Favourite Movies of 2022

It has been an interesting year of movies — with theatres being the most normal since the pandemic began. There were big wins for theatres, with Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water showing out better than anyone could have hoped. There have also been big misses, Babylon being the most notable one of late. Overall, I think it has been a good bounce back year. There are plenty of very good movies, both big and small, worth seeing and discussing. Even if we are missing truly great ones at the top of most lists (in my opinion), there more than ten “top ten worthy” movies, if you know what I mean. Let’s get into a few that I found the desire to write about.

Top Gun: Maverick

What can I really say that hasn’t already been said? I honestly don’t think I have had a bigger grin on my face for 2+ hours.

I am as big a fan of the original Top Gun as anyone, but I still feel it’s flaws are sometimes underdiscussed. There is a B-movie quality to it at times. The “need for speed” quip. Mav and Iceman’s bizarre rivalry, that is not just sexually charged, but filled with many weird acting choices. The love scenes encapsulating what an 8-year old’s conception of sex might be.

Top Gun: Maverick is legitimately unbelievable in it’s pure existence, in that it waterdances through the perfect amount of tribute without ever a winking eye to the audience. Ever reference to the original — Great Balls of Fire, talk to me Goose, the bar, to name a few, have their own new touch.

It is refreshing to see that it is possible for a modern “remake” to give proper tribute to devoted fans, without ever being schlocky. Avoiding the “need for speed” line is a perfect microcosm of the self-control the movie has. Creating something new, without sacrificing the integrity of what makes any original great, is hard. And Kosinski and Cruise landed the proverbial plane perfectly. That’s movies baby.

Banshees of Inisherin

The Farrell-aissance is fully upon us, and it is wonderful. Farrell’s recently been a part of Banshees, Thirteen Lives, The Batman, After Yang, and the underseen but critically acclaimed mini-series The North Water. He’s shown incredibly versatility amongst that group, playing a happy go-lucky man in Banshees, a sullen father in After Yang, and the Penguin.

Banshees is a dark comedy about two old friends in a small island off the coast of Ireland, amidst the Irish Civil War. If a “period-piece” turns you off at all, although the civil war is symbolic of the infighting taking place in the movie and the polarization of the world today, it plays second fiddle to the relationship between Farrell’s Padraic and Brendan Gleeson’s Colm.

One day, Colm just decides to he “doesn’t like Padraic no more”, and is going to instead spend the time he would drolling away with Padraic to further create music. The movie raises interesting questions about art, time, friendship, and ambition. It never holds your hand, and without spoiling too much, doesn’t pull any punches with any sort of Hollywood ending. The natural dialogue, big and small moments, the coastal Irish landscape, all contribute to what is comfortably one of the strongest movies of the year, and perhaps one of the least polarizing.

Farrell and Gleeson are both excellent, but the supporting characters help the movie become great. Padraic’s sister Siobhan, played by Kerry Condon, provides so much depth to the siblings’ story on screen. And Barry Keoghan plays Dominic, a “simple boy” who’s been abused by his father. The nuance of Keoghan’s performance; the mannerisms, intelligence, and honesty that Dominic adds to the role is perhaps a show-stealer. He is well-deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination in my opinion.

Fire of Love

A slightly more niche entry — Fire of Love is a documentary about married volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, and their research on volcanoes around the world through the 1970s and 80s. Solely using their archival footage, the reds and oranges of volcanic lava, the barren mountain landscapes (in all seasons), the damage done by volcano eruptions, the visual captivation of this movie is an easy sell. It’s only made better by the warmth provided by Katia and Maurice, and the information and entertainment they naturally provide. As I write this I am realizing how it is likely not a coincidence that most of the movies I’ve chosen to write about are visually stunning movies. Maybe that’s what is grabbing me right now. Maybe I love theatres. Maybe an escape from the hauntingly shallow addiction of my phone’s bluelight is really when I enjoy the small moments in life. Who’s to say.

