We will drop our heavily vaulted Best Movies of 2022 list soon, but in the never-ending lead-up, we need to talk about all the other wonderful trends and everything of the year. Now, in general this year was fantastic for films. There were a ton of weird and amazing experiences to be had, and I think 2022 will be fondly remembered for many years. Maybe even like a 1999, 2007, or 2014.
That being said, I found it tough to recall particularly great singular defining moments or scores, or music. I really only point out things that are truly great. Not everyone gets a prize every year, people! I kept coming back to the same well. I think 2022's highs were pretty high but definitely in just a select few movies that really struck gold.
Actors of the Year:
I had a few nominees on the men's side, but somehow improbably it's no one but Colin Farrell. Yes, Colin Farrell won 2022. Mostly by appearing as a gonzo cartoon figure in The Batman (2022), a deep and thoughtful competent rescue worker in Thirteen Lives (2022), and then an amazingly sad Irish fellow in Banshees of Inisherin (2022). It's not only the volume here but shocking range of characters and genres that shows that this dude is the real deal. Called it!
Is it kind of weird that we even divide this? Like, what is it about gender that differentiates anyting with acting? Well, we do have a lot of nominees. Nicole Kidman seems to be every where all of a sudden and Jamie Lee Curtis showed range from horror icon to wacky hot dog finger lady! Anya Taylor-Joy and Margot Robbie keep flirting with over-exposure and Ana de Armas is showing that she's more than a pretty face, even if her biggest profile work Blonde is mostly about her being a pretty face.
But let's go with the long-deserving Florence Pugh! Don't Worry Darling (2022) was her big work but she also appeared in Hawkeye at year's end last year, and added The Wonder and Puss in Boots to show her credible range. There isn't really anyone acting like she is in addition to her overexposure and we're here on the Pugh train to stay!
Moments of the Year
Spoilers for the first couple here because it's a few endings: WEIRD: The Al Yankovic's story quickly shows that it has no desire coming anywhere near the true story when Al is gunned down at the Grammys by Madonna. This is really a thing that happens. I also was shook by the donkey eating Brendan Gleeson's fingers in Banshees of Inisherin. I'm sure there's more.
This category was always about highlighting great moments in otherwise dull movies. I don't know if we had a lot of that this year! Or it's about a sequence in an otherwise forgettable superhero film. We have some of those for sure.
Non-spoiler favorites:
The house covered in blood in NOPE
Wanda vs. the Illuminati in Multiverse of Madness
HAVE SEX! In Morbius
Zoey Kravitz gains the upper hand in KIMI
The Family faces their destiny trapped in the earth in The Bob's Burgers Movie (hands down funniest scene of the year)
Barbarian switches to The Adventures of Justin Long
Best Ending:
Dude this movie is not good in anyway, but almost worth sitting through the entire slog to see that in the end the impetus for the entire murder mystery in Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is Pete Davidson being an idiot. It really is worthwhile. Not another movie this year with a worse first thirty minutes and a better last thirty minutes.
Movies Where Every Scene was the Best Scene:
RRR, Ambulance, and Glass Onion are really hard to pick just one. Most are going with the musical dance number (that definitely wins down below!), but I just need to go with the intro. Such a hook.
Ambulance just kept going. Not enough love for what Gyllenhaal does here. Somehow the most Michael Bay-protagonist of all time.
And Glass Onion, it's got to be when everything comes together with the Mona Lisa at the end, right? Phenomenal work here.
Trailers
NOPE or Pearl made me want to see both without spoiling anything. And I'll give Bodies, Bodies, Bodies again a lot of credit for making a great trailer that sold an amazing attitude that the movie couldn't have been farther away from.
Musical Moments
C'mon, man. You know it's RRR for the best bro-down of the year. I mean, all standard Tollywood stuff, but blew our stupid minds.
The best use of other songs probably go Nirvana in The Batman. That just fits so improbably well. And it kept coming back! I thought it was part of the score.
Other Stuff:
Copshop (2021) is a terrible movie that no one should see. It also didn't come out this year. But I'm not going to have another chance to talk about this, dammit. Toby Huss is amazing and in an entirely different movie. A better movie.
We'll get into my top pics on 12/31. Obviously that's when you need to highlight the top movies, people. I watched a lot of movies this year, and not all of them were good. No one's talking about 3000 Years of Longing (2022), which I was very excited for and deeply disappointed by. Same with The Bubble, which might be one of the worst films of all time.
I was also really bummed by Bros. It was just not really a good movie at all, but worse than that, really wanted you to think it was good and different than every other rom com. But it was totally just like every other rom com. I'm sorry, Billy. I really wanted to like this one.
This was just sort of a disappointing year, maybe I got too hyped for directors I like and we got boned. Oh well. Plenty of good things around, too, which you'll see in just a little bit!
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