Top Ten Films of 2022

Honorable Mentions: Cyrano (a touching adaptation with a great performance from Peter Dinklage); Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (the first MCU horror film and the best MCU of the year with Sam Raimi at his Raimiest); The Fabelmans (an uneven cinematic memoir with some nevertheless great moments); Father Stu (the best and edgiest faith-based film of the year); Hustle (a funny and inspiring sports film with another impressive performance from Adam Sandler); The Menu (a genre film masquerading as social commentary that stumbles at the end but still delivers some tension); The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (wild, manic, and utterly enjoyable)

10. Prey

This straight-to-Hulu addition to the Predator film universe really deserved a theatrical release, because it was a crazy fun time at the movies, albeit in front of the television. Set on the American plains in the early 1700’s, Prey focuses on a young Comanche girl (and her dog) as she battles the strange arrival of the now-legendary alien hunter. The first film to have a full Comanche dub — and you should watch it in that language with English subtitles for the full effect — this unabashed popcorn flick is really sharp.

9. Amsterdam

Generally panned by critics and ignored by audiences, David O. Russell’s latest film stars Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington as unlikely (but close) friends navigating a complex political conspiracy in 1933 New York. Loosely based on a true story, Amsterdam seemed to scare off audiences with its bewildering plot and off-kilter characterization. But for all its “kookiness,” it’s actually a very sweet movie about friendship and the power of kindness. I liked it precisely for its being different.

8. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

For some reason, it’s fashionable among the social media conservatives to hate this movie, but I have no idea why. As social commentary, it’s a pretty evenhanded indictment of all kinds. But who cares about all that? Rian Johnson has delivered another clever, twisty puzzle-story with solutions right in front of you and just out of reach. Just when you think it’s going one direction, it doubles back and funhouse mirrors your whole understanding. More, please.

7. Top Gun: Maverick

I would not have guessed before I saw this movie that it would even be near my Top Ten for the year, but Tom Cruise’s patience paid off, as he’s brought us perhaps the best pure genre movie in years. Somehow managing to capitalize on the nostalgia of the (in Hollywood years) now ancient original while not getting mired in it, the new Top Gun is wall-to-wall entertaining.

6. Sr.

Robert Downey, Jr.’s gentle and insightful tribute to his ailing father, a legend of outsider filmmaking, is deeper than it seems and rather affecting. With sober (but non-bitter) acknowledgment of the elder Downey’s flaws as a father — and the impact of his lifestyle on the younger Downey’s own drug and criminal troubles — this film is less about Sr.’s greatness and more about Jr.’s graciousness. I was moved.

5. Everything Everywhere All at Once

Yes, it’s a very flawed movie — especially in its final “message” — and it’s definitely 20 minutes too long, but EEAaO is probably the most uniquely frenetic thing you could see at the movies last year. Ke Huy Quan’s comeback is something to relish, as his performance transcends Gen-X nostalgia; he gives a heartbreaking, transcendent performance. Michelle Yeoh is great too. Just some bananas stuff in this film that made it outshine so many other works.

4. All Quiet on the Western Front

This painstaking, riveting adaptation of the classic German novel on the horrors of WWI is a difficult watch and a haunting one. I couldn’t look away. It is terrifying, maddening, at times very moving, and in the end, a deeply resonant reflection on the hopelessness of war.

3. Living

Bill Nighy’s performance as an aging British bureaucrat who discovers he is dying of cancer is marvelous. I’ve never seen the normally over-the-top comedic Nighy like this. An adaptation of Kurosawa’s film Ikiiru, Living is the first movie in years to bring a tear to my eye. Just a gentle, lovely film about a very sad thing.

2. The Banshees of Inisherin

What’s it really about? Who knows. The incomprehensibility of war? The fragility of friendship? The insanity of artistry? All of the above? All I know is all the performances are stellar, the story is rich, and the end result is the kind of thing that keeps echoing in the memory and in the emotions. Farrell deserves the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, as likely does Barry Keoghan for Best Supporting Actor.

1. Nope

Jordan Peele’s challenging sci-fi/psychological terror is, I think, ultimately about American consumption of media, but even moreso about media’s consumption of us. There are so many layers to this deceptively complex UFO tale, including the racist history of Hollywood, the enduring desire for fame, the Ahab-like obsessions of cinematic gurus, and the cannibalizing effects of pop culture. It’s also just a crazy fun time at the movies. I saw it three times in the theater and would love to talk your ear off about the monkey, the shoe, the “impossible shot,” etc.