Top 25 Movies of 2022

2022 was the first movie year since the pandemic that started to feel more like what came before. Finally, the movies being released (with one notable exception in Top Gun) weren’t holdovers from the before-times, delayed to maximize profits; rather, they were new and exciting stories, many released to theaters, and some even managed to make a little money. Overall it was a pretty-good-verging-on-great movie year, with lots to recommend, so for my honorable mentions I decided to pair movies with some thematic connection together. Then, as always, my top 25. I’ll be grateful to finally put this movie year behind me, if only so I can start catching up on what I’ve already missed in 2023! Hello Cocaine Bear!

Honorable Mentions:

Chip ‘n Dale/Apollo 10 ½ - Underrated animated films in a year full of great ones

Not Okay/Do Revenge - Messy young women being messy

She Said/Causeway - Harrowing, female-led dramas

The Menu/The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Rich people are crazy

X/Pearl - ⅔ of Ti West’s surprise horror trilogy (part 3 on the way). Somehow both prestige and trashy, anchored by an incredible Mia Goth

Bros/Fire Island - Excellent and ground-breaking LGBTQ+ romantic comedies

The Northman/Ambulance - I’m not usually one for aggressively masculine action movies, but these ones are undeniably successful for what they are. 

Avatar: The Way of Water/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Pretty-great franchise sequels

Dog/Prey - Best Supporting Dog 2022

Kimi/Emily the Criminal - Incredibly of-the-moment crime thrillers starring actresses who had a great year

Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul/Men - Very different stories about religion and what men put women through

Thor: Love and Thunder/Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Marvel’s Phase 4 has been all over the place, but these two had great directors, excellent villains and thrilling climaxes

Werewolf by Night/Guardians Holiday Special - I like these “Marvel Studios Special Presentations,” even if they don’t amount to feature length movies

Dual/Resurrection - Aggressively strange and upsetting but hey! That’s cinema!

Matilda the Musical/All Quiet on the Western Front - These movies have absolutely nothing to do with each other

The List

25. Scream (9/10, Paramount Plus)

It’s impossible to be objective about a movie in my favorite horror franchise, in which Springfield, Oregon’s hometown hero Jasmin Savoy Brown plays a Gen Z version of the original Scream’s horror expert Randy, AND she gets to deliver an updated version of the iconic “rules” speech, AND she’s single-handedly queering the whole franchise!?! INCREDIBLE! But more to the point, the latest Scream is the best franchise installment since Scream II, with a thrilling new cast, some impressively gruesome kills, and the same spirit of fun that animated the franchise at its best. It’s reverent to the original but with an utterly timely twist on the formula. And if you can believe it, Scream VI (which just premiered this weekend) might be even better.

24. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (9/10, HBO Max)

It’s common knowledge at this point that I have an obnoxious affinity both for micro-budget indie movies and for horror movies. This year these two passions collided with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, a harrowing cautionary tale about what unfettered access to the internet (social media in particular) can do to the minds and souls of young people. The film follows a young woman participating in an ARG (alternate reality game) with others in her online community, while the isolation she experiences in her own life prompts a progressive disconnect from reality that is truly disturbing to witness. In World’s Fair it’s not what’s on the screen that terrifies, so much as its implications for our own world, although there are a couple images that will stick with you.

23. Puss in Boots: the Last Wish (9/10, Peacock)

Many contemporary thinkers will tell you that religion is little more than an escape from the fear of death. A cop out. What Puss in Boots: The Last Wish surprisingly but effectively demonstrates is that radical egocentrism is just as much of a cop out (if not more). In fact, running away from the reality of death by seeking temporary pleasures, fame and ego fulfillment is a faster track to meaningless death than religion ever could be. Authentic connection, it turns out, is the only proper salve in a world where death is an inevitable part of the journey. Also I liked the weird little dog.

