Let us try something different at the end of 2022 – my first yearly movie Index! Usually, my year consists of writing reviews, and for those big movies I miss throughout the year, I try to catch up on them, starting around October onwards. Those movies, usually fall into the background, and if they don’t make my Favourite or Least Favourite Movie lists for the year, I never write a word about them ☹ But this year, where I couldn’t write a full review for these movies, I wrote down a paragraph or so, and tucked it away for this project. I now present the 2022 Index: An A to Z on Movies. Consider this your one-stop shop to navigate my site, and thoughts on all the movies I saw in 2022. I’ll list these movies in alphabetical order, with links to my longer reviews, or short paragraphs for the movies I didn’t. Enjoy, one and all – Merry Christmas.
2022 Index: An A to Z on Movies
Amsterdam
This cast is nothing to sneeze at – so many leading lads and ladies on the front line. But what a whirlwind this is! Director David O. Russell has got to be aware of how erratic this work is, no? It was genuinely perplexing in an early scene where Christian Bale, Taylor Swift, and Chris Rock’s air from conflicting corners of media clashed together. And Margot Robbie’s accent is… let’s just say, her Australian is showing. But I still kind’ve liked it 😂 In telling what seems to be a pretty important tale, it may not be optimal to go on such a sporadic ride, but I nestled in with the gigantic cast, and enjoyed them chewing the scenery. Anya Taylor-Joy to play Harley Quinn’s Ivy? 3.0
Avatar: The Way of Water
2022 Reviews – Avatar: The Way of Water – Today Junior!
Barbarian
The first half of this movie is incredibly intriguing, and the end product is enjoyable. I did feel like Justin Long is miscast, and a guy with more jockey bravado, like Billy Magnussen, would’ve worked better. My whole experience was wanting Tess to live, to knowing she done messed up, to siding with her again, back and forth, back and forth. 3.5
Belfast
2022 Reviews – Belfast – Today Junior!
Black Adam
2022 Reviews – Black Adam – Today Junior!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2022 Reviews – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Today Junior!
Bodies Bodies Bodies
2022 Reviews – Bodies Bodies Bodies – Today Junior!
Bones and All
2022 Reviews – Bones and All – Today Junior!
Bros
2022 Reviews – Bros – Today Junior!
Bullet Train
Perhaps I’m a grumpy-wump, but one of these movies comes out every few years, trying to be as witty or crazy as Pulp Fiction, and playing with the time structure like the excellent first half of Snake Eyes – Bullet Train is fun, but ultimately forgettable. A Jeremy Jahns’ ‘Better Time If I Were Drunk’. Yet Brian Tyree Henry’s lectures on Thomas the Tank Engine speak to my heart, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson continues to be transformative in roles. Nice style, excellent cast – I should remember Joey King from this. 3.0
C’mon, C’mon
Pretentious Big Daddy. Motherhood by proxy. It reminds me of that Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet vehicle from a few years back, Beautiful Boy, that was drastically melancholy, and wished to be more memorable than it ever was. ‘Blah blah blah blah’ is a cute callback, that couldn’t have landed with a louder thud for me. BUT C’mon C’mon is decently made, and a line of dialogue here and there lets me think writer and director Mike Mills had some worthy insights to explore. 2.5
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers
2022 Reviews – Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers – Today Junior!
Choose or Die
It’s a neat Jumanji meets A Nightmare on Elm Street concept, but I was kind’ve feeling the accompanying dramatic story more than the horrific levels, which is a problem. Then the climax and finale are laughable; awful. Asa Butterfield is usually the closest thing I can think of to describe ‘Box Office Poison’ but this one’s not even his fault, as he’s charming enough. Because this movie ends with an unnecessary anti-man rant out of leftfield, while it’s been leaning on A Nightmare on Elm Street through the entire runtime… A Nightmare on Elm Street had a female hero in the ‘80s; didja forget that? 1.0
