by Thomas Biamonte
As 2022 comes to a close, I reflect on all of the great, sad, or straight-up strange films I have seen this year. From a guy who dresses up in a Bat suit to a three hour play by play of Elvis’s life, here are my top ten films released in 2022!
Number 10 – Beast
Beast, starring Idris Elba, is a film that once it starts, you know exactly what you’re in for. Idris Elba and his family have to fight one huge Lion. Surprisingly even though this sounds like an AI generated plot line, this film has some decent acting from the parties involved and some great tension as well.
Number 9 – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Although this film was hailed by critics and I believe it may win best picture at the Oscars this year, I could not relate to the characters’ struggles and situations. But this is still a great film with mind bending visuals, great acting, and story arcs that will have you questioning what is real.
Number 8 – Emily the Criminal
This film started off like any other normal day, but slowly the characters get wrapped up into a criminal plot. This film was way more than I expected it to be. It was a great drama with great characters, great acting and just a great overall story. Aubrey Plaza really shined in the role of Emily.
Number 7- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
So a film with Nick Cage playing Nick Cage and it’s a comedy? I was sold from the beginning. Plus Pedro Pascal is a great comedic force in the film and is great in every project I have ever seen him in.
Number 6 – Marry Me
So I don’t usually watch rom-coms, but my friend Shane and I were like ¨Wouldn’t it be funny if we went to see that rom-com that has Owen Wilson and J-LO in it?¨ and my response was ¨Oh, yes it would be.¨ So, to my surprise, when we went and saw the film, it was actually a good emotional story that got me invested in the characters lives beyond what I had expected to be a cash grab.
Number 5 – The Outfit
A great gritty drama with twists and turn you will never see coming. This movie feels like it belongs as a stage play. Plus, it contains some of the best acting of the year.
Number 4 – Black Phone
In my opinion, The Black Phone is the best horror film of the year. The movie has a great story and even greater performances even by the child actors in the film who displayed such a maturity in their acting that not many adult A-list actors show today.
Number 3 – Breaking
Who doesn’t love watching a tragedy? Well, most people actually don’t, but still this is a great one. John Boyega should garner an Oscar Nomination for his painfully brilliant performance in this film. This film truly puts you in the shoes of his tragic character with mental illness and his poor rationale behind robbing a bank. This film is the closest we will get to another Dog Day Afternoon,
Number 2 – The Batman
The Batman has such great performances – nobody feels like an actor. I look and see some of the most famous faces in Hollywood up on the screen, and all I see are their characters which is a great achievement. The story and musical score are also close to perfection, along with the great cinematography, directing, and writing as well.
Number 1 – Elvis
In my opinion, this is by far the best film of the year! There are Oscar worthy performances throughout, including Austin Butler in the title role who deserves the Oscar win as far as I am concerned. Also, the cinematography was out of this world.
Overall, 2022 was a great year for film, but it has fallen slightly flat on the storytelling since 2021. The goal of a film is to make you feel for the characters and wish for their safety. Well, this year there were not as many films that hit that mark for me. Do not get me wrong, all the films on this list struck me in some type of way, but I rarely felt like I cared for most of the characters. That is a huge departure from last years films like West Side Story, Spiderman No Way Home, Tick Tick Boom, Last Night in Soho, King Richard, Belfast, Free Guy, The Green Knight, Blue Bayou, In the Heights and Judas and the Black Messiah which all were character driven stories with characters that I cared for. I feel Hollywood goes in and out of phases of safe storytelling and experimentation, and last year I thought we had a resurgence of experimental storytelling. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for film and when dramatic/well told stories make a full comeback.