The 10 Best Films of 2022, Ranked

COVID-19 really kicked the movie industry on its ass with a halt on productions, massive delays, and the fact that going back to the theater like normal wasn’t an option for over a year. There were certain memorable cinema experiences like Dune or In the Heights, but they were few and far between; you could almost feel studios dipping their toes back into the water to see if they would turn a profit. Some of them were experimenting with exclusive streaming releases (Luca, Palm Springs), while others were with day-and-date releases, where movies would come out in theaters and streamers the same day (Halloween Kills, Wonder Woman 1984).

Theaters were already in danger pre-pandemic, so many wondered if and when things would ever bounce back. While many theaters were forced to close, the good news is that 2022 will go on record as the year that movies returned in full force. This list was much harder to create than in the past two years, with a variety of strong candidates to choose from. I just want to remind everyone that “best” is subjective, and I haven’t seen every movie released this year. With that being said, here are my picks for the ten best movies of 2022.

Honorable mentions:

Apollo 10 1/2, Bros, Bullet Train, Decision to Leave, Deep Water, Emily the Criminal, Kimi, Men, Scream, Watcher.

10. Women Talking

The title may not sound like the most exciting movie on this list, but you can’t accuse it of false advertising. It’s also compelling as hell in its own right. Set in an isolated Mennonite community in 2010, the women have to choose whether to stay and fight, do nothing, or leave when confronted with the fact that several men have been sexually abusing the women at night.

The men gaslight and deny, but the women secretly meet in the barn to debate what action they will take. Some women act out of fear, some grief, others with anger, and all of their responses are valid reactions to the trauma they have faced.

With performances from some of the best actresses working today, like Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Jessie Buckley, and a heartbreaking performance from Ben Whishaw, it’s a powerhouse display of emotionally resonant acting. The film got some pushback from critics because of its drab cinematography, but considering the hopeless position the women were in, it fits the story being told and gave me hope that they might find a more colorful future.

Now streaming on MGM+.

9. Three Thousand Years of Longing

A grown up fantasy story about love and desire, Three Thousand Years of Longing tells the story of a narratoligist who is confronted with a genie who grants her three wishes. When she tells him that she doesn’t want anything, he recounts his life story and what he’s learned over his three thousand years on Earth to persuade her.

From my review: “George Miller is so adept at balancing centuries of story through sweeping transitions and camera movement, even though I could have just listened to Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton (two of our finest actors) just tell stories to each other in the hotel room for hours. It coheres together into a beautiful piece of art that shows lavish fashion, production design, and visual effects. The third act, in particular, shifts in location and tone, but the bonding of Alithea and the Djinn [the two main leads] prepares us for a finale that is melancholy and tender.”

Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

8. RRR

Aside from Everything Everywhere All At Once, perhaps no movie was a bigger surprise sensation than RRR (Rise Roar Revolt). The Telugu language action movie is an anti-colonial action drama that is based on two real-life freedom fighters, Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan), but uses them to tell a hyperstylized folk tale filled with some of the most explosive and inventive action sequences of the year. In the first 30 minutes alone Raju fights through a crowd of protestors like Neo in The Matrix Reloaded (but with actual weight), and Bheem fights a tiger and a wolf made with stunning CGI that’s still impressive even when you can see the seams (all of the animals are entirely CGI). Oh yeah, and he’s bare-chested and drenched in sweat while doing so. It’s the most expensive Indian movie ever made at an estimated $72 million, and it makes most modern action films with twice the budget look dull in comparison.

Bheem goes to Delhi to search for a girl that was taken from his village by the British, while Raju is a police officer trying to make a name for himself by finding and stopping Bheem from doing so. There’s only one problem: the two become buddies, and a bromance ensues with neither of them realizing that they have opposing goals. The two inevitably face off, but the real antagonists are the late Ray Stevenson, who plays a cartoonishly evil British Governor, and his even more merciless wife (Alison Doody).

The movie won Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu,” no doubt helped by the musical number going viral—a scene that I’ve watched numerous times since I first saw it because it is so joyful and fun. I have seen clips of how electrifying and over-the-top Tollywood cinema can be, and I’m happy that RRR is one that broke through globally, thanks in no doubt to its placement on Netflix (now pay your writers). I wish I could have seen this in the theater for full impact, but director SS Rajamouli makes you feel every gunshot, punch, and high-flying stunt (usually in slow motion), so you can fully appreciate all the work that went into it. It even has an intermission so you can catch your breath before diving back in! I just wish more summer blockbusters had this type of craftsmanship behind the scale.

Now streaming in Hindi on Netflix.

