Top Ten Movies Of 2022
Video stores operate on a different timeline than the rest of the world.
Let’s start right off with:
📦 the Back of the box: Here at Rewind Video, we like taking our time when it comes to our Best of the Year lists.
It’s good to let the dust settle for a couple-few months into the new year, because even with all of the fancy streaming tech and modern release schedules, most flicks don't even grace our shelves until several weeks after their theatrical debut.
Our general philosophy around the store is to take some time to digest what we've seen, and to sit with our thoughts before we make any official declarations.
Plus, we don’t want to get all mixed-up in awards season. Our profile is high enough.
No more dilly-dallying. Here is my 2022 Top 10.
10. Deadstream
Low-budget live-stream horror comedy from husband and wife team Joseph & Vanessa Winter that is scarier, funnier, and more entertaining than it has any right to be. There’s an exuberance to the filmmaking, and it brings an energy to the screen that, frankly, we could use more of.
9. Glass Onion
The Knives Out franchise has developed into a personal workshop for Rian Johnson, where he can craft a series of meticulous murder mystery puzzle boxes, as much for his own enjoyment as ours.
Like the modern-day version of the Ocean's movies, Johnson rounds up a dozen or two of his talented friends to create low-stakes yet incredibly crowd-pleasing films that manage to keep a bespoke touch.
Well put-together, and with a high sense of fashion. I hope Johnson makes a lot more of these.
8. EO
Jerzy Skolimowski gives us the year’s most sympathetic character in this beautiful and heart-wrenching film. All EO wants is to reunite with his best friend and find happiness again, and for that, he pays the price.
It’s an exploration of companionship and loss — and an expression of Skolimowski’s love for animals, while also showing that love hurts.
Is it crazy to say that the six similar-looking donkeys that play EO give a compelling performance? I don’t think so.
Devastating and life-affirming. The donkey movie of the year.
7. Tár
This had to have been this year's most challenging film to create. Not only Blanchett's stunning performance but also Todd Field's masterful construction from start to finish.
Field claims not to be an expert in classical music, though you'd never know it. Every piece and inch of this is polished and refined.
The details matter, a lot, and they will linger for a long, long time.
6. Top Gun: Maverick
There’s a strong case to be made that Top Gun: Maverick was the most important movie of the year.
It was the return to the movies for much of the country, and proof that the theatrical model could exist for at least a little while longer. It cemented Tom Cruise’s status as not only the Last Movie Star, but maybe Hollywood’s most important advocate.
Above all, in today's digital era, Maverick is a triumph of practical effects, real-life action sequences, and putting people in actual danger. It was such a success that we all rightly forgave the strong Rehash aftertaste.
5. White Noise
Based on the general response to Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of White Noise, Don DeLillo’s classic-that-I’ve-never-read, I feel like there’s maybe something I missed here, and that’s why I like it so much. Or that it’s an inside joke I didn’t realize I was a part of.
This is a movie that understands the grotesquery of modern America, and also that some of us find that hilarious. Nothing in 2022 captured that feeling better than Adam Driver’s psychological slapstick as a man who’s been diagnosed with, basically, Imminent Death Syndrome.
White Noise gets at a truth that we all feel, but can’t articulate. Maybe we aren’t even ready to hear it yet. Or maybe my view is askew.
4. Fall
I’m a sucker for a genre ripper that picks one thing to do and then does the fuck out of it.
For me, Fall is the best example of that to come around in years. It’s been on my top ten list for most of the year, and it’s held up to multiple viewings. I will go to the mat for this movie.
There’s nothing fancy here, no poignant themes, the characters are fine. But this is an intense, visceral cinematic experience. Watch it on a big TV, get some friends, and turn it up LOUD.
3. Prey
Prey is the Predator we didn’t know we needed. After decades of sequels that mostly fall flat, or cling too tightly to the post-Vietnam shoot-em-up ethos of the original, this franchise was in need of a major reset.
More than just a rehash or simple reimagining, Prey reengages Predator with the modern world by taking us further into the past, and swapping macho posturing for family and tribal dynamics that actually make sense.
The original Predator is an undeniable classic, but Prey freshens up the legend, and proves that I.P. mining can still unearth some gems from time to time.
2. Nope
As with his beloved '70s psychological horror, Jordan Peele has never felt the need to fully explain his stories, and his confidence in himself as a filmmaker has been on display since Day One.
But now, he’s grappling with the questions that his talent, and his command of it, are forcing him to ask:
What is he willing to do to tell the stories he wants to? What is he willing to ask other people to do? What are the past traumas driving everyone to want this?
Nope is his biggest, most expensive film to date, and with it Peele asks us to consider the true cost of capturing an image on film, and why we value those images so much. It’s a movie with some great parts, but is still greater than their sum, even if they haven’t quite all come together yet.
🏆 1. RRR
RRR goes big in every conceivable way: runtime, world-building, action, singing, dancing, characters, animals, friendship.
Even its 3+ hour runtime is barely able to contain its ideas. The movie is bursting at the seams.
Everything about it is wild and audacious and fantastic. The action rips, the music rules, the story is rad. One of the few movies that truly earns the "epic" label, and at no point does it bite off more than it can chew.
There was no movie experience like it 2022, and it’s easily my favorite of the year.
📚 If you're interested: On Letterboxd I’ve made a list and ranked every 2022 movie that I’ve seen.
No list is final, and they’re all a work in progress. And to be honest, how much thought can you really put into what is the 23rd best movie of the year vs. the 24th?
Regardless, that list is HERE.
And yes, The Batman is my lowest ranked movie of the year. I’d love to hear why you think differently.
Bob’s Top 10
In absolutely no particular order, Bob has also decided on his Best of 2022:
Barbarian
Mad God
RRR
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Tár
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Crimes of the Future
Prey
The Menu
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