Bullet Train

Seeing Bullet Train in theatres, on my birthday, aka National Cinema Day (not to brag), for 3 dollars (!), was a delightful experience. It was a true fun movie going experience, in which I for whatever reason didn’t work too hard to internally analyze the movie or pre-emptively think about a stupid Letterboxd rating.

I’m a sucker for Brad Pitt, and I thought he delivered. I have seen criticism that his quipiness is a travesty for one of our great actors. That you would never see Leo, or Denzel stoop to. Although Gen-Z wisecracking intelligence is slightly too much, I think it’s restrained enough from the self-aware Marvel undercutting Marvel dialogue we’ve come to know and hate. * Deep breath* To get into the weeds on this concept; this is not a superhero story, where the immortal Norse God of Thunder should not be pleasantly non-plussed by a super villain’s attempt to freeze the sun over. This an agent of some sort, performing what should (according to him) be a relatively straightforward job, with new players confusingly be thrown into the mix. The comedy does not subtract from the stakes of the story, it increases it. Brad Pitt has “one-liners”, but remains steadfast and serious enough in his convictions and character, that his eventual arc feels narratively logical.

Okay, to discuss the actual movie. I don’t think it works if it’s not someone as capable as Brad Pitt, of which there are increasingly few of. It is a tightwire act of forcing the viewer to continually buy-in with little explanation, and hope that the new character isn’t thrown in just for the sake of it. And again, the self-awareness of the introspective scenes Pitt dabbles in with the other characters doesn’t go too far. And the actual narrative of the movie, is pushed forward within the scenes. It is not paused. Everyone is still playing chess with each other to some degree. The supporting cast is great — of course I’m talking mainly about Brian Tyree-Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The ending is fine. Maybe I am just too big a sucker for Pitt. Maybe I prefer theatres too much. Maybe it was my birthday. It was a worthwhile experience that I was pleasantly surprised by.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

A movie that I certainly would not recommend to everyone, George Miller continues to remain mysterious coming off of Mad Max: Fury Road seven years later, with a love story about an ancient genie’s love life, and the romantic storytelling of his past. A very purposefully mythical quality to the visual aesthetic of the film, Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba make for an interesting pairing as the two characters trapped in a hotel trade tales.

Very unsure what I thought of the movie walking out of the theatre, I can say that I definitely see what Miller was doing, and think he executed it well. And I am not saying that backhandedly. He makes bold choices, and they work, which is not easy to pull off. Many people had criticisms of the ending, of which I understand, but agree with the defendants, that the love story supposedly “shoe-horned” in between Elba and Swinton speaks to the pragmatism and choice that love is, more than it speaks for Miller’s desire for a Hollywood ending. As the hosts of the Blank Check podcast will tell you; Miller has a true blank cheque when it comes to making movies, and he is most definitely not afraid of a downer ending. At the risk of sounding either overpretentious or underexuberant, Three Thousand Years is not for everybody, but is somehow a wholly unique movie regardless of the many tropes it consciously abides by within its genie-in-a-bottle tagline.

The Northman

Right in the mix alongside Avatar 2, Top Gun: Maverick, and Nope for “movies you absolutely have to see in a theatre” for the year of 2022, the Northman came and went fairly quickly, underperforming at the box office with $35 million gross domestically and $70 million (total) worldwide, just breaking even on a similar budget.

A true-blue historical epic, The Northman is another entrance in the re-telling of Hamlet. Gorgeous scenery, visceral action, farting Ethan Hawke, and all of the most exhilarating features you could think of in a viking revenge horror-thriller-action movie. Watch the trailer if you havent. Any downtime the movie has is a clear simmer as you wait for the pot to quickly get back to boil. Alexander Skarsgard plays the titular Northman, Amleth. Not a wordy performance, Skarsgard does much with his clear physicality in order to evoke what’s needed. The critiques of the movie being too long may be true, but I think the payoff before the (what feels like) multiple endings is better served for it. We feel the journey even more.

