(This article is part of our Best of 2021 series.)
Well here we are at the end of 2021 (ok fine, the beginning of 2022) and man have there been a ton of releases the last 12 months. Unfortunately, so many of them were mediocre at best. For instance, the bulk of the WB movies that went straight to HBO Max really did deserve to go straight to streaming. Most were NOT theater worthy if you ask me. Dune, The Suicide Squad and maybe one other actually deserved to be seen on the big screen. That being said there was still a ton of good stuff released last year. So these might not necessarily be my favorites, but they are ones that stood out to me more than others.
Anyway, here are my five “favorite” films of 2022 in no particular order.
Nobody
A film no one really expected to be anything special and was just a ton of fun from beginning to end. Bob Odenkirk nailed the everyman role and also some how made us believe he could could kick some ass too. While the whole “John Wick” knockoffs are out there this one is a solid entertainer that you should see if you haven’t yet. It’s a solid 90 min of fun.
Wrath of Man
Ok this isn’t one of Guy Ritchie‘s flashiest movies like his earlier films, but it is miles above his King Arthur and Sherlock Holmes adaptations. It’s a revenge film and he’s paired back with Jason Statham for the first time since 2005’s Revolver. And boy does it feel like they had never parted ways. The film is separated into four parts, each one circling back to one main event that sets off the whole basis for the film. It is well told and acted all the way through.
The Last Duel
I found myself thinking about this film after I saw it a lot more than I expected to. Since the film is told from three very different perspectives, it was hard to figure out what was really true at first, if at all. Each part has aspects of it that you WANT to believe, but we all know it’s never that easy. It’s a divisive film that did poorly at the box office. But in all actuality it is a pretty solid film. Ben Affleck does a great job at playing a cocky Count who wants to be King. Matt Damon hams it up as the valiant but oafish knight who you can never really tell which aspect is real. Adam Driver plays the villain of the film perfectly. And while I’ve never seen Killing Eve, it is crazy to me that Jodie Comer is the same actress as the lead in Free Guy.
Last Night in Soho
Edgar Wright has made some great films over his career. The Cornetto Trilogy, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs the World and now Last Night in Soho. This was the first film I had seen in a theater since this whole pandemic shut things down and boy was it worth it. The cinematography, the score and the music used within the film are equally important as the actors and the script. In a similar vane how Quentin Tarantino writes his scripts to specific songs Wright does the same as he did with Baby Driver. Scenes are almost choreographed/edited to fit the song being used. It’s brilliant. And hot damn, can Anya Taylor-Joy sing!
Pig
Okay, this movie sounded like something stupid as shit when I first heard about it. I expected it to be some sort of shitty “John Wick” wannabe about a guy and his pig. And it is … but it’s not. It’s not the over the top action packed shootout kinda movie that Keanu brought us. It’s a more heartfelt drama/food porn/character driven film with a few fight scenes thrown in. And to be honest the most gut wrenching one is early on when the pig gets taken. I haven’t heard squeals like that since Ned Beatty in Deliverance. It’s heart breaking.
I’d say it is one of Nicholas Cage‘s best films.
Those are my five favorite films of 2022. Runner-ups would probably be Dune, No Time to Die, The Humans, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Cherry.
What were some off the worst films I saw this year? Spiral, Reminiscence, The Matrix Resurrections and Spencer.
What do you think of my favorite films from the past year? Anything you think should have made my top five?