Clifford the Big Red Dog
2022 Reviews – Clifford the Big Red Dog – Today Junior!
Copshop
Damn, there’s only one word to describe that third act – sloppy. Oh, here’s a few more – predictable and cliché. And the movie’s ‘adrenaline’ is slow to get going too, at the beginning. It’s a real shame because the middle of this Assault on Precinct 13 adjacent thriller is great fun; essentially between when psychotic killer Anthony (Toby Huss) shows up and when he takes a shower. Until that third act, Valerie Young is one remarkable badass heroine, and actress Alexis Louder, she can stay. Ultimately, I liked this less than that Jason Statham action movie of 2021, Wrath of Man, and I didn’t love that either. 2.5
Cyrano
2022 Reviews – Cyrano – Today Junior!
Day Shift
‘This is so stupid’, I say with a wide grin across my face. It probably wants to be Men in Black, but it comes out more like R.I.P.D.. I can’t in good consciousness give this more than a 2.0, because the dialogue, more often than not, tips the scale, emphasizing the ‘dumb’ more than the ‘fun’. But hunting vampires is fun. Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg, and Karla Souza are fun. 2.0
Death on the Nile
2022 Reviews – Death on the Nile – Today Junior!
DC League of Super-Pets
2022 Reviews – DC League of Super-Pets – Today Junior!
Disenchanted
I only recently caught up with the original, but for subverting the Disney princess tradition, I thought it was thoughtfully remarkable. Then, yeesh, what did they do to Morgan here? What did they even do to Giselle? Around 20-minutes in I think I’d written a better premise than this one. But when the colourful world-meshing begins, I slowly started having a good time. The songs are mostly generic, but the Baddie song is cheeky, and your heart is made of stone if it doesn’t melt when Idina Menzel flexes her talents. It’s also fun spotting all the subtle references to Disney’s animated classics. Amy Adams has enjoyed a stellar career really since 2007’s Enchanted, and this is like a cherry-on-top prize along the way, getting to revisit it. She’s great. 3.0
Do Revenge
Throw Mamma from the Train, high-school style. Look, Do Revenge is stylistically disciplined and lovingly incorporates so many commendable songs and iconography from the wonderful era of 90s teen dramedy. It has some awesome one-liners that hail respect to Heathers too. But Do Revenge needed to work a little more on that plot, I think. I don’t think it has a handle on what it’s doing at times, and I couldn’t get invested because we’re told at the very start that nothing is as it seems – so I kept waiting for the bubble to pop, and it does. Safe ride, no joy. Mean Girls reigns supreme. 3.0
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
2022 Reviews – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Today Junior!
Don’t Worry Darling
2022 Reviews – Don’t Worry Darling – Today Junior!
Emily the Criminal
This movie should be called ‘Emily the muthafucking Criminal’! Aubrey Plaza is so charismatic – I now want to see the other movie she produced Black Bear, from 2020. But this is a quaint story about freedom, pointing the finger at vocational institutionalism along the way, and I didn’t know how it was going to go. I will say the pacing can be slow at times, but the story is always mesmerizing. 4.0
Enola Holmes 2
At its best, it’s a fast-paced and stupendous YA novel brought to life. But the pacing and contrivances through the middle can bring it down. The person eventually crowned as Moriarty does indeed seem to be having… fun 😁 Is this one of those stories where the main protagonists don’t affect the outcome of the story at all? In any case, I enjoyed this movie more than the first Enola Holmes – Millie Bobby Brown continues to be a lionheart in this role. 3.5
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Daniels made Swiss Army Man which I consider one of the worst movies I’ve seen, but others seem to love it. Everything Everywhere All at Once looked pretty good in trailers, the multiverse concept is so hot right now due to the MCU, and this movie is downright amazing! It maintains a quick chaotic pace through concise editing and masterful attention to detail. The creativity is out of the park. The story element of having to do crazy things to slingshot into a new skill can get out of hand, and I wish the butt-plug trophies were only a one-off joke, but I have to concede, it’s the quirky energy of the writer/directors that allows this movie to be as good as it is, and these knocks I have were personal preferences in the moment, and don’t falter the actual end product. The first half of Everything Everywhere All at Once is like a ‘Matrix reimagining, which turns towards a touching family reunion though some very well-defined characters in the second half. Exemplary performances across the board! I think this’ll be my favourite movie of the year, and it’s not even close. 5.0
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
This is the first movie I’ve ever boycotted in cinemas, due to the mishandling of Johnny Depp. With minimal action, I hope you like talking, because Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore can be so wordy, and boring. But I think I enjoyed this movie more than the previous installment, because I can see the ideological battle and the parallels to our World Wars that I believe this story is drawing on, even if it could be so much stronger. It benefits, for now, from being a chapter in a bigger narrative too, so I can’t fully evaluate this movie without knowing how the story ends. But these past two Fantastic Beasts movies have still been long and tedious for me; if some intellectual Harry Potter enthusiast told me they adored them though, I could believe it. And despite how he got there, Mads Mikkelson is a fantastic addition; he and Jude Law make for a more believable couple. 2.0
