So what did I think of movies in 2022 then?

 So, what did I think of The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2022?

The top ten were all well made films (with some being more to my liking than others) but there quite a few further down the list that I struggled to see the point to on any level - there were some gems hidden in there all the way down though.  I was however, extremely pleased that I managed to track down all the films on the list this year.

All in all, 19 countries were clearly represented across 47 films on this list (compared with 20 last year) with the other three films being complete mongrels which bring a further nine countries into the mix (Memoria gets a special mention for having ten countries involved in its production).  The US and the UK unsurprisingly provide the highest contribution - but not as much as you'd expect giving us eleven and eight films respectively with France putting in a strong showing with five films and Germany, Ireland, Iran, India, Norway and Spain all giving us multiple entries.

Considering the list in full, lets have a top 16

#49 - Top Gun : Maverick
#46 - Glass Onion : A Knives Out Mystery
#43 - Brian & Charles
#41 - Everything Went Fine
#21 - The Innocents
#19 - Official Competition
#18 - Living
#16 - Mass
#14 - Playground
#13 - The Banshees of Inisherin
#10 - Decision To Leave
#8 - The Wonder
#6 - Hit The Road
#4 - Flee
#2 - The Quiet Girl
#1 - Aftersun

The thinking behind sixteen films this year is that entries in the top ten should all make the list (but patently don't) so any I like from there get a free pass and then I get to pick another ten from the rest of the list  It's interesting that the two biggest budget films are the first two entries on the list but, for me, they both should have been way higher - I think The Guardian were just being sniffy about two films that were fantastically entertaining well-made films for the whole family (Glass Onion was one of the few films I saw in the cinema last year because my youngest insisted we went).  

Brian & Charles totally changes the mood to (very quirky) low budget English comedy and the changes keep on coming with Everything Went Fine (serious French drama), The Innocents (Norwegian horror) and Official Competition (Spanish melodrama) before we lighten the mood with Living (terminal illness), Mass (multiple homicide) and Playground (bullying) before completing the lower reaches of the chart with The Banshees of Inisherin (whatever that is - with added donkey!).

Looking at the top ten, 60% feels like an OK hit rate but, considering the ones I picked, I really enjoyed all of them, with the top two in particular being absolute gems in terms of acting, direction and plot.  Considering the films that didn't make the top tier, Compartment #6 (#50) and Small Body (#38) are very unlucky not to make the grade - I didn't have great expectations for either of them beforehand but they both pleasantly surprised me.  I'm also going to mention Moonage Daydream (#12) for being a fascinating trawl through David Bowie's career in what most definitely wasn't a vintage year for documentaries.

As I did last year, I'm going to pick one that I think you should watch if you haven't seen it but, unlike last year, I'm going to pick my favourite - I absolutely LOVED The Quiet Girl and I was bawling my eyes out at the end of it (but in a good way!).  If you absolutely can't stand subtitles, then I'll stick with the Irish theme and tell you to go and see The Wonder - this was a beautiful and clever film that took me places I wasn't expecting.

So how about a bottom five?

#40 - Benediction
#36 - A Banquet
#31 - Crimes Of The Future
#26 - White Noise
#9 - Memoria

These were, in turn, just boring, boring and weird, boring and yucky, boring and odd and JUST SO SLOOOOOW (but surprisingly beautiful in the process).  I'm also going to mention Bones And All (#15 - and I was very proud of myself for not giving away the central concept) and Funny Pages (#11) - both of these films were pretty watchable but they were also extremely odd.

Unlike the previous two years (when I'd previously caught a whole TWO of the films on the list), I'd only seen one of this lot before - part of the problem is that I spend so much time watching these films that I never get around to watching more recent ones.  However, there were nine films on my "to watch" list that I worked my way through here (some being more enjoyable than others).

2021 was the year of the obsession with the 4:3 aspect ratio (there were six of them), but we only saw the one of them this year (The Quiet Girl).  However, it doesn't mean there wasn't aspect ratio variety this year - we had IMAX (1.44:1 - You Won't Be Alone #17) and Academy (1.37:1 - The Happening #47).  Who says I don't have excitement in my life, eh?!?

So what was the most read blog post of the list?  Glass Onion was the winner which probably isn't much of a surprise - that and Top Gun were probably the only films on the list that most people had even heard of, let alone watched.  However, it only just beat All Quiet On The Western Front (#35) and The Woman King (#44) which were probably seen by a few less people.  And the least read post was Parallel Mothers (#3) - possibly because of its recentness and possible because people just don't like Pedro Almódovar (I won't hear a word against Penelope Cruz though).

So what did The Guardian ignore that other lists or I enjoyed last year?

Turning Red
This was pretty damn charming fare from Pixar.

Jackass Forever
This got a load of surprisingly positive write-ups from unexpected sources.

Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy
The follow-up from the director of one of my favourites from 2021, Drive My Car, got pretty good write-ups so I will make an effort to catch up with it at some point.

Elvis
A flawed film rescued by a great performance from Austin Butler seems to be the general opinion here.

Belle
An anime version of Beauty And The Beast which was very highly reviewed.

Triangle Of Sadness
Mostly famous for its copious amounts of vomit, but apparently still worth a watch

Everything Everywhere All At Once
A major omission by The Guardian, surely?!?  I loved it!

Emily The Criminal
I've not heard of this one, but it's got Aubrey Plaza in it so it's got to be ace, right?

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 
Lots of good write-ups for this as well.

The Eternal Daughter
More Tilda Swinton anyone?

Nope
Jordan Peele is never dull so I'll try to catch this at some point.

I reckon I've got a couple of weeks before the 2023 list starts to come out and the omission of EEAAO from The Guardian's list has shocked me so much it's made me decide to tackle Empire's "best of 2022" list which does include it (and a couple of other missing films from above as well).  Quite why I didn't decide to use Empire's list when I first started this exercise is beyond me because I trust them waaaay more than I trust The Guardian on matters of cinema - but it will be interesting to see which films overlap...

Thanks to those of you that have stuck with through another list - I'm really enjoying unearthing some of the beautiful films that I wouldn't otherwise watch and (if I admit it) I also quite like it when films turn out to dreadful.

#1 - A worthy winner
#20 (Empire) - I don't get it
#50 (2023) - A really good film to start the list