Best and Worst films of 2022

Movie Reviews 2022

Firstly, because Hollywood likes to release movies in the UK a little bit later than in the USA some films I haven't been able to see, or they get played for a week on awkward show times because my tiny cinema likes to play every Marvel film on repeat rather than having a diverse set of films, or I just simply was late on the hype. Either one, the following are a list of films for 2022 that I will likely watch early 2023 on some form of streaming service and they may or may not have ended up on my best list if the above factors were not in play.

I haven’t watched yet but might join:

The northman

Top gun maverick

Where the crawdads sing

Nope

My policeman

Aftersun

The fablemans

The menu

Bones and all

The wale

Babylon

The following three films missed out on my top list because of a range of factors but I still feel they deserve a mini shout out. This isn't to say they are number 11-13, but that there is an aspect about them that makes them special to me even when flawed in other areas.

Honourable Mentions:

Bros- My feelings towards this film are so mixed, positively the film does so much right for representation and puts parts of myself on screen that I never thought I would see represented and it explores those facets interestingly where I have come away from the film a wiser person, which is exactly what good cinema should do. But ultimately, the lead is just so simply unlikeable that at no point is there chemistry between the two leads that any romanticism falls short. I watched this film in an empty cinema with just me and a random old man who laughed throughout, this film deserved a lot more than that because it did so much right and was funny and I appreciate it greatly. But for all it did well, I wish it hit me harder.

The banshees of the inisherim- I really enjoyed this dark comedy, the characters are great and the performances are even better. The heart warming relationships and sorrowing developments are not only funny and poignant but hits emotionally. However, it is very little more than that. Americans on the interment are having their little minds blown with how it is a metaphor for the protestant vs catholic troubles in northern Ireland but the metaphor is so skin deep that it offers no interesting commentary and I think as someone from the UK these things aren't new to me that it loses its shock value. Yes, one religion was more boring than the other, one enjoyed the musicality of religion the other believes in the bare bones of faith and ultimately all the fallouts have no clear rhyme or reason and by the end of it no one remembers why they were fighting. Belfast did the same thing last year. It just was a well made nice film that I chuckled at occasionally, it is not the spectacle or ground breaking metaphor some seem to think it is.

Better Nate than never- Yes, it is a childish Disney musical made for tweens, but, one, the soundtrack slaps and I still have some tracks on repeat daily even months after watching the film, two, as a little gay boy who loves theatre, I can't help but get emotional over seeing films like this released by Disney. Ten years ago I would have had the movie on repeat and shown every family member at least twice, I'm old enough now to see it for what it is but that doesn't stop me getting teary.

The top 10 best movies of 2022:

10.Glass onion 23/11/22- To be fair to me, I watched this movie two bottles of wine in on Christmas day full up with Turkey and everything Santa could offer me, so I've got no idea of whether this movie was actually good but I know I had a rollicking good time with all the twists and turns. In my Christmas state, I didn't predict any of it but the answers were exceedingly well paced and well earned, especially as my dad spotted it straight away and the rest of the movie was spent either calling him an idiot or saying "oh dad you might be right actually". Usually, I'd prefer to see a movie like this in the cinema, however watching with my family around the tv and hearing everyone's suggestions, theories and laughter was actually a highlight of my Christmas experience and therefore this movie very muchly deserves a top ten placement and I look forward to watching it with a clearer vision in the very near future.

9.Avatar2 16/12/22- This is the first movie I have ever seen in Imax and it is the first movie I have seen in 3D in ten years, so this was quite the experience from the offset and I am more than glad at my decision to choose this movie to pop my cherry. Cameron has built this movie from the bottom up with 3D in mind, every single frame of this film has been chosen to make the 3D experience the best it can be, whether this means having an abundance of arrows fired at the screen or the lens flares flying into your face or the immense under water scenes which are mesmerising. This is a cinematic experience in 3D well worth the price of the ticket as I have never seen anything like it and it is astounding how far the technology has come in ten years. The movie is good, but it would just be another well made blockbuster about family values without the 3D and Imax. The story is just a tad cliché blockbuster, but it does hit every beat it means to in an authentic and well deserved manner, so it is well deserving of a top ten placement.

8.The woman king 4/10/22- Viola Davis is fantastic and so is the whole cast, this warrior movie is just as good as the classics with a poignant message. There is simply not more I need to say.

7.Elvis 24/6/22- This film leaves Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman in its wake, no film has captured the utter electricity or insanity of being a superstar quite like this. Yes, it is occasionally montage-the-movie, but I'd rather it get through the montages rather than dwell on rubbish and ruin the pace of these firecracker of a piece. When you watch other celebrity films you get the sense that reading their wikipedia page would have been a faster way to get to the same point, but this film shows me exactly why people were obsessed with Elvis, someone who I never really cared for, as after this movie I knew exactly why people fancied him and why he was the biggest rock and roll star of the generation. There is no other way I can describe it other than this film transported me back in time to Elvis mania in a way no other celebrity flick did.

6.The Batman 4/3/22- Even though I know it is too long, there is not a frame of this movie I would cut out. Every single shot is a delight that pushes this genre piece to the limits and destroys everything Marvel has put out for the last three years. I think if this film wasn't released, then Marvel's three 2022 outings would have been looked upon more favourably as this film simply shows how exquisite the comic book genre could be with every page oozing gothic detective brilliance. And the last act where Batman learns what it truly means to be Batman is comic book gold, it is exactly the kind of character depth that excites the genre and shows you that just putting on a mask isn't the point, it is the heart that comes with. The mystery is enthralling, and every single detail is handled with care.

5.The lost daughter 31/12/21- Technically, this is cheating, cheating by one day, however its late 2021 release date meant it missed my 2021 list and therefore I think for the sake of one day I can place it here. On first watch, I admit I was underwhelmed, but oh my word this film stayed with me. Olivia's face I could watch all day every day and still find something new in her nuanced performance. The analysis of woman hood, femininity, relationships and work is just mesmerising and I was left thinking weeks upon weeks on different facets of this film with the doll, the flashbacks, the other family and so on. I haven't rewatched it for almost a year now, but I can still vividly see every frame of this movie as clear as day. My unperturbed obsession with this movie travelled deeply into 2022 as I continued to watch video essay after video essay unpicking every aspect of the film and it kept me intellectually entertained for months.

4.Licorice pizza 1/1/22- Literally released on the first day of 2022 in the UK, I almost didn't add this film on as I was certain it was a 2021 flick. In addition, it took me all the way until November to finally get round to watch it as when I watched the trailers I was certain I was going to hate it, when it got a bunch of Oscar nominations I almost caved but my undying belief that it would be shit prevailed. Until one cold winter night when there was nothing else and I am so glad I caved in. A heart warming and funny little film that I have absolutely no idea what the message or the point was but the characters were so endearing that I can't help but enjoy it. Yes, there is the horrid undertones of the age difference, which disseminated across the internet and picked apart successfully so I don't have to here. Without that in mind, its just a heart warming winter romp that is a bit slow in places but with every new business endeavour I was found rooting the group on and hoping that they would finally land on a success.

3.Triangle of sadness 28/10/22- I really love this film, I think it genuinely hilarious and laughed out loud multiple times in my half filled theatre where no one even simply tittered. It is an insane take down of the upper class, and everything Don't Look Up was meant to be. Its absurdist and over the top and every single character is such a bastard and I love to hate them all. The film has a magical quality where it makes you fall deeply in love with characters that are just so endearing and then they whack you over the head with how despicable they are. Simply, the above is what separates it from all other take downs of the super rich as it captures that "entertaining" and "loveable" aspects of the rich, that the internet so clearly has for people like Elon Musk and Kanye etc, and one by one unpicks every tiny little detail to show you why that frame of mind is damaging. Furthermore, it goes beyond just laughing at the rich and ends up showing the inevitability of the rich in the end that points a finger at all of us and shows that no matter who is at the top, how they got there, or how good their intentions are, we would all do the same to stay there; ultimately it is the system not the people at fault and no film captures that in such a funny and poignant way as this.

2.Everything everywhere all at once 13/5/22- As soon as this spectacle begins you know this is something special, something indescribable and completely unique in the faith it has in its audience and strength of direction. This is a modern classic and can only be comparable as today's Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf as this postmodern classic takes the pain of the moment for a modern day women organising a party and explodes every single feeling that every single second encompasses; though the real parts of this film only take one day of the protagonists life as she organises a party and goes to sort her taxes, we explore every aspect of her life and every life she could have had as all the images rush through her mind in this maximalist tour de force. No film has shown modern day existence on screen like this, we live in a world where everything is at our finger tips on our phones, every thought that has ever been said bombards us over social media and people's anxieties are through the roof. This is modern life, a second is no longer a second but a universe of possibilities and this is exactly what Woolf encompassed when she paired the suffering of a domesticated women to that of PTSD soldiers: the world going on in someone's head can not be understood through the restraints of linear time or rationale cause and effect. This movie is powerful and oh so touching, it does help me that the mother and father in this film remind me so much of my own and that speech the dad gives makes me ugly cry every time because I simply hear my father saying it and nothing has ever made me understand my dad more than this film.

1.5) Mass 21/10/21- Okay, this simply is cheating. Though I watched this in January 2022 it did technically come out in 2021 and make it to UK Sky early enough for me to catch it, so really it should be on my 2021 list, but not only does this masterpiece shatter everything on my 2021 list and everything on my 2022 list and it would be an utter disservice to put it as a honourable mention as it is simply one of my top three movies to ever exist. Four people sit around the table and talk for almost two hours but the way these actors talk feels like you are watching the most detailed and elaborate set piece ever. I cried throughout and well-up just thinking about how beautifully portrayed such an important piece of cinema this is with how simple yet so powerful and gut wrenching. Watching these faces is mesmerising and I wish one day I could be as good of an actor as these four people. More people need to see this and appreciate the fine art that is woven before your eyes.

1.Prima Farcia 15/4/22- You may call this cheating, but I watched this in the cinema and absolutely balled my eyes out; I then, eight months later, paid for the National Theatre Streaming service and watched it on TV and absolutely balled again. I consumed this stunning piece of theatre as if it was a movie and therefore I count it as the best cinema experience, the best movie experience and the best theatrical experience of 2022. Jodie Comer is a tour de force! One hour and forty minutes of just her on stage and she has me glued to her for every second. Her character work, her accents, her energy, she does not take her foot off the peddle for any moment. How she doesn't need time to catch her breath I do not understand. But, more than her Oscar worthy acting, the story is intense, funny and mesmerising in the best possible way. Yes, the writing is occasionally cliché, predictable and preachy but when delivered by an actor of this calibre it simply doesn't matter. I could watch this every day of my life and still want to watch it again.

I don't like to spread negativity but for a quick run down of the worst films of 2022, here is my list with ten words or less to explain each one.

The top 7 worst movies of 2022:

7.Scrooge- Didn't like animation, or songs. Not much else.

6.See how they run- Not romp enough, only Ronan seems to be having fun.

5.Uncharted- Not uncharted but instead a bland adventure. Could be better.

4.Dont worry darling- Two movies in one and both disserviced here.

3.Dr Strange- Bland. Barely one-verse let alone multiverse. Needed more horror.

2.Thor love and thunder- Cringe, unfunny, more similar to Thor2 than 3. Let down.

1.Blonde- Torture porn in the worst way. Genuinely uncomfortable and untrue.