The year 2022 in film - Ranked.

I found this movie confusing and very hard to follow.

The Adam Project and Lightyear were on my to-do list even though even money says I would've disliked both of them. So it goes.

As for ones I've seen...

Thor: Love and Thunder - this would crack my worst 5 of the year. Waititi's humour has been going sharply downhill over the past few years and it's hit a nadir in this tale of god-killers, stage four cancer, bad Greek accents, and jealous battleaxes. It's also just really badly made even by the increasingly dire standards of the MCU.

Terrifier 2 - haven't seen the first one so I had no idea what to expect, but the word of mouth was too good to pass up. That runtime does prove a problem given the slightness of the concept and the goofiness of the villain, but it's not without its grotesque (if few) merits.

Uncharted - yeah, this is a whole lot of nothing. At least I never played the games, which would probably make this worse.

The Gray Man - one of those films where its one saving grace might be that it's too forgettable to genuinely hate, but it's still in the bottom 10 of my own ranking.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Thanks again for the fun thread.

Some of the latest entries are coming in under our "need to be a few hundred words to qualify" requirement, so will just be tagging the longer ones from here on out. Try to keep that in mind as you tag them for review.

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Smokin' Aces on a train is how I would pitch this movie to people.

Pitt is given the task of boarding a train, retrieving a package and getting off at the next stop. Simple, right? WRONG! Nothing is simple when assassins, hired goons, mob bosses and others are on board.

Directed by David Leitch, who co-directed the first John Wick film, Bullet Train is an action extravaganza flick with humour and bright lights. Enough cheeky humour and action to keep the average movie goer satisfied for most of the running time. I say most because it does stretch about 20 minutes too long.

Pitt plays Ladybug (codename) and he has taken on a non-violent mantra recently. That doesn't bode well for him for this mission when he's attacked left right and centre. Pitt has his usual charm on display and his sense of humour works for this material. Highlights are indeed Aaron Taylor Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry as twin assassins trying to retrieve a mob bosses son and the millions in ransom that he was held for.

The film is littered with cameos that are good for a chuckle, but I found a lot of the humour to be forced at times. When it works, it works well, when it doesn't, it's a tad cringe.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

I am one of the few people that really liked the first Sonic film. The humour worked, the animation was crisp and Jim Carrey was back to being funny. All that can be said about this sequel.

Dr. Robotnik has returned, this time with a new furry friend who is hellbent on destroying Sonic. They are in search of an Emerald that will give Robotnik unlimited power. Sonic must now team up with Tails to stop them.

Perfectly voice acted by Ben Schwartz, Sonic has the youthful charm one would expect and gets into just the right amount of shenanigans to be cute. Humans, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter have smaller roles this time as they are off at a tropical wedding. That subplot involving the bride and her groom were a little far fetched and distracted from the story, if that part were excluded this would have a great pace to it. That section falls victim to the classic "I was originally with you for one reason, you found out the truth and hate me, but I realize I love you" trope.

Jim Carrey dives into the Robotnik character even more with a big mustache and bald head. He's only missing a few extra pounds to really become the character. The film itself doesn't have the same laughs as the first, but it ups the ante in terms of scale. Everything about this film is bigger. It 'feels' more epic in tone and story and the adventure we go on is fun for both kids and adults.

Bullet Train is yet another one of my least favourite films of the year. Just an absolutely insufferable sense of humour that is extremely at odds with its occasional attempts at depth or emotional resonance even when they're being explicitly linked (as is the case with Henry's character being obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine) and even the moments where it does try to be a stylish action movie are utterly weak. Each new Leitch film just makes it clear how much Stahelski was the real genius behind John Wick.

I wanted to like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 since the first one showed signs of untapped potential but it really is more of the same and just ends up being underwhelming. Knuckles was a welcome addition, though.

Two demons try to trick a young girl into resurrecting them into the land of the living, but what she demands in return has drastic consequences.

Directed by Henry Selick, of Nightmare Before Christmas fame, Wendell and Wild feels like a labour of love from someone. Selick obviously loves stop motion animation as that has made his career. A career that lives in the shadows of Tim Burton. A man who did not direct Nightmare Before Christmas, but everyone and their grandmother thinks did.

