2022's BEST and WORST Films

2022’s Best (And Worst) Films It was a crazy year for cinema, with Hollywood’s big-budget offerings fully emerging from the 2020 pandemic finally. Let’s see what this year brought us:

THE BEST: 1. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Martin McDonagh’s black comedy (pitch black) follows two old friends Padraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) on a remote Irish isle when Colm suddenly stops being friends with Padraic. Blindsided, Pad begins to harass Colm until he is given a stern message: Colm tells him that every time he talks to him instead of leaving him alone, Colm will chop off one of his fingers. The film is a solemn and dryly funny piece about friendship and maturation, and it is incredible visually as it is viscerally. It is beautifully shot, and uniquely depressing in its own right.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is now streaming on Hulu and HBO Max.

2. VENGEANCE

A New York City playboy yuppy Ben (B.J. Novak) receives a call from the brother of a distant ex (more like one nigh stand) that the girl has died. Believing Ben to be her boyfriend, he is called to Texas to help her family find closure. But they don’t think it was an accidental overdose. They believe she was murdered. Ben attempts to spin this for a true-crime podcast he’s writing and ends up way WAY over his head. This funny “fish out of water” story about a New York socialite liberal being transplanted into BFN, Texas is way more clever that you would think and is shockingly incredibly deep. It surprised the hell out of me, and is an absolute masterpiece.

VENGEANCE is now streaming on Peacock.

3. TOP GUN MAVERICK

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is called back to the Top Gun Flight Academy to train an elite crop of graduates (including the son of Pete’s fallen friend Goose) to execute a suicide mission. Pete must grapple with the sins of his past and the threat of the future to complete the mission. Tom Cruise is a God amongst men, and Top Gun Maverick was no exception. It took the world by storm and became one of the biggest films of all time. This is a MUST-SEE.

TOP GUN MAVERICK is now streaming on Paramount +

4. AMBULANCE

Two adopted brothers one leading a life of crime and one a struggling Veteran with medical bills- plan a heist that goes horribly wrong. Michael Bay returned to the gritty street-level crime that made his films like BAD BOYS and THE ROCK such hits. This one snuck under the radar theatrically, but was a terrific heist drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen. It is a thrill-a-minute old-fashioned blockbuster straight from the 1990s or 2000’s.

AMBULANCE is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

5. V/H/S/99

The fifth installment in the anthology horror series “VHS”, 99 is absolutely the strongest since (and maybe surpassing) the first. This takes the horror into the analog age of the 1990s with stories ranging from Hellishjh portals to an undead girl rock band and, my favorite, a very interesting take on Medusa for the digital age.

V/H/S/99 is not for the faint of heart. It is gory and often downright terrifying. It is now streaming on Shudder.

THE WORST:

1. MORBIUS

Jesus Christ. Not even Matt Smith could save this one.

2. THE GREY MAN

The most soulless CGIbland movie I’ve ever seen, which is not a shock coming from Netflix. How the Hell do you make Ryan Gosling boring?

3. PINOCCHIO Disney’s live-action take on Pinocchio was a tad more exciting than having my tonsils removed but this soulless husk of a film had nothing going on for it aside from seeing Keegan Michael-Key making a Chris Pine joke.

4. JEEPERS CREEPERS REBORN

I’d rather open mouth tongue kiss a railroad track with a freight train hauling towards me than remember this movie.

5. FIRESTARTER

Stephen King’s movie adaptations are strongly hit or miss and this was such a wide miss than I actually thought about popping on THE DARK TOWER to wash it away.