Yesterday, MovieManifesto published its list of the best movies of 2022. Today, per annual tradition, we’re ranking everything else, with a comprehensive list of every movie we watched last year. Except we aren’t really “ranking” them, because rankings are dumb and obnoxious and falsely imply quantitative rigidity in a medium that’s fundamentally fluid and amorphous. Instead, we’re breaking out my beloved concept of tiers, which are somewhat nebulous in their own right but which do a decent job striking the balance between the internet’s demand for comparative metrics and my own distaste toward numerical measures.
Aside from serving as an exercise in nerdy recordkeeping, this piece is meant to serve as a primer for readers who invariably ask themselves that age-old question: Hey, what movie should I watch tonight? That’s why I include which service each film is (currently) streaming on—so that you can use this list as a guide as you mull your evening selection. (On the other hand, I’ve decided to omit the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic data that I’ve typically appended in the past; I might elaborate on this in the future, but for now suffice it to say that those sites are bad and stupid, and I don’t want to promulgate their dubious methodology.) [Update: I did, in fact, elaborate on this.]
Here’s the complete list of all 138 new movies I watched in 2022, broken into sensible, not-at-all random tiers:
Tier 1: The Top 20
Behold, the one tier on this list where the movies within it are actually ranked. (Again, if you missed my write-up on the year’s best films, you can find it here.)
1. Emily the Criminal (directed by John Patton Ford; streaming on Netflix)
2. The Northman (Robert Eggers; Amazon Prime)
3. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg; available to rent)
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert; Showtime)
5. Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron; playing in theaters)
6. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook; Mubi)
7. Happening (Audrey Diwan; Hulu and AMC+)
8. Tár (Todd Field; Peacock)
9. Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda; available to rent)
10. Babylon (Damien Chazelle; Paramount+)
11. Glass Onion (Rian Johnson; Netflix)
12. Nope (Jordan Peele; Peacock)
13. Pleasure (Ninja Thyberg; Showtime)
14. Watcher (Chloe Okuno; AMC+)
15. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh; HBO Max)
16. God’s Country (Julian Higgins; AMC+)
17. Causeway (Lila Neugebauer; Apple)
18. X (Ti West; Showtime)
19. Anaïs in Love (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet; Hulu)
20. The Menu (Mark Mylod; HBO Max)
Tier 2: Honorable Mention
Had I finalized my top 20 on a different day, any of these nine movies could have snuck into the back end.
Aftersun (directed by Charlotte Wells; available to rent)
Barbarian (Zach Cregger; streaming on HBO Max)
Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino; available to rent)
Dual (Riley Stearns; Hulu and AMC+)
The Outfit (Graham Moore; Amazon Prime)
Resurrection (Andrew Semans; AMC+)
Speak No Evil (Christian Tafdrup; AMC+)
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund; available to rent)
Turning Red (Domee Shi; Disney+)
Tier 3: Good Movies!
Not quite as terrific as the honorable mentions (see, tiers!), these 11 movies are nevertheless well worth watching.
Athena (directed by Romain Gavras; streaming on Netflix)
The Batman (Matt Reeves; HBO Max)
Cha Cha Real Smooth (Cooper Raiff; Apple)
Fall (Scott Mann; Starz)
Living (Oliver Hermanus; currently playing in limited theaters)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović; Showtime)
Nitram (Justin Kurzel; Hulu and AMC+)
Prey (Dan Trachtenberg; Hulu)
RRR (S. S. Rajamouli; Netflix)
Till (Chinonye Chukwu; available to rent)
The Wonder (Sebastián Lelio; Netflix)
Tier 4: Pretty Good Movies
I mostly enjoyed these 25 movies, even if I can’t unreservedly recommend them.
After Yang (directed by Kogonada; streaming on Fubo)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger; Netflix)
Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre; Amazon Prime)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Halina Reijn; available to rent)
Breaking (Abi Damaris Corbin; Showtime)
Call Jane (Phyllis Nagy; available to rent)
Confess, Fletch (Greg Mottola; Showtime)
Devotion (J.D. Dillard; Paramount+)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Sam Raimi; Disney+)
EO (Jerzy Skolimowski; Criterion)
Fresh (Mimi Cave; Hulu)
The Good Nurse (Tobias Lindholm, Netflix)
Hatching (Hanna Bergholm; Hulu)
Hustle (Jeremiah Zagar; Netflix)
KIMI (Steven Soderbergh; HBO Max)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer Camp; Showtime)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Anthony Fabian; Peacock)
Pearl (Ti West; available to rent)
Saint Omer (Alice Diop; available to rent)
Sharp Stick (Lena Dunham; Hulu)
She Said (Maria Schrader; Peacock)
Smile (Parker Finn; Amazon Prime and Paramount+)
Thirteen Lives (Ron Howard; Amazon Prime)
Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller; MGM+)
Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski; Paramount+)
Tier 5: Not Bad, But…
And here we have our most populous tier, with a whopping 35 entries. I liked these movies fine, but I’m not sure I’d be too enthused to watch them again.