22. After Yang (9/10, VOD)

Kogonada’s sophomore feature (after 2018’s modest but touching Columbus) finds the video essayist turned filmmaker exploring some deeply human questions through its science fiction premise. After Yang follows Colin Farrell’s Jake, a devoted father who’s at a loss to support his daughter after their robotic nanny Yang suddenly powers down. In his efforts to reboot Yang, Jake embarks on a journey of memory and grief that winds up being sort of a mirror image of Ex Machina: humanistic and soulful where Garland’s debut was severe and disturbing. 

21. On the Count of Three (9/10, Hulu)

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael took a turn in the director’s chair this year with his gallows humor-filled debut On the Count Of Three, in which Carmichael and the alarmingly-severe Christopher Abbott star as two best friends hoping to share their last day together before fulfilling a mutual suicide pact. If the premise sounds off-putting, your instincts aren't entirely off base, as the finished product is as dark a comedy as you're bound to find. Still, between the believable relationship at the film's center, the naturalistic-yet-clever dialogue, and the thorny but meaningful reckoning with trauma and mental illness, I would recommend On the Count of Three to those who can stomach it, albeit perhaps with some trigger warnings first.

20. Turning Red (9/10, Disney+)

The attitudes, slang and culture of teenage girls tend to be maligned by the broader culture, even while history so often winds up vindicating their taste. After all, before they were undisputed iconoclasts and verified geniuses, the Beatles were heartthrobs for the teen girl fans of their day. In that spirit, one of the most delightful movies I saw this year was Pixar’s criminally underpromoted Turning Red, a story about a Chinese-Canadian tween on the cusp of puberty, and the mysterious curse afflicting the women of her family when they come of age: turning into giant red pandas when they get too “emotional.” Written and directed by Pixar up-and-comer Domee Shi (Bao), and featuring music written by Billie and Finneas Eilish, Turning Red is one of the most winsome and original Pixar stories in years. 

19. Babylon (9/10, Paramount Plus)

To say that wunderkind Damien Chazelle’s latest directorial effort has been his most polarizing by far would be an understatement. His debut Whiplash earned a sort of instant classic status, becoming a favorite among cinephiles (especially film bros), while La La Land won him broader appeal and even some notoriety after it won, and then immediately lost, best picture to Moonlight at the 2016 Oscars. Then came 2018’s First Man, an understated but moving portrayal of Neil Armstrong and how his career obsession impacted his personal life. In fact, one might say that obsession and its impact on happiness is a hallmark of Chazelle’s oeuvre, along with his nigh-unparalleled commitment to color and spectacle. So why did Babylon come as such a surprise and scandal to the same critical apparatus that once hailed Chazelle as the next big thing? It’s just as colorful and spectacular as its predecessors, with some of the same thematic preoccupations. My theory: he turned it all up to 11, and some critics and audiences just couldn’t hang. They couldn’t stomach how utterly licentious and scatalogical it was, with its old Hollywood bacchanals, snake handling and elephant excrement. Is Babylon tasteful? No, it sure isn’t. Is it a thrilling tightrope walk between celebration of film and condemnation of Hollywood’s moral decay? Yes. 

18. Top Gun: Maverick (9/10, Paramount Plus)

Not gonna lie, Top Gun: Maverick was a bit of an uphill climb for me, for a lot of reasons: 1) I found the original mediocre at best. 2) It is, after all, blatant military propaganda. 3) I genuinely believe Tom Cruise deserves all the hate Chris Pratt has been getting for his religious associations. If it wasn’t for Cruise, the world’s largest and most influential cult would collapse under its own weight. ALL THAT SAID, Joseph Kosinski’s legacy sequel, 40 years in the making, is simply one of the best summer blockbusters I’ve ever seen. Highlights: Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell (why are people freaking out about Miles Teller’s abs when Glen Powell was RIGHT THERE in the same scene??), and music by (among others) Lady Gaga! I knew she’d written “Hold My Hand” for the film, but I didn’t realize it’d be the central couple’s love theme! Awww!

