If there’s one thing that was the talk of the year in 2022, it was Elon midterms inflation Queen Elizabeth war Dobbs mpox the slap MOVIES! This year’s box office was feast or famine, (most) festivals came back in person, and our appetites for movies were well satiated (even if distributors still seem uncertain about the whole “should this go to theaters or streaming?” question). Thus, the SAGindie staff decided it was time to continue a beloved(?) annual tradition to list off the best films they saw this year. Welcome to SAGindie’s FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2022.
Also, because we don’t only live in the now, we figured we’d list our favorite classic films we finally saw this year as well.
——
Darrien’s Favorites:
- Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Triangle of Sadness
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Our Father, the Devil
- The Inspection
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- The Woman King
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Prey
- Emergency
Each one of these films made me happy that I had taken the time to watch it. Thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. Still, there were SO many others that I still want to see but haven’t yet.
Eliza’s Favorites:
- All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
- Decision to Leave
- Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Neptune Frost
- Our Father, the Devil
- Palm Trees and Power Lines
- Parallel Mothers
- Pleasure
- Triangle of Sadness
- Best film I watched on a plane: Bodies Bodies Bodies
- Best film I saw with 931 other people and the spectacle was worth it: RRR
- Best completely overlooked film: Quantum Cowboys
- Best film that had me completely reconsidering my career choices: Fire of Love
- Best(?) film I feel really guilty about not having seen yet: Tár
Best New-to-Me:
Colin’s Favorites:
Favorite Movies of 2022:
- RRR – The best movie, and also the most movie
- Bodies Bodies Bodies – The Gen-Z whodunnit I’ve always wanted
- Women Talking – I was very invested in the women as they were talking
- The Northman – If RRR isn’t enough revenge epic for you, add this one to the list
- Emergency – Let’s hear it for “one crazy night” movies (see also: Bodies Bodies Bodies)
- Glass Onion – I dun it (added another whodunnit to my list)
- Thirteen Lives – Apollo 13-era Ron Howard is back, baby!
- Nope – Yep
- Compartment No. 6 – Like a Finnish Before Sunrise
- Triangle of Sadness – a fun ol’ pukey time
Favorite Classic Movies I Saw in 2022:
Shefali’s Favorites:
- Everything Everywhere All At Once – Seeing as I saw this 4 times in theaters I’d say it was easily my favorite movie of the year!
- After Yang
- Emergency
- Fresh
- Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
- Master
- Bodies Bodies Bodies
- Decision to Leave
- The Woman King
- Mr. Malcolm’s List
- Do Revenge
Favorite Old Movie: Exit – Not super old, but I watched the 2019 Korean film Exit this year. It’s an extremely fun action comedy about an unemployed man who’s obsessed with rock climbing much to his parents’ disapproval, but then those skills turn out to come in handy when an apocalyptic gas explosion hits Seoul!
Michael’s Favorites:
I still have a lot to see, but so far Aftersun is my favorite new movie followed by The Banshees of Inisherin. The first is gorgeously gut-wrenching while the latter is hilariously existential.
Otherwise, I also really liked:
- All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
- Crimes of the Future
- Emily the Criminal
- Funny Pages
- Nope
- On the Count of Three
- Pearl
- Petite Maman
- Showing Up
- The Survivor
- White Noise
As for old movies I saw for the first time this year, I really loved Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick) and very much liked Seconds (John Frankenheimer), Saint Jack (Peter Bognonovic), and A New Leaf (Elaine May).
WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2022?
——
If you’re an independent filmmaker or know of an independent film-related topic we should write about, email blogadmin@sagindie.org for consideration.