Top 10 Movies of 2022

2022 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  This was a great year for movies, especially in the horror genre.  It was hard for me to pick just 10 movies to put on here and I know at least 1 will be very controversial.  Let's do this!


#10. Thor: Love and Thunder


Let's just get the controversial one out of the way.  Yes, Thor: Love and Thunder made my Top 10.  Yes, this is my favorite Thor movie.  Yes, I'm aware most people aren't fans of this movie.  Do I care?  No.  I loved this movie.  I've been wanting Marvel to get weird in the aftermath of Endgame and Love and Thunder delivered.  This movie swings back between being very funny and very dark.  The weird tone works for me, though I recognize it won't for a lot of people.  This is the 1st time I actually cared about the relationship between Thor and Jane, Christian Bale is incredible as the villain, and there are some astounding visuals.  I wished the Guardians of the Galaxy had been used more, but I'm a big fan of this movie and it's certainly the best of the MCU in 2022.


#9. The Banshees of Inisherin



This is a feckin' great movie that I need to watch again with subtitles on.  Martin McDonagh may just be my favorite director.  This is a little movie about two friends and a conflict in their friendship.  Sounds simple, and it is, but it's totally engrossing.  Colin Farrell is fantastic and I believe Brendan Gleeson should win Best Supporting Actor.  This movie manages to be hilarious and horrible at the same time. 


#8. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio



I love the original Disney's Pinocchio, but del Toro makes this retelling completely his own.  The animation is gorgeous, Geppetto is a much more interesting character than in the Disney version, the voice acting is elite, with Ewan McGregor being the highlight, and the movie managed to make me cry.  Not a lot of movies can do that.  Plus I love that the movie exists to stand in the face of fascism.  It works within the time-period of the story and it works now.  We may lose the donkey storyline, but I think what we gain is pretty powerful.


#7. All Quiet on the Western Front



A war movie that shows us World War I from the perspective of German soldiers on the frontline.  This is probably the best war movie I've seen since Saving Private Ryan.  It's really an anti-war movie, however.  It does a fantastic job of showing just how pointless and cruel war can be.  It has my favorite cinematography and score of the year.


#6. Pearl


This is the prequel to X, which also came out this year, but did not make it into my Top 10.  Pearl gives us the origin story to X's killer and Mia Goth reprises the role.  She gives an absolutely brilliant performance and she is my pick for Best Actress.  It has the tone of classic Hollywood film, think The Wizard of Oz, but gone horribly wrong and dark.  It has a surreal and twisted edge, which deeply appeals to me.  While the gore isn't as plentiful as it is in X it still shows up.  The movie is less of a slasher film and more of a character study and Pearl is an incredibly interesting character.


#5. Bullet Train



I really wasn't expecting my deep knowledge of Thomas the Tank Engine lore to come in handy, but it does in Bullet Train.  The movie follows a group of wacky assassins on a train and one of them learned everything he needs to know about people from watching Thomas the Tank Engine and it's actually important to the plot.  That's how you win me over!  Brad Pitt is fantastic as a Zen hippie who doesn't want to hurt anyone.  The action is perfectly over-the-top, it's full of dumb bullshit, which is a good thing, and I love the themes of fate and luck.  It's a movie I feel like was made specifically for me, and I appreciate it.


#4. Violent Night




This movie is in the running for my new favorite Christmas movie.  They managed to stretch a concept to a full length-movie that could have only worked as a trailer.  The cast is great with David Harbour, John Leguizamo, and Leah Brady being the highlights.  The action is a lot of fun and a lot more gory that I was expecting.  I'm not a big fan of Christmas and this is a rare movie that gets me in the Christmas spirit.  I'm so happy that it exists and that it was done remarkably well.


#3. The Menu



This is my favorite horror movie of the year.  Yes, this is a horror movie, and a classy one at that.  The cast is absolutely brilliant and each plays their part perfectly.  Ralph Fiennes is the standout and I think he should win Best Actor.  It's a very smart movie and a lot of care and craft went into it.  They even had a professional chef consult on the film, so they absolutely went the extra mile.  While I would never call it scary, it certainly gets intense and totally nails the 3rd act.


#2. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On



This is about as wholesome of a movie as you can get.  I didn't watch too many of the Marcel YouTube videos, but I was familiar with the character.  Jenny Slate is perfect in the role and the movie manages to be very funny, while also emotionally devastating.  And the way they make this a feature is awesome and keeps the YouTube videos canon.


Finally, before we get to the best film of 2022, a few honorable mentions:

Top Gun: Maverick

Turning Red

Barbarian

X

Scream

She Said

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

The Cursed


#1. Everything Everywhere All at Once



After this movie ended, I left the theater, got in my car, and contemplated everything I had just witnessed and my own existence.  I sat there for a good ten minutes just processing the movie.  It has such wonderful creative energy and is absolutely balls-to-the-walls insane.  The cast is incredible.  Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis should all be in the running for some awards this season.  The editing is the best of the year.  This is some god damn cinema.  I love multiverse stuff and this is probably the best use of the multiverse I've ever seen in media.  If this doesn't win Best Picture, it will be a crime.

So that's my list!  What do you think?  Am I dead wrong or did I nail it?  What's your favorite movie of the year?  Let me know!    

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