Best Films of 2022
I’m publishing this blog post incredibly late, I know. But this year has been so busy for me I haven’t had the time to dedicate myself to this blog as much as I had hoped. With that being said, as is tradition, here is my list of my favorite films of the year. They are long-awaited follow-ups to iconic blockbusters. They’re powerful depictions of representation. They’re reinventions of established characters and subversions of genres. They may not be the most amazing films, they may not resonate with everyone, but for one reason or another, these are the films that stuck with me the most.
17. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Lately, a film comes to my attention that I never would have known about were it not for Film Twitter, and they become one of the most memorable films of the year for me. In 2020 it was the Taiwanese family drama A Sun. In 2021 it was the Japanese tryptic Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. This year it’s Hulu’s sex dramedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, from director Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays) and writer Katy Brand. Emma Thompson plays retired school teacher and widower Nancy Stokes, who hires a young sex worker named Leo Grande because she’s never had an exciting life—not even an orgasm! The film is told almost like a stage play, where all of the action happens in a single hotel room across multiple meetings. Thompson is better than ever, providing crucial dimensionality to a character who could’ve easily been unlikable. But the breakout performance is Daryl McCormack’s as Leo Grande, who exudes confidence, vulnerability, and everything in between. And the two actors have tremendous chemistry. Leo Grande is an intimate and honest, and much needed sex-positive (and sex work-positive), film about all the taboos that come with female pleasure, loving yourself and your body, and how you’re never too old to change your life. The final shot is both shocking and stunning—both because it’s a shot the film industry is often too afraid to depict.
‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ is streaming on Hulu.
16. Accepted
Accepted is a documentary that depicts the incredible story of T.M. Landry, the college prep school in Beaux Bridge, Louisiana, that made national headlines for its 100% success rate in getting its students into college. What starts off as a feel-good story takes a shocking and dramatic turn midway into the film after an explosive New York Times investigation exposes the school’s dark secrets—and we witness this all in real-time with the filmmakers, the students, and T.M. Landry’s controversial founder. This is an incredible, albeit heartbreaking, documentary. Read my full review here.
‘Accepted’ is available to stream on demand on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, and on DVD via Kino Lorber and Amazon.
15. Bros
Bros made headlines for all the wrong reasons, which unfortunately overshadowed just how darn funny this film was—it’s the funniest movie I’d seen all year! This gay romcom from writer-star Billy Eichner (Parks and Recreation) could’ve easily been annoying, especially with the white gay center of attention of it all, but Eichner pays proper respect to many of the queer people of color who paved the way, and shares space with fellow queer people of color on screen as well. There are times when Bros can be a bit too preachy, but it excels when it focuses on just being a funny romcom with gay people instead of providing broad commentary on gay culture.
‘Bros’ is streaming on Peacock and is available on home video and video on demand.
14. Katrina Babies
As someone born and raised in the outskirts of New Orleans, Louisiana, I was in the unique position to know just how devastating Hurricane Katrina was, but as someone who didn’t have to live through it or the aftermath. It’s easily lost on the rest of the country that New Orleans and its predominantly Black citizens really were treated and depicted like a third-world country, abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Over 1,000 people died. We remember images of the city completely underwater. We remember the headlines about Black people “looting” and white people “looking for food.” The city and its rich culture eventually returned, but what’s rarely depicted or spoken about is the trauma these events imposed on the city, its people, and especially the children. New Orleans filmmaker Edward Buckles Jr., who was 13-years-old during Katrina, attempts to correct this injustice through Katrina Babies, a documentary seven years in the making. Through interviews with his friends, family, and community members, Buckles allows survivors of Katrina to voice their grief, long-suppressed emotions, and trauma. Buckles also shows how the city itself was changed after Katrina, thanks to the people in power’s lack of understanding of the Black community.
‘Katrina Babies’ is streaming on Max.
13. Avatar: The Way of Water
The long-delayed sequel to the biggest movie of all time has finally arrived, and if there’s one lesson it’s taught us it’s to never bet against James Cameron. The infamous filmmaker has faced doubt time after time, including Titanic in 1997 and Avatar in 2010—both of which eventually became the highest-grossing films of all time during their original releases. (Avatar still holds the all-time record, while Titanic is still the fourth highest-grossing film of all time.) When multiple sequels to Avatar were announced, many of us wondered, who asked for this? While the first Avatar was groundbreaking on a technical level, the cliche-ridden story left a lot to be desired. The sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, improves upon the first in almost every level. The 3D is even more immersive, the special effects are unbelievably real, and even the story is more engaging. While the characters still unfortunately talk in cliches, the inclusion of Jake and Neytiri’s children is what helps elevate the film the most, making us finally care for our main characters. (I choked up a couple times!) Avatar: The Way of Water provides one of the best examples of why the theatrical experience is necessary. This is a film meant to be experienced on the big screen. And, to my surprise, I’m actually looking forward to the next three installments!
