Watch out, it's an article!
2022 was a wild ride, and it's time to celebrate by talking about every single movie I've loved to watch this year. I went a lot in 2022, needing a good source of escapism, and there was quite a range throughout. I saw horrors, comedies, cartoons, and more. So take a look at my best films of the year and check them out for yourself. And by the way, this list is in no order whatsoever. Enjoy!
Oh and I missed Banshees of Inisherin... so uh... yeah, that's not on here. Sorry. Looks great though. Can't wait to finally see it... ahem.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Let's get this one out of the way quickly, because I already said Knives Out was one of my all-time favourite movies ever back when I watched it in 2019, and that still hasn't changed, so me loving the sequel shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to long-time readers. Yes I was a little worried the film couldn't match up to the original, and while I don't put it at quite the same level as the 2019 masterpiece, it's more than worthy to recommend for fans and newcomers.
Daniel Craig returns in arguably the best performance of his career, as the oddball detective Benoit Blanc, who is going a bit weirder than usual due to the isolation and change caused by Covid. This is when he is given a surprise invitation for a murder mystery weekend, hosted by famous billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), and full of potential suspects for Blanc to figure out, each of them played by famous actors Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom. Jr, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline.
While I do think the film's larger scale gets in the way at times, especially at the end, the pros of Glass Onion far outweigh the cons. The film is hilarious, the characters all unique, and the mystery is full of great twists and turns that help to keep you connected to the ongoing murder story. No scene is a waste of time, the social commentary is as obvious as it is relevant. What else can I say? Watch the damn film! Buy the physical copies! Let's see, and pray, that the third film can keep this hot streak running.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
There's almost always a film or two that take me by surprise every year. Everything Everywhere All at Once (which will be referred to as EE from now on to save time and space) is 2022's biggest surprise, with themes and characters that really stuck with me long after I left the cinema. Out of every film I've seen this year, it's the one that I feel most confident in saying is the best.
To spoil as little as possible, EE stars Michelle Yeoh as a struggling mother, wife, daughter and business owner immigrant in America, trying to handle a billion problems at once all by herself. Then things get super weird, in ways you couldn't possibly predict... Yeah, I wasn't kidding. I don't want to spoil anything with this film.
What makes EE so great is just about everything, except a certain hot dog scene that leaved me as disgusted as the characters in that scene. Yes, the film is hilarious and ridiculous at times. Yes, the choreography is amazing and inventive. However, what really stood out to me is the exploration of themes and characters, creating scenes of beauty through methods I never thought were possible. Never before has the words "just be a rock" been able to create so many tears.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel didn't have it's best year, but there were a few winners scattered around that definitely made an impression, and I'd say the movie most worth talking about carrying the Marvel logo is the sequel to 2018's classic Black Panther, Wakanda Forever! And while I personally wouldn't put it at the level of the previous one, Wakanda Forever does bring great story and character development more than worthy of your precious-precious time.
After the tragic loss of T'Challa (R.I.P Chadwick Boseman), Wakanda is now in mourning, and suffering the consequences of outing themselves and their Vibranium to the outside world. The Sub-Mariner himself, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Meija) finally makes his live-action debut and tells the Queen of Wakanda, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), that they are to help him or become his kingdom's enemy. T'Challa's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), still coping with the grief and guilt over the loss, takes centre stage and becomes the most major player in trying to prevent war and reduce casualties, but she is quickly running out of options.
While some of the action scenes and CGI aren't up to the standard we should have by now, the true appealing factors of the film shine through. Every performance is full of raw emotion and strength, especially from Angela Bassett, and it's great to see different reactions of grief get displayed as they deserve to be. I love most of these characters, Winston Duke's M'Baku still manages to steal every scene he's in, and the music is kick-ass. Not one of the MCU's best, but definitely a worthy part of the collection.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
The first film surprised a lot of people with it's charm, jokes and Ben Schwartz's performance as Sonic, but while I did like it, I felt it was lacking in energy, reducing the protagonist to chill inside a car and spend time with generic human characters. The sequel however, I kinda loved? Let me be clear, I wouldn't give it a 10/10 or anything like that, but I had a great time and a half with Sonic's second outing. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to quit this hedgehog-based franchise. (Should I start reading the comics? Someone tell me, I genuinely am unsure).
Jim Carrey is back in his final (yeah right) role as Dr Robotnik/Eggman, and he's out for revenge against Sonic. He teams up with the red echidna Knuckles (voiced wonderfully and erotically by Idris Elba), and they go in search of the Master Emerald which can grant ultimate power. Sonic teams up with his new friend, Miles "Tails" Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and so begins a global race to get the emerald first.
I guess I'm just the kind of guy who would rather see Sonic skate downhill on ice against Knuckles, rather than watch him in a bar fight with biker dudes. The jokes are snappier, Jim Carrey and his assistant Stone (Lee Majdoub) are hamming it up as they should, and Idris Elba's iteration of Knuckles brings a much-needed overhaul to a character that has really been suffering in the games over the past ten years. If they could have removed the dance-off, I doubt I'd have anything to complain about. Now bring on my boy Metal Sonic!
The Bad Guys
If there's one thing to praise about Dreamworks over Disney, it's that they're more likely to get a bit experimental. Stories like Kung fu Panda and Shrek proved that already, but their 2022 movie The Bad Guys is more unique with animation and style rather than story. That's not to say the story is bad, I actually got quite a kick out of it, but this film is GORGEOUS and that demands calling out first.
In a world where humans live alongside animal-people, also known as the Furry Dream we've all had at least once and don't pretend you haven't, Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell) leads a group of other thieves in big heists, but when they're caught, he strikes a deal with governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) to prove he can be trained by professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) and become a good person.
