Favorite Movies of 2022

01/19/23

Last year was a big movie year for us. We got season passes to the Alamo Drafthouse right down the street, so we’ve been trying to go at least a couple times a month to get our money’s worth. But I’ll typically go more often than that… probably closer to 1-2 movies a week.

I’ll try not to spoil anything, even though the only person who reads this is my wife and she saw all of these with me.

Also, these won’t be in any order, and I probably won’t be able to pick a favorite. This isn’t a listicle, it’s a sophisticated, nuanced publication with standards.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Just kidding, this was my favorite movie of 2022.

If you know me, you know this is my favorite type of movie. It’s slow and quiet but the characters are freaking intense. I still get goosebumps whenever I see clips of Barry Keoghan’s performance.

I also watched McDonagh’s “In Bruges” for the first time before watching this. It’s a nice companion movie if you’re into McDonagh’s dark humor and the Collin Firth - Brendan Gleeson chemistry.

Memoria

Speaking of quietly intense! This one cooks. It’s sooo slow… I could almost hear the actors like, counting to 30 before saying the next line. In one scene, you literally watch a dude take a nap.

slight spoiler

And also, it had one of my favorite things in movies (or pretty much any narrative art), which is hard for me to explain, but basically when they drop a tiny morsel (the tinier the better) that suggests the plot was operating at an entirely different layer than you thought (often other-worldly/supernatural). I love this because you could turn around and watch the movie again and it feels like a completely different movie now that you know.

end spoiler

I’m glad I caught this one because I learned afterwards that it’s deliberately never going to be released on streaming services. I’d love a re-watch if it’s ever showing again, but for now I’m just gonna have to let it stew.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

What’s the opposite of “quietly intense”? This one felt like 6 movies playing on top of each other. We watched it a second time with my father-in-law and he was losing his mind for the first hour and then fell asleep. Great film.

Fire of Love

This is a good one to snuggle up and get real sleepy to. I think there was only one other person at the theater when my wife and I saw this. Extremely meditative, beautiful, haunting. The volcano footage is absolutely unreal. And the whole thing feels like watching ghosts, because you KNOW these folks were killed by a volcano (and it’s in the movie’s description, so not a spoiler).

Nope

I saw this twice and loved it twice. This is probably my favorite movie moment of 2022 (I’m not going to learn how to make this a normal size):

slight spoiler

I haven’t seen many alien movies, but IMO this one has the best alien reveal since Signs. They just give you little snippets until you think you’re never going to see it and then BAM. This one’s a little different though, for reasons that go beyond “slight” spoiler territory.

end spoiler

Anyway, go see it.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

I didn’t see this movie. I just wanted to bring it up because the trailer made me nauseous. I think the voice is like, too small if that makes sense?

etc.

I saw a lot of other movies, but I’m not sure I like this 1-2 paragraph summary format that I’m cultivating here. Maybe I’ll stick to single-movie reviews from now on.

And with that, I’ve finished my January blogging challenge! But I already feel like I want to write more, it’s a little bit addicting.

Quick s/o to my wife (borat voice) for encouraging me to give this a shot, I think it’s already paying off. Here’s her much more interesting blog: https://fliptherecord.blog/

Bye