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is streaming on Disney Plus and is available on home video and video on demand.
12. The Woman King
The Woman King is an epic historical fiction that follows the all-women warriors of the West African kingdom of Dahomey, called the Agojie. (These powerful women were the inspiration behind the Dora Milaje, the all-women special forces in the Black Panther films.) Viola Davis stars as Dahomey General Nanisca in her efforts to find and free the Dahomean women who were abducted by slavers. What makes this “Braveheart with Black women” so great is a result of the Black excellence in front of and behind the scenes. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) is no stranger to depicting great narratives starring Black women, and she also showed she could handle action in Netflix’s The Old Guard. I loved seeing so many great Black actors, all of whom I’ve loved in past projects, all in one film together and being badass, and killing colonizers and enslavers. This includes Thuso Mbedu as an Agojie in training (Mbedu was spectacular as the lead in Barry Jenkins’s Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad); Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die) as Izogie, the fun but still formidable and veteran Agojie warrior; and Sheila Atim as Amenza, Nanisca’s second in command (Atim reunites with her Underground Railroad co-star Mbedu here). The Woman King is such an empowering film for Black women.
‘The Woman King’ is available on video on demand and home video.
11. The Falls
I’d previously mentioned Chung Mong-hong’s A Sun, the film I discovered on Film Twitter and became one of my favorite films of 2020. When I heard about Chung’s follow-up, I knew I had to see it immediately. Like A Sun, The Falls is another slow burn, intimate family drama. And like A Sun, The Falls has some interesting tonal shifts, though not as blatant as the former. The Falls stars Alyssa Chia (The World Between Us) as Pin-Wen, a single mother to her teenaged daughter Xiao Jing (Gingle Wang, Detention), and it depicts their strained, often confrontational, relationship set during the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic. When Pin-Wen becomes seriously unwell, their roles reverse and Xiao Jing must care for her mother. Through her newfound experience as her mother’s caretaker, The Falls becomes Xiao Jing’s coming-of-age story, where she’s able to be more empathetic to her parents’ worldview. And simultaneously, Pin-Wen finds a renewed sense of purpose as her life changes quickly and dramatically. And that ending—oh, that ending! It’s a stunner.
‘The Falls’ is streaming on Netflix.
10. Jurassic World Dominion
I’ll get a lot of hate for saying this but I’m gonna say it anyway: Jurassic World Dominion is the best film in the entire Jurassic Park franchise. Yes, I mean it! (I can’t believe it either.) While, yes, nothing can ever capture the same sense of magic of seeing “real life” dinosaurs like in Steven Spielberg’s original 1993 film, I feel strongly that everyone’s attachment to Jurassic Park is rooted in nostalgia. As someone who watched the Jurassic Park trilogy for the first time last year, I found myself disappointed at just how not amazing they were. They had paper-thin characters and so-so writing overall, so it’s funny how the general consensus of the Jurassic World trilogy seems to be… paper-thin characters and bad writing. I aggressively disagree with this view of the Jurassic World films.
The Jurassic World trilogy excels in what the Jurassic Park films failed to do—giving us something new in each installment. The first Jurassic World gave us a fully-realized Jurassic theme park. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom gave us dinosaur soldiers/weapons and a second half that felt like a gothic horror. Jurassic World Dominion finally depicts dinosaurs co-existing with humans, and it’s a spy thriller!
This is a spectacular film from writer/director Colin Trevorrow, and features more assured direction and interesting visuals and action than his first turn with Jurassic World. Seeing how well he used the legacy characters here (they didn’t feel like purely fan service) makes me wish we could’ve gotten his version of Star Wars Episode 9 instead of the garbage we got from JJ Abrams. I really enjoyed how the parallel stories—one featuring the original Jurassic Park trio, the other featuring the Jurassic World heroes—converged by the end. And as I was watching Dominion I couldn’t help but think about how the film’s visuals were in strong contrast to the biggest blockbuster franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The visuals, the cinematography, and the special effects are miles better than the MCU films, despite sharing similar budgets. Dominion has better humor that doesn’t try to be snarky all the time. I thoroughly enjoyed the action set pieces here, especially that Malta sequence. Also, franchise newcomer DeWanda Wise (Someone Great) is fantastic!
‘Jurassic World Dominion’ is available on home video and is currently streaming on Peacock.
