2022 was a great year to get as invested in movies as I did. There wasn’t a genre of movie that I felt disappointed in. That being said, some movies stood out and cemented themselves as some of my favorites of the year, so here we go:
Before I dive into my top 5, I just want to highlight a couple of movies that didn’t quite crack my list but I felt deserved a shout-out. The Whale was a last-minute watch of the year for me and I’m glad I went out and saw it. I didn’t think the movie was perfect but Brendan Fraser delivered one of the rawest, most emotional performances I had seen. The Batman was my favorite superhero movie of the year. Robert Pattinson as Batman was something I had no expectations for and now I want to see him in this role for a long time. Nope was Jordan Poole’s latest horror movie and he’s gone 3 for 3 on great movies. Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya were dynamic together, the alien was nerve-wracking the entire time, and Nope had one of the most skin-crawling scenes I had ever seen. Finally, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinnochio was a beautiful retelling of the age-old story of Pinnochio in stunning stop motion. Now on to number 5.
5. X and Pearl- I’m cheating here but X and Pearl were phenomenal as A24’s first franchise. Mia Goth puts in some incredible performances as Maxxine in X and as Pearl in X and Pearl. The supporting cast in X is extremely likable which can be rare for a slasher and Pearl being more of a character study than a slasher developed the universe and these characters perfectly. I can not wait for MaXXXine this year to see how this all wraps up.
4. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once– If you’ve heard our 2022 awards show, you’ll know this was our Best Original and Best Overall movie of the year. I do not understand multiverse movies but this one made the most sense compared to the others. (Looking at you Marvel) Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan gave outstanding performances that made the movie so much fun to watch. It had great action, fun comedy, and some truly tear-jerking scenes. Hell, there’s a scene of some rocks looking out over a cliff that got my eyes watery. This movie really came out of nowhere but I’m so happy to have seen it this year.
3. Barbarian– 2022 was a great year for horror movies, and Barbarian stood out to me above the rest. First off, Georgina Campbell was great as our leading lady here. She is smart, cautious, and very suspicious and is so easy to follow in the movie. The movie is a big misdirect and goes off the rails in the second half. I appreciated the tone shift, going from one of the scariest scenes of the year to a scene of show tunes down the PCH. It took a lot of guts to try something like that and it really worked for me.
2. Cha Cha Real Smooth- A complete surprise here at number 2 but Cha Cha Real Smooth was such a fun watch, thanks to Cooper Raif’s directing, writing, and performance in the lead role. The movie is about someone my age, going through situations I have gone through, and I felt it captured the emotional rollercoaster very accurately. Dakota Johnson is also great as the opposing lead and her relationship with her daughter and Raif’s character was done very well. If you hadn’t heard of this movie before, I really recommend giving it a watch.
1. Top Gun Maverick- This one was an easy pick for me. Top Gun Maverick was the first movie I watched this year at the theaters and a week later I was back to see it again. This was better than the original in my opinion and was a movie that I’d always turn to when I hopped on the treadmill. No matter how many times I watched it, I always got goosebumps during the action scenes and still almost tear up towards the end. It’s rare a movie can do that for me and extremely rare for it to be an action movie. Top Gun Maverick easily was my favorite movie to watch this past year.
