I love the Sleepy Skunk videos and others like them because they serve multiple purposes, reminding us about how many great films we saw this year while helping us discover others — based on brief, striking shots featured in the mash-up — that we may have never even realized existed. Every year there’s at least one film that I had no clue existed, no matter how hard I try to keep up with new releases. This time, it was “Don’t Make Me Go,” a John Cho-led tearjerker featured here with a clip highlighting Mia Isaac’s emotional performance.
There are plenty of other quick cuts that bring a feeling of delighted recognition, though, like Mia Goth dancing in “Pearl,” Dave Bautista popping his pecs in “Glass Onion,” and Keke Palmer shooting a determined look to her brother during the climax of “Nope.” Plus, the video has something that way too many edits lack during the era of fancams and TikToks: a sense of actual musical synchronization. “I’m gonna knock you out, mama said knock you out” LL Cool J sings over shots of Brad Pitt getting knocked around in “Bullet Train” and Tom Holland getting knocked out of a plane in “Uncharted.”
There are so many movies worth celebrating this year, from major blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” to sleeper hits like “The Black Phone” and under-the-radar gems like “Petite Maman.” This video celebrates as many of them as it possibly can in its runtime, and ends with a montage of spectacle that reminds us just what the medium is capable of.
“Life is fantastic,” David Bowie’s voice says in a voiceover clip from “Moonage Daydream.” Yup, and so are the movies.