It's hard not to notice that this film potentially was made is response to a Tim Burton interview where he was asked why his films rarely have anyone of colour in them. It wasn't until 2016's Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children did he have a lead actor of colour represented...as a villain.

Wendell & Wild has Key and Peele as the titular characters and they infuse the film with most of the comedy. I found myself a little let down by the story itself, it could have ventured deep into the weird but it just scratches the surface. Things feel like they are not really explored enough.

The animation is beautiful though and vibrant with rich colours. I loved seeing portions of the film bathed in a purple hue. Stop motion animation is a unique art that immediately stands out from the cookie cutter computer animated films we are bombarded with. Stop motion shows dedication and craft. I'm not saying that computer animation doesn't, but stop motion feels different and I respect that art form a little more.

While that may be the case, I desperately want to see Stahelski tackle something outside the Wick Universe.

He's been attached to a remake of Highlander for a while now (which makes sense since it feels like a clear influence on Wick), though I have to concede he probably won't get to it until after he finishes making Wick movies.

Slick animation and some fun voice work makes a rather predictable story enjoyable for all ages.

The Bag Guys are thieves and they get caught while their leader, Wolf, has a moment of self doubt. He was called a "good boy" for helping an elderly lady and it awakens something deep in him. In an effort to escape jail time, they promise to be good guys instead of bad guys. When a precious diamond is stolen, they are blamed and now they have to find out who really stole it to clear their names.

My son reads the books, so I know the story being told...but, even without the prior book knowledge I felt as if a lot of this story went down tired and clichéd story beats. None of the reveals would be surprises and characters make decisions that you just know are "for show".

That aside, the film looks great. It has a unique art style to it that feels almost brush-stroke. The jokes land for the most part and the high-stakes heist scenes are really exciting. The character designs work and the cast really does seem to have good chemistry with each other.

My kids enjoyed it and have watched it numerous times since. I would definitely watch another one in this series, but I would be more interested in seeing if they take it in new directions or not since the book series deals with really wild and out there content. Time travels, dinosaurs, aliens, etc.

Someone is making bootleg copies of famous movies and tv shows by turning famous cartoons into bootleg versions of themselves. Chip n Dale must crack the case.

An intelligent and well-written film that uses nostalgia to its benefit in crafting a story. A big inspiration for this movie has to be Who Framed Roger Rabitt as a world of live-action and cartoon is created here and blended effortlessly.

Plenty of funny moments for everyone and a solid voice-acting cast brings many of these characters to life. A funny gag involving one of the characters getting work done involves them going from 2D to 3D.

There is so many blink and you'll miss it gags or easter eggs in this film that it begs for multiple viewings. For a film that seems to have everything going for it, by the end I was content with what I saw. I wanted to love it, but something I can't explain was holding me back a bit.

A woman's ideal life is turned upside down when a stranger from her past resurfaces, which causes her to re-live old demons and horrors of her previous life.

Rebecca Hall is carving out some stellar horror work with this film and The Night House. Resurrection is a slow-paced psychological horror film that peels away at one woman's sanity. You question what is happening on the screen until the bizarre and grotesque finale.

Hall delivers a stellar performance as a woman trying to hold her life together. She has a moment in the film that is an unbroken take where she monologues about her horrible past. You see the complete range of emotions she goes through as she details a horrific story that might not make sense.

Tim Roth is the stranger, putting on the facade of being polite and innocent. It's not until he starts to show his true self that things escalate and you feel the rising tension on the screen. The film's climax is raw and deranged in just the right way.

Fed up with the tinder scene in her city, a young woman bumps into a charming and handsome man in the grocery store and leaves the dating app behind.

The opening credits show up twenty minutes into the film. That's when I knew I'd like this movie. Fresh has Daisy Edgar-Jones in the lead role as Nora. She has the awkward dating girl down pat and when she needs to become serious, she's able to pull that off effortlessly. A lot of the film depends on her.