9. Decision to Leave
Decision to Leave is the latest feature from South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) and it’s quite possibly the sexiest film of the year. Not because there’s lots of sex scenes (there aren’t), but because of the twisted chemistry portrayed masterfully between stars Park Hae-il (Memories of Murder) and Tang Wei (Lust, Caution). The film depicts the cat-and-mouse chase between Detective Jan Hae-jun (Park) and murder suspect Song Seo-rae (Tang) after the mysterious circumstances surrounding her husband’s death. But the more the two observe one another, the more their boundaries are blurred, and the film becomes a wicked romance. This isn’t an easy film to watch, but it is beautiful and haunting, and its brilliance creeps up on you until it’s finally undeniable.
‘Decision to Leave’ is streaming on Mubi and is available to purchase/rent on demand.
8. Nope
Jordan Peele’s third directorial feature is my least favorite, but it’s still pretty damn great. A sci-fi western horror starring Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and Keke Palmer (Hustlers) as siblings operating a longtime family-run Hollywood ranch, Nope’s “monster” is Peele’s biggest yet, but the themes are still down-to-Earth. The way Peele intertwines an alien “first contact” picture with metaphors for our society’s real-life exploitation of spectacles and sensationalism is genius and shows why he’s one of the best filmmakers working today. I still can’t get over how brilliant the sound design in this film is! Read my full review here.
‘Nope’ is streaming on Peacock and available on home video or to rent/purchase on demand.
7. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
I had zero interest in seeing the Puss in Boots sequel until I saw the film’s trailer, which showcased an entirely new animation style from the Shrek franchise, one that’s obviously influenced by the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the titular character (voiced by Antonio Banderas) is on the last of his nine lives and journeys to find a wishing star to refresh and prolong his life. Along for the journey are some old faces (Kitty Softpaws, voiced by Salma Hayek, returning from the first Puss in Boots), and many memorable new ones, including lovable Perrito the therapy dog (Harvey Guillén); Goldilocks and the Three Bears crime family (Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, and Samson Kayo, respectively); Big Jack Horder (a fantastic John Mulaney); and Wolf (Wagner Moura), the physical embodiment of Death, and one of the most legitimately frightening characters I’ve ever seen on screen. Everything—from the beautiful animation, great voice acting, and converging storylines—culminates in a boldly original film with poignant themes of living the life handed to you and living your life to its fullest. To my pleasant surprise, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is not just a refreshing installment in the Shrek universe, and it might even be the best Dreamworks Animated feature yet (yes, even better than How to Train Your Dragon).
‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ is streaming on Netflix and is available on home video and video on demand.
6. Barbarian
I personally don’t watch a lot of horror films but I’ve been enjoying some horror films over the last couple of years, including last year’s bonkers Malignant, from horror icon James Wan (The Conjuring & Insidious). Barbarian, from The Whitest Kids U’ Know’s Zach Creggar, is this year’s Malignant—in the sense that both start off as generic horrors before turning into something much more shocking and interesting. Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror) plays Tess, who arrives at her Detroit Airbnb only to find out it’s been double-booked by fellow guest Keith (It’s Bill Skarsgård). Is Keith trustworthy? naturally becomes the first mystery, but the film slowly unravels to reveal a more sick and twisted history behind the house Tess has rented. And when Barbarian introduces Justin Long’s character AJ midway into the film, in what feels like a seemingly unrelated film altogether, you know you’re watching something special.
‘Barbarian’ is streaming on Max.
5. RRR
There’s no way to describe RRR without sounding hyperbolic: it’s the most wildly entertaining, bombastic, audacious film in 2022—and possibly ever! This Indian Telugu epic from S. S. Rajamouli (The Baahubali films) is a fictional portrayal of two historical Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.), as they fight against British rule. Don’t let this synopsis fool you, though. This is not a boring period piece, it’s a non-stop thrill ride for it’s entire three-hour running time (men are fighting Tigers; one character fights against hundreds of people—and wins!), and the action is so top-notch you won’t be exhausted by its imposing duration (the title doesn’t appear until nearly an hour into the film). This film was made with a fraction of the budget of Hollywood studio blockbusters like the MCU yet surpasses them in choreography, staging, and creativity in every possible way. RRR is a film that reminds you just how special international films can be if you just take the time to give them a chance.
‘RRR’ is streaming on Netflix.
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Set immediately after the off-screen death of King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is led by Shuri (Letitia Wright), the genius comic-relief from the first film who is now an angry and broken shell of a person. As her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) tries to navigate geopolitical issues (since T’Challa revealed the true Wakanda to the rest of the world in the first film), a new global superpower also founded on vibranium (the otherworldly metal used as Wakanda’s foundation) suddenly appears in the form of the underwater world of Talokan, led by a flying, water-breathing, god-like figure named Namor (Tenoch Huerta). Wakanda Forever is a messy, but mostly successful, film in its attempts to juggle multiple obligations, from expanding the world of Wakanda, introducing new characters, setting up future MCU projects, and, most of all, honoring Boseman’s legacy. The odds were stacked against Wakanda Forever, yet, despite these odds, writer-director Ryan Coogler, Wright and Bassett (the two deliver franchise-best performances), and the rest of the cast and crew have come together to deliver not just one of the best superhero films ever made, but the most special one too. Read my full review here.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is available on home video and is streaming on Disney Plus.
