Top 10 favorite movies of 2022
With 2022 at a wrap and 2023 already somehow finishing its first month, I want to take a look back at the top 10 films of last year that really stuck with me! It's to be kept in mind that I have not seen every movie that came out and there are still plenty that I'm still working my way towards seeing such as Top Gun: Maverick and Black Phone; however, I managed to see a lot as the year went on, and it took me a while to whittle away the list to just ten titles. Now this is all just my own personal ranking of enjoyment and what films I found to be the most entertaining and enjoyable, I'm not saying that any film not on this list is bad, or isn't one of the best movies of last year, but just in my own silly personal ranking these are the top 10 movies of 2022 that I have seen so far!
10. Prey
Prey is definitely one of the best Predator movies we have gotten in a long time. It takes the timeframe of the film and sends us back to the time of Native Americans, and one young girl's confrontation with one of the Predators who come to Earth. This movie is exactly what I want from the Predator films, with excellent action sequences, smart plays by the human characters to tackle their unearthly foe, and with all that we also got a pretty great coming of age story of the main character proving herself to her tribe! Not to mention the Yautja in this film had one of the coolest action scenes of the year as he took down an encampment of Frenchmen!
9. The Northman
Robert Eggers gave us one of the most brutal movies of the year early on with "The Northman" which twists into a fiery tale of revenge that kept me hooked throughout with the brutality, the plot twists, the incredible score and cinematography, and everything else that helped bring this movie together. Alexander Skarsgard looks the movie with a tortured performance, with so much to think about by the time the credits roll.
8. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Part of my enjoyment of Weird was finding out exactly what kind of movie it was as I was watching it! I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be a very funny and comedic movie; however, it was an extremely delightful surprise to find out that while some elements of it are true to Weird Al's life, the movie is largely a work of parody that sees him in a major relationship with Madonna, Michael Jackon's "Beat It" being a parody of Weird Al's song "Eat It," and Al going after Cartel leader Escobar! Not to mention the ending is perfection of the highest level because it's just so wild, and so purely "Weird Al."
7. Barbarian
This is the absolutely spot on example of a movie that is seemingly leading you in a very predictable direction only to completely throw out the rug from out of you, tossing you down a flight of stairs into something you could not have anticipated. It is one of the most smartly written movies of the year, with so much fun dialogue that completely crafts the characters into well developed personalities, in a story that kept me guessing on what insane direction we'd be heading next! Not to forget some very smart comedy seeded in as well thanks to Justin Long.
6. The Whale
This is one that I only recently got around to seeing, and I was so happy I did. Darren Aronofsky's latest film is another gut wrenching, emotional tumultuous film about the human spirit. Taking place in one location without ever feeling overtly confined, we get a deep character study on the character of Charlie as he desperately tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter in the final week of his life. It cannot go without saying that Brendan Fraser delivers one of, if not THE best acting work of his career, easily giving the film its emotional core, and leaving me in tears as the final scene played out.
5. Violent Night
About halfway through this movie I realized that we had another Christmas classic on our hands, and this incredibly fun movie lead by David Harbour as Santa Claus absolutely kills it. He nails it as a disgruntled Santa Claus, and the action scenes throughout the movie are endlessly entertaining and creative as he utilizes various Christmas themed makeshift weapons and eventually a freaking sledgehammer! My all time favorite kill in the movie involves a chimney near the end, and I won't say anything else. The rest of the cast is welcomely entertaining as well, with plenty of funny moments and dialogue to keep the momentum of the movie moving.
4. Nope
I really enjoyed Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us, so I was beyond excited for his third film, Nope, which delivered on the trailer's seeming promise of supernatural creepiness. It takes the UFO trope in films and spins it out on its head as we get a very unique UFO movie that constantly kept surprising with its talented and charismatic characters, rich backstories, and the main antagonistic force itself one of my all time favorite interpretations of alien invaders so far!
3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
I know it might seem strange to see this film further up on the list than other critical grails such as The Whale and The Northman, but I just really, really liked this movie. I am a huge fan of the Sonic franchise and was very pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the first movie, and was beyond the moon to find that the second one took everything great about the first movie and dialed it to a hundred. Jim Carrey absolutely slays as Dr. Robotnik and I truly hope he comes back out of retirement to continue playing this iconic foe. Ben Schwartz nails it as Sonic once again, and the addition of Tails and Knuckles to the cast were fantastic. The movie was jam packed with easter eggs to the videogames, and itself felt like the most pure adaptation of the series so far with Sonic's friends being introduced, the Chaos emeralds factoring into the story, and Eggman assembling his Death Egg robot in the movie's finale before Sonic obtains the power of Super Sonic! It's great to see a videogame franchise so lovingly expressed, and the teaser for Shadow joining the cast in the third film makes me very excited for 2024!
2. The Batman
Out of all the superheroes movies we got this year, none of them came close to cinematic gold as The Batman did at the start of 2022. Robert Pattinson delivers an exceptional performance as Bruce Wayne, surrounded by not only one of the best cast of characters but some of the most beautiful cinematography in a movie for the year! Gotham itself feels like a character, it feels alive, and that is the best kind of setting and environment in a movie. The movie's tone and style only elevate the story being told, not to mention the epic soundtrack! Nirvana's "Something in the Way" has continued to be stuck in my head whenever I start thinking about the movie. The Batman manages to not just be one of the best superhero movies of this year, but I consider it contender for one of the best Batman movies so far, up there with The Dark Knight!
1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
This movie completely blew me away, and that first time I saw it I had a feeling that it was going to be my number one movie of the year. It is, this amazing, creative, constantly entertaining movie is in my opinion the best movie of 2022. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan do a phenomenal job as Evelyn and Waymond, with incredible fight scenes, plenty of emotional moments, THE most creative and engaging use of the Multiverse so far in recent movies (sorry Multiverse of Madness), and there is really nothing I can say to truly do this film justice. Some of the alternate realities are so outlandish, but beat after beat the emotions ride high, the fight choreography never disappoints, and every scene in this movie comes together for a wild ride that is easily one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME.
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