2022 has drawn to a close and it was quite a mixed bag for cinema. On the plus side, we had some really great films this. On the downside, we had far more mediocre-to-terrible movies. Top Gun: Maverick is the year’s top-grossing film and was unexpectedly bounced from my top five in the last week of the year, so I wanted to give it an honorable mention. On the other end of the spectrum, I can’t believe that absolute crap like Firestarter and Redeeming Love didn’t even make my bottom five. Yikes.
Without further ado…
My Top 5 Films of 2022:
5. Violent Night: A funny and super-violent tribute to Die Hard and Home Alone, this movie is perfect alternative viewing for the holidays.
4. The Menu: A hilarious dark comedy masquerading as a horror film, this has some of my favorite performances and moments of the year.
3. Babylon: I just saw this and the full review is forthcoming, but this is the movie that I wanted Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to be. Critics hated it, I loved it.
2. Barbarian: The most divisive film of the year, I have yet to hear someone say that this movie is just okay. You either love it or you absolutely hate it. I am firmly in the love-it camp.
1. The Black Phone: My favorite film of 2022, The Black Phone is scary, funny and one of the best horror movies in years.
The 5 Worst Films of 2022:
5. The 355: I barely remember what this movie is about, but January-me was having none of it.
4. Umma: Possibly the most boring, uneventful horror film ever made. Good god was this boring.
3. Blacklight: I think that there is a factory somewhere where Liam Neeson action movies and Hallmark Christmas movies are made year-round. At this point, far more effort is going into the Hallmark movies.
2. Strange World: Disney is now a sad shell of its former self. The one other person in the theater for this abomination agreed with that assessment.
1. Halloween Ends: Man, I didn’t see this one coming. This is the most baffling horror sequel since The Exorcist II. Every decision made in crafting this film should be studied and compiled into some sort of case study/cautionary tale about sheer madness. This movie is the reason why something isn’t necessarily good just because its different.
