Reports of cinema's death have been greatly exaggerated. Not only did more people start going back to theaters in 2022 after Spider-Man: No Way Home did wonders for re-selling the world on the upsides of the communal moviegoing experience, but audiences were treated to a wide-ranging slate of excellent films.
Top Gun: Maverick rode the tears and cheers of everyone's dad into the history books as the film banked an astounding $1.49 billion globally. Glass Onion demonstrated how unfairly good Rian Johnson is at making whodunits as well as how deeply committed Netflix remains to losing as much money as possible by only having it play in theaters for a week. Multiple horror films (The Black Phone, Barbarian, Smile) broke the genre mold by getting such great word-of-mouth that they held exceptionally well and were able to steadily generate tickets sales for 6-10 straight weeks. Aubrey Plaza continued her mission to destroy the absurd public notion that she only plays characters that are like April Ludgate by delivering an incredible performance as the lead in an intense, down-and-dirty crime movie (Emily the Criminal). Steven Spielberg, Damien Chazelle and Todd Field were all able to make the kind of expensive passion projects that seemed like they would go extinct as a result of studios tightening their purse strings after all the financial woes they endured as a result of the COVID lockdowns. The guys behind the farting corpse movie made a beautiful, heartfelt yet still gleefully absurd film that connected with audiences so much that it became the highest-grossing movie A24's 10-year history. And last, but not least: the Jurassic World franchise remained the undisputed champion of breathtakingly stupid blockbusters with its perfectly idiotic swan song Dominion.
Below, you'll find a list of every 2022 movie I've seen ranked from worst to best along with a slew of awards and superlatives. Let's hope that 2023 delivers plenty of more gems and destroys whatever doubts and concerns may remain about the future of the movie industry.
Haven't Seen Yet, but Plan to Watch at Some Point in the Future:
7 Days
After Yang
Alice, Darling
All Quiet on the Western Front
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
American Carnage
Argentina, 1985
Athena
Brian and Charles
Broker
Call Jane
Causeway
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Christmas Bloody Christmas
Close
Deadstream
Descendant
Devotion
Dinner in America
Easter Sunday
Emancipation
Funny Pages
Girl in the Picture
Gone in the Night
The Good Nurse
Happening
Hellraiser
Hit the Road
Holy Spider
I Love My Dad
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Interceptor
Is That Black Enough for You?!?
A Man Called Otto
Moonage Daydream
Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Navalny
Official Competition
The Pale Blue Eye
Piggy
Project Wolf Hunting
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Resurrection
Return to Seoul
Rise
Rosaline
The Sea Beast
Sharp Stick
Slash/Back
Soft & Quiet
Something in the Dirt
The Son
Speak No Evil
Spin Me Round
Spoiler Alert
Stars at Noon
The Stranger
Strange World
Taurus
Thirteen Lives
Triangle of Sadness
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Wendell & Wild
Windfall
The Wonder
132.Moonfall (D-)
131.Memory (D-)
130.White Noise (D)
129.The Contractor (D)
128.Elvis (D)
127.Three Thousand Years of Longing (D+)
126.Morbius (D+)
125.Sundown (D+)
124.Last Seen Alive (C-)
123.End of the Road (C-)
122.Dog (C-)
121.Texas Chainsaw Massacre (C-)
120.The Whale (C-)
119.Black Adam (C)
118.Blacklight (C)
117.All the Old Knives (C)
116.Home Team (C)
115.Lou (C)
114.Good Mourning (C)
113.Fire of Love (C)
112.Run Sweetheart Run (C)
111.Luckiest Girl Alive (C)
110.Empire of Light (C)
109.The Bubble (C+)
108.Where the Crawdads Sing (C+)
107.Death on the Nile (C+)
106.Minions: The Rise of Gru (C+)
105.The Man from Toronto (C+)
104.God's Country (C+)
103.Don't Worry Darling (C+)
102.Studio 666 (B-)
101.Deep Water (B-)
100.Me Time (B-)
99.Crush (B-)
