2022 Movie Year in Review

[bookishwench]

I did okay with movies, seeing 33, largely because I pushed to see some of the Oscar nominees last year, looking forward to a fun, entertaining night. Gosh, thanks, Will Smith.

Anyway, leaving aside movies I rewatched, here are things I saw for the first time in 2022 in a vague order:

Encanto - Brilliant. I cannot state strongly enough how much I loved this movie. It is now my favorite Disney film, which is saying something.
Cruella - I was stunned by how much I liked this. Honestly, it was one of my favorites for the year.
Tick, Tick...Boom! Another one I loved (Miranda had a really good year). I remember when Larson's work started catching fire, and the tragedy that he died very young is still enormous.
Drive My Car -Phenomenal film. I loved this one.
West Side Story - It's like trying to redo the Mona Lisa. Except it's Spielberg. Which means he made a really good Mona Lisa.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - This needs to win an Oscar for something. Seriously. This thing was a ride.
Don't Look Up - The problem with this satire? It isn't satire. It's a little too close to pure realism at this point, which depressed the hell out of me.
Being the Ricardos - Kidman was amazing at Lucy.
Flee - Yeesh, this poor kid.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - This may actually have been better than the first one, which is saying something.
Attica - What a nightmare. I'd never heard of this.
Luca - Very cute. Nicely done overall, good plotline.
Black Widow - This needed to be released before Endgame somehow. Occasionally the tone changes gave me whiplash, but I did like it.
No Time to Die - I really liked Craig's turn as Bond, and this was a good capper.
Dune - I saw this on my TV, and I think it really needed to be seen on a big screen, kind of like Lawrence of Arabia.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye - I felt really bad for this woman by the end, which was an accomplishment. Also, Andrew Garfield had a very good year.
Summer of Soul - Generally very good, but the line about killing white people made me a little nervous.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - Just madcap enough, in my opinion.
Ant-Man and the Wasp - First, Pfeiffer has aged really well. Second, Ant-Man is ridiculously underrated. I really like his character.
Captain Marvel - I like Carol. Having her wander around most of the movie not knowing who she was kind of felt off, though.
Robin, Robin - This was up for short film, and it was really cute.
Spider-Man: Far from Home - This was... odd? I liked it, but I was expecting the tone to be different after Endgame.
Thor: Ragnarock - Finally got around to seeing this one. I'm not a huge fan of Waititi's take on this. It's a little too screwball comedy when I expect something almost Shakespearean with Thor and Loki.
The Lost Daughter - I felt like something flew over my head in this one. Excellent acting, but I never quite understood the point.
The Queen of Basketball - I didn't know anything about this woman. She led a very interesting life.
Nightmare Alley - A few bits of this I honestly couldn't watch. This was intense.
King Richard - The point made at the Oscars stands: the Williams sisters were the top tennis stars of all time, so somebody made a film about... their father.
The Batman - I could stand to see more of Pattinson's Wayne.
The Power of the Dog - Excellent acting, but ultimately it isn't something I'd ever see again.
The Long Goodbye - I don't know whether the sound mix was off-kilter when I watched this. It was frightening, though.
Three Songs for Benazir - Maybe I'm just not good with documentary format in general because this also felt strangely incomplete.
Lead Me Home - This documentary felt unfinished somehow.
The Windshield Wiper - Meh. Didn't really stick with me.