There is something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on when it comes to elevating The Northman into a categorically Great Movie. Perhaps I’m giving too much credit to dialogue heavy movies. However, that feels glib to say the film didn’t speak to enough. Handholding is bad. Showing, not telling is good. I suppose I’ll just read more in order to sift through my feelings about it. I am due for a rewatch in the meatime. Regardless, director Robert Eggers once again took a big swing, and separate from any box office metric, it works. He is 3/3, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Also comfortably on the “see this in theatres” list…if that were possible. I know little about All Quiet’s production. Why it was made, what the budget was, etc. The Canadian release date was the right time, i.e. leading up to Remembrance Day. I still can’t help shake the idea that putting this in theatres leading up to November 11th would get boomers in seats. Yes, it is in German. Yes, I understand studios are very much tinkering with how to release movies post-pandemic (see: Glass Onion). Top Gun still being played in theatres has proved many people wrong. C’est la vie (is that German?). All Quiet is a classic that I’ve read but haven’t seen any version of. This did not disappoint as a great war movie, and one of the great visual achievements in the wake of 1998’s Saving Private Ryan and Thin Red Line in terms of 21st century World War 1 and 2 movies. You can quibble with tiers, but I think after the above two, this version of All Quiet deserves to be in the category of still Grade A films like it, along with Dunkirk, 1917, and Letters to Iwo Jima (Inglourious Basterds aside).

Nope

A less obvious allegorical film than Peele’s first two horror entrants, Nope is a movie that took me a while to formulate my thoughts on the movie. That is not an inherently good or bad trait. In the case of Nope, it’s a compliment. Peele’s has an unbelievably impressive grip on how to build proper suspense. The entire concept as “Black-Western-alien-Jaws” is precisely as good as it sounds, and tows the perfect auterist line of being singular yet clearly in ode to numorous predecessors.

The biggest criticism I’ve seen lauded against Nope is it’s manipulation in the unnecessary story of Gordie. Regardless of it’s tie-ins to the main plot, and all that it’s saying via Jupe Park (played by Steven Yeun) and his failure to unpack his trauma, the story of Gordie is allowed to be impressive for the sake of it. Horror is sometimes simply meant to prove to the audience how much of a stranglehold the movie can have over us. The Empty Man has a similarly “irrelevant” bottled episode to begin its story. It is a trope that works for the genre, and is in my opinion a short-sighted examination, given the clear man versus nature elements Peele is alluding to surrounding Gordie, the aliens, and the showhorses on which the Haywood family relies on.

The movie has only grown in my estimation since watching it. Both visually and symbolically. I am excited to revisit it and see what else I missed the first time, and what else stands out as important. One way or the other, Jordan Peele is now appointment viewing, and one of the few “young” American auteurs we currently have.

Movies I Still Need to See

• Petit Maman
• Aftersun
• RRR
• Crimes of the Future
• The Woman King
• Triangle of Sadness
• Dog
• EO
• Saint Omer
• Bones and All
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

My Top Tiers

In lieu of an actual top ten list, there were a big glut of movies that I would consider among the best of the year. Here is a link to my full list of what I’ve seen from 2022. In no particular order:

Tier 1

• Top Gun: Maverick
• Decision to Leave
• Nope
• The Northman
• Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Barbarian
• Banshees of Inisherin
• After Yang
• TAR
• Babylon

Tier 2

• The Fallout
• Turning Red
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story
• The Fabelmans
• The Menu
• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Jackass Forever
• This Place Rules

Tier 3 — Worth Mentioning

Either in what would be the honourable mention category, or just something I want to point people to; an eclectic mix of movies I liked or movies that surprised me in a positive way

• Bodies Bodies Bodies
• Bullet Train
• Deep Water
• Fire of Love
• I Want You Back
• Marry Me
• Hustle
• Entergalactic
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio