The 25 best films of 2022

Did we need another Scream movie? We never “need” any film, but we enjoyed getting this latest addition to the self-aware horror franchise. It was a nice mix of old school and new, closing some doors on the franchise while opening others.

The Batman is a little overserious, sure, and can be heavy-handed. That’s the nature of the character, though. Many ate up this dark take on the Dark Knight, and Robert Pattinson excelled in the role. Plus, it played up the detective aspect of Batman. 

Richard Linklater pulled a bait-and-switch, but one we appreciate. On the surface, it's a movie about a kid who goes to outer space. In truth, the film is an extensive reminiscence of being a kid in the late 1960s, with delightful animation.

Michael Bay has flaws as a director, but he has shown a deft hand with action. Ambulance is a foot-on-the-throttle action flick with strong central performances by Yaya Abdul-Mateen II and a scenery-chewing Jake Gyllenhaal. Bay also offers a knack for drone shots.

Nicolas Cage plays himself. That’s just the start of the meta nature of this comedy. It could have been too silly or too on the nose, but instead, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent worked and proved a fun, breezy, moving experience.

The opposite of fun and breezy. Robert Eggers is a brutalist, stark filmmaker. He’s the dude behind The Witch and The Lighthouse, if you didn’t know. This film ramps up the violence from his previous films tenfold, but man, does the guy know how to make gripping cinema.

Look, it was fun to see Sam Raimi directing again. He does some real Sam Raimi stuff in Doctor Strange. That alone made Multiverse of Madness worth it. There are some fun cameos as well.

Some have called this movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit for a new generation. It’s not quite on that level, but Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers worked better than we anticipated. The fourth-wall-breaking comedy mines entertainment from a lot of references but also crafts some worthwhile jokes of its own.

Tom Cruise bet on himself and won. Decades after the first film, Top Gun: Maverick proved to be the biggest hit of 2022. It dominated the box office, and why did it do that? Because it was so much fun and way better than the original Top Gun.

This film, written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, is clever. It takes Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and transports its story elements to Fire Island, a gay vacation haven. Hey, finding a fresh take on Austen is hard at this point. Good on Fire Island for doing that.

Austin Butler is quite good as Elvis Presley. Tom Hanks is…doing some weird stuff as Colonel Tom Parker that is fascinating. Baz Luhrmann is as maximalist as ever. Elvis is more experience than a biopic, but what an experience it can be. Oh, and Elvis had some good music, it turns out.

Jordan Peele gives us another distinct horror film. This one is a monster movie. Heavy on atmosphere, Nope is a little impenetrable at times, but it looks great, has a few excellent performances, and makes us feel quite different about ‘90s sitcoms.

Predator as a horror franchise had run its course, but they found a new way to delve into the action that made it worthwhile. Prey settles the action in the plains of 1719 America, focusing on a Comanche warrior who runs into the iconic alien hunter.

People talk about “elevated horror,” but what about elevated action? The Woman King is an example of that. Focused on a group of female warriors in Africa, centering your film on Viola Davis is never a bad idea.

You see Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan starring in a murder mystery, and you get excited. See How They Run is not as good as the dreamiest expectations, but it is a fun but slight film. Think of See How They Run as the cinematic equivalent of a plussed-up procedural, with the leads playing a key role in that.

Finally, a Fletch film made it to the big screen. It took decades, but Confess, Fletch saw the sardonic investigative reporter back at it. This time, he’s played by Jon Hamm, and this version of Irwin M. Fletcher is, funnily enough, less hammy than Chevy Chase’s take on the character. Hamm is great in the role, and Confess, Fletch is hopefully the first of a few films with him.

After over a decade away, Todd Field returned to directing. He brought with him Cate Blanchett, one of the greatest living actors, for Tar. Blanchett is riveting, of course, in a thorny film about an esteemed composer and conductor who sees her past catch up with her.

In 1930, an adaptation of the anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front won Best Picture at the Oscars. That was an American production done in English, though. The 2022 version is directed by a German, and it stars German actors (including Daniel Bruhl). This is a more authentic take on the book that obviously can do more technologically than the 1930 movie.

Did you like In Bruges? It’s OK if you didn’t! It’s polarizing! Some love it, though. The Banshees of Inisherin is a reunion of that film’s writer/director with its stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Yes, this is a weird, idiosyncratic, and probably polarizing movie. It’s also likely going to be an Oscars darling.

James Gray has made some excellent period pieces, but this time it hit home. Armageddon Time is based on Gray’s own childhood, but he uses it to discuss class warfare and racial stratification at length. After all, this film features Donald Trump’s parents as characters.

Walk Hard already existed, which is the pinnacle of biopic parody. However, "Weird Al" Yankovic brought something to the table that Walk Hard didn’t: A dose of reality. Weird is a “biopic” of the parody musician but rich in tweaks on what actually happened. Also, Daniel Radcliffe plays Yankovic, which is a delight.

A shadow was destined to loom over Black Panther  after the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020. Could they pull off a sequel without the star of the original? It turns out that, yes, they could. By turning to the rich world of Wakanda and expanding upon it, this sequel felt earned and not merely like an attempt to cash in on the massive success of Black Panther.

Steven Spielberg made a film inspired by his childhood. It was always going to be fascinating, regardless of quality.  The Fabelmans did not skimp on the quality. Spielberg finally got personal, but he still made it a layered, beautiful film with great actors and performances.

Enchanted was a pleasant surprise for Disney. Fifteen years later, Disenchanted arrived. The important thing is that it stars Amy Adams once again. She was so winning in Enchanted , and now, she got a chance to play new flavors of the fairy tale story. We got to see James Marsden again, which was a delight, while Maya Rudolph joined the cast.

Knives Out was the big surprise of 2019. It was an original story, but it still managed to be a huge hit that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Of course, Rian Johnson did not leave the world of Benoit Blanc fallow. Glass Onion got to build upon Knives Out and did just that. Sure, it’s hard to recapture that original magic of the first film, but Glass Onion is a worthy successor.