Firestarter
2022 Reviews – Firestarter – Today Junior!
Fresh
The fucking opening credits begin half-an-hour into the movie! It’s funny how the smallest things can feel so original. I uh, actually think I enjoyed the first act the best, just anticipating the fucked-up shit that was ahead of us. Call me a psychopath, but when Steve asks Noa if she has any more questions, I was like, ‘…yes! Loads more’. But I suppose it’s curiosity that most often kills the Cat-hryn. If Jack Nicholson truly rang Heath Ledger to warn him about how harrowing the Joker can be, then I hope Anthony Hopkins rang Sebastian Stan. 4.0
Gold
Despite a slow start, the movie, and Zac Effron, do a fantastic job, at getting us to care for this character, stranded in the middle of Oz in the harshest of conditions. It probably actually rivals my faint memories of 127 Hours for survival horror. 3.5
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
2022 Reviews – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Today Junior!
Hocus Pocus 2
Focus you, it’s Hocus Pocus 2! The mini-Sanderson sisters at the front of this movie are awesome! But then the movie’s main protagonists and the opening act get going, and it’s just alright. There’s delight in the returning trio – Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy & Sarah Jessica Parker – and I enjoyed this movie even more than the original. Also, forget what I said about Tony Hale in my review of Clifford the Big Red Dog – do all the movies you can mate; a sturdy character actor who makes everything better. 3.0
Hollywood Stargirl
I worried if Stargirl was going to shine, taken out of the original setting of the first movie – sometimes that’s too much change. But her personality is infectious, of course; I warmed to watching her anywhere. The number of costume changes she goes through is staggering, and they’re all spectacular. This movie is tranquil, refreshingly so in this day and age. Uma Thurman and Judd Hirsh are so good, and gosh I love Judy Greer. All I could recall from the first Stargirl was the awesome dance number to ‘Be True to Your School’, and this has four or five songs – I love how Hollywood Stargirl gives us Stargirl’s rendition and then also the original. The movie kind’ve reminded me of the last season of Skins. 4.0
Home Team
I got some laughs in spite of myself – Gary Valentine and Ashley D. Kelley earned giggles. It’s generic, and some of the scenes are a trudge, but the emotional ending packs an appropriate punch. I might’ve cared more one way or the other if I knew about NFL; how the Saints coach was really involved in the scandal, and how it all went down – I worry maybe he wouldn’t be worth ‘celebrating’ with a Kevin James comedy, but I don’t know. 2.5
House of Gucci
2022 Reviews – House of Gucci – Today Junior!
Hustle
We know Adam Sandler can do drama; Happy Madison putting the story before the chuckles to deliver the feel-goods. Queen Latifa, Ben Foster, Kenny Smith, Heidi Gardner – everyone is enjoyable in this movie, and seem like they’re having fun. Forget Space Jam: A New Legacy – if you’re a basketball fan, then this is a special treat. 4.0
