2022 Film Rankings

The 2022 movie year started off with a bang, and by early summer, I thought I would be getting to Platinum status on my Cinemark Rewards account quite easily. Then July hit, and I only felt compelled to head to the theater another five times. During that drought, 2022 started to feel like a major cinematic disappointment. However, over the last few months, I've caught up on a nice chunk of movies that either never made it to Baton Rogue theaters, or only played for a short time. Now that I've seen 62 of its films, I'm ready to call 2022's movie crop an overall success, at least relative to the past few years. If I see more, I'll add them to the list pictured above, taken from my Letterboxed account. Here's my top ten, featuring a one-sentence review for each film:

10. Pearl -- The second entry in the "X" film series (released just months after the first) is not only a twisted, bloody tribute to bright and colorful classic cinema, but a further meditation on the dangerous narcissism at the root of fame-seeking, featuring yet another killer horror movie performance by Mia Goth.

9. Top Gun: Maverick -- The rare legacy sequel that not only perfectly honors the original film, but betters it, with great character work, thrilling action, and a sense of genuine, glorious, cinematic spectacle that seemed lost to time.

8. RRR -- While the previously mentioned spectacle might be on life support in America, this Telugu-language historical epic action musical drama is three hours of glorious, beautiful spectacle, with a huge emotional component, lovable, larger than life characters, and one of the best cinematic portrayals of male friendship in recent memory.

7. Ambulance -- Somehow Michael Bay made a balls-out 90's Michael Bay action film in 2022, satisfyingly pumped full of so much adrenaline, spinning camerawork, and twisted metal, I hope he does nothing but make $40 million-budgeted action movies for the rest of his career.

6. Norm MacDonald: Nothing Special -- The beloved comic's final special, self-recorded just months before his death, is a testament to MacDonald's genius, acerbic wit, and prodigious observational skills.

5. Elvis -- Luhrman's absolutely intoxicating take on The King's life is a triumph, earning the rare stamp of approval from the Presley family, as Elvis' life, career, and essence is rapturously distilled in a glorious barrage of sound and fury...I hope I used enough descriptors in that sentence, though I think I'll retire "glorious" from the rest of this piece.

4. The Batman -- After ten years without a dedicated film, the Caped Crusader returns in Matt Reeves' stellar, noir-influenced take, an immersive film, featuring nod after nod to classic cinema, and a great, surprisingly hopeful arc for the titular hero.

3. X -- Speaking of titular, the first film in Ti West's horror series from which it's titled is a gory tour de force, featuring a terrific dual performance by Mia Goth, and surprising thematic depth upon further inspection, as Goth's fame-seeking characters mirror one another from the distance of time.

2. The Quiet Girl -- A rare and gentle beauty of a film, upwelling of emotion.

1. Aftersun -- What at first feels like an artsy slice of life film about a pre-teen girl taking a vacation with her single father on the Turkish coast soon becomes an immensely powerful meditation on mental health struggles in men, as well as the idea that every parent is in some way unknowable to their child.