Her co-star is Sebastian Stan, of Marvel fame. Here he's a happy-go-lucky dancing guy who loves to eat and introduce fresh foods to his dates. If you think that I'm not explaining the film well enough, good for you. You picked up on my aversion to spoiling what this film is about. I thought it was a romantic comedy....

Fresh is funny and gross. It will take you on a wild ride from the opening credits to the finish line.

Resurrection is decent, though mostly carried by Hall being so good in it.

Growing up in Toronto in the early 2000s? That's my jam.

13 year old Mei is going through some emotional changes with her body. Yup, it's the one thing every young girl dreads...turning into a giant red panda. Discovering that this was a family curse, the mother plans a ritual to contain the beast. But the date of the ritual lands on the same date that Mei's favourite boy band, 4-Town is in town.

Chinese Canadian Domee Shi was the first woman to direct a short for Pixar, it went on to win an Oscar. She was given the reigns to direct Turning Red, becoming the first woman to direct a feature for Pixar. We'll see if lightning strikes twice come Oscar time.

There are bits of inspiration here that come from Anime and it shows in character's facial reactions. It was refreshing to see a blend in animation to steer Pixar into some fresh areas. The Pixasr brand had gotten a little stale and Turning Red was a welcomed change for me.

The music is great, the laughs are there and Mei was a well-written protagonist. It boggles my mind the controversy around this film due to the subject matter of girls and their periods. It's not even on the Disney+ Kids setting.

My kids loved the film and I'll always champion a film setting that is different from what I'm used to.

I loved Turning Red. It was my second favourite film of last year.

A group of friends continue the tradition of having a wild vacation full of homoerotic fun. But maybe one of them is finding love instead of the usual summer fling.

A comedy that is actually funny and heartfelt. Bowen Yang from SNL fame does an admirable job of walkign the tight rope of funny, charming and yet not the "leading man" type of character you would expect.

Good representation and a fun time had by all made the film feel infectious for me. The characters felt real and that is rare for a comedy that involve the LGBTQ community. Usually they feel like they have to write them as steretypical gay people. I'm glad that movies of late have steered clear of those worn tropes and give us real people.

Randall has a heart attack and it makes him re-evaluate his life. He always wanted to make a movie...so he does just that.

Man, I can't help but feel that this film is getting a higher rating than it should becuase I watched it with Kevin Smith in attendance. He gave a great QnA after the film and gave us a wild plot by plot synopsis of what the original Clerks 3 script was...it was VERY DARK.

I also feel that the rating is a bit higher for the sentimentality of the film and not the comedy. Seeing it with Smith in the crowd, you know that the audience are Smith fans, so they will laugh at everything, I probably laughed a bit more than I would in a regular theatre.

But the film is indeed, his most heartfelt movie to date. It's so personal that I have to admire it. You can tell that Smith's heart attack has him re-evaluating his own life and he has thrown a lot of his thoughts and emotions into this piece. I was actually sad by the end of it. There are plenty of moments in my life where the last word I have with someone, wasn't a pleasant one and there is no chance to take that back.

Yes, this is a retread of the first film from Smith's POV. We are seeing how HE made the film and he jams pack this film with "winks" and "nods" to the previous movie.

So consider this a "fan" rating, but it is without a doubt, his best film in years.

You know what Jackass is about by now.

The .5 Jackass films are not that bad despite the fact that these are the skits or gags that did not make the theatrical cut. The bit with the father fearing sky diving was cruel, yet funny. It's always funny when this stuff happens to other people right?

Gross, as expected, dangerous and funny. All the Jackass films feel on the same level to me, but they all have indeed improvedd on the first.

I was worried about this film not being on the same par as the original for a few reasons. One, my favourite Jackass member Ryan Dunn is no longer with us. Two, Bam, despite being my least favourite member, was also not present. They have brought in some young blood as replacements, but the original crew still do the same stunts and never feel short shifted at all.

The new crew fits nicely, I would have liked to have seen some more included than others. But the gags are still funny, the stunts are still dangerous and I still laugh like a fool every damn time.

Bonus points for the creative opening penis monster skit.