7. The Batman

Ben Affleck (aka Batfleck) did the best he could within the disastrous Snyderverse, but unfortunately, DC was so busy trying to compete with Marvel and set up a universe that he never got a chance to truly shine or even get his own solo movie. Luckily for fans, The Batman is completely separate—or outer-world as head of DC James Gunn refers to it—and attempts to ground Gotham and the caped crusader away from the unwieldy battles that destroyed entire cities in Man of Steel and Justice League.

Robert Pattinson (Good Time) was the perfect choice to portray Batman, and director Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) was able to flesh out a fresh story where Batman uses his detective skills to prevent terrorism from raging across Gotham. It doesn’t hurt that the cast is also rounded out with A-list actors like Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, and Colin Farrell either.

A serial killer-thriller clearly inspired by movies like Se7en, the rain-soaked depiction of Gotham proves that this is how good superhero movies can be when made with people who know what they’re doing and understand the characters. It’s a little long at almost three hours, but the gritty cinematography (by Greig Fraser, Dune) and memorable score (by Michael Giacchino, Spider-Man: No Way Home) created an emo depiction of Batman (that Nirvana needle drop!) that puts it alongside Batman Returns and The Dark Knight as one of the best Batman movies ever made.

Now streaming on Max.

6. Pearl/X

2022 was an excellent year for horror releases, so selecting which ones were the best was a tall task, to say the least. I could have gone with the surprisingly solid Scream reboot—which revitalized the franchise, the voyeuristically tense Watcher, or the nightmarish depiction of trauma that is Men, but I always knew that Mia Goth’s portrayal of Pearl was going to make the list. What I didn’t anticipate was picking both films where she plays the character, but they complement each other so well that it didn’t make sense for me to choose only one.

Mia Goth’s empathetic and pained performance in Pearl is a star-making portrayal that makes us understand her motives and what ultimately causes her to snap (it also led to some of the best memes of the year). Set in 1918, Pearl is repressed and confined to her farm with her ailing father and overbearing mother, but Pearl refuses to let anyone get in the way of her dream of becoming a star. Shot in beautiful technicolor, recalling the early days of cinema (the opening of the barn doors at the beginning is a direct homage to The Wizard of Oz) and ending in a chilling one-take monologue that lasts for over five minutes, Pearl is a horror movie that stays with you well after the credits roll.

Set in 1979, X directly contrasts with Pearl in terms of visual aesthetic, with a low-budget grindhouse feel that recalls other countryside horror titles like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Motel Hell. Starring Brittany Snow, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi, and the aforementioned Mia Goth, the crew of young filmmakers rent out a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere to secretly shoot a porno, and director Ti West films X with the same salaciousness as the adult movie the main characters are attempting to create. Mia Goth stars as Maxine, another character that has dreams of superstardom, but she also stars in a stealth role as the elderly Pearl with makeup so convincing that I did not realize it was her until the end credits.

I was lucky enough to enjoy both X and Pearl in the theater, but it wasn’t until I watched them both back-to-back at home that I was able to appreciate the symmetry and attention to detail that went into crafting both movies. Both are “fucked up horror pictures” by themselves, as one character says in X, but I highly recommend watching both to see how dynamic Ti West is as a filmmaker and Mia Goth is as a performer.

Both movies streaming on Showtime Anytime.

5. Top Gun: Maverick

Tom Cruise has been dominating cinemas for the last decade with his Mission Impossible films that showcase his knack for mindblowing stunts. But his action career started with the 1986 film Top Gun, a film that might be the most 80s movie ever made with its combination of peacocking homoeroticism and American nationalism. A time capsule into mid-80s machismo, it’s undoubtedly iconic and beloved even though it’s a bad film that has only gotten worse with age. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to the sequel.

So imagine my surprise when once the end credits rolled for Top Gun: Maverick that I was speechless at what I had just witnessed. The flight sequences are some of the best ever caught on film, making it an immersive roller coaster where you are in the cockpit with Maverick and his trainees as they fly at lightning speeds. The fact that Cruise and the cast actually recorded all of their own footage when flying with each other and having to frame the shots with natural elements like the sun and mountains vs. the usual green screen nonsense that is the norm was a breath of fresh air.

Not to mention the improved romance over the first film with Jennifer Connelly this time around, an emotional performance from a returning Val Kilmer, and supporting turns from Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, and Ed Harris. Turning Tom Cruise into the mentor to Goose’s son made for an impactful story about forgiveness and letting go of the past; it also reminded the world why Tom Cruise is our last movie star whose commitment to cinema is unparalleled. It’s honestly inspiring for someone who’s been in the business for so long.

Now streaming on Paramount Plus.