98.Marry Me (B-)
97.Turning Red (B-)
96.The Forgiven (B-)
95.Ticket to Paradise (B-)
94.She Said (B-)
93.Samaritan (B-)
92.The Adam Project (B-)
91.Decision to Leave (B-)
90.Uncharted (B-)
89.Senior Year (B-)
88.Amsterdam (B-)
87.The Invitation (B-)
86.TAR (B-)
85.The Princess (B-)
84.Lightyear (B-)
83.DC League of Superpets (B-)
82.Aftersun (B-)
81.Crimes of the Future (B-)
80.Something from Tiffany's (B-)
79.Do Revenge (B-)
78.Fall (B-)
77.The Lost City (B)
76.Fire Island (B)
75.Beast (B)
74.I Want You Back (B)
73.Jurassic World Dominion (B)
72.Metal Lords (B)
71.Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (B)
70.Day Shift (B)
69.The 355 (B)
68.The Fallout (B)
67.The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (B)
66.The Gray Man (B)
65.Chip'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (B)
64.The Redeem Team (B)
63.Confess, Fletch (B)
62.Clerks III (B)
61.Women Talking (B)
60.The Bad Guys (B)
59.Fresh (B)
58.Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (B)
57.The Woman King (B)
56.The Fabelmans (B)
55.Thor: Love and Thunder (B)
54.Dual (B)
53.The Outfit (B)
52.See How They Run (B)
51.Nanny (B)
50.Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (B)
49.Halloween Ends (B)
48.RRR (B)
47.Top Gun: Maverick (B)
46.The Big 4 (B)
45.No Exit (B)
44.KIMI (B)
43.The Worst Person in the World (B)
42.Armageddon Time (B)
41.Barbarian (B)
40.Hustle (B)
39.Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (B+)
38.Spiderhead (B+)
37.Till (B+)
36.Breaking (B+)
35.Not Okay (B+)
34.Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (B+)
33.The Inspection (B+)
32.The Northman (B+)
31.On the Count of Three (B+)
30.Montana Story (B+)
29.Bullet Train (B+)
28.Pearl (B+)
27.Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (B+)
26.Violent Night (B+)
25.Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (B+)
24.Bros (B+)
23.The Menu (B+)
22.Prey (B+)
21.Bones and All (B+)
20.Men (B+)
19.Look at Me: XXXTENTACTION (B+)
18.Bodies Bodies Bodies (B+)
17.Babylon (B+)
16.The Black Phone (B+)
15.Smile (B+)
14.Pleasure (B+)
13.Emily the Criminal (B+)
12.Watcher (B+)
11.Everything Everywhere All at Once (B+)
10.X (B+)
9.Scream (A-)
8.Emergency (A-)
7.Vengeance (A)
6.Jackass Forever (A)
5.Ambulance (A)
4.Glass Onion (A)
3.The Banshees of Inisherin (A)
2.Nope (A)
1.The Batman (A+)
Awards/Superlatives:
Best Picture: The Batman
Best Director: Matt Reeves, The Batman
Best Actor: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Actress: Mia Goth, Pearl
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Dano, The Batman
Best Supporting Actress: Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Adapted Screenplay: Rian Johnson, Glass Onion
Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser, The Batman
Best Score: Justin Hurwitz, Babylon
Best Original Song: "Carolina" by Taylor Swift, Where the Crawdads Sing
Best Visual Effects: Nope (Note: It would be Avatar: The Way of Water if I'd seen it)
Best Sound: The Batman
Best Directorial Debut: B.J. Novak, Vengeance
Best Animated Movie: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Best Documentary: Look at Me: XXXTENTACION
Best Non-English Language Movie: The Big 4
Best Villian: The Riddler (Paul Dano), The Batman
Worst Villain: The Moon, Moonfall
Best Performance in a Bad Movie: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Worst Performance in a Good Movie: Claes Bang, The Northman
Best Overacting: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ambulance
Worst Overacting: Kenneth Branagh, Death on the Nile
The 5th Annual "Carry a Movie on Your Back" Award Presented by Greg Jennings: Thandiwe Newton, God's Country
Best Action Sequence: "Freeing Alluri/Final Fight", RRR
Worst Action Sequence: "Container Ship Attack", Morbius
Best Blockbuster: The Batman
Worst Blockbuster: Moonfall
Finest Hidden Indie Gem: Pleasure
Most Insufferable Indie Trash: Sundown
Beast Theater Experience (Presentation): The Batman in Dolby Cinema
Best Theater Experience (Crowd): Glass Onion
