for her.
David Leitch directing ‘Bullet Train’
Kohler native David Leith directed this over-the-top action comedy about a former assassin (Brad Pitt, for whom Leitch used to be a stunt double) trapped on a high-speed train with a roster of unlikely competitors.
David Lowery producing ‘The Cathedral’
Waukesha native David Lowery (“The Green Knight,” “A Ghost Story”) is an executive producer on Ricky D’Ambrose’s portrait of a family collapsing during a divorce. The movie, which screened at this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, has landed on a dozen critics’ lists of best movies of the year.
Rachel Brosnahan and Willem Dafoe in ‘Dead for a Dollar’
In this Western, action maven Walter Hill’s first movie in six years, a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) is hired to bring in a woman (Milwaukee native Rachel Brosnahan), unaware that the woman’s husband wants her dead. Appleton native Willem Dafoe plays a killer from the bounty hunter’s past.
Kurtwood Smith in ‘Firestarter’
Kurtwood Smith, a New Lisbon native best known as the acerbic father from “That ’70s Show” (and, soon, the Netflix sequel “That ’90s Show”), plays one of the scientists behind the experiments that give a young girl dangerous pyrotechnic powers in this latest adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel.
Eder Flag and Giannis Antetokounmpo and ‘The Flagmakers’
Oak Creek-based Eder Flag and its immigrant-heavy workforce are the focus of “The Flagmakers,” a short National Geographic documentary that gained some added traction when it added a high-profile name to its roster of executive producers: Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. The movie is on the shortlist of contenders for the Oscar for best documentary short — and it’s being prepped to be turned into a stage musical.
Justin Dopierala, Domo Capital and ‘GameStop: Rise of the Players’
Justin Dopierala, an investment manager who grew up in Mukwonago and started Germantown-based Domo Capital Management, is depicted as a key early player in the popular movement to push higher shares in videogame retailer GameStop, a movement that in 2021 successfully took on a slew of high-flying short sellers and rewrote the rules of modern investing. The movement and Dopierala are the focus of the celebratory documentary “GameStop: Rise of the Players.”
Eric Baumgartner, Mars rover driver in ‘Good Night, Oppy’
Today, Eric Baumgartner is vice president of academics at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. But from 1996-2006, he was a senior engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including eight months driving the Mars Opportunity Rover. The Opportunity Rover, the scientists behind it and its much-longer-than-expected tour of the red planet are the focus of the popular documentary, “Good Night, Oppy.”
Pabst Blue Ribbon co-starring in ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever’
Zac Efron plays a New Yorker who, frustrated that his buddies serving in Vietnam aren’t getting the support they should back home, decides to bring them all a beer — specifically, a Pabst Blue Ribbon — in this drama based on a true story which was promoted on social media in a charming short documentary produced by, yep, Pabst Blue Ribbon.
RELATED:Pabst Blue Ribbon plays a supporting role in the movie ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever,’ a true-story Vietnam drama starring Zac Efron
Astronomer Maggie Turnbull in ‘The Hunt for Planet B’
The Webb Telescope and the group of women scientists using it to find life beyond our solar system are the focus of this documentary. Among the scientists prominently featured in the movie: Maggie Turnbull, who’s based in Antigo.
David Koepp writing ‘Kimi’
Pewaukee native David Koepp wrote the screenplay for this well-reviewed Steven Soderbergh thriller starring Zoe Kravitz as an agoraphobic programmer who stumbles on digital evidence of a crime and can’t get anyone to believe her.
Peter Bonerz in ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’
This delightful stop-motion animation/live-action hybrid features a number of pleasant surprises. Among them: Peter Bonerz, the veteran comic actor (Jerry the dentist on “The Bob Newhart Show”) who grew up in Milwaukee and got the theater bug at Marquette University, has a brief voice-acting role as the voice of The Maestro, who gives the title shell singing lessons.
Veteran stage and screen actor Judith Light, who cut her dramatic teeth with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, plays the wife of a wealthy businessman (Reed Birney) with some pretty dark secrets in the black-comedy thriller “The Menu.”
Matt Tolmach producing ‘Morbius’
Matt Tolmach, a lacrosse star during his days at Beloit College and former co-head of production at Sony Pictures, was one of the producers of this horror-ish side project from the Spider-Man cinematic universe.
Willem Dafoe in ‘The Northman’
Appleton’s favorite son Willem Dafoe plays Heimer the Fool in Robert Eggers’ Viking saga.
RELATED:Willem Dafoe haunts UW-Milwaukee campus for the first time in more than 40 years, on the eve of receiving an honorary doctorate
George Tillman Jr. producing ‘On the Come Up’
Milwaukee native George Tillman Jr.’s George Foreman biopic (“Heart of a Lion”) is due out in 2023, but he also was busy this year producing “On the Come Up,” about a 16-year-old rapper determined to succeed to help her family and continue the legacy of her late father, a local hip-hop legend killed in gang violence.
Mark Rylance in ‘The Outfit’
Mark Rylance, the Oscar-winning British actor who went to University School of Milwaukee, plays a seemingly mild-mannered tailor whose work for the mob in Chicago lands him in the middle of a crime civil war in this smart period thriller.
Chris Smith producing ‘The Pez Outlaw’
Prolific nonfiction TV and movie producer Chris Smith, whose Milwaukee bona fides include studying film at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and making the 1999 documentary “American Movie,” had a busy 2022, including producing this documentary about a Pez smuggler. (The movie also was the opening-night feature at the 2022 Milwaukee Film festival.)
Dwyane Wade and Jason Kidd on the court in ‘The Redeem Team’
This documentary charts the path of the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, including players Dwyane Wade, Marquette and NBA star (and an executive director on the movie), and future Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd.
Bradley Whitford in ‘Rosaline’
Madison native Bradley Whitford plays one of the Capulets in this rework of “Romeo & Juliet,” as told by Romeo’s ex, Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever).
Mel Eslyn producing ‘7 Days’
Two very different second-generation Asian Indian Americans are forced by a pandemic lockdown to spend the next week together in this Film Independent Spirit Award-winning romantic comedy, co-produced by Menomonee Falls native Mel Eslyn.
Megan Twohey played by Carey Mulligan in ‘She Said’
Reporter Megan Twohey, one of two New York Times reporters who broke the story of the sexual misdeeds and abuses of power by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, spent four years as a reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She’s played by Carey Mulligan in this awards-season contender.
Chris Smith directing Robert Downey documentary ‘Sr.’
Chris Smith’s 2022 entries also include directing this powerful documentary about Robert Downey Sr., the legendary underground filmmaker, with help from his larger-than-life son Robert Downey Jr.
Calvin Schaul, behind the scenes on ‘Strange World’
One of the members of the extensive creative roster on Disney’s animated fantasy following a family of explorers on a, well, strange world, is Calvin Schaul, Oconomowoc native and former Marquette University student who served as a crowds apprentice with the animation crew.
2020 Wisconsin election in ‘2000 Mules’
Dinesh D’Souza’s widely debunked “documentary” “reveals” voter fraud via ballot-box stuffing in swing states, including Wisconsin.
David Leitch producing ‘Violent Night’
Santa’s got a brand-new bag, and it’s kind of violent, in this gun-heavy holiday action movie. Kohler’s David Leitch signed on as a producer.
Did we miss anyone? Let Chris Foran know at chris.foran@jrn.com.
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