Page 12 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, July 15, 2022 ~ Mitch @ The Movies ~ The Best Movies of 2022 (So Far) Everything Everywhere All At Once You know a film is special when it qualifies as the year’s best comedy, action movie, and heartfelt drama. Directing duo, The Daniels have made the multiverse movie to end all multiverse movies with Everything Everywhere All At Once, which stars Michelle Yeoh as a downtrodden laundromat owner suddenly thrust into a battle for the fate of the universe. It’s a family story about embracing one’s heritage while appreciating the uniqueness of future generations. It also has wicked kung-fu sequences, talking rocks, and people with hot-dogs for fingers. Wild, weird, irreverent, and touching; if you see one movie from 2022, make it this one. X Writer / director Ti West returned after a substantial hiatus to make what might just be the best horror movie of this young decade. Like the most efficient slashers, X bears a simple premise: a group of twenty-somethings rent out a cabin to film an adult movie in the 1970s and naturally much bloodshed ensues. While X has plenty of the expected thrills and kills packed into its runtime, it’s also the rare slasher with some genuine ideas on its mind about the end of the free-wheeling ‘70s and the rise of Reagan-era moralism. Think Boogie Nights meets Friday the 13th, and you’ll understand why X is sure to go down as one of the year’s finest horror experiences. Top Gun: Maverick Say what you will about Tom Cruise the man, but Tom Cruise the actor still knows how to make a satisfying blockbuster better than just about anyone else in Hollywood. Top Gun: Maverick makes the high-octane aerial sequences of the original seem like flying on a discount airline. This is big-screen spectacle of the highest order, an awe-inspiring mix of practical fighter-jet action and satisfying storytelling. The fact that it works as well as it does — 36 years after the first one — feels like a miracle. Cha Cha Real Smooth Cooper Raiff is the triple-threat talent who’s the writer, director, and star of this year’s Sundance smash Cha Cha Real Smooth. In some ways, Raiff’s film is the typical Sundance dramedy: a directionless young man, fresh out of college, strikes up a hopeless romance with an older woman. It’s a premise movie that have been hitting on since The Graduate, but luckily Raiff has a voice all his own. Funny and tender, Cha Cha Real Smooth coasts on charm just like its lead character, but it’s surprisingly critical of his naivete as well. Those in their 30s and up will likely find themselves laughing and cringing in recognition at this endearing coming-of-age story. Ambulance After spending the majority of the last 15 years in Transformers purgatory, director Michael Bay has made his best (and most insane) movie in almost 20 years. The trailers for Ambulance promised a rather generic heist thriller filtered through Bay’s orange-and-teal color palette, but make no mistake: this is peak Bayhem, up there with the director’s best. This is an adrenaline junkie’s dream with an unhinged lead performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, comically bloody shootouts, and stunning drone camera work that captures all the hyper-violent hijinks with exhilarating glee. Those with high blood pressure need not apply, but fans of The Rock and Bad Boys will feel right at home. MCGONAGLE | FROM PAGE 10 the Governor to set aside the founding date anniversaries of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Massachusetts National Guard. Medal of Fidelity: establishes the Massachusetts Medal of Fidelity to be presented to the next of kin of a service member or veteran who died as a result of service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a service-connected condition resulting from a traumatic brain injury, or a service-connected disease, condition or injury related to exposure to harmful toxin, herbicides, agents or materials. Deborah Sampson Memorial Commission: Establishes a commission to determine a location and create a memorial for Deborah Sampson, a Massachusetts resident who disguised herself as a man in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Funeral and burial benefits: requires funeral directors and their staffs to provide information on burial and funeral benefits for veterans. Earlier this year, the House passed legislation establishing additional protections for veterans and mandating increased accountability for management of veterans’ homes. An Act relative to the governance, structure and care of veterans at the Commonwealth veterans’ homes is currently in conference committee negotiations. DIDOMENICO | FROM PAGE 2 affordable early education. This impacts the ability of parents, especially working mothers, to enter or remain in the workforce. The financial strain of childcare on families is a contributing factor to workforce shortages and threatens to hamper the state’s economic recovery. The Senate bill would improve access to high-quality and affordable care for Massachusetts families in several ways. The bill would: • Increase subsidy eligibility over time from the current level of 50% of state median income ($65,626 annual household income for a family of four) to 125% of state median income ($164,065 annual household income for a family of four) • Make it easier for subsidized providers to offer scholarships or discounted tuition for their private pay families • Require the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to evaluate and eliminate barriers to subsidy access for families on an annual basis • Require parent fees for subsidized families to be affordable and updated at least every five years • Require EEC to assess the extent of the current supply of licensed childcare availability across the state and the unmet needs of families Even though childcare is expensive for families in Massachusetts, early education and childcare providers are themselves in crisis. Given the low wages and poor benefits that providers can afford to pay their staff, providers face chronic challenges with attracting and retaining early educators, almost all of whom are women and many of whom are women of color. Federal pandemic relief funding has been a lifeline for the early education and care sector, but these funds are one-time. This Senate legislation will help stabilize providers, improve program quality, and expand capacity in several ways. The bill: • Makes permanent the operational grants to providers that were first distributed during the pandemic and requires that a provider must be willing to enroll subsidized children in order to qualify for a grant • Requires EEC to use an actual cost-of-quality-care methodology for setting subsidy reimbursement rates and calculating operational grants • Requires EEC to reimburse subsidized providers based on quarterly enrollment rather than daily attendance of children • Takes steps to strengthen the recruitment and pipeline of early educators DIDOMENICO | SEE PAGE 20
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