17. The Batman (9/10, HBO Max)

Since the Marvel Cinematic University launched with 2008’s Iron Man, my year-end list has only lacked a Marvel movie a handful of times (2009, 2010, 2013, and 2020 for obvious reasons). It’s interesting to note, then, how none of Marvel’s three 2022 installments cracked my list this year. By and large I didn’t think they were bad, just a bit underwhelming after the heights of Phase 3. Anyway, I mention that only to highlight how surprising it is that the only superhero movie to truly blow me away this year was Matt Reeve’s The Batman. Moody, austere, brutalist and culturally astute, The Batman (somehow) manages to wring meaning, commentary and thrills from yet another story about the Caped Crusader. Ignorant corners of the internet decried the casting of Twilight’s Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight himself, but those of us in the know, who’ve followed Pattinson’s career in the meantime, knew he had the goods. And under the leadership of Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes), he proved himself fit to wear the cowl. 

16. Glass Onion (9/10, Netflix)

Rian Johnson really made a whole movie about what an idiot Elon Musk is! Sure, those involved in the Knives Out sequel’s production insist Edward Norton’s tech billionaire could stand in for any number of wealthy, egomaniacal morons, but what Mr. Musk got himself into between Glass Onion's production and its release made Johnson’s latest seem downright prescient, if not prophetic. It’s also hilarious, clever, star-studded and a worthy follow up to Knives Out. No matter how many of these things Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig want to make together, I’m there. 

15. Nope (9.5/10, VOD)

When the curtains closed on Nope, I mistakenly pegged it as Jordan Peele’s least heady effort to date, if only because on the surface it seems to be more blockbuster fun than social commentary (and it is SO FUN), but upon later reflection Nope has at least as much as Get Out or Us. In fact, the longer I sit with it, the more I recognize Nope as taking aim at the spectacle-obsessed world in which we live, where “content” takes precedence over human connection and even safety. I’m so grateful for Jordan Peele and his voice; I feel we may need it more and more in years to come.

14. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (9.5/10, Netflix)

Of what use is obedience in a fascist state? This is the thematic concern at the heart of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the second and infinitely superior take on the fairy tale released this year (the less said about Zemeckis’ Pinocchio the better). If you’re surprised that Netflix’s Pinocchio is a meditation on fascism, remember the director’s predilection toward using imagination and storytelling to indict far right politics in his films (Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth being prime examples). The finished product in this case is rousing, compelling, and demonstrates a commitment to excellence in form only del Toro can pull off. Also it has Mussolini in it. Wild!

13. Bodies Bodies Bodies (9.5/10, VOD)

Generational satires with a grimly funny take on youth culture in America always hold a special place in my heart. Think Cruel Intentions, Mean Girls, Jennifer’s Body, Thoroughbreds, all tracing back to 1989’s Heathers. Few of these skewer a generation and its foibles as effectively as Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies. In general it’s tricky for Hollywood to nail youth slang and culture, especially if the creatives behind the camera are from another generation entirely, but what sets Bodies Bodies Bodies apart is its authentically Gen Z flair, its Gen Z cast (Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennot etc) who mostly improvised their dialogue, and its uniquely Gen Z premise: that a bunch of wealthy, privileged podcasters, influencers and trust fund babies would host a “hurricane party” at one of their mansions. It's an absurd, hilarious take on the terminally online, with as clever a twist as I’ve seen in years. 

12. Tar (9.5/10, Peacock)

I may like Todd Field’s Tar slightly less than the many critics who placed it atop their year-end lists, and hailed it as an instant contemporary classic, but I also like it quite a bit more than most of the people I know in person who’ve seen it. Obviously critics and the general public don’t always align, but it makes sense their taste would diverge over a movie as cold, clinical, slow and (frankly) long as Tar. All that said, Field’s story about a problematic but brilliant artist is one of the most socially urgent released this year, asking hard questions about abuse, power, separating art from artists and the possibility of redemption. Add to that dialogue that’s remarkably authentic to the world of music performance and theory (a real treat to the music nerds out there), and one of the most towering performances I’ve ever seen, and Tar transcends its pace and runtime, amounting to something essential. 