Jurassic World: Dominion
2022 Reviews – Jurassic World: Dominion – Today Junior!
King Richard
2022 Reviews – King Richard – Today Junior!
Licorice Pizza
It’s a love story about a 15-year-old boy and a 25-year-old girl… The eldest Haim says to Alana that ‘it’s weird if you think it is’ – well, I think it is! Not to mention John Michael Higgins doing a tacky Japanese-voice that’s meant to be for genuine laughs, which I’m proud to find off-putting, and don’t know how that would fly in any cinema of the past 10 years. I don’t know why I’m okay with the underage courting in Call Me By Your Name and Red Rocket but not this, but I think it has something to do with the tone that comes with it, where Licorice Pizza portrays it as nothing but sweet. There’s also hardly any plot in Licorice Pizza, and I’ve heard that’s the charm. There are scenes that I adored – the opener, and the entire scenario involving Bradley Cooper. The cinematography is definitely elite, and so is the acting. This is one of those movies where I must disagree with the critics, but I won’t worry it could be because I don’t understand the movie, because there’s next to nothing to understand. Licorice Pizza is not the first movie to capture a feel for a place in time, and that’s not enough to make it good. 2.0
Lightyear
2022 Reviews – Lightyear – Today Junior!
Luckiest Girl Alive
It’s the first fifteen minutes, and what I’m supposed to glean from this story is unclear – Gone Girl, American Psycho and more came to mind. Then dealing in sexual assault, gun violence, privilege, maintaining reputations, and mother/daughter dynamics, through the means of voiceover, flashbacks, and dream sequences, Luckiest Girl Alive can feel like a glob of chewed bubblegum, with how it meshes all these elements together. But stick by this movie, and the final third does unlock a powerful angry/sadness and empathy to follow Promising Young Woman. I wasn’t confronted so much by the incident itself, but by the resulting adult jumping through hoops to be okay. Ironically, Connie Britton finds herself on the end of another character ignorant to rape. Finn Wittrock is only allowed to flex his talents in his final scene, but well done Mila Kunis, and my heart goes out to the true victim. 3.5
Me Time
What they don’t tell you is that the ‘Me’ in Me Time is short for Me-andering. This is like an exercise into how to film a movie with as little narrative direction as possible. I feel I owe comedies like Hall Pass and Game Night an apology; I didn’t love them, but at least they had intent – they had a story they wanted to tell. There may be a good idea or two in here somewhere, but like a weathervane in the wind, it never aims in one direction long enough to find out. Also, I don’t know how you can have a movie where everyone is perfect the way they are, and be a comedy. Harsh, but fair – Me Time is pathetic. 1.0
Men
2022 Reviews – Men – Today Junior!
Moonfall
The dialogue is diabolical. I kept thinking of Kyle Chandler’s reluctant hero in Godzilla: King of Monsters, which is so obscure, but I liked him, and I felt sorry for Patrick Wilson getting this unlikable flunk. Admittedly, the movie feels itself out when our astronauts land on the moon, but I’d already checked out by then. The Day After Tomorrow has some company as a big bad boring disaster… movie. 1.5
Morbius
022 Reviews – Morbius – Today Junior!
Mother/Android
For a bad movie, it’s not all bad – there’s some plotting out action that’s quite decent. Mother/Android is a slow low-budget sci-fi idea, that at times seems to be as intriguing as Synchronic but unfortunately falls more closely to the side of Chaos Walking. It has to have one of the dumbest endings I’ve ever come across too, and whilst I’ll try to avoid specific spoilers here, I would like an explanation from the movie makers as to why we can’t all sail off into the sunset…? Mother/Android holds the amateur dialogue and fanciful characterisations of an ill-nurtured YA adaptation yet yields a MA15+ rating so that audience can’t even see it – go figure. Damn Chloe Graze Moretz, you’re one of my favourites, and you started off 2021 with a surprisingly decent bang, with Shadow in the Cloud, but more like The Miseducation of Cameron Post and The Fifth Wave, this is a poor result. 1.5
