The year 2022 in film - Ranked.

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I also gave Clerks III a higher rating than it deserved due to residual fandom - and it still ended up being a fairly generous
. Definitely hoped that the heart attack might actually prompt Smith to do something much more substantial and, while I guess he technically did, the fact that it's still just recycling Clerks really demonstrates his limits as a creator. Even its attempts at sentimentality are only occasionally effective and, as noted, it's still largely coasting off the previous films (the entire "widower Dante" arc is largely a miss aside from his big monologue near the end), for instance.

Both Jackass movies are very fun. Definitely not wrong about how they could've given the new cast more to do (as much as they hyped up bringing in Rachel Wolfson as the first official female member, the fact that she gets to participate in like two or three bits is underwhelming).
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



45. Lightyear




I find myself thinking less and less of this movie as the time goes by. Maybe it is placed too high, but Lightyear did the unthinkable and it entertained me. I went in totally expecting to hate the movie and Chris Evans, but the time jumping space story had enough heart and action to thrill me for the running time.

The Space Rangers crash land on a hostile planet and buzz takes it upon himself to fly through wormhole after wormhole to try and find a way home. What takes only a few years for him, is decades for everyone else.

This is the movie that Andy saw when he was a kid. Pixar's output has been so good for so long that when a movie that is decent comes along, people tend to crap on it. Lightyear is decent, it won't win any awards and it certainly didn't make me laugh, but the film is extremely well animated with great action set pieces.

Now I want to see the film where the actor has a contract dispute and they hire someone else to voice the toy.
Personally, I found this movie very confusing and hard to follow.



32. Clerks 3




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.

Believe it or not, I thought Clerks 3 was the best of the three films.



Bullet Train was one of my favorites of the last few years. I'm used to wild storytelling, and the characters were all fun in their admittedly slightly-underdeveloped ways.



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29. Scream




I love this series. There is something about the original film that feels like home. So when this film was announced, I was a little hesitant due to Wes Craven not being involved. It had the uphill battle of trying to be fresh, while paying homage to what came before. Legacy sequels are hard to do, some rely too heavily on the past. I was surprised to see that I really liked the new characters and I'm ready for this series to leave Sidney behind to enjoy her life and let us follow the new gang.

Ghostface is back, killing new kids in the town of Woodsboro. That's enough, right?

The film does a good job of subverting expectations. Every Scream movie opens with a kill, so when you get something different, you feel like anything might happen. Updating the series with new technology is hard, but doable and Scream does an admirable job here with apps, smart home tech, etc.

Probably the bloodiest of the series so far and the classic who is it aspect of the film is still fun. The film is a tad predictable in the killers, but the reasoning feels like something that would happen today. Taking on toxic fandom seemed like the next step for the series.
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28. X




Two Jenna Ortega films back to back.

This was my original review:

A great throwback to the slashers of the 80's. Ti West loves his influences and he's able to really capture the atmosphere of what he's going for. X manages to build enough slow burn tension until the third act hits with a bloody force.

A group of young people are shooting a porno in a rented farm house from an elderly couple in Texas. They keep their intentions a secret in the fear of losing their location. Once the elderly couple find out what's really going on in their farmhouse, blood is spilled.

This feels like a mix of Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th with the amped up sex. I appreciate the themes of young and ambitious vs old and missed opportunities. This is a slasher film for slasher fans done with a little bit more care and craft put in, just don't expect it to really jump off the screen. It's still a slasher at the end of the day.



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27. MEN




Garland's MEN has a lot to unpack, and I fully suspect the film will split audiences down the middle. Ex-Machina was a straightforward film while Annihilation asked a bit too much from its audience within the last 20 minutes. Men walks in the path of Annihilation with a bonkers final act that will have you scratching your head, hiding behind your fingers, and either rolling your eyes or nodding in approval. Men is divisive and I always appreciate something that is polarizing.

Garland is playing with two main colour schemes here. Red, which is mainly used in the flashbacks with Harper and her husband. These scenes are quite engaging and showcase some amazing talent from Jessie Buckley. The other is green, which we are bathed in with Harper's walks within nature. These scenes act as some form of healing for Harper. She is finally letting go, being herself and at peace. We even get to see a smile creep upon her face. The cinematography is quite gorgeous at times and Garland once again uses nature as a device for his films.

