My Favorite Films of 2022
This year I’ve not been as active in watching movies as previous years, though I attribute that to the majority of recent films being released just not being that interesting to go out of my way to see. Even among the ones I did see, many left vague or little impressions on me. Because of that, this list will be a short 5, and even between these 5 there’re drastic differences in quality and entertainment value (in my humble opinion) between the top few and bottom few.
5) Thor: Love and Thunder
I was surprised what I heard about this film when it came out. Not that it was another Marvel movie, since that much was obvious, but that it was somehow worse than other Marvel movies. Even compared to the other Marvel films of this year, after seeing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thor 4 had more going for it. This is largely thanks to the arc of the villain, which I thought many people criticized Marvel for lacking. I guess, for some reason, they completely ignored this guy. Many of the other characters and story are standard Marvel fare (yes, I do share the opinion that this is “just another Marvel movie”), though there is the additional unique subplot of Jane Foster battling cancer which is complemented by the villain’s arc. I don’t think I’ve seen effective complementary arcs between heroes and villains in Marvel aside from Thanos and maybe Wilson Fisk, so that’s pretty neat. The visuals are also pretty neat. I’ll reiterate that, yes, this is “just another Marvel movie,” though knowing that it’s still solid for what it does and it is the best of its kind this year.
4) Death on the Nile
I’m sort of a sucker for mysteries. For one thing, they’re so few and far between. For another thing, I think they get too much hate from people who want to appear smart and criticize the genre for not hiding the mystery well enough or, if done well enough, not hiding it the way the critic wanted. For me, I suspend my disbelief for mysteries the same way I suspend it for fantasies. I don’t necessarily need to see entirely consistent magic or whatnot in fantasy, nor motivation or whatnot in mystery (so long as it’s not very noticeable or distracting). I realize this preface is much larger than my actual thoughts on Death on the Nile, though I felt the need to get it out there. Personally, I preferred Murder on the Orient Express. But, this film did its job of providing a solid mystery. You may’ve noticed that this is almost the same positive thoughts I had for Thor 4 as well, and that’s because I think it’s one of the highest praises you can give a film. If it does what it sets out to do and does it solidly, that’s great. I don’t have many thoughts on the cast, only that Kenneth Branagh is still entertaining as Hercule Poirot.
3) The Batman
I’m a big fan of atmosphere, and this film oozes it. Atmosphere is pretty much its own character in this film. Couple that with an actual crime-solve-y plot (i.e., mystery), and I’m pretty much sold. One of the few things I can really demerit this film on is its runtime, though I can largely forgive its slow moments since I like to revel in the puzzle-solving and thinking alongside the characters. Another thing I felt unnecessary was the interaction between The Riddler and who is very likely The Joker. It felt like it took something away from The Riddler who did his job just fine. And the last thing I can think to mention that was just a bit not perfect was the soundtrack. I dug the main theme for The Batman, but it came up a lot and felt a touch too repetitive. Those minor complaints aside, this film is great. I don’t really consider it a comic-book film like Marvel’s films with the heroes fighting the villains and there’s all the boom boom punch punch actiony action because it felt so different from that sort of thing. But, when the action came, it was impressive and thoroughly entertaining.
2) Top Gun: Maverick
So, I’ve never seen the original Top Gun. I still haven’t. From what I’ve heard from others, this is an incredibly successful sequel. From my perspective, this is just an incredibly entertaining film. I imagine knowing Goose and Iceman’s characters beforehand may’ve elevated the emotional beats in this movie, though I thought they still played off effectively. And the action, oh boy, the action. That’s what I wanted to see and this film delivered. You could say some events in the final sequence don’t play out realistically, but I don’t give a crap. Fun things are fun, and this was very fun. The main theme, too, is really good. DUHHH BWOW BWOOOOW DUN DUN DUN DUN DUUUN DUUUUUUN! I don’t really have anything negative to say, it’s just fun. Also, I love that in the introduction of Jennifer Connelly’s character we got a David Bowie song playing in the background. Perfection.
1) Everything Everywhere All at Once
In terms of being all around solid, I’d say Top Gun: Maverick may be #1. In terms of taking risks and for the most part beautifully succeeding, this for sure is my favorite. While its themes and messages are somewhat the same as Daniels’ Swiss Army Man only more commercialized for a wider audience, they’re still great. Its visuals are also crazy. I don’t know how they did most of the stuff they captured in this film. It’s great to see Ke Huy Quan returning after what I last remember him from in Indiana Jones. He probably played my favorite character, both with an impressive action sequence and several touching bits of dialogue. I think the soundtrack was also pretty solid, though I don’t remember it standing out. In any case, I have to go back and rewatch this.
Two honorable mentions I suppose I’ll include are Elvis and Downton Abbey: A New Era. Since I don’t know where else I’d mention it, I’ll also include two I think not only aren’t great but I’d recommend skipping: Disenchanted and The School for Good and Evil (though I would recommend the book, since it was fun to read). There are still some movies I want to see from this year: Glass Onion, Bubble, Avatar: The Way of Water, and The Whale to name a few. Yeah, that’s about it.