Nightmare Alley
2022 Reviews – Nightmare Alley – Today Junior!
Nope
2022 Reviews – Nope – Today Junior!
Pinocchio
2022 Reviews – Pinocchio – Today Junior!
Prey
2022 Reviews – Prey – Today Junior!
Red Rocket
2022 Reviews – Red Rocket – Today Junior!
Scream
2022 Reviews – Scream – Today Junior!
See How They Run
Mmm-meta. Nah, it’s pretty good. Without having seen or heard of The Mousetrap before, it’s hard to understand all the in-house references, but See How They Run is enjoyable enough. Saoirse Ronan maintains her charms as a daffy constable, but it’s strange hearing Sam Rockwell without his usual American drawl. Colourful and quick, I’d still prefer a good whodunit over this genre-bender, but jolly good show. 3.5
Senior Year
A lot of nostalgia bait, being that this character was a teenager during a past where I was a teenager myself. Or alternatively, I enjoyed a well-constructed movie using some great vintage style! That ‘Crazy’ re-enactment is fun. And how’s the Uber cameo – you’d have to be clueless to not appreciate that. The plot can be basic, but Rebel’s one-liners keep it chugging along; she continues to be a credit to Australia. It’s an enjoyable movie with a makeshift cast – the boy from It, the sister from Happiest Season, and the young Aussie lass most known for her Betty Brant. I’m somewhat surprised to say, Senior Year is lovely. 3.5
She Said
2022 Reviews – She Said – Today Junior!
Sing 2
2022 Reviews – Sing 2 – Today Junior!
Smile
OMG, some of the best jump scares I can recall. The entire movie is intense, since any moment something could be not what it seems. It takes full advantage of pairing a very simple concept with that of trauma, but I haven’t seen comparably structured movies like The Grudge or The Ring, or The Babadook, which I understand has similar themes. But I have seen It Follows, and this is that on steroids. I didn’t sleep well the night after – first time a horror movie has really got me since Hereditary. 4.5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
2022 Reviews – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – Today Junior!
Spencer
2022 Reviews – Spencer – Today Junior!
Spiderhead
Gaslighting and an abuse of power at its finest. The details are a little squirrely, but still a damn fine movie. Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller are solid. (I thought the B6 may’ve gone on to reveal that they aren’t really criminals are all, it’s all planted memories). 3.0
Strange World
2022 Reviews – Strange World – Today Junior!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2022 Reviews – Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Today Junior!
The Adam Project
2022 Reviews – The Adam Project – Today Junior!
The Addams Family 2
2022 Reviews – The Addams Family 2 – Today Junior!
The Bad Guys
I love how fast it moves – but it’s vapid, pretty forgettable. I’m starting to think the surprise villain trope in animation is an assault on stability and good guys, the more it becomes a tired once-clever ruse, especially when it’s this predictable. The Bad Guys is at its best when it’s focusing on friendship, and Marc Maron’s Snake is awesome. 2.0
The Batman
2022 Reviews – The Batman – Today Junior!
The Black Phone
2022 Reviews – The Black Phone – Today Junior!
The Bubble
2022 Reviews – The Bubble – Today Junior!
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
2022 Reviews – The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Today Junior!
The Good Nurse
2022 Reviews – The Good Nurse – Today Junior!
The Gray Man
I wanna talk about the action – the fast-swooning camera (done with drones, I’d imagine) makes The Gray Man feel very modern but cheaper at the same time. Quick edits and obvious CGI in bigger explosions make me miss a time when action was in camera and unable to be faked. But it’s rare for Hollywood to make these toe-to-toe balls-to-the-wall masculine action movies anymore, and I can’t deny that The Gray Man is a lot of dumb fun. The undercover operations make it a shade smarter than what passes as plot in the Mission Impossible movies, but not as smart as the Bourne franchise. Ana de Armas shows that the tough girl Bond cameo wasn’t just a fluke. And I bet Chris Evans was having a ball – I hope the pouty Ken Doll (A.K.A Ryan Gosling) was enjoying life as well. 3.5
The Lost City
I wasn’t expecting a great deal from The Lost City, and while I wasn’t wrong, it managed to be an enjoyable comedy. Hard to criticise spending time with funny people. 3.5
