Drew Favors’ Top 10 Films of 2022

It’s easy to say that 2022 was the greatest comeback year for films since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and even a few years before it. Films that have been in “development hell” for years, or passion projects that have slipped by various studio goalies, have emerged to create a nostalgic cinematic experience that I have yearned for but have not been able to experience in so long.

With the cinema landscape having been open to the public continuously over the past year, Hollywood, and some more silent heavy hitters, have emerged to bring beautiful films both internationally and domestically. Since the release of films this year has been so broad, I would like to start off with a few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the Top 10 cut, but rightfully deserve recognition for their stellar achievements in filmmaking. Keep in mind, these mentions will be brief.

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Spencer Malmberg’s Top 10 Films of 2022

2022 was certainly a year for cinema, there were a lot of movies that came out, both in theaters and digitally through streaming services with a lot of really good films, and a lot of really bad films. Notable flops include the works of Marvel’s 4th Thor attempt and the weird inclusion of Morbius into the Sony catalog that no one was asking for. Also, worth noting the thousands of awful low budget romcoms on streaming services where the only claim to fame is the fact that they got an old Disney Channel teen to be in a movie where they make sex jokes. Also, Jurassic World was bad. 

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Brenna Robinson’s Top 10 Films of 2022

I’m not sure I’m qualified to declare whether or not it’s been a “good year” for film. Like everyone else, I spent the first two years of the pandemic watching movies in my bedroom, so to have an entire year that felt almost normal– the theaters opening again, delayed projects finally getting released— is enough for me to count 2022 as a massive win. The fact that some of the new releases from this year have made their way onto my list of all-time favorites certainly doesn’t hurt either. 

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Harrison Hall’s Top 10 Films of 2022

Perhaps it’s a little too early for me to speak so boldly on this topic, but 2022 was far-and-away the most formative year of my entire life so far, something that movies played no small part in. This was the year that I really discovered my taste in film, beyond the circle of stuff like Pulp Fiction or The Shining that everybody kind of likes anyways. A Sam Raimi binge fine-tuned my brain to horror films– a genre I had previously written off as not-my-thing, now one of my absolute favorites. I’ve begun to crack the pre-1980s bubble that had long eluded me, which opened my eyes to an entire new galaxy of movies. But what’s most relevant to anybody reading this article: 2022 is the year that I set up camp and became a movie theater goblin. I visited the movie theater 72 times in 2022, finishing the year having watched more than 60 2022 releases, a fair increase from having only seen 20 films in theaters the year before (granted, COVID was a much greater obstacle in the way of theatrical releases in 2021 than it is today).  I will disclaim that my viewing habits are strongly dominated by American films, as I only have reliable access to Regal/AMC theaters– i.e., not arthouse. As such, the international presence on this “best of the best” list is more than likely underrepresenting the fantastic movies that are produced overseas– I wouldn’t know, because I didn’t get the chance to see them. But with that aside, here are my favorite films of 2022.

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Review: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ & The Burdens of a Dull Friendship

The Banshees of Inisherin opens by introducing us to the small island town of Inisherin. It is a quaint little place, with lush fields of greenery as far as the eye can see, and rainbows spread themselves across the small town’s perpetually overcast sky. Everything seems as-usual in this tight-knit community, until one otherwise uneventful weekday when Colm (Brendan Gleeson) doesn’t show up to meet his best friend Pádraic (Colin Farrell) for their ritual two o’clock trip to the pub. Pádraic goes looking for Colm, worried that something may be wrong with him, and upon finding him, Pádraic learns that Colm no longer wants to be his friend and demands the two immediately cease all contact. An abrupt, seemingly very simple, request from Colm quickly implodes on itself as the two men come to realize how inescapably intertwined their lives have become. As Pádraic insists on mending their friendship, Colm is drawn to increasingly desperate measures to ward off his presence, leading to rippling consequences for Inisherin as a whole.

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