The voice acting from all, including Craig Robinson, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos and Alex Borstein, are all charming and fun, and the designs are so fast and energetic you can't help but get hooked by them. With great laughs, a fun song or two, a fox character that keeps me up at night, and animation that mixes 2D with 3D perfectly, The Bad Guys is my favourite animated movie of 2022 (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish doesn't come out in the UK until next year, so I sadly haven't been able to watch it yet). It deserved far more than it got, so here's hoping for at least a cult following.
The Batman
Yet another bloody reboot of the character that Warner Bros treats as the only DC property worth mentioning, The Batman wasn't what I wanted at all when I first heard about. But here it is on my list, so clearly it managed to impress despite being the 3^43th version of the character to hit my screen. Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves, both showing off the full extent of their talents here, have created a new and fresh Batman story that deserves a lot of attention. We will never be free of this character, will we?
Not an origin story, but not about his veteran days either, The Batman stars Robert Pattison taking on the role of Bruce Wayne in Gotham's grimiest yet most gorgeous state, as he is forced to figure out the cruel plan of serial killer The Riddler (Paul Dano), with help from Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), Alfred (Andy Serkis) and Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz).
Most of the cast were surprising choices, although Jeffrey Wright was such a perfect choice that I was flipping out in excitement from that announcement, but they managed to make the characters their own while keeping to the heart of who they are. The action is great, with the Batmobile section in particular being an audience pleaser, and the commentary is sharp and on point. My only real complaint, besides that terrible Riddler outfit, is that it's another Batman story. In the 21st century alone, we've had the Arkham games, the Injustice games, the Dark Knight trilogy, Ben Affleck's version, the Harley Quinn cartoon, the Joker movie, the Lego version, all those animated movies that are almost all terrible, Gotham, Pennyworth, and too many cameos and cartoon appearances to count. Meanwhile, where's Martian Manhunter? Zatanna? DETECTIVE CHIMP?!
Turning Red
I was actually shocked to discover this came out in 2022. It's been a weird year. And speaking of weird, Turning Red comes to us by the director of that Pixar short Bao, the one that makes me shudder, but thankfully there's nothing as horrible as that short's twist here. The twists provided are actually awesome instead! And so is the rest of everything else in Turning Red!
A young girl named Mei Lee is living life well in 2002's Toronto, dedicated to her parents Ming and Jin, and secretly loving the boy band 4 Town, until a shocking incident of embarrassment suddenly causes her to transform into a huge red panda. Mei tries to ignore this new change her body has gone through, but when she discovers 4 Town are coming to her town, she and her friends eagerly find a way to use this form to her advantage.
What I love most about this film is that the teenage girls, especially Mei, actually feel like teenage girls. They're written with emotion, from crushing on tons of boys like idiots to getting unreasonably angry over small things, and it feels far more authentic than some of the other teenagers I've seen by Disney recently (remember the monotone science-lover from 2019's Dumbo?). On top of that, the film is a lot of fun from the very start, with high energy characters and silly shenanigans, and I don't think I've ever seen a film be so upfront and honest about puberty before, especially for a girl. Between this, those fantastic Baymax shorts, Owl House's wonderful second season, and the so-so Strange World, Disney's representation is finally taking the right steps forward.
Prey
I love when a film just outright surprises me from the second I turn it on. 2018's The Predator was a terrible movie, and Prey was skipping cinemas to go straight to Hulu (or in my case, Disney+'s Star), so hopes weren't high. And yet here we are with one of my favourites of the year, a near-perfect example of a director recognising what type of character (in this case, the Predator itself) they've been given, and how best to utilise it.
Set in 1719, a young Comanche warrior known as Naru (Amber Midthunder) seeks to prove herself as a hunter like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Of course, that hunt comes in a way she could never predict, as the alien Predator (Dane Diliegro) has arrived. As the Predator builds up the food chain of hunters, Naru learns each time from these brutal events, and she must figure out a way to stop this advanced killer before it's too late.
Instead of terrible jokes or lame attempts to build up lore and sequels, Prey focuses on the kind of character a Predator can never defeat: A hunter that learns and adapts with the land. Like Arnie in the first movie's climax, Naru is a character that knows how to build and prepare traps, and her educational journey to the climax is exciting and fresh. And the action with the Predator... oh boy... Predators are like Daleks to me. Fine when there's tons of them, but when it's just one, the director has to get more creative and that's when things get amazing and brutal! I loved this movie, and I hope you watch it asap to agree with me.
Bullet Train
Some people want the drama of Aftersun, or the horrors of Nope (just FYI, I did watch Nope. I was disappointed honestly. Nowhere near as good as Get Out or Us.), but me? I want a thrill ride. And while it didn't appeal to everyone, Bullet Train was a thrill ride from start to finish that I got great laughs from, from the start to the last stop.
Based on a Japanese book (awkward cough about the whitewashing) by Kotaro Isaka, Bullet Train follows the assassin codenamed Ladybug (Brad Pitt) as he is tasked with a simple pick-up, and things immediately escalate when it turns out the train is full of killers, like Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and there's an entire scheme of deception, blackmail and murder going on due to the machinations of a character played by Joey King.
Managed chaos. That's a good way to put the plot and events of this film. Things are moving fast, jokes and reveals come flying as fast as the constant barrage of fists and bullets, but it's also all calculated and smart. These writers, and director David Leitch, know what they're doing and the plot almost never falters. It's a bit too long overall, but it's great fun for all of that runtime so I can't complain too much. This is also the film that made me realise that Brian Tyree Henry is... just a gem. He really is.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
I could tell you what this film is about and like, but I already did an entire review on that before so just click here, thanks - Read my review here.
And that's every movie of 2022 I loved and enjoyed this year! Let me know in the comments what you liked, what you recommend, and why.
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