The Lost Daughter
2022 Reviews – The Lost Daughter – Today Junior!
The Man From Toronto
It’s soooo long! But I kept thinking about The Hitman’s Bodyguard and how this, for a buddy/action movie, was much more enjoyable than that. Harrelson and Hart have good chemistry. I thought it may’ve gone into how Hart’s character was having just as much ease intimidating bad guys as Toronto, which could’ve led to a crisis of reputation – ‘am I really that good?’. As fluff, it’s fine, but it’s bloody long. 2.0
The Matrix Resurrections
2022 Reviews – The Matrix Resurrections – Today Junior!
The Menu
2022 Reviews – The Menu – Today Junior!
The Northman
2022 Reviews – The Northman – Today Junior!
The Tragedy of Macbeth
2022 Reviews – The Tragedy of Macbeth – Today Junior!
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
If this movie were a basketball team, you’d say it doesn’t go hard enough in the paint. I was expecting more meta versions of Nic Cage to show up with pearls of wisdom, but I think we only get one. Plus, the casting of recognisable actors in supporting roles really took me out of the concept – not so much with Pedro Pascal, because you need someone talented enough to match Cage, but Neil Patrick Harris as Cage’s agent, and Tiffany Haddish as an CIA Agent; it doesn’t make any sense. Bankable premise, questionable execution. 3.0
The Wonder
2022 Reviews – The Wonder – Today Junior!
The 355
2022 Reviews – The 355 – Today Junior!
Thor: Love and Thunder
2022 Reviews – Thor: Love and Thunder – Today Junior!
Three Thousand Years of Longing
2022 Reviews – Three Thousand Years of Longing – Today Junior!
Till Death
It’s thrilling! The cat-and-mouse game is real. The twists and turns are in abundance. It’s not really, but it’s almost like an adult Home Alone, where the villains come but the house is boobytrapped, against yourself. It reminds me of Don’t Breathe with its terrific staging and use of space. 4.0
Top Gun: Maverick
2022 Reviews – Top Gun: Maverick – Today Junior!
Turning Red
2022 Reviews – Turning Red – Today Junior!
Uncharted
A harmless adventure film, and I hope, something more for those invested in the games. What’s the experts take on Tom Holland as Nathan Drake? I imagined Drake would be more rugged from the imagery. 3.0
West Side Story
2022 Reviews – West Side Story – Today Junior!
Where the Crawdads Sing
It’s what this movie doesn’t do that holds it back – it doesn’t aptly explain the town’s relationship to the marsh girl. It doesn’t explain why this flimsy case is brought against her, and how David Strathaim’s character is moved to come to her defense. Although the marsh, Kya’s house, and the shop are lovely locations, I don’t get a sense of place, where they all come together in relation to each other. It’s the smaller things too, like I wish I knew Kya’s age and the ages of these boys at the times she meets them, just adding more depth to their relationships. It’s a movie, but I wish I couldn’t notice that Kya is always wearing production makeup either, when she’s an isolated marsh girl, and doesn’t contemplate what anyone thinks of her. Through all this, the movie comes across as melodramatic, and the characters don’t seem genuine, when the story has great potential. It’s like the movie was so preoccupied with stacking moments together, it neglects the mortar that binds them. But it’s interesting, how this town harangues Kya without pitchforks, and young Kya is remarkable. The movie reminded me most of Fried Green Tomatoes, with less weight. 3.0
Windfall
Well, I quite enjoyed that. The constant score made it feel old-timey and suspenseful, and I love how my sympathies towards the characters wavered at every passing moment. The gardener copping it was truly graphic and shocking. I wonder what could’ve happened if the Wife (Lily Collins) hadn’t come back with the money, leaving Nobody (Jason Segal) and the CEO (Jesse Plemons) waiting and double-crossed. But this is a rare scenario where the alternative ending I pitch may not have been better, but equally intriguing. I love the scene where the trio discuss how much cash it takes to start a new life. 3.5
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