11. Aftersun (9.5/10, VOD)

I may need to give Charlotte Well’s debut another watch. For a good portion of its runtime, I wasn’t sure how well I was connecting with the modest story about an emotionally estranged young father and daughter on vacation at a Turkish resort. Something ineffable seems to be coming between the storyteller and her audience. By the movie’s last act I came to realize that “thing” is the same thing coming between the father and daughter at the story’s center: depression. Paul Mescal turns in an absolutely staggering performance as the troubled young father, trying his best to love and connect with his daughter despite lacking the bandwidth to do so. It’s relatable, it’s heartbreaking, and in its final moments, as Queen’s “Under Pressure” blares, it is transcendent. 

10. Barbarian (9.5/10, HBO Max)

I love to see a movement within contemporary (what some call “elevated”) horror cinema back toward what makes horror movies fun in the first place: big, dumb thrills. Stupid character choices and laughably audacious moments. Not everything has to be so serious. Zach Cregger (Whitest Kids You Know), in his solo directorial debut, understands this, and Barbarian shows it. Following a young woman who rents an Airbnb on the wrong side of Detroit for a job interview, Barbarian manages to be genuinely frightening, hilarious (especially once Justin Long joins the mix), and as incisive as any of the other socially conscious stories this year. 

9. Triangle of Sadness (9.5/10, Hulu)

2022, like 2019 before it, was a year full of class-conscious stories brimming with resentment toward the one-percenters. Those who hoard wealth, status and privilege while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet. Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle of Sadness approaches this resentment with both cleverness and a dose of absurdity, following two young models whose relationship is on its last leg, who embark on a pleasure cruise for the hyper-wealthy in order to grow closer. Suffice it to say the cruise and its spiritually bankrupt passengers are not up to the task. I don’t want to spoil where the story goes, but I can all but promise you won’t see it coming. 

8. Bones and All (9.5/10, VOD)

I don’t think Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria 2018) is capable of making an unproblematic movie, and maybe that’s for the best. His latest, the much-discussed cannibal romance Bones and All, gets a bit thorny if you try and nail down exactly what it’s trying to say, since the two bloody lovers at the film’s center obviously represent life on the margins, but in certain moments Guadagnino and co. seem to evoke the iconography of queerness, and in others addiction. That said, Bones and All is a fascinating tightrope walk between the sincere and the macabre. It will break your heart and turn your stomach. Chalamet is predictably compelling but it’s Taylor Russell who anchors the story with a complex vulnerability that, frankly, blew me away. I loved the style, I loved the performances, and I loved how the story is actually pretty conventionally thrilling for such an artsy movie. I kinda loved it. Bones and all.

7. The Banshees of Inisherin (9.5/10) 

Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri) walks the finest line between jet black cynicism and covert humanism in each of his stories. It’s a tension that provides momentum through all his films, perhaps most of all in the Banshees of Inisherin. Banshees’ story is incredibly modest, even slow, but that just allows the film to linger on rich themes (legacy vs ordinary happiness), brilliant performances (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason, Barry Keoghan as good as I’ve seen them with Kerry Condon as a surprise MVP) and painterly landscapes (Ireland is pretty). Fantastic. Just fantastic.

6. Cha Cha Real Smooth (9.5/10, Apple TV+)

It may be too early to crown Gen Z auteur Cooper Raiff the voice of a generation. But I do know that his 2020 debut S***house was one of the most tender, open-hearted coming of age movies I’ve ever seen. In fact, it was my very favorite film of that year, so expectations were high for his sophomore effort, and while it isn’t topping my list this year, Raiff’s exploration of post-college ennui is as delightful as its name would suggest. His Linklater-meets-Gerwig tone and aesthetic will never get old to me. Here’s hoping his stories stay small and personal. I expect that’s where he’ll thrive.

5. RRR (10/10, Netflix)

In a year of maximalist cinema (Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: Way of Water, EEAAO), S. S. Rajamouli’s RRR is, without question, the maximalist…est. I wasn’t familiar with India’s Tollywood cinema before RRR became a global crossover sensation, but if this sensory explosion is any indication, I have a lot of catching up to do. RRR’s story follows two Indian nationals during the era of British colonial occupation: one a mythic tribal hero and the other an officer in the British governor's army. The two meet and become fast friends before realizing they are on opposite sides of the fight for Indian independence, and what ensues is a bombastic, action-packed, musical extravaganza which might be my favorite action movie of all time. 

4. Women talking (10/10, Amazon Prime)

Few films tackle faith with such conviction and nuance, while also taking on the damage it can do when perverted or abused, as Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. Based on a novel by Canadian writer Miriam Toews (itself based on a true story), Women Talking follows a community of ascetic Christians (Mennonite in all but name), rocked after the discovery that its men have been abusing its women under cover of night for years, and then blaming said abuse on demons and spirits rather than taking any responsibility for the harm they’ve committed. When the community’s men travel into town to bail the perpetrators out of jail, its women gather in a barn to debate their options: stay and do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. What follows is an absolutely gutting moral reckoning, raising evergreen questions around forgiveness, gender, power, faith, and how to break cycles of abuse. Truly a beautiful thing to behold. 

3. Marcel the Shell with Shoes on (10/10, Showtime)

I have a strange affinity for movies about divorce (The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story, Kramer vs. Kramer etc), to the confusion of most of my friends and loved ones. I’ve never been married, but I find a special kind of meaning in stories about the dissolution of a significant relationship. They catch human life at such a point of vulnerability, and involve more emotional stakes than narrative ones. 2022’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, based on a web series of the same name from a decade ago, finds its creators (ex husband and wife Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate) processing the end of their own marriage through a sweet, quirky, and gut-bustingly funny mockumentary about an anthropomorphic shell in search of home and family. That may sound strange or esoteric, but the finished product is remarkably accessible. I’d recommend it to anyone in need of a gentle dose of humor or warmth. 

2. The Fabelmans (10/10, VOD)

The fact that Stephen Spielberg is far and away my favorite director came as an embarrassingly late realization for me. It was only once I started listing out how many of his movies are 5/5 star masterpieces (ET, Close Encounters, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Catch Me If You Can) that I realized no other filmmaker could come close to his place in my heart. After all, Spielberg shares my flair for the sentimental. Compared with other blockbuster auteurs (Chris Nolan, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino), he seems most willing to explore the emotional and moral elements of his stories. Ironically, his 34th feature might be the director’s shaggiest, thorniest, least emotionally tidy movie to date, even though its far and away his most personal. The Fabelmans is essentially an autobiography about Spielberg’s own childhood, the secrets his parents kept, and the lifelong pathologies that led him to become a film director in the first place. Filled with remarkable performances, stunning setpieces and brimming with love for the magic of movies, The Fabelmans is a can’t miss that, sadly, too many did. 

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (10/10, Showtime)

Sometimes my very favorite movies wind up being the hardest for me to talk (and write) about, and the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once might be my favorite movie in half a decade or more. Centering on a Chinese immigrant family who own and operate a laundromat, but exploring hundreds of parallel worlds and fantastical scenarios in the pursuit of meaning, beauty, and love, EEAAO is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. What other movie can offer its viewers both a cogent and compelling exploration of existential nihilism, and a recurring joke about butt plugs? What other movie can authentically and movingly portray the culture clash of intergenerational immigrant families, and a universe where everyone has hot dogs for fingers? What other movie will make you sob along with a melancholy speech about hope, love and optimism, and bust your gut laughing at a raccoon puppeteering a chef? The title might be a bit unwieldy, but it’s also apt. It really is about everything, everywhere, all at once.