Best Films of 2022

At the time of writing this, I watched over seventy films that were released this year. That's more than enough to leave me feeling like Mr. Creosote by the end of the year.

Best Films of 2022:

The Northman (Robert Eggers)

Mad God (Phil Tippett)

Hatching (Hanna Bergholm)

Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg)

R.R.R (S.S. Rajamouli)

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)

The Innocents (Eskil Vogt)

Brian and Charles (Jim Archer)

All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)

X (Ti West)

Deadstream (Joseph Winter & Vanessa Winter)

Robert Eggers' The Northman was my best film of 2022. A fantastic revenge story that struck all the right notes for me. Surprised Eggers' trademark style didn't appear at all compromised considering it was essentially a big mainstream production. Too bad he's no longer attached with that Nosferatu remake as he would have been a perfect fit to walk the same steps as F.W. Murnau and Werner Herzog.

Enjoyed this lot as well, despite whatever issues they had.

Honourable Mentions of 2022:

Terrifier 2 (Damien Leone)

The Sadness (Rob Jabbaz) 

Pearl (Ti West)

Baby Assassins (Yûgo Sakamoto)

 Men (Alex Garland)

Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot)

Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski)

Some Like It Rare (Fabrice Eboué)

Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (Mike Judge & Gary Cole)

Vesper (Kristina Buozyte & Bruno Samper)

Hellbender (John Adamn, Zelda Adams & Toby Poser)

This year's crop was a distinctive improvement compared to the last couple of years. That makes sense since the world is mostly back to "normal" again and there are less restrictions. It was a notable year where Baz Luhrmann and Tom Cruise's respective projects turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable, and Ti West bucked the trend of making a feature film comeback and being successful with not one, but two films released this year.

Also had a great time watching a bunch of older films for the first time this year. These were my favourite highlights:

 

Older Films Discovered in 2022:

Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936)

This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942)

Nineteen Eighty-Four (Rudolph Cartier, 1954)

Riot in Cell Block 11 (Don Siegel, 1954)

Passport to Shame (Alvin Rakoff, 1958)

The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963)

It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965)

Requiescant (Carlo Lizzani, 1967)

Doppelgänger (Robert Parrish, 1969)

The Specialists (Sergio Corbucci, 1969)

Witchhammer (Otakar Vávra, 1970)

Malpertuis (Harry Kummel, 1971)

Endless Night (Sidney Gilliet, 1972)

Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, 1973)

Hell Up in Harlem (Larry Cohen, 1973)

Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (Christopher Speeth, 1973)

Terminal Island (Stephanie Rothman, 1973)

Bucktown (Arthur Marks, 1975)

The Tough Ones (Umberto Lenzi, 1976)

Alison's Birthday (Ian Coughlan, 1981)

Angst (Gerald Kargl, 1983)

The Boys Next Door (Penelope Spheeris, 1985)

Django Strikes Again (Nello Rossati, 1987)

Celia (Ann Walker, 1989)

Wicked World (Barry J. Gillis, 1991)

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (Shinichi Fukazawa, 1995/2012)

Pandorum (Christian Alvart, 2009)

Dogs Don't Wear Pants (J. -P. Valkeapää 2019)

The Golden Glove (Fatih Akin, 2019)

Midnight (Kwon Oh-seung, 2021)  

Hopefully 2023 will be just as good or even better.