Worst Theater Experience (Presentation): Moonfall
Worst Theater Experience (Crowd): None (fortunately)
Most Absurd Scene I Saw in a Theater That Can Be Easily Explained in the Written Word: A roughly 16–18-year-old dude sitting in the front row ripping a weed vape on 2 occasions during Nope (The winner without these restrictions is a lengthy anecdote that involves a 65+ year old man taking a very creative, needlessly long trek to get to his seats during Ticket to Paradise)
Mainstream Blockbuster That I Firmly Believe Deserves 1,000,000,000x More Hate than What Morbius Has Received: Moonfall
Most Beautifully Chaotic Spectacle That Hollywood Will Hopefully Take Note from Despite Its Relatively Poor Box Performance: Ambulance
Misunderstood Big Swings That Are Going to Age Well and Earn Sizable Cult Followings: Halloween Ends and Babylon
Most Underrated Movies:
1.Ambulance
2.Vengeance
3.Emergency
4.Watcher
5.Emily the Criminal
Most Overrated Movies:
1.Elvis
2.TAR
3.Decision to Leave
4.Turning Red
5.Top Gun: Maverick
Biggest Suprises:
1.Vengeance
2.Smile
3.Look at Me: XXXTENTACION
4.The Menu
5.No Exit
Biggest Letdowns:
1.The Bubble
2.The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
3.The Whale
4.Don't Worry Darling
5.Amsterdam
Top Performances:
1.Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
2.Mia Goth (Pearl)
3.Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
4.Paul Dano (The Batman)
5.Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
6.Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal)
7.Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
8.Janelle Monae (Glass Onion)
9.Mark Rylance (Bones and All)
10.Diego Calva (Babylon)
Top Breakthrough Performances:
1.Diego Calva (Babylon)
2.Brandon Perea (Nope)
3.Jeremy Pope (The Inspection)
4.Donald Elise Watkins (Emergency)
5.Anna Diop (Nanny)
6.Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
7.Owen Teague (Montana Story)
8.Sofia Kappel (Pleasure)
9.Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
10.Havana Rose Liu (No Exit)
10 Under-the-Radar Awesome Performances That I Didn't List Above:
1.Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies)
2.Justin Long (Barbarian)
3.Brittany Snow (X)
4.RJ Cyler (Emergency)
5.Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal)
6.Sosie Bacon (Smile)
7.Kristen Stewart (Crimes of the Future)
8.Maika Monroe (Watcher)
9.Zoe Kravitz (KIMI)
10.John Boyega (Breaking)
Top Acting Ensembles:
1.The Banshees of Inisherin
2.The Batman
3.Glass Onion
4.Nope
5.Everything Everywhere All at Once
6.Bodies Bodies Bodies
7.The Menu
8.Bones and All
9.X
10.Babylon
Top Directorial Debuts:
1.Vengeance (B.J. Novak)
2.Emergency (Cary Williams)
3.Watcher (Chloe Okuno)
4.Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford)
5.Pleasure (Ninja Thyberg)
6.Smile (Parker Finn)
7.Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (Adamma Ebo)
8.On the Count of Three (Jerrod Carmichael)
9.The Inspection (Elegance Bratton)
10.Breaking (Abi Damaris Corbin)
Top Cinematography:
1.The Batman (Greig Fraser)
2.Nope (Hoyte van Hoytema)
3.Babylon (Linus Sandgren)
4.The Northman (Jarin Blaschke)
5.X (Eliot Rockett)
6.Nanny (Rina Yang)
7.Deicision to Leave (Kim Ji-yong)
8.Men (Rob Hardy)
9.Prey (Jeff Cutter)
10.Watcher (Benjamin Kirk Nielsen)
Top Scores:
1.Babylon (Justin Hurwitz)
2.The Batman (Michael Giacchino)
3.Nope (Michael Abels)
4.Bones and All (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
5.RRR (M.M. Keeravani)
6.Pearl (Tyler Bates and Tim Williams)
7.Crimes of the Future (Howard Shore)
8.Glass Onion (Nathan Johnson)
9.X (Tyler Bates and Chelsea Wolfe)
10.Women Talking (Hildur Guonadottir)
Top Movies I Hope to See in 2023:
1.John Wick: Chapter 4
2.The Killer (David Fincher)
3.Bottoms
4.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
5.Killers of the Flower Moon
6.Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
7.Next Goal Wins
8.Creed III
9.Fast X
10.Mission:Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One
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