There are a lot of themes at play here, some subtle, some not so much. When Harper first arrives at the house, she plucks an apple from the tree and eats it. The owner of the house even mentions "forbidden fruit" to her. While we never actually see any snakes slithering around, there is a scene involving a tunnel that is shot with scale like bricks that surrounds our protagonist that the visually imagery cannot be denied. There's even a naked man who starts covering himself with leaves.

Two people walked out of my theatre when the naked man shows up at her house. This is when things start to get weird and we see Rory Kinnear play more than one role. In fact, he plays every male role in this film except for that of her husband. Harper does not react to this at all, so this is something for the audience only. All men are the same? I'm not sure, is it that obvious? Later on one of these men receives a gnarly injury. That injury is transferred to every other man in this story. It's later on that we see these injuries are actually the exact same sustained by her husband after he either jumped or fell from their building. The film doesn't answer if his death was intentional or not, but he did threaten to kill himself if she divorces him. That scene in particular stands out to me as one of the best in this movie. Stellar acting.

The film's third act becomes a home invasion type movie where we are treated to some bizarre imagery of men giving birth to themselves over and over. To say that this is all in her head or it was all a dream is a bit insulting to the writer/director. There is more at play here, which is then confirmed by the quick epilogue at the end. Though, that might raise more questions than answers for some people. Annihilation suffered from the same logical problems. Is Garland more concerned with metaphors? Maybe.

Men is a horror movie that looks gorgeous, uses sound to its creative advantage and takes a wild turn that might drive some people away completely. I'm here for it, it's fine if others are not.



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26. Trainwreck: Woodstock 99




Technically a 3 episode 'series', but it can be viewed as a 3 hour movie.

The festival was 3 days and each hour is dedicated to a specific day. I remember some of the news around this event when I was a kid, but not to the extent of what actually happened. Disgusting to see people crammed in, lack of services and the terror that some of those women must have felt.

Seeing Korn perform and the crowd be a wave of thrashing was cool, but also terrifying. It dives into the problems with the event, such as the waste water people were drinking, yuck.

The organizer said that he wanted to capture the spirit of the original...so he books Korn, Limp Bizkit and Rage Against The Machine? Ummm okay?



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I'm going to try rewatching the whole series before Scream VI drops, but I can't imagine that nu-Scream (man, is this the worst sequel titling trend in a while or what) is going to fare all that well. I like the idea of the last couple of sequels coming out sporadically as a means of commenting on how trends in horror change over the years and not necessarily for the better - 4 might be my favourite simply for taking on remakes and reboots, which this one kind of does even though it has nothing to add and instead has to zigzag into critiquing toxic fandom (which feels more like it's trying to relitigate the Last Jedi debate more than anything specifically horror-related, which just makes it feel dated more than anything). We'll see how things shake out after a full rewatch, but I'm not optimistic.

X was fine, a perfectly acceptable riff on older horrors that didn't feel the need to couch itself in quote-unquote elevation even as it turned out to be another classic Ti West slow burn. I may or may not revisit it for when Pearl finally gets released here.

Men didn't work for me. Ex Machina and Annihilation remained compelling throughout, but this just felt tiresome for basically its entire running time. Elevated horror just doesn't work for me, it seems.



I still think "The Menu" was one of the best one's to release the past year, had a gripping alliance and the star cast was also great to keep you on your toes the entire time! Would recommend!



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25. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness




Another movie that I think should be rating a bit lower, but the creativity of Raimi and the fact that it feels just a bit different than your typical Marvel film made me give this one a bit of an edge.

Doctor Strange must help America Chavez navigate the multiverse to escape a hellbent Scarlett Witch who wants to steal her powers to kidnap her children from a different multiverse.

I think this might be the first film that requires viewing of the television series? Wanda-Vision was a great show and it helps a lot with the motivations of Wanda in this movie. Without it, people might feel a bit lost? I went into the film not knowing she was the villain, so it was a pleasant surprise to see this turn of events.

Raimi has bits of pieces of his former self shining through in some scenes. The horror aspect is very light and could be used as an introduction to the genre for the young Marvel fan. As is with all Marvel films, they feel the need to shoe-horn in some world building and set-ups for future films. I did appreciate Raimi's take on this, which led to bloodshed and comedy. But he falters at the end with the after credits sequence. Most of the people in my theatre were confused.

Overall, one of the better Phase 4 films, but just okay in the MCU.



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24. Werewolf by Night




Now this is where Marvel really let's things go down a different route, it just took a streaming special to do it.

Composer Michael Giacchino tries his hand at directing this one-hour short about a group of monster hunters gathering at the funeral of a patriarch. There is a maze and the one who can capture the monster in there will be deemed the one worthy to hold a special monster hunting relic.

This black and white ode to universal horror monsters is a nice escapist movie that honours and loves what it homages. Creative camera shots, excellent music, good acting all converge to a special that makes me wants to see more from Giacchino.

It does suffer from some typical Marvel humour towards the end, but overall, this was a special treat to see and I hope we get more of these.



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23. The Black Phone




My wife hates leaving the children to go out and do anything for ourselves. So she was having a tough time at the theatre when we watched this movie. On top of that...she thought we were seeing Top Gun: Maverick. So when a movie about child abduction starts playing, she wasn't too thrilled. Seeing her expressions throughout the movie was fun for me though.

Finn is a clever 13 year old boy who is abducted by a killer known as The Grabber. While imprisoned, a black phone rings and on the other end are the voices of the Grabber's previous victims. Can they help Finn escape where they failed?

Based on a short story by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, The Black Phone is a good adaptation that extrapolates the core ideas and atmosphere of the short and crafts a compelling horror show for parents. Taking place in the 70's, the tone of the film was spot on. I was more horrified by the at home living of Finn and his sister with their abusive father than I was when the Grabber was on the screen. Kids got a hard life.

Hawke as the Grabber was great, mostly hiding behind what I think might become a future iconic horror mask. The director Scott Derrickson, uses old film stock to capture the 8/16mm style footage that he also used in Sinister. While it seems to be treading familiar waters, it still works for the timeline the story takes place.



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22. Watcher




A classic "is she or isn't she paranoid" thriller has Maika Monroe running from what she suspects is a serial killer across the street. Having just moved to a new country with her husband, Julia notices a mysterious stranger from across the street. Coupled with that is the news of females being beheaded in the neighbourhood and the uneasy feeling of constantly being watched, Julia suspects the figure from across the street.

The film dives into the females are hysterical aspect that most thrillers and horror films use to isolate the character. Even someone they trust, like their husband, is questioning their sanity. Watcher employs this tactic and crafts a story that makes the viewer question her too.

The language barrier, the strange new country, the uneasy feeling of being a woman at night with people around. Watcher knows what buttons to push to generate the right tension. It doesn't help that the person she suspects is constant creepy looking Burn Gorman, ha.



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21. Sissy




A film I expect no one here to have seen. This influencer-horror show was a surprise to me and the violence towards the third act was brutal enough to have gore hounds satisfied.

Cecilia is a media influencer living her dream, then she runs into her former best friend from her childhood. Her friend is getting married and invites her to the bachelorette party in a cabin in the woods. Cecilia now finds herself as an outsider in this cabin with this group of girls, one of which was a former bully. This triggers from previous childhood trauma and violence erupts as a result.

Sissy takes its time to build the tension, we are introduced to her at her best and gradually see it being torn down to her worst. A film like this people might find it hard to root for someone, as the bridesmaids are all self absorbed rich people who don't seem to learn from their bullying ways. On the other side is Cecilia (Sissy) who without a doubt has mental health issues and hides behind her fake online persona.

Give Sissy a try if you like subverted slasher type horror films.



I forgot the opening line.
Seen : 66. Texas Chainsaw Massacre -

48. Thor: Love & Thunder -

34. Turning Red -

28. X -

27. MEN -

25. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness -

23. The Black Phone -
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20. Kimi




This Rear Window update from Soderbergh is a tight thriller with a compelling lead performance from Zoë Kravitz playing a tech who suffers from agoraphobia.

Kimi is an Alexa type device that everyone seems to have. Kravitz is a tech who has to clear misheard words or slang that the device does not understand. While on the job, she hears the recording of what sounds like a murder. She has to muster the strength to leave her house to deliver the evidence to the company, but high profile people who don't want that evidence out in the world will try everything in their power to silence her.

This is basically Rear Window meets Blow Out, incorporating elements from both films to craft a suspenseful story. It was refreshing to see a story set during Covid, but not be about Covid. I was worried that element would dominate the story, but it simply adds to the conflict of our lead being agoraphobic. Strong lead performance and tight direction make this 89 minute film fly by.

Some coincidences aside during the climax, this is a film that I urge more people to see as I believe it came and went with a whimper.