With 2023 having snuck up around the corner the time has finally come to rank ten of the movies I watched in 2022. Now to prefrice my movie taste may be considered atypical as I watch movies made for all different types of demographics.

10. “Where the Crawdads Sing”

This was a solid but not great adaptation of the book; in my view the main flaw being the casting of Daisy Edgar Jones. She plays the main character of this story and I felt like the Kya in the book did not compare to the Kya on screen. Personally I felt the actor to be cast as Kya needed to be someone who has the ability to show their acting range in a single role. Besides that, “Where the Crawdads Sing” was a relatively well put together movie. 

• Available on Netflix 

9. “See How They Run”

This was not a bad movie; the main reason why I ranked it lower than others was because it was not / did not do much. The film stars two Oscar nominated actors – Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan. While they did not give off a bad performance they really did not have much to do. This was another murder mystery and on that note I felt who the killer ended up being was somewhat random and did not make much sense to me. 

• Available on HBO Max 

8. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” 

I did not enjoy this sequel as much as I enjoyed the first “Black Panther”. The main plot line with the underwater people did not hold my interest whatsoever. However the acting was a huge highlight, specifically Angela Bassett’s performance. There’s no denying her talent that she’s shown multiple times for so many years. In “Wakanda Forever” Basset gave such an emotional and heartfelt performance which led me to not regret having spent time watching this sequel. 

• Available in theaters

7. “All Quiet on the Western Front”

This may be considered difficult to get through for those who do not enjoy watching a movie in a different language (German). Now for me personally the film being a foreign film did not have an effect on my viewing experience. While the acting was not the best I could go past that issue because of the strength of the other aspects of the film. I can only imagine the level of sound this movie brings out in the theater. Also I could tell the visual effects were made to look as real as possible. 

• Available on Netflix 

6. “The Fablemans”

Running about 2 hours and 41 minutes this was a long movie to get through; in fact if I had not watched this in theaters I would have most likely not been able to get through it in one sitting. Relating to the time length there were certain aspects of the plot that did not need as much time as it ended up with. The film is a semi autobiographical account of director Stephen Spielberg’s childhood; while I would not say “The Fablemans” is his best film, it was Spielberg’s most personal piece of work. In the end, the theme of the story ended up being my favorite; I took the theme to be when the environment around a person is chaos their art brings meaning to life. 

• Available to rent on streaming services

5. “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

I can’t say how “Glass Onion” compares to the first “Knives Out”, but this film was not only a unique but fun murder mystery. The only flaw I found while watching was how the movie was in some ways overdone and over exaggerated. Also this was not a major issue but I would have rathered the pandemic to not have been included in the plot. What ended up separating this story from typical murder mysteries was how the main shock was not who the killer ended up being but rather the why behind the killer’s motives. 

• Available on Netflix

4. “The Batman”

Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clonney, Ben Afleck, Christian Bale, and now Robert Pattinson add to the list of live action portrayals of Batman. What separated Pattinson from the rest was how he was always Batman and never really Bruce Wayne, yet that was neither a positive nor a negative. The cast included Pattinson as Batman, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. Each actor had a unique approach to their role and were able to balance each other out, although Paul Dano was a standout because his version of the Riddler was unlike anything to have come before. 

• Available on HBO Max 

3. “Top Gun: Maverick”

Watching “Top Gun: Maverick” in theaters was the definition of a movie going experience. “Maverick” was one of the last of the movies that were delayed by the pandemic to come out, and it all ended up being worth the wait. Also what’s rare is for a sequel to be as amazing if not arguably better than its original blockbuster hit. One aspect of the film I found refreshing was the lack of CGI as so many current movies (mostly superhero movies) are filled with disgusting amounts of CGI. Now, while “Top Gun: Maverick” was not number one on this list it was however number one on my 2022 movie theater experiences for the year. 

• Available on Paramount Plus

2. “Nope”

Before getting into the storyline I hope actor Daniel Kaluuya and director Jordan Peele continue to keep working with one another. Moving on, I love the kind of sci-fi that is thought provoking and has a message behind the story and that is the way Peele made “Nope”. This may have been a movie about aliens and UFOs, yet deeper down it was a commentary on society’s obsession with spectacle and how nature is affected by spectacle. 

• Available on Peacock

1. “Elvis”

Biopics tend to end up being either a hit or a miss, and a huge determining factor for that is the actor playing the real life person. Austin Butler took on what many considered an impossible task and ended up proving everyone wrong. Through intense method acting he was able to capture what separated Elvis from other performers which was the spiritual connection to music. The only negative I found in terms of the movie was Tom Hanks’s role. First off, I have no idea what accent he was trying to personify and his acting as Colonel Tom Parker overall felt off. Also I did not like how the entire storyline was through his view point. In the end though I was able to get over that issue because of Austin Butler’s breathtaking performance.

• Available on HBO Max