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The Fabelmans

The 100 Most Anticipated Movies of 2022

The Fabelmans

2022

Steven Spielberg

Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Seth Rogen ...

7.0

14,348

Drama A semi-autobiography from Spielberg's own childhood. Set in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, this coming-of-age epic is told through the lens of Sammy Fabelman, who falls in love with moviemaking and grapples with the family turmoil that would ultimately shape an iconic career. Caught between his eccentric artist mother (Michelle Williams) and his pragmatic computer engineer father (Paul Dano), Sammy must carve out his own identity as the ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Peter Debruge Variety	"[It] feels like listening to two and a half hours' worth of anecdotes, only better, since he's gone to the trouble of staging them all for our benefit. Spielberg's a born storyteller, and these are his most precious stories"
		Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"The best movie of the year so far is Spielberg’s extraordinary 'The Fabelmans' (...) It’s gripping, visually mesmeric, boasts an exceptional, grounded script (...) A no-holds-barred Michelle Williams with an unforgettable performance (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"
		Steve Pond The Wrap	"One of Michelle Williams' most powerful and moving performances (...) That it is one of Spielberg's most personal movies was never in doubt; that it’s also one of his most original and most satisfying in years is a welcome bonus"
		Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"A must see movie (...) Moments after the final scene of “The Fabelmans,” Steven Spielberg’s exquisitely funny and melancholy memory piece I scribbled two words in my notebook: “magic trick.”
		Ross Bonaime Collider	"Spielberg has given us all so much magic over the course of our lives, and 'The Fabelmans' becomes yet another Spielberg masterpiece, but this time, by showing us how this magic came to be in his own life.
		Christopher Schobert The Film Stage	"It is not merely Portrait of Spielberg as a Young Man. This is also a warm, moving drama about the need to make art, whatever its cost. (...) watching him reflect on his past is downright extraordinary."
		Tim Grierson Screendaily	"[It] doesn’t indulge in cheap nostalgia — to the contrary, The Fabelmans is a measured drama suffused with sorrow (...) One of his most touching, mature pictures."
		John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"[It] is both a vivid capturing of the auteur’s earliest flashes of filmmaking insight and a portrait, full of love yet unclouded by nostalgia, of the family that made him"
		Pete Hammond Deadline	"A glorious tribute to art and family (...) Performance-wise the casting could not be better"
		Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"A fervent, hand-on-heart testament to the eternal lure of movies, made by one of the foremost magicians of the craft (...) Who more than Spielberg has earned the right to revisit his stardust memories?"
		Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"An overlong trip down memory lane that could have done with some stops removed. But it’s a sweet, at times incredibly endearing, journey back. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Tomris Laffly The Playlist	"It’s Spielberg’s most personal film, one that gorgeously revives the memories of his childhood and youth with a lavish sense of wistfulness and an aptly Hollywood-ized, fable-like touch"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"The screenplay is a graceful gem (...) Of course, Spielberg knows how to cast and hire, and the team around him here is perfect"
		Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"[It] is at its most effective — enthralling, even — when it gives life to the complicated business of making sense of the world and one’s tiny yet consequential place in it (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"Autobiographical coming-of-age that hits you (gently) in the feels (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"[It] doesn’t do that as well as the director’s best work, but it dramatizes his process of making peace with his dreams so beautifully that it almost doesn’t matter"
		Kenji Fujishima Slant	"Such moments reveal 'The Fabelmans' as thankfully more than just yet another 'love letter to cinema', but also an intermittently provocative investigation of the medium from one of its great masters (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Mae Abdulbaki Screen Rant	"The film is sincere, moving & focused as it unfolds the family drama at its center. The result is a sensitive rendering of the director’s family life (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"
		Peter Travers ABC News	"You leave this gem with the intoxicating impression that you're in on the birth of an enduring classic"
		Jacob Oller Paste Magazine	"Its drama is deeply intimate and the vignettes well-remembered"
		Max Copeman Radio Times	"A dazzling and bittersweet movie memoir (...) The new film from Steven Spielberg is by far the most personal of his career (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Chris Evangelista SlashFilm	"It feels like an immensely personal story that the filmmaker had to wait to tell. And now that he's told it, it's time to move on to the next great work of art"
		Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle	"A self-indulgent yet delightful origin story (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"
		Kurt Halfyard Screen Anarchy	"This is a Spielberg adventure about work-life balance; bumps, fights, and paralyzing setbacks along the way. This is an odd miracle in itself"
		Chris Bumbray JoBlo	"One of director Steven Spielberg’s most personal films (...) Acting-wise, 'The Fabelmans' is impeccable"
		Brandon Zachary CBR	"While 'The Fabelmans' doesn't break the mold, its strong cast and heartfelt direction elevate it beyond its peers"
		Robert Daniels Polygon	"It's one of 2022's great movies —and one of Spielberg's best (...) It's beautiful, evocative, enthralling blockbuster filmmaking, perfectly tuned to remind viewers of the power that can reside within a movie"

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