Best and Worst Movies of 2022

My top 10:

1. GLASS ONION

Rian Johnson's follow-up to Knives Out was arguably even more clever and intricate, and certainly funnier. And another great ensemble aced it. Keep em coming.  

2. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

No movie all year, or maybe in many years, has been so jam-packed with creativity. 

3. SCREAM 5

The best Scream film since the 90s. Introduced a terrific new cast of characters, and revitalized the franchise. 

4. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS 

The year's most complete MCU entry. Took great advantage of the opportunities of the multiverse. Scarlet Witch made for one of the MCU's best villains. 

5. AMBULANCE 

Remember Michael Bay? Well all he did this year was take a small budget a crank out an exhilarating action flick, his best pure action movie since The Rock. 

6. THE WHALE

Darren Aronofsky's best film in over a decade, anchored by a stunningly brilliant and empathetic lead performance by Brendan Fraser. 

7. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER 

Needed more Gorr and maybe 10% fewer jokes. But this movie was still a complete blast, with my lady Nat getting to be Mighty Thor. EAT MY HAMMER, haters! 

8. PEARL

I enjoyed X, but prequel Pearl was truly a pearl, with an exceptional lead performance by Mia Goth. 

9. THE MENU

A very sharp and funny black comedy in which smug elititists get taken down. Great stuff from Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy.  

10. THE FALLOUT

This held on since way back in January. Very engrossing, the best film ever to deal with the topic of school shootings. 

Some honorable mentions:
Bones and All, The Banshees Of Inisherin, Bullet Train, Devotion, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Top Gun: Maverick, The Fabelmans, Prey, Till, and Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe. 

Some other movies that were never in top 10 contention but made a good impression:
X, The Outfit, Clerks 3, Spoiler Alert, Causeway, Hustle, Not Okay

Movies that I maybe didn't hate but which disappointed me to varying degrees:
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Jurassic World: Dominion (locusts? Really?), Lightyear, Nope, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Amsterdam, She Said, and, you know, Avatar: The Way Of Water should have been better than it was. 

My bottom 10:

1. CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

David Cronenberg's gross perversity for the sake of perversity "art" film. 

2. MORBIUS

The worst film to ever feature the Marvel logo. 

3. STUDIO 666

A completely inept attempt at a horror comedy, starring the Foo Fighters, who just cannot act. 

4. FIRESTARTER

The year's most pointless remake. 

5. BLACKLIGHT

The nadir of Liam Neeson's late career action renaissance.  

6. THE WEEKEND AWAY

A very stupid thriller with Leighton Meester. 

7. MEN

Not even Jessie Buckley could salvage this pretentious, pointless film. 

8. THE FORGIVEN

Dull drama that committed the grave sin of wasting Jessica Chastain. 

9. INFINITE STORM

Usually like man vs nature films. They're usually not this boring. 

10. GONE IN THE.NIGHT

Dull Winona Ryder drama falsely marketed as a horror movie. 



PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR (in no particular order):

-Jenna Ortega had a huge breakout year, most notably in The Fallout, Scream 5 and X. 
-Paul Dano, who I've always been mixed at best on, was great in wildly different roles in The Batman and The Fabelmans. 
-Mia Goth in X and especially Pearl. Her late monologue in the latter was legendary.
-Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once
-Elizabeth Olsen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
-Natalie Portman in Thor: Love and Thunder. Like I wouldn't include her. Loved seeing her be funny. 
-Jenny Slate's voice work as Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
-Aubrey Plaza in Emily The Criminal
-Austin Butler as Elvis. Not sure he should win an Oscar but he was excellent. 
-Viola Davis, a total force in The Woman King
-Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling. That this film works at all is because of her ceaseless brilliance. 
-Danielle Deadwyler, powerful as hell in Till
-Angela Bassett in Wakanda Forever (and in fairness, on my 2nd viewing I responded a lot more to Letitia Wright's performance too)
-Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, each consistently fabulous in The Banshees Of Inisherin. 
-Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell in Devotion, one of the year's most slept on gems. 
-Daniel Craig and Janelle Monae, the MVPs of the superb Glass Onion ensemble
-Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy in The Menu. Oh, and Nicholas Hoult too. 
-Taylor Russell, sublime again in Bones And All. I would let her eat me. 
-Jim Parsons was shockingly excellent in Spoiler Alert. 
-Brendan Fraser in The Whale. Just incredible. 
-Margot Robbie, deliciously going for it in Babylon.
-the radiant Naomi Ackie in the otherwise sketchy Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Message Board Classics: 2004 NFL Season

Preseason kickoff post (and other posts): Oh yes, it IS that time again. Training camps are open. The first preseason games are less than a week away. Players are already being idiots. It's the best time of the sports year. It is not yet the time for predictions, but I'll hit on some of the big recent stories. Ricky Williams retires. Well, we know now he did so cuz he was gonna be suspended for using marijuana. He's a little shit as far as I'm concerned. You do not abandon your team when he did. He had every right to retire, but do it at least before the draft. He's left the Dolphins with zero chance of making the playoffs. They couldn't go get Eddie George or Antowain Smith, nor could they draft a RB. The Cowboys cut Quincy Carter. I spent all offseason pleading with Dallas to go get a QB like Warner or Collins or Garcia. Instead they fail to upgrade, and now take a step back. Vinny is 80 years old and has little if anything left. My prediction is that Drew Hen...
Read more

Awful NFL season ends with awful Super Bowl

BUCCANEERS 31 CHIEFS 9 The 2020 NFL season is over. Thank god! A season that was almost across the board unenjoyable, and felt empty and largely felt manipulated, ended with the worst outcome imaginable. With a result that not only continues this 20 year nightmare but that will frankly hurt the NFL for years to come. I was not looking forward to this game. I knew this was going to happen. Maybe not in blowout fashion but I knew the NFL was going to see to it that Tom Brady got his 7th title. The house wins. The game was never fun. Right from the start the Chiefs seemed sleepy, like they weren't really in it. This team plays with swagger, but in this game they had none. Patrick Mahomes was under enormous pressure from the start. The Chiefs grabbed the 1st lead at 3-0 but then from basically the end of the 1st quarter until halftime it was a nightmare. The Chiefs offense remained lifeless. The Chiefs defense did manage a goal line stand that at the moment seemed like it could be a tu...
Read more