My Top 25 Films of 2022 (and the 5 worst)
An Oscars tradition unlike any other
The Academy Awards are tonight! I know, most of you could not care less*, but I still love the Oscars unreservedly. I will be watching with entirely too much interest, like I do every single year. Because I love movies.
*Back to your regularly scheduled nonsense about Cincinnati sports soon, I promise.
Movies aren’t central to our culture like they once were. But it’s still real to me! I watch far too many movies, and I have far too many opinions about said movies. So, at this time every year, I rank my top movies of the previous year, just in time for the Oscars to completely disagree with all of my takes. It’s a tradition unlike any other.
As of this date, I have watched 68 films that were released in 2022. Some, I loved. A few, I hated. Most of them were, you know, pretty alright! Anyway, without further ado, here are my top 25 films of 2022, ranked:
Tar
The Fabelmans
Everything Everywhere All at Once
RRR
The Banshees of Inisherin
Babylon
Top Gun: Maverick
The Menu
After Yang
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Aftersun
The Woman King
Barbarian
Women Talking
Hustle
Sr.
Jackass Forever
Emily the Criminal
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Elvis
Kimi
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Outfit
Apollo 10 ½
Just missing the list were a group of movies that I really liked! Confess, Fletch, Wonder, The Batman, The Northman, See How They Run, and Glass Onion. At the bottom of the list, number 68, the worst movie I saw last year…it’s Jurassic World: Dominion. And it’s not even really close. What a mess.
*As per tradition, here are the five worst of the year: Jurassic World: Dominion, All That Breathes, Nope, Triangle of Sadness, Bullet Train.
As for the Best Picture nominees, my ranking of the ten is below. Any of the top five would be worthy honorees. But I’ll say this: Top Gun should absolutely win the award. It was not the best film of the year, but it was by far the best movie-going experience of the year. It’s why I love going to the theater, and why I hope that experience never goes away.
Tar
The Fabelmans
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Banshees of Inisherin
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
Elvis
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Triangle of Sadness
Okay, thanks for indulging me. Let me know how wrong I am! And I promise, I’ll get back to creating controversy by writing about the Cincinnati Reds next week. <eye roll emoji>