Armageddon Time (directed by James Gray; streaming on Peacock)
Beast (Baltasar Kormákur; Amazon Prime)
Benediction (Terence Davies; Hulu and Kanopy)
Bros (Nicholas Stoller; Peacock)
Bullet Train (David Leitch; Netflix)
Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham; Amazon Prime)
Dog (Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum; Amazon Prime)
The Duke (Roger Michell; available to rent)
Elvis (Baz Luhrmann; HBO Max)
Fire Island (Andrew Ahn; Hulu)
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi; Showtime)
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (Adamma Ebo; Amazon Prime)
Lightyear (Angus MacLane; Disney+)
The Lost City (Aaron Nee and Adam Nee; Amazon Prime)
Men (Alex Garland; Showtime)
Montana Story (David Siegel and Scott McGehee; Showtime)
Nanny (Nikyatu Jusu; Amazon Prime)
Not Okay (Quinn Shephard; Hulu)
Official Competition (Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat; AMC+)
Orphan: First Kill (William Brent Bell; Amazon Prime and Paramount+)
The Pale Blue Eye (Scott Cooper; Netflix)
Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson; Netflix)
Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot; AMC+)
Scream (Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin; Paramount+)
The Sea Beast (Chris Williams; Netflix)
See How They Run (Tom George; HBO Max)
Spiderhead (Joseph Kosinski; Netflix)
Spoiler Alert (Michael Showalter; Peacock)
Strange World (Don Hall; Disney+)
The Survivor (Barry Levinson; HBO Max)
Thor: Love and Thunder (Taika Waititi; Disney+)
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican; Starz)
Vengeance (B.J. Novak; Amazon Prime)
Wendell & Wild (Henry Selick; Netflix)
White Noise (Noah Baumbach; Netflix)
Tier 6: Unappreciated!
Timeout! For this and the next tier, we’re breaking our rule about Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, because these are films where I differed from the critical consensus (to the extent such a thing exists). First up, here are five movies that I found to be far better than their (dreadful) reputations.
Amsterdam (directed by David O. Russell; streaming on HBO Max; 32% Rotten Tomatoes, 48 Metacritic)
Deep Water (Adrian Lyne; Hulu; 36% RT, 53 MC)
Don’t Worry Darling (Olivia Wilde; HBO Max; 38 RT, 48 MC)
Persuasion (Carrie Cracknell; Netflix; 30 RT, 42 MC)
Where the Crawdads Sing (Olivia Newman; Netflix; 34% RT, 43 MC)
Tier 7: Overhyped
And here we have the flip side. I don’t like the term “overrated,” so let’s just say that I found these 10 movies underwhelming relative to my critical peers.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (directed by Ryan Coogler; streaming on Disney+; 84% Rotten Tomatoes, 67 Metacritic)
The Black Phone (Scott Derrickson; Amazon Prime; 83% RT, 65 MC)
Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg; Hulu; 80% RT, 67 MC)
Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland; AMC+; 85% RT, 79 MC)
Funny Pages (Owen Kline; available to rent; 83% RT, 73 MC)
Neptune Frost (Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman; Criterion and Kanopy; 96% RT, 83 MC)
On the Count of Three (Jerrod Carmichael; Hulu; 85% RT, 74 MC)
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Jane Schoenbrun; HBO Max; 91% RT, 78 MC)
The Woman King (Gina Prince-Bythewood; Netflix; 94% RT, 77 MC)
Women Talking (Sarah Polley; available to rent; 91% RT, 79 MC)
Tier 8: Not Good, Not Terrible
These 18 movies could be worse, but you have better options.
Ambulance (directed by Michael Bay; streaming on Amazon Prime)
Bardo (Alejandro González Iñárritu; Netflix)
Blonde (Andrew Dominik; Netflix)
Both Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis; AMC+)
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh; Hulu and HBO Max)
Disenchanted (Adam Shankman; Disney+)
Empire of Light (Sam Mendes; HBO Max)
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (David Yates; HBO Max)
The Forgiven (John Michael McDonagh; Hulu and Kanopy)
The Invitation (Jessica M. Thompson; Netflix)
Jurassic World: Dominion (Colin Trevorrow; Amazon Prime)
Luck (Peggy Holmes; Apple)
Morbius (Daniel Espinosa; Netflix)
Stars at Noon (Claire Denis; Hulu)
Ticket to Paradise (Ol Parker; Peacock)
Ultrasound (Rob Schroeder; Hulu)
The Whale (Darren Aronofsky; available to rent)
Windfall (Charlie McDowell; Netflix)
Tier 9: Bad Movies
Between selection bias and tranquility, I rarely find myself actively regretting watching a movie. For these five clunkers, I made an exception.
Downton Abbey: A New Era (directed by Simon Curtis; streaming on Amazon Prime)
The Gray Man (Joe Russo and Anthony Russo; Netflix)
Moonfall (Roland Emmerich; HBO Max)
Pinocchio (Robert Zemeckis; Disney+)
Violent Night (Tommy Wirkola; Peacock)
Jeremy Beck is the editor-in-chief of MovieManifesto. He watches more movies and television than he probably should.