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once

There’s no denying that the Daniels’ hit sensation and Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once took the world by full force in 2022. Debuting in March, it caused a stir by taking a simple story about an aging woman trying to finish her taxes into a sci-fi/action adventure where anything is possible, including sentient rocks, hot dog fingers, and raccoon chefs. Most Oscar nominees get backlash by the time awards season comes, but Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan were so well-liked and incredible in the film that the awards were a lock for them to win. And they did! The mix of martial arts, comedic gags, and emotional resonance proved to be a formula for success that won over the hearts of critics and audiences. If the amount of subpar multiverse movies to come since then has proved anything, it’s just how singularly special EEAAO is. Its message of love and understanding in the wake of dehumanizing laws being passed and a record-high number of hate crimes in the U.S. makes it especially timely and important.

Now streaming on Showtime.

3. All The Beauty and the Bloodshed

Documentarian Laura Poitras directed the excellent Citizenfour about Edward Snowden’s exile from the United States after revealing the truth about the American government spying on its citizens after 9/11 in 2014. It was a gripping document of a young man who left everything and everyone he loved behind to expose the abuse of power because he felt an obligation to the American people who were being monitored without their knowledge.

This time her subject is the renowned photographer Nan Golden who has a similar drive to expose the injustices taking place by the rich and powerful, more specifically with Big Pharma and its collaboration with the Sackler family. For those who don’t know, the Sackler family created its wealth by creating the opioid crisis with their signature drug OxyContin, which they advertised as non-addictive, and which we now know is completely false.

What makes this the best documentary of the year is the journey through Golden’s incredible life, which is told through both her narration and her vivid photography in the 80s; it serves as a firsthand document of her life, her relationships, and the gay community she coinhabited which she depicted with love and compassion.

Poitras captures Golden’s story with such beauty that a biographical documentary solely about her art would have been fascinating enough on its own. But after prescription pills took the lives of many of her friends and almost her own life, Golden turns her focus onto the Sackler family because their names are displayed in many of the prestigious museums that display her work. Similar to Snowden’s clash with the powerful, there is a courage that comes with her actions in the film that is inspiring and adds to her already remarkable legacy. This movie is a must-see that should have won Best Documentary at the Oscars this year.

Now streaming on Max.

2. Babylon

This is the only late entry to make it on this list (after the Oscars were all said and done). The discourse around the film’s release was ugly, and like most times when that happens, I log off and wait until it dies down to decide for myself what to think. I’m happy to report that Babylon was well worth the wait.

Led by the triple-threat performances of Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Diego Calva, Damien Chazelle directed this like it was the last movie he was ever going to make. A love letter to the art of cinema taking place in the heyday of the silent film era and into its transition into talkies, there’s a reason it’s been compared to the masterpiece Boogie Nights: its similar in structure with the way it shoots the highs of the main characters with opulence and grandiosity and the lows of them with paranoia and desperation that is tragic and outright scary at times.

The fact that a three-hour epic about the history of Hollywood can be this exhilarating is a testament to all of the performances and Chazelle’s propulsive direction. Switching back and forth between the three leads—two actors and one producer—and an African American jazz musician is a balancing act that is consistently engrossing and gives enough room for each of them to have an empathetic arc. This might be the movie I regret not seeing on the big screen the most from last year.

Now streaming on Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime Video.

1. The Northman

Robert Eggars is one of the most gifted new voices in independent filmmaking working today. His breakout movie, The Witch, is a dark 17th-century folk tale that painted a haunting portrait of paranoia found in a puritanical Christian society—think The Crucible but with actual witches. His new film, The Northman, is his biggest movie yet: a Viking revenge tale where one man goes to hell and back to reach Valhalla.

The story opens with a young Amleth who makes it his lifelong mission to avenge the murder of his father, King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke), which he witnessed when he was just a boy. The harrowing scene shows the fresh-faced Prince sticking his tongue out to catch snowflakes when his father is hit by several arrows and finally struck down by his own brother Fjolnir. His youth and father robbed from him, Amleth now lives for only three things: avenging his father, saving his mother (Nicole Kidman), and killing Fjolnir.

Years later, Amleth is a hulking beast played by Alexandar Skarsgård (True Blood), who is more wolf than man—complete with howling and foaming at the mouth— pillaging villages with an army of warriors when he is reminded of his destiny. “You can’t escape your fate,” the film reminds us several times. Along the way, he meets an earthly slave woman who helps him fulfill his prophecy, played by Anya Tayor-Joy (The Witch), whom he falls in love with. (Who can blame him for that?)

While it could have been a more straightforward historical action movie like Gladiator, The Northman leans into the more mystical aspects of Viking folklore with witches, ghosts, and visions that create a rich texture to the story. Eggars is as confident as ever behind the camera, too, with intricately choreographed long takes that never cut away from the action. The first action scene shows Amleth catching a spear thrown at him and turning around to sling it back at his attacker—all in camera in one take.

From Amleth’s infiltration into Fjolnir’s camp, to the epic full frontal final fight which takes place in an active volcano—or the Gates of Hell as they call it—no movie had a more entertaining story or visual palette last year than The Northman.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.