I get that talking to me is not a great experience. The long-winded answers, questionable wit, and occasional maudlin emotion all makes for a conversational minefield. But I also have enough self-awareness to realize what happens when you think to yourself, “He’s the Movie Guy and I’m obligated to talk to him. I’ll ask him what his favorite movie is. What could possibly go wrong?”

Well…kind of a lot. To save you time, my response to that is, it depends. It depends on my mood, where I’m at in my life, hell, my blood sugar level probably has an effect. When I tell you that, I know you’re thinking, “GODDAMMIT, JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!” I wish I could!

That’s why when a couple of people asked if I’d be doing a Best Of 2022* list,, I hesitated. Would people understand the pedantic arguments about the impossibility of ranking art and ever-shifting favorites? They would, they just wouldn’t care. So I decided to suck it up. Below is my top ten of the year. They’re in no particular order and each one has a few sentences explaining why they stick with me.

Without further ado…

  1. Everything Everywhere All At Once – An epic multiversal adventure romantic-comedy, EEAAO neatly defies characterization. The action and FX are blisteringly cool, but there’s one thing that makes it a standout. That’s the idea that in the midst of overwhelming chaos, the key to survival is compassion.
  2. The Menu – The celebrity chef subculture is ripe for mockery, and this film skewers it with cutting intelligence. The Menu elevates pettiness to a blood sport, and proves that the rich really are different from you and me, because they’re dumber. Come for the barbed satire, stay for the battle of wills between Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes.
  3. Prey – Remember when the Predator franchise was intelligent as well as action-packed? Amber Midthunder and Dan Trachtenberg do! A young Comanche woman does battle with a fearsome hunter that’s not from around here. Prey revitalizes a seemingly dormant 80s franchise and pushes it in exciting new directions.
  4. RRR – Some films go beyond entertainment to become events. Some films are a fusion of history and myth. Some films are based in politics that can seem problematic. Hell, some films even have a group of wild animals slaughtering a garden party while two demigods pound on each other. RRR might be the only film to feature all of that.
  5. The Banshees of Inisherin – You’ve probably been ghosted. What if you couldn’t get over it? Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are best friends on a tiny Irish Island, until they aren’t. From there, we explore toxic masculinity, the suffocating nature of small communities, and how not to use garden shears.
  6. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – How do you make a sequel to one of the most consequential blockbusters in years when your leading man passes away? Should you? Ryan Coogler turned a worst-case scenario into an elegy for Chadwick Boseman. It pushes forward the MCU, but more importantly, it’s a sincere farewell to a cinematic legend.
  7. The Batman – The best superhero film of the year. Bats has to deal with an engaging mystery, the action sequences are taut and exciting, and for the first time in the character’s history, Batman finally learns that being a grimdark avenger is bad for him as a person and bad for his community. What a concept!
  8. Hinterland – It’s impressive enough when James Cameron creates a world in Avatar: The Shape of Water using bleeding-edge technology. More impressive is when a filmmaker uses that tech to show us how a character perceives the world. Stefan Ruzowitsky does just that and tacks on a cracking good murder mystery to boot.
  9. 1-800-HOT-NITE – A lesser film would turn this nocturnal adventure involving three tweens and a phone sex operator into a crass comedy. Nick Richey’s film is frequently funny, but it also has a strong emotional core and the kinds of characters that are too often ignored by mainstream Hollywood. 
  10. The Long Walk – The first sci-fi film made in Laos, and it features alternate timelines, ghosts, and an exploration into grief and consequences.  The Long Walk is a little gem of a film, and I urge you to seek it out as quickly as possible.

Honorable Mentions: 

  1. Barbarian – Think you know where this wildly clever horror film is going? I promise you don’t. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
  2. The Woman King – Is it historically accurate? Eh, not a ton! But it’s an intelligent and exciting historical epic, and that’s what really matters.
  3. Nope – I’m not sure this is Jordan Peele’s best film, yet it’s a sci-fi spectacle with something to say and razor-sharp performances. Also, it has perhaps the scariest monkey in the history of film.
  4.  Three Thousand Years of Longing – A fairy tale for adults anchored by Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, and directed by the mighty George Miller. If that’s not good enough, I don’t know what to tell you.
  5. Elvis – It kind of feels like a movie made by a giant bag of cocaine, and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker is…um…something else! Austin Butler channels The King, particularly in moments of vulnerability and fear.
  6. The Black Phone – Sometimes a well-crafted horror movie is all I need, which this film delivers big time. Bonus points for taking place in North Denver during the hilariously permissive 1970s.
  7. Top Gun: Maverick – The sequel to one of my most disliked movies is an amazing spectacle much better than the original. Maverick is a machine designed to entertain and melt your face off.
  8. Ambulance – “You put a Michael Bay movie on your list, for God’s sake?!” I can hear you screaming. I did, because this one moves like a bullet and features a sympathetic performance from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
  9. The Cursed – A werewolf movie that doesn’t precisely feature a werewolf. It’s a slow burn until it splatters into bloody life.
  10. Jockey – Clifton Collins Jr. should have been nominated for an Oscar as a beat-all-to-hell jockey facing his last shot at glory.
  11. The Whaler Boy – A coming of age film set in Northern Siberia, it’s something wildly new and utterly relatable.
  12. Glass Onion – Rian Johnson’s gleeful whodunit punctures the myth of competency that surrounds billionaires. Plus, a fussy Daniel Craig is an entertaining Daniel Craig.
  13. Confess, Fletch – No Chevy Chase here, just a quasi-faithful adaptation of Gregory McDonald’s comedy/mystery series, and an effortlessly charming Jon Hamm.
  14. Saloum – If at the mention of a stylish horror/action movie made in West Africa, you’re not immediately lunging for your remote to watch it, then I weep over your life choices.

 

*Sorry, but no Worst Of 2022 list. Those lists are so spectacularly lacking in class, I don’t want to take part in the negativity.



Tim Brennan
Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.  
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