Take two movie release previews: Our critics look at Avatar: The Way Of Water, Babylon, Women Talking, and Living

Note: Deadline presents the 44th episode of its video series Second try, in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy explore the artistry of movies that hit theaters every weekend. Each of them has spent decades reviewing and writing about the craft, and has built up a remarkably broad knowledge of cinema past and present. When we asked them, we were hoping for a concise, mature and thoughtful conversation similar to what we saw from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

In this week Second try take a critical look at four of the final big releases of 2022. We examine this weekend’s myriad, Avatar: The Way of Water with which Hammond and McCarthy agreed wholeheartedly, and in all honesty surprise that it is as effective and engaging as it is.

However, there is more disagreement about Damien Chazelle’s latest tribute to Hollywood, Babylon. Find out why. It opens on December 23rd, just in time for Christmas, and reviews have been generally mixed so far, but this week it has been nominated for 5 Golden Globes and 9 Critics Choice Awards, including Best Picture. avatar also received Best Picture nominations from both groups and both Babylon and the long-awaited sequel from James Cameron have another difference in common: they both have about the same running time, 3 hours 10 minutes, a minute here and there, but who looks at the clock anyway? Both are at least visually appealing. However, we’ll tell you if it’s worth investing 6 hours and 20 minutes of your life together, but if you do, you MUST do it in a theater. There is no doubt that these movies are not meant to be watched on your TV screen.

We’re also looking at some, shall we say, smaller films that also come out just in time for the Oscars: Sarah Polley’s fascinating film women talk with an exciting female ensemble that both critics saw for the first time on Labor Day at the Telluride Film Festival, now scheduled for September 23rd. life starring the wonderful Bill Nighy as a man who decides to risk his life after being diagnosed with death. An English-language remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Japanese drama classic comes from Sony Pictures Classics, also just in time to qualify for Oscars and SAG (Nighy is nominated for Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards this week).

Click above to watch our conversation.

Hammond has been a columnist for Deadline’s Awards for the past decade, covering the Oscar and Emmy seasons year-round. He is also Deadline’s chief film critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, box office Magazine, BackstageHollywood.com and maximumhow Film Guide by Leonard Maltin, for which he was an editor. In addition to writing, Hammond also hosts the KCET Cinema Series and the network’s weekly series Must see movies.

McCarthy is a veteran film critic, columnist and reporter who has also written several award-winning books and documentaries. He served two terms on staff diversity and The Hollywood Reporter and internationally acclaimed film festivals for both publications. his video Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography won the best documentary award from the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics Associations, and he won an Emmy for writing the documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer. He also directed the documentaries Filmmaker: Pierre Rissient and Forever Hollywood.