3. The Batman
As the third film iteration of Batman in ten years, The Batman could’ve easily been dismissed (even before its release, “fans” were upset at Robert Pattinson’s casting as the titular character). But, thankfully, writer-director Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) shows us (ahem, Marvel) how it’s done, a superhero movie that feels like a real movie, thanks to top-notch directing, acting, cinematography, music, production design, and more. Pattinson stars as a fresher, inexperienced Batman, one who’s just two years into the role as the masked vigilante, as he faces off against The Riddler (Paul Dano), a serial killer who uses riddles, puzzles, and death traps in his schemes. It’s smart to introduce The Riddler as the film’s main antagonist, as it allows The Batman to set itself apart from other Batman films by having “the world’s greatest detective” finally act as a detective. (It’s genuinely fun—even funny at times—seeing Batman trying to solve The Riddler’s puzzles.) Another reason why The Batman is so successful is because it does a great job at fleshing out its world. Gotham City feels lived-in, it feels like a dirty and corrupted city, and not just Chicago and Pittsburgh. And it introduces and solidly establishes several characters from Batman’s rogue’s gallery, including Catwoman / Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), The Penguin / Alfred Pennyworth (Colin Farrell), and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). I can’t wait to see more of Reeves’s Batman universe!
‘The Batman’ is available on home video and is streaming on Max.
2. Top Gun: Maverick
Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought a sequel to Top Gun would be among my top two favorite films of the year, yet here we are. Thanks to Joseph Kosinski’s (Tron: Legacy & Only the Brave) thrilling direction, Top Gun: Maverick is the rare legacy sequel that not only works, but exceeds the original in almost every way imaginable. Seriously, I didn’t like the first Top Gun at all! But Top Gun: Maverick works because it has the confidence to be something simple: a cool film that has characters doing cool shit while making you, the audience, feel cool watching it. It’s a film all about cool vibes! What also works in Top Gun: Maverick’s favor is the return of Tom Cruise, whose dedication to his craft challenges the cast and crew to be just as committed to practical stunts and effects (the cast literally trained for months to endure high g-forces), making the film feel immersive and truly thrilling. You can really feel the action on screen! Top Gun: Maverick is the rare pandemic-era blockbuster success story, in part thanks to its universal appeal despite its predominantly action-oriented genre. I found evidence of this in my own life, with friends loving this film despite having never seen the original Top Gun, and my family had this playing on Christmas Day and it captured all of our attention, despite everyone sharing different tastes. The movies!
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is available on home video and is streaming on Paramount Plus.
1. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
No other film in 2022 had the staying power of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion, the sequel to Johnson’s original whodunnit Knives Out (which was one of my favorite films of 2019). Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, the “world’s greatest detective” with the voice of Foghorn Leghorn, investigating yet another murder mystery, this time on a remote Greek island with nearly a dozen suspects (played by Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline) all connected to an eccentric tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). The appeal of Glass Onion is in how fun it is, with the cast clearly having the time of their lives playing eccentric and exaggerated characters we hate to love, and Johnson’s fun of surprising us without cheating the audience. But the best part about Glass Onion is it wears its heart on its sleeve. Benoit Blanc is not the misanthropic genius protagonist you’d expect in a film like this. Instead, he cares about people. Who else but Rian Johnson could deliver a follow-up to a highly-successful—critically and financially—original hit picture with an equally quality and original sequel? And even better, the writer-director subverts his own formula he helped establish—and also subverted—in the first Knives Out, by structuring Glass Onion differently both structurally and thematically. The film ultimately isn’t about finding out who the murderer is; in fact, the film doesn’t even bother trying to make it difficult to figure out this mystery. Like Knives Out, the film is about power and privilege, corruption, morality. But, as its title suggests, it’s also about seeing through the masks we publicly hold up.
P.S.: Johnson is proven to have his finger on the pulse as the film’s release date and social and cultural commentary (the myth of the genius billionaire, critiques of “disruptors”) aligned perfectly with real-world events in late 2022, despite being written in 2020 and filmed in 2021.
‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ is streaming on Netflix.
Non-2022 films I watched for the first time that I enjoyed:
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Only the Brave, Waves
Biggest disappointments from 2022:
After Yang, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Thor: Love and Thunder, Strange World, Amsterdam, Lightyear
2022 films I wish I caught:
Babylon, Triangle of Sadness, Women Talking, The Whale, Till, Broker, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Return to Seoul
