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Superheroes were mediocre, horror dominated, and one film was everything.
Welcome to one of the final lists of the "Best Movies of 2022." Here at Heat Vision, we aim to tackle the greatest of the genres we love, from comic book adaptations to horror to fantasy, whereas other lists would try to give you a whole picture in 10 movies or maybe even just one particular genre. We also adore the medium of animation. The only Tar you'll hear around here is praise for Andor, the protagonist of the sTar Wars television series, and the only Banshees of Inisherin we want to see are Sean Cassidy and his flight to save Jenny the donkey.
With all the jokes aside, 2022 was a solid year for movies in most of the genres we enjoy. However, the largest one—the comic book movie industry—had some trouble. We genuinely hope that changes next year because occasionally seeing them becomes a chore.
Both in terms of movie office successes and content, horror had an outstanding year. These films successfully conveyed fear. They frequently provoked contemplation and played on our anxieties.
And ideally animation can keep persuading people that it's not just a genre but a flexible canvas to portray tales, big and small. Other works thrilled and even sprang our eyes wide with the fiery comeback of stop-motion animation in a year where heavyweights faltered at least twice.
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10. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
A film devoted to the heritage and memory of one person and one character—in this case, Chadwick Boseman and his Marvel superhero—has never before been produced. With a film that is a fitting monument to the man while simultaneously providing fans with soap opera and action in the grand Marvel tradition, director Ryan Coogler accomplished the seemingly impossible. As the mother and queen of Wakanda who has lost practically everything, Angela Bassett gives a performance deserving of honors, and Tenoch Huerta makes an intriguing entrance as the complex antagonist Namor.
9. Prey
Let's face it, when you heard that a new Predator movie was in the works, your eyes probably started to glaze over. Another pointless chapter in a franchise that has become stale over time. Prey finds meaning in a story about a Comanche woman (Amber Midthunder) trying to prove herself in a world of men while witnessing her world being forced to come to terms with the brutality of encroaching colonialism, says director Dan Trachtenberg, who also co-wrote the script with Patrick Aison and made the great slow-burn thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane. Prey doesn't so much redefine the franchise as it does highlight how underutilized and neglected it has been for so long. While the cool kids say, slay.
8. The Black Phone
After leaving Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Scott Derrickson took on this adaptation of a Joe Hill short tale, the kind of movie you could watch at the mall movie theater at any time in the 1980s. a wise choice The horror work gives Derrickson the chance to go into his troubled Denver youth and depict a highly chaotic time in a brother and sister's existence. The director draws from the arsenal of techniques he has amassed over the course of 15 years of producing various horror films. The film contains a creepy villain (Ethan Hawke, who spends most of the time hidden behind a mask), tension, and excellent casting for young performers (the winning combo of Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw).
7. RRR
What the heck were we just watching? This was by far the best action film of the year. It was a hybrid of a superhero film, Bollywood musical, and historical epic. Two historical Indian individuals from the 20th century were merged by filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli into a story of friendship, treachery, and trust as they eventually band together to fight the British Raj. The film features myth-making action sequences in which characters operate as one-man armies, battles that resemble Jack Kirby beatdowns, and a dance-off that will make you rise up and cheer throughout the entire year.
6. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
DreamWorks Animation triumphantly made its comedic and intelligent 2011 film Puss In Boots sequel after several years of drifting aimlessly over the animation seas. Director Joel Crawford and co-director Januel Mercado, however, give us a story about a cat who is thinking about his impending death rather than giving us more of the same. Yes, the good ole' death and what happens to a cat on its final day of life. Oh, it's not at all depressing; there's lots of action that will make you smile, amusing banter, interesting changes in animated style, and brilliant retellings of fairy tales and folklore. However, there is also genuine, stomach-churning anxiety for our cat, as well as lots to ruminate on in terms of what it all means: pure catnip.
5. Barbarian
Zach Cregger, an actor and co-founder of the comedy group The Whitest Kids U Know, debuts a terrifying new act with this one, creating a stressful roller coaster. A woman (Georgina Campbell) finds herself double-booked at an Airbnb on a wet night and reluctantly agrees to remain, pushed on by the kind guy (Bill Skarsgard) already there. The further the protagonists and the audience travel into the property, the more bat guano is present. Nothing is what it seems, so please refrain from reading anything before to the film. Even the introduction of Justin Long's character completely changes the course of the narrative.
4. X
Ti West serves up a slasher movie that has all of the best 1970s grindhouse vibes as well as big ideas about stardom, aging and the elusive nature of beauty. The story centers on a group of young and beautiful folk who take to a farmhouse to cash in on the growing porn boom that promises fortune and fame. The old couple from the farm, however, are not quite what they seem, and soon, by ways ranging from pitchfork to alligator, the body count begins to climb. The movie is a pure-fun thrill ride, full of set-ups and payoffs, giggles and gore, with a hearty dollop of sex thrown in. X is well cast: Jenna Ortega in scream queen mode is notable, but the real breakthrough is Mia Goth, who plays the heroine who strikes up a connection with the farmer’s elderly wife, and also plays, unrecognizably, said farmer’s wife, named Pearl.
Bonus: You should also watch Pearl, West's predecessor to X, which is more like a 1970s slasher than a Douglas Sirk Texas homestead melodrama (with a body count and a musical number). The movie is a great platform for Goth, who gives a heartfelt, award-worthy climactic monologue (and has already landed her an Indie Spirit Awards nomination for lead performance).
3. Top Gun: Maverick
The original Top Gun would never have been on a list like this. It had no genre connection and movies such as Highlander and Little Shop of Horrors would have bounced it out. Heck, even The Boy Who Could Fly probably had more reason to be on a list like this. But times have certainly changed. Top Gun: Maverick is now its own outlier genre, a fantasy of another theatrical age, and Tom Cruise his own superhero category. Maverick is the closest we’ll get to having Cruise in a Star Wars movie, and what is Maverick if not the attack on the Death Star times three, with sweat-inducing, teeth-clenching, hand-wringing practice runs and then that truly awesome final mission, with even its own Han Solo / Millennium Falcon moment.
2. The Batman
The superhero movie of the year. Matt Reeves’ epic and operatic opus was part Seven, part Saw, part French Connection, giving us a Batman that was truly moody and dark. I feel this movie is being overlooked as it was released back in March, which is an eternity in entertainment news cycles. But Reeves’ movie, tilting into emo freak show with Robert Pattinson leading an impeccable cast, is so masterfully made. (Also, if you want to see range, check out Colin Farrell here as the Penguin and then as a farmer in Banshees of Inisherin.) The movie shows the malleability of the Batman concept and his rogues gallery for all kinds of explorations. And that score by Michael Giacchino? One of the best of the year.
1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
What’s left to be said about this movie, the most original and deliriously head-spinning of the year? Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert combine multiverses, freaky action, parental love, romantic love, genres and mediums in a story that is both big and small and succeeds beyond anyone’s imaginations. Michelle Yeoh carries the film as the beleaguered owner of a laundromat being audited by the IRS, but is also breaking her husband’s heart and suffocating her daughter. Everybody shines here, too, especially Stephanie Hsu as the many-layered daughter and Ke Huy Quan, the former child star who made a splashy return to acting with the role of the husband. The movie is so audacious, it keeps throwing ideas and concepts at you, demanding you keep up. But it’s also so endearing, with a beating heart that opens itself to you and asking for you to love it. How can you say no?
