2022 in Film

Three photos from 2022.

Hi all! I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the films I watched in 2022. Below you will find a number of film cards. Each of these links to my Letterboxd review. Click on any of them to read my thoughts on the film.

By the end of the year I had watched a total of 302 films, nearly triple 2021's total. This amounted to almost 500 hours of movie-watching. 15.6% of the films I watched were new 2022 releases and 23.5% were rewatches.

My Top Films of 2022

While I was able to watch a lot of great films, I know there are still many more from last year that I haven't seen yet. This list only covers the films I watched in 2022 - sorry if I missed any of your favorites!

Let's start with my personal top movies of the year. My top 2 were:

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once

2022

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a mind-bending sci-fi film that kept me on the edge of my seat. My wife and I watched it in theaters shortly after it came out without knowing anything about it. We loved it so much that we've watched it a few more times since. It's so dense that I was still discovering new things during my 4th viewing.

Despite being an earlier release, this held the top spot as my favorite film of the year. I'm so excited to see what the directors have in store for us next.

RRR

RRR

2022

RRR is Telugu period action film that was just an epic ride. I watched it four times last year as well, and I'm planning to put it on again soon.

Both this and Everything Everywhere could be considered maximalist films in that they both do... everything. Neither leaves anything on the table.

This one in particular led me to watch many more Indian films including others by S. S. Rajamouli, the director of RRR.

And the next 10 in no particular order:

My Top Films Watched in 2022

I also want to mention the best movies I watched this year, regardless of when they were released. 2022 was a year of catching up on culturally significant films I had missed. Represented here are a number of films I continue to think about and bring up in conversation frequently with friends. Again, in no particular order.

My Top Obscure Films Watched in 2022

Here's a special shoutout to some of the more obscure films I enjoyed this year. I calculated this by sorting my Letterboxd list by popularity, scrolling to the bottom, and picking the first 10 films that I had rated 4 stars or higher.

My Top Reviews from 2022

Here are a few of my more popular film reviews from this year.

cover image for Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park still isn’t showing its age - the CG looks better than the CG in 90% of movies that have come out since. No one’s made a better shark movie since Jaws and no one’s made a better dinosaur movie since this. What’s Spielberg’s secret?
Reviewed on May 14, 2022
cover image for Prey (2022)

Prey (2022)

I’d like to propose a pick-and-choose trilogy: Predator, Predators, and this. Forget the rest. This was great fun.
Reviewed on August 6, 2022
cover image for Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu (1922)

Man, I had no idea this was a plague movie. Nosferatu’s look is literally modeled after the rats featured so heavily in this film. Interesting! Can’t wait to see Eggers’ take on this.
Reviewed on November 1, 2022
cover image for The Seventh Seal (1957)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Yet another film I expected to be some kind of ethereal arthouse experience but ended up being a fairly linear fantasy adventure film… and I don’t mean that as a knock against it. May be one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen.
Reviewed on November 16, 2022
cover image for Strange World (2022)

Strange World (2022)

Everything visually, I liked. The big twist, great. The writing… bad, bad, bad. Stop repeatedly explaining things we already know!
Reviewed on December 3, 2022

Stats

In terms of most watched films, Everything Everywhere All at Once, RRR, Game Night, and Steamboat Bill, Jr. were at the top of my list.

My most watched actor and director last year were the same: Buster Keaton. I watched 12 films he acted in, 10 of which he also directed. This was a lot of fun, especially because I watched them with my son.

Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr.

I also want to give a special shoutout to the classic Godzilla movies, which I had a blast watching this year with my son as well. This is a project we're continuing in 2023.

On top of that, I decided to complete the filmographies of three directors: Quentin Tarantino, Hayao Miyazaki and Wes Anderson.

Overall, it was a great year of movie-watching for me and I am looking forward to seeing what 2023 brings.