Adam's Top Movies of 2022
As usual, indie film studio A24 dominates the list for best movies of the year
Hello, readers of The Film Yap! I watched 60 feature films which were released in 2022, mostly through screeners or streaming sites. I did get back to regularly going to the theater, watching 17 movies on the big screen. I saw most major releases and awards contenders with a few exceptions (still haven’t seen “Babylon,” “Women Talking,” “Empire of Light,” “Till” or “Close”). Without further ado, here are some of my favorite movies and performances of 2022:
Best Acting Performances
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Tár
Honorable Mentions: Mia Goth, Pearl, Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Florence Pugh, The Wonder
Best Actor: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Honorable Mentions: Ralph Fiennes, The Menu, Paul Mescal, Aftersun, Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Best Supporting Performance: Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
Honorable Mentions: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Lashana Lynch, The Woman King, Keke Palmer, Nope
Great Acting Performances in a Less-Than-Amazing Movies
I’m not saying these movies were terrible, but the acting is better than the movies themselves.
Austin Butler, Elvis
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Florence Pugh, The Wonder
Tilda Swinton, The Eternal Daughter
Jessica Chastain/Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Best Animated Movie
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Honorable Mentions: Turning Red, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Strange World
Since I have a 4-year-old daughter, I watched a lot of kids movies. Many aren’t great. I wasn’t a big fan of “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Puss-In-Boots: The Last Wish” or “Lightyear.” I did mildly enjoy “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” but it didn’t warrant a trip to a movie theater at all. One thing worth noting: While “DC League of Superpets” was pretty unoriginal (tired of Kevin Hart and The Rock being paired up), it did have the biggest tearjerker scene of 2022. When Kevin Hart’s dog talks about how he was living with a family and grabbed the baby by the butt to prevent the child from falling down the stairs and the owners mistakenly thought he meant to bite the baby and then gave him away to a shelter. I’m sorry, yes, it was sad. Make fun of me all you want!
Worst Movie of 2022
Jurassic World: Dominion — I actually like the first “Jurassic World,” which I thought was a satisfying soft reboot/sequel, but the last two entries have tried so hard to reinvent the series that they got away from what made the original 90s film great: the magic of seeing dinosaurs come to life. Oddly enough, the Netflix cartoon “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” had much better storylines and characters than the big budget mess featuring locusts!
Honorable Mentions: Morbius, Black Adam
Biggest Disappointments of 2022
Don’t Worry Darling — I dug “Booksmart” and despite the negative publicity I was intrigued by Olivia Wilde’s follow-up, which boasts a great cast and debuted a fantastic trailer. I was into the movie for the first half, but as the mystery unraveled the movie became less interesting and the twist was completely unoriginal.
Elvis — Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker ruined this movie. From his terrible accent to his distracting prosthetics, he made this film nearly unwatchable for me, which is a shame because Austin Butler is really good.
She Said — I love me some journalism movies and Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are capable actresses, but the story they chose didn’t work as well on film. Harvey Weinstein is a terrible person and deserved to be punished, but this would have worked much better as a documentary rather than an Oscar-baitey piece with melodramatic music. Also, most people are pretty familiar with the case, which kills most of the suspense (and Ronan Farrow almost beat them to the punch anyway).
Amsterdam — How did three great actors and a great director come together to make such a bland movie?
Men — I wanted to love it but movie seemed to collapse under the weight of the obvious metaphors.
MCU offerings — Besides “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” I wasn’t too high on any Marvel movies in 2022. There no longer seems to be an overall plan, despite the fact that they sell these movies as “can’t-miss” because they tie into the larger story. The desperate need to introduce new younger characters in every new movie/show seemed to come at the expense of screen time for characters we already love.
The Fablemans/The Whale/Nope — I enjoyed all three but nearly as much as others did, calling them some of the best movies of the year. Maybe my expectations were too high?
Movies I really liked after I saw them, but have since cooled on:
Blonde — I admit it. I really was into the weird, Lynchian, dream-like vibe of this fictionalized Marilyn Monroe biopic, but upon later viewings, it does come off as pretentious and overly long.
Barbarian — When I walked out of the theater, I was buzzing. It’s one of the more original horror films I’ve seen in years and it has one of the best tone shifts/twists that I’ve seen in a long time. Yet, upon rewatch, a lot of the fun is gone when you know what’s going to happen.
The Northman — An over-the-top excessively violent Viking epic from horror director Robert Eggers? With a cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skargard, Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Anya Taylor-Joy? Saying I was excited for this one is an understatement. And it didn’t really disappoint. Immediately after seeing it, it was the best movie I had seen in 2022 so far (although it was released in April). It’s breathtaking visuals and haunting score make it worth a rewatch, but ultimately the rather simple revenge narrative doesn’t give you enough meat to really elevate it to the best of the year.
Best Superhero Movie of 2022'
The Batman — Robert Pattinson does a decent job in the lead role, but writer/director Matt Reeves understands that Batman is usually the least interesting character in Batman stories. The endless list of interesting villains is the real draw. Reeves creates a rich version of Gotham City with dangers around every turn. The movie slips up a little by — again — relying on mafia storylines for a “realistic” Batman story (way too similar to Nolan in that regard) and the length is wayyyyy too long, but considering 2022 was a down year for Marvel, this was the best we had.
Runner Up: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Funniest Movie of 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story — All of my honorable mentions are better movies, but nothing made me laugh as much as this musical biopic parody. Daniel Radcliffe is perfectly cast and I love the fact that barely anything is factual in this movie. It captures of the spirit of this comedy pioneer.
Honorable Mentions: White Noise, Triangle of Sadness, Banshees of Inisherin, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies
Best Movies of The Year:
Honorable Mentions: X, Nope, White Noise, The Fabelmans, The Whale, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Turning Red, Triangle of Sadness, The Woman King, The Northman, Barbarian
Avatar: The Way of Water — I don’t apologize for liking this one. It’s a marvel for the eyes and reminds me of the magic of watching movies in a theater. It makes you feel like a kid again and so this technical wonder deserves a spot on the list.
Top Gun: Maverick — I thought there was no way I’d enjoy this movie. Admittedly, I’m not very high on the original. It’s cheesy, to be honest. This new one captures what everyone liked about the first but elevates the action/cinematography for today’s audiences. A ton of fun!
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story — Fast-paced and never dull, this who-dun-it sequel — in some ways — better than the original. Great set design and colorful characters.
RRR — High energy and full of spirit, this foreign import could teach some of our American filmmakers how to make a proper blockbusters. Only criticisms could apply to nearly any Indian film (overlong long and low-budget special effects). I anticipate I’ll rewatch this one a few times.
The Menu — Clever dialogue and great acting from an All-Star cast. Interesting from beginning to end. Whether you love fine dining or hate pretentious snobs, you’ll dig this sharp horror satire.
The Inspection — Writer/director Elegance Bratton excels with his feature-film debut, based on his own life story. Jeremy Pope gives the breakout acting performance of the year.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On — A beautiful stop-motion animated film that might make you cry. Humorous, sweet and thoughtful!
Pearl — If I could tie them together, I’d include “X” as well, but the prequel is far superior to the initial Ti West release, actually elevating the first one. Mia Goth should — but probably won’t — get nominated for Best Actress. With influences from “Carrie” to “A Star is Born” to “The Wizard of Oz,” this simple technicolor horror origin story. Just enough gore to keep it interesting without dulling the senses with too much on-screen violence. It also boasts one of the best movie scores of 2022.
The Banshees of Inisherin — I love Martin McDonagh’s films and while this 2022 awards contender isn’t as good as “In Bruges” or “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri,” it’s pretty damned good. What starts off as a simple tale about a falling out between friends starts to build and thicken. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are both fantastic, which is no surprise. Throw in a lovable cameo from the always-welcome Barry Keoghan and a solid supporting role from Kerry Condon, and you’ve got a winner.
Tár — Didn’t expect to love this one. It starts slow and take its time to build a world and set the stage, but it ultimately pays off, especially in the last 45 minutes. It probably has more to say than most films I saw in 2022. Early in the film, Cate Blanchett’s character Lydia Tár talks about time/pace and the movie itself is masterful in that regard.
Everything Everywhere All At Once — The crowd pleaser of 2022. Quotable lines. Winning performances. Iconic images. It has it all.
Aftersun — I understand this is an unconventional choice but no movie made me feel something more than Charlotte Wells’ quietly beautiful portrait of an 11-year-old girl trying to understand her troubled, emotionally distant father. Realistically shot with a brisk running time, this A24 offering feels like a dream, like those blurry, painful memories of childhood. It doesn’t insult the audience’s intelligence by spelling out every plot point. Truly moving.
The Northman had strong performances from Taylor-Joy, Skarsgaard, Kidman and others, but it didn't quite rise to the hype. It was so hyped by the media that I was expecting something rather more groundbreaking and original than what I got. There was a lot of CGI, predictable film making techniques, predictable sets. Even the story of Amleth is essentially the Hamlet story. It was too much of a Hollywood blockbuster, appeal-to-all-audiences type of movie. It lacked that memorable quality that comes from taking a risk in a film or focusing on some of the basics, like authenticity, etc. I enjoyed it, but would I watch it again. Not so sure.
MEN was such an incredible disappointment. Visually awesome but my God. I was in the theater with 6 other people watching this film and the last 15 minutes truly became a disappointment. When the credits started rolling a guy behind me got up and said to the rest of us, "You guys alright?" We all had a few minutes where we talked about how insanely crazy that was. We were all thinking..."WTF?"
I suppose that maybe this is what happens when art works, though. Discussion happens. It did for us but boy oh boy...I was so disappointed, but I cant help but feel I was part of a ceremonious moment with six other humans that prompted a brief connection, a brief dialogue, however distasteful of the work we witnessed